“How goes it, Shan?,” asked the prisoner. He wore orange institutional overalls and slippers. He sat on the other side of a plastic sheet of glass to keep him from touching the person visiting him. He used a phone to talk without shouting.

“We ran into problems with the boyfriend,” said Shan. He had a set of bruises on his face that resembled the imprint from shoe soles.

“It looks like he kicked you really hard,” said the prisoner. He tapped the desk on his side with two fingers . “A fighter of some kind?”

“Yes,” said Shan. “We didn't get anything out of him. He used kicking techniques to take us. He was really fast.”

“How many men did you use?,” said the prisoner. He didn't hide his interest in the event. It had been a long time since he had run into a fighter that could compete with him.

“Ten,” said Shan. “Some of them wound up in worse shape than me. They are in the hospital. Some of them are being treated for broken bones.

“So the boyfriend excels at personal defense?,” said the prisoner. “I would like to meet him in person.”

“Are you sure that's wise?,” asked Shan. He leaned back from the hostile look he received. “We're still trying to get you out legally.”

“Until we know where Rowling has gone, we need some way to locate him,” said the prisoner. “It has taken me years to find him. I don't want him to adopt another identity and run. It might take me more years if that happens.”

Shan nodded. The prisoner had founded their gang and did his own wetwork. In return, he had set them to keep a lookout for a man with silver coins around his neck. It had been a matter of luck that they had found the man, but they had.

“So you think he might still invested in that shop?,” asked Shan.

“We have to talk to the girl and make sure,” said the prisoner. “The problem is Rowling might be using her for a trip wire. If he is, once we take the girl, he might just walk away. We need a secondary strategy in case talking to the girl fails.”

“I have some guys who can do quiet burglaries,” said Shan. “They should be able to get in and look at the books. That might tell us something before we risk dealing with the girl.”

“That is good thinking,” said the prisoner. “Maybe Rowling is covering his travel expenses out of that shop. That might tell us where he is.”

“And we still have the girl and the boyfriend in case that doesn't pan out,” said Shan.

“You had better take more men if you want to take the boyfriend before you free me,” said the prisoner.

“I don't think he will fight if we have the girl,” said Shan. “Taking a hostage should buy us some time to deal with him.”

“He might not like the girl,” said the prisoner. “Think about things before you decide on something you can't take back.”

Shan nodded. The prisoner was right. He needed to know more about the boyfriend. Finding out he was a fighter had been an unpleasant surprise. What else could he do to upset their plans?

When he left the prison, he needed to call the watchers that had found out where the boyfriend lived and put them back on the job. If they needed to do a snatch, then he needed to be in sight at all times.

And they had to plan on snatching the girl too. She was the only link to where Rowling might have gone. She had to know something.

And if she didn't know anything, then it would be too bad for her, and the boyfriend.

“We'll sit back and watch from a distance,” said Shan. “No one has seen Rowling's friends either. The detectives I've hired are still looking for them.”

“If they were killed during some adventure, then the bodies were probably buried where they dropped,” said the prisoner. “Keep looking in case they weren't. We don't want any surprises when we make our move.”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Shan nodded. The missing friends were a worry. If the Master decided to seize the thirty pieces of silver, then they might show up to try stop things from happening.

He wasn't sure his crew could stop them from getting in the way. He looked at more losses on top of the ones he had already suffered thanks to the boyfriend.

So the first thing he needed to do was get the boyfriend and the girl under watch. Once he knew what they were doing, he could start looking around for the other wrenches laying around to mess things up for him.

He definitely didn't want to fail the Master. He liked his face on the right side of his skull.

They had spent years and money on finding this one man. The fact that he had slipped away was something that the Master would only forgive if he was found again.

Securing the silver pieces the Master wanted would cement the forgiveness.

“Go about your business, Shan,” said the prisoner. “Return when you have something useful to tell me.”

Shan nodded and hung up the telephone. He knew he needed to find out what had happened to Rowling fast now. The Master would move when he saw something useful. The walls of the prison wouldn't hold him if he wanted to leave.

And if he returned to their territory, he would kill anyone who got in his way. That was the implied promise in his statement.

Shan left the prison through the various checkpoints, picking up his belongings at the visitor lockers. He followed the arrows to the guest exit. The guard in the last checkpoint waved at him as he left. He waved back as he tried to decide how much trouble he was really in.

Whatever else happened, he couldn't let the Master get impatient enough to escape. That would ruin all of their planning for a legal release.

And once the crew's rivals knew he was out, reprisals would follow like thunder following lightning. None of the other bosses wanted him around and were willing to do a lot to make sure he didn't interfere in their own interests.

Shan didn't want a gang war to wreck his business now that he had been able to get things running his way. His people took in a lot of money from the immigrants they sold, the protection they guaranteed, and the drugs they sent through the city. Their gambling dens raked in enough for him to retire if he wanted and to let one of his lieutenants run things.

The main reason he didn't is he acted for the old man. If the Master escaped and started taking out his ire on things, everything would go up in smoke. His people would be taken apart because of their weakness.

He wanted better for his people than for them to be a punching bag for a bloodthirsty monster.

Shan walked out of the prison and headed for the parking lot where his driver, Grant Sum, waited. He had to head back into the city to get things rolling. A call in the open next to the prison was asking for trouble in his opinion.

“How did it go?,” asked Sum. He stood next to the car, smoking a cigarette.

“He wants to get out of prison and show us how things are done,” said Shan. “I'm hoping I talked him out of it. The last thing we need is a fugitive bringing down heat on us.”

“Still fixed on that antique dealer?,” asked Sum.

“Yeah, but I wouldn't complain about it if I were you,” said Shan.

“I'm smarter than that,” said Sum. He got behind the wheel of the car as he talked. “Nobody in their right mind would take the old man on.”

“Somebody had decided to take him on at one point,” said Shan. “That's how he wound up in jail. If that was Rowling, it would explain things.”

“How do you want to handle things?,” asked Sum.

“I told the old man that we would find the boyfriend and try to get him to lead us to Rowling,” said Shan. He settled lightly in the passenger seat. “It was the only viable option I could think of while facing him.”

“I don't blame you,” said Sum. “No one wants to wake up with their head looking around in the wrong direction.”

Shan nodded. The old man had done that the last time he was free to roam.

“Did any of our detectives find any of Rowling's friends?,” said Shan. “I told them to call you until I got out of the prison.”

“No one called,” said Sum. He pulled his phone from the door pocket and handed it over. “The password is lily.”

Shan typed in the password and scrolled through the phone history. He shut the phone down and handed it back. They still didn't know what had happened to the people they had pinpointed as people of interest.

Shan expected some of them to be in the old folks home. They should be the same age as the Master, and he wasn't a spring chicken.

“We have to find the boyfriend and follow him around without letting him know we're doing it,” said Shan.

“Does he drive, or walk?,” said Sum.

“I think he walks,” said Shan.

“You'll have to bug something he wears all the time,” said Sum. “Since he doesn't have a car, we can't bug it, but it makes it easier following him around.”

“I'll tell the watchers to make sure when they find him,” said Shan.

Shan hoped the Master remained in the prison until they knew more, and could plan a better strategy. He didn't want to contend with an impatient killer on top of everything else that would go with that.

“Take me by the shop,” said Shan. “I want to see what we can do for myself.”

“No problem,” said Sum. “We could hire an expert to follow the boyfriend around until we need to pick him up.”

“I'll think about it,” said Shan. “The Master wants those silver coins a lot. I don't think he wants us to farm out the work until we have an idea on what we should do about this.”

“Just a thought,” said Sum.