“Boss you came!”

The moment I stepped inside the abandoned warehouse my gang affiliate came over to meet me, moreover, handed me his gun. He had a slouching gate about him which made him seem more animalistic than a humanoid. His mouth was decorated with a couple of weirdly aligned teeth with sharp tips and his voice sounded squeaky, therefore, I nicknamed this pal of mine, Rodent.

“Rodent this better be important. What’s the urgency?” I asked him.

“Over here, boss. I’ll take you to the chemist.”

Rodent led me further into the abandoned warehouse where the source of my interest was waiting. I discovered a bearded geezer dressed in a white lab coat standing by an empty crate that had a big black briefcase sitting on top. He was a shady chemist that I recently got into business with. I went over to meet the old white coat.

“Demetri, why did you need me to come all the way out here in person? It took me an hour's drive to get here. My damn legs are feeling cramped.”

“My apologies, Mr Levinton. But I was certain I told you to meet me in person for this trade. I wasn’t expecting you to send one of your lackeys.” He gestured to Rodent.

“Hey, old ass sweat, who do you think you are talking to?” Rodent became upset by Demetri’s derogatory manner of referring to him.

“Cool it, Rodent.” After I pulled my underling back from doing something rash, I rested my hand on the crate and looked the chemist in the eye. “What seems to be the problem? Haven’t I already smuggled your daughter safely out of Gittana penitentiary? I’ve held up my end of the bargain so why are you refusing to uphold yours?”

“It’s not what you think, Mr Levinton, not at all. The bio-weapon that I have stored in this briefcase cannot be handed off carelessly to someone who doesn’t know how or isn’t worthy enough to appreciate its ethereal value.”

“Huh?” I became curious to hear what else this geezer had to say. I put out my cigarette and gave a keen ear to his crusty old voice. “Show me what’s inside the briefcase.”

“Not with him here.” Demetri stared at Rodent. “I don’t trust anyone else in this city except you, Mr Levinton. You’ve done me and my daughter a great deal and for that, I owe you a great debt, one that I’m hoping to fulfil by offering you this one of a kind toolkit. Now would you please get rid of that ugly thing from my sight?”

Demetri was hesitant to unlock the contents of the briefcase while Rodent was nearby. So I told him to wait outside.

“You got it, boss. If you need my help don’t hesitate to give me a holler.” Rodent glared at Demetri and added, “You better watch you’re back chemist.”

After Rodent exited the warehouse, I faced Demetri again and listened to what was so important that he couldn’t share with anyone aside from me.

“Speak up, Demetri. I don’t have all night here.”

Demetri acquired a kind of frightful but not so fearful look. “Mr Levinton what I’m about to show you is something for your eyes alone. The contents of this briefcase are very top secret.” Demetri caressed the briefcase as if it was his precious baby. “If you are able to unlock its mysteries then you might become one of the most powerful figures in all of Clown City.”

“Oh?” What this geezer said got me so interested that I had to light up another cig and asked, “What’s inside? Aren’t you going to show it to me?”

“I will, right after I’ve inputted the code.”

I watched as Demetri’s wrinkly fingers punched in the unlock codes for the briefcase. As soon as it became ajar, I sensed a chill in my spine. I remembered the first time I felt that sort of chill. It was when I was 13 years of age the very first time I lost my virginity to one of the nuns who worked at the orphanage I resided at.

Before I realized it, my recently lit cigarette had already burnt up to my lips. I had to quickly spit it out to avoid scorching myself. “Damn, this can’t be a good sign. The last time I smoked a cigarette this fast was 15 years ago when my girlfriend at the time told me that she was pregnant.”

Demetri steadied his hands after he heard what I said. “Is that an account of your bad omen, Mr Levinton? Then do you want me to close back the briefcase?”

“No, no, go ahead, open it. I’m dying to know what’s inside the briefcase.” I helped Demetri to open the briefcase fully. When I got a good look at its contents, it betrayed my expectations.

“What the hell, Demetri, is this some sort of joke? This doesn’t look like some threatening bio-weapon to me.” What I saw inside the briefcase was a transparent Rubik’s Cube that could fit in the palm of my hand. There was a bunch of padding inside keeping it in place, but these attachments didn’t look so simple.

I tapped the object of interest more than once and asked the chemist, “Why is such a tiny kids’ toy stored in this huge ass briefcase anyway?”

Demetri put on a pair of plastic gloves that he took out of his coat then carefully took up the Rubik’s Cube as if he was lifting a fragile baby and explained to me, “This is no kids’ toy, Mr Levinton. What I hold in my hand is a one of a kind, unique bio-mechanism that was derived from the active atoms of a deceased extra-terrestrial lifeform sublimated into a re-modified physical entity. It is capable of shifting dynamics with a series of 96 semi-visible blocks. It might resemble a common Rubik’s Cube but I can assure you it is much more.

Top government officials have employed a special group of scientists and bio-engineers who have been secretly trying to unlock its mysteries for decades. So far, the results have been incomprehensible. This project was declared to be scrap, however, I kept on working on it in secret with only a few trusted allies. We have yet to ascertain its capabilities, however, the magnitude of radioactive energy measured when the blocks are shifted in a peculiar format is far greater than that of a nuclear reactor.

Sadly, due to a few legal sharks who raided my lab recently and confiscated my lab results and also apprehended my friends, I can’t go any further with my research so I’m giving this precious object to you in the hopes that one day you might be able to unlock its mysteries. Do you understand what I’m saying to you, Mr Levinton? If you’re capable of unlocking its mysteries the result will be extraordinary.”

I stood there listening to this geezer’s babble for some time and I wasn’t buying the bullshit he was saying, thus I asked him, “If all of what you’ve said is true and this Rubik’s Cube is so damn great. Why are you giving this to me in the hopes that I might be able to unlock it? I’m not a puzzler nor am I a scientist. Do you take me for a fool, Demetri?”

I grabbed the damn Rubik’s Cube from Demetri’s hand and looked it over, I even twisted it a couple of times to try and make sense of what he told me. When he saw me doing this he became very fearful and retreated a few paces.

“Careful, Mr Levinton!” Demetri tried to warn me of the danger I was foolishly playing with. He attempted to grab it out of my hand but I toss the silly thing into my jacket pocket and grabbed his shrivelled ass by the collar.

“You swindling old bastard. After all that I’ve done for you and your sorry ass daughter, this is how you repay me? By ripping me off with a goddamn kids’ toy?” I became so upset that I slammed Demetri’s head into the ajar briefcase. I took out the handgun Rodent gave me and pressed it firmly against his head to show him that I wasn’t playing around.

“Please, Mr Levinton! Don’t shoot!” This geezer started begging me to spare his life. “You have to trust what I say. I wasn’t lying. I wouldn’t come all this way just to humiliate your intelligence. If you could just give me a chance to further explain then I can get you to see reason…”

“Shut the hell up, Demetri!” I silenced the geezer all of a sudden not because I wasn’t willing to listen to his explanation but because I started hearing multiple vehicles pulling up outside the warehouse and thought it was rather suspicious.

“What’s with all that commotion outside?” Wanting to find out the reason behind the unexpected invasion, I glared at Demetri and asked him, “Did you tell anyone that we would be meeting here? Is this a setup?”

“No! No! I told no one we were meeting here tonight. I don’t know where those vehicles come from. I’m clueless. I have nothing to do with this, Mr Levinton. Please believe me. I wouldn’t dare set you up.”

I believed what this old swindler said. I released my grasp on his head and directed my attention to the main entrance of the warehouse. A few men clothed in black suits started rushing inside and surrounded us. They were strapped with guns, metal clubs and machetes. My guess is they wanted to intimidate me. I had no idea what syndicate they were affiliated with.

I stared angrily at these uninvited guests and shouted, “Who the hell are you people? Are you looking to die?” After my outburst, I heard a familiar voice replying to my question.

“It is you who will be dying tonight… that is if you don’t comply with my request.”

“Huh! You?” Out of all of the rotten shit stains that I hated on this planet, the worst of them came forward ahead of the gang and revealed himself. “Sharp Stepper! You stinking shit stain, what are you doing here? Did you follow me from the club?”

“Oh, gosh no. I left that place before you, remember?”

“Then how did you find me here?”

“A little mousy told me that you would be out here at this hour all alone. Therefore I came ahead of you and waited until you got here to reveal myself. I never expected you to have other company.” He stared at Demetri briefly.

“What the hell do you want?” As I said this, I took up the briefcase and told Demetri to get behind me. We were completely surrounded so there wasn’t much room for us to escape. ‘Where the hell is Rodent? Have they killed him already?’ I guessed they did kill him because I didn’t see him anywhere in sight.

“That looks interesting.” Sharp Stepper shifted his focus to the briefcase that I had in my hand.

“So you came for this?” Based on Sharp Stepper’s interest in the briefcase, I was starting to believe what Demetri told me about the Rubik’s Cube power. It might have had some truth to it after all. I aimed my gun at the cocky shit stain ahead of me and told him, “If you want it, come and get it.”

“Oh, I’m scared.” Sharp Stepper jeered me by pretending to surrender with his arms raised above his head. He lowered his arms shortly after a sinister smile formed on his lips. “I didn’t come here for that mysterious briefcase however I will be taking it upon my departure to uncover its mysteries seeing as how you are protecting it so dearly.”

“If this briefcase isn’t why you are here then why did you come here?” I was curious about the reason for that bastard’s unexpected visit.

Sharp Stepper gestured to a woman behind him who was also holding a briefcase to come forward. She rested the briefcase on a crate and opened it. I saw her taking out a few documents along with a legal stamp.

Sharp Stepper came abreast of her and said, “This special lady by my side is, Laura Thotinton. She is my lawyer.”

“Lawyer?” The moment Sharp Stepper mentioned this I remembered hearing about his lawyer a while back. Laura Thotinton, she was a savage in and out of the courtroom. This woman was the one who accompanied Sharp Stepper in gaining legal possession of all the properties he had recently acquired in Clown City. Whenever the property owners refused to sell, he would threaten them until they complied. From this recollection, I assumed they were here to do the same to me.

Sharp Stepper went beside his lawyer and looked over a few of the documents before redirecting his eyes to me. “Chris Levinton or should I call you by that deplorable name that your affiliates address you as? Smoke Pac, did I say it correctly?”

“You did, little punk. Don’t wear it out.” I wanted to put a bullet right between this bastard’s eyes but I couldn’t risk putting the chemist’s life in jeopardy or my own. Therefore, I listened to what this shit stain had to say.

“I came here on official business matters. As a fellow businessman yourself, I am hoping you will understand. You see these papers here, they are legal documentation of all the properties that are currently listed under your ownership including the western borders of Mt Bedrock. A very affluent client of mine is interested in purchasing that area for his business ventures but I can’t legally sell what isn’t mine. Those are the rules here in Clown City. Hence I’m going to need you to sign a few documents consenting to have your possession of these land titles passed over to me free of charge. Take a look.”

“Huh?” I inspected the documents that were given to me and recognized something peculiar. “These are my official papers of all the land titles that legally belong to me. I thought I secured these papers somewhere hidden. How did you get your filthy hand on these?”

“Why don’t you ask your subordinates? It seems that they are displeased with your deplorable leadership, so much so that they are willing to betray you for a handful of Crowns. Ha-ha-ha.”

Hearing this bastard grinning his teeth off while mocking my leadership skills made me want to plug his ass that much deeper with my gun. He hit a key point though. Someone had betrayed me, someone close who knew exactly where I hid my private documents.

‘Was it Madam Plastic who sold me out? That granny was complaining earlier about me being incompetent or having my head stuck up some woman’s crotch or something. I knew I shouldn’t have trusted that old hag. If I make it out of here alive, I’m going to make her regret selling me out.’

I took a glance at the papers one more time before I tossed them onto the ground like a piece of trash. If a toilet was nearby, I would have wiped my ass with them and flushed them down the hole.

Giving my attention back to my adversary, I conveyed, “You must be out of your damn mind if you think that I’m going to sign over those documents to you. Sharp Stepper, you and this lawyer chick of yours can kiss my hairy ass! It ought to be real stick and sweaty for you, I haven’t showered since morning.”

“No thanks.” Sharp Stepper declined my offer and gestured to one of his cronies to pick up the scattered papers off the floor. He then added, “I rather kiss your ex-wife’s tush instead. Haven’t you noticed her rump back at the club, how bigger it has gotten? I paid for her surgical implants. Something you could never afford with your mediocre salary.”

“You shit head! Keep dissing me and I just might put a bullet between your eyes.” I tried to threaten him with my gun but it didn’t work.

“Enough with your veiled threats, Chris. You and I both know that you can’t pull that trigger, otherwise, you would have done it already.”

“What makes you so sure I can’t pull this trigger? You think it matters to me if this geezer behind me dies or not?”

“Mr Levinton please don’t say that.” Demetri didn’t want to die without seeing his daughter's face one last time. I could tell based on his expression and by the fetid scent of the urine that he dropped on the floor.

“I can assure you that you won’t pull that trigger, Smoke Pac. In fact, you will do exactly as I say and sign these papers.” Saying this, Sharp Stepper called forth a burly man who was carrying a person on his shoulder concealed in a body bag.

“Down you go.” The burly man dropped the bag onto the floor roughly and I heard a slight groan. The person inside was still alive.

I had no idea what was going on so I inquired, “What the hell is this? Who’s inside that bag?”

Sharp Stepper went over to the bag and grasped the zip. “You’re about to find out.”

I watched him slowly unzipping the bag as a wave of anticipation washed over me. I was eager to find out who or what was inside. Finally, the zipper reached the end of its pull. I witnessed the half-baked reveal of a little defenceless girl who was tightly gagged and restrained.