The Sack Full of Gold

"Fuck you!"

Horns, sirens, pounding rain against every uncovered surface. The noises usually drove Jaden up a wall. Even after twenty years working as a cabbie in New York City, he'd never gotten used to the noise and insults. The only thing Jaden had gotten used to was reacting. He'd never once had an accident. And whenever he saw a finger raised in his direction, he'd quickly respond in a similar fashion. His temper had grown a short fuse over the two decades. Things hadn't changed much for him once he moved to London. The bloody city was just as bad. How the fuck is bloody an insult? he'd repeated to himself over the first half year. He'd learned all the curse words easily; and he'd learned to use them eventually.

Today…

Today he didn't even glance towards the offender. He wasn't even sure he had heard him. The greying taxi cab driver wasn't himself. Jaden was far too preoccupied checking his mirrors today to react.

There was traffic (there was always traffic) and he'd moved about ten feet in the last half hour. Over the last hour he'd unconsciously fallen into a pattern. Check right mirror. Glance at street. Glance at left mirror, check rearview mirror. Stare at left mirror for two seconds. Then back at right mirror. Then, as he checked his rearview mirror again, sneak a peek at the passenger's seat. Spend ten seconds convincing himself that he was going mad. Repeat.

Throughout all of this he kept thrumming his fingers against his steering wheel. Both hands at 9 and 2. There was no tune that he was thinking of. The thrumming of his fingers was more reminiscent of feet pounding on the floor, running.

The grey car in front of him moved forward. Jaden lifted his foot from the break and let his car crawl five inches forward before stopping once more. His body felt odd moving after being tense and still for so long.

For a man on the bottom tier of what could be considered middle class, Jaden had done a very good job of ignoring the rather large, brown sack full of gold coins. Gold coins! They were heavy, as if they were actually made out of pure gold! But hell, what did he know how heavy pure gold was? A whole sack filled of gold! Even if they were just covered in cheap gold, this was a treasure load! An entire bag of gold, and a silver sphere...the things he would buy…

Jaden had had little time to relish over his finding when he realized he had no idea how he found it. He had wracked his mind over and over again to try and remember how he'd found it. The last thing he could recall was leaving the restaurant to head back to his taxi. After that, nothing. He could only remember being back in his taxi, looking over to the passenger seat, and finding the gold.

Not even the joy of being rich could distract him from the sinking feeling in his stomach. What if he was being framed? Just like in the movies! The cops could show up at any moment. They'd arrest him and send him off to jail. He couldn't let that happen. In the movies, they always had a difficult time proving they were being framed.

No, relax. He'd told himself. You have to act cool. As if nothing is wrong. So he'd started up his taxi and moved into the flow of traffic.

An hour later and he was making the seat damp with sweat. Checking his mirrors constantly was probably not the best way to seem cool and relaxed. Yet he couldn't help but feel like he was being followed. Well, no. Followed wasn't exactly the right word. But he did feel like someone was looking for him. He hoped he was just paranoid. Who wouldn't become paranoid with a sack full of gold in the passenger seat? Open to all the world to marvel at its content.

He needed to get home and Google the nearest place that bought gold. It would only take a few more minutes before he could take the next street and start heading towards his small apartment.

Jaden broke his continuous pattern of checking his mirrors and looked ahead. Windsor Drive. There it was. He only needed to pass a few more cars parked on the street and he'd be able to make the left turn and go home.

Either his mind was playing tricks on him or traffic had just decided to pick up the pace. The cars started to move at a steady pace, still a snails pace but it was something. He only needed four more cars. The cab kept crawling forward. Three more cars left. Jaden shifted in his seat, leaning forward as if that would help move things along. Two more cars left. He wondered what the price of gold was at the moment. Maybe he should wait a while and see if it went up. One more car left. Jaden felt giddy like a little kid on Christmas morning. He reached over to turn his signal on when the door behind him opened.

Jaden froze and stepped on the break. He swallowed heavily while two people got in the back seat. "Sorry," Jaden began to mumble. "Not on duty right now."

"Keep driving, buddy," one of the voices said. Jaden sat in his cab. That voice was extremely intimidating and he had already moved to start the car rolling when he glanced in his rearview mirror. The glance turned into a double take when he saw who was behind him. Two teenagers! he thought to himself. The way the voice had talked Jaden had thought that they were two cops. But they were just a bunch of teenagers!

Jaden stepped on the brake again and turned at the hip to tell the two runts to get out of his car. Nerves or not, he wasn't about to put up with two youngsters. But when he was facing the boy right behind him, he was met with something pointing right at him. Jaden's heart faltered. At first, he thought it was a gun. But as his heart slowed down he realized it was a anything but a gun. A piece of wood. That's what the brat was pointing at him. He should take it and snap it in two. Jaden tried to laugh, but it came out as a nervous chuckle. Something in him told him that it was more dangerous than a gun…

"I said, drive," the boy repeated. Jaden moved his eyes towards him and saw the expressionless face. The boy seemed like anyone else. Short brown hair, relatively clean face, plain sweatshirt and jeans. Jaden shouldn't feel intimidated by the kid. And yet he was. He stared into the kid's brown eyes, swore he saw red specks in them, and knew the kid wouldn't hesitate to kill him.

The car behind his cab started honking its horn.

Jaden swiveled around in his chair and started driving once more. He passed Windsor Drive. Of course, now traffic was fairly light. Jaden drove by two more streets before the kid opened his mouth again. "So, where'd you get it?" Jaden knew what the kid must be referring to but he forced himself not to glance at the bag.

"Get what?" Jaden asked.

"Thats not how we play this game, buddy. I ask a question, you answer. You dont say anything else. Got it?" The kids voice was oozing with confidence, as if he'd done this before. He probably had. Jaden remembered hearing all the reports about children soldiers all over the world. Maybe he was one of them. "Got it?" the kid repeated.

"Yes," Jaden responded. He tried to keep his eyes straight on the road.

"Where'd you get this fine sack?" Jaden couldn't help himself. He glanced at the seat next to him. There was nothing there. He quickly turned his head to look at the two passengers. The sack sat on the girls lap. Jaden had barely paid her any attention.

"Eyes on the road, buddy."

"I don't know." Jaden turned back around and kept driving.

"When did you get it?"

"Earlier today," Jaden replied. He was very aware of the sweat dripping down his neck and the overwhelmingly tight grip he had on the wheel.

"What's the last thing you remember before getting the sack?"

"Leaving a restaurant. I headed towards my taxi."

"Where was the restaurant? Where'd you leave the taxi?"

"The Smelly Clam. I parked on Howard Street, right before Old York Road."

"And what happened once you left the restaurant?"

"I don't remember."

"What's the next thing you do remember?"

"Sitting in my taxi and finding the sack." Jaden wasn't sure how much longer he'd have to play twenty questions.

"Okay, buddy, pull over." Jaden did as he was told. Now what would they do?

He heard coins hitting against each other but didn't dare look back.

"Thank you for your cooperation, bud." The kid's hand reached forward and put a few gold coins where his coffee usually went. Jaden heard the door behind him open and the kid get out. The girl, who'd he still not gotten a good look at, slid across the back seat to where the kid used to sit. Jaden almost jumped out of his seat when he felt her hand on his shoulder. It was gone almost as soon as it had appeared. Jaden heard her get out of the car and close the door behind her.

"You can go now," the kid told him. Jaden didn't have to be told twice. As he pulled back into traffic he was stopped at a red light. In his right mirror he saw the two kids standing there. They were watching him go. The girl was clutching the sack in her right hand. Jaden glanced at the light and then looked back.

There was a third person behind them.

Disclaimer: I do not anything other than the plot and my OC's.