Legendary Detective at the World's End (Volume 1) (6 page)

     Lee absorbed himself within the game as the first few cards were handed out. Looking over Kirin’s small, but steady back, he saw his towering opponents in front of him.

   “This boy,” Davos said looking at the slight build of Kirin as he glanced at his cards. “Are we really playing with children now?” he said looking over to his snickering cohorts behind him. “I mean, whatever, money is money, whether it’s from a child or a graying old man with a bad hip, hehehe…” He laughed aloud.

   “Same could be said for winning,” Kirin said picking up his cards. “In the end, the house always wins.”

     The players at the table looked at each other in confusion at his disadvantageous description of the gambling world for players. Eventually, Davos busted out into laughter. “Hahaha… You are a funny one, boy, but you speak the truth. I hope you pay your debts then, if you understand that much.”

   “Oh yes, I do.” Kirin smiled.

   “Good. We play three games a round. First place winner of each game gets four points, while second place winner gets one, the rest zero. Same goes for the round, player with the most points by the end of the three games gets four points etc, etc. You understand?”

   “I think so.” Kirin replied.

   “Good. Scoreboard is in the back. Ten pieces of gold a round, but in your case, ten pounds of flesh, hehehe…” He laughed as he pointed to a chalkboard behind him. Looking at the board, Kirin saw that Davos had thirteen after five rounds and Lee had two while the other two players had four, respectively. Confirming the scores, he began the round.

     As they shuffled through the cards and played each game to its end, Lee watched in silent horror as Kirin massacred good hands by throwing away paired cards, folding when he had the winning hand, and picking up cards when he did not need for them. It was a disaster—and Lee’s disgruntled expression showed how much he regretted his decision of throwing Kirin in to play for him. As he lowered his head in shock, Jake patted him on the back. “Well, there’s only so much you can expect a beginner to know.”

   “But still, he’s terrible…” he said with a pained voice. “He’s losing with wining hands I only wish I could’ve had these past few rounds. The kid has no sense or feel for the game. He’s useless. I mean, look at his cards now, he has two good pairs he could turn into a full house and he doesn’t even know it.”

   “I don’t know, maybe he has a plan.” Jake said in disbelief of his own words. “He  might turn it around.”

   “Whatever he’s doing, he better do it fast. I’m stepping back in next rou—.”

   “Shhhh…” Davos said quieting the room to a whisper as he fixated his eyes on the door. “Do you hear that?”

    “Hear what, Davos?” the elder Union Representative said lighting a cigar in the corner of the room as he leaned against the wall in conversation with his own small crew of well-dressed friends.

   “Nothing.” Davos replied. “Something’s stopped the chatter outside the room. You usually can hear through these thin walls, but there’s none now.”

   “Hmm…” Union Rep. looked from the corners of his eyes intrigued while Karl walked towards the door.

   “Yeah,” Karl nodded. “I don’t hear anything, its quiet out there.”

     Davos looked to the Bouncer and nodded his head. “Go check it out.”             

     The Bouncer nodded his head as he moved towards the door. There, he unlocked its many dead bolts, freeing the door from its security holds. The Bouncer then pulled out a weapon tucked under the waist of his pants, he then looked towards Davos who nodded, giving him the go head. The Bouncer swung the door open as he directed his aim outwards. As soon as he raised his weapon, the shock and the boom of gunfire turned inwardly, blasting the Bouncer in the chest as he lifted from his feet and flew halfway across the room.

   “Argh!” the Bouncer said writhing in pain on the floor as masked men charged into the room, fully armed and dangerous, waving their weapons in the sky to the shock of everyone inside.

   “Everybody! Freeze!” a masked man shouted, firing his weapon into the ceiling. As the gunfire went off, another masked man waltzed in wearing a lime green jumpsuit along with his black mask, directly in contrast of the other thieves in black on black attire who entered the room in great haste. “Yes, yes.” The green jumpsuit thief said. “We’re thieves and we’re here to take your money—do as I say now, and you may live another day to do what you please later. And believe me, truer words have never been spoken for this moment. So embrace them.”  

     The Union Representative scoffed at his words. “Fools! Do you know who you’re stealing from?! This is Union territory! If you take one coin from this room, we’ll find you and torture you in ways you can’t imagine.” The Union Rep said stepping forward.

     The thief in the green jumpsuit raised his long revolver and aimed at the Union Representative, pulling the trigger with ease, letting his bullet pierce the shoulder of the old man.

   “Ah!” the Union Rep. screamed as he held his side before collapsing to the ground in pain. Davos and his guards, along with the players around him looked on with restrained anger at the thief’s blatant lack of respect and use of violence. However, to the contrary, Jake and Lee looked on in panic at the mayhem that was breaking out in front of them.

   “Anyone else have a stupid and obvious statement to make?” the thief in the green jumpsuit said.

   “Yes.” Kirin smiled, raising a hand. “May I?”

     The thief in the green jumpsuit turned his weapon towards the calm expression of Kirin. He looked at him for a while as his cohorts saved no time raiding through the hidden safes inside the office, tearing away shelves and ripping floor panels none too obvious to find.

   “You rather worked hard for this.” Kirin said, taking his silence for permission. “And I commend you for making sure you have a wide window to commit this robbery.”

     The thief in the green jumpsuit narrowed his eyes at Kirin’s words as he tilted his head with some interest. Kirin smiled at his reaction.

   “You’re professionals, right?” Kirin continued. “If you are, could I ask your professional opinion about this match I’m having here against the house?”

   “Match, Huh?” the thief in the green jumpsuit said under his breath as he looked over the room with his eyes. “More like a con.” He said lowering his weapon. “If it weren’t for all the small pocket mirrors on the ceiling and furniture, I would have thought we we’re in a lady’s dressing room.” the thief in the green jumpsuit said as he pointed out strategically placed mirrors on the walls the size of a child’s palm. “Not to mention the good old boys at the table.” He said pacing around the table, glancing every once and while at his crew of three thieves packing gold and other valuables in bags while two thieves stood in guard, aiming their weapons at the group inside.

   “Haha,” the thief in the green jumpsuit laughed as he patted one of the players on the shoulder. “How many games have you been giving to good old boss there?” the thief in the green jumpsuit said looking to Davos.

   “Hmph…” Davos scoffed. “They don’t give me hands, nor do the mirrors play into my favor, they’re there to spot cheaters.”

   “Haha… More like, for cheaters, don’t you mean?” The thief in the green jumpsuit laughed. “You have a simple operation here and I commend you for it. But it’s a small operation like this that doesn’t know how to protect their money.” He said patting the shoulder of one of the players before walking away.

   “Excuse me,” Kirin said. “But Mr. Green Thief, can I ask you favor and look over this deal we are going over?”

   “Deal?” Davos said raising an eyebrow.

     The Green Thief turned around and walked over to Kirin. “You’re an odd fellow, you know that? Shoot… Tell me this deal.”

   “Mr. Davos,” Kirin said. “I don’t blame you for your tricks—such obvious schemes are a part of the gamble, something my pitiful acquaintance Lee failed to recognize, so I won’t ask you for any of his money back.”

   “Hey!” Lee grumbled.

   “Hmmm…” Davos said keeping an eye on the thieves rummaging through his safe, his anger showing. “Well, that doesn’t matter now—they stole his money along with ours.”

   “Which brings me to my deal.” Kirin said resting his folded hands on the table as he wore a cocky grin on his youthful face. “How about I get you all your winnings and valuables back.”

   “What?” Davos said perplexed for a moment. “What are you talking about?”

   “What I’m talking about…” Kirin said looking over to the Green Thief who watched with a perplex expression that showed through his mask. “I’m talking about robbing the thieves robbing you now.” Kirin continued. “I think I can track their movements and have them found by sunrise.”

     Davos quickly looked at the overconfident stare of Kirin with confusion and apprehension, wondering if he was being fooled now.

   “Don’t worry,” Kirin added. “You’re not being fooled. Because all I want in return for doing this favor is my friend’s money back and all his debt cleared from your organization. I’m not asking for much here, I think you’re getting a bargain.”

     Davos looked at the Green Thief’s confused eyes staring at the overconfident declaration that Kirin made in front of him. Noticing the thief’s confusion, Davos found his own train of thought and spoke it.

   “Fine.” Davos said leaning back in his chair as he threw away the cards in his hand. “We’ve got a deal. You get all my goods and money back, and I mean 100%, everything back, then I’ll clear your friend’s debt.”

   “No.” Kirin interrupted in a commanding tone. “The debt is automatically cleared if you agree to this deal, the rest hinges on if we get all of it back.”

     Davos groaned with frustration at Kirin’s perceptiveness of his attempt to weasel his way out of what seemed to be a ridiculous deal.

   “Are you serious?” the Green Thief smirked. “Kid, you think you can catch us?” He said as he looked back at his thieves zipping up their filled backpacks before exiting the room in a hurry. “Hey, the kid here thinks he can catch us.” He said to the snickers of the exiting thieves.

   “Kid, you really are an odd one, aren’t you?” The Green Thief said. “What’s your name?”

   “Detective Kirin.” He replied.

   “A detective, huh? So that’s where you confidence comes from, you think you’re a detective. Alright.” He nodded his head. “Well, let’s just skip the inevitable and kill you right now.” He said aiming his revolver at the head of Kirin. However, Kirin did not flinch—he only chuckled under his breath.

   “Oh, how fragile the mind of a thief is. To be intimidated by someone so young and inexperienced. I tell you what—I’ll give you an hour head start, how about that? Is that enough of a cushion for you?” Kirin said this with a sharp and daring tone. The Green Thief’s finger lingered on the trigger of his gun. The last thief remaining in the room beside him tapped his shoulder. “Come on, let’s go.” He said trying to pull the Green Thief away. As he did, the Green Thief smiled before lowering his gun. “Let’s see if you can find the Underground…” he said walking away to the somewhat disgruntled looks from Davos and his crew at the mention of the name the Underground. Kirin noticed this discomfort around him and noted it in the forefront of his mind.

     As the thieves emptied the room, Kirin stood up from his seat and ran to the open door to see the main hall of the gambling den had its own form of robbery. Lacking any people, the den’s main hall was empty, with only the goods that a fleeing customer would leave under the duress of a gun. There were cigars still lit, food half eaten, and no doubt emptied wallets lying at the center of the tables.

   “They must have robbed the den first, kicked everyone out, then headed towards the office.” Kirin said aloud as the stunned owner and his crew gathered, helping the wounded Union Rep. while they discussed amongst themselves. Kirin ignored their chatter as he analyzed the situation. Noticing an obvious point in question, he turned to the busy elders in the room.

   “Hey, anyone have a good story to tell the Union Heads?”

   “Why?” the Union Rep. said as he held his shoulder in pain. “There’s no need to get the Heads involved in this, no, this is something we can do ourselves. We’re going to teach that kid what the Underworld of gambling is all about.”

  “Interesting,” Kirin said as something clicked in his mind. “What was this Underground Mr. Green Thief was talking about?” he spoke aloud.

   “Hell if I know.” The Union Rep. said to the apprehensive eyes of his younger crewmembers.

   “They’re DJ’s.” Karl said stepping forward.

   “DJ’s?” Kirin said surprised. “Do you mean those people that spin records at the dance halls? What’s so menacing about that?”

   “In the past, nothing, but now they’re a band of ruthless thieves. However, what makes them so dangerous is that their roots run just as deep as any of the Unions on this island.”

   “How so?”

   “Unlike the Gambling Unions, the Underground was born out of the outlawing of their music in most of the Better and Greater Cities to the North. Out of that banning, an Underground Network of DJ’s, artist, and most importantly, smugglers were born to exchange materials across the dangerous grounds between cities. I know—sounds kind of ridiculous when talking about it now, but out of that simple ban grew an entire organization dedicated to the safe smuggling of electronic music equipment, eventually, amongst other important things like food.” Karl smiled. “Who would have thought music would build the bridges between broken cities before food and water? Now that’s power.”