Consulting Sniper (Moran's Story)

Chapter 26: Empty Houses and Air Guns

Almost exactly two  years after Reichenbach, in June 2037, I was playing cards at the club at 427 Park Lane. The lights were low and the air was musty, and the man that I was playing against was cheating at cards.

Ron Adair sat across from me at the poker table, and I saw the card that was shoved up his sleeve.

I was absolutely furious. I could not let Adair get away with this. I needed the victory money just as much as Adair did, if not more. I watched as he continued to deal cards.

This was a legitimate business. This Club was one of the few that was not part of the Underground. Adair was violating that trust. And I was even more pissed off that I wasn't the only who thought of it first! I made it obvious that I was looking at Adair's sleeve, and he glared at me. The game was nearly over, and I was winning regardless of Adair's cheating.

I continued playing the game until I won, and I collected the prize money.

But Adair wasn't through with me yet.

"This is bullshit!" He yelled, standing up at the end of the game. "Moran cheated!"

I was even more pissed off. "What the fuck?" I yelled. "I wasn't fucking cheating! Adair was! Just look up his damn sleeve! He's got cards all up it!"

There was nothing in his sleeves, and nobody believed anything I was saying. I had had enough. I went to leave, but I could not before the owner of the Club pulled me aside and let me know I was banned from the Club for the rest of my life.

I wanted to kill Adair. It was the first time in nearly two years when I really had the insatiable urge to kill someone, and I was not going to let it pass. I was going to kill Ron Adair that night, and I'd be damned if anyone was going to stop me

Adair left before I did, but he remained outside the Club to finish his cigar before he went home.

I pulled my pistol out of my jacket when I got outside. Adair was starting to walk down the block. He went into an alleyway, probably to take a shortcut to his house, but before he could finish, I cocked my gun loudly.

Adair put his hands up. "Moran, I know it's you. I did what I had to do to save myself. You would've done the same."

"I know I would've. That's why I have to kill you," I said, aiming the barrel of my pistol at the back of Adair's head, ready to shoot him in the back of the heart when there was a hole in his head.

"I would tell you I don't want to die, but that would be a complete lie. It would be an honor to die at the hand of Moran, Moriarty's Consulting Sniper..."

I was in shock. "How the hell do you know about that?"

"Becca. It slipped out when she was talking to me once. Told me I can't tell anyone and that no one else knows. You have that satisfaction at least. You'll be killing the one person who knows."

"You're right. I haven't added another tally in a while."

"Then add one more. You'll be put away for murder. This isn't the underground anymore, Moran. You know that."

I shot Adair in the head and back after he said that. I took the body and dragged it to the street, careful not to show my face. I knew what would be my next step.

Jim showed me how to do something once. How to shoot revolver bullets out of an air gun. I still had that one from all those years ago, and I could not wait to try it out on Sherlock Holmes.