The White Shadow 1: The Dancer

Chapter 12

Darryll sat alone in a dark room, by himself, facing the dim wall and ignoring Dennis in the back of his skull, vibrating meaningless words at him. He had a job to do, and wouldn't be distracted by such needless pattering. The door knob clicked far away, and he made his move.

Nia had never been in a better mood. She had truly underestimated the value of a couple dozen motivated workers, and having put several to work dealing with one of Verez's enemies, they came back with his body in a matter of hours. Nia had rewarded them with half the money Verez had given her for the job, assuring their constant productivity, but she remained aware that such reckless spending would have to be balanced out by an equally powerful source of income. All Nia needed was to deliver Diane and Darryll to Verez, preferably alive, and then she'd be golden. Unfortunately it wasn't like they were just going to walk into her arms-
Nia's second phone vibrated within her jacket, and with piqued interest, she removed it to check who was messing her. With widened eyes, she saw Diane's message, comprised of a single image: a white flag. Picketing her phone, Nia stood up from her desk and grabbed her fedora from it's stand, making haste for the door.

Three men once more, now equipped with goggles, EMP's, pistols and remotely detonating explosives, surrounded the door as the sun sank sadly on the thinly stretched horizon. One drew a large knife from it's sheath within his blazer and quietly slid it through the rotting wood beside the keyhole. He turned carefully, and miniscule shards of wood splintered off and flew like sparks around the blade. Once the hole was big enough, the man reached his hand into the hole and pressed the lock back so that another man could push the door open with a long and weary creak, that lead the way to a dark, dusty, mouldy corridor. The third man aimed his weapon down the stretch of sank darkness, but his infrared goggles saw nothing, so he lowered his weapon, and gestured to the other two men to go in with him.

Diane sat in the Electro Swing Thing again, with a glass to her lips, staring at the bartender who wouldn't look her way. He probably knew that Diane knew what he had done. Eh, nothing anyone could do about it now. But that fact that he seemed guilty about his actions made Diane feel a little safer about being in the Dancers presence. The bar was empty this time, and the dance floor had been turned off alongside the swing music, giving the place an abandoned and desolate feeling. There was the ringing if a bell, and the door opened again, and the same tall, graceful figure came in, and sat beside Diane. However, this time, there was no teasing look upon her face. Her expression was now much harder to read, an insoluble mixture of guilt and thankfulness. She waved the bartender over, and asked for a drink. When the man went over to the machine to pour a glass of beer, Diane asked her companion, "So I assume your name isn't really Nia?"
Nia recoiled slightly at Diane's harsh tone, and reassured her, "I ask people to use Nia because it's more convenient. My real name is Koslorian."
"What is it?" Diane didn't sound very intruiged, as she refused to look up from her glass.
Nia replied, "Nikola."
Diane shrugged, "Not that difficult."
Nia shrugged in return, and the marshy silence returned. As if our of nowhere, the bartender appeared with Nia's glass of beer, which she subsequently took a large swig from. Diane asked another question, "So what's the bounty on my and Darryll's heads?"
"You're worth about five million," Nia replied, "but Darryll's worth jack shit."
Diane looked up from her drink, and her head snapped round to stare at a dejected Nia with fearsome eyes, as she spat, "Then why did you try to kill him? Twice? Are you just that phycotic!"
Nia threw her hand up in protest, and Diane stopped and stared, before finishing, "go on then. What's your excuse."
Nia placed her mug back on the table, and sighed, "I never wanted Darryll dead. I wanted him alive. The first time we met, I'll admit. I didn't love you." She placed both her hands in the air beside her head as a sign for surrender, and Diane turned back to her drink, muttering, "Knew it."
However Nia continued, "and I was just going after Darryll to use him as bait against you. In the oval table room, I was just going to torture him-"
"Just going to torture him!?" Diane cried, slamming one fist into the table, "Just! Oh my god I can't believe you people! You don't see the person in people! This is why I quit! You sick politicians make me vomit!" Daine grabbed Nia by the head and turned it to face her, but suddenly stopped at the sight she saw.