Day 189 - Shifting Tides

 Shifting Tides

Matthew Ryan Fischer

 

It wasn’t a wise move, but his first instinct was to leap at Fake 22 and go for the throat. He wanted to kill Von. He wanted to kill this fellow Gideon. 66 thought better of it, of course. He stood and listened but thought about Bangkok. It had been three years since he had last been there. He was tired of Jakarta. Ready to move on. Bandung had been a shitshow with everyone trying to kill each other, and so far, it seemed like Jakarta was turning into that as well. Fucking Indonesia, he thought. Why was he almost always killed every time he came here?

Fake 22 smiled at 66. “You’re a decent fighter. You almost had me last time.”

“I was trying to capture you not hurt you.”

“Next time try harder and we shall see.”

“Next time.”

Gideon told the men to be quiet and Fake 22 bowed a little bow of apology. 66 turned to 47 but he said nothing. Von looked at them, so 66 remained quiet.

Gideon thanked them for their hard work. He thanked them for his ability to lead men into battle. He promised them that many many battles were to come. He would protect them when he could, offer intel and leads on easy to attack locations. He wanted as much chaos as possible. He wanted the streets full of blood and the many other gangs in the city running scared and too busy to recognize what was happening.

Gideon nodded when he was finished speaking and Von and 47 began to walk towards the door.

“What about him?” asked 66.

Gideon took a moment to respond.

“This one has a different job to do. It was important that in the beginning no one predict who was attacking whom and where they would strike. Don’t worry, you won’t cross paths again and none of Von’s important operations will be struck.”

66 was less than satisfied but knew he would get no better answer so he took his leave as well.

“What the hell was that?” asked Von.

“That man isn’t 22.”

“I don’t care. You don’t speak out of turn like that.”

Von left them and returned to the party.

“What are we doing, man?” 66 asked 47.

“We’re getting paid to do a job.”

“That wasn’t 22.”

“I know.”

“And you don’t care.”

“Not right now I don’t. Right now, we celebrate our victories and plan for the next. Maybe they put that number on his to instill fear. Or maybe so if he got caught no one could figure out who to blame.”

“Maybe they killed 22.”

“Maybe.”

“That’s our friend.”

“Now’s not the time. Now we get this fucking army and we do what we’re told and we kill all of their enemies. After that, you play detective and find our 22. If you want revenge, if there’s revenge to be had, I’ll help. We call in any of the old guard we can find. Maybe we take this town from Gideon once this is all said and done. But right now, you relax and play along and let all these factions fight and die and bleed each other for us. And stop doing things that risk our lives more than they already are.”

66 nodded and agreed. 47 went back to the party. 66 didn’t feel much like celebrating. He thought about Bangkok again, then about Fara. He wondered where she was all these months later. Would he ever see her again? He doubted it. He had fled to Jakarta and she had… gone somewhere else. He would never know.

It was time to do something smart. He had been doing too many stupid things lately. Out of desperation. Out of necessity. Bouncing from one battle to the next. He needed a better plan than just trying to survive. Maybe it was time he went looking for some other allies.