Dead Man's Hand (27 page)

This time, when Alexis
mentioned the witch, Dempsey managed to keep his face impassive. Here his
control seemed to end as his next words dripped with venom.  “I sent him
after you hoping that a forger would have better luck eliminating you.  Two
of my men had already failed to do that using more…conventional methods.”

Understanding dawned on
Alexis’ face, his next words held the power that Dempsey seemed no longer able
to utilize.  “So you were the one?”

Unable to keep silent
anymore I broke into the conversation asking, “The one what?”

“Conventional methods,
Francis” Alexis replied quietly before turning around to look at me. 
“Dempsey’s conventional methods must refer to a sniper.  Keep in mind what
he threatened you with.  A few times over the past month or so I had some
rather large bullets slam into the same protection you encountered earlier.

“Unlike your attempt, I
didn’t know where theirs came from, so I chalked it up to being in the wrong
place at the wrong time.”  Whipping his body back to stare up into
Dempsey’s emotionless eyes he continued.  “Only now I know they were
actually intended for me.  And that’s a decent enough reason to force your
newly recruited forger into an assassination attempt, though my guess is there
was more to it than that.  I’d be willing to bet your witch suggested it
to you.”

Hatred was pushing the
fear out of Dempsey’s eyes as he stared back down at Alexis, and that reaction
was just enough to let Alexis know he had been right.  “So now here’s my
million dollar question.  Why is this forger or witch or whatever you call
her, so important to you?”

“I thought you weren’t
going to pry into that subject?”  Dempsey retorted with a snarl.

“Like I said, it’s a
personal question.  I just wondered why she wants me dead so badly?”

“I want you dead, the
pair of you.  I’m the one in charge.”  Dempsey managed to shout
before Alexis silenced him with a forged gag.  Alexis spun around and led
me far enough away so we wouldn’t be overheard.  “I don’t think we’ll get much
more from him, did you still want to ask him your questions?”

“Yes.”

Alexis looked me straight
in the eye and said, “Then by all means take center stage.  And when
you’re done, I’ll put him back to sleep.”

“How did you manage to
hurt him?”

“You aren’t even going to
think about doing that, is that clear?”  Alexis commanded in his
whisper.  I shivered. The man truly had a personality that demanded both
respect and obedience no matter how quietly he spoke.

“What if he refuses to
answer me?”

With a smile that showed
a few too many glistening teeth he answered, “Then I’ll remind him that it
would be in his best interest to answer your questions just as he answered
mine.”

With a nod I walked the
short distance back and waited for the gag to be released, which didn’t take
long.  As soon as the gag was removed, Dempsey cursed me and started to
explain the rather painful things he would love to do to my body before turning
it into a corpse. Eventually I glanced back at Alexis who promptly changed
Dempsey’s into a rather loud cry of pain.  He looked down at me, seemed to
swallow his pride, and asked, “And what do you want?”

“Did you really talk to
Bella?”  The question elicited a gasp from behind me and a scoff from in
front of me, which told me that both men thought little of my question but that
didn’t bother me at all.  “Did you talk to Bella?”

“Yes, I spoke with my
niece.”

“What did you really talk
about?”

“Why, about you being my
newest employee of course.  I thought
we
...”

As he started to give me
the same old lie, I glanced at Alexis who immediately repeated his forged
attack upon Dempsey. He was rewarded with another cry of pain.  Returning
my attention back to the dangling man I walked closer and repeated my question,
but this time I forced it out with steel in my voice.  “What did you
really talk about?”

The hatred in his eyes
flared back to life as he looked down at me.  “As soon as I had you
escorted from the main hall she rushed down to demand what was happening to
you.  She wanted to know why you weren’t just presented with the winnings
like she had been.  I told her that you and I had something special to
discuss and so while I was busy with all of my guests you would be
entertained.”

“And did she believe
you?”

“No, she didn’t. 
She wanted to know what was so important to discuss.  I told her that I
had an opportunity for you.”

“What was her reaction?”

“She called me a liar and
spun around and left.  But, if memory serves, she did collect her winnings
before leaving.  I had quite a bit of damage control to do after her
little exit.  But what can I do? She’s family, or at least she was.”

Stunned by his answer I
growled, “What does that mean?”

“Now that she’s been
poisoned by you, I’ll need to deal with her.”

Who
did he think he was threatening, or was he actually threatening anyone? 
Could he be trying to regain control of the situation by attempting to throw me
off balance?  Pulling every scrap of defiance that was at my disposal I
sneered up at Dempsey and said “What makes you think you’re walking out of here
alive?”

Shock
thundered through Dempsey with each word and the defiance that had been
building disappeared.  “Neither of you are capable of killing
someone.”  The words came out hollow as if he were trying to convince
himself of what he was saying
.

To our mutual surprise, Alexis broke in, “Define killing,
Bertrand.” 

“What do you mean define?”  Dempsey asked, his voice hollow
with fear.

A predatory smile
spreading across his face, Alexis walked up beside me and slowly repeated his
statement.  “Define. Killing.”

When Dempsey didn’t
answer Alexis continued on without hesitation.  “What would happen to you
if Francis and I simply left, when you’re discovered missing that is?  I
can guarantee you that no one will ever find you. No one will hear your
screams.  Not only that, but, as you have discovered, you can’t move at
all. So do you know what would happen to you?  You will die of
dehydration, it’s not a pretty death.

“You wouldn’t do that
Alexis.” Dempsey was trying to assure himself, not either of us.

 “Dempsey, you’ve
tried to kill me and have tried to get a hold of forgers so you could bend them
to your will.  Of course I’m willing to leave you here to die.”

After a moment’s
contemplation I realized why this wouldn’t work for me and whispered to Alexis,
“If he doesn’t make a call and you’re still alive in the morning, then I’m a
dead man.”

Alexis cupped his right
hand in front of my ear and whispered back, “Don’t worry I won’t let his goons
kill you.”  Removing his hand he returned his full attention to Dempsey.
“I’m sorry but I’d rather not deal with your tongue as we leave so I’m going to
put you to sleep again.”

As Alexis spoke Dempsey
was building up for an explosion, then he suddenly slumped into
unconsciousness.  I instantly spun around to face Alexis, “Are you
seriously going to leave him here?”

“It was the idea,” Alexis
began cautiously.  “Though I’ll admit that I was more than a little
surprised when you threatened him with it.”

“What happened to not
committing crimes with the aid of forgery?”  I asked with actual defiance
in my voice. 
What am I doing?  Why am I even thinking about
risking my neck for a man like Dempsey?
  Okay that was an easy answer,
because as terrible as he was, no human being deserved to die such a slow and
painful death.

Alexis silently closed
the distance between us and looked down at me as he asked a question in the
same annoying way fathers do when they know the right answer and are hoping
their kids will finally get it right this time.  “Do you think he doesn’t deserve
to die?”

“No, if anyone deserves
to die, he does.  But I think we can do something better.”

His attention perked up
and I could tell that he went from dismissing what I was about to say, to being
cautiously curious.  I chose my next words carefully. “Someone like him
would rather die than spend his life in jail, right?”

With a nod Alexis
answered, “Yes, but someone like him has the lawyers to get away with
anything.”

“You’re right, they would
have to get caught red handed, standing over a body with the literal smoking
gun, but if we could arrange that...”  I trailed off hoping Alexis would
see what I meant.

However, he must not have
since all he said was, “But men like him never do anything directly.”

“I know, believe me I
know a thing or two about that.  But for the sake of argument, let’s just
assume Dempsey were to get caught holding a gun over a victim.  Don’t you
think that would be a more just punishment?”

I could see frustration
building in Alexis’ eyes as he thought over what I had said.  But he just
couldn’t or wouldn’t see where I was going with this.  With a shrug of his
shoulders he finally replied.  “It would be nice, with the exception of
your victim.  So just forget it he’ll have his punishment here. 
After a couple of days he’ll just be a high profile missing person.”

After pressing my palms
into my forehead, I then waved Alexis closer and told him exactly what I was
thinking about trying.  Talking over his gasps of disbelief and brief
protests.  I finished telling him my plan and braced myself for his
response to my last two questions.  “Well what do you think?  Isn’t
it at least worth trying?”

Personally stunned by the
enormity of my plan, I was a little shocked when I saw that all too familiar
smile.  “Perhaps that might be worth trying after all.”

 “Do you really
think we can pull this off Alexis?”  I asked as we stood in the cavern.

“Not so sure of your plan
anymore, Francis?”  Alexis asked sharply through his wicked little grin.

“Fine, let me rephrase
the question, can you do all of what I’m assuming you can do?”

Alexis sighed and paused
a moment in thought before replying,  “Normally I wouldn’t even think
about doing something like this, much less condone one of my forgers acting in
the way you’re suggesting.  But then again this isn’t exactly a normal
situation, and you’re right, this way we would essentially break most of his
criminal ties.  In the process, we will be able to keep you
alive, that
is of course if you’re right.”

“So is that a yes?” 
I asked, in what I hoped was a casual manor.

“I’ll need some help, and
it’ll be tricky.  But with a little bit of luck, we should be able to pull
it off.”  Alexis said with a hopeful nod of his head.  Taking a
couple of steps closer to Dempsey, Alexis studied the man.  If this was
going to work he had to have a really good picture in his mind.  Turning,
Alexis fixed his eyes on me and commanded, “Get in the truck. If this is going
to work I won’t have the time to come back here and get it.”

I obediently got in the
passenger side of his truck and waited for my next order.  Once he
finished with his tag Alexis hopped into the driver’s seat and quickly drove
through the newly made portal right onto his driveway.  Before exiting the
truck, Alexis told me, “Now when we walk through the front door we are going to
back in the cavern, okay.”

I nodded and we both got
out of the truck and walked through Alexis’ front door.  True to his word
we walked back into the cavern and grabbed Dempsey, Alexis making the tag that
would allow us to enter his home undetected.  Once there, Alexis deposited
Dempsey on the couch, “How are you at making hand warmers?”

“Decent.” 

“Well that’ll have to
do.  Start making some, I don’t know about you but I need to start replenishing
some body heat.  Also I’m going to go make some tea, would you like any?”

“Tea?” 

“Tea, coffee, hot
chocolate, anything hot.”  He placed extra emphasis on that last word,
which of course just rubbed my nose in how stupid my question had been. 
“Drinking something warm or hot is another great way to replace heat lost
through forging.  Haven’t you ever tried that before?”

Feeling silly I replied,
“No, I haven’t.”

“Talent, you have talent,
but no common sense.  I’m going to have an uphill job training you. That
is, as long as this all goes according to plan.”  Alexis said as he left
to go make us our tea.

I sat down and started to
make hand warmers for both of us.  When he finally came back in he had an
electric kettle, a gallon of water, and a collection of miscellaneous items,
not to mention the required tea bags.  I hadn’t done much forging that
night, Alexis had done a lot more, but as I waited for him to return I started
using a couple of the hand warmers I had just finished making.

He quickly placed
everything down upon the table and started heating the water.  Once it was
finished he glanced up at me with worry in his eyes.  “This plan of yours
is going to take a lot out of both of us.  You know that, right?” 
Unwilling to trust my voice, I just nodded.  “I’m going to go through with
this because, if it works, you and every other forger around will be free from
Dempsey’s meddling hands.  I can see you’re replenishing your body heat.
 That’s good, keep it up.  Now while you do that start thinking about
what we can use for the base of your stand in.  Honestly, I can’t think of
anything that’ll be remotely close enough for the purpose, which means that
we’re going to have to pour a lot of heat into that forgery.”

One of the words caught
my attention, “You just said
we’re.
  Does that mean two people can
work on the same thing at the same time?” I had never thought about the
possibility before as I had never known another forger.

With a hallow laugh and a
slight shake of his head Alexis replied, “I keep forgetting that you’re about
as knowledgeable as a newborn babe.  It’s not an insult so don’t take it
that way.  It is just a statement of fact.”  Pulling in a deep
breathe he checked on the status of the tea before continuing.  “We,” he
halted for a second before emphasizing his next words with a back and forth
hand gesture.  “You and I, and others like us, are able to funnel our body
heat into another’s body.  Letting him use more heat than he could
otherwise.  This is definitely not a technique I would normally walk
someone like you through; but, you should be able to do it with the correct
guidance.”

“Which you feel you can
give.”  I suggested my voice lacking a certain amount of confidence.

“Mostly, but if your plan
is going to work then it’s all we’ve got.  Just don’t skimp with the heat
sources.  Right now both of us are better off running our bodies too hot
then playing it safe.  We’re going to need to ride ourselves as close to
108 as possible.”  He switched off the electric kettle as it reached a
rolling boil and dropped some Lipton tea bags in before closing the lid. 
“How strong do you like your tea?”

“I guess we’ll find out
soon enough.”  I said hoping to elicit a laugh from him.

And Alexis replied with a
heartfelt chuckle.  “Well in that case I hope you like it strong and
sweetened with a just a little bit of honey. I’ll keep Dempsey unconscious in
such a way that no one will be able to detect it.”

“You mean through
forgery?”  I asked hopefully.

With a small scowl crossing
his lips Alexis looked more annoyed than angered.  “You’ll learn
everything I know about forging later.  As far as I’m concerned you’re
dabbling in way too much as it is, but I can’t help that now.”  His scowl
deepened just enough to let me know I better stop asking about all the forgery
tricks he knew.  “You will learn more than enough for now, okay?  And
every question you ask, you delay this plan of yours and time is not something
we can afford to waste.”

“Okay, I’ll try to keep
my inquisitive nature in check.” 

“There is nothing wrong
with asking questions, Francis.  You just need to hold them in for
now.  Once this is over you’ll have plenty of time to ask all the
questions you want.  And eventually, I’ll answer them all.”

With that said there was
nothing else for me to do but try and think of an appropriate substance to make
a body out of.
What would be similar enough to simulate a body?
 
How often does that question come up in someone’s life?  Whatever I
thought of, it would probably help the transmutation if it was living. 
Would an animal’s body work as a substitute?  It was a possibility, it
could work, or rather, I hoped it would work.  But catching an animal in
such a short amount of time wouldn’t be easy.  Unless we raided a zoo or a
shelter and I had a feeling that wouldn’t go over too well with Alexis.

So what else would make a
decent starting point for a body?  What else was alive?  Then an idea
struck me.  I was hesitant to mention it, but I was pulled out of my
thoughts when Alexis handed me a rather large mug of tea.  I silently
accepted the mug and took a small sip of the hot liquid.  I was pleasantly
surprised at the sweet taste.  There was a little bit of a bitter
aftertaste but other than that, it was very good, and it did warm me up better
than just the few hand warmers I had made.

Looking up from the mug,
I saw Alexis huddling over Dempsey’s still unconscious body.  I was about
to ask what he was doing but I managed to corral my loose lipped tongue just as
my mouth opened.

Alexis must have sensed
my ever-present curiosity as he asked without looking back at me.  “You
had a question, Francis?”

“I did, but it’ll
wait.  But I was thinking...”

“Yes?” 

“Would a tree
work?”  I asked a little sheepishly.

Still engrossed in
whatever he was doing Alexis replied, “Would a tree work for what?”

“Sorry. Would a tree work
as a starting point for my body?” 

“A tree?”  Alexis
repeated to himself while he was still focusing upon Dempsey.

Hearing the disinterest
in his voice I assumed it was a bad idea, so I started to backtrack, “Yeah,
it’s a silly idea...”

“No, it’s not.” 
Alexis broke in as he finished doing whatever it was he was doing.  “I’m
sorry if I gave you that impression, I was concentrating on what I was doing.”

“And what was that?”

I was about to try and
retract the question when Alexis halted me by placing both of his hands up in
the universal motion for stop.  “You can ask what I’m doing.  I can
tell that it will be impossible to stop yourself completely.  Just don’t
ask me to explain how I do it just yet.  Will that be easier for you to
accomplish?”

“A little.”  I
replied with a smile.

“I healed all of the
little injuries that our guest had, and ensured that he wouldn’t be waking up
any time soon, which of course benefits us.”  He took a sip from his own
mug before going on, “Now as to your suggestion, a tree, or at least a large
enough part of a tree should be sufficient.  Besides when the body reverts
back it should only help ensure his guilt in the public eye.”

“How will it help ensure
his guilt in the public eye?”

“Come now can’t you
figure that one out?”  When I shook my head he went on.  “We are
going to have him standing over a dead body with the gun in hand.  After a
couple of days when the body is swapped out for a tree trunk people will assume
that Dempsey just tried to have the right people paid off to eliminate the body
in an attempt to get rid of the case against him.”

“Okay, that makes some
sense.  But I don’t suppose you happen to have a tree just laying around
that we can use?”

“No, I don’t.  But
that shouldn’t be much of a problem.”

“Let me guess you have a
tag in the middle of a forest or something.”

With a broader smile he
replied, “Why, yes Francis, as it turns out I do have something along those
lines.”  As he shifted his gaze I was able to see the glint in his eyes as
he asked, “What’s that famous motto? That’s right.  Be prepared.” 
The snap of his fingers was timed just right to punctuate the motto that
apparently guided Alexis’ life.

“So when do I go?”

With a light touch to the
doorframe beside him Alexis said, “How about now?”

“Now?”  I asked with
more than a little bit of shock.  “What am I supposed to do?”

“What do you mean what
are you supposed to do?”  He said with just a hint of scorn.  “What
do you think you’re supposed to do?”  “You walk through the doorway, find
and chop down a tree that will be your approximate size and weight, and then
wait.  I’ll check in with you every fifteen minutes or so.”

“And while I’m chopping
down my tree what will you be doing?”

“Getting both Dempsey and
myself ready to carry out this little charade.  That is, unless you’d
rather switch jobs?”  Alexis asked with a smug smile.

“So I’ll find us that
tree then.”  I replied as I grabbed an extra hand warmer and walked
through the doorway that Alexis had prepared for me.  I immediately found
myself in a rather dark and dank, but dry, patch of land.  Was this
another one of Alexis’ safe houses?  If it was I’d like to know where the
actual house was located.  Looking around I began to see that this might
just be the man’s lumber yard; there were a number of stumps as well as
saplings.  Then I took a moment and began searching beyond the immediate
area, and noticed that this spit of dry land was surrounded by water, and not
crisp, clean water either.

I had been dumped in a
swamp.  Great, well there was no use wasting time. Before moving out I
opened the bag covering the hand warmer and secured it just over my heart.
Using the warmth of the little package, I picked up a sturdy branch and, after
creating a clear picture of an axe in my head, I gathered the warmth needed and
forced it into the branch.  In the blink of an eye the branch was a solid
axe, complete with a razor sharp edge.  With my tool in hand, I started
looking for an appropriate tree.

It took me about five
minutes to locate a tree that, once felled, I would be able to be cut down into
the right dimensions.  I went to work and soon the tree was falling over.
 A part of me wanted to yell “timber,” but I figured now wasn’t the time.
Soon I was stripping the limbs from the tree’s trunk and having cleared a
section of the correct size, I cut the necessary length from the tree.

When I was done I
realized that now I needed a way to drag the log back to where I first entered
the woods.  I held the axe loosely in one hand and forged it into a length
of rope I could use to drag the tree. Finally back where I had started, I sat
down on top of the log and waited.  I was beginning to think I had made a
mistake and that I was waiting in the wrong spot when I heard Alexis call out
to me.  “Well, did you want to just skip the rest of the plan?”