Part one

The raven haired beauty at the midnight dreams cafe

Part one: the raven-haired beauty at the midnight dreams café.

 

 

 

 

It’s eleven o'clock at night and I’m sitting at the usual table drinking some black coffee after a long day of work. Tonight is open mike night and some fellow is jamming on the sax pretty hard, he’s pretty good. After a nice solo the owner announces that the next performance will be some poetry by some guy named Crimson Blacknight. I groan with anticipation of what will follow. Some skinny Goth art f*g dressed in all black wearing all the works of a poser yuppie that went to a hot topics discount sale. His so-called poetry was an excruciating five minutes of pain, misery and how his life is a downward spiral of blah, blah, blah. I finish my cup and was about to leave but the waitress places another in front of me. “The lady in the back wants to speak with you” she tells me. I scan the room and spot a woman in the back of the café looking at me. I first noticed her hair short and straight, black as a raven’s feather. As I move closer to her I notice more. Her mismatched eyes, one green, one yellow. Her lips, full with a small dimple on the upper right corner. The elaborate dress top and a skirt that shows off her firm legs. The smell of jasmine. When I reach her she smiles a smile that shows the arrogance of a predator that just cornered her prey. “Please sit down, we have much to discuss.” She says with a calm voice. I take the seat across from her and start sipping my coffee. “Please allow me to introduce myself, my name is Rachel. I have proposition for you Mr. McGrath.” She continues. How does she know my name? I stay cool and continue to sip. “So what do you want from me?” I ask. She lights up a long 120 cigarette and replies, “As you might of figured I’ve been keeping track of you for a long time. I know who you are and what you are capable of. You have an impressive way of handling shady matters, yet you only have a minor assault charge on your police record. You never aligned yourself with one set group or faction, but you have contacts in some form or matter to get what you need. I need someone like that in my employ.”  “ What kind of work are you asking of me? I quit all that stuff years ago if you’ve done your research. What makes you think I want to start up again?” I reply. She frowns slightly but the smile returns, “It’s a pity you are throwing this opportunity out the window, however I’ll give you time to reconsider. I’ll keep in touch Mr. McGrath, have a good night.” All the sudden my stomach feels tight and my head feels drowsy. I just realized that I made huge mistake, the coffee, it was dr…. Thud… all that remains is darkness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wake up in my apartment for what seem like days, but the clock tells me only hours have passed. My head feels like a hammer is constantly slamming against it. I grab for the aspirin and the bottles empty, f*****g hell. I take a shower and put on some clean clothes and head out to the store. Exiting the apartment complex I hear a street bum preacher ranting his usual sermon. As I walk pass he grabs my shoulder and I turn to punch him. He lets go and he raises his hands to show surrender. “Mister bad times are coming, for it was written in revelations that judgment for all man kind will come unless ye will accept Jesus as your personal savior.” He rants while pointing to the bible in his hand. I toss a five-dollar bill at him and walk away, but he continues, “Beware the Anti-Christ, and beware the w***e who rides the seven headed dragon!” I continue to walk away without looking back. I head to the supermarket around the corner to grab some breakfast, smokes, and some aspirin. I grab a bagel along with the rest and overhear two people, a man and a woman, talking about something that happened last night. Apparently some poor guy was found dead by the industrial side to town. “He was slashed to pieces,” The lady said,” I heard that the cops had to use baggies to pick up what was left.” “No doubt,” Said the man, “That’s where Hyena and his group hang at, filthy savages that they are.” I remember Joseph Snide AKA Hyena from high school. He always kept to himself, writing poetry, short stories, and drawing. He was very talented in those areas and could have gone far if the right person noticed. After dropping out of school he and a few other outcasts started a gang and practically took over the industrial side of town in only a few days. His gang consists of freaks and weirdoes, anyone who has a mental disorder basically. They may be insane but that also makes them one of the most feared of any gang in this city. I go to the cashier and pay for my stuff and head towards my job. I arrive at Louie’s restaurant and there standing at the door is Louie himself looking pissed as usual. I give a smug smile and say, “Hey Lou, why the long face?” his face gets redder and yells, “you’re late again Johnny that’s the sixth time this week alone!” I try to give the usual half assed apology but he continues, “You show up late, if you show up at all, you are slow at cooking, and speaking of your cooking, it’s crap. Give me one reason why I don’t just knock you on your a*s.” I give him a reason and punch his face in and walk away. He’s on the ground screaming that I’ll amount to nothing. I decide to cool off by walking to the park and relax for a while. Halfway to the park a black Lexus pulls up to my left and stops. The passenger rear door opens up and a large man steps out, the car rises up about an inch. The man is about six foot four about two hundred twenty pounds or so, pure bulk no fat. He’s wearing a black suit with white shirt and red tie, hair real short and his eyes are narrow to the nose. He speaks with a thick Euro accent; “Mr. McGrath, we want you to come with us” I give him another look and see that a 9 mil is pointing towards my direction. I decide to play along and follow him inside the car. The Lexus make a small whining noise as it creak down from his weight and we take off. We star heading on the highway towards the outside of town and I ask if I can smoke, the big guy gives a nod of approval and I light up. I finish my third cigarette and we arrive at some mansion six miles away from the city. It looks very old, almost Victorian, but it’s fully restored. The front lawn is a very beautiful garden of roses, orchids, and tulips, all surrounding a small hedge maze. The gardeners that are currently trimming the hedges and flowers seem to be masters of their craft, pure art. We head towards the main entrance, which is fully decorative with old Greek pillars leading up to the door. The door opens up and a butler leads us in. We stop at two large wood doors, well trimmed, and the butler tells us to wait here. He enters the door and I stand next to the gorilla. A few minutes pass and the butler opens the door, “ The madam will see you now.” He says with a slight bow. I walk in and the grunt follows behind, I feel the barrel of his gun poking into my back. I see Rachel sitting on the far end of a long table. She smiled that predator smile and greets me, “Welcome Jonathan to my humble home, I’m sorry about the mess it’s in.” She looks at the big guy, ”You may take your leave Frank, thank you.” “But my lady, it may be best if I make sure…” he began to protest but she cuts him off with a piercing glare and retorts, “I will not be questioned by one such as you Frank, know your place or I’ll make sure you will not be able to speak in any manner again.” He has a look of pure fear and bows his head, “I apologize madam, if you need me for anything else just ring.” And he leaves in a slow whipped manner. Rachel smiled again but more modestly, “You have to forgive Frank, he’s good help, just short for manners. Now Mr. McGrath, please take a seat a lets talk business.” I sit next in a chair next to her and light up a smoke, she lights one up of her own. “Now before we get to business, I have a few questions.” I say in a firm voice, “First, how long have you’ve been keeping an eye on me? I’ve kept my tracks well hidden, and you still managed to find me out. Second, what kind of work do you want from me? I’m no thug nor do I extort or steal from others. And third, what makes you think I want to join your lot?” She takes a long drag off her cigarette savoring the flavor of the smoke and snubs it out before speaking, “To answer your first question, I gathered Intel on you for a month now and started to seek you out last week, I must say you are a hard person to reach. Second, all I want from you is to be my advocate, a mediator of sorts. I’m new in this city and I need someone like you to go to the gangs, mafias, and other factions to see my vision of one unified syndicate, under my supervision of course, and make this city ripe for the taking. In return you will receive 30 percent of all profits and the power that will follow. How about Mr. McGrath, will you help me in my vision?” I finish my cigarette and get up from my chair and reply, “It’s a generous offer, but I’m afraid I will decline. I don’t need money or power, now I will take my leave.” I start to walk away but she retorts, “If it’s money you don’t need, how about something else instead?” I continue towards the door trying to ignore her but she continues, “How about revenge?” I stop my walking and turn around seeing her smile, “Yes Jonathan, how long has it been now? Three years since that tragic day when your love was lost to a gun, some nobody hoodlum taking away the only thing that mattered to you.” I clench my teeth and remember that night. Poor Heather, she nor I didn’t know what happened until it was too late. I look at Rachel with eyes of pure hatred and ask, “How in the hell do you know that?” She replies, “I know many things and if you join me I’ll be more than happy to share my knowledge with you. Think of it as an incentive added to my proposal. I take another cigarette from my pack light it up and somberly say, “I’m in.”