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The Fury
Issue #7
by Tom Zjaba
Chapter Eight
Bottoming Out
The sun rises and its rays flood in through the windows.
Sprawled out on the floor is Jack. He passed out there from his binge drinking
and has spent the night on the floor. As the sun shines onto his face, he starts
to wake up. He squints into the sunlight as he looks around. His head is
throbbing and he struggles to get to his feet. He looks over at the empty bottle
and the memory of his actions returns. "What was I thinking?" he says to himself
as he sits up on the floor and looks at the empty bottle. He struggles to his
feet and makes his way towards the kitchen. He stumbles into the kitchen and
gets himself a glass of water. His brain is pounding in pain and he knows he has
a full blown hangover. In the past he found that drinking allot of water would
help ease the pain. He also takes a few aspirin with his multiple glasses of
water. He rubs the temples of his head in hopes he can stop the pain. It does
little to stop the pain. He stumbles down the hallway towards the bathroom. Once
he finishes in there, he will head back to bed to try and sleep it off.
Later that day, Jack finally awakens from his nap. He sits up
in his bed and looks at the alarm clock. He has slept through much of the day as
it is now 3:00 PM. While his day is shot, he has found that his headache is now
gone. He slowly gets out of bed and thinks about what his plans for the night
should be. He knows it was Justin Rage that sent that robot after him and he
feels that he needs to retaliate. But he also knows that any attack on his
empire will result in another attack. So he needs to be more covert and not go
in with guns blazing like he did the last two times. With his powers, it should
be easy to figure out a way to mess with Justin Rage without making it obvious
that it is him. He also wants to replenish his money supply as he spent allot of
money for the fake identity and the house. While he is still in fine financial
shape, he wants to insure that he does not run out anytime soon. He also wants
to look into some body armor. While he has been able to stop any hits so far, he
knows the day will come when he cannot stop a bullet.
Once again, Jack dresses down and heads to the seedier bars.
In his beat up leather coat that he bought at the thrift store for $30.00 and
old blue jeans, he walks into one of the many bars on Date Street. He orders a
bottle of beer and crawls to the end of the bar and nurses it. The usual cast of
characters are walking in and out of the bar. Hookers, pimps, gang members, the
cream of the crop frequent this bar. It is like that for all the bars along this
strip. The business men will drive by in their fancy cars, looking for dates but
they will not enter the bars. This is the home of the seedy underbelly of North
Port. Every so often some college students will come down here looking for some
fun and plan on doing some bar hopping. But instead of a night of fun, they end
up finding trouble. They may be football players or wrestlers, but all their
strength and skills mean nothing to men who fight on a regular basis and know
how to fight dirty. It is one thing to know how to defend against a groin shot,
but when someone throws salt in your eyes or punches you with spiked brass
knuckles, all your training goes out the window. The men and women of Date
Street know how to fight and they fight for keeps.
Jack sits down at the bar and takes a quick sip of his
domestic beer. While he wants to stay away from alcohol, he knows that he will
look out of place if there is no alcohol in front of him. He pretends like he is
watching the television. A boxing match is playing on the tube. Jack then starts
to scan the run and listen to the thoughts of the people in the bar. He starts
with the bartender as they tend to know more than anyone. As he listens to the
bartender's thoughts, he hears "If they raise my liability insurance any higher,
I will have to close down." Nothing he can use there. He then starts to scan the
rest of the bar. All the usual thoughts are going on. A man contemplates how to
get this woman to go home with him. Another man thinks about how he could kill
his boss and get away with it. Another thinks about how he is going to pay off
the bookies. Nothing worthwhile going on at this bar. He finishes the beer and
lays down a buck tip and heads out. To the next bar, he follows the same
routine. Still nothing. So he heads to another bar.
As he is walking down Date Street, he pulls his ball cap down
to cover his face. He tries to not make eye contact with any of the hookers. He
doesn't want anyone to know he is down here. As hard as he tries to stay
incognito, he is recognized by a wobbly man named Lumpy. "Hey Jack! Over here
man." he screams out. Jack tries to keep walking but Lumpy starts following him.
"Hold up Jack. I heard you is in the money." Jack grits his teeth when Lumpy
says that. All of sudden he feels the eyes turn to him. The hookers who were
ignoring him a few minutes ago are now looking at him. A few other guys are also
watching, namely pick pockets and other criminals. Jack decides that he better
shut him up and quickly turns around. "Lumpy, don't know where you heard that
but it ain't true." he says in an attempt to diffuse the situation. "Don't be
cheap on me Jack, I heard the ponies been good to you." Jack knew his diversion
would come back to blow up in his face. He knows too many down on their luck
people in this town to not get hit up for money. "I did hit a few races, but I
blew all that money." he says as he reaches in his pocket and pulls out a
twenty. As he gets close to Lumpy, he crumbles the bill up in his hand and then
sticks it into Lumpy's hand. He leans up to his ear and whispers "Keep your
voice down. You wanna get both of us jumped?" When Lumpy feels the money in his
hand, he looks down and sees the twenty and smiles. He then whispers "Thanks
Jack, you always been a good friend." He then turns around and heads to the
liquor store.
At the third bar, he finally gets something interesting. A
man is thinking about his job as a courier for a man called Deacon. Jack thinks
about the name and remembers that it is the name of Justin Rage's second in
command. Like most mob bosses, he has men under him do most of the dirty work.
It makes it harder for things to stick to him if he has someone to take the
fall. The man is thinking about all the drops he has to make tonight and how
underpaid he is. He wonders how much money and drugs he is delivering each night
and how little of it goes to him. Jack smiles as he has found his man. Jack
takes a seat a few stools down from the tired looking man. The man is in his
late forties and while a tall man, he is not in great shape. A lack of exercise
has made his heavier than he should be and he is breathing heavy as he drags on
his cigarette. His long, black hair is greasy and streaked with gray. His face
is covered with stubble and a few scars from fights. The bulge in his coat under
his arm tells Jack that he is packing a gun. The man finishes his greasy burger
and fries and heads out the door. Jack waits for him to completely leave and
follows him out of the bar. As the man gets in his car, a worn Camaro, and
starts his delivery. Jack watches as he drives to his first location. He climbs
out of the car, coughing as he heads in an alley and to a side door. He knocks
on the door three times and waits. After a few seconds, the door opens and
someone reaches out and grabs the package from the man and gives him an
envelope. Jack quickly reads the mind of the man behind the door and realizes
that he is giving the man an envelope of cash for a package of drugs. There is
ten grand in the envelope. The man walks back to his car and puts the envelope
into the car and then drives to the location. As he walks up to the house to
make the delivery, Jack uses his powers to roll down the window and bring the
envelope to him. As it reaches him, he takes a look at it and examines it. It is
a plain manila envelope that is sealed. He then sees the man coming back to the
car and slowly rolls the window back up. But he does not have time to get the
envelope back into the car before he reaches it. He slowly moves the envelope
down and has it slide under the car. The man gets in the car and notices the
envelope missing. He frantically searches all over the car for it. He is digging
under the seats, opening the glove compartment and not finding anything. He then
opens the door and looks out and sees the envelope on the ground under the car.
He grabs the envelope and kisses it. He then places it in the glove compartment.
He wipes his head and lights up a cigarette. That was too scary for him. After
he relaxes and his blood pressure returns to normal, he drives off in his old
Chevy Camaro.
For the entire night, Jack follows him as he hits a dozen
different locations over the course of the evening. He also hits a few bars
along the way. As the sun is coming up, he finally finishes for the night and
heads over to an alley. He pulls up and waits there with his car running. After
ten minutes, a black Cadillac slowly pulls up. As it pulls up next to him, two
men climb out and look around. When they are convinced that no one else is
there, they open the trunk and give the man a box that is sealed shut. The man
then hands them the envelopes. They open each one and examine the contents. Each
one holds a stack of money that has a rubber band holding it in place. Each
envelope has ten grand in it made up of hundred dollar bills. The man then
stuffs the money into a duffel bag and throws the envelopes into a nearby trash
can. They then give five hundred dollars to the man and climb back into the
Cadillac and drive off. The man waves to them and puts the money away and heads
out. Jack watches as they drive off. Once they are gone, he goes down and looks
inside the garbage can. He pulls out the envelopes and looks at them. He looks
carefully for any marks on them that may distinguish one envelope from another
but he does not find anything. As far as he can tell, they are all identical
envelopes that can be bought at any office supply store.
The next day, Jack wakes up and heads to a office supply
store. He buys a package of envelopes and some rubber bands. Just so he does not
look suspicious, in case any of Justin Rage's goons are there, he also buys a
package of paper, some pencils, a pair of scissors and a stapler. This way it
looks like he is stocking an office and will go unnoticed. To be sure, he reads
the clerk's mind, who is busy thinking about a concert this weekend that he is
attending.
Jack then heads to the library to use the copy machine. He
goes up to the second floor where it is and starts feeding in quarters. He puts
the four hundred dollar bills on the machine and starts making copies of them.
It takes him a good ten minutes to make a stack of copies and he is lucky that
no one has bothered to come over and see him counterfeiting.
Back home, he starts to cut out the bills and place them in a
pile. He makes ten stacks of ninety eight paper bills each. He then takes a real
hundred dollar bill and places it on the top and bottom of each stack. He looks
at the stacks and despite a few poorly cut bills, they look pretty good. He
knows it is allot of trouble to go through, but he wants to make it look good.
He then places each one in a manila envelope and puts them in a bag.
As the moon comes out, Jack heads back to Date Street. He
heads to the same bar and takes a seat. Once again, the man comes in and sits
down for a bite to eat. Tonight he is eating a plate of chicken wings and onion
rings. When he finishes and heads out, Jack waits a good five minutes and then
heads out as well. He glides into the air and looks down at the car as it drives
off. Jack heads to the strip club where the man stopped yesterday before making
the final delivery. If his hunch is right, the man is a creature of habit and
end up here at the Candie Stripe. Jack decides to go in and enjoy the show while
waiting for his buddy. He first puts on a disguise, just in case. He puts on a
pair of glasses, a fake moustache and a long blond wig. He grabs a table off
from the main stage and enjoys a beer. The Candie Stripe is one of the top strip
clubs in the city and is famous for its striped poles that the dancers swing on.
They look like giant candy canes. Also the nurse outfits the strippers wear are
also part of the Candie Stripe signature look. They originally wanted to name
the bar the Candy Cane, but city officials thought it was too misleading to
children, so they settled on the Candie Stripe. They did stick with their
original logo of a woman seductively licking a candy cane, but they just added a
nurse's hat to it.
An hour and a half later, Jack's target shows up at the bar.
He moves to the front of the stage and grabs an available seat. Jack cannot help
but laugh at the man. He is driving around with a car full of money and stops at
a bar like this. He must be the stupidest man alive. As one of the ladies walk
past Jack, he calls out to her. As she comes over he says "I would like to buy a
few lap dances for a friend of mine." She smiles and says "It's twenty bucks for
a lap dance, but if you want your friend to have an unforgettable time, we have
private rooms for only a hundred bucks." Jack smiles at her and asks "How long
do you get the private room?" She smiles and says "Twenty minutes for a hundred
bucks for one girl. One fifty for two girls." Jack smiles at her and says "Here
is two hundred bucks, make sure my friend is taken care of." He grabs the money
and puts it in her top and says "Who is the lucky man?" He points at the man at
the bar and says "That's him right there. Don't tell him who is doing it as it
is a surprise. Just say it is his lucky day." The lady smiles and winks at him.
She then heads over and calls over one of the other girls. The two buxom
beauties go over and tap the guy on the shoulder. The girl looks over to make
sure Jack is watching. One thing he learned is that if he does not watch them
take him into the backroom, they will pocket the money. Once the ladies tell the
man about the free show, he quickly stands up and follows them to a back room.
Once they are out of sight, Jack heads out the door.
The parking lot is half full and so Jack must look for the
car. It takes him a few minutes to find the black Camaro, which is parked all
the way to the back. As he looks into the car, he sees a flashing light on the
dash that tells him there is an alarm on the car. Not worried about the alarm,
he looks around the parking lot to see if anyone is around. He sees nobody in
the lot. He then does a mental scan of the area and finds it clear. With that
out of the way, he concentrates on mentally rolling the window down. Slowly, he
pushes the window down. He takes his time to not set off the alarm. He does not
want the man to know anyone was ever in the car. Once it is open, he uses his
mental powers to open the glove compartment. Sure enough, he finds the envelopes
all stacked in there. He levitates the envelopes to him and pulls out ten of
them and examines them. They look normal enough. He then opens one and checks
inside. There is ten grand wrapped with a rubber band. He does not see anything
else that makes the envelope stand out from any other one. He then levitates his
ten new envelopes into the glove compartment and then closes it. He mentally
rolls the window back up and heads out. While he feels bad about what is going
to happen to the man when he delivers the bogus money, at least he gave him one
last night of fun.
Later that night, the man stops for his regular drop off.
Once again, the black Cadillac pulls up and two men get out. The man hands them
the envelopes and like the day before, they open them and take a quick look at
the contents. When the man looks at the wad of cash, he notices that there are
not the usual ten grand in hundreds. Instead he sees a hundred dollar bill on
the top and bottom and a bunch of blank paper in between. "What the hell is
this?" he says as he shows it to the guy. "Whatcha talking about?" the man says
as he is just as shocked. The man then rips open each envelope and finds that
out of the twelve envelopes, ten of them are bogus. He pulls out a gun and
sticks it in the face of the man and says "What are you trying to pull?" The man
freaks out and says "I didn't do anything, I swear." The man with the gun then
says "Search his car and see if he was stupid enough to leave the money in the
car," The man tears the car apart, looking for the money but finds nothing.
"It's clean." The man then looks at the guy who is sweating bullets. "You have
five seconds to tell me where the money is. Five...Four..." The man yells out "I
swear, I didn't do anything. I just collect the envelopes and bring them back
here." The man then sticks the gun into his face and places it right between his
eyes. The man looks at the gun and starts crying. "Now tell me your every move
tonight." The man is shaking as he looks at the gun. "I picked up the envelopes
and came here to deliver them. Honest." The man then uses his other hand to slap
the man across the face. The gun quickly returns to between his eyes. "If one
envelope was light, then I would believe you. But with ten of them bogus, I find
it hard to believe. So either you stole the money or stopped somewhere and was
robbed. Now where else did you stop?" The man swallows hard as he knows that he
is in trouble. If he doesn't tell them truth, he will be killed. If he does tell
them the truth, he will be beaten and possibly killed. "I did stop at the Candie
Stripe. But I wasn't in there that long." The man pulls the gun back and punches
him in the face. "You dumb ass. How many times have we told you to come straight
here." The guy then pulls out a phone and calls "Let me talk to Candie. Candie?
This is Al, I need to know if one of my men were in there today? Yeah, that's
him, the delivery guy. Did anything peculiar happen while he was there? Really?
Some stranger bought him a private dance. Really, two women. A half hour you
say? Sounds like fun. No, I don't need one. Thanks for the info. I owe you." The
man hangs up and looks at him. "Looks like you have been swindled. So you are
not a thief, just a dumb ass and I can't stand dumb asses." He then aims the gun
and shoots the man in the head. The other man quickly goes over and says "Want
to dispose of the body?" The man looks at the dead body and says "Make it
disappear and then send some men over to get an ID on the mystery man at the
Candie Stripe."
The Fury
© Tom Zjaba 2006-2007
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