The Andre Miller Saga

Andre Miller 48 The Rebuilding

The funeral service went as well as could be expected. There was a lot of grief and barely contained rage. Andre, Caleb, Frankie, and Kyle acted as pallbearers as he had no other family. The service for Bill Beech ended with a nice eulogy by his friend and partner in their law firm, Bobby Dunkirk.

It had been just over a week since the phone call threatening the members of the family and their close allies. 5 days previously the hit men from Artifax had fired a round from a high-powered rifle through the window of Bill's car when he was leaving work, killing him instantly.

There was no way to prove it was Artifax, the shooter escaped unseen into the night, but everyone involved knew. His body was found by Bobby when she ran out at the sound of the gunshot. Since then, everyone had taken to wearing concealable body armor with a shield rune build into it.

"The vests should stop most rounds short of an anti-material rifle." Said Tilly, as she demonstrated how the vests worked and how to manually activate the shield rune, is needed. "The shield won't stop the first shot, that's what the vest is for, but anything after the first won't get through."

"We should have been wearing these a lot earlier." Said Frankie, "No hate to any of us, and I know it wouldn't have saved Bill, but we didn't take the threat seriously enough fast enough."

"There wasn't anything we could have done Frankie." Said Andre, "I'll take the blame for not taking care of everyone the way I should have. I feel at fault for Bill's death."

"You didn't pull the trigger, son. That was those bastards from Artifax." Said Conroy.

They sat around the table, still in their suits and dresses. "I should have been able to see this coming. What good am I as a seer if I can't see the murder of a close friend?" Kris said as she burst into tears.

"You didn't do anything wrong Kris," said Caleb, "This wasn't anything we expected. None of us could have seen it coming, not even you."

"The question is what do we do now?" asked Frankie. He had been fighting to hold in the glow of his eyes all day, but now that it was just the family, he let the topaz radiance flow and it showed through his ever-present sunglasses.

"We keep moving forward. Bobby has vowed to see Artifax brought to justice for Bill's death. We just need to up our vigilance." Andre said as he loosened his tie. His phone rang, "Hello?"

"It was a lovely service." Said a modulated voice, "I warned you that this would happen. But you insisted you were invulnerable. We have proven that to be false. I'll tell you again. Back off and drop the case, or this won't be the only body dropped." Then the line went dead.

"Kris, I need you to do red or black, we're going to trace back this bastard, we can't get any closer to the now than this." Said Andre.

Kris dried the tears off of her cheeks and pulled her deck of cards from her bag. "Go."

"Was that caller working for Artifax?"

Red. "Yes, they are a member of some kind of management." Said Kris.

"In the alphabet, based on the numeric value, is their first initial above or below the letter M?"

Red. "Above."

"Is it above or below S?"

Black. "Below"

"Above or below P?"

Two cards, both red. "It starts with a P."

"Last initial above or below the letter M?"

Black. "Below."

"Above or Below G?"

Black. "Below, we've got two draws left maybe."

"Above or below D?"