Dancing With The Devil

Here is the third part in MY 'Unknown Man' series. Enjoy!

Dancing With The Devil


A short story by Hayden Gribble


9.15pm

Café Montague

Michelle Alison Simmons was waiting patiently for her partner to arrive. It wasn’t like Toby to be late. She hadn’t heard from him all day and this had her worried. Of course, being a guy he was probably just doing it for effect, trying to scare her a little and for her to reveal how much she cared for his well being when he did show up. Cheek, thought Michelle, she had played the game too long to be taken for an innocent fool like that. Her fringe of raven black hair bobbed in front of her forehead as her head collapsed into her cupped hands. She had been waiting for her man to return to her with information regarding the situation with Harry Seymour and his crumbling empire.

He had told her about the deal that had fallen through with his father, the Boss and that he and his business partner were meeting with the young man to sort the mess out once and for all. When she spoke to the man from GEMINI on the phone, and when he used the words ‘sort it out’ that could only mean one thing. Death. But for whom? Was he intentionally late or had something very bad happened during that meeting. On a business side of things it would be detrimental to the plans of the Big Chief if GEMINI had been wiped out, but not fatal. On a personal side, it could mean the end of blossoming relationship.

The girl looked at her watch again. 9.17. She sighed hard and looked around her at the other customers in the flash restaurant. Couples, wining and dining, some on dates, young and innocent with not so innocent designs for how the night might end. Then there were the older and wiser husband and wife pairings with their eyes full of hurt and deceit. How Michelle pitied them. Who’d want to end up like that?

‘I take it that this seat isn’t taken?’

Michelle jumped at the surprise guest at her table. She looked up at the figure that now stood in front of her, his hands clasped to the chair. The man was well built, in his early thirties and was dressed in a dark shirt and trousers, blending in to the night from which he had come. Michelle’s eyes met with his. Hers, dark green and soft, his, cold and puppy dog blue. His face was lined from years of tense exertions and it told her that this was a man that was not to be trusted.

‘Not at all’, she replied.
The unknown man then dragged the chair back, its hind legs screeching on the floor. He then sat on the chair dragging it forward, the screeching made Michelle wince. She half expected this mystery man to drag the chair elsewhere but he sat directly in front of her. He had maintained eye contact during his maneuver and sat starring at the girl in front of him.

She’s not as young as she looks, thought the unknown man. She must have been in her late twenties. She looked innocent enough but there was something under her skin that made the unknown man think that she had seen too much for her age.

‘Well, you certainly know how to make an entrance’, said Michelle. ‘Do you normally approach girls who sit by themselves in cafes?’
‘I try not to make a habit of it’, replied the man. He had barely blinked since he joined Michelle at her table for two.
‘Well, as you can see’, she continued, ‘someone has beaten you to the post, looks like you’ll have to find another lonely lady somewhere else’.
The unknown man put his hand in his left pocket of his trouser and took out a wallet. He opened it and placed in on the table, facing his companion. The drivers’ license showed through the clear plastic on the outside of the wallet, showing a picture of a handsome African face and the name Toby Smith. Michelle’s eyes grew hard; she gulped and looked into her companion’s eyes.

‘Something tells me he won’t be coming’, said the man, who held back a smirk.
‘How did he die?’ asked Michelle as she chewed on her cheek nervously.
‘Uncomfortably, funny really, I thought something like that would have made the papers by now. “Gang lord found dead” I’m surprised that you didn’t know, than again, maybe they couldn’t identify the body with no identification on his person’.
Michelle felt sick. The appetite she was building up throughout the day was now all but vanquished. She was sharing a table with the man who had killed her counterpart. The chance to build on that relationship had all but gone now too.

‘What are you doing here?’ The colour had washed from Michelle’s already pale features and she could barely bring herself to look at the murderer in front of her.
‘The same reason as you’, replied the unknown man. ‘I have been following the activities of all the crime syndicates in this country for the last two years. Along the way I have come across some of the very scum of this world and found myself here, the epicentre of the sewage that flows through the veins of our nation. As my research has continued, I have found out that all of the gangs, drug lords, pimps, fat cats and club owners are all run by the same person, I want some information and I want it now’.
Of course, it was all becoming clear to Michelle now. This was the man. The man without an identity. The man who had tailored his whole being to become ruthless, cold hearted and manic. He was the assassin she had been told to avoid.
‘Who is the Big Chief?’

Michelle chuckled, at first softly, then loud enough for the few neighbouring tables to hear. The unknown man knew what she was up to. She was making as much noise to draw the attention to them and alert people in the café of his presence. He looked around intently.
Michelle’s violent laughs turned into a sharp exhale. ‘For someone who has committed so much time to your obsession it must hurt that you still don’t have a clue’.
The unknown man was shocked. This girl had gone from feeling moved about her companion’s death to just as cold and hard as he was. Who was she?
‘You shoes are awfully small from where I’m sitting, you shouldn’t try playing with the big boys darling, and you might get burnt’.
Despite his threat, the unknown man did not see any weakness in her eyes.
‘Why were you meeting with GEMINI?’
‘Okay, since your homework isn’t up to scratch but you have shown your working out I’ll help you with the answers’, she relented. Anyway, what she was about to say wouldn’t damage her plans.
‘GEMINI are a corporation run by two brothers. The man who you killed and another. The star sign bonds them is obviously Gemini. One black, one white. One detached, one hard working. Together they began running a business of debt collectors in this city around thirty years ago’.
She paused taking a sip from her untouched red wine.

‘Around the same time, a man by the name of Neville Seymour, who ran a factory on Brambly Road, also began to collect money off those who were far more deserving than him. He also ran a club called Inferno, where after one in the morning after the public had gone home, it would turn into a brothel for his paying clients. Slowly he built an empire and got a big head in the process, making his workers and punters call him the Boss. The GEMINI twins noticed that he was beginning to step on their turf. A quarter of a century of blackmail and murder began, with far too many people getting caught in the crossfire’.
‘So, why did they decide to broker a deal? If there was no love lost between them then why were they trying to make a deal to unite?’ The man probed the girls face. She wasn’t telling any lies.
‘There was one encounter, about ten years ago, when both companies met for a battle in a warehouse. They were posing as football hooligans, so when the police found the mess that had been made it just looked like two firms had got over excited and done each other in. For GEMINI though, it was a disaster. Both of the firm’s leaders were killed. The Boss had taken the upper hand, but he was unaware that they had sons who were able to step into their Dad’s boots’.
She took another swig of her wine and licked her thick luscious lips before she started again. The waiter approached the table with two menus, but the unknown man waved him away like a wasp hovering over a picnic hamper.
‘The sons swore revenge on the Boss and spent half a decade ruining him. First they took away his factory, the backbone to his empire. The sons placed moles inside the company then the next thing, money was going missing. Within a matter of months, Inferno was closed due to a drugs bust, which led to the prostitution ring being found out which put the Boss in prison for a year. When he came out, he found out that his men had had their heads turned by GEMINI and his money was all but gone’.
‘So, he started to gamble to get his wealth back’, interrupted the unknown man.
Michelle nodded ‘As you probably know gambling wasn’t his strong point, breaking arms and people was.’
The unknown man agreed. ‘He played poker like it was a game of snap. No technique and not a clue’.
‘He was so far in debt that he started doing favours for those who he once owned’; Michelle was surprised at how little the man across the table from her knew. Surely he already knew what she was telling him?
‘The final insult was to sell his soul to GEMINI in exchange for their help on a big bank job’, she continued.
‘He also wanted to leave his son, Harry with a leg to stand on, although I’ve heard that his lifestyle was also a huge drain on his Dad’s finances’.
‘You’ve missed something out’, the unknown man pointed in the direction of the strong female. ‘He was scared of something, or someone. He wasn’t doing the job so that he could rebuild his empire, he was doing it so he had enough to start a new life somewhere else, what link does he have to the Big Chief?’
Michelle searched for an answer. ‘Maybe he owed them money?’
‘No, he had worked for the Big Chief in the past. I heard that he was somebody who did the dirty work for the big chief occasionally. I heard that he was a snitch too’.
‘Possibly, it was probably safer to obey the Big Chief to start with, only as time went on he became more tangled in the web and couldn’t get out’.
‘Joining GEMINI was degrading enough, being exposed as a grass, that’s worse than death’. Michelle then eyed her dark stranger up and began her assault.
‘Now its your turn’, she whispered. ‘I know who you are; you don’t scare me with all of this ambiguity and mystery. It was you who killed the Boss and now you have destroyed GEMINI too, was it worth it?’
‘Well, it led me to you’, the unknown man smiled. ‘What’s you link with GEMINI?
‘I was dating Toby until his accident’ she sighed.
‘Don’t take me for a fool. You know far too much to be just a trophy girlfriend. Your Michelle Alison Simmons, personal assistant to a politician called Sir Michael Houghton who is Chief Liaison with the Metropolitan Police, You are far more than just a girl with big tits and your up to your neck in it’.
‘You’ve noticed…maybe I shouldn’t have helped you with your homework’, retorted Michelle. ‘Have you been looking over other pupil’s shoulders?’
The unknown man was loosing his patience fast. ‘I know that your boss is up to his neck in this, one of the corrupt pigs whose benefiting from all of this mess. What is his connection to the Big Chief? No cheap shots and don’t flutter your eyelashes at me Hun, I’m immune’.
Michelle smiled and lent in towards the unknown man ‘Well, regardless to whether you are immune or not, you can’t touch me. Don’t think that blackmail will get you your answers. Sir Michael knows nothing of my part in all of this and it would be unwise to suggest it’. The unknown man’s blood began to boil. He wasn’t going to be made to keep silent over this.
‘I still don’t think you know what kind of danger you have got your pretty little head into’. He leaned forward too, hoping that she would retreat back. She didn’t.
‘Oh no, I don’t think you know what you are getting yourself into’, he was now so close to her that he could smell her last cigarette on her breath.
‘Besides, we wouldn’t want YOU to get hurt now would we?’
The unknown man could feel the rage beginning to flow through his being.
This web was becoming more and more tangled. If this lady had been one of the goons he had been hunting down she would now be dead. He had a gun in his jacket pocket and the thirst to use it was rising.

‘I’m giving you your last warning’, the unknown mans eyes were now filling with anger. Michelle knew that if she didn’t get out soon, he could do it. Her safety wasn’t completely guaranteed. After all, he had wiped out two pawns in the Big Chief’s chess set. He was cheating in this game, making illegal moves and now she knew what he looked like, the Big Chief could have him hunted down and wiped out. Nobody had crossed the Big Man yet so why should some cheap upstart want to do it now?

‘Either you tell me who the Big Chief is or I end your existence’. The unknown man glared at Michelle. Another drop of blood on his hands to wipe the city clean, he thought.
‘Okay, check’, Michelle was still untried by the threats of the killer opposite her.
‘The Big Chief has been at the top of the tree for decades. He controls everything, just like you said. But you do not understand just how deeply rooted he is in the make up of this city. The Big Chief is the ruler of every single living soul. His empire controls the Government, the hospitals, the churches, the bankers, the liars, the cheaters and every innocent person who lives here. Nobody is safe once the Big Chief is crossed. That’s why your friend the Boss was living in fear. He had unfinished business with the Big Man and his punishment was death’.
A nasty thought occurred to the unknown man. Was that the reason why he had been sent to kill that vile little man? He knew there was something up when was handed the assignment. Why kill him and not question him. Damn! He’d been played for a fool.
Michelle saw his highly-strung machismo ebb away. She’d hit a nerve. The light had been turned on in his head.
‘Don’t you see? You have been working for him all this time! He knows who you are and now we know your motives we can deal with you in the matter with which you have grown accustomed’.
The unknown man was suddenly beginning to feel very small. He knew he couldn’t trust anyone, but his superior? Surely not. Maybe he had been allowed to get rid of GEMINI and the Boss as a way to highlight his own existence. If it was true, then they have been watching him for months and they knew his every move. He had to get out of here but his body was stiff, stunned by the revelation.
‘I think we’re done here’, said Michelle as she knocked back the last couple of swigs of her wine. She gathered her things, leaving a ten-pound note resting on her place mat to pay for her drink. As she went to get up she looked at her companion. His mind was lost in a sea of thought. The plan had worked.
‘Don’t follow me, I really don’t recommend it’, whispered Michelle into his ear as she walked the few metres to the door which enveloped onto the dark street of the city.

The unknown man shook his thoughts from his head and turned around to see the girl leaving the café. He sprung out of his seat and went to pursue her through the night. As he walked through the sporadic crowd of people he kept her in his eye line, walking at a pace just a couple of metres away. All the while his head was swimming with the thoughts of doubt that this strong girl had put in his head. Had she been lying? Surely the Big Chief didn’t know who he was? If he did then there was only one person he could be. This was serious. The unknown man’s life, indeed the mystery he had sworn to keep surrounding himself, was in danger. First though he had to stop Michelle.

As she walked down the street, Michelle knew that she was being followed. She laughed to herself. Bless him; he just doesn’t know when to give up. She slowed her pace down, allowing her pursuer to catch up with her. There was one surprise that she had left up her sleeve. To her right, there was an alley that she could lure him down.

The unknown man gained a few feet on his prey. He noticed her wheel down an alleyway. Typical. She must have a gang of goons down there just ready to pounce on him. He tensed his body and prepared himself for a fistfight. He had just entered the alley when…

WHACK!

Pain shot across the back of his head. The unknown man fell to the floor, his eyesight blurring at the same time as a cracking headache began to blanket his judgment. Fighting the comfort of unconsciousness, he staggered to try and regain his balance, only to be met by another crack on his cranium. This time it was a foot, which forced itself into his face. He could feel the pain burn his nose maybe, he thought, it was broken. As blood began to seep from a fresh wound in his forehead and his body fell heavily to the floor, he could just make out the figure of a woman in front of him, then he fell face down in the muddy alley, unable to stay conscious.

Michelle breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Told you’, she quipped as she put the knuckle-duster back in her handbag, allowing herself to smile smugly at the fact that she had just beaten up one of the most dangerous men in the city. The Big Chief would be proud. Those self defense classes he made her attend had come in very handy. She left the unknown man in the alley, walking towards a car that was conveniently parked about ten yards down the road. Inside there were two people. A driver and a passenger. She opted for the back seat and got in, the features of her accomplices obscured by the blacked out windows. No words were exchanged as she clambered into the car and the vehicle started up and drove off into the night.

A few hours later, the unknown man awoke with a searing headache and a bump on the back and front of his head. The wound that was just above his left eye had solidified and gingerly he picked himself up of the dirty alley. He caressed the bump on the back of his head as his eyesight returned to sharp focus. The girl? It couldn’t have been? If it was, he thought to himself, he couldn’t tell his superior about this. The embarrassment would be excruciating. His superior! Suddenly he remembered what Michelle had told him. He needed to get to a phone and quick. After tonight, nothing and nobody could be trusted. He had to know, he had to make sure. Had he been dancing with the devil all this time? The unknown man straightened himself up and lurched out of the alley onto the street. This, had gone far enough.