Land of Shadows (1.06) Shadow of the Deceiver

[Stormm]

The Black Hand had taken more than their share of loved ones away from people in the short time I had been exposed to their fascist ideologies. While they were far from taking over the world, they had their grip in any number of business and corporations the world over, smuggled their weapons and drugs from country to country, and even started trafficking young women and children. While they had tapped into the resources necessary to expand across the globe, their numbers weren’t anywhere near what they’d need to be for any kind of domination.

Greed was their greatest folly.

Kinzo wanted too much for himself, and he would hurt the organization as a whole for it. He had visions of taking everything, but without a desire to share that power, that wealth, with any of those who would help him take it, it was only a matter of time before the hand that fed got bit.

I know, I know, keep the Dad jokes to a minimum, but I couldn’t help myself.

The thing was, any government agency in the world could have taken them down if they could have gotten just one person to give them any information at all. The one thing the Hand still had, was a firm, fear inducing grip on those that knew of their presence. Nobody was willing to talk to anyone with a badge.

Confidence had made them careless.

Lucky for all of us, they never suspected one guy with a vendetta to come after them; and with the help of nothing-left-lose sidekick who wanted to see them burn just as bad, we were about to return the favor and get our feet inside their door!

...Shadow of the Deceiver...

Peering through a small crack in the door, left just ajar for Justin, not just for the sake of claustrophobia, but for him to spy on the meeting at hand; he grew impatient. With every possibility of a meeting place to happen in Madison’s condo, just off the Charles River in Boston, the only room that wouldn’t draw suspicion, was also the room with the smallest closet he’d ever seen.

His palms were sweating, and his heart was beating ninety to nothing. Justin had been doing everything in his power to keep his breathing normal to prevent anyone from hearing him, or worse, passing out and falling out of the closet. He had already been standing in the saddest excuse to call the condo a four bedroom for over an hour, so when Madison’s “representative” from the Black Hand showed up, his anxiety was already through the roof.

“I already told you, these corporate white guys find out you’re Jewish, they jump at the chance for you to handle their money. My past experience in finance was almost a non-factor here.” Madison said, sitting behind the desk in her home office. Several pictures of her with her late husband and daughter, hung all over the walls, and adorned her desk. An Asian man sat in a leather chair directly between the closet and Madison’s desk. “You can tell him, again, that there’s nothing to worry about, and that Justin doesn’t suspect a thing.”

The Black Hand agent nodded to her, with a cell phone up to his ear, an active call happening simultaneously with his conversation with her. The conversation that would switch from English and in person, to Japanese and over the phone.

Justin had taken a huge risk with Madison in the first place, and was furious at Brian for hiring a new CFO with the emphasis on her helping them take down the Black Hand in the first place. After hearing the story about her family and her history with the Hand, he was put at ease, but only slightly. That was until she went deeper, and realized that she had been forced to work for them all this time. Not only that, but come to find out, she was tasked with being the one who infiltrated AWE, Inc. in the first place.

It was a shock to him that, after everything that had happened already, they hadn’t managed to mole their way in, yet. The lost assets that started everything in motion had not actually been lost, but just tucked away. Though, Madison’s ambition to take them down, and finding out she was actually working for them, he had a decision to make. But, even after hearing every little detail, the voice of reason didn’t hesitate when asked if he should trust her.

Lindsay had no doubt that Madison could be. Nobody stays loyal to someone that takes a child away from them. Not even out of fear.

So there they were, in her Beacon Hill home, the same one she’s kept for years, even after the deaths of both Frank and Nina. A regular meeting place for her and the man keeping an eye on her. Even after taking a job clear down in Atlanta, that would always be her home. Not only that, but that would also be the place where the fight was taken back to the Black Hand.

They had worked out the details for the past week, and her monthly “check-in” was going to be as good a time as any to strike. The organization had gotten complacent with their security. The confidence they had in their fear mongering tactics had caused them to ignore most of their processes.

What used to be weekly, unannounced meetings with two or three members of the Hand, who had eyes on her at all times, had become a weekly phone call, and a monthly, pre-scheduled check-up with the same guy for the past year or two.

Every meeting was the same. Madison had her orders from the get-go, and the man would ask of her progress, while on the phone with someone else “back home.” He had a new burner phone every time, and would destroy it immediately following the conclusion of the meeting.

While Madison was of the “working class” initiated members of the Black Hand, anyone who those individuals reported to were the middle men, and had come from their “home base”, wherever that was. They were the real initiated members. Initiated into a brotherhood that’s been around for years, but has devolved significantly over the last several decades.

Given the nature of progress she had made in being employed by Justin and Action, however, she had become privy to information that the Hand was to leave her be after this particular meeting, and wait to hear from her, rather than always checking in. If for anything else, to keep suspicion off of her while working in Atlanta.

If they could squeeze this agent of any information at all, they would have their starting point. They would have their chance.

“Shì de zhǔrén. Wǒ míngbái.” The Chinese man in his exquisitely tailored, black suit, affirmed to the individual on the other end. The little that Justin understood, it was obvious he was talking to Kinzo. He ended the call immediately afterwards, though, and proceeded to remove the battery, and break the device in half, leaving the remnants on Madison’s desk for her to take care of. “You’ve done well. Xiǎolóng agrees that we are to let you do your work, and we will wait to hear from you when your task is complete.” His thick accent while speaking English is almost straight out of a Kung Fu movie.

“Good.” She responds back with a quick, nervous glance at the crack in the closet.

It draws some suspicion from the agent, who looks over his shoulder. “What are you looking at?”

“The clock, to see how much of my time you’ve wasted… again!” Quick on her feet, and lucky that a nearby shelf had a vintage clock on it, she responds with ease.

However, the man does not seem to buy it, and hastily stands up “We are done here.”

The plan begins to fall apart, and the next step or two in the plan are skipped over entirely as Lindsay, in a flashy black dress, stumbles into the room carrying a bottle of Baijiu, a common and popular rice liquor from China. “Oh my, this stuff is strong.” She giggled, and seemingly took another pull from the bottle.

“Who is that?!” The man, looking around the room, begins to worry.

Not being a part of the plan, Madison is beside herself, but Lindsay, who was supposed to be a last resort, fills in the cracks. “I’m the party, baby.” She admits while making her way closer towards the villain.

“A gift, for the progress we’ve made.” Madison joins in on the ruse, to try and put the man’s mind at ease. “A way of saying thank you.” Trying to prevent herself from choking on her words, no matter how false they were, she found them difficult to say.

Lindsay appeared to grab the liquor bottle by the neck, like she was going to take a swing at the man’s head, but Madison didn’t hold his attention long enough, and he turned back to the blonde party girl. “I usually like them younger and less used up, but this will do.” Grabbing the bottle out of her hand to take a drink, Lindsay’s face uncontrollably furled at how he described her.

Everything could have fallen through when the man tried to take a drink and realized the seal hadn’t even been broken yet. But, by that point, Justin had managed to make his way out of the closet, and sneak up behind the man.

Just as he reacted, and grabbed Lindsay’s wrist, twisting her into his grip, and presenting his knife to her throat, Justin had cocked the gun he was packing, and pressed it into the back of his head. “She’s fucking gorgeous, and you’d be lucky if anyone half as attractive wanted anything to do with you!”

Dropping the knife and letting go of the lovely lady, the man knew he’d been had, and at one of the most inopportune times. Whether he would talk was another question all together, but the first step had been taken, and the first step can sometimes be the hardest.

The plan hadn’t gone off without a hitch, but it was executed in a way that lead to some form of victory. Whether the same could be said about the Force of Nature’s next task was yet to be seen. A tag match with David Hunter against Sicko and Dominator. It was like the powers that be just threw darts, and booked matches based on what they hit. Oh, and they were terrible at darts, too!

At least this match would give him the opportunity to get some form of revenge on Dominator, the only one in the match that Stormm deserved to be in the ring against. The fact that Sicko was tossed in for “costing” the Force of Nature a chance at regaining the North American title was of no relevance to him.

While ignoring opponents in any match is never a good thing, the outcome of that particular match wouldn’t really mean anything in the long run.

Justin could only hope that, when the bell rings, he would have gotten his shots in, and his shoulders on the mat for a three-count won’t be the reason it rings in the end.

Justin could only hope for as tiny of a clusterfuck that this plan ended up being when it came to his next task.

When I first met Madison, I was hesitant to trust her. I didn’t really want anyone else involved in this mess. But after hearing her story, and learning about her connections and how they could help us, it would have been stupid of me to not let her in. If she was willing to risk what little she had left to help bring them down, who was I to deny her of that?

Do I regret not getting the ball rolling on everything sooner? Sure, who wouldn’t? Dwelling on it isn’t going to bring anyone back, though. Plus, who’s to say that it would have prevented anyone else from dying, anyway?

The thing that mattered, was working as quickly as we could to bring it to an end before it got any worse!