Present Day
Turning left coming out of the Loaded Run, ducking down one of the many unnamed alleys I hoofed it along its dank depths. I don’t like to think I am a paranoid man but I take care of myself. I have survived this long and I would like to continue this trend. When I am on a case, especially when trying to track down someone who would not take kindly, even violently, to me poking around after him, I keep a low profile.
Emerging onto the optimistically named Lake Shine Boulevard I make my way across the city, flowing with the nights crowd of lads out on the town, their prey of lovely ladies and vice versa. I slink through doglegs and alley runs where I can rejoin the flow of humans occasionally, watching the city change from the upmarket swank to the Old Town.
Every city has its own version of the Old Town. The slums, the shamleggers, the Sniggs, call it what you will but they are the same the world over. Where people who put in a days less than honest work will gather, where the boys in their rumpled blues won’t step foot without a damn good reason if they want to get that foot back.
The smell of the city changes with its looks, going from lived in to just plain used. I hitched my coat closer to try and fend off the growing wind biting into me, letting my hand brush my peace maker and headed deeper into the Old Town, the backyard of the Barley Boys. I have done my fair share of work for them over the years; everyone in this city has at some point needed to find a missing pretty or person and they have ended up at my door. The Boys were no exception. The jobs I did for them were nothing untoward but I don’t like the idea of our connection becoming common knowledge.
The Barley Boys always presented as a clean lot, all squared up in Sunday best with those Fedoras perched on their heads like starving crows. Everyone knew they were up to the dodge but nothing could be linked to them. You do them wrong though, you slight them in any fashion, perceived or otherwise and the retaliation is always swift, brutal and cannot be traced back to shiny reputations.
There are many reasons I am not excited to see their juke joint swim into view as I round the corner of Wishbone Alley and rejoined the snaking throng of humanity. The lights from the ground floor windows spilling onto the cobbles in front, even from this distance I can see the place is jumping. Sure I am in the right place but still not clear of what I am after; I head straight to the front of the Loquacious.
Ignoring the line of waiting hopefuls I nod to the two lads on the door and head in, Akko and Charlie Horse know well enough to let me pass.
Inside the Loquacious the ground floor is filled with dancing or at the least writhing to the pumping noise. I give the room a quick going over, trying to pick out any faces in the crowd that I should avoid. The lights making it difficult and I hope just as difficult for one of the many I would rather avoid. Glancing up at the frosted ceiling I can see the thumping of feet above of the next level of people trying their best to make this a night they will remember or maybe forget.
Skirting around the edge of the whirling mass of bodies I head past the eager hordes after a drink, nod to Genie when she catches my eye from behind the bar and continue towards the back. Pulling up in front of two imagination challenged men who are standing guard I curse inwardly as I don’t recognise either of them, hoping they know me.
“Here to see the Barley Boys. Tell ’em Sol wants a quick word.” I stare straight ahead trying to ignore them.
The first mobile wall leans down to get a better view and try to intimidate me. I resist the urge to take his stupid eye out as he stares at me.
“Lads? I hate to hurry you but I am on a bit of a tight schedule here.” I say to the door.
The other ill defined mound of flesh grunts and disappears inside. Mental note, he was disturbingly fast on his feet. Not Super fast, just big guys are not usually that quick. I try to not check behind me in this tight corridor. It was difficult with that fat face still staring at me so close I can feel his breath.
His friend finally returns and leaves the door slightly ajar and waves me in, both watching me like I was going to try and start trouble right here. Ignoring them both I step through to the den of the Boys.
The smell of smoke and liquor have long since stained every part of the room. A thick pall of clinging smoke is lazily shifting on the low bare beamed ceiling. It sticks to the back of my throat as I hungrily inhale. I missed that smell. Two tables facing the door, nicked and stained a sharp contrast with their crisply suited occupants seated behind them. Fat blue smoke swirling around their sunken faces from the cigars they are both happily chomping. One of them, Bren, Canen, I can never tell the two of them apart, spits out to one of the suited fighters on the couches.
“Alren, why are the royals so down this month?”
Alren shifts on the couch, causing it creak under his bulk. I glanced at him and felt a small twinge of guilt.
“Sorry Boss, it’s in the notes? Old Widow Asira up and died on us. Heart attack last week. The Asian Palace has been out of business since her daughter is having money troubles.”
“Not Old Asira? That bird was tougher than me. Heart attack you say? Send some flowers to” the Boy catches himself “No, she had no need for flowers. You make sure the funeral arrangements are made and put out the quiet word that any money troubles for her we sort ‘em out.”
The men behind the battered desk slowly work their way through the rest of the papers. Standing there, trying to not look bored I wait them out. I know how to play this game. Finished, one of them looks up, pretending to have just noticed me.
“Sol! Pull up a pew. Can I get you anything?” His brother looked up at the mention of my name and nailed me with a glance. The Barley Boys act all folksy but I would bet my non-existent laundry lady they knew I was coming the moment I stepped out of Wishbone Alley.
“Canen, Bren. Wouldn’t mind a dose of the good stuff if you are offering.”
They flashed a surprised grin at me as I pulled up a chair that looked like it had seen more than I ever had. Canen (or Bren) grabbed an unlabelled bottle of pale amber from his desk and some tumblers. We waited while the short ceremony was finished and the first gasp of appreciation hit.
“Sol, we haven’t called for you, we have not lost nothing.” He paused to savour another mouthful “What do you want?”
To the point. There is a reason these two lads have ruled most of the Old Town for the better part of a decade. No one knows for sure what Super they have but they have one. They could not have held their own against the Knocker Men or the White Hands otherwise.
“I am looking for information. Now the information I am after is linked to a man, not just anyone, a Super. I am not here to threaten or cajole.” They nodded, slightly impatiently “We are all business men here. I am just saying that what I am after you don’t want to share.” Pausing slightly to mimic his mouthful and to try and settle my nerves as I was about to do something really really stupid. I swirled the liquid in my mouth enjoying the burn and swallowed before levelling my gaze at a spot between them.
“I am just not leaving here until you do share.”
I had walked into the lions den and not just challenged the lion, I had kicked him squarely in the balls and pissed on the floor. On the way here I had tried to think of the best way of doing this, I knew they wouldn’t want to share. What kind of crime boss wants to admit a failure? I needed to know though, I needed this ghost to work. If I am came in nosing around or all servile-like they would have filled the air with vague deflections in their own way and the ghost would be put to rest, like it had all those years ago. I had to show I was serious, they respected that. The Barley Boys had their own honour. Black and twisted but it was still honour.
Leaving the sentence to hang in the air like a condemned man as all the muscle on the couches were suddenly stretching those precious suits. I waited for the explosion.
The Boys shared another hit of the amber and continued to stare at me for a long time, long enough that I started to twitch involuntarily. Finally one of them spoke to the muscle without taking his eyes off me.
“Gentlemen, if you would give us the room please. Our friend here needs to learn about respecting boundaries.”
The suits all shot up at once, the unwinding of all that tension almost lifting some of them off the floor. They filed out leaving me alone in the room with two of the most notorious killers in the city. The sounds of people renting fun for the evening filled the room and then abruptly died as the door was pulled, solidly, shut. I tried to not think about this being a metaphor.
One of the Boys breathed out softly.
“Sol. Sol.” He cajoled and gesturing with his hands “You come see us, actually join us for a drop for once and then straight into a demand? What were you thinking coming out with that? We are going to have to hurt you now.” He shook his head sadly. “You know we don’t like to hurt our friends Sol.” The brothers looked at each and went back to shaking their heads slowly.
I faced the speaker, the nervousness fading as I was still breathing. I took a stab, “Bren?” No change in either of them. “Look, I am sorry I had to pull that shit but you know me. I am serious about this, I need some info that only you guys can provide and you will not want to give it to me.”
Bren filled his tumbler again without offering me one this time and took another hit.
“Well I am curious at the least.” He said after finishing the tumbler. “What is important enough for you to risk getting your tonker cut off Sol?”
“Levi Prime.”
Again those stares. I knew I was still guessing, this was from a rumour that Tommy himself could not verify. Maybe they don’t know I am though. I searched their faces for a clue that I was on the right track. These boys could dice with the devil himself. I continued.
“You hired a Levi. I know about the job he was on, the final one? The one that went pear shaped? The one in the Old Town Docks with the diamonds.”
Again those stares. I was now only hoping there was a track for me to be on and it didn’t have an oncoming train.
“You didn’t even know you had a Prime did you?”
There! A twitch! Pay dirt, I forced onwards.
“You hired him as some local muscle, he knew his way around a few of the old hunting grounds. He was a Levi so you knew he didn’t have a Super. Some low level jobs to start, nothing serious. A shake down or two, I heist here and there.” I warmed to this, I know what they are like. “He showed spirit, showed some brains. More than the usual mouth breathers you get.” tilting my head to the now vacant couches.
“You decided to bump him up a bit, to see if you could stand spending actual time with the guy. See if he was worth getting access to the inner circle.”
Focused on them I let my mouth run, I always did the best flying by the seat of my pants.
“It was the diamond shipment. It was supposed to be easy and then Knocker Men showed up. Outnumbered and totally out gunned, wondering how you two were going to get out of their with your dicks in one piece then.” I paused to settle my tumbler down on the table. Hey, I earned a bit of dramatic flair.
“3ball showed he was a Super. Jimmy thought it was speed and teleportation by the way. But Jimmy was a coward who was hiding in a corner. It was a Prime. Except it was not the real Levi Prime. He had the same Super though, spawning more and more of himself.”
I was grasping now, running out of steam already. I was done, gone as far as I could. I hope that was enough, banking on them knowing I had got this far by myself and would keep digging. Trying to be as casual as hell I nodded to the bottle of amber and my empty tumbler, I ask “How am I doing so far?”
Staring them down while Bren drained his fresh tumbler they finally took a break from trying to bore through my eyes into my brain. They shared a glance. Canen stubbed out his swisher and slowly shook his head.
“You son of a whore Sol.”
Okay, breathe again.
Except.
Maybe not now that I have pissed off two violent murderers and shown that I know secrets they wish to keep buried. Maybe don’t relax just yet.
“We owe you Sol.” Canen began “But not like this.” Bren finished. “If you need this so bad you need to bring some more meat to the table.”
I had built up some solid debt with these boys over the years. Nothing like keeping the heavies on your side in case of a rainy day and, baby, it was pissing down. I knew that it alone wouldn’t be mustard though, they needed a bit more to make them keen.
“I know Boys. To make us square I got you this.” That twinge came back. I nodded to where one of the heavies had been sitting. “Alren. He’s a sandwich, been squealing for the last few months. Telling them a bit here and there.” I knew throwing them Alren would do it. A snitch in their inner circle? I had been hanging to that piece of meat for a while now. Been meaning to have a quiet word with the lad about his career choices but had not had the chance. I never would get that now. Their usual airtight expressions gave away the whole show he was in store for right there. Nodding “Yeah, this is solid.”
“Fair trade Sol, as much as it hurts.” There was a brief moment as they filtered Alren away into his own little box from living to dead but not aware of it yet. Then they were all business again. “What do you need?”
“Tell me about that night. The night you found out you had a Prime.” I settled back into my chair. “Tell me everything.”
Again they looked at each other but I knew they would not hold back, I could bank on their black honour. Canen lit up another swisher and waved the smoke away.
“It was a simple run that night. Yeah, he was running with the big boys now but we were there for an after school special. Babysit a shipment from offshore, Diamonds. Smuggled out past the cartels and almost pure profit. No one knew the ship existed let alone what its cargo was. Mikey, or 3Ball, as he styles himself now was on lookout. There we were, holed up in a warehouse on the docks playing cards and having a chin wag. If anything went untoward it was supposed to be a dog barking for one man, a howl for a pack.”
Canen breathed the smoke deep and held it. His voice mingled with the blue “Instead we got ‘They fucking fucked us!’ Mikey was hollering as he ran back into the room and dove under our table.”
Canen takes another long drag as Bren picks up the thread without missing a beat:
“We flipped the table in time to stop the bullets from book-ending our lives. A dark warehouse at night? Boxes and crates everywhere? It felt like a goddamned army had descended on us. Cowering behind the table was us, Mikey, Noel the Stick and Jimmy 4-Hands. Five guys versus an army. We split in our own directions as the table was being hammered by shot after shot. Canen and I slowly made our way towards the ladders and high ground, no idea where the other boys were. It all quietened down then I heard Mikey scream like he had been hit. Then another voice joined in and both silenced as every gun in the joint started smashing home in the direction of the two voices.”
Bren paused to refill his lonely glass and Canen gestured with his cigar as he continued.
“The next part, I am not sure what happened as it got all kinds of weird. Remember we didn’t know then he was another bloody Levi Prime.”
“We damn well knew by the end.” Bren mumbled, Canen nodded.
“The shooting continued randomly and then yelling and confusion filled the already messy fight. Me and my Brother were holed up together eyeing the ladder from our hidey-hole when we realised that no one was shooting us so we headed up to the catwalks, maybe see the battle, maybe help out.”
“He say battle” Bren adds “But he means bloody fucking massacre.”
“Yeah, as I said it was all dark and shit in the warehouse but…” He toys with his cigar for a moment. “Mikey was everywhere. Not saying he was fast or some shit, no. He be like, literally everywhere. There were Mikey’s all over the floor, some living, some dead. I saw a group of them swarm over another shooter who tried to take them down. The poor bastard killed five or six of Mikey’s before he was overwhelmed and beaten to a bloody pulp on the floor. This little nightmare? It was happening to every man fuck down there. They could kill Mikey, sure. But it didn’t matter, he would die but another two would be created to take his place.”
The mask of a killer slipped from Canen as he looked down and took another drag, remembering what he had seen that night. Bren continued softly, almost reverently.
“You know what its like Sol, it felt like fucking hours. It lasted maybe four minutes. There were no more gunshots or screams. Just the sound of a hundred identical men trying to deal with what had just happened. Then every Mikey still standing or moaning in the joint suddenly started to shake and shimmer, then BAM!” Bren brought his hand crashing down on the desk, sending papers flying.
“There was one, like fucking highlander or some shit, just one Mikey standing there alone.” Bren shook his finger at me for emphasis. “He looked around, punched a hole clear through the crate holding the goods, grabbed a fist full of our Diamonds, sucked in the copy he had just made and fucked off. We stayed up there for another thirty minutes or so before we found our own pair of stones to get down.”
They lapsed back into silence while my mind was thundering. Another Levi Prime! It couldn’t be the real one. Another Levi capable of not only duplicating himself but one who could absorb himself at a distance. If he was the Seeker then he had better control of his Super than the real Prime. How much better had he gotten in the last five years? I spoke without thinking.
“Have you seen anything of him since?”
They both looked at me like something they would scrape off their shoes.
“Sol. We hit up every fence we knew, every contact we had to try and track this bastard down. Have you ever tried to track down a specific Levi?” He paused as he realised who he was talking to. “Well, yeah I suppose you have an idea of what we were up against. Short answer? We didn’t find dick.”
I could feel the spell fading, the goodwill I earned draining from the air.
“What was the name of your Diamond contact then? Boys, I need something to go on.” I was pushing it, pushing way too hard, hoping there was a shred of play left. They know I am not competition in their smuggling so I wouldn’t burn one of their own.
I waited out the silent conversation between then when I got “Bronski. He gets the Diamonds out without anyone knowing about it.” They both looked at me. “Anyone.”
Understanding what they were saying, there is only so far friendship and favours will take me and this was the bitter end.
I had to ask though. “If you were so set on hiding what happened then why let 4-hands live? He was the only loose end and that man likes to talk.”
They looked at each other again, Canen flicking ash off his cigar.
“Truth be told Sol, we forgot Jimmy was even there.” They looked embarrassed. “By the time we remembered we had a quiet word with Jimmy and he had no idea what actually happened so we thought it best to let sleeping dogs lie.”
Ha, lucky Jimmy was such a coward then. I realised they were both patiently waiting for me and shrugged uncomfortably.
“Alright then. As always I thank you both for your help and liquor.” I stood up slowly with my hands by my side. “Let’s do this.”
I watched them both almost reluctantly push back from their desk and head towards me. Breathing in the used smoke deeply I closed my eyes and concentrated hard, this was worth it.
They began.
The group of suits gave me a searching look as I walked out of the room, holding my head high and my broken nose higher. I watched Alren as he filed back into the room and felt another pang although that could have been my, fairly sure, cracked ribs. I nodded to Genie on the way out who watched me stumble past favouring me with a rare, wry smile.
I grinned back. The ghost was alive.