Gotham: After Dark - The King Slayer (5 page)

Falcone nearly cause several accidents while keeping the pedal to the metal while flooring it back to Sabatino’s restaurant. Falcone didn’t care about parking at that particular moment as he pulled onto the sidewalk and slammed the car into park. As he stepped out of the car, two of Sabatino’s men were looking at him as if he were a madman.

“Falcone, what the hell?”  one of the thugs called out.

“Shut the hell up!” Falcone called out, “Where’s the boss?”

“He’s out back, having dinner.” The other thug replied.

Falcone didn’t hang around to chit chat and walked into the restaurant and jogged to the back of room as quickly as he could. When he arrived to the back room a waiter was just about to serve Sabatino his supper. He had a plate of food in one hand and a steak knife in the other. Given the situation, Falcone wasn’t in the mood to take any chances when it was his boss’ life on the line. He pulled out his piece and gunned down the waiter before he got within two feet of his boss, tagging the man for two shots to the torso, killing him.

“What the hell?” Sabatino called out as he had the waiter’s blood on him.

The entire room erupted into chaos and one of the thugs took away Falcone’s gun and pointed his own at his temple. Falcone stood there, waiting for the old man to say something first.

“What was that for?” the old man called out.

“I just got word that your life is in danger.” Falcone called back. “That crazy psycho is coming for you next.”

“He is?” Sabatino said with a laugh. “What did I do?”

“You own over twenty night clubs in the city.” Falcone answered, “You also use those clubs to push drugs and prostitutes. In the eyes of the Kingslayer, that makes you the king of clubs.”

“Why did you shoot the waiter?” Sabatino then asked.

“I don’t know that guy.” Falcone confessed, “But all I saw was a man less than two feet away from you with a knife. Forgive me, but I’d rather shoot first and ask questions later when it’s your life I’m protecting.”

The old man walked up and grabbed the gun from the thug that was pointing it at Falcone’s temple. “I admire your spunk. You really did that to save my life?”

“I did.” Falcone confessed.

“Unfortunately, he shot the wrong guy.” A voice called out.

In all the commotion that Falcone had caused by shooting the waiter, there was no one covering the door into the private room. Standing at the door with a fully loaded tommy gun in his hand, was a masked man. There was no doubt in Falcone’s mind; that masked man was the kingslayer.

“Time to pay for your sins, Sabatino!” the man called out. Without hesitation he stared to fire on everyone in there, spraying the entire room with bullets. Some of Sabatino’s men tried to shoot back but their efforts were futile as the tommy gun tore them down before they could even fire off a single shot.

Instead of trying to shoot back, Falcone grabbed Sabatino by wrapping his large arms around the old man and lifted him off the ground. As the bullets started to fly he ran towards the nearest table and leaped over it with his boss. As he was leaping over the table, he used one of his hands to grab a corner of the table and used his momentum to turn the table over as they jumped over it, providing cover for both he and his boss. Every table in that room was thick enough to stop any man made ammunition, so it was the perfect cover as the Kingslayer’s bullets failed to break through it. As the bullets were ricocheting all over the place, Falcone knew it was time to back on offense. He popped open Sabatino’s jacket and removed his piece from the old man’s holster. The moment the tommy gun paused for just a second, Falcone emerged from the table shot at anything or anyone that moved. While Falcone’s indiscriminate shooting took out one of his own men, the second shot was at the kingslayer. The bullet ripped into the masked man’s right shoulder, making it impossible for him to hold the big gun up. The masked man, dropped the big gun and bolted for the door. Falcone fired several more shots at the masked man but he was out the door and gone.

Falcone turned back to face his boss who was still lying down behind the table for cover. “Are you all right, Mr. Sabatino?”

“I think you separated my shoulder when we leapt over this table.” The old man confessed, “But considering the alternative, I can let that slide.”

“Let’s get you to a hospital.” Falcone said as he scanned the room to see if there was anyone else alive.

“No.” The old man replied, “You go get that bastard and bring me back his heart.”

“As much as I would enjoy that.” Falcone replied, “I’m not going anywhere until you’re in a hospital and under armed guard.”

The old man looked at him and nodded, “All right. Let’s get out of here.”

It only took a few minutes for more armed men to show up and Falcone clued them in to what just happened and what the bugger looked like. Half the men went out to look for him while the other half stayed to clean up the mess and get the boss to Gotham General. Falcone walked the old man out to the car and put him in the passenger side.

“Nice ride, Falcone.” The old man said.

“We have a reputation to maintain.” Falcone said with a wink as he started the car. It took him less than a few minutes to get the old man to the hospital and admitted to treat his shoulder, which was separated. Falcone stood guard at the door of the room, only allowing medical personal to enter until more men arrived to secure the area. He had been sitting there for the better part of an hour, covered in other people’s blood when someone he recognized entered the ward. It was Tony Gordon and he was there with his boss, assistant district attorney Dent. 

“What the hell are you doing here?” Falcone asked.

“Someone in our city was attacked.” Tony answered.

“Was it him?” Dent asked.

Falcone stood up and pulled something out of his pocket. It was a card; the king of clubs. “He dropped this on his way out.”

Dent took the card from him and looked at it. “Where did this happen?”

“It doesn’t matter.” Falcone answered. “It’s already being cleaned up as we speak. We have a reputation to maintain. The room is soundproof so no one heard a thing. But you guys have a mad man on your hands.

“He’s also got some set on him if he had the minerals to come after Sabatino like that.” Tony also added.

“Not for long.” Falcone said, “If I get my hands on him, he’s going to lose a lot of body parts.”

“No vigilante shit in my town, bub.” Dent said as he put the card into his pocket as it was not evidence.

“Sorry.” Falcone said as he sighed. “It’s been a long day. Needless to say, you have our full support in bringing this turd to justice.”

“We appreciate that.” Dent said with a hint of sarcasm. “But we’ll let the police take care of this from here.”

With that Dent turned and walked away from both Falcone and Tony who didn’t follow his boss.

“This guy isn’t holding back.” Tony said as he turned back to Falcone. “He’s taking more chances and he’s not waiting to strike again.”

“He’s moving faster because he feels the heat on him.” Falcone added, “I have no doubt he’s going to strike the King of Spades as quickly as he can.

“We need to find out who that is.” Tony said back to Falcone.

Falcone smiled at the thought as it appeared that Tony was more willing to accept his help than his boss was. “There’s a diner around the corner from here on 9
th
street. Meet me there in an hour and we’ll figure this out.”

.

As promised, Falcone walked into the diner about a half hour after Tony Gordon had left the hospital. Tony was sitting at a booth, nursing a cup of coffee as he waited for the gangster to meet him there. Falcone took of his jacket and tossed it into the corner of the booth and then sat across from the lawyer. He looked exhausted but focused on the task at hand. He picked up the menu that was lying on the table and looked back at Tony.

“Have you ordered anything?” Falcone asked.

“Are we going to be here that long?” Tony countered.

Falcone put the menu down and sternly glared at Tony. “We are not leaving this table until we figure out who the King of Spades is.”

“How are we going to do that?” Tony asked.

“Easy.” Falcone said as he went back to scanning the menu. “While we’re eating, I’m going to ask you questions about your case, a lot of them. If you’re honest with me, we’ll break down the clues and figure out who the next target is. This guy wants to take credit for his work; he’s leaving more breadcrumbs than you’d see in a fairytale. The answers are out there, we just have to find them and exploit them.”

“All right.” Tony said as he took the other menu off the table. “Let’s order something and get to work.”

They sat down in that café for a few hours, going over every detail. Falcone asked a boat load of questions and Tony was honest with each one, hoping Falcone’s fresh eyes might find something like he had the previous time. Their food came and went and they continued to talk about it, going over one detail after another.

“You know.” Falcone said as he was sipping on a cup of earl grey. “the spade is considers a weapon, like a spear. To me this is the key hint to who the next victim is going to be. We’re looking for someone who works in weapons.”

“Like the owner of a gun shop?” Tony asked.”

“No,” Falcone dismissed almost immediately. “The owner of a gun shop is small potatoes, too small a target for him.”

“But the owner of a jewelry store isn’t?” Tony then inquired.

“Big difference.” Falcone said, “This jewelry owner was corrupt. He was one of the biggest fences for smuggled diamonds in the state if not the entire country. He was not a small target; he was one of the biggest. So was Grisham for that matter. They’re rich, corrupt and greedy as hell; that’s what all three of these kings have in common. The king of spade will be no different. He’ll be powerful, grossly rich and since he’s the last one even more so to make the final king a big splash in the media. This one will be huge. If the spade does represent guns, we’re not talking about a lord of war. This card is likely going to be given to some dude who owns or is a big part our nation’s military contracts. Who’s company profits from war and is rolling in the money. We find out who the biggest war profiteer is here in Gotham, we find our king of spades.”

“Do you have any idea how many people like that live in our city?” Tony asked. “We’d have an easier time figuring out the guy who got the Jack of Spades before we find out about the king.”

“Hold it right there,” Falcone said as he held up a hand. “Someone got the Jack of Spades?”

“Yeah, security guard.” Tony said as he ate a piece of his pie. The detectives at the time thought it was a copy cat.”

“Why is that?” Falcone asked.

“Different M.O.” Tony answered, “The perp used a gun instead of a knife for the first time. And he left a jack instead of a king. So at the time Loeb and Dix don’t think it’s our guy.”

“Well he used a gun when he tried to take out my boss.” Falcone said as he couldn’t believe what he just heard. “That’s his M.O. now.”

“I guess so.” Tony agreed.

“Where did this guard work?” Falcone inquired.

“The Gazzette.” Tony asked.

“Well, that’s a coincidence.” Falcone said as he folded his arms. “That’s some set of monkeys you have working at the station, Mr. Gordon. This is the clue we’ve been looking for. The Jack is a soldier, someone who serves the king. This is a very important clue.”

“Why is that?” Tony asked.

Falcone sighed. “This means the king of spades has to be this guard’s boss. If we find out who owns the Gazzette, we find our king.”

“That’s a good question.” Tony said as he paused for a moment. “We need to find that out as soon as possible.”

“Find out what, hun?” the waitress asked as began to pour Tony a refill.

“We need to know who owns the Gotham Gazzette.” Falcone asked.

“I actually know the answer to that.” The waitress replied, “I remember a story about it when the Gazzette was bought out two years ago.”

“Who bought them out?” Tony asked.

“Wayne Enterprises.” The waitress answered.

Tony looked back at Falcone. “That’s one of the biggest military contractors in the country!”

“There’s your king of spades.” Falcone replied. “That’s his next target.”

“We have to call the police!” Tony said, panicking.

“No time.” Falcone said as he stood up. “I’ll drive.” 

As they were leaving the diner in a rush, Falcone handed a hundred dollar bill to the waitress. “Keep the change, sweetie. You earned it.”