Specter's Gamble - 6. Chapter 6

Gabriel came back three or four hours later, and Desmond just hemmed when he saw a hefty-size bag on his shoulder. He didn’t say anything and kept watching the guy whose facial expression could not possibly get any gloomier.

“Wanna play cards?” he asked finally, and Gabriel looked up, startled.

“Sure,” he said slowly.

They sat at the table, and Desmond noticed that Gabriel kept that bag of his close to him, within reach. They played for a while, and then after an hour or so, Gabriel said:

“Raise you forty,” and his hand immediately tugged on the strand of his hair.

Desmond just rolled his eyes. How stupid does he think he is, really?

“Fold,” he said shortly and threw his cards on the table. He only had a two-pair anyway.

Gabriel glanced at him. The assassin shrugged.

“You are not the type to forget things,” he said with a sigh. “You were perfectly aware of the fact that you were pulling on your hair. I am not that dumb, you know.”

“I was hoping you’d think that,” Gabriel grinned and opened his cards to him.

“Son of a...” Desmond said slowly when he saw nothing but a pair of tenths. Gabriel laughed softly.

“Yeah,” he nodded, swiping the decent size pile of bills off the table. “I figured that you’d think I was luring you into a trap...”

“Dammit!” Desmond said loudly, but he couldn’t keep himself from grinning.

“Was risky but I was willing to try it,” Gabriel said.

Desmond lit a cigarette.

“What do the Salamanders have to do with this whole thing?” he asked suddenly, and Gabriel just stared at him. Finally, he sighed and absent-mindedly shuffled the cards.

“It’s a long story,” he said slowly.

“I have time,” Desmond said melancholically. “Until the end of the bloody month.”

Gabriel smiled weakly at that.

“When you were asking what LeVoughn had on me...” he glanced at Desmond whose face was serious. “Ah, crap... I guess I’d better start in the beginning...”

“That works,” Desmond nodded solemnly.

“Four years ago...” Gabriel said slowly. “...I’ve met this girl... Sheila, that was her name...”

Desmond’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

“I know it sounds ridiculous, but it was goddamn love at first sight,” Gabriel’s mouth twisted in a bitter smile. “One thing led to another...” he shrugged. “Before I knew it, I told her that I wanted her to be my mate...” he closed his eyes. “She said yes, everything was great... The problem, however, was her family...”

Desmond blinked.

“Hold on,” he said slowly. “Sheila... Salamander?!”

Gabriel glanced at him again.

“Yeah,” he said, and Desmond shook his head.

“Hold on,” he said again, a thoughtful frown crossing his forehead. “She died in some bizarre accident, didn’t she? I remember reading about it in the papers...”

“She died,” Gabriel said softly. “Not in an accident though. See, the Salamanders family and my family...” he tugged on his hair again, this time completely unaware of it. “They had a hell of a falling out. I don’t know why -- the whole thing happened a long time ago... Apparently, they hated each other for generations. Sheila didn’t give a crap about that, and neither did I... Her father, however, felt quite the opposite.”

The picture started slowly to contour itself in Desmond’s mind.

“So after he told her to stop seeing me, she told him that he could go to hell for all she cared,” Gabriel continued. “He was not the type of a man to take that sort of talk, not even from his own daughter... So, soon after that...” he tugged on his hair again, almost desperately this time. “He threw her down the well... A dried-up well,” he added in a softer voice. “I don’t know if she died instantly or if it was because of shock or maybe, because of blood loss...” he shrugged. “After that happened, the only thing I wanted to do was to kill that son of a bitch...” he glanced at Desmond again. “The reason I am telling you all this is because...”

“You hired me to kill him,” Desmond said calmly. The picture was bright and clear now, all puzzle pieces falling into the right places.

“Yeah,” Gabriel nodded. “I knew that there was no way in hell I would ever be able to get that close to him... I would sell my soul to be able to strangle that bastard myself, but I knew I couldn’t. Therefore, I hired one of the best assassins this world has known... Specter... You,” he glanced at the assassin again.

“That’s LeVoughn’s card, isn’t it?” Desmond asked as calmly as before. “He knows that you are the one who hired me.”

“Yup,” Gabriel nodded melancholically.

“How?” Desmond narrowed his eyes. “I was trying to figure out who you were, but even I failed. How in the bloody hell the dumbshit politician was able to figure it out?”

“He worked as an accountant before he switched to politics,” Gabriel said with an eerie smile. “For my family. Therefore, he knew about the money transfer...”

“Your family...” Desmond repeated thoughtfully. “The Salamanders and your family had a hell of a falling out generations ago...” Suddenly, he frowned even deeper and looked at Gabriel with stricken eyes. “You are...”

Gabriel nodded.

“Yeah,” he said. “My last name is Rayhe.”

Desmond stared at him without blinking.

“You are bloody royalty!” he said finally, and Gabriel snorted.

“That was a very long time ago, and I am not royalty,” he said. “I am a dinosaur, that’s what I am... The last one left. I felt obligated to tell you,” he sighed. “Because apparently, the Salamanders know about the fact that I have you here. LeVoughn is not the type to keep useful information like that to himself alone. He told them...” he twisted his mouth. “Of course, they immediately informed him that they prefer seeing you dead rather than alive.”

Desmond cocked his head to the left.

“Why wouldn’t you kill me?” he asked with genuine interest. “I mean, with the amount of blood that I have on my hands, you’d be doing the world a favor.”

“Because I am not going to kill the man who sent that son of a bitch to hell,” Gabriel said in a low voice.

“That’s how LeVoughn was jerking your chain,” Desmond hemmed. “If you keep me alive, he’ll sell you to the Salamanders. They would be ecstatic to get both of us.”

Gabriel didn’t say anything to that. Suddenly, Desmond laughed. At first, it was just a small laughter, more of a giggle, really. Disbelieving and astonished. “Oh-Hell-No!” sort of laughter. Gabriel frowned and looked at him.

“What?” he asked.

Desmond started to laugh harder. Gabriel waited patiently. Finally, the assassin was able to calm himself down, and wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt.

“Oh my God, do I feel stupid now!” he said with feeling.

“Why?”

Desmond looked at him.

“This whole time, I was trying to figure out how in hell was LeVoughn-Senior able to find out that someone placed a hit on his kid,” he said. “It was bugging the hell out of me...”

“He has his ways?” Gabriel offered, and Desmond almost started to laugh again. He restrained himself.

“He has his ways, all right,” he nodded. “There was no hit!” he said with great energy. “This whole thing is a glorious set-up! Don’t you see? He makes a fake deal with me, and I never checked it out thoroughly because I never accepted it completely. Then he gets you to ‘keep him away from my baby until the end of the month,’ you fall for it, of course... And now, he has a fantastic shot at being favored by the Salamanders, because if they find out...” he started laughing again, and this time he didn’t bother restraining himself.

“Sam is his only son,” Gabriel said quietly. “He would risk his life to get on the good side of the Salamanders?” he asked mostly himself.

“Right now, you are probably thinking how come he didn’t get this idea sooner?” Desmond asked him in a shaky from laughter voice.

“He probably did,” Gabriel muttered. “He didn’t want to risk it before, not until now.”

Desmond finally stopped laughing completely.

“Why now?” he asked in a somewhat normal voice. Gabriel smirked.

“Because the balance of power has shifted,” he said with a strange glint in his eyes. “Reagan is the strongest one right now. No better time than today.”

An understanding flashed in Desmond’s eyes.

“That’s right,” he said slowly. “The Salamanders are related to her, aren’t they?”

“They are not related,” Gabriel blindly stared outside. “She is the twins’ Godmother.”

“Ah, yes,” Desmond muttered. “The twins, I almost forgot about those two... Of course, LeVoughn didn’t want to do anything risky while Claudia was still on top... Cowardly piece of shit...”

“Now, with Reagan at her strongest, the Salamanders get even more power,” Gabriel said evenly. “If he is on their good side, he’s golden.”

“Not if I get to say anything about that,” Desmond murmured. “I accept that deal.”

Gabriel blinked and looked at him, frowning.

“What deal?”

“The kid,” Desmond said with a serene look in his eyes. “The deal was for me to waste the kid. Fake or not, but I am going to do it.”

“No!” Gabriel got up. “Not him! Not Sam...”

“Why do you care?” Desmond frowned. “The bastard deserves it!”

“The father, yes, but not the kid...” Gabriel sighed. “Look, I know that kid, all right? I’ve known him since he was a toddler... He practically grew up in front of me... I’m not gonna let you kill him.”

“I remember you saying that whatever happened after the month was over was none of your concern,” Desmond said calmly.

“That’s because I figured he’d be safe,” Gabriel nodded furiously. “Look, Specter, I am not going to let you kill him, all right?”

“And you are going to stop me how, exactly?” Desmond narrowed his eyes. “You have to take the spell down, the sooner the better, too. You don’t really have a choice now, Rayhe...” Gabriel flinched at the use of his last name but didn’t say anything. “I am not going to be even a bit surprised if Salamanders show up on your doorstep within the next couple of hours... After you told LeVoughn to go lick their boots, you pretty much gave him the permission to turn you in. Now, I don’t know about you, but I hate being played. And I hate being used even more. Maybe you don’t give a flying jack about either, kudos to you then! Take off the goddamn spell so I can finally leave this shithole. And after I leave, you can go ahead, sit on your ass, and wait for the Salamanders to show. I guess you are suicidal after all.”

“I am not going to let you kill him,” Gabriel said in a low, dangerous voice. “I am not letting you out of my sight until I am positive you won’t harm him. If you want to slice and dice LeVoughn-Senior, be my guest! Hell, I might even join in! But not Sam.”

“All right,” Desmond agreed immediately. “I am not going to kill the kid. I promise.”

Gabriel just sighed at that.

“If I actually believed you right now, you’d be disappointed, wouldn’t you?”

Desmond laughed out loud even though he started to feeling quite enraged.

“I would be,” he admitted.

“Listen...” Gabriel rubbed his forehead with his palm, as if trying to get rid of a headache. “I am going to...”

He never finished that sentence, because suddenly, there was some weird humming noise coming from behind the front door. It was very soft, almost like a sudden breath of wind, but both, Desmond and Gabriel, knew that it wasn’t the case.