Nothing is mine. Nothing is mine. Nothing is mine.
"All right men, we have a problem."
Valmont stood his arms crossed in front of him and eyed his closest men. Thy all, Finn, Chow Ratso and Hak Foo, were there and the Brit didn't think any of them knew what was going on.
After all, when had idiots started to know something?
"Well, what is it?" Chow asked shrugging. He wasn't actually interested, he wanted to spend his spare time pondering about what was wrong with Finn instead of running in these extra meetings. Valmont didn't even pay them any extra for this.
Valmont glanced at him.
"That's what I'm trying to explain."
"Uhhuh."
It was silent for a while when Valmont waited if anyone wanted so say something. He was slightly surprised to notice that Finn was going to keep his jaw shut. Maybe miracles did happen.
The man seemed a bit distant, but Valmont didn't bother to give it another thought.
"Jay Flick has come to San Francisco," he announced shortly. He didn't dare to hope that any of his men knew who Jay Flick was, but he wished they kept an eye on their competitors.
"I see. Is he your friend or something?" Ratso asked. Hak Foo glanced at him in irritation, but didn't say anything. He rarely said something so it wasn't strange.
"No. He used to be a competitor, but now he has become my enemy. And your enemy too," Valmont said.
He tapped at the table with hiscane and showed them a map of San Francisco. His stick pointed at the area where the Dark Hand's small HQ was.
"Jay Flick has come and intruded our territory. It is most clear what he wants," he said.
"How many men does he have with him?" Hak Foo asked. He had already realised what was going on and was the most interested in how bad the situation was.
"Not many, but they are all trained mercenaries and - hey, are you listening to me?" Valmont replied turning to stare at Finnat the end of his sentence. The Irish man stood a bit away from others and seemed to be lost in his own mind, and that was odd behaviour from him.
"Finn? Still alive?"
Finn lifted his gaze just to meet the stare of Valmont's eyes.
"What?" he asked.
The English crime lord shook his head. "Do I pay you for robbing the banks in the dream land?" he asked.
Finn blinked as if he had just realised where he was.
"Eh, sorry Big V. I was inmy thoughts," he said quickly feeling everyone's eyes on him. He should be more careful, no one was to find out that something was wrong.
"Well, come out of them then. We have a serious problem that can not be solved by sleeping," Valmont said sharply. Maybe he on some level cared about his men, but he cared about money even more and wasn't actually the type of man to go soft for nothing.
Finn snorted.
"Sure, Big V. What is this Jay Flick like?" he asked.
"So you actually managed to listen. I am surprised," Valmont said, "But as I was saying before, we have to be very careful and do as the plan says. Jay Flick with his partners has got rid of his enemies before and stolen their territories and the result has never been nice."
"What do you mean?" Ratso asked.
Valmont glanced at him.
"They can take care of their rivals. Permanently and violently," he said.
"So they think they can kill us?" Chow asked. They had all faced death many times, but the Dark Hand had never been as weak as now. They didn't really have money, men and this place where they were now wasn't very safe.
"That is what I mean. And that's why we will have to work."
"What is the plan like?" Finn asked deciding to take part in the conversation to seem more active.
"I don't know yet," Valmont replied.
"So we don't have a plan?" Chow stated and it was clear he had a bad hunch about this.
Valmont shook his head, but looked as self-confident as he always did.
"No, but I am sure I will come up with something that works. Eventually. In the meantime you keep your eyes open and look what you can find out. Flick can be anywhere and anyone can work for him."
"You probably don't want us to come with you?" Chow asked later that day when Finn was going out. The Irish man turned around looking guilty, he had tried to leave without anyone noticing.
He shrugged.
"I will meet this guy I haven't seen in ages. It's some personal," he lied quickly though he knew Chow wouldn't believe him. Chow could be nervous and even hysteric at times, but he had the ability to see when someone was lying.
Especially when it was his friend.
But how long would he call me his friend if he knew the truth? Finn thought bitterly.
Chow crossed his arms on his chest and tilted his head.
"I see," he said in suspicion.
"Yep," Finn replied.
They stood there in silence and stared at each other, then glanced at the ceiling as if there was something really important.
"Yep," Finn said again. He opened the door and went out. "See you later Chow!" he added and Chow managed to catch a glimpse of him before the door banged shut.
He heard steps and turned to see Ratso.
"Something is wrong," Ratso stated before Chow managed to say anything and the Chinese man stared at him in surprise.
"You've noticed it too?" he asked.
"Well sure, I am not stupid. Something is bothering Finn," Ratso said. Chow realised he had underestimated his friend and thought that he'd never notice something was going on. But he had forgotten that Ratso was a good friend.
And a good friend never had to be a professor to know when a friend had problems.
"I agree. But I have no idea what it could be," he said.
Cold wind blew against him when he stepped out. Finn looked around on the streets of San Francisco and sighed.
Cold wind blew against him when he stepped out. Finn looked around on the streets of New York and snorted. He knew that if his father ever found out where he was going he'd get beaten up worse than ever.
But dad never had to find out, he was home drunk and wouldn't miss his son.
The streets were filled with trash and dirt and he had to jump over the worst heaps to keep his shoes from getting too dirty. Finn didn't like dirt and had decided to move away as soon as possible.
He didn't really read newspapers, but a few times his eyes had caught articles on divorces and battles of custody. Almost every time the child was given to the mother and never sent to live in a place like this. Well, this place had been nice when he had been little, but now it most certainly was not.
It seemed no one was interested in the children after media had lost their interest in the particular case.
But he didn't care about it, his life had a meaning without clean streets and a fancy school. He knew exactly what he wanted and he was going to make his dream come true.
He would be rich. So filthy rich that he could move anywhere and do anything he wanted.
"Hey Finn!" he was welcomed when he arrivedto the garden of an abandoned house where kids used to meet each other.
He didn't reply, just nodded with a smirk.
"So, is something going on?" he asked and walked to the others. There were six boys and two girls with him. The youngest of them didn't look older than seven, but the oldest were over sixteen.
Finn himself was somewhere in the middle of the age line. He was other of the two twelve-year-old boys of the group.
The oldest of them, Alex, glanced at him.
"If you mean what out guest said last week, yes. He contacted me yesterday. Everything is fine, this depends on us now."
Finn nodded. They all knew what was going on and they accepted it.
The first step on his way to riches.
Finn snorted. He wasn't rich, but that had still been his first step to become what he was now. He hadn't wondered if his decision had been the right one. He had taken care of those thought years ago as a rookie.
But he still didn't want to remember his first jobs, they seemed so amateurish and childish now.
Where was he going?
Finn stopped to look around and shrugged. Who would have thought that he'd be too in thought to notice where he was going. He, who never thought too much in public.
It was all Black's fault. If the man hadn't decided to disturb old matters that were not his business everything would still be fine.
That cursed Black, how Finn hated him!
He sat in a red arm chair and enjoyed his cigarette. He wasa short, but still muscular man and his brown hair already had some grey stripes. He was wearing glasses that shattered his formal image and he managed to look very relaxing despite that the apartment wasn't very nice.
It wasn't what he was used to.
Next to his chair stood a bird cage and a yellow bird with red wings sat inside it. The bird had an orange beak and black eyes.
"It's a quarter past three. Jacey will arrive in three minutes, Darling," Jay Flick said to the bird and blew out a cloud of smoke.
"Chirp," the bird, Darling, chirped and sounded happy. It wasn't intelligent enough to realise what its master did for work, but it understood this man was the one who filled its cup with bird seeds and brushed its feathers gently.
To Darling it didn't matter if Jay Flick was an escaped crime lord, all that the bird cared about was that the man loved all kinds of birds. Any bird could sense that.
Maybe Flick loved birds more than humans, who knew.
The hand of his watch moved fora few minutes and suddenly the door was opened and a tall man stepped in. He was lanky, he had short black hair, brown eyes and he was dressed in very ordinary clothes. His black T-shirt could have been seen on anyone and his torn jeans gave him a bit punkish look.
"Oh, hello Jacey. I was expecting you," Flick said friendly and stubbed out his cigarette.
Jacey nodded. He was a sharp man who looked like he wouldn't hesitate a moment to kill someone. And he most certainly wouldn't, he had got in prison after killing a little girl somewhere in Iowa and Flick had really seen the bother to get him in his gang.
Jacey was one of the few that were forever loyal to him and that was why he had been chosen to be in this operation.
"Well, what have you found out?"
"It looks good. The Dark Hand is weak and Valmont has only a handful of men. Only one of them is a fighter, the others are weak fools who won't disturb us," Jacey answered.
Flick thought about it a while.
"If I were you I wouldn't underestimate them. You may be right about those fools, but we still can't let them be. Actually, they could prove to be useful," he said.
"How?" Jacey wanted to know.
Flick rose from his sitting position and turned to talk to his bird. He had had Darling only for a short while, but he already loved it and could never think about giving it up. It was funny actually, he had never cared about any human and a little bird made him lose his heart.
"Jacey has a lot to learn about human mind, doesn't he Darling?" he asked the bird who didn't understand a word but was happy to get some attention.
Flick fed Darling some seeds and snorted then.
"All human are cowards within, especially criminals. This fighter of Valmont's is one too. Good and brave men never fight against the law," he said.
Jacey frowned.
"I don't understand what you mean," he admitted.
"That is very simple, ask Darling. It knows. Valmont's fighter can be tough now when he has his weak partners, but when he is alone he is nothing. All we need is to get rid of those fools and that's it."
"So you want us to get take care of them?" Jacey made sure.
"Yes, but not with one shot. Kill them one by one so that Valmont will realise what is going on. I know you can pick the first victim. And oh yeah, remind Barbara of that she should not get too excited. She can be so frustratingly violent and temperamental," Jay Flick said.
"What about Section 13? I hear they have strong men. They could be trouble," Jacey pointed out and a shadow was cast on Flick's face.
"If that happens don't hesitate to kill them. But remember that Augustus Black is mine and only mine. I won't rest before I have had my revenge," he said.
"Mom!"
Naoise Finnstumbled to his mother holding a red toy car in his hands and gave the toy to her. She moved her attention from the soup she was making and bent next to her son.
"What is it Nao?" Angela asked taking the toy. The soup would burn if she didn't return to it soon, but she decided to spend a short moment with her son.
Especially now when her husband wasn't here even when it was weekend and he had no work to do.
Naoise didn't say anything, he was a quiet child, but stared at his mother with his green eyes that were so like Angela's. The boy had also inherited his mother's hair, but he clearly had his father's face and Angela already knew Naoise would grow upto look like him.
She lifted the boy in her arms and took the kettle from the fire. She would soon return to her cooking, Seamus didn't like badly prepared food.
Angela walked into the small living room Naoise with her and sat on a sofa. They hada few luxuries in their home and Angela had counted that there was no way they could have afforded them with Seamus' small pay. She had no idea where the extra money came from and she didn't even want to know.
It already disturbed her enough.
"Where's daddy?" Naoise asked suddenly.
"He has gone out and will be back soon," Angela replied hoping that she'd known the right answer. Seamus was much away from home nowadays and it worried her. The man seemed so strange and distant and Angela was certain he was keeping something from her.
"When?"
"I don't know. Soon."
Naoise was silent for a while thinking about something. He frowned slightly and look really cute in thought.
"I wanna play with him," he announced then and Angela laughed.
"I see. You have to say that to him when he comes home. But now I will have to prepare food or we will all starve," she said placing her son on the floor. Naoise would soon turn three, but many had mistaken and thought he was almost four.
Suddenly the door banged and Angela heard familiar steps.
"Seamus," she said when Seamus Finn stepped in the room. The man walked to his son and lifted him up. Naoise laughed.
"Where were you?" Angela asked.
"Nowhere. Outside," Seamus replied. Angela didn't miss how the man avoided her eyes as if he was ashamed and it made her feel more nervous.
It was a stupid thought, but maybe Seamus had another woman?
"You are much away nowadays. I am nervous when I don't know what is going on," Angela said.
"Don't worry, everything is all right. Let me take care of it," her husband assured. He ruffled Naoise's hair and the boy laughed again. He was too small to understand how serious his parents' conversation was.
"I wish I could believe that," Angela said with a sigh.
"I love you. Isn't that enough?" Seamus asked.
Angela smiled.
"Of course it is," she said, but in her heart she wasn't certain. Not at all.
To be continued...