Sacha was a big woman. Both literally and figuratively, and this could not have been made more clear to the man she currently batted her eyelashes at from across the room than if she had came up to him and shouted: “I’M HERE!” in his face. He held his shot of whiskey, fingers trembling, not with fear but from trepidation. So this was her. So this was the woman with the plan, the woman that ran all those sweatshops, the woman of whom he had been sent to….
The fresh young rabbit ‘a-hemed’ politely and slid out from the booth before gliding across the bar, garnering quite a few stares along the way, to join Sacha at the front counter. He all but threw himself into the barstool next to hers. “I’ve seen you staring at me from across the room,” he said, smiling a big rabbity smile. “Thought it was time to give up the front and join you.”
As he did all this, Sacha the squirrel felt a wave of glee travel from the tips of her toes to the top of her scalp. The fur on her tail bristled. “Yes, I’ve noticed that you’ve joined me.” She smiled, narrowing her eyes, and took another drag from her cigarette. It was a miracle that she could fit on the barstool at all, even with that tight, sparkly blue dress squishing her down to size.
The dank, heavy air of the bar was made no better by Sacha’s desire to constantly have some sort of smoke: be it tobacco, or hard drugs--- sticking out of the corner of her mouth.
“Ha ha ha! Well then, guess that means it’s time for introductions. I am Falder.” The rabbit extended his hand. Sacha took it. And they shook, warmly, hinting at the possibilities their first meeting held.
“Sacha,” she answered, batting her weighty eyelashes again.
“I know.”
“You do?”
Before the rabbit, starting to sweat in his loose but heavy black suit, could explain, a tiny voice from beside Sacha interrupted the both of them: “Mama?”
Falder looked over and was surprised but not shocked to see a little girl standing by Sacha. She was also a squirrel……….This was Lucky. The girl of whom he had been sent to…
“What?” Sacha snapped. “Can’t you see I’m talking to a man here?”
“I’m hungry.” Lucky came closer and pulled on her mother’s dress.
“You’re always hungry.” Some mother Sacha was. But she knew this of herself. No reason to change her ways once they had been set for so long. “Why don’t you go and play in the road or something?”
“But mama…”
“Go away. You don’t have to follow me everywhere.”
A pang of sympathy coursed through the rabbit, but it was almost instantly replaced with humor. He could easily kill this child if asked, so why bother feeling sorry for her? Smirking, Falder rested his arms on the table and winked at the girl. “Do what your mother says, Lucky. She works very hard for you.”
Truth be told, Lucky hadn’t eaten in a long time, since the day before. Still, she couldn’t argue with mama. She sighed. Then she slowly walked away and left the bar, hugging herself as she met the stale, dry air of the city. Maybe she could walk down to the docks or over to the storefront. Mama was going to be busy for some time now that she’d found a man.
Neither Lucky nor Sacha realized Falder’s true motives strayed far from what was considered normal.
_________________________
Some time of small-talk later…
“So, your daughter?” Falder asked nonchalantly.
“What about her?” Coughing, Sacha twisted in her chair and reached over to the ashtray to put out her cigarette.
“How much is she going for? I could really use a pair of sturdy young legs such as hers.”
“She’s not for sale.” Sacha answered dryly. She had answered this question before to others. It also annoyed her that the topic of conversation had suddenly shoved her out of the spotlight. “What are you, some sort of pervert?”
“No. I’m not. I just need a good worker, someone to raise up right. I’d never compromise your daughter in that way, at least not until she was old enough that she could decide for herself what she wanted.” Falder tried his best to look into her eyes, to prove he was being honest. Which he was, in a way. He didn’t want to compromise a child. Never would he do something that low.
“Well. You can’t have her. Sorry. She’s mine. Why don’t you take a look at my other stock of kids if you need a worker so bad?”
At first glance, Sacha cared no more for her daughter than she would care about a speck of sand. But if you really got to the heart of the matter, pushed past all the fronts, you’d find she valued Lucky. Highly at that. Maybe she even loved her daughter, never knew after all.
Without warning, Falder burst into laughter. To him, the situation had turned even more humorous than it had started. He was enjoying the hell out of himself. And it was about to get even better.
“What the *bleep* is so funny, you *bleeping bleep*?”
The rabbit slapped his leg. “It’s too late. We’ve already sent out a few johnnys to grab her. Never thought I’d jump into the kidnapping business, that seems like more of your thing, doesn’t it?”
“……………………..”
“Cat got your tongue? Don’t tell me you don’t know what I want.”
“………………………………………….”
“I want….” Falder leaned in as close as he could, so close her jasmine perfume made him dizzy, and whispered… “….Revenge…..”
Sacha gulped, and her claws dug into the fabric of her dress. He meant business, and by his stating the revenge part outright, it dawned upon her just where he had come from. A rival firm. One of her cutthroat competitors. Usually none of them messed with the women of other factions, even ones as powerful as Sacha, but this had apparently become a special case.
“What do I have to do?” Sacha asked carefully. “I’ll do whatever it is, but you kill her and I kill you.”
“Of course I wouldn’t. As to what I want you to do, I’ll have to think on that one…….” He looked over to the window. Through it, he could see that his team had arrived in a fairly fancy looking car. “…….Why don’t I walk you out, my darling? There’s a car waiting outside.” Falder smiled wickedly and took her by the arm, gripping tighter still when she growled at him.
Topic: The Commission (Read 27939 times)