Chess
Weasel opened the window to the study and slipped in. The large mansion had once intimidated him. Now it was his home. Or as close as it came to one other than the streets.
Raymond was where he always was. Sat behind his big desk. Dark wood. It felt like stepping into a library. The older man didn’t even look up.
“How did it go, Weasel?” Raymond asked in his droning voice.
“Um. Okay. I guess. We got him.” Weasel walked up to the desk like some office worker called before the board. Maybe this was like a company. In a twisted way.
“Why are you waffling.” Raymond looked up from his papers. A bad sign. “Did you take care of the journalist or not?”
Weasel looked down at his waist, where a pistol sat snug in the elastic of his pants. “Yeah. We got ‘em. But Tug and Elbow got pinched. They’re caught.”
“You got away?”
“Yeah.”
Raymond’s cold eyes studied Weasel. “Alright then.”
“What about Tug and Elbow?”
Raymond shrugged. “That’s the thing with pawns. They get captured. They know next to nothing important. If they squeal, they die. You’ll see to that.”
“I will?” Weasel said. He took a step backwards. “Why would I do something like that?”
“Because you’re a pawn.” Raymond spoke with such flat calm that Weasel thought it was the truth. Like was wasn’t his own person but just a piece. “You do what I tell you to and you survive. If you don’t then I have one of my other pawns sort you out. Or worse. My bishops. Do you think you would like a meeting with my bishops?”
Weasel wouldn’t. But Tug and Elbow were kids. Weasel had grown up with them. They were just hungry kids doing work for Raymond to eat. They were soldiers. Soldiers had to be loyal. Loyal to the organization, but loyal to themselves.
Raymond was a bastard. Everything for him and none for the rest. Weasel swayed on a thousand-dollar carpet. A bastard. Kin or whatever, Raymond would let his brother rot for nothing.
“Are you our king?” he asked.
Raymond nodded. “Yes. That works very well. I am your king. You take your orders from me. Die to protect me.”
Weasel pulled out his gun and fired. When the clip was empty. He ran. A pawn had to look out for another pawn.
Michael Frutig 