Back Ally Chapter One

BACK ALLY CHAPTER ONE

THE MAN IN BLUE

1. THE TRAIN STATION

The train station was full of people but his target was all too easy to distinguish. A man dressed all in blue. His polished shoes, pin striped pants and jacket, even his round brim hat. He had the look of an Italian mobster. Patients would be required for this target. The station would be inadequate. He would have to wait for the train. Taking a seat not far from the man in blue he used the local newspaper to cover the dossier on his target. The folder didn’t contain much, only a photo and a name, ‘Dragonfly.’

He was sure there would be a reason he was hired but he neither cared nor wanted a reason. Reason would give him cause to be sympathetic. Reason could compromise his cheque. He was a hit man and the Dragonfly was a job to put food on the table.

A bored voice, tired of the same day to day life, announced the arrival of the train. Following The Dragonfly, he would be pleased to offer his expertise to the bored voice, if only asked. But that was a side issue, maybe on the way back. Not surprisingly the Dragonfly was accompanied by his two bodyguards into the last carriage that was colored blue. Not wanting to arouse suspicion he entered the train at the third last carriage.

A corridor stretched the length of the carriage to a door at either end that led to the forward and aft carriage. The carriage supported four separate cabins. The last cabin would do nicely as he waited for the train to get underway.


2. LUKE BURKE

A man entered his cabin, well dressed, mid aged and bore a cheesy grin that could only be described as an itch on the sole of your foot. “High there friend!” He was already to enthusiastic for his liking. In fact he didn't really like anyone. “Don’t mind if I join you do you friend.” His question had its own answer as he took the seat opposite him, staring him strait in the eye with that grin. “How rude of me, I’m Luke burke.” Luke said his name like he should know him or care. Who was this annoyance? “You going to Terminal Point for business or pleasure?” Luke must have been hearing his own answers because he hadn’t spoken since he entered the cabin. Talk and talk is all Luke did. Irrelevant dribble spewed out from his mouth. The silencer on his Berretta would allow him to blow Luke’s brains over the cabin. “Me, I’m going for pleasure.” Pleasure. He was going to Terminal Point for pleasure. The two time whores he must have been referring too. Those fucking sluts should all be shot. There foul mouth, diseased profession disgusted him. Some babble, most likely about fucking whores, came out of that stupid grin. That fucking grin. Launching himself across the cabin he plunged the ball point pen he carried in his coat pocket into the side of Luke's head. Again. Again. And Again. He stopped when all he could recognize was that stupid grin. His brains flowed out of what was left of his mutilated head. Blood covered his cloths and the cabin. Even in death this thing still had its stupid grin. The grin had to go. Calmly he stabbed the pen repeatedly around his lower jaw until he could tare it off. That’s better.

He couldn’t leave his cabin like this. Luke’s suit case was sitting on the floor, drenched in blood. As fortune would have it Luke was the same size as him. Denim Jeans, a white t-shirt and black leather jacket would be his attire. At the bottom of the suit case were three photos and a letter. Luke was allover the cabin, He didn’t think Luke would mind if he read his whoreish letter.

“Dear Luke,
Sam came second in his javelin today. You would have been so
Proud. As I am of him. He understands that you couldn’t be there
because your work takes you away a lot.
Molly is doing great. She’s just got here first tooth...”

Placing the letter back in the suit case he looked at the photos. They were of Luke when he was in one peace and what must have been his wife and two children. Luke was on the way home to see his family. A man like that had a family, with that stupid grin. Strange that he will never see his children grow up.


3. A BLUE DRAGONFLY

He could see a shadow of a man standing guard behind the door to the blue carriage. The curtains were drawn but the light from within cast a large shadow on the window. The first guard would be easy to take care of but where was the second. He would be at the rear of the carriage guarding the far door. Any rich mans carriage would be open, no internal walls or cabins. Sneaking low onto the platform between the two carriages He took aim with his silenced Berretta at the shadow. His other hand on the door handle ready to break in. The bullet left the gun with a whisper shattering a hole in the glass followed by a thud of the guard’s boy hitting the floor. With snake like speed he snapped through the door and fired a second shot. The guard at the rear of the carriage collapsed to his knees before falling on his face. The bullet struck him in the eye tearing its way through his soft brain blowing the back of his head over the back wall. The first guard was gasping for air; the bullet had entered his lung from the rear. He was not a cruel man and this guard was only doing his job. His third bullet he placed in the first guards head. Another pool of blood quickly flowed over the floor. A better death than suffocating.

Sitting calmly in his blue leather chair sipping a glass of what smelled like bourbon, The Dragonfly awaited his fate. He slowly walked over to the Man in Blue and raised his Berretta so The Dragonfly could see his death down the barrel. “Don’t you want to know why you were hired to kill me?” He paused. Why had he paused? He didn’t care why people hired him to kill others, yet there was a curiosity about this man he couldn’t shake now he had him so close to death. He took a step back and lowered his instrument. The Dragonfly continued to sip at his bourbon. “I am not a bad man.” Was this what he had taken the time to hear, a typical plea for life. He should just shoot the Man in Blue, collect his cheque and go home, but still he felt the desire to listen. “In my heart there is only peace but to obtain peace one must sometimes perform certain acts that others don’t always approve.” What was this ridiculous man caring on about? “I know certain truths about people in this city and of the city her self.” Truths? The truth about Back Ally was that it was run by the Mob. The police had lost control and stayed in Paradise Hills with the wealthy. The rest of Back Ally was run by Gangs, murderers, rapist, whores and thieves. People would say that when you died you only came back to Back Ally because this was hell. What possible truths could this man in blue have? “This city was not always like this. There was a time when it flourished. Parks, decent people it was a beautiful town. There is a small group of use taking steps to bring those days around again.” Cleanup Back Ally. Perhaps that was why he stood and listened to the Dragonfly. For a brief moment hope filled him with the ideal of a clean Back Ally. He raised his Berretta and pulled the trigger. He would never know the exact truths of what The Man in Blue was talking about nor would he see or feel what it would be like to live a clean and beautiful city. Time was wasting and he had a cheque to collect.