Fate Deal

Here is part four of the unknown man series

Fate Deal

A short story by Hayden Gribble

The scrape of dry branches swished across the unknown man’s body as he hurtled through the wood. Sweat dripping down his face, and the sunshine piercing the trees above him, he could feel the hot stinging pain throb in his rib cage and the blood seep through the open wound in his left leg. He was limping, but even with an injury he was still fast enough to keep his hunters at bay. With a flashing glance he could make out the outlines of three bodies pursuing him, undeterred by the trouble the unknown man had caused them in the past hour and spurred on by the fight he had put up. It wasn’t the men who were the main problem he thought. He could get away from them. Oh sure, the injuries he had sustained were enough to stop any normal man, but the unknown man was not a normal person. He had taught himself to manipulate pain and turn it into a positive, something which he could block out and harness as a target to fix as soon as he was out of his predicament. The real problem for him was the dogs that they had released off their leashes that were gaining on him.

Over the sounds of his own breath becoming heavier he could hear the snarling jaws of the hounds drawing nearer. His own pace had dropped a little and the uneven ground in the wood made for even more agony on his wounded leg. The unknown man gritted his teeth as the concentration on harnessing his uncomfortable state began to slip under the stress of this new distraction. On he went, his sprint becoming a limp and the red-hot touch of pain drawing him ever nearer to a full stop. The woods were beginning to thin out as he dragged his battling body through the last few feet of trees. The barking was closer than it had been before and the unknown mans resilience had finally given away. After nearly two miles, the chase was over.

As he fell to the floor, crying out in agony, the unknown man resisted caressing his wounds. Doing that would only make the pain worse and force him to give in. Instead, he looked up, desperately looking for something that would help him out of his situation. His vision hazy, he scanned his surroundings yet never forgot the sound of the dogs that were approaching him. There was a little shack, which was about half a mile to his right and it was just hidden away from the clearing. Thank god, he thought. He knew that if he could just shoulder the agony for a little while longer he could reach it. But first, he had to deal with his latest friends.

He turned onto his back, facing the wolf-like dogs that were nearly on top of him. They were less than ten seconds away. He checked that he still had his gun in his tattered jacket pocket. Seven seconds. He snapped the gun back and saw that he only had one bullet remaining. Four seconds. He looked up. Two dogs, drooling and barking at their fallen meal. One might be enough, thought the unknown man. The canine duo sprang up through the air and descended on their bleeding prey.

BANG!

The first hound fell to the ground, yelping and stricken by the bullet, which had penetrated its body. The other pounced on the unknown man and sunk its slobbery teeth into his arm. Screaming in agony, the unknown man leapt to his feet and the dogs weight began to pull down on where it had bitten him. There it dangled, gnawing at his limb as he desperately tried to shake it off. Its teeth puncturing his skin and muscle, the hound snarled at its victim, starring into his tortured eyes. The agony was blinding him. Then, as if from nowhere, all of the strength left in his battered, bleeding body mustered the dog in the air and with a mighty swoop, the unknown man swatted the mutt through the air and into a nearby tree, knocking it unconscious. His teeth had ripped a mighty chunk out of his flesh and they drag as the hound vacated the limb. The unknown man staggered out into the clearing, holding his bleeding frame up as best as he could. He looked back, the dog he had shot was only wounded and still alive and the other lay prostate on the leaf strewn dirt.

Crimson droplets began to seep quicker out of his leg and arm but still, he carried on, pushing his tortured body ever closer to the shack. The men who were pursuing him had obviously stopped for breath; thinking that they’re dogs would have him. Stupid fools, thought the unknown man, although he knew they would catch up sooner or later. He’d have to rest and with no cars in sight in the rural location, the shack was the only option. He stumbled to the ground again just a few metres away from his destination. Forgoing the temptation to inspect his injuries, he crawled, with all the effort of a man up a cliff face to the little forgotten shack. A voice in his head questioned if the door was locked or not. He couldn’t shoot his way in with no more ammunition! Luckily, the lock on the latch was hanging off, so the unknown man was able, with all his strength, to haul his broken self into safety.

Shutting the door with his injury free right leg, he whimpered as he lay on the muddy floor. After closing his eyes and regaining his breath for a few moments, he glanced down at his arm. Removing the tatters of what had been the arm to his jacket he starred in horror at the bloody mess that his right arm was now in. He screamed at the sight, betraying his manly mannerisms. Regaining his senses, he then covered it up, stopping the flow of blood with what remained of his jacket. With his good arm, he pulled his left leg up and inspected the blood soaked material of his trouser. His ribs ached as he twisted his body but after the grizzly inspection, he came to the conclusion that the worst part of his injuries was the dog bite.

‘Bastards!’ he cursed loudly. ‘They will pay for this!’
Lying back, and allowing himself a few minutes of relaxation, the unknown man began to retrace the last couple of hours. How could he of let this happen? How on earth was he caught out so badly? He had been played for a fool for such a long time and the deal he had made with his superior back then was haunting him now. Closing his eyes and giving in to the bliss of unconsciousness, these events and the mystery of the Big Chief played out in his head and he remembered his fateful meeting just two hours ago…


The sky beamed down a beautiful blue on the unknown man as he sped his Porsche convertible along the country roads. The cool spring wind flowed through the car as it twisted it way through the rural landscape. Fields where the yellowish crops were budding in their soft beds enveloped the unknown man, who was unstirred by the natural beauty he was travelling through surrounded the little silver car. He was finally going to get the answers he had been looking for.

It had been the longest week of his life. After his humiliating meet with Michelle Alison Simmons, which had only bruised his ego and determination, the unknown man had been left embarrassed at the uncertainty of his part in the bigger picture. He knew in his head that his superior had assigned him to kill the Boss and wipe out the leaders of GEMINI in what he thought was a routine job. In his cold heart, he knew that there was a massive possibility that his superior was acting under the Big Chief, who apparently is the master of the puppets in this once noble, clean country.

The Big Chief stalked the unknown man’s thoughts throughout his every waking moment. He hated the scum that tore out the heart of the country he lived in and even in his dishonest line of work; he liked to think he made a contribution to the destruction of hard crime. Christ, maybe I should have become a policeman! He thought to himself. He smiled and shook his head. Of course not, he was far too honest for that job.

After another twenty minutes on the same road, the car turned to its right and the sight of the rendezvous spot came into the unknown man’s peripheral vision. ‘Jesus, he sure knows how to pick them!’ he muttered to himself, gazing through his reflective sunglasses onto the open gates, which led to a disused recycling plant. It looked like the owners had vacated not so long ago and the scene was a bleak one compared to what the unknown man had driven through. Still, his mind was on the meeting with his superior, and what he was going to say. He wasn’t going to hold back. Before he pulled up in the car park, he checked his insurance, a fully loaded handgun in the top of his jacket pocket. He didn’t want to use it, but if he had to, then he’d need it where it was easily obtainable.

He looked around the car park. A white van was parked adjacent to where he was and two sleek looking Mercedes were parked opposite. The car of crooks thought the unknown man as he left his vehicle and proceeded to the spot where the meeting was to take place. Behind the plant, next to the heaps of rubbish. Suspicious was not the word that was buzzing in his mind. Set-up was. Still, he had to be stout and pretend that he knew less than he did. His superior wasn’t going to get the better of him if he was under the control of the Big Chief.

The unknown man looked around him and took in the mounds of disregarded rubbish. He thought it odd that nobody was working on site. The sound of approaching feet marching towards him disrupted his thoughts. As he turned around, four men dressed in smart dinner jackets and trousers and an elderly man, with grey hair and a friendly face greeted him.

‘There you are’, said the old man, who out stretched a hand for the unknown man to shake. He examined it thoroughly and then shook it with a strong grip. He looked into the old mans hazel eyes. He was about sixty; well built yet not over weight and his face was deeply lined. The unknown man’s superior looked admiringly at his protégé.

‘How was the trip? He said, relinquishing their handshake.
‘Fine, nice to get out of the city once in a while’, replied the unknown man, who looked around him again ‘But you could of chosen a setting which was easier on the eye’.
‘Come now, we’re not in the property market now are we? Besides, it’s a Sunday, nobody works here today, it’s a good thing I’m not one for praying otherwise I’d have some explaining to do with the man upstairs for missing communion.’
The superior went for his pocket and produced a pack of cigarettes; he lit one before offering it to the unknown man, who declined with a shake of the head.
‘Right’ said the superior between puffs, ‘Now what is this about?’
‘Sir, since that job on the Boss in February I have made some enquiries into this so called Big Chief that everyone seems to be scared of’.
The Superior raised an eyebrow ‘Oh, have you now?’ His soft face-hardened a little, as if a sheet of metal had filmed over his features.
‘Yes Sir’, continued the unknown man. ‘At first I thought that the job on the Boss was just a routine one, something you wanted me to handle. The man was filth and we got him off the streets but then sometime after I found out about his involvement with GEMINI’.
‘Yes I know’ said the superior ‘Shame you didn’t take any prisoners son, we could have done with more information’.
This surprised the unknown man. Wasn’t his job to make sure that GEMINI ceased to be, whatever the cost?
‘Anyway, through one of GEMINI’s agents I met a girl called Michelle Simmons, she’s a personal assistant to Sir Michael Houghton and we all know who he is in charge of’.
‘The police, what’s that got to do with it?’
‘Sir, she led me to believe that the Big Chief doesn’t just control the city. He controls the whole country! He has got every dirty finger in every dirty pie and controls everything.’
‘And you listened to her?’
‘It was all beginning to add up. The criminal figureheads were going unpunished for years until they fell foul of the big man himself, when they were easily punished and eventually killed after they were made to suffer. But it isn’t just the criminals, sir can’t you see that we are all being used? We have been assassinating these gang lords and doing the Big Chief’s dirty work!’
‘Rubbish’ replied the Superior. ‘The reason that I told you to dispose of the Boss was because of the danger their alliance would have brought to the city. It is not our area to probe into other shenanigans. I assign you your work in accordance with the threat and not because we are controlled by a mightier power. Christ, I’ve been apart of this firm for forty years man and boy! Do you not think that I would have sensed something amiss, even back then, and stop it?’
The old man sighed and regained his composure. His young counterpart had to be reassured.
‘You are my best man. I can rely on you. That is why you carry out the jobs that must not be interfered with. Do you remember when you joined us?’
The unknown man was reminded of different days. Everything seemed to be brighter in his minds eye back then before the splash of blood and pain had closed his heart to everything that he had been hurt by.
‘You were so young, naïve too, but a talent none the less’, continued the old man. ‘I knew that given the right training and guidance you would become my most prized asset and maybe my most trusted employee. We made a deal which ultimately decided your destiny. It was a fate deal that has developed you into one of us. Something, which has set you above those who you kill, we changed you and for that, you became stronger, less vulnerable. Of course the sacrifices you made must not have been easy to get here, but nonetheless, you are the jewel in our crown’.
He looked at the unknown man, who felt as if someone had unlocked a door to the past. He remembered those he left behind, who he could not bare to see in danger. Then he remembered her and his cold heart sank.
‘You are my number one, so trust me when I say this. We are out in the open, alone. There is no higher power, no sugar daddy financing us. Our firm is exclusive and safe from the Big Chief and his web’.
‘You speak as though we aren’t looking for a fight with this person, what’s protecting us?’
‘Our history’, replied the unknown man’s superior. ‘If the Big Chief tries to take us down then we’ll take him down with us. Because we have got the best of the best and he knows that’.
‘And who is that?’ enquired the unknown man.
‘You’ smiled his superior. ‘Now, lets stop this suspicion and go grab some food. I know a lovely little cottage which has been converted into a pub and my appetite craves a roast dinner’, he put his hand on his protégé’s shoulder and lead him back towards the car park.

The unknown man had been suspicious of the four men who had observed they’re conversation back on the rubbish heap. He had noticed that while his superior was talking about the Big Chief, one of the men had twitched slightly. Maybe it was his suspicion but still, something was not right.

‘I must ask, what’s with all the extra protection?’ he asked.
‘Never mind’
‘Sir, has the Big Chief threatened you?’
‘No, not at all, to be honest they are not here for me’.
The unknown man gulped, ‘Oh?’
‘Well, you have taken apart the info structure of the Big Chief’s plans. I can’t have my best man wasted in a revenge attack now can I, no no, I was going to leave it for the car journey but I suppose I’d better tell you now. The Big Chief has ordered a bounty on your head. After your recent adventures it seems he wants you dead more than the rest of his enemies. We think it is because in the grander scheme of things, GEMINI’s deal with the Boss was part of a bigger picture, one we are still trying to piece together’.
‘I can understand the gesture but I do not need protection’.
‘Nonsense. It’s only a precautionary measure. Why do you think I had to get you out of the city and out here? The Big Chief won’t try to find you out here. The pub I am taking you too. After our meal I want you to stay there for a few days. Let us deal with what the Big Chief has got planned. Let the heat die down a bit’.
The unknown man resented this gesture. He didn’t like to be wrapped up in cotton wool. This didn’t feel like a welcome break to him. It felt like a punishment. Quietly, and out of the respect of his superior, he accepted it. Now it was time for the burning question.
‘So, do we know who the Big Chief is?
‘Unfortunately not. There have been many possibilities over the years but none have been exposed as the genuine article. Look, don’t worry. Leave everything up to us’.
One of the heavies approached the two men. ‘If you would like to step this way sir, we shall take you on ahead’, he looked at the unknown man. ‘Maybe you could follow us to the pub?’
‘Of course’, said the unknown man. ‘I’ll see you in a bit, how far away is this place?’
‘Not long, about ten minutes’, said the heavy. ‘We shall see you there’.

As the two agents shook hands and walked to they’re respective cars, deep down the unknown man was extremely cautious of his superior’s guards. He opened the driver’s door to his Porsche and looked in the wing mirror at the car that his boss was departing in. At the same time, three of the men approached the white van and clambered inside.
‘This isn’t right’, said the unknown man to himself.
He glanced back in his wing mirror just in time to witness his superior enter his car and drive off past him, prompting the unknown man to start the Porsche up and proceed out of the gates after them.
The white van started up and followed suit. The men in the car grinned with glee. They had him.
After five minutes the windy roads died down into straight narrow lanes. The unknown man, who was doing forty in his convertible, heard the roar of a diesel engine behind him. It was the white van. He watched as they gained speed on his rather impressive motor. His eyes diverted back to the road in front of him when he felt a hard thump from behind. The car jolted and he turned his head. The van was trying to ram him. He shouted at the driver and sped his car up again, now only a few feet from the rear of his superiors car. The Porsche jolted again, this time the shatter of glass on his taillight followed the thud. He knew it. Spies. A couple more thuds later and the Porsche was in danger of colliding with the Mercedes in front. Had his superior noticed what was going on? Apparently not. The unknown man wrestled with his steering wheel to regain some control. The narrow roads and constricting space was causing him all sorts of problems. He had to lure the spies away from his boss. After several more shunts from the white van, the Porsche swung off the straight road and into another windy lane. The white van, ignoring the superior’s Mercedes, gave chase and accelerated hard to catch the sports car.

As the unknown man sped down the country back roads he hoped that there were no other cars on the road. Casualties were the last thing he wanted, apart from those who were chasing him. Spies working for the Big Chief himself, he thought. This wasn’t the first time that people had wanted him dead, but he was going to make sure that it was the last.
As the clash of metal on metal grinded through the countryside, inside the white van, the heavies had they’re prey just where they wanted him. They had waited for a long time to dispose of the unknown man, months of working inside the firm, watching his every move from within the system. The moles had infiltrated the so-called impregnable palace, the last company that wasn’t under their master’s control. It had taken them years to get there, but now the firm would be at they’re mercy. Now they were so close to overcoming the final hurdle.

The white van continued to crash it’s way along the narrow road and into the now battered sports car. As the unknown man continued to wrestle with his vehicle he just survived a passing car, which honked in anger at the warring motors. As the roads became windier still, one final clunk from the white van proved fatal to the Porsche. In a blur of silver, the convertible took off, the control relinquished and the unknown man braced himself for impact. The next few seconds were painful and went by faster than the speed of light. The white van decreased speed to watch the Porsche flip into a trench at the side of the road and bed itself upside down on a field.

Driving by the crash sight, they pulled up in a lay-by ten metres further ahead. Two of the men got out of the vehicle, while the other was more preoccupied by something in the back behind the grating between the boot and the cockpit. The heavies smiled sinisterly as their eyes gazed at the carnage in front of them. The crippled Porsche was smoking, broken beyond repair. What of the man inside?

The unknown man lay dazed on the earth, his seatbelt broken in the impact. His body obscured by the overturned car, he assessed his injuries. His ribs ached, possibly broken from impact with the steering wheel as the car flipped. What hurt more was a gash in his left leg, the cause too hard to tell in the darkness. Although uncomfortable, the unknown man was lucky to have survived with the injuries he had obtained. Now came the hard bit. He could hear the sound of footsteps approaching his destroyed car. Time to play dead

The heavies readied they’re guns and then they pulled they’re prisoner out of the wreck by his jacket. The victim was unconscious, but he was still alive. Time to finish him off once and for all. As the men cocked they’re guns, they leveled them at his head.
‘Take this you son of a bit..’
The heavy didn’t finish his statement, and found he falling back onto the ground. With a precision swing of his good leg, the unknown man had connected with the goon’s torso and knocked the wind out of his sails. With his eyes now open, he kicked the gun out of the other man’s hand before he had a chance to fire. Leaping to his feet, and then shrieking at the pain in his chest, the unknown man grabbed the second man and forced his head down onto the under carriage of his car wreck. The heavy screamed in pain and fell to the floor, blood beginning to pour from his nose. The first heavy had leapt to his feet and shot at the unknown man, who felt the bullet whistle past his arm and into the Porsche. He withdrew his own gun and fired. Missed. His eyes were blurry from the shock of the crash and it became even worse when the first heavy threw him into the twisted metal. One blow to the face and then another to his ribcage made the unknown man’s body flood with the hot gush of pain. He recoiled but using the car to steady himself he swung at his enemy and caught him a glancing blow on the jaw. As the heavy fell to the floor, the unknown man went to pick his gun up and finish them off. However, since the spies were also working for the same firm they had been issued with the same gun and he had picked up one of the heavies firearms. Not knowing this he readied to fire on his main tormentor, the first heavy who had been at the wheel of the white van. But before he did the second thug, bellowing instructions to the van, interrupted him.

‘Get the dogs!’

Face flushing to white, the unknown man’s pupils dilated. Even with a fully loaded gun, he did not know how many dogs there were. All of a sudden his predicament grew instantly more challenging. He looked at the two men on the floor, slowly regaining they’re strength. He looked on at the white van, which a third man had jumped out of, who was opening the doors at the rear to the sound of panting and snarling. He had to run for it. It was his only chance. Testing his bad leg, he stuttered into a limp and gradually paced into a fast sprint towards woodland deep in the field. The two stricken heavies were by now back on they’re feet and joined by their colleague and the two hounds, straining at their leashes to strip flesh set off after him. Whatever happened next, they couldn’t fail. Otherwise, they’re lives wouldn’t be worth living. The wounded party recommenced they’re hunt as up ahead, he unknown man, concentrating on not surrendering to the pain of his injuries entered the wood.

And now here he was, not long after, lying semi conscious on the floor of a shack. A once powerful, almost indestructible mysterious entity, bleeding and broken on the muddy floor. Eyes closed, the replaying of his recent memories ceased when he was disturbed by the sound of somebody trying to get into the shack. Had they found him already? If they had, this was truly the end. He was in no shape to continue the battle. He hated to admit it to himself but this looked like the end. Still mentally shaken by his ordeal, the unknown man gazed up at the shadowed figure through the small glass window in the door. Now almost too weak to move, he reached for a nearby spade and in a futile attempt to raise it above his head groaned in agony. At that moment, the figure, as the sunlight irradiated around their silhouette, forced the stiff door open and gazed down on the bloody stranger on the floor.