The Mystery Danger Serials: A Kiss Goodbye

Face to Face

There we were, face to face...

     for the first time. And, judging by the look on his, he hadn't expected to see mine. It was an interesting expression. Usually, there is a sign of shock or fear. The realization that the jig is up. However, the Suit's expression was more controlled, as if he were still assessing the scene and calculating the possible outcomes. 

     I could see the gears in his head turning. The questions he must be asking himself. 

     "How did he survive?"

     "How much has he seen?"

     "What does he know?"

     At that point the evening caught up with me. What exactly did I know? 

     I knew that a girl came to me asking to be taken into police protection. She was involved in some sort of shady business and was scared of someone powerful. So powerful that she believed that the only way to get away from this person was to disappear. Was the man standing here the powerful man she feared, or another cog in some bigger machine? 

     What did I actually know about this girl? She had been tight lipped about the trouble she was in. How did I know that she was really in need of help. Sure, she was tied to a chair, a dead giveaway right?

     But maybe, maybe the Suit was a wealthy business man, caught up by the power of those fire cracker lips. Maybe he had been drug into this mess by her charms. A young, wealthy industrialist, manipulated into illegal activity by some hidden fiend pulling the girls strings. 

     I looked at the man trying to decide if he was a friend or foe. And almost in answer to my unspoken question, he flashed a beastly glare, pulled a revolver from inside his jacket, and fired. 

     I dove to the side as three more shots flashed by. Crashing behind a wooden crate, I lifted myself up from the floor. There in front of me, stamped on side of the crate, the letters TNT... 

Face to Face...