The bright sun beat down on the blue ZT 900 limousine as it pulled out of the parking lot of Shark Inc. It screeched down the busy road with propelled determination and speed. Mr. Ruler gripped the black leather armrest in an attempt to stabilize himself. He was amazed at how fast his driver had gotten him out of the parking lot. He was usually very cautious driving, especially in heavy afternoon traffic. It was as though he were a different person. I shall have to give Mr. Roger a raise for acting so quickly. It looks like he has learned to man up and get aggressive; take control of his driving… thank heavens!
Ruler stared at the black divider that separated him from the front seat and began to recount all the good things that had happened today. It was like he had won the lottery. They were way ahead of schedule. His careful planning and keen insight had worked perfectly to get them this far. Bob Morgan was getting the star map from Runt and Tom right now. Scar Co’s ship was blown into a million pieces, and no one could trace it back to their company. All their supplies were in order, loaded and ready to go. And to top it all off, he had found a perfect seafaring captain to run and man their ship to the island. This is my lucky day! I need to celebrate!
Ruler looked over to the small refrigerator resting near the side door and regarded it thoughtfully. There was bound to be a bottle of high class Champaign inside waiting for him. He sat up and reached over a leather bench-like sofa and pulled out a cold bottle of Cantermary wine from the fridge and popped the cork. He held the bottle out as foam went everywhere. The smell of crushed berry’s filled the air.
He raised the bottle in a toasting fashion, almost hitting the roof of the car as he did so.
“To me! May I live long and die happy!” He put the bottle to his lips and started to drink deeply of the fermented juice. The carbonation ran down his throat and tickled his nose slightly. When he was satisfied he pulled the thing away from his mouth and looked at the long-necked bottle.
“Dang, that’s good!”
He wiped his mouth on his suit coat sleeve and dropped the Champaign down into the cup holder on the arm rest, his hands now sticky and wet. Regularly, Ruler was a very organized and clean person. It would normally feel chaotic to have such a mess on his hands and suit, but he didn’t typically indulge himself and very rarely had occasion to celebrate, and so the mess of the situation almost felt like a victory. He searched the back seat for a towel or a cloth to wipe himself off. His left hand plunged into the leather pouch on the side of the door and pulled out a hard, flat object. He examined the laminated square in his hand for a minute; he was completely confused at what he was looking at. As he ran his eyes across the thing, he recognized it as Mr. Roger’s name badge. What was it doing in the back seat with him? His driver had always worn it when he worked.
“What the heck?” said Ruler. He looked over to the dark window at the other side of the car. He pressed the intercom button and spoke up.
“Hello, hello, Roger can you hear me? I found your name tag in the back seat here. I was wondering if you could tell me what you were doing on this end of the limousine…”
Loud laughter started up from the other side of the window. It gradually got more boisterous and sardonic. It was terrible, cold laughter. Mr. Ruler’s heart started to flutter and sink. Whoever was driving the limousine was not Mr. Roger.
The dark divider started to descend and a deep voice spoke.
“Hello, Mr. Ruler. Did you miss me? I told you I would be seeing you soon.”
“Big ‘J’ is that you?” asked Ruler sounding very angry as he stared at the massive man behind the wheel. He was driving rapidly through traffic. Car horns honked and blared as he cut people off.
“Of course it’s me, Mr. Boss Man. You said I start protecting you today, so I decided to give you a ride home. Consider it a gift. Not very many people ride with me and live to talk about it.” He looked in the rearview mirror and smiled. “Is there a problem with that? Huh, Mr. Boss Man?”
“What do you want ‘J’?” demanded Ruler. “Are you threatening me? Because if you’re threatening me…”
“Calm down, Mr. Ruler. You and I both know that I would never threaten you in any way, not when my family’s lives are on the line. I would have to be a complete madman to involve them in this,” said Big J, his voice reeking with sarcasm.
Ruler was getting angry.
“What have you done with my driver? Where did you put him?” Ruler paused and looked out the window. Big J screamed as he ran straight through a red light. Ruler gripped the armrest and looked frantically around him at all the speeding vehicles. Cars were crashing and smashing into each other now. They hadn’t anticipated a long blue limousine to go roaring through a red light. More horns were heard outside. They had barely escaped being T-boned by a black semi truck that had pulled out of an alleyway. Ruler’s heart was racing as Big ‘J’ turned and darted onto the freeway. The long limousine weaved in and out of traffic.
“Where is my driver?” demanded Ruler. “What the heck are you doing?”
“He’s in a safe place. Don’t worry.”
“Where is he?”
Big ‘J’ started to let out a demonic chuckle.
“I always wanted to drive a limousine.”
Ruler was losing his patience.
“If you don’t tell me where my driver is, ‘J’,” Ruler said, putting emphasis on his name and continuing, “I’ll have your whole family shot! I’ll have them shredded into a million pieces and thrown to the birds! You hear me?” The limousine swerved suddenly and stopped on the shoulder of the freeway. Big ‘J’s fingers gripped the wheel tightly; anger was boiling in his chest like an overheated pressure cooker. He was about to lose it. He looked back at Mr. Ruler. The man looked outraged himself.
“Let’s get one thing straight. If you touch my family I’ll kill you and everyone in your stupid little company. Just because you threaten someone, doesn’t mean you can actually pull off the threat. I’ll kill you before you ever get the chance to make so much as a phone call.”
“If I die, they die!” yelled Ruler. “All you have to do to see them again, is protect me! And you’re failing at that!” he pointed to the window. “We almost got killed back there at the light. Were you even thinking? Remember that you’re under my employ and I can at least control your salary!”
“I’ll protect you,” said Big ‘J’. He turned and pulled back onto the freeway, his driving more placid now.
“Where is my driver?”
“He’s in the back with you.”
Ruler looked around.
“Is he? I don’t see him.”
“That’s because he’s in the trunk.”
Ruler turned to the compartment that led to the truck. He gripped the leather handle and pulled it down. A bloody hand fell out from the abyss and landed on the seat beside him. It looked absolutely mangled and broken. He looked over to Big J.
“You killed him! You killed my driver?”
“Yes, I killed him.”
“Why did you kill him?”
Big ‘J’ started to laugh.
“I can’t help it, it’s in my nature. Plus I wasn’t sure I could trust him with your life.” He pulled off the freeway and careened down another busy road. Cars screeched to a halt as they passed. Ruler shoved the bloody hand back into the trunk and shut the door. It appeared that he might be in a little over his head with this new bodyguard. Big ‘J’ was going to be a wild card.
“I can see that murdering is in your nature, but you had better keep that side of you in check around me. We will be leaving for the island in a few days. I want you fresh.”
“What are you planning to do once you get to this island, anyway?” asked Big ‘J’ with nonchalance as the car stopped in front of the penthouse tower. Big ‘J’ turned to the man sitting in the back seat. Ruler smiled. Big ‘J’ might have looked dumb, but he wasn’t. Ruler knew when he hired Big ‘J’ that the large man must have some idea why Ruler wanted to get to the island. Ruler wasn’t out to be famous for a silly discovery; that was only a small fraction of the reason Ruler was so keen on being the first to reach the island. Whatever his intentions were, he had to assume Big ‘J’ was already aware of them. He probably had already acquired a lot of information about the legendary Brass and was, no doubt, intent on getting it for himself. He knew at some point that Big ‘J’ would need to die, but for the time being he would indulge his new bodyguards suspicions, just to make Big ‘J’ feel he had the upper hand on his new employer.
“Have you ever heard of an ancient relic called the ‘Brass’? It’s quite famous among kid’s stories. It’s said to have remarkable power.”
“No, can’t say that I have heard. What does this thing do?”
“Well, it has the ability to move the Earth and divide it into two. It has the power to move whole continents, and it is on that island that we are going to.” Ruler paused and thought carefully. “It could be dangerous if it fell into the wrong hands. If Mr. Edmonds were to get his fingers on it, it could prove catastrophic. Wouldn’t you want to make sure that it wound up in the right hands? Wouldn’t you want to cover your bases on all sides?”
Big ‘J’ smiled. He could see his boss’s reasoning. Ruler was a back stabber and would do anything for power.
“I don’t believe in kids stories.” He turned to the front of the car. “I stopped believing in them a long time ago when I got a taste of reality. In this world there is only reality; never fiction. There is no such thing as unspeakable power. People sometimes chase after a dream that will never come true.” And as he said this his voice began to choke up. “And I think you’re crazy!”
Ruler opened the door and stepped out onto the sidewalk. He could tell that the tears coming from Big ‘J’s eyes where nothing more than an act. Big ‘J’ knew very well what the Brass was capable off, and Ruler knew he knew it.
“Then we have an understanding Mr. ‘J’. I don’t want to hurt anyone any more than you do. I just want your services for this expedition. I want you to make that dream of mine a reality. I want you to help me get the ‘Brass’. If you help me get the ‘Brass’, I promise you on my mothers’ grave that you will have your family again. I promise you!”
There was a long pause.
“Why did you hire me?”
“Because you’re the best, and I need the best for this trip.”
“I’ll help you get it,” said Big ‘J’ with a smile. “I’ll make sure that everything works out perfectly... For the both of us.”
“That’s all I am asking for, Mr. ‘J’. I’ll see you in a day or so.” Ruler shut the door firmly and watched as the limousine pulled away and shot through an intersection. Ruler watched him go for a moment.
“One must always cover ones bases… Especially if your boss is Mr. Edmonds,” he whispered. The man was sly and cunning, with weird interests in ancient things. He wouldn’t know what to do if he got his hands on such power as the “Brass”. He would probably hurt or kill himself with it. Crazy old fool, when I have that ancient power I am going to make my enemies suffer. I will make the world tremble.
I will be god.
Ruler turned and walked into the penthouse tower. He straightened his tie and made his way across the spacious lobby to the elevators. He punched in for the 30th floor and watched as the elevator doors slid closed.
He was ascending floor 16 when his cell phone began to ring. He pulled it out of his suit coat pocket and held it up to his ear.
“Hello, what is it?”
“Hey, boss,” said a timid voice from the other end.
“What do you want, Bob?”
“I was just calling to give you an update on what’s going on down here by the bay.” He paused, sounding reluctant. “I have to tell you some bad news. It’s about the plan. I think we might need to… uh… delay it.”
“What happened?” yelled Ruler. “What did you do?”
“It’s not my fault… they wouldn’t give it to me… and the car wouldn’t stop rolling and… and….” He was stuttering now. “It’s gone.”
Ruler’s face started to turn red.
“What do you mean it’s gone?”
“The star map, it was on Tom… and now they are at the bottom of the ocean. I tried to stop it… I did!”
“I don’t care what you tried to do! We need that map! If we don’t have that map we don’t have anything. You hear me!” yelled Ruler into the receiver. He was getting out of control. He felt like ringing Bob’s neck.
“I think I might know where we can get another one.”
“Where Bob? Tell me, where we can get another priceless star map leading to the Island that disappeared eight hundred years ago. Last I checked, they’re in short supply at the local market, you moron!” Ruler groaned with frustration.
“I know sir…” He paused and thought quickly. “Maybe the fat one and the dock worker have a copy of the map. They weren’t with Runt and Tom–”
Ruler cut him off.
“Can’t you just go down there and get the map off Tom’s lifeless body? Wouldn’t that be easier?”
“Sir, doing that would be near impossible. I dropped the car into a tidal sink hole! Not even the search and rescue teams go out in this region of the coast. It’s way too dangerous. There are too many violent currants that will pull a person out to sea; not to mention jagged rocks sticking up. It’s like falling into a blender! No one in their right mind would go down there to find something.”
Ruler yelled angrily.
“Bob, if you don’t get me that map, I will kill you! You hear me? I will find you and kill you, you worthless bag of horse crap!” He started punching the elevator mirror in front of him violently. His knuckles cracked the glass and started to bleed profusely.
“Don’t worry, sir. I’m sure Scar Co. planned for something like this. I am sure they made another copy. I bet if I find that fat man and the dock worker they will have it. I bet they will.”
“You had better pray that they do, Bob, or I will throw you into that tidal sink hole myself. You worthless, no good, waste of human flesh.”
The line went dead. Ruler stuffed the phone back into his pocket and started to scream wildly at the ceiling. His voice tore up through the vent and into the elevator shaft. He was about halfway into his tantrum when the lift stopped and opened slowly. Standing in the hallway was a very old lady with a gray purse. She looked shocked and taken aback by Ruler’s crazy actions. Blood was dripping from his knuckles and shards of mirror were lying on the floor.
Ruler stopped yelling and looked over to the elderly lady. He tried to put on a smile.
“I have had a very, very, bad day at the office.”
“I can see that!”
Ruler stepped out of the elevator and walked quickly down the hall to his room.
“You really should vent more often,” said the old lady. “This is just shameful! I hope you’re going to pay for all this mess.”
Ruler pulled out the keys to his penthouse apartment and stuck it into the door. He was still brewing with anger.
“Shut up, you old bag!” He yelled back toward the elevator, opened the door to the apartment and slammed it hard.
Authors Note: Please leave a comment or follow us if you’re reading! We’ll post again next Friday!
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