The Mobster and the Spy

Sky sighed, looking down at their old friend. She really was hopeless, they thought. Then again, they weren’t about to stop being friends with her. It wasn’t every day anyone met a real-life superhero. It was even less often that the same person met a supervillain. In her own way, Meg was both, and neither. By day, she ran the non-profit responsible for maintaining their little city, for keeping the people, the local businesses, even the city itself afloat. By night, well, it was a whole different matter.

Meg walked over to the elevator leading up to Sky’s favorite balcony. As usual, Sky was running late for their coffee meet-up. It wasn’t like it was particularly early, Meg mused. Her friend just had a habit of forgetting how time works, especially when they had plans. The longer standing the plans, the less likely Sky was to show up on time. Meg pressed the call button.

Sky noticed Meg walking towards the elevator and checked their watch. “Crap,” they muttered to themselves, noticing that they were indeed late to breakfast. Gathering their papers and tablet into a sling bag, they rushed to the elevator, hoping that they could beat Meg. Fortunately, Sky was well aware that Meg had a smug tendency to muse to herself wherever Sky and timing was concerned. They figured they’d have twenty or thirty seconds to make the doors. Pressing the call button on the fifteen second mark, Sky exhaled deeply, all the air left in their lungs. The doors opened, and the stepped into the car, pressing the ‘G’ button for the ground level. Slowly and carefully, like the antique it was, the elevator crept down from the Penthouse suite.

Standing impatiently at the base of the elevator, Meg watched as the elevator car passed down, floor to floor. There was a forty percent chance that Sky was in there, give or take. It depended on whether Sky had been zoned out through the window and noticed her approach, or they had been zoned out in the apartment and missed it. Tapping her foot, Meg waited fort he elevator to crawl to a stop at the ground level. The doors opened to reveal the short, skinny form of Sky. Meg gave her old friend a disappointed and judgmental, yet somehow still smug look. “Well?” she said aloud.

“Oh, stuff it up yours,” Sky muttered, pushing past their old friend. As they led her towards the diner, they added, “What’s so important about this meeting anyways?”

Meg shook her head as she followed them. “You really never read anything I send you, do you?”

Sky looked back over their shoulder. “That’s no fair,” they retorted, “I read the important bits. It isn’t my fault you drown me in messages.”

“You’re practically the mayor, and I’m the, well, everything about this city. Anything I send you is important.”

Sky rolled their eyes. “Tell that to your book recommendation emails,” they muttered.

Meg threw up her hands in mock surrender. “Fine. Most everything.”

Sky chuckled. “Alright,” they said, getting back to the point, “What’s the deal here?”

“Big money from out of town. He seems interested in moving elsewhere, and I think we could make it here.”

Meg’s answer was straight and to the point, so Sky knew that she was holding something back. “Day job or night?” they asked.

Meg paused for slightly too long for comfort. “Day,” she answered. As Sky’s head turned to give her a look of expectation, she added, “We met through my night job, but he’s retired.”

“Mm-hm,” Sky murmured.

“He stopped through once, but I made him promise to not come back until he was out of it.”

“Yep,” they continued to nod along. They knew Meg would talk herself into a corner all by her lonesome.

“And, you know, he didn’t have a face of someone who’d go back on a promise,” Meg continued rambling.

“Right,” Sky said, nodding along.

Meg continued, “Look, just because he was once something doesn’t mean… I mean, that’s a really pessimistic viewpoint, that’s all.”

“Okay,” Sky said, “So, how hot is he?”

“Screw you. It’s political,” she said, then began to smirk, adding, “For me anyways.”

“I believe I already told you to shove it,” Sky said right back, and the two stalked onwards into the café.

Meg knew Sky had been somewhat right. He did have one of those faces. But she also knew that, if he was actually retired like he claimed, that wouldn’t be on the table. For either of them. Ever. With a slight smirk as she approached the man sitting alone at a corner table, she thought to herself, that doesn’t mean Sky has to know that fact.

Sky took one look at the man Meg was leading them towards and could tell why Meg was being so defensive. He was certainly attractive, by most any metric. He also wasn’t interested. In anyone. He kept his eyes glued to the papers and tablets he had set on the table, looked everyone in the eyes and only the eyes, and never gave anyone a second glance. He’d been served by the most attractive waitress in the place, and one of the hotter male patrons had hit on him, neither got so much as a glance. They smirked to themselves, thinking perhaps it was best not to tell Meg, see how this would go.

Tomas looked up as the two people he was here to meet approached his table. Late, by several minutes. He’d already been served. He also saw they were both smirking, thinking vaguely about the other one. Interesting, he thought. Leaning back against his chair as the two sat down, he said cordially, but without a smile, “Hello, again. Thanks for meeting me.”

“Sky, Tomas. Tomas, Sky,” Meg said, gesturing between the two of them. “Sky is my oldest friend, and they also basically run city government. Tomas is –”

She was cut off as Tomas spoke up. “I can speak for myself, dear Meg.” Taking a breath, he extended a hand. “Hello, Sky. I am Tomas. I’m a bit of a jack of all trades, but I specialize in finances now.”

Sky nodded, taking up his hand. “And, pray tell, what’d you specialize in back in the day?”

Tomas looked over at Meg, who nodded. Sighing and letting go of the handshake, he said, “I was the world’s third,” then, after a pause, “And fifth, greatest assassin. But now I’m rich and retired.”

“Why come here?” Sky continued their full court press.

Tomas smirked and shrugged. “Several reasons. For one, only two people, well now three, in this city know I was an assassin. Oddly enough, when you’re as good as I was, it is hard to stay retired. And two, when I was last here, I may have slightly stolen your financial records out of curiosity. There are several places I figured could be made much more profitable investments with little effort.”

Meg nodded. “I’m sorry for my friend. They’re not quick to trust anyone, much less those with spotty pasts.”

Tomas shook his head to her. “No, they are quite right to question my motivations. I am an unknown, seeking refuge in your locale. If you did not have someone interrogate me, I’d grow quite concerned with security here.”

Sky rolled their eyes. “Well, Meg’s never really been one for security. I’ve got three quick requests, before we let you come in. One: you meant what you said, right? No getting bored and going back to your old line of work?”

Meg looked over at Sky, whispering, “Rude…”

Tomas, however, raised an eyebrow. “You really think killing people is more interesting than finance? Clearly, you’ve never killed anyone. Or done intense financial planning.”

Meg and Sky both chuckled, but Tomas remained stoic as ever. After a momentary laugh session, Sky continued, “And you’ll abide by the laws here. Even the ones you don’t like?”

Tomas smirked at them. “Of course. If I don’t like a law, I’ll just get myself elected mayor and change it.” Sky laughed, but Meg, well aware of Tomas’s skillset, did not. Seeing this, Tomas made sure to add, “That was a joke.”

Meg nodded, uneasily. “Sure it was,” she said, then paused before adding, “But please don’t go running for mayor.”

Tomas bowed his head ever so slightly. “Of course. Anything else?”

Sky leaned in. “Just one more thing,” they said, choosing their words carefully, “And this isn’t a requirement, just a request.”

“Sounds intriguing, do go on,” Tomas said, leaning in to match Sky’s posture.

Still carefully choosing their words, they continued, “If trouble does begin to brew with our neighbors, I’d ask that you join myself and our sheriff in training a militia force to defend us.”

Tomas, breathing a sigh of relief and leaning back once again, replied, “Of course. I’ll help train those to defend my new home.” Then, to Meg, he said, “I was worried your old friend was going to ask me to take back up arms.”

Meg shook her head. “Don’t be ridiculous,” she said, “You’re a criminal, even if you are retired. Sky wouldn’t trust you alone with an important piece of paper, much less a weapon. They probably think you’d remember how joyous murder is and come back to finish off the town as well.”

Tomas groaned. “Right, because murder is so relaxing and fun,” he said, then furrowed his brow, “Wait a minute. Aren’t you a criminal, Meg?” he asked.

Sky nodded. “Yep. But she was my friend first, so she gets a little bit of leeway.”

“How much?” Tomas asked, “I’m curious as to whether or not it would be worth it to make friends with you.”

Meg chuckled. “Well, they let me run my speakeasy and my docks,” she said, “But they also installed camera feeds for both leading directly to their home-office and keep detailed records of everyone who comes and goes.”

Sky nodded. “Which is why I’m so suspicious of you. You see, Meg claims you two met a few years ago, but I have no record of this meeting.”

Tomas smiled a genuinely pleased smile, though more with himself than anything else. Pushing away his tablet, he revealed a map of the dock area. He began gesturing to the map as he spoke, “Well, I arrived in town here, and followed this route through the docks, talking with the dockmaster from here. Once I’d reached the street here, I continued to the bar.” Flipping over the map, he revealed a map of Meg’s speakeasy. He continued, both speaking and gesturing towards the map, “There, I entered through the second story window. I needed to not be searched or seen, after all, so I stuck to this wall here, and met with Meg in this booth, sitting on the western bench. We talked, I explained my situation, threatened her life, yadda yadda, then after our productive talk, I walked through a throng of people here, where I jammed a needle full of poison into a guy, and continued right out the door with the group.”

“You avoided all my cameras?” Sky said in wonder, “How?”

Tomas shrugged. “When you are planning for anything, assassination, investment, architecture, whatever, you always must understand the environment your entering to the fullest. I had a friend map out the place the evening prior to my arrival, and I made a path that would make sure my face was never seen by anyone on whom I didn’t have material to intimidate silence. The only flaw occurred when Meg noticed someone knew as I sat in wait, so I had to improvise with the old poison, antidote gag.”

Meg rolled her eyes. “You really were obnoxious, you know?” she groaned.

“I am well aware,” Tomas said, “Why do you think I retired?”

Sky groaned this time. “Well, I clearly need to add more cameras to your operation.” Then, standing and grabbing Tomas’s map, they added, “Excuse me while I plan your new addition, Meg.”

Meg smiled and nodded. “So, Tomas is in then?” she asked.

Sky waved her question off. “Of course,” they stated dismissively, “So long as he follows our rules.”

Tomas smiled wickedly. “Then I look forward to seeing you again soon, neighbor,” he replied.

“Neighbor?” Sky asked with a slight wince.

Meg looked up at Sky, mocking innocence. “Didn’t I tell you? The second penthouse is finished, and he’s the richest person here other than me.” Then, looking towards Tomas, she said, “And I prefer living amongst the people on the ground level.”

Tomas nodded. “I understand that feeling,” he said, then turning towards Sky, he added, “But I prefer living where a stranger with a grudge can’t kill me in my sleep. Neighbor.”

Sky groaned loudly. Meg had insisted she was finishing that apartment for herself. “Fine,” they said through gritted teeth, “I hope you don’t mind my wakeup mix. Neighbor.” Then, turning on their heel, Sky walked briskly from the café.

Tomas turned back towards Meg. “Well,” he said, completely deadpan, “I think that went well.”

Meg burst out laughing. “Better than I expected, for sure,” she said between heaves of laughter.

#SF #fiction #story #sciencefiction