• The Pawn

    About 3 weeks before
    Ch 1
    The first snow falls

    With a gasp his eyes shot open as he quickly sat up in the cold bed, he lay in plastic sheets and was wearing a big blue cotton shirt. He felt a slight tug in his wrist as he moved. Looking at his arm he noticed an I.V. needle in his arm. He was in a hospital.
    He could hear a steady beeping and looked over to his right, there was a heart monitor plugged in to the one outlet in the room. Near his left a few inches from the bed a breakfast cart sat, on the styroefoam plate where two cold pancakes, a small omelet, a plastic package with a plastic knife, fork, a spoon, and a tiny container syrup. The walls where painted a light toap, except for one wall which was made of glass looking out on to the hallways, the large window was dominated by vaneshone blinds. Through the blinds he could see some lady, talking to a guy outside the door, but through the window he couldn’t see the guy vary well. As they finished their conversation the red head started towards the room and the man passed the window, he was in a blue uniform and had a badge, a cop.
    Nick’s throat felt hoarse and dry.
    “Oh, good your up.” The nurse walked in without looking up from her chart.
    “ That was quite an accident you got yourself in.”
    Nick kept the corner of his eye on door as he spoke to this stranger.
    “ Every things a bit fuzzy, um…what happened?”
    “Tell you the truth I’ve never seen someone come out of a crash so well like that before, that truck went straight to the drivers seat then your car took a roll into the ditch and you come out with a slight leg wound and a few bruises. Amazing your luck, how much sleep did you get before you started on the road?”
    “Medically, a few hours… Naturally, none… I’m am insomniac. ”
    “Oh…well you should pay more attention to the road, …” After a pause she stared at him, and fallowed his eyes towards the door “… you’ve been eyeing that police man a lot lately.” Nick snapped to attention
    “What?”
    She looked at him and spoke a little sarcastically
    “ Let me tell you something you probable didn’t expect…”
    “Your not a natural red head”
    “No…Shut up…. I meant to say that that cop saved you. He was the one that pulled you from the wreckage, and whatever history you have with cops, whatever you did doesn’t matter you owe him your gratitude.”
    There was a pause of a strange silence. Sitting up in the bed, back against the head rest, Nick looked down at his lap slightly ashamed and now feeling rather guilty, if she only new, the cold florescent lighting through out the room seemed to start burning against the back of his neck.
    “Do you know when I can go? …” He looked up from his quite solitude still unable to look in her eyes. She sighed
    “As long as you don’t mess with the bandages and check up with a doctor when you get home you can leave right away”
    “I know a doctor, he fills out my prescriptions. I’ll see him on the way back.”
    “… you’ll need to find a ride home, your car was totaled.”
    “Then I’ll find a cab”
    …
    He awoke on the coutch of his apartment room Futurama was on and their wasn’t much light so it had to be late. He looked over to the clock he had in the wall the time told 4:25 am. Nick reached in his pockets to peace things together, in his left hand packet he had a hand full of change, a dollar bill, a container of prescription pills, a receipt, and a slip of paper. Nothing yet, he looked over the receipt it was for a meal and large coffee at McDonalds, on the slip of paper he had written the number 100. The last thing he had remembered was telling the nurse at the hospital he needed to call a cab…. From the hospital to his apartment in Manhattan it would be about $85 and the receipt was for $13.45 at McDonalds. Left in his pocket was a dollar a nickel and two quarters.
    Smiling to himself he put the money on the table and walked into his bedroom, laying down he grabbed a hand full of pills from the counter and within an hour he was asleep. He had had another memory laps when he fallen asleep on the couch. But now he remembered his cab ride, it had been very fogy the driver wouldn’t shut up about some baseball team. Nick had spent the whole time staring out the window and reliving the crash. Not the one that had sent him to the hospital the few days before, but the one that he had survived, the one that had taken his parents.
    On the small mattress he had packed an old gym bag with everything he needed using his cell he called a cab, a good 3 hours on the highway and he stood in the alleyways of down town Little Italy. Kneeling nick reached into his bag, from it he brought out and put on the ragged jacket and the old hoody…it was going to be cold. Trudging behind the restraints and stores he selected a fire escape, the ladder pulled up, nick threw his bag up onto the railing and then jumping from a dumpster he pulled himself up from the bottom step of the ladder of the metal stairway. With each step towards the roof the echo seemed quieter and more distant as the soul of his boot struck the iron. On the roof he paused over looking the lights, the sounds, and the smells of overpriced Italian cooking. Nick set the bag against the cold concrete of the roof. He feels dreary and his lungs feel weighed though he breaths easily. It begins to snow and Nick sits down beside the bag now collecting the soft snowflakes, rummaging through the varying items in the bag with care he produces a clear glass bottle of Vodka. Near thirty minute later he lay face up sprawled out on the roof an emptied bottle at his side and the emerging image of an unintentional misshaped snow angle formed from under his tried sleeping outstretched form. The open container and the few pills left lay, as if dropped, scattered across his chest and the snow.

    …
    Republican senator; John Bergman, had spent 14 years of his life for a career that was now finally paying up for all the long hours of paper work and the long iced over smiles. Now that he was finally a senator the press had starting to give him some breathing room, but now with up coming election they where pressuring him with some alleged rumor that he wanted to become mayor… John couldn’t help think about it in an annoyed tone. ‘What next president? Why the hell do they expect so much of me?’ But then again that’s what he signed up for. The title Politician includes long hours, pointing fingers, lots of coffee, and headaches that can kill a man.
    Now looking out the window of the restraint he began to smile, it was snowing. It was his wife that brought everything back to his attention. Smiling John wrapped her coat around her, for the past few weeks they had been fighting and having to mask their misery with smiles. Now that they weren’t hiding from the camera much any more they couldn’t stop smiling. For so long he had kept all the stress, his work, everything from her so that she wouldn’t have to deal with it, he couldn’t have known how much of it she already put up with…No matter, all that is behind them now, they are together heart and soul. John holding his wife walked outside and paid the vale, he reached towards the driver’s side with his left hand to open the door as his wife walked around to the passenger’s side. Something small and red seemed to float up his arm and land on the back of his shoulder. Before any one realized what had happened he was dead. The senator’s body slumped down beside his car limp and lifeless. A bullet through his chest. His wife sat in the passengers seat crying. She had just caught glimpse of his body being spun around thrust against the car as the bullet went through his back and heart, a small streak of blood was left on the window and door side as he slid down to the concrete walkway, as he died sirens wailed in the snow filled air.
    …
    3 hour later…

    Nick, back at his apartment, was lying around on his couch hung over and tired again. Thinking to himself he reached into the gym bag that sat at his feet. Form the bag he pulled a newly received envelope filled with a large amount of money (the total amount of which he was unsure and did not care about). Looking down into the bag he caught the glimpse of the dissembled rifle that lay in the bottom of the bag wrapped, hidden, in an old blanket. After stashing the weapon he grabbed another hand full of pills and fell asleep.



    Ch 2
    Payment for rest
    At his office the doctor was doing his usual work of nothing, he stacked and un-stacked papers to make them look more organized while acting to listen to his clients problems. Their was always the usual things that pestered the deep walleted patients that he cared for, the angry harassing boss won’t leave them alone and they have dreams of killing the boss, their in-laws are out to get them, they cheat on their husband or wife, or there’s the classic “I’ve stolen my best friend’s job and now he is divorce and bankrupt and (of coarse) I’ve married his ex-wife.” That one always ends interestingly. There was never anyone who had any true appreciation for psychiatrists, and so a long time ago the doctor had decided that there was no real reason to try earn any, the only sense of accomplishment was in that big fat boring paycheck.
    As the last scheduled client left the doctor started to gather his things and stack his papers. Just as he was finishing he heard a knock at the door.
    “Come in.” his secretary peeked her head through the doorway.
    “ Dr. Garden, A Nick Smith is here to see you.” She looked a bit confused. The doctor sighed a little and looked down at his briefcase.
    “Should I tell him to set an appointment and come back later?”
    “No…No, A… Smith is an old client, Next time whenever he comes I want you to let him in right away, Ok?”
    “Yes Sir.” The new secretary seemed a bit timid, but with time that would change.
    “ But today Lea would you tell him to come in after a bit please?” She nodded.
    As the doctor set down his briefcase he pulled a few pens out of the mug on his desk and placed them in random spots on the shelf near the door and the clear area of his desk. Then he claimed his chair behind his desk, a strong light from the desk lamp beamed in a high contrast of the light of the lowering sun.
    Then Nick came in, immediately he noticed the misplaced pens and he stood looking at them for a short time before moving on to the cushioned chair in front of the desk. The doctor behind his thick glasses and tailored suit almost smiled, to him this showed self-control in public view.

    “So it’s Smith now is it? … … Nick I heard some republican senator died… how does that make you feel?” Nick glared at him with cold threatening eyes. The doctor now being more careful with his tone began to ask another line of questions.
    “Why this time Nick? … ”
    “The same reason for every time… it’s my job.”
    “Do you like you job Nick? … That is, do you enjoy killing people, if so then why?” Nick could hear the taunting in the doctors voice.
    “Quit with the Psychologist Bull s**t. You know I don’t enjoy it.”
    Nick stared right through the thick glasses into the weak eyes of the doctor, his eyes looked angry and almost seemed to be demanding for an argument, at this the doctor saw his chance.
    “Then why is it you always come back here, telling me the same stories and that you don’t want to when there’s always a new dead body you’ve had your hands in… you want some one to know all the skeletons in your closet Nick, you want someone to know and share your guilt so that your able to go out and do it again without feeling you’ve been lying to your self. And frankly Nick, I can’t tell you the lie you want to hear”
    The fallowing silence made the doctor cringe, as the definition of “cringe” in this meaning is used to describe that cold shiver down your back as you realize the true extent of you action and the possible side effects. In that defining silence the doctor could swear anyone in the room could have heard his own heart pounding with either his fear or excitement. The major question at the time would be if he had over played his hand and put his nose some where he shouldn’t have… if he had learned any thing from Nick’s “confessions” so far it was to never mess with a mob’s head hit man, especial if the man knows where you live… and happens to be in your office as you attempt to test his sanity and patients.
    Nicks voice seemed warm and almost considerate, but his words and eyes seemed so hallow and withdrawn. It was his scare the crap out of you poker face. It was the kind of face that could convince the naive to trust a murderer and suspect a priest.
    “Dr. G, I’ve known you along time and you’ve listened to me and my problems for a long time…”
    “You kind of abuse the whole client patient privilege thing though”, mumbled the Dr. not looking Nick completely in the eye.
    “And yet regardless of that, you still haven’t turned me in doctor.”
    “ Nick… you know where I live.” Gardens replied bluntly
    “Ah… a smart response from an equally smart guy.”
    “No need for sarcasm Nick.”
    “In all seriousness Doctor we’ve known each other a long time and in a round about way you’ve brought up the same point over and over again as if I’m some moron who didn’t hear it the first time or didn’t take your words of wisdom to heart and so you sit here like a broken record smiling through plastic teeth, have you ever heard the expression beating a dead horse, you keep testing me your going to be smiling through broken teeth in the bottom of some ditch.” Nick set himself back restfully into the seat smiling broadly before continuing.
    “ And to you statement of why I've come here... Yes you absolutely right, You see doctor you’re my conscience, that cute little voice people have in the back of their heads telling when they did something naughty… fortunately I’ve had the pleasant disposition of not having to hear that voice –ever… But unfortunately that voice is the difference between a working stiff and the cold-hearted man I must be. So I come here to receive the sermon and my monthly dose of empathy to make my insides feel all warm and fuzzy, and then doctor I leave your cozy little office and do the one thing nearly all Americans if not most of humanity do… I entirely ignore everything that tinny do-gooder voice ever has told me and do whatever I want with no concern for the rest of human life or laws or my own moral fiber, why? Because I obviously can, I have most my life and no one has every really tried to stop me… I only wish they would…” He had spoken it in one breath and his voice had become a lot quieter and softer near the end than the doctor had expected.
    The doctor felt as if he had just over herd something very private and personal. He felt bad as if he shouldn’t have heard that, the way nick had said it, it was as if he had been talking to himself as he would in thought if no one had been in the room.
    The doctor looked down to his desk and pulled up a slip of paper handing it to Nick before he walked out the door.
    “It’s the usual prescription, how have you been sleeping better lately?”
    “Well enough Doctor.”




    Ch 3
    Martinez Blonds and Highschoolers

    Nick woke up and felt better after his visit to Doctor Garden, some times he felt he just needed some one to talk with… or yell at. After his shift at the bar he went to Mr. Lyones’s office to ask a favor. As he walked in the short pudgy man grinned happily to see his “best employee”.
    “Ah Nick, glad to see you, so how was your vacation?” Mr. Lyones set down the papers he was working on and peered eagerly at Nick expecting some long humorous tale about some casino or some hot blond with long legs.
    “It was fine” the simple answer cut of all conversation of the matter making Mr. Lyones feel slightly disappointed, but in respecting Nick’s privacy he shrugged and dropped it altogether.
    “ So Nick what can I help you with?”
    “I need a car Mr. L.” Lyones looked surprised but then smiled almost laughing.
    “ So that’s why you don’t want to talk about it, you know the same thing happened to me, the misses wasn’t happy about the whole gambling away her new Catalac. And I already told you we’re friends call me Hayden... And so on that note I’ll let you barrow her car…” a voice from somewhere outside the office yelled back.
    “Like Hell You Are!”
    Hayden yelled back in the direction of the voice, his wife.
    “It’s registered under both of us and I still have a set of keys… so there!”
    “Ha, I Had The Lock Changed Last Week!”
    Hayden gritted his teeth in defiance.
    “ Mary just let him barrow it.”
    “Not My Car, Not After That Stunt In Vegas You Don’t!”
    “That b***h…”
    “What Was That?”
    “Nothing!”
    “… Oh, Ok… Here’s the keys to the Bullet... But I swear to god if it gets one scratch! Or if some drunk girl pukes in it or … It is de-filed in any way… ”
    “Sure.” With a smiling gratitude Nick cut the threat short, he put out his hand as Hayden reluctantly handed the keys over.
    Muintes late Nick’s hands where wrapped around the leather steering wheel of Mr. Lyones’s Pride and joy (won in a poker game) a 1957 hardtop charger… black with thin white racing stripes running down the side, on the drivers side door on the bottom right some previous owner had, in a pearl white, spray painted “Bullet” ever since then I guess everyone liked the name and decided to leave it their… I guess you could say the name became the car’s soul. With a squeal that made Mr. L cringe and clench his teeth, Nick raced out of the small crowded garage and start off towards his “Date”.
    It wasn’t that Nick had trouble with girls, he was a well-liked guy, but his work stunted his social life and kind of killed any chance of having any kind of serious long-term relationship. With that fact in mind he had gotten used to the whole one night stand thing.
    He was to pick up Amber, a saucy brunet, In front of Mcdolsons Pub down town. By the time he got there she was already a bit tipsy. The Highschoolers in this town are not heavy drinkers. She was a smart girl though, she graduated a whole year early. She happily jumped into the passengers seat, as she aimlessly talked about her day and how she planed to get s**t faced drunk tonight Nick inconspicuously pulled the paper and picture out from between the seats, after studying the picture and address typed on the paper he crumpled it up and stuffed it into his pocket to get rid of later. They parked and strolled up to the front entrance of the club arm in arm, mostly so she wouldn’t tip over, the two weaved their way though the crowed line up to the front Nick came toe to toe with the bouncer, he passed a good-sized wad of bills to the bouncer and after a quick pat down for weapons they where in.
    Amber headed straight to the bar with her fake ID and Nick looked the place over, flashing lights, lots of waitresses with a lot of skin, and a good amount of bouncers to keep the place peaceful, Nick handed Amber a wad of money telling her to have as much fun as she wanted and after paying for the next round of drinks started to walk to the bathroom fallowing some guy in a fancy black suit with hair that looked like it had cost small a fortune… the man went into the stall, Nick washed his hands with his eye on the mirror. It stared back as if watching, knowing quietly. Before long the man had finished. As he came out he smiled to himself. And started to wash his hands in the sink near the wall to the right of Nick.
    “Crazy night isn’t it?” Nick smiled back in reply, the stranger continued.
    “The best thing about this place is all the new kids in here, they always get drunker and drunker…Ha girls get slutier and slutier too, you know what I mean?”
    The man seemed to amusing himself.
    “So man tell me, what is a guy like you doing without a babe wrapped around you mid-section on a night like this?”
    Nick smiled, calmly and clearly he answered.
    “I’m here to kill you.”

    Before the man could react Nick’s hand was around his face smashing the back of his skull into the wall behind them, with the man against the wall nick steadied his feet, now wearing brass knuckles, grabbing the mans collar he started pounding into his chest. Out of air and in pain the man slumped to the ground his back against the wall, nick started kicking him, again at the ribs... until he felt some thing, or heard of which he was uncertain, break underneath his foot. Then the man rolled over slowly trying to shield himself, moaning and coughing up blood in an indescribable agony. Nick got the man's wallet from the breast pocket of his suit, dragged him to the window, bars. Within three minutes he picked the lock, opened the window, dragged the limp body out and into a dumpster. Nick had crushed his ribs and judging from the amount of blood dripping from his mouth, punctured a lung, if not already dead he would die of either internal bleeding or he would drowned in his own blood within the next ten maybe six minutes. Feeling under the sink nick found it, another envelope.
    After relocking the window Nick grabbed a hand full of towels and started wiping the blood off the floor, when he finished he flushed the towels and the man's wallet.
    …
    The cold white lighting and tile of the bathroom disappeared into the bright flashing darkness of the club. Pushing through the crowd of drunken smiles Nick found Amber on the karaoke stage, she actually had a great voice… to bad she was too drunk to stand up straight or remember any of the words. After hanging out with his “date” for a while and he was sure he had established a pretty solid alibi he carried the intoxicated Amber out to his car before driving her home. The man by now lay dead in the dumpster waiting be found.

    Ch 4
    Forgetting

    Nick opened his eyes to the hard cold cement he lay on and to the cold steel axel and exhaust he had his hands on, another damn memory laps, the pills give him sleep but they do this every so often. Black outs can become a nuisance in this line of work. Nick looked up and down the underside of the car he now lay under trying to remember exactly what he had been doing as well as how he had gotten there. Quickly he wrapped the wire and tied it off around the axel, to double check he ran his fingers along the wire to the box duck-taped to the exoust-line to make sure there where no breaks in the line.
    As he rolled out from under the car he brushed himself off and looked around as he checked his jacket pockets, Scribbled on a piece of note pad paper he had the car’s license plate, the name of the park, a date, time, and some thing scribbled about the third bench. It was early and the park was just waking up, the joggers with their sweat pants and wristbands, the crazy old lady you always find feeding the pidgins had just arrived, a cold frost crystallizing on each blade of grass. It was a crisp morning… how long had he been out there? He got the right car, and the guy couldn’t have left his car there all night… must have come before dawn. Nick grabbed the backpack at his feet and started along the broken brick walkway.
    As nick walked around he notice a group of benches near the center of the park circling the Fountain, after a few unsuccessful tries of wandering back and forth and looking like an idiot he found the envelope and slipped it into his back pack. It was about 6:14 when he called for a cab. When they had got half way down the street on the right lane went two squad cars and an ambulance, sirens blaring, heading in the direction of the park. Wasn’t much point to them going… the guy was already dead, and it’s not like they would find him for an identification… well, all of him.

    Ch 5
    Chopsticks and Black Suits

    Nick woke with a hesitant and suspicious feeling in his thoughts as he opened his eyes. Quietly in his bed he sat up facing the wall and looked over his shoulder to ponder out into the lakeside view of his bedside window. To little surprise there was a girl laying beside him fast asleep, but that wasn’t why he had the feeling. White painted walls the cold of the creaky oak flooring and the winter chill creeping through the house, all these things went through his mind as walked down the spiral stairs quietly into the kitchen.
    Hearing movement in the other room nick slide his fingers around the black handle of the long serrated knife, some guy about 5-10 was rummaging through the living room, one hand in the pocket of a well tailored suit and the other carelessly running through each title of the assorted books and DVDs on the bookshelf.
    “ A bit over dressed for a bugler.” As the man turned around he meet the very edge of the serrated knife on the side of his neck, the sharpened points scratched into the skin… a single drop of blood ran down onto the man’s spotless white collar, with this serrated blade all nick would have had to do was pull his hand across and that in itself would have sliced this man’s atoms apple. As the intruder turned against the blade he smiled.
    “Tell me Nick, what employer would approve of his men killing each other off? ”
    At that comment Nick lowered the blade and sighed angrily as he backed up towards the couch.
    “ Devin, when the hell did you get a haircut? God damn I would have killed you, Stupid…and what the hell are you doing in my apartment?”
    “ Thanks I’m glad to see you too. God! It has been a while, can’t I come over some time for the soul purpose to have a beer with my good buddy?”
    “Frankly no you can’t, this has something to do with work if it didn’t you wouldn’t be wearing the threads.”
    Nick motioned to the new suit with the knife still in his hand.
    “Yeah we’ll Tony wanted to meet you at that new fancy Chinese restraint that went up on the other side of town last year.”
    “Friendly meeting or what?” Nick sat down on the couch.
    “All I know is that i'm suppose to make sure you get there ok… Ha, so Nick tell me what would you have done if you had killed me?”
    Nick smiled and went to put back the knife.
    “ I’d rise the knife off, call Big Tony and say sorry”
    Devin smirked.
    “Ha, Ha, little nephew had accident, no one gives a care about the hired help, just clean up the mess and there’s no problem. Just wipe of the blood and its good enough to carve the Christmas friggin turkey with for the whole family.”
    Nick grinned as he walked upstairs to change.
    Devin continued by himself, his complaining droning away into the cold morning wind.
    “Now I see the picture, all the loyal workers mean nothing compared to family, a entire lifetime of loyalty and service is nothing to some lost family member, so what if the help has taken the bullets and the rap for all of the dirty work, the nephew has whacked a few without every one noticing ”
    Nick dressed in his most formal suit… and wrote a note, for the girl, apologizing for not being there when she woke… at that moment like so many others he wished with all of his being that he could have a different life… anything else, one where he didn’t have to do what he had to do for every paycheck, one where he wouldn’t have to destroy his relationships every time he realized he truly loved someone. But that wasn’t his life and he had never had a choice… and with only the note he left her, he walked out then like he always did without a single word or sound.
    Nick had barrowed the car again, it wasn’t like Devin to be completely quite during a drive, but Nick figured that he understood to leave Nick to be completely absolved in his thoughts.
    As Nick entered the restraint Devin stayed behind standing beside the entrance, leaned up against the wall hands in pockets as if he was just hanging out waiting for his table or group of friends. He blended into the background well, no one seemed to notice the 30-year-old thin man propped against the entrance pillar with a gun stuffed in his belt under his shirt. He had disappeared into the background, as he kept his watchful eyes open and fixed. As Nick strolled through the restraint he came upon and seemed to loom over a specific table, where he took his seat.
    Seated around the table he had chosen where a variety of elderly worn looking businessmen all with sharp white haircuts and dark black suits… The skinniest and one of the more elderly worn looking of these was “Big Tony” the head of certain businesses in many key cities, keeps everything quite, never has his hands on any of the pay, makes sure there is no links or association between him and those on his employee list. One of the best and most dangerous people to be friends with. The name in itself was certainly ironic to his actual appearance; he was in no way a “big” looking guy, the name referred only to his level of importance.
    “Nick, nice to see you. You’ve been well haven’t you?”
    A small confident smile came to grow on his withered face as Tony spoke to his ‘brother’s kid’
    “Yes I've been feeling very well, thank you Tony, maybe due to the good business I’ve had lately at my job.”
    “Good, Good, I trust that your last pay was received in full, no complications to the transaction?”
    He always had the money handed over quietly (usually with expendable hands) or put it in a drop off location to later be picked up.
    “Yes everything was there, nothing tampered with.”
    “Oh… Nick I’ve been meaning to congratulate you on a job well done, on that last errand.”
    “Thank you, I enjoy the opportunity Tony.”
    “…Nick I haven’t been pressuring you lately have I? I try to believe I haven’t. Because through out the time that I've been giving you this work you’ve paid a good number of visits to your psychiatrist lately. ”
    “No Tony, I’ve just felt in the mood to like see him lately you know talk, he gives me update on my prescription every month or two. It helps me sleep better. I’ve already had that kind of conversation with him, he understands completely what would happen.”
    “That’s the problem he knows, and yet he is still doing something behind your back, you know what I’m talking about don’t you, Nick.
    I just don’t like it, I think you should be sending him on vacation permanently for your own safety and well being. Tell that doctor of yours to watch his back… the way things are going I should be having you put a knife in it, but I’m not going to do that. Just talk to the man for now.” Nick felt a panic reaching at him as his coolness wore away to the worry over the amount of information Gardens, his caring psychiatrist, could have had in his possession.
    Tony motioned for Nick’s leave. As nick stood he turned to leave, with his back turned Tony gave him the last advice he would ever give.
    “Take care… And Nick he’s a psychiatrist he knows how you think and he won’t think twice to use that on you, don’t let the man toy with your mind. Watch out for yourself kid.”




    CH 6
    The Board


    It was late and the sky was red with clouds and the setting sun as he stormed through the front office and into the middle of some clients meeting with Doctor. G, Nick pulled up the empty chair that was to the patients right and took a seat pulling it up close right in front of Garden’s desk, right in his face. Nick took his accusing eyes of the doctor and grinningly peered over at the client. The doctor’s thin client, probable some pencil pushing stockbroker, got up and left quickly.
    “Nick we’ve gone over this I can’t have you scaring away all of by business, people come to he for some one who will hear their problem, for advise, not to run from my office feeling their life was in one way or another seriously threatened.”
    Nick smiled and pulled the chess board from the nearby self.
    “First off I didn’t even say any thing, second if I had threatened him in any way he would have gotten out of here a lot faster… ha, and he probable would have craped his paints as well.” Nick smiled to himself while setting up the pieces, his happy attitude would confuse the Gardens and keep him guessing.
    “Your secretary isn’t in, What she call in sick saying that you gave her a bad limp last night?”
    At that Dr. Gardens looked up surprised and now a bit frustrated.
    “My personal life has nothing to do with you! … If you want to play go ahead and make your move!”
    Through out the game the doctor spoke slowly in between moves in attempt to make his point clear.
    “What do you really want Nick, its not like you to do this, your acting strange.”
    White Pawn moves to Knight 4
    “Of all people Doctor... You should know people never act in character.” Nick grinned at the irony.
    Black Pawn moves to Queen 5
    “ True that no one acts the same forever, but through a history of similar pattern in actions and behavior….” The doctor continued between each of his moves as if trying to keep nicks attention divided.
    White Pawn moves to Knight 4
    Black Pawn moves to King 5
    “… Everyone develops a set of habits…” he continued
    White Pawn moves to King 4
    Black King’s Knight to Rook 6
    “…Things they do constantly…” he continued again looking down at the board only to make his move and speaking directly to nick, a sad attempting to get eye contact.
    White Queen’s bishop to Knight 2
    Black pawn moves to Bishop 6
    “… Whenever put in that certain scenario.” As Gardens finished he sat a while staring at Nick as if to see if it had sunk in or to see if he had been paying any attention.
    White pawn to Knight 5
    Black pawn to Rook 5
    White pawn takes black pawn Rook 5
    Nick smiled to himself, he loved a good argument.
    “But their decision can be changed doctor… by anything really... religion, their emotions, or current outlook can change their habits to go against their norm.”
    Black rook takes white pawn Rook 5
    White pawn takes black pawn Bishop 6
    Black kings rook moves to Knight 8
    “…But if we know how they’ll react then we can put them into the scenario knowing their response and their next move.”
    White pawn to Queen 4
    Black kings bishops to Knight 4
    White queen takes black bishop Knight 4
    “ Ha…tak'in the b***h out so early Nick!”
    Dr. Gardens sat there thinking, hard, Nick usually didn’t engage in the conversation until offended, he always kept to himself, and his answers they showed real thought and consideration, this was a new side of him, what was happening, could this be dangerous…?
    Black queens rook to Rook 8
    White queens knight to Rook 3
    “Willing to sacrifice a queen Nick?”
    Black queens knight to Bishop 6
    White queens knight to Knight 5
    Black queens bishop to Rook 3
    White queens bishop takes Black queens bishop Rook 3
    Nick smirked to himself …Gardens is guilty, he isn’t paying any attention to the board... That seemed fine though, Nick was a sore looser and would have hated to loose. It was a good idea to keep the doctor’s attention diverted and keep the doctor confused.
    “Ha…Do you have no faith in the church Doctor?”
    Dr. Gardens smiled sarcastically back.
    “Next time god saves you from certain death give me a call”
    Black kings rook moves to Bishop 8
    “Now doctor… an attitude like that will send you straight to H-E- double sippy straws.”
    With out skipping a beat Dr. G smartly replied.
    “Look who’s talking about religion and redemption.”
    Nick shook his head as he took his turn.
    White pawn to Bishop 7
    “Check Mate… Doctor you should really pay more attention to what your doing…
    Certain things have come to the attention of my employers, do you know what I’m referring to doctor… I was willing to take responsibility for my actions and sacrifice my queen… are you willing to make the same sacrifice?” The Doctor looked terrified.
    No longer hiding behind his thick glasses he stuttered, afraid and in shock.
    “Peter w-whatever they’re saying don’t listen to them they’re lying, they’re not even r…”
    Nick cut him off before he could finish
    “Don’t Start with me Gardens, I know you’ve been taping our conversations, just a little life Insurance he wants to put under the pillow I though, you know what I’d do to your family if you ever brought that to the authorities so I thought I’d let you keep it, let you feel safe as if you have some thing to blackmail me with in some sad attempt to save your own skin.
    Thought you where so damn sneaky didn’t you! Apparently I’m not the only one that noticed, and now you got their eyes on us! If you even look like you know to much where both dead, one wrong move and we’ll be boxes for them to unload lead into!”
    Gritting his teeth in anger Nick stood up and grabbed his chair, its wooden frame splintered his hands as he smashed it into the fileing cabinet and then the wall, it cracked and then broke in two, as it did it exploded sending splinters flying.
    Gardens quivered terrified, his hands raised to cover his face as reaction from nick’s rage.
    “I’m-m…I’m s-s-orry nick I didn’t know…”
    Nick, still standing, spun around to face the doctor, as he did the doctor froze midd-sentance. Nick slammed his hands on the desk making the doctor jump, with his head tilted down his eyelids raised he glared at Gardens furiously. And with a voice now lower, a little more controlled, and almost sad he spoke.
    “Sorry? Sorry! Sorry, doesn’t stop a knife being put in my back or a bullet being put in your head. Good-bye doctor… this could be the last time we see each other. Ha, I know we wont see each other in heaven.” Gardens sounded a bit timid as nick started out the door.
    “Nick... you should take the rest of the day off… just forget everything go home and rest…. You’ve been under a lot of pressure.”
    He didn’t answer… just walked out.