Chapter III: The Hand of Death

Chapter III: The Hand of Death
Leon/Sydd
Sydd visits Leon in jail after Leon gets out of solitary. “Hey.” Leon says.
“This better be important, I’m very busy today.” Sydd says.
“Can the attitude, I’ve got bad news for you.”
“What now?”
“Dad killed mom.”
“You’ve got to be bullshitting me.”
“I’m not.”
“Where is he? I’ll kill him myself.”
“Too late, he took care of it for you.”
“What do you mean?”
“When Don found out he was my dad, he was going to have you keep doing this until one of their life sentences was up. So, dad hung himself to alleviate you of having to work for him for life.”
“Good, f**k him.”
“What?”
“You heard me, f**k him, the son of a b***h deserves to kill himself after the way he treated us.”
“You mean you.”
“You don’t really remember, do you? When he used to beat us while he was high on drugs?”
“He hadn’t touched drugs since the 80’s.”
“Is that what he told you? A liar until the f*****g end.”
“Fill me in, cause I don’t remember.”
“I’m not surprised, you were real little, but I remember. I remember catching him snorting all kinds of things. He’d become a maniac and he’d flip over the smallest s**t. He’d take his belt and beat us with it, mom was the only one that could stop him. He’d get her sometimes too, and he’d beat me instead of her. After he stabbed me-” Sydd lifts his shirt to reveal a deep scar on his abdomen. “-mom sent him to rehab under threat of divorce. He stopped doing drugs and got medicated, but he would occasionally skip meds for drugs, and his true nature came back out. I don’t think mom knew he’d skip meds and do drugs, because after he’d have his fill, he’d get back on the meds. Like, remember that Thanksgiving Rob went nuts?”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah, dad wasn’t on meds that day, he was on drugs. I could tell, I didn’t wanna say anything, cause I didn’t want our family to break up. Maybe we should have, it would have saved mom.”
“Yeah, he told me he hadn’t attacked her since she was pregnant with you. Is that a lie too?”
“Yeah. Killing himself was the first unselfish thing I’ve known him to do. But it’ll be for absolutely nothing.”
“That’s not true, I’ll be out of here one day.”
“I’m sure Don will find some reason to keep me under contract, besides, I love my job.”
“What? I thought you were trying to get out of that life?”
“Nah, it’s too much fun.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“The bullet really did something to me, it released me of my conscience.”
“But, no, you’re a good dude. I remember, you were always there- for everybody. You were best friends with Kelly and Marissa, who nobody else in school could stand. You were a responsible older brother, and had my back when we were kids. You stuck by Rob as he spiraled downward, taking you with him. You protected mom from dad sometimes. You felt bad about accidentally killing your girlfriend and you tried cleaning up your life, and you achieved your dream girl. Whatever happened to her, anyway? And what bullet?”
“Last year, I woke up from a four year coma.”
“That’s why I haven’t seen you since our last meeting!”
“Yeah, after I woke up, Don put me right back to work. He owns the hospital too, this guy really knows what he’s doing.”
“So, what happened?”
“My memory of that is pretty fuzzy, I can only remember bits and pieces. I remember flowers, a burger, rain, and then her pointing the gun at me.” Holy s**t! Did she end up in jail?”
“No, I had to hear from Frank, who heard from Don, who heard from the Homicide captain, who heard it from his detective, that she shot herself. It all happened in front of a bunch of witnesses.”
“Dude, I’m sorry to hear that. And I can’t believe you survived a shot to the head.”
“Yeah, well, it changed me forever. I can understand what it’s like to be Zakk now.”
“Don’t tell me you’ve-”
“-done what I’ve had to? Of course. And I don’t give a f**k.”
“So, my brother is gone?”
“Not exactly, the brother you knew is gone, yes, but let’s be real here. I’ve been trapped in him so long, and it was a matter of time before I came out. After all, I am my father’s son.”
“Yeah, I guess so. But dad never-”
“That we know of, with the exception of one.”
“Or maybe because of the bullet, yours came out and his didn’t, because he didn’t suffer any traumatic brain injury.”
“Quite possible, but this is who I am now.”
“This is f*****g crazy.”
“This is life.”
“This is too much, I don’t know if I can handle it.”
“So, what do you plan on doing when you get out?”
“I have no f*****g idea.”
“We could always use a bounty hunter to grab people and bring them to me when they owe me a shitload of money. You can partake in as much of whatever you want.”
“NO! You can’t be f*****g serious.”
“Well, you've got time to think about it, let Don know when you want to start. He might be able to get you out early...
“No, I don’t wanna owe that piece of s**t anything anymore! I want to start a new life, maybe move somewhere else, out of this scum riddled city. I can’t take it anymore, the crime rate is the highest in the country, and everything is f*****g corrupt. Don owns f*****g everyone, did you know that there’s a few full cabinets full of nothing but Don cases that are ignored? Arson, murder, blackmail, you name it, he’s done it, or sent someone to do it, and it’s put in the file cabinet and forgotten. I was a cop, remember? I did my share of snooping, and I didn’t like what I found. I chose to ignore it, cause, who am I gonna tell?”
“Ok, and your point?”
“What do you mean what’s the point?”
“I know this already, I see it every day, I’m under his employ. Sometimes I'm the one to carry out a deed he needs done. I’m a top lieutenant, I’m untouchable.”
“Then why did I have to go undercover? How come I had to bust him?”
“That was the feds, they wanted him taken down. Don doesn’t own the feds, so he had to go down, and you played your part perfectly.”
“But he’s giving me hell for putting him in here!”
“Aren’t scapegoats nice?”
“F**k you.”
“You really think a normal undercover job takes four years? They were all just buying time for him. They saw you as a weak link, they knew you were my brother, and my connection to Zakk and Brian, who work for Don. The bust at Zakk’s was Don cleaning house. Brian was the only one who didn’t get caught. Why? Don needed someone to go and blend in, and when Brian wanted out, he took that opportunity to convince him to live a normal life. Using him to take Charlotte from you was the first part of the plan, it was a way to hurt you, and give Brian the under the radar life he needed to blend in.”
“How do you know all of this?”
“Don told me, when he hired me for this job. Sure, at first I was shocked, but then he told me that by working for him, it would ensure your safety. So I agreed, cause you’re my brother and I cared for you.”
“And now?”
“And now, I do it because it’s fun. Prior to the accident, if anyone needed to be taken care of, I would just tell them to leave the city and never come back. I don’t do that anymore, now I do what needs to be done.”
“Do you know how many times I’ve gotten shanked while I was in here? I’ve lost count, but now I’ve got a nice little limp. How are you keeping me safe in here?”
“You’re still alive, obviously. Don likes to play with his food.”
“That’s what he told me.”
“Well then, what are you complaining about?”
“Can you ask him to cut it out please?”
“No, f**k you. That means I’d have to take Frank out and do the whole damn job myself.”
“How do you come to that conclusion?”
“Do you think you’re the only one in there being protected by someone on the outside for Don? If you want him to stop shanking you, you do exactly what I do in another part of the city, for life.”
“Those are my options? Become a drug dealer or getting stabbed?”
“Don’t forget, I get fucked in that deal too.”
“What a b*****d.”
“Like I said, he knows what he’s doing.”
“My sentence was extended by six months, he’s going to do what it takes to keep me in here.”
“So, you’re fucked. The best offer on the table right now is my personal bounty hunter, which Don would go for because he likes when people are taken care of.”
“F**k...”
“This is your life now, bro.”
“F**k you!”
“Meh.”
“And what if one day, he shanks me so bad, it kills me?”
“What am I going to do about it? He’ll have me killed too, if I say something about it.”
“So that’s it? We’re fucked?”
“Yeah, I told you that already, but unlike you, I’m having fun with it.”
“Of course I’m not having fun, I’m getting shanked in prison!”
“And who’s fault is it that you’re in there?”
“Charlotte’s. If she hadn’t killed herself, I wouldn’t be here!”
“If she had killed herself, it was probably because you pushed her to.”
“I didn’t think she’d actually do it!”
“This is why you should always watch what you say.”
“How was I supposed to know I’d go down for involuntary manslaughter, any jury would have called it a suicide.”
“Not any jury, especially not Don’s jury. The arresting officer, Luzor or whatever his name was, recommended one year in, one year of probation. Don thought that was too light, so he bribed the jury and the judge to give you a nice five year sentence, which was supposed to be over tomorrow, if I’m not mistaken? But you have six additional months, do you think that’s a coincidence?”
“No, I knew what he was doing. So, work for him, or stay in here for life?”
“I assume so, if he’s getting your sentence extended for any little thing.”
“All right, I’ll take the bounty hunter job.”
“Good man, I’ll let him know.”
“God, this is completely fucked.”
“Did dad tell you what happened to our siblings?”
“Yeah, he said that they want nothing more to do with us because they think we’re bad people.”
“Yeah, well, hit the nail on the head with that one, didn’t they?”
“I’m not a bad person!”
“Yeah, you are. You're just like me and dad, we both have that darkness inside of us, Rayne and Lance probably have it too, they just don’t know yet.”
“Or maybe, they weren’t, maybe they’re more normal than us.”
“Maybe, dad did say he calmed down on meds, so it’s possible they didn’t see that side of him until the night he killed her, unless they remember when they were little.”
“We’ll probably never know.”
“Probably not.” The guard comes to take Leon away. “You gonna visit me again, bro?”
“Probably not.”
“Why?”
“Goodbye.”
“What the f**k?” Leon is taken back outside in the yard with the other prisoners.
“’Ey, Leon.” Big Don says as he approaches him.”
“What’s up, Don?” Leon says, unenthusiastically.
“Don’t use that tone with me, you prick.” Don shanks Leo. “I don’t like you, I hope yeh had a good conversation with yer brotheh. It’ll be the last one yeh ever have with him.”
“Why-” he gasps, “Why would you say that?”
“The guards filled me in on yer little conversation, he told you privileged information. His days are numbered.”
“You’re going to kill my brother?”
“No, of course not, but wouldn’t it be a shame if he had a mole in his organization? Someone watching his actions? An informant, like you and Jerry were?”
“Are you telling me my brother has a mole?”
“My finger is on the trigger, and I’m ready to fire. When is up to you.”
“What if I take the bounty hunting job? You can have me do whatever you need me to, if it keeps my brother safe.”
“Let me think about it.”