Dancing With The Devil (part two)

Chapter 18: Sitting Ducks

Jim wiped the blood that had fallen down his face as he flopped, exhausted, down onto the grass with a sigh. He knew that was he'd done was stupid, but he had an excuse. A certain Danish individual had threatened Astrid's safety if Jim was to go anywhere near her in the time where he was deaded. The only way that Jim had been able to get his way back into Astrid's life was through money and bribery.

He leant back and looked up into the sky as blood continued to drip down his face. The consulting criminal looked up as the day turned into the night.

After what seemed like hours, he heard the rustling of leaves and a muffled cough near his ears. He sensed another presence beside him and craned his head to the side to see Astrid lie down next to him. She turned her head to Jim, who saw a pair of blue bloodshot eyes looking back at him. She pressed her lips together anxiously as Jim opened his mouth to start the long awaited conversation.

"I'm sorry-"

"Jesus christ." Astrid sighed exasperatedly and turned her raw eyes up to the beautiful mix of pinks and blues in the sky, "I know your sorry. What I don't know is why you did what you did."

"I have a rea-"

"Three years, James." She cut him off again and Jim slowly nodded, "three fucking years!"

"I can explain."

"I'm listening."

"I had blank bullets stored in my gun and a blood bag-"

"I don't care how you did it Jim. I wanna know why?"

"I did it for the game," he said, knowing Astrid was rolling her eyes next to him, "And I promise you, I was going to come back. I honestly was. But I couldn't-"

"Are you gonna tell me or not." Astrid sat up.

"Lucas Hansel told me that if I went anywhere near you, he'd kill me ...and then Seb, and Seb's girlfriend." Jim sighed

"Her name's Faith" Astrid said

"Right, um, he said that he wanted you alive. He still believes that you'll come home. He said that if I was to go back to you then he would do all this, and then take you back to him and force you to be part of his giant scheme."

"What giant scheme?"

"He wants to take control of the underworld, and since I've been gone, he has been able to." he sighed, "he's got everyone who ever worked for me under his fingertips. He's taken up my mantle."

"And he has the formula for his creation." Astrid added as Jim sat up.

"With all his resources he could do anything." Jim stated, "he could put that shit anywhere."

"We gave him exactly what he needed; power." Astrid shook her head and sighed, "when you killed yourself, me and Seb became weaker than ever. We were vulnerable, like sitting ducks!"

"Did you see him?"

"Yes, I spoke to him."

"Well, what did he say?"

"I don't exactly remember, it was several years ago." she sighed and lay back down trying to remember, "why would he want to split us apart?"

"Well it's like I said..." Jim began, "he wants you to be alone. And if I was to be with you, then you'd be able to make your way back up to the top."

Astrid sighed in agreement until images of the day she visited her father popped into her head.

"He hit my mum," she suddenly remembered.

She could see it as clear as day.  She could see her beautiful step mother descending those stairs, she remembered the way Amelie had tilted her head to the side and tucked a curl of hair behind her ear. Astrid remembered her step-mother revealing an ugly large purple bruise under her eye, yet, the Frenchwoman was still a vision. Astrid stood up slowly, Jim following suit.

"What are we going to do?"

"Don't worry," Astrid said clearly and calmly, "I've got a plan."