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The message read:We know you saved her. If you want to deal with her father, talk to us.
I didn’t know what else to do: on the one hand, Frank was a friend, but on the other…I had to do something. Not just because I loved Adriana, but because if he got more erratic and trigger happy, things would only get worse for everyone.
Oh Frank, you crazy fool. You call yourself the King of Kings, but money buys all.
I stood in the park by one of the iconic sculptures, the Cloud Gate, and waited.
I then texted my contact which I had saved as Shadow.
I sat down after looking around, an opportunity afforded me by the throngs of people everywhere. I was mostly safe.
“Feeling pretty safe here, huh?” mumbled a man with long black hair wearing a sweater vest.
He wasn’t who I was expecting to be “Shadow,” but then again he hadn’t given himself the nickname.
“I hope so,” I said, gazing out at the clusters of people. Young ones were everywhere, followed by their mostly attentive parents. The few kids who walked around more freely were eventually joined by an adult, though some of them played too freely for my liking.
The man next to me sat at my side. “Don’t act as if we know each other,” he said. “There’s a lot going on. We know about the kidnapping of his daughter. We’ve seen who he killed when you spoke with him not long ago.”
“You know?” I asked, surprised at this.
It couldn’t have been the Reeds, because Marion sure didn’t seem to know much, and his father hadn’t even bothered to show up at our meeting.So who were these people?
“We know,” said the man.
“Who are you?”
The man chuckled. “Don’t worry about that, we have your best interests in mind. You love the King’s daughter.”
A shock rode down my spine at those words.I do love his daughter.Taking care not to admit this. The man laughed after a long, uncomfortable silence.
“It’s no worries,” he said. “We don’t care.”
“So then why talk to me?” I wasn’t sure if this man had my best interests in mind. He couldn’t have been one of the Reeds.Right?
“Let’s just say we want to help you take care of Frank. He’s a problem, isn’t he?”
“Go on,” I said.
The rest was an earful. I wasn’t sure what made these people have it in for Frank, but it didn’t surprise me. His life was at risk, and he probably didn’t even know.His life’s always at risk.
“So what do you think?” Asked the man.
“Let me think on it,” I said.
“If you don’t make a decision now, we’ll have to do this without your help.”
Life and death decisions regarding your best friends, even ones who were now your enemy, your ex's father, and a terrible danger to the world, were difficult. The man had asked me to put out a hit on Frank, a decision I wasn’t sure I would be ready to make.
Part of me told me not to: he was Adriana’s father. I loved her.
The other part was colder, and harsher. Reality was terrifying sometimes, and Frank would eventually put out a hit on me should I not decide to get rid of him.
He was once your best friend.
“You have until the end of the day,” said the man. “We have no issue with you, but we would really like your help. It would make the world a better place.”
I had known Frank for years, and I wasn’t sure if killing him would do that. He was a violent man at times, but his dealings in Chicago had helped improve the local economy through me. We funneled our monies through various non-profits, and Frank’s death would shake that fiduciary web of deceit we had constructed.
