X Element

Risky Steps

Danny had spent about three minutes sitting by himself, feeling absolutely stupid when he began to get the sense that he was being watched. It wasn't a powerful feeling but it was enough. Danny never did have an eye for crowds. Danny saw a blonde middle aged woman laughing at a joke her husband told. The jewels on her neck were worth enough to make Danny guess that that joke didn't have to be funny. The man was balding and dark haired. And even though he looked well above sixty, he laughed like he had all the time in the world. There was something familiar about him. Like Danny knew him. No. Maybe he didn't know him, but he'd seen someone that looked like him. Then it hit Danny like a derailed train.

'The Auction'!. He almost blurted out. Then he took his leave before it got awkward.

Back at his car, he took out his laptop and immediately accessed the SP&Y database. He used a password he had stolen from a high level officer by making it look like he was gone when in reality, Danny was standing right behind him.

He looked up their employments records but after about six minutes of typing and scrolling and he still hadn't found what he was looking for, he decided to try something else. What he had in mind was a long shot, but being desperate meant that he could go to almost any length. Danny looked up their termination records, after two minutes, he found what he was looking for. Spencer Orthy's files were right in front of him. The company employee he had tried to hire to clear his own company's records. A move that got good ol Spence fired. No remorse though, the man knew the risks.

Danny read Spencers address, did some quick mental calculations and turned on his engines.

He drove for about fifteen minutes before he got to the address. The address was nothing special. But, then again, what did he expect. Spencer wasn't exactly earn in top dollar. And that was when he was employed.

Danny made his way up the building look I for apartment D17 where Spencer was supposed to be living according to his details.

He knocked on the door, at first there was no reply. He knocked again, this time he heard footsteps.

"Coming".

Spencer opened the door slightly letting only an eye come into view. Danny could smell something, he wasn't sure what it was, but if he were to give despair a scent, this would come to mind.

Spencer simply said "No" and slammed the door shut.

'Well, things could've been worse'.

Danny knocked again, this time he didn't stop until Spencer came back.

"I'm not helping you, I'm not listening to you, I don't want to hear a word you have to say, if you've come to apologize, you can stick it right up your....

"Luckily for me, I'm not here to apologize. I'm here with a proposition".

"You and your proposition can go to...."

"Jesus Spence, aren't you even gonna hear me out?"

"I don't have to hear a thing you have to say"

"Does a thousand dollars say otherwise?".

There was a pause. "Make it a thousand, five hundred"

Danny grinned "Done".

Spencer unlocked the door and let Danny in. 'Yes, definitely, that smell is despair'.

"Just to be clear, all I have to do is listen to you". Spencer folded his hands. "I don't have to do anything after that. So, let's hear it."

Danny went right into it. "How'd you like to get back at the jackasses at SP&Y who fired you".

Spencer raised an eyebrow in interest, but he wasn't convinced. "And supposing I was dumb enough to involve myself with you again in your next scheme....what would you have in mind"

"Simple enough. Got a little something in mind. Personal vendetta and all. Anyway for that I'll need information of a ah sensitive sort. And for that I'll need your help." Danny had to look Spencer in the eye for this next part. "Access the SP&Y mainframe and get everything that they have on these people". Danny offered a piece of paper that had some names and monikers scribbled on it. The names of the people Danny had only began to start remembering after his head had cleared a little. Some of the people at that auction where people he had heard of, some he had even met, spoken to. To be honest, he was feeling a tad excited and scared at the same time. These were people whom he believed, to an extent that he knew. Now he was about to find out just how wrong he was.

The pair stood, staring at each other for a long moment till Spencer eventually conceded.

"Okay, no. This is nuts."

"Its as simple as it gets." Danny replied. "You do a little something for me and you also get something out of it, easy as pie."

"Oh, no, I don't think you quite understand the kind of people you're deal in with here. I mean, I wake up sometimes expecting a gun barrel to be the first thing I see."

"Scary people, I get it."

"Not just scary people. Powerful, scary people. I've seen mayors, senators, judges damn decorated generals in some of their files. I go poking around and they'll come for me."

"You're not gonna be fishing through anyone so exciting. Just your average millionaire and philanthropist here and there. I just need to have them red handed with their hands inside the cookie jar. Look just do this". Danny pressed the piece of paper into Spencer's hand. He looked at it, eyed Danny then nodded. "I'll think about it. But no promises. And I want my payment in casa".

"Done". Danny couldn't help but grin.

On his way back down, he allowed himself to enjoy a moment of reprieve. He wasn't out of the woods yet. But whereas before he'd been clawing his way through with his bare hands, now he had a machete. That's when the woods decided to pull a little trick of it's own.

He didn't see the men coming, he didn't hear them. They had been waiting silently for their gullible prey who couldn't have been any more ignorant. The first thug did the most damage. He came from the shadows and drove a crowbar into Danny's ribcage. Something cracked. There was no warning, no preamble, no threats, no introduction. No chance to even let out a creamy for help or even gasp in surprise. Before he knew it, he was surrounded. Then another strike to the back of his neck. The pain was blinding, filling Danny's vision with red dots. The others came down on him fast. Four?, five?, maybe more, he couldn't tell, too busy trying to protect the most Important parts of his anatomy from the barrage he was receiving. He tried desperately to think. No, no time for that, these guys weren't here for a debate. This was a time for action. He screamed as he drove his psyche into their minds like hot nails through ice. This was not a well formed delicately carved illusion that was pulled over the the victim's eyes like wool. This was him forcefully slamming every fearful thought and image and sound that he could conjure from his own speeding mind, in that moment into theirs with more prejudice than a sleepy cat on a noisy mouse and more relentless than the ads of a pirated movies collection site. The result would've been comical to watch; all the men froze at the same instant, then a moment later they were all scampering away shouting different things from 's**t, cops!' to 'what the hell!' and 'how'd that get here!'.

The quiet was deafening, and everything ached. Danny tried to get up, then regretted it. 'Fine then, no getting up