Cast-Iron Chris: November 2008 Archives

The sexy little receptionist outside of Gillingham's office hit the page button as soon as Simon stepped off the elevator.

"You can go right in, Mr. Refing," said the tart in a high pitched voice.

Gillingham sat behind his desk hunched over, through the window behind him Simon noticed the sad glooming darkness of the afternoon sky.

"Sit down, Mr. Refing," ordered Gillingham.

Simon sat, "Mr. Gillingham...." He started to explain.

"Save it. Mr. Refing I want you to tell me exactly what you think this organization does."

"We do what we can to sway the natural order of things in our favor to turn the greatest profit, sir."

"No! Mr. Refing! I want you to tell me what YOU think this organization does, not what I told you it does!"

"Evil things, sir. I think you have an agenda that is purely evil."

"Eh? You do, do you? And how do you feel about that?"

"Honestly, sir, I don't care. In the end good and evil are always going to be overshadowed by money and profit and gain. If a world leader has the opportunity to make more money or gain something he will take it, regardless if the outcome is good or bad."

"I can see your perspective. How did you come up with my true intentions?"

"I've witnessed two intentional demonic possessing. Intentional cause they were men that worked for you.

I witnessed another that could've been on accident but was located at a location where a particularly evil deed took place. And I ain't even gonna mention all the other weird shit I've seen, sir."

"Well, Simon, you are correct. And you can breathe a little bit easier when I say the reason I brought you hear today was to tell you the truth so that you can do a better job for me. I think that if you know more about the Syndicate then you will do a better job for me. The Lessox Vernon job was practically done when I handed it to you. All you needed to do was accompany Mr. Fook to place the final nail in Mr. Vernon's coffin. However, Mr. Vernon had a wild card. He allowed himself to be possessed by a Demon who had information for me. Thus Mr. Vernon increased his value to me and saved his life at least for a few minutes more. But you killed him before the information could be retrieved thus buying you're life a few minutes less, do you understand?"

"The Syndicate of the Darkening Sun's name is literal."

"Now you get it. We are a cog to a larger machine that is working to execute this planet. We are fairly low in the totem pole of apocalypse, make sure people do bad things, and do bad things ourselves if you prefer to have it put bluntly."

Simon's eyes were locked onto Gillingham as he spoke. His gaze was so sharp if something crossed between him and Gillingham it would have been cut in two. His breathing did not steady.

"Mr. Refing, I'm sorry but I will be need you to leave your gun in this office."

"Excuse me?"

"You know better than to expect me to repeat myself. I cannot take away your rank as Gun Bearer but I can take away your gun and that is good enough for me. You will report to the Damsel as a bouncer. You will continue to receive your same pay but will not take part in any jobs hence forth. Since you seem to be hard of hearing I will ask, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir."

"Mr. Refing do not look at this as being disarmed, I am merely changing your weapons. You now have more knowledge on the Syndicate than any other Gun Bearer. You're welcome."

When Simon came back from the bathroom he reached for a bottle of Vodka on his nightstand, but at the last second stopped himself. No, I've gotta try at this, thought Simon, I gotta make this work. He looked out of the window again and took a deep breath. He took another look at the time on his cell phone. He hit the TALK button, which brought up a screen of recent calls. He selected the last call he made. His thumb hovered over the TALK button for a brief second. Simon sighed again before hitting the button. The screen read "Dialing Kitten's Cell." The phone rang and rang and rang. Simon's finger's squeezed the phone.

"Hey this is Kitten Kaboodle! I can't get to the phone, so leave me a message. Unless you're a stalker or a bitch who thinks I slept witchur man, than you can go fuck yourself!" said the voicemail message, which Simon gritted his teeth through.

Simon quickly unclenched, "Hey baby, I haven't heard from you in a while I'm just calling to make sure you're okay. If you need anything call me or one of the girls at the club, okay? Bye." Unusual to say the least, thought Simon. For the last two months I woke up every fucking morning to one of her cutesy little texts. Damn I loved those texts. Fuck I hope she hasn't slid back into the pills again. And I really fucking hope it doesn't have anything to do with that Vasquez job. I don't think I can handle something like that, not if I want to keep my act clean and keep my head on my shoulders.

A quick shower and a fresh suit moved Simon's day along but it didn't make him feel any better. Just as he was about to walk out the door his cell phone started buzzing.

God let this be Kitten, he thought as he grabbed for the phone. He looked at the display and his heart sunk. He immediately regretted his prayer. I should have said 'God let it be anyone but him!'

"Yes, Mr. Gillingham?" Simon asked as he pressed TALK on the phone.

"Simon Refing, you dumbass motherfucker!" yelled Gillingham through the receiver.

Simon flinched and took the phone off of his ear.

"Sir?"

"You killed Lessox Vernon!"

"Boss, I know you wanted things to go down differently with the ritual and everything but I got the job done, right?"

"Wrong you stupid prick! Lee Fook was in charge of that job and you ran right over him and killed a potential lead!" 

"Lead? Boss, listen..."

"No, you listen motherfucker! I got you a job with Fook because I thought you could handle something a bit more peaceful and calm, but now I see that anything that involves a fucking gun mean, in the end, no matter what, you're gonna fire the fucking thing into someone's fucking head."

"Boss, I'm sorry, I don't understand."

"You know what you're problem is Refing? It ain't that you don't understand it's that you don't think further than the next step it takes you to get somewhere."

"Boss..."

"Dammit, Refing. I want you in my office in twenty minutes!"

The phone went dead as soon as Gillingham finished his order. Simon gripped the phone tight and pressed it to his forehead as he squeezed his eyes tight.

Headed down the stairs to the Lincoln Jacquie thought to himself, I have to go back there and check it out. I won't be able to think about anything else today unless I go back there first thing and have a look. I need to see it in the daylight, see if there are any clues. He got in the Lincoln cranked it on and drives away.

How did she do it? A remote controlling some kind of giant electromagnet might have done it. LBD's gun did drop to the floor, and LBD would never willingly let that happen. But then why weren't we glued to the ground too, and how much metal could we have had on us, really? Fuck I just need to get back there and have a look.

Jacquie's Lincoln crept up to the warehouse slowly. First he looked straight ahead trying to catch anyone who might be waiting for an ambush. Then he moved his eyes to the skies to see if anyone was up there somehow flying or otherwise. Nothing. No wires or trick mirrors either. The Lincoln rolled into the same spot it occupied the night before. Jacquie got out and headed inside. He was cautious, each step was straight and deliberate and only after he glanced around twice. He rested his hand on his gun inside his coat as he entered the warehouse. Once it was clear he put it back at his side.

Jacquie walked over to the table and stood one foot step's length behind the exact spot where he stood the night before. Nothing. He stood exactly where LBD stood. Nothing. He stood on the exact spot he was in last night. Still nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Fuck! None of this makes sense. Maybe it does and I'm just not getting it. Maybe I really know whats going on and I'm just not letting myself believe it.

The last place to look was the roof. Just as cautious as he had been before, Jacquie climbed the stairwell and climbed out onto the roof the same way he had before. He peaked out on the roof and then suddenly had an idea. He rushed back down the ladder. Maybe after I saw them head to the roof, but before I actually saw them on the roof they gathered some kind of base jumping supplies and put them on as they headed for the roof. Jacquie ran across the warehouse floor over to the fire escape where they made it to the roof. The fire escape turned out to be only a few feet wide and considerably unstable. They couldn't have, there was no way for them to do all of that in that short amount of time on such an unstable base. Fuck!

Jacquie climbed out onto the roof. The bite of the wind was cold on his nose. He knew there were no clues left behind. His gut felt heavy. Seeing what he already knew didn't make him feel any better, it made him feel worse. It all comes back to the Syndicate. The Syndicate of the Darkening Sun. Judging by this morning I'd say we had a win last night, but that isn't true. Oh fuck, it's just a name. It doesn't mean anything really, fuck what Lucius Martin thinks. It's just a scary name...still. It doesn't change the fact that weird shit has been piling up lately. Old Salty being possessed by something, Austin taken away by avengers in the night, what the fuck is going on. I don't even have Simon to bounce ideas off of, LBD is alright. He seems like someone I can trust eventually. I thought being in the dark about the Syndicate's real agenda would be a good thing, but I think it's eating me up inside. I know it is if shit keeps happening like last night. I know finding out the truth won't change anything. I'll still have to be a Gun Bearer, like it or not, but fuck it has to be better than this. Better than this nausea.

The second the strangers made their presence known Jacquie and LBD were immediately immobilized. LBD's faithful .44 Magnum fell from his hand; however his arm remained locked out in front of him. Jacquie was frozen in place, staring straight at a very frightened Austin Tellamore.

"Austin, dear," said the short haired woman in the white pants suit, "step away from these men." She approached Austin, put her hands on his shoulders, and moved him out of Jacquie's sight.

Jacquie winced with pain. Tears dripped down his cheeks. His lips parted slowly, and then his teeth followed, "Stop!" The effort for just one word seemed exhausting. He moved his eyes slowly. The woman seemed stunned, her face was bright and her eyes were wide. Jacquie looked at the dark man who seemed to blend in with the background almost perfectly. He also looked shocked.

The woman suddenly whipped out her hand and Jacquie flinched in fear that she had a gun. He opened his eyes to see that her hand was empty. Her fingers were spread apart wide, and though Jacquie couldn't see anything he could feel the pressure on his flesh become heavier.

Despite the pain the woman was somehow inflicting Jacquie continued to force his body to move. He stretched his neck to the left and then back to the right.

The woman was again next to Austin, holding his hand. Her and her partner shared a brief glance and then shot for the exit behind them. Jacquie blinked and they were gone. He screamed at his limbs to wake up and gradually they did. After a few seconds more his body was his own again. He looked back at LBD, who looked like a mannequin except for his eyes. His eyes seemed to tell Jacquie to go after them. Jacquie's feet did the rest. 

Jacquie went through the same door that Austin and his friends used but it wasn't an exit like he thought. The door led to a stairwell. Jacquie ascended the stairs as quickly as he could. Every other floor on the stairwell had two windows and every one of them was broken, some had plastic trying to cover them up but whenever the wind blew they danced and waved as if they were alive.

At the top of the stairwell Jacquie saw the party he was chasing at the other end of the long factory floor. They didn't notice him as they climbed out of a window and onto a fire escape heading for the room. Jacquie headed after them but quickly noticed a metal ladder on the wall that lead to a hatch in the ceiling.

Jacquie reached the roof just as Austin and his two lifesavers made it to the edge of the building. They were running full speed for the end of the building.

"Wait!" Jacquie shouted out.

Austin turned around to catch Jacquie's eye but the other two didn't even notice. The big black man grabbed Austin by the collar, and the two strangers flew off the roof and out into the darkness of the night.

Austin had a terrified look on his face that will forever be scratched into Jacquie's brain.

The lights flipped back on. Lee Fook stood over an unconscious Lessox Vernon. Lee's hands were inside of his jacket sleeves in a peaceful manner. Simon's eyes were wide. He looked at the gun in his hand as if he didn't know how it got there. He put it away and walked over to Lessox.

"What do we do with him?" Simon asked.

"You tie him up and then wake him," replied Lee.

A swift smack to the left cheek was enough to send Lessox back to the land of the living. Lessox was tied to a rolling chair with a few electric wires found around the office: lamp cord, computer cord, T.V. cord, even the cord connecting the mouse to the computer. Lee sat in a butterfly style on the desk behind Lessox, while Simon hovered over.

"Do you know why you're hear Lessox?" Lee asked from behind.

Lessox didn't say anything. He glared at Simon.

"Answer him, Mr. Vernon," commanded Simon as he began to pace the room.

Lessox kept his mouth shut tight. His eyes followed Simon as he moved.

"Answer him DAMMIT!" Simon yelled as he lunged forward.

Lessox didn't move, he didn't as so much as blink at Simon's near attack.

"SIMON!" Lee yelled back, "that won't be necessary. Lessox does not need to participate in order for the cleansing ritual to take place. He merely needs to be present." Lee began to hum to himself and make a clicking sound with the back of his throat.

"You're making a big mistake," said Lessox.

"What was that?" asked Lee. Simon moved toward Lessox.

"You two are making a big mistake," Lessox said, his voice was flat, unflinching, and calm.

"You've been stealing money, Lessox. You're the one who made the mistake."

"Lessox fixed his mistake by letting me in," said the monotone voice.

Simon's ears became hot as he held his breathe.

Lee stood up on the desk and backed away.

"Lessox let you in? Who are you?"

"A friend of Mr. Gillingham's, you'll want to untie me now. If you do, I promise only your lives will be lost."

Lee moved toward the man in the chair. He pulled his shades down low so he could see Lessox more clearly.

"Lee get the fuck away from him," Simon said. Lee looked up and Simon's gun was out and pointed at Lessox.

"Simon wait!"

"Let me go now, or everyone you care about will die along with you. The both of you."

"Fuck you! No one threatens me and mine! Especially some fucked up creeper tied to a chair!"

Blam, Blam, Blam.

"Lee, finish the ritual as best you could."

"Oh-okay, Simon, but I must say, you've made a serious mistake."

"Whatever, we got assigned to do a job. I did the job. End of story."

When the two Gun Bearers entered the warehouse they saw a dim florescent light that they couldn't see from outside of the warehouse. Underneath the light was a thin, twitchy little man with a horse shoe bald spot surrounded by bright blonde hair. Jacquie and LBD both had only ever saw Austin Tellamore's black and white profile picture. Jacquie immediately thought that he looked odd. LBD brushed his left arm up against his gun in its holster, a nervous tick of his own.

The Gun Bearers looked at each other and continued advancing toward Austin. Both of Austin's hands were out on the table with the palms facing up, this was S.O.P. for all Syndicate drop offs and pickups. The Syndicate men stopped two arm lengths away from the table. LBD stared at Austin. Jacquie looked around the warehouse. Though it was dark, the little bit of light had helped his eyes adjust.

"Mr. Tellamore," started Jacquie, "thank you for agreeing to meet with us. My name is Mr. Bloom and this is Mister..." right then Jacquie realized that he had no idea how to introduce his partner with the peculiar name.

"...Mr. Long Barrel Darrel," said LBD.

"Mr. Long Barrel Darrel," Jacquie repeated with a quick glance at LBD.

"G-g-guys," interrupted Austin, "I've got something to show you."

The Gun Bearers both stepped back in unison. LBD's right hand flicked toward his left breast but relaxed. Jacquie's eyes quickly reassessed the room through his thick glasses.

"Mr. Tellamore, for your own safety, keep your fucking hands on the table," announced Jacquie, "what do you have underneath the table? It looks like a briefcase."

"Y-y-yes, can I get it, p-p-please?"

"Hold on," said Jacquie, "Long Barrel..."

Before Jacquie could say "Darrel" LBD had drawn his enormous .44 Magnum, pointed it at Austin's head, and cocked it.

Austin's hands shot up in the sky so fast it looked like he was a football sports fan.

"Easy there, LBD," said Jacquie, "Alright Mr. Tellamore, slowly, remove the case under the table."

Austin did as he was told. He bent down and came back up with a dark red case. He looked back at Jacquie, while trying to ignore the gun in LBD's steady hand. Jacquie nodded. Austin opened the suitcase and turned it around so the boys could see. Jacquie's eyes widened for what was in front of him, a suitcase containing stacks of 1,000 dollars. There were two rows and five columns, and they were two stacks deep.

"All twenty thousand dollars?" Jacquie asked almost in a gasp.

"Yes," said Austin in a calm voice as if he had just expunged himself.

Jacquie could feel LBD's eyes on the back of his head. He turned and saw LBD looking at him from over the aviator sunglasses on his face. Jacquie could tell what LBD was thinking: just a few minutes ago Jacquie explained that their purpose was not to retrieve money from Austin but really to always keep him in the Syndicate's debt forever. The briefcase in front of them just made their assignment impossible.

"15,000 dollars," Jacquie said in a still and steady voice.

"W-w-what?" asked Austin.

"Interest," said Jacquie, "better yet thank of it as insurance. You pay another 15,000 now, because you really don't know what could happen to you tomorrow."

Long Barrel Darrel's hand staggered, he knew that Jacquie was improvising.

"That is absurd!" said a sudden voice in the shadows.

LBD's hand snapped awake moving all around in the dark. Jacquie's gun was out before his foot landed to take a step back.

Out from the shadows came a woman in a white pants suit with short yellow hair, behind her followed a large black man in a navy blue suit. Jacquie glanced at Austin, neither of them knew it but at that exact second they both had the same thought.

"Fuck."

"You think you are the first person to be in the middle of his job and say those words?"

"I don't give a fuck if every motherfucker in the world at one time or another has said their job fucking sucks, mine fucking sucks right, fucking, now."

"Stop complaining."

"Do you even need my help right now?"

"No."

"Fuarghuhuck!"

"Whenever you are done whining, I would like the chance to explain what it is I am doing here."

"Ya already told me. Ya gotta cleanse the Syndicate of killing one of their people."

"Yes but do you know why and how?"

Simon didn't say anything he just stared at the wind chimes Lee took out of a duffle bag. They were perfectly straight, no tangles.

"Gillingham believes that at its core the Syndicate is working for a higher power, and therefore all its parts are working for a higher power. If we take away one of those parts we must prove that it is still working for the greater good."

"I have no idea how the Syndicate could be working for the greater good, but whatever ya say Fook."

"Yes, well, maybe it is not our place to know things of that high up. In any case I merely try to ease the unrest that is caused whenever a Gun Bearer kills another Gun Bearer."

"Are you the only Executioner?"

"As far as I know, but I suspect not."

"How come?"

"Well," Lee paused, "to answer your questions is really to ask one of the great questions of our creation, 'who is supposed to kill me?'"

Simon was stunned. His eyes grew wide and his limbs became ridged. He stood in the center of the office, on the carpet, while Lee hung up wind chimes and other decorations. Lee had opened his eyes to a question he never thought to ask before. It was as if he were looking in the dictionary for a word he didn't know how to spell or even what the first letter was. In Simon's mind the question opened a door that revealed a hallway of doors. The doors were black, the knobs were crystal, and there were no locks. They were answers, ready to be revealed whenever Simon was, but Simon was most definitely not ready.

Simon shook his head clear and suddenly a key could be heard turning in the office door lock.

Lee whispered, "show time."

After a few more minutes the passenger door finally popped open and a man taller and skinnier than Jacquie climbed inside. "Hey how ya doin'? I'm Long Barrel Darrel!" He reached across the car and extended his hand. Jacquie shook it.

"I'm Jacqueline Bloom. You can call me Jacquie. Can I call you Darrel for short?"

"Ain't nothing short about me, man! You can call me LBD if ya wont to though, that's alright." LBD wore mirrored aviator glasses and a mustache that would have made Burt Reynolds envious.

Jacquie started the car.

"So how'd you get into the Syndicate?" LBD asked.

Jacquie hid his wide eyes behind his glasses, "LBD, we don't really discuss how we got involved with the Syndicate. Everyone has their own story and sometimes it's best not to talk about it."

"Oh sorry, man. Well I don't mind talking about mine. I wanted in. I just got Gun Bearer status and boy am I fucking psyched!"

Jacquie noticed right away that LBD spoke fast and frantic. He could tell that LBD was trying to remain calm but if a break in their conversation lasted too long than he started to fidget around. Jacquie also noticed a nervous tick LBD had; he would bring his left elbow in toward his ribs and squeeze it a little. "You alright, LBD?"

"Me? Fine. Just excited."

"I've noticed n the short time we've been in the car that you don't settle down much."

Long Barrel Darrel looked around a little embarrassed. Then he caught himself in the middle of his nervous tick. He looked down and then back up again, "Oh this, yeah I got this thing. I guess you call it obsessive compulsive. See I keep my gun in my arm holster." Just as LBD mentioned his gun he pulled it out from its hiding spot underneath his left arm. It was a massive gun. Jacquie had never seen a revolver as big as the one in LBD's hand. "It's a .44 Magnum revolver with custom eleven inch barrel. It's my pride and joy. Getting to shoot this mother fucker is the reason I wanted to be a Gun Bearer."

"I guess that's why you're Long Barrel Darrel."

"Kinda yeah. I mean, I got a serious love for this gun and any fucking handheld with a long barrel. This sonuvabitch sounds like a cannon when it goes off. And accurate? I could carve a Thanksgiving turkey from a hundred yards away. This thing is like having two dicks, ya know what I'm saying? So no this isn't why they call me Long Barrel Darrel," said LBD right before he laughed and slapped Jacquie on the back.

Jacquie smiled and shook his head as they continued driving down the road.