The Salvation Shark, Chapter 26

Anton

I’m still flyin’ high when I leave the bimbo in the motel room and go out to the balcony. Mephis is there waiting for me, perched like a hawk on the flaky-white metal railing. Mephis and Bub are brothers, but look nothing alike. Bub is short and roundish. He moves in a shuffling manner and seems constantly unsure of himself.

Mephis is more like me, tall and impeccably dressed, though his suits are not nearly as expensive. He is a bit more thrifty when it comes to clothing. Sometimes, I tease him about buying his suits at the Salvation Army. His demeanor is not much better. He is like an actor filling a role, but slightly off-point with his rendition. He can say all the lines, and do all the motions, but he still can’t make the character believable.

What Mephis knows is guns. He has always been drawn to them, always known every subtle nuance of one firearm over another. I’ve heard him go on for hours about specific situations when one will be better than another. Me, I just know what I want, and Mephis knows which will provide that for me.

Holstered in his armpit right now, is a Glock 31C. It’s a magnificent weapon of .357 caliber, an easy equal to the Magnum. It is 7.32 inches in length and stands 5.43 inches tall. His has a magazine capable of carrying seventeen shots, and weighs 9.87 ounces. The weapon has two exhaust vents on the top of the barrel to compensate for the recoil, making shots far more accurate. The frame of the gun is made from a stronger-than-steel synthetic polymer that can be effective anywhere between negative-forty degrees all the way to one-hundred-and-fifty degrees. Its metal components have a Tenifer finish, making them virtually as hard a diamond and with more corrosion resistance than stainless steel. Just thinking of the weapon gives me an erection.

He slides off the railing and stands before me. His slim, dark eyes work me over from alligator loafers to black suit jacket. “We are all in place,” he whispers. “He is unaware of us.”

I smile wickedly. “Certainly took you long enough.”

“They hid him well,” he hisses. “Even with the name and an approximate location, he was difficult to find.” He shakes his head. “I practically had to do a house-to-house search.” He backs up a step and looks over the railing. He hates it when I criticize him.

“I never had a doubt you would find him,” I chuckle. “It was just a matter of how close you would cut it.”

“How close is Martin?” Mephis hisses.

I laugh again. “I was barely a step ahead of him tonight, but he won't find me unless he gets very lucky.”

“He consumed Abraxas. Martin is not human any longer.”

I cross my arms on my chest and shake my head. “I thought it would be so. It doesn't matter. They can keep making more, and we can keep killing them. It won't matter in the least.” I clap him on the shoulder. “They've been at this too long I don’t count on it though. They are far too set in their ways to deviate from the course. Even if their plan has been failing them from the beginning, they aren’t willing to change it.”

“Can you be so sure of that?” he asks. Of all my employees, Mephis is the only one who will second-guess me to my face. This goes almost hand-in-hand with him being the only one I truly trust. I know the others whisper when I’m not looking, constant tongues wagging, asking, asking, asking if I’m doing the right thing, each offering the suggestion that they might be able to do it better, but none of them with a spine thick enough to suggest it to me. Mephis is different, committed to seeing my cause fulfilled. Mephis’s only preoccupation is accomplishing that which I deem important. He only questions me when he thinks there may be a more efficient way of attaining my goals. When it comes to rethinking a strategy, it is only Mephis who I will give consideration, and it is only Mephis who has ever offered a better solution to one I have proposed. “They have put a lot of effort into tricking us, and hiding this one, can we be really sure that they won’t change their plan of action. They have never before brought in an outsider.”

I scowl and look out over the parking lot. “That is only because they realize they don’t know what it’s like here. It’s not a new strategy, just an attempt to bolster the old strategy. Someone there realized they have no clue what it’s like here. They put him here amongst the people, tried to make him one of them, but our enemies know nothing of this place. They leave their boy defenseless in the wild, making it only a matter of time before we find him and pick him off.”

I look at Mephis over my shoulder. “This is no more than a lame attempt to put some fear into us. Our enemies think that if they have one of the commoners on their side, they will be able to know what we are thinking. They picked one that thinks he knows how I operate, they picked one that thinks he knows what is inside my head, but one of them could never be on par with me. He has only achieved what he has achieved because I led him along for sport. I knew they were watching, so I gave him tidbits. They think they have an insider’s advantage with Agent Martin, but they really have no more than I have given them.” I caress Mephis’s cheek and lay the hand on his shoulder. “That is how we stay ahead of the game. They can never have an advantage unless we allow them to have it, then build it up, let them take too much confidence in it. I’ve had a feeling they would try this for some time now, so I’ve nurtured the thought, building up the ones I thought they would pick, and finally, when the idea came to them, they went right for the one I had provided.”

Mephis’s eyes seem to glow in the semi-dark. “Martin is smart though, he could provide them with that bit of insight they need.”

I sigh and lick my teeth while my mouth is still open. “Martin is no threat to us, if anything, he is an aide.” He’s far too serious, doesn’t have enough fun with his job.“The girl is proving hard to crack, but I have a few days left to work on her. "I shake my head. “She’s all shaken up. Boo hoo, he saw her first person die. You don’t need to worry about her though, she’s my concern. If we can’t get her to perform, we can get anyone to do it. Who is up north right now? Who is watching him?”

“Bub.”

My smile diminishes. “Mephis, my dear friend, I will feel more comfortable when I know you are back in charge of the operation, and that there won’t be some grand fuck-up to give back the ball. Please don’t leave me being nervous too long.”

“I’ll be back there in the morning,” he whispers and turns.

“Very good,” I say and go back into the motel room. The girl is curled up on the bed. She isn’t crying right now, but her face is red and her eyes are puffy. The television is on, but she’s not watching it. There is another report about her presumed stomach illness and the possible cancellation of the rest of the tour. “They are pretty desperate to find you and get you back on stage,” I say. “If they have to cancel, just think of how much money they lose.” I sit on the bed next to her. “I bet they haven’t even notified the FBI.” I shake my head. “You’re nothing to them but ever-increasing dollar signs. You are album sales, single sales, video sales, lunch boxes, T-shirts, dolls, pictures. I bet every one of them have thought of those things, but not one of them have thought of your personal safety. I wonder if they have even told your parents yet.”

“Please stop,” she whimpers. “Why are you torturing me like this?

I shake my head. “Torturing you? No. I’m teaching you. I’m showing you the real world. It has been hidden from you to keep you ignorant and complacent. If they tell you the world is just hunky-dory, and that you are the center of the Universe, then you will keep up your song-and-dance routine, and keep their cash-flow rolling. They are sharks smelling the blood flowing from between your legs, and they are handing you candy to keep you from noticing it.” I put my hand on her arm. “The world isn’t a good place.”

She shrugs my hand away. I remove my suit jacket and head into the bathroom. The night is still young, still plenty of time to go out on the town. I yell out the door, “Come on Becki-boo, time to party! Let’s hit the town!” I take a quick shower. I hate using the soaps and shampoos in motels. Normally, I have a suit-case full of soaps, body-scrubs, masks, shampoos, and the lot. Instead, I’m left to use this awful stuff that leaves your skin dry and your hair feeling dirtier than when you got in. I wash my body rinse myself with water that smells faintly of sulphur, and then dry off with a tiny, scratchy towel.

I had considered getting a good hotel tonight, but I figured an army of investigators would be swarming them. More importantly, Martin would be searching them. By now, he knows where we stayed last night. He knows how much I hate to play it cheap. He knows that the uncomfortable bed that a man with three kids fucked a prostitute in three hours before I took the room will keep me up all night. He knows that if I could get the penthouse suite of the best hotel in town, I would gladly do it. Agent Martin knows all of these things, and therefore, I had to stay here.

He is desperate to get me now, desperate to get this girl out of my hands. He doesn’t know what I have in store for her, and that makes him all the more nervous. He has a list of so many of my contacts, and I’m sure he is shaking them down for any kind of information on where I am going. I have to my advantage that he doesn’t know who I’m looking for. He can’t get there ahead of me, all he can do is follow me and hope to catch me before I’m done.

I get dressed quickly, comb and gel my hair and go back into the main room. Becki is still curled up on the bed. Every couple seconds, her body heaves with a muted sob. “Does this mean you don’t want to go out with me?” I ask. “Come on, there are at least two hours before the bars close. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have ID, they let girls in no matter how young they look.” I let the statement linger. I wouldn’t mind fucking her right now, but it would probably be detrimental to my eventual plans. I’m sure I can find someone. “I take it I’m going alone.” I slip on my alligator loafers and head out the door.


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