Of course all that these thoughts did was feed my anger at the recent twists in my life. How have I ended up here? Sighing I knew I wouldn’t be able to speak in a civil tone so I clenched my teeth and bit off a single word, “Yes.”
I saw the wonder in his eyes and in that moment the man was transformed into a child on Christmas morning. After staring past me for a while he idly spoke to no one in particular. “I wonder what kind of drug would be able to accomplish that effect.”
“You’d have to ask his witch?” My mouth blurted before I could think about trying to leverage that small piece of information.
“Witch?” Dempsey asked as he slowly raised both of his eyebrows.
“It’s something I overheard my two guards talking about. So I assumed that this witch made the drugs that were coursing through me.” I instinctively tried to force a shrug from my shoulders, but like every other part of my body, they refused to comply with the command. So instead I just finished voicing my thought. “I guess I could be wrong, but that connection just feels right.”
In the utter silence that followed, Alexis repositioned himself ever so slightly. His back, or something, must have been uncomfortable. But his eyes finally fell upon the gun resting impotently in my hands. Without taking his eyes from my weapon he issued his next command. “All right that tells me how you ended up in my home. Now I want to know why you agreed to come. And I don’t want to hear the cheap answer.” With a deep breath he moved his eyes from my gun back to my eyes and his tone took on a mocking expression as he told me what he considered the cheap answer—“I didn’t want to die.”
Without hesitating I answered. “Too bad, because it’s all I have to offer you." I paused only long enough to moisten my lips with my tongue before continuing on. "In the end I was able to convince myself that you were a dead man already for interfering with Dempsey. And to be blunt, I wasn’t willing to die in a vain attempt to protect a dead man.”
With a wry smile spreading across his face, he replied. “Without that little explanation your answer would have been wrong.” After taking a deep breath Alexis continued, “I can see how you were able to ease your conscious. However, just so you know, your argument is flawed. For the moment let’s just say that you were able to assassinate me. What about the next time? It would have gotten harder and harder to use that line of logic in the future.” Staring into my eyes I could swear he knew I had simply been planning on biding my time, but he ignored this and continued. “Yet that is neither here nor there. I’m more interested in the most important question. Why are you still alive? Normally Dempsey is not that forgiving to people who try and cheat him.”
“I asked him that as well.”
“And…”
“And he told me…” I began until I realized that he hadn’t even blinked at the fact I had actually met with the crime lord. “Wait, you’re not the least bit surprised he met with me personally?”
Shrugging his shoulders Alexis replied, “It's not like I know all that much about him. I try not to get involved with that sort of person. But one of the things I do know is that there isn’t a single person in his organization that he hasn’t personally recruited. He is very hands on with his employees.”
“Now his meeting me actually makes sense.” I paused for a bit to allow the statement to sink in, but I eventually answered his earlier question. “To tell you the truth I don’t think he was being entirely honest with me. What he said was, well what he implied was, that he could use someone else like me on his payroll.”
Through a scowl Alexis asked, “He simply wanted another forger on his payroll?”
“That’s what he implied,” I answered. But after a moment I added my opinion of Dempsey’s so called reason. “But that doesn’t make sense to me.”
I would have continued but Alexis broke in. “Well, that’s because you don’t know enough for it to make sense. That man could do some dangerous things if he ever managed to get someone like you on his payroll.” He paused a moment to consider before going on. "But from what you're telling me he already has someone like you on his payroll. Now we just have to find a way to keep him from getting his wish with you.”
Shocked, I looked straight at Alexis and asked, “You’re going to help me?” But before he could answer the question, the gun that had been resting in my hands finally reverted back to its original form. Since I was unable to move my fingers, thanks to Alexis’ enforced paralysis, the pen fell from my grip and tumbled to the floor.
Looking from the falling pen to me, I could see Alexis’ eyes bulge as he bent down to examine the pen. “I knew you had forged that gun, but I had just assumed it had been forged from a toy." Shifting his shocked gaze from the pen back to me he asked, "You forged it out of a pen?” The incredulity was thick in his words.
“Impressed?” I asked through a proud smile.
“You do have lots of raw potential.” He replied as he stood up. He began to chew on his upper lip for a moment as he thought in silence. I could almost hear him trying to figure out what he was going to do with me. When his eyes finally locked back with mine he stared for a moment before declaring. “You are a very gifted young forger. The world is not ready for someone of your potential to wind up as Dempsey’s puppet.”
Even though I was afraid of what I thought his answer was going to be, I forced myself to ask my next question. “Not that I’m trying to sound ungrateful…”
And no sooner was that partial thought spoken than did he finish my question. “But why am I willing to help the boy who just took a shot at me?” I nodded in confirmation. He leaned in close and spoke as quietly as he could and yet allow me to hear what he said. “Who said you would want my help?”