Broken Mirror

Chapter Thirteen: Dangerous Games

Otto led me outside to a van and car waiting on the street for our arrival. At the sight of their leader several men leapt from the back of the van and loaded my trunks and baggage. Otto then guided me over to the car and we climbed in the back.

I was beginning to panic at prospect of death befalling me and I grew even more distraught after we started driving away once Otto had told the man behind the wheel instructions in German.

"Don't worry darling," Otto reassured me, "We're not going to hurt you, no, you're too valuable at the moment to harm. However, you're going to be accompanying us to visit someone."

"Why can't I go back to Birmingham?" I asked nervously as I stared wide-eyed at Otto's face.

"You'll be taken back home once our trip is over, I promise," he answered in a sneering voice, "We don't want you to miss out on all of the fun."

I knew I was going to be the unwilling participant in something terrible and judging by Otto's remarks I wasn't going to be happy or satisfied with the outcome of our visit.

"Who are we visiting?" I questioned, trying to calm myself and attempting to lighten the tense mood around me.

"Do you read the papers?" Otto asked, ignoring my question entirely.

"Not often, why?" I continued to try to hold a normal conversation.

"Well if you did you would understand why I want to be kept out of them," he answered for me with a snide voice, "How are supposed to trust anything you read these days, anyway? This country likes to fuck with the minds of the masses with their so called 'newspapers'. Nothing is honestly reported, stories are twisted for the hell of it all to provide a certain, political agenda. I'm not saying my own country isn't guilty of the same shit, but at least we have more control over what gets put onto paper. Even if a story here is printed in honest ink rumors still start and spread. I can't have a bunch of stories about me floating around, now can I? Luckily for me there haven't been any, but I can't say the same about our mutual friend, Mr. Shelby. Stories about him are always in fashion and unfortunately, I can't afford those to be flying around either. If someone connects the dots and I am exposed, all of my work here will be uprooted and I'll be forced to flee without mission accomplished. Failure isn't an option darling and we're on our way to prevent failure."

I was starting to grow even more worried and frightened. The only reply I could muster at the moment was a low mumble,

"You're insane."

"Insanity is repeating the same action over and over again and expecting different results each time," he answered with a cruel laugh, "I don't think that's what we're doing here darling. I don't get multiple attempts at this, just one and only one."

"You still didn't answer me," I boldly stated, "Who are we going to see?"

"You're a demanding thing, aren't you?" he responded with a faint smile, "You're a perfect match for this line of work. Anyway, we're going to be visiting an underwriter for The Birmingham Evening Dispatch. Maybe you've read his stories before especially the one about Agnes and Ronan Hartley's demises. Does that ring a bell?"

My heart skipped a beat and my breath got caught in my throat. I couldn't form any words to say in reply and I dreaded Otto's words as he continued,

"Well it was written by their son, Jacob. Don't imagine they told you about him, did they and why should they have? You after all allowed his parents to be murdered. You betrayed them, but that's not what I care about. I'm more worried about what he's going to write about next. I've received word he's been asking around and trying to find out why Thomas Shelby went on violent rampage against his parents. I can't let him find out the full truth so that's why we're visiting him. Does that answer your question darling?"