The man was nothing more than a mass of heavy muscle and I was about to intentionally antagonize him, probably not the brightest of moves, but he was really starting to make me mad. Forcing as much flippancy into my voice as I could, I calmly responded, “It sounded like you were breaking something, that’s all. Sorry to interrupt your concentration, I’m sure you need it.”
Being blindfolded and facing away from the door, I was unable to see the goon’s reaction. But I could feel his hatred as he stared down my neck and started to growl some kind of reply. It sounded a bit like, “I told you to…”
My frustration at being unable to do anything physically made me lash out with the only weapon at my disposal, my mouth. Or perhaps I was just going crazy as I decided to antagonize the raging bull. Who knew, perhaps I would get lucky and get some blood pumping and adrenaline running through my system. I forced as much venom into my words as I could. “No I mean it. I’m really sorry for bothering you. I’m sure it takes every ounce of your puny brainpower to complete the task of throwing things around. I would hate to distract you from such an important job.”
I could hear another crash only this time it sounded as if the massive thug just let something fall from his hands. But nothing came. I waited and after another couple of heartbeats I heard goon number two speak, “Relax you fool. He’s just trying to get you to do something rash. And it would have worked if I hadn’t been here to stop you. Now, focus on the task at hand.” Again I could feel the thug’s angry eyes upon me. “Marcus, you should focus more on what I told you earlier.”
He paused and I waited for him to continue, stubbornly refusing to answer. After a moment the thug continued talking as if he had never paused. “The boss would prefer that you are unharmed, but if, for whatever reason, we think you are a problem, we have absolute discretion to manage you as we see fit.”
As much as I wanted to continue antagonizing them, I ultimately had to yield to the man’s thinly-veiled threat. I didn’t think I would be able to contain myself if I spoke, so I simply nodded my understanding.
With that he turned back to his companion and added. “Just you remember to keep your mind focused on the task at hand.” He held his breath for a moment before lowering his words to a whisper, apparently hoping I wouldn’t hear him. Thanks to my concentrated effort my ears were already attuned to their whispered conversations. “I wouldn’t hesitate to put a bullet between your eyes if you went off and did something stupid like that. Now pick up you side and let’s get this over with.”
Apparently these two weren’t happy partners. I wondered just how short a leash the frothy one was kept on. Before I could dwell on this I heard more sounds coming from behind me. What are they lugging in here? Whatever it was, my last vestige of hope was dashed. I had known there was very little chance that that this meeting was going take place somewhere else, not after all the precautions that had been taken to keep me secured. But that hope had been all I had left. Now I was going to stay nice and frigid while I talked with whoever Dempsey sent. A moment later my guess at a table was confirmed as it was rammed into my stomach. I figured the thugs were taking what vengeance they could, so I kept my mouth shut.
“Go get the boss’ chair.” Number two barked, his voice now coming from in front of me.
As the more level headed of the two thugs ordered the boss’s chair to be brought in, it occurred to me that I hadn’t really considered who I was going to be meeting with. To be fair, I hadn’t really thought I was going to live long enough to find out, and to be honest, I still had my doubts on that score. Up to this point I had simply ignored comments regarding “the boss.” I didn’t want to consider that I was possibly going to have a third conversation with Dempsey. I kept telling myself that there was no way he would come and talk to me himself. But then, that is what I had thought about the tournament and look what had happened there. I hoped that I was just going to meet with one of the crime lord’s lieutenants. Perhaps this was just wishful thinking on my part.
From behind me I was able to hear number one’s return and it sounded like he was struggling with something. The boss’ chair must be a rather large and unwieldy piece of furniture if it was able to give that man trouble. As the two busied themselves with the chair I heard something else echo behind me.
Clack.
What is that? Behind me I heard a noise that sounded like something tipped in metal was striking something hard, but not metallic.
Clack.
The noise was moving closer.
Clack.
Whatever was making that sound was slicing through the air, but there also was something symmetric about it.
Clack.
There was a rhythm behind those striking sounds. What is causing that sound? What is that predictable? Could it be coming from a cane? That would make some sense, someone walking with a cane.
Clack.
A cane was a good indicator of either importance or injury. But with these two talking about the boss the way they did an injury seemed just a tad unlikely, and of course that left me with someone of importance, their boss. Had someone with a cane entered the tournament? I started replaying the tournament in my head, moving back from my victory and towards when I first walked into the warehouse.
Clack.
Had I seen anyone with a cane? Even if I thought of someone that didn’t mean this person was the same one. Of course there was a chance that whoever this was hadn’t even been at the tournament. I was about halfway through my memories and had yet to find a glimmer of a cane. Apart from injury who actually chose to use a cane anymore?
Clack.
That clacking was coming closer, so I sped towards the beginning through the migration to the poker hall. There were still the entrances to go through, for some reason I thought I remembered seeing a cane at the tournament but so far my memory seemed to be failing me.
Clack.
That time the sound definitely came from inside the freezer, I could tell from the echo.
Clack.
I swallowed as I sped towards the entrances of all the players.
Clack.
That came from just to my right. Come on I needed to get a mental picture first if I could.