Post by Ribs, Suthers' Pal on Dec 1, 2016 17:08:02 GMT
I saw him walk down the bend and turn the corner. It had been some time; I thought about that evening in Budapest, everything that happened, and how he disappeared in a flash.
I rose from my seat; I needed to know what he was doing here, on a stormy, cold Winter night in Vienna. Had he made his amends? Had he cleaned up, turned straight? I thought of when we met, in the middle of the night inside a diamond vault in Cape Town so many years ago. He surprised me. Mendez had double-crossed us, and sent us after the same set of jewels.
I tried not to hurry down the street, but I couldn’t help but liven my step a little. I slowed as I approached the corner, and looked around it. He wasn’t there. He must have disappeared into one of the buildings. I tried to remember, remember what he cared about. It came to me in the ravages of the storm, as I moved to the back entrance to the natural history museum. It was propped open with a brick. The fools, I thought, have they no idea what they have gotten themselves into?
I stumbled inside, sopping wet. The security station was right there by the back entrance – no luck, as the guard’s head had already been bashed in and his keys pilfered. I looked at the monitor, trying to find him. He knew where the cameras were. He always did.
I thought back to Elvira. Where he met her, I don’t think I’ll ever know- but I remember him pointing her out from across the general assembly of the United Nations, how he stood by my side as part of our wedding party, and how he delivered a dossier to the Mayor of Prague at her funeral.
I ran into the main foyer. It was after hours, the museum closed. Cavemen and mammoths, squid-monsters and skeletons surrounded me. I yelled his name. I just wanted to ask him why he had done it.
Suddenly, red and blue light filled the room. A team of policemen burst into the room, pointing guns at my head as they shouted commands in Austrian. He had gotten me. I turned as I got on my knees, and noticed the one thing in the room that was missing. He had made sure of it; I would be forever remembered as the one who stole the life-scale blue whale from the museum in the cover of night, and I had nothing to show for it. He had won, yet again, finally vengeance on my compromise with Mendez.
His name was the Ergon, and he killed my wife.
I rose from my seat; I needed to know what he was doing here, on a stormy, cold Winter night in Vienna. Had he made his amends? Had he cleaned up, turned straight? I thought of when we met, in the middle of the night inside a diamond vault in Cape Town so many years ago. He surprised me. Mendez had double-crossed us, and sent us after the same set of jewels.
I tried not to hurry down the street, but I couldn’t help but liven my step a little. I slowed as I approached the corner, and looked around it. He wasn’t there. He must have disappeared into one of the buildings. I tried to remember, remember what he cared about. It came to me in the ravages of the storm, as I moved to the back entrance to the natural history museum. It was propped open with a brick. The fools, I thought, have they no idea what they have gotten themselves into?
I stumbled inside, sopping wet. The security station was right there by the back entrance – no luck, as the guard’s head had already been bashed in and his keys pilfered. I looked at the monitor, trying to find him. He knew where the cameras were. He always did.
I thought back to Elvira. Where he met her, I don’t think I’ll ever know- but I remember him pointing her out from across the general assembly of the United Nations, how he stood by my side as part of our wedding party, and how he delivered a dossier to the Mayor of Prague at her funeral.
I ran into the main foyer. It was after hours, the museum closed. Cavemen and mammoths, squid-monsters and skeletons surrounded me. I yelled his name. I just wanted to ask him why he had done it.
Suddenly, red and blue light filled the room. A team of policemen burst into the room, pointing guns at my head as they shouted commands in Austrian. He had gotten me. I turned as I got on my knees, and noticed the one thing in the room that was missing. He had made sure of it; I would be forever remembered as the one who stole the life-scale blue whale from the museum in the cover of night, and I had nothing to show for it. He had won, yet again, finally vengeance on my compromise with Mendez.
His name was the Ergon, and he killed my wife.