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Rational Conduct
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Chapter 17 – Embracing Insanity
Lots of clues and yet nothing to go on. Killing scumbags was a bore. He had no thrill from it, and it didn’t seem to be accomplishing much. He didn’t have his daughter, and he was getting no closer. He needed Artie. He would make one last effort with a visit to Marcel. He should be able to catch him in another couple of hours. After that he would call Artie and then hide out a while and make a new plan. He headed back to China-town on foot. He would return for the suit, make his appointment with Marcel, call Artie, and then, make a new plan.
The streets of lower Manhattan were lonely, and David wondered if he had made a mistake not picking up a car. He was not worried about being mugged or anything. He never really worried about crime in the city, and today was no different. The thought of it kind of amused him since he had a big black gun with a silencer in his belt behind his back. He could feel the cold steel at his back, not even warmed by the two flaming blasts that just ended a life.
He fantasized about some stupid kid with a knife trying to rob him, and him pulling out a gun with a silencer. The kid wetting his pants right there and David telling him to get a real job before someone kills him. It was almost too bad it didn’t happen. David had no doubt that some kid in the neighborhood could use that lesson before he grew to old to care and did something stupid, hurting himself or someone else, ending up in prison costing taxpayers $38,000 a year to keep in a cage.
The streets were dark and not very friendly. Cars passed regularly, and he was far from alone on the streets, but it felt lonely. Unlike the upper east or west side where people seemed to be up at all hours, this part of town grew very quiet in the evening. There were few open restaurants or coffee shops, and the people on the streets were all very quiet and seemed to be on their way home. The cabs flew by with no intention of picking up passengers. It was kind of dangerous at this time of night, and the cabbies were transporting regular customers or answering calls. David never saw a police car, and didn’t care to, he was still a fugitive. While the killer doubted the cops would be looking for him, that possibility existed, and he would have trouble explaining the gun. Things would get really ugly if he had to explain why the gun matched the slugs in a corpse at Vestry Street.
David walked up to Christopher Street and took a subway downtown. He would then go cross town and back up to Chinatown and pick up his suit. He had no doubts Mr. Sing would have it ready for him. The local train would make several stops before ending at South Ferry Terminal. It was late, the train was empty, and David closed his eyes to snooze for fifteen minutes.
Waking at the final stop, David was not alone. A tall, dark haired, thin man in a light gray jacket stood in the train car doorway where David had to pass to exit. The stranger’s back was turned as he faced the opening doors. David was waiting for the man to step off the train but he didn’t. This was the last stop, and the man should be exiting. He should, but he wasn’t.
A bell sounded the usual warning that the train doors would soon be closing, and David raced for the door. The handgun had been moved to the front of his belt and his right hand held it tightly. He would run past the man, staring him in the face, and pull the weapon if necessary. This was uncomfortable. This guy looked like the dudes in the Gray sedan, but could be another dad going home. To fast to action could make David a killer of somebody’s dad, while a slow reaction might leave the fugitive dead.
He bumped the creepy looking guy on the way out. It was a very uncomfortable bump. David was rather short at five foot seven, and this guy was a bit over six feet. Getting hit in the shoulder by your opponents elbow is never a good way to start a confrontation. David turned quickly to confront the mustached man, as the two stepped out of the train together, staring into each other’s face. With impeccable timing, the subway doors closed directly behind them. No one else was in the station. No one else appeared to be on the train. The two were all alone in the deserted station at 4:00 AM.
The two men started at each other. The Gray jacketed man had a smile on his face. It wasn’t much of a smile, more of a smirk. He didn’t even glance at the gun that was aimed at his chest, held by the hand of the freaked out killer. He just stared at David with a smile.
David was considering his next move when the stranger spoke, “A friend sent me to look after you.”
David didn’t answer. He wanted to pull the trigger again and be alone once more. Being alone was good. It was safe. Having someone else in his world made him have to answer questions both to that someone and himself. Kind of like watching TV in a room by yourself. You get all the info you want and the TV expects nothing from you. If you get bored or scared of the program, you hit a button and change the channel. Not like real life. A flood of fears and embarrassment came over him. If the guy was one of the computer dudes, David would be dead. If he were a government guy. It would be jail. If Artie sent him, that was somehow the worst.
If Artie sent him, he must know David was killing people. He wouldn’t understand that it had all been self defense and preservation. He couldn’t understand what it was like to be David the psycho killer. He wouldn’t want to know David anymore. The guy Artie was helping was a nut, wacko, serial killer. Artie was saner than sane and wouldn’t put up with this. David would loose the one friend he had. If this got out, there was no going back.
“Who’s my friend?”
“I’m not exactly sure who all your friends are, but let’s just say, he knows you like Pop Tarts.” And a bigger smile filled his face. It was a bigger smile, but not like one anybody would ever want to see. Even his smile was scary.
He was a scary dude. Not frightening to look at, but hard to read. A look into the void of his big black pupils revealed nothing. David saw fear and self loathing in Sandy; he saw hatred and stupidity in the sloth. He even saw something in the dead men of the gray sedan. But here he saw nothing in the tall scary dude. Nothing. Just a black void in the middle of the eyes. His eyeballs were just like the black voids in the middle of a gun barrel. You can’t see the bullets way down inside the barrel, and you can’t see or feel the thoughts of the person connected to the hand that holds the gun. That little black void has total control over whoever is looking at it, and at that point, nothing anybody can do can change their fate. David looked at Scary Dude again. Just a pleasant smile.
“Let’s walk. You can always shoot me later.”
“You probably want to know who I am and what I’m doing here. I can help you with some of that, but not all. As I said, a friend of yours asked me to find you. He was worried about your safety.”
The scary dude then turned and started to walk. David sort of followed next to him.
“I also mentioned that you had other friends. There are quite a few people looking for you. Some are friends and some are not. There are some pretty interesting people out there who would rather see you out of the picture. I think you’ve angered some pretty powerful people.”
They walked through the platform, up the steel steps to the outside world. The South Street station area was totally dead at this time of night. David feared Scary Dude might kill him in the station, and felt only slightly better about being with him in the deserted southern tip of Manhattan. People didn’t come here at night. There are no forty story apartment buildings and no all night café’s. This was the business end of town that flooded with tourist during the day. Ferry’s departed from here to bring parents and their children out to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. Businessmen used the ferries in the morning and late evening to get back and forth to Staten Island or New Jersey; nobody came here at 4:00AM. It was just David, the scary dude, and the Statue of Liberty glowing behind them in the harbor.
“You were almost killed at your last stop.”
David looked at him with a bit of skepticism, and yet felt as though this guy knew every move he had made in the past two days. The strange man had paused as if to allow David a moment to digest all of this. David’s fear must have shown as the scary dude spoke again.
“I tried to catch up with you back at the New Jersey warehouse, but you had already left. I wasn’t exactly sure where you were going until I got word that Vic’s computer was running. I guess you left there kind of fast. But I did catch up with you at Diego’s. And a good thing. They would have gotten you there.”
“Yes they... I met a couple of Diego’s protectors outside his apartment. I don’t think anybody was quite sure where you would be next. You’ve done a reasonable job of hiding, but my guess is that they are covering all of their bases now. It’s not safe for you to keep this up.”
“Hide for a while. You have some pretty powerful friends working for you who are involved in a major battle. There is stuff going on that is way beyond you or me. You are a minor pawn in this game, and you are messing up a lot of work of some pretty major players on both sides of the battle. You were to have a small part, and now you have caused done some real damage that is causing the players some significant discomfort.”
Again the stranger paused to allow David a moment to think. David said nothing. David knew that nothing was ever learned from talking; only listening.
“Right now it’s only a little discomfort, but if you take this much further, they are going to make things pretty difficult for you, and everyone you know.”
This definitely sounded like a threat. The ’everyone you know’ part was particularly frightening. He had told no one of his family. Its possible the creeps and bad guys could have caught up with the slackers and found out he alerted his family, but they went their own ways with no contact with David or anyone else. If his family did what they were supposed to, they would all be safe. If they got out in time.
They found David because he followed a plan; he hoped his family’s travel plans had been kept quiet.
The scary dude spoke again. He spoke clearly and without any hint of direction in his voice. “Your wife and children are missing.”
He seemed to be waiting for an answer or a response. David guessed he was waiting for an emotional breakdown or response of some sort. But David remained quiet.
“Your brothers and sisters are missing to.”
Again Scary Dude appeared to be looking for a response. David would give him one. This guy could have killed the fugitive long ago. He claims to have helped him with Diego. He seemed to know of at least a couple guys who recently discovered the path to the afterlife, and he had not threatened David in any real way. He may want information, but David would give him nothing useful and might learn something.
Trying to copy the emotionless tone of the scary dude David responded. “I know.”
Scary Dude stopped walking and turned and looked at David right in the face.
“You know?”
“Yes.”
A shallow pause and the scary dude looked David in the eyes for some sense of emotion. There was no emotion in Scary Dude, but he was having a little trouble reading David. Perhaps he knew something David didn’t. Perhaps David was becoming a bit like him. Fear started to build in David that perhaps he didn’t move his family in time. That scary dude or someone like him had found his family first.
The fugitive’s simple answer seemed to be enough of a clue to make Scary Dude ask for more.
“Do you know where they are?”
It was an unemotional question again, but this time there was the slightest change in his voice, and David sensed Scary Dude had no more information to give.
David replied forcefully, but with a slight smile on his face, “No.”
It took a moment to fully develop, but Scary Dude cracked a smile. The tiniest smile. It was an interesting smile. A smile of approval. He said nothing else but turned his head, and he began walking again. David began to like this strange man. He began to like this dangerous man, and pictured the guy whistling a happy song as the two walked through deserted streets heading back towards Chinatown. David the psycho killer, and a strange tall dangerous man who made the psycho killer seem like a small furry pet.
They walked for ten minutes without saying a word. The skyscrapers towered hundreds of feet above, too high to even see the tops. Some had windows still lit, either from employees to lazy to turn a light off on the way out or nuts like David, and John and David pulling all nighters.
They walked on in silence. Scary Dude didn’t say a thing, and David worried what he was up to. They were heading where David wanted to go, but he didn’t want Scary to come along. Though he knew of the Pop Tarts, David still wondered who he was.
“So what now?“ David asked. David knew who held the power, and it wasn’t him. Scary Dude was in charge.
“Well, what would you like me to do? My job is basically to keep you alive. If you keep using that list, that’ll make my job pretty tough. I know of at least three groups that want your ass, not to mention everyone on that list or anybody who thinks they might be on that list.“
Three groups? Did he say three? David started going over it in his mind. The creeps definitely want me, and the Feds, but who is the third?
“Ya know, I’m pretty happy on my own. I guess I appreciate what you did for me tonight, I’m not quite ready to be dead, but I’m not ready for a partner, and frankly you are a bit creepy. “
Scary Dude turned to look at David and chuckled a little bit. “I tell you what. You stop following that list and I’ll go get some breakfast. When you turn around, I’ll be gone.”
With that, David headed to the Pine Street entrance of the subway, and Scary disappeared. David was pretty sure Scary was still near by, and he didn’t know if that was a comfort or not. In most occasions you would want someone like this in your sight, not slinking in the alley behind you. David was pretty sure that out of sight didn’t mean gone, and he certainly wasn’t out of mind, though David was pretty sure he himself was out of his mind.