Night Games Pt. 19

"Buffett does a pretty good cover of 'Lawyers, Guns, and Money.'" Helen mused.

"Speaking of Warren Zevon, did you know I was at one of the concerts at the Roxy where he recorded 'Stand in The Fire?' I couldn't tell you which songs were from the show I caught, but I'm cheering somewhere in the background there."

"Are you lying to me?" Helen asked excitedly. "I AM talking to a great conman who likely did his research on me before coming to my country. And I respect my elders, however, I won't hesitate to do The Thing to get the truth out of you on a claim like that."

Oscar's answer was to whistle the intro of "Excitable Boy." Helen caught it on the second note and joined in. Helen took a drink, made a fist, and pounded the table, then stood up.

"Tell you what, Oscar. After that, I don't care if it's a con. YOU, sir, are free to go!"

He looked at the door, then turned back to her.

"It's a great offer, Helena. But I can't take it if it's not there for Tracy and the others."

"Are you sure?" She asked. "This isn't a Prisoner's Dilemma deal. Interpol's already here by now, the Supervisor of the local office has probably been listening this whole time. He does his job, but he's real person, not a cop. I'm sure if I ask nicely, he'll agree to give you a head start." She looked at the expression on his face and got serious again. "Ok, yes. Yes, I can see that you are. All right, then, Oscar. You can join the others in the mess hall. Tracy will be along shortly. We had a talk about my penchant for menacing and making her wait to find out what happened to you all has gotten the last of it out of my system. We'll all talk again there."

Helen grabbed the ash tray and they left for the mess hall. Two Ultimados followed them. The other two went to bring Tracy to them.

After a few moments, everyone who'd been watching and listening went to join the proceedings.

* * *

Tracy Baker was led out of the cell and to the mess hall. The sounds of a kitchen getting ready to serve lunch could be heard from nearby. MPs stood at all the exits to the room. She saw most of her people there, as well as the new faces she'd encountered last night before a bag was put over her head and she was brought here. Helen was speaking to her friends as she approached.

"Thanks for looking out for them." Helen was telling her friends. "And me. Now, if you don't mind, this next part of things is for criminals only."

Troy, Julie, Susan, and Luc looked over at Mander, who would obviously be included in Helen's statement. They told Helen they'd meet her back at the castle and left. She then turned to see Tracy approaching and went to the table where everyone except Morris and Gordon were seated. Helen sat down and motioned for Tracy to sit as well. A tray of food was waiting for her.

"Hi, Tracy." Helen said. "Morris has gone to the infirmary to see Gordon. He'll be on crutches and have a couple casts when you see him, but the doctors say he'll recover. The others have already had lunch. Here's yours."

"Thank you, Helena." Tracy said, sitting down graciously. "You dismissed your friends and Interpol. That's worrisome."

"It shouldn't be." Helen countered. "I had some things I wanted to say to all of you. One of you can tell the other two when we're done."

Helen took her ashtray to the head of the table. She lit a cigarette and laid her palms on the table, leaning forward and looking at the assembled group.

"I feel I should explain something first." She turned to Tracy. "What you saw last night was a special case. Those things in my dungeons that were once men came at me through my family. They killed people and kidnapped my great-granddaughter to get to me. So, I took their minds away. I took every memory they had of a time when they weren't being tortured night and day. They don't even get to know what they did to deserve their fate. And my picture is everywhere so that they never forget the one thing I want them to know. That the only 'why' to their suffering is 'I wish it.'"

Helen let the room consider that a moment before continuing.

"But you haven't crossed that line. You've crossed a few. You tried to hit me in the home where my babies sleep. And you hurt their father, but Gordon's paid for that. But you haven't seriously hurt anyone else. The President's guards have recovered. The two cops, well, were cops, and they'll be fine. So, what to do with you. You're all guilty, we know that. So, do I throw you into Baglio Roncolare? If so, which part? There's the wing of the Baglio where we send people to be rehabilitated and then there's the wing where we keep the people who need to be kept. And do you know how much I have to dislike you personally to get sent to prison in MY country? Apart from the 'where my children play with their toys' thing, you haven't even done that. If there's someone who's pissed me off in all this, it's Johannes Pretorius. We're going to get him, it's just a question of how."

"And what can we do about that, Helena?" Tracy asked. "I gave you everything on the meet on the way to the castle. When his plane lands, your Ultimados will be waiting to nab him."

"And once we've got him, yes, I can find something to charge him with. But for what I've got in mind for him, some of that theatrical stuff is called for. Therefore, I'm going to put off your sentencing and give you the opportunity to help me take him down."

"Can't you just take control of him?" Alice asked. "Then you can do whatever you want to him."

"That's true. But it won't be as fun. Oh, and my way, you'll still get paid. Interested?"

Everyone in the group looked at each other. Tracy then looked to Helen.

"What do we have to do?"