The Demise of Foxy Jack (Adventures of the X Pirates Book 1) (6 page)

The Linguist did all the talking and had a mental portfolio of fellow bunko artists to pick from that consisted of the finest scammers ever known. The Chief had grand ideas and con game tricks honed over decades as an independent grifter that drove the Organization’s philosophy of the true con artist helping the world by revealing its vices and weaknesses. In reality the Organization was taking what they wanted from whomever they needed to take it from.

Once the mark had been chosen and the bamboozle designed, the selected team, known as Associates, would meet at the Gaffle Canine Track and Field Stadium. While the competitors ran their heats and final races, associates would come and go, appearing to gamble on the outcomes just like any other visitor to the dog races. While there, the criminal cohorts would actually be receiving their meticulous timetables, character assignments, and carefully written scripts.

The con game was theatre in a different light, without a static stage, without a net, and with a very specific audience of one as its focus. The cons and their tricks were used to exploit characteristics of a creature’s innate nature. These natures all fell within the character archetypes that Archie had studied for his craft. Theatre and the con game seemed at times to be one and the same. Both were productions with rehearsals and written plays and openings, but the con game was dangerous and exacted a price. For the Chief and the Linguist this was their craft and its morality revolved around the belief that choices are neither good nor bad, they are only actions taken.

Archie as the Actor participated in several confidence schemes. He took to the work quickly and with a smooth expertise. He played every part offered to him and did all the foundation work for each con he was involved in. He began with the short cons that targeted suckers for whatever they had on them, or available in the bank. When he became trusted he took part in the long cons that took days, weeks, and in some cases months before they reached the big pay off.

The latest long con that was about to play out was a medical one. A small plague of sorts was coming to the city of Champagne. Its wealthy residents were about to be sold a cure in advance of the madness and death to come. Everyone in this city of affluence and abundance was wealthy. Even the servants to the rich had wealth. The payoff was enormous, but the Organization would take the residents for a relatively small percentage of their overall wealth. Archie was no longer interested in the life of a grifter and was growing tired of the excuses he was being given for thieving.

Most of the crew was already starting to take on their roles as physicians from the Crown with a warning. The rest would be arriving shortly with a solution and a price. The con was so large that shills were required. Accomplices would have to be brought in to play plague survivors with nothing but truth and positivity for the event and the cure in order to manipulate the target. In this case the mark was Count Emile de Champagne.

Archie had done the foundation work he was famous for on Champagne and all its residents. The city itself rose up from nowhere. Located not far from the capital of Largess on what was considered to be a massive tract of untamable swampland architect, Emile de Champagne began to build his city. This gifted and bold fox wanted to create a place that would be a modern sister city to the old world design of Largess. He wanted to build a bright shining capital for a new and growing Empire.

Emile proceeded with the blessings of the Crown and Champagne began to grow. So beautiful and dramatic were his designs of glass and steel that a who’s who of creatures vied to become residents. The demand became so great that prices surged and Champagne began to become occupied by only those who could afford its allure. Construction and expansion became the city’s economic sustenance and Champagne continued to grow and gain wealth.

The Royal House of Catamount was impressed, and Queen Anastasia conferred upon Emile the honorary title of Count for special services rendered to the Crown and the Empire. A widowed father who never remarried, he asked that the title of Countess be given to his only child. The Countess Aimee de Champagne was considered to be the most beautiful creature in all of Champagne and Archie fell in love with her the moment they first met. And she fell in love with him.

In order for the con to work the Count had to believe his city was in danger, that the Crown was offering its assistance, and that money was part of the solution. The Actor took on the lead role of Anthony Christopher, the Medical Adviser to the Queen. He was young for the part, but the script characterized him as young and daring, with new ideas. Traits that Count Emile would understand and gravitate towards. The Actor was also to be flirtatious and even seduce the Count’s daughter if necessary in order to win the charms of the family.

Anthony and Aimee spent a great deal of time together. She was proud of her father’s accomplishments and the city he built. She enjoyed touring Anthony through the vast city and he in turn relished every moment spent with her. Their flirtation began subtly but quickly. They shared many of the same interests and a rousing sense of humor. The laughter and the attraction was difficult for either one to resist.

The Actor as Anthony was welcomed into the family de Champagne. It felt good for the fox to be in a family of foxes. He began to remember how much he had given up to live a unique life. As he shared talks and meals and gatherings with them, his heart grew heavy. The fox enjoyed being with them but as they drew him closer, he began to feel more separate and apart. Even among his own kind he still didn’t feel as if he fit in.

Then came the night Aimee and Anthony spoke of love. It couldn’t be helped. It was a force between them. They admitted their feelings for one another. They admitted to an ache and a longing when they were apart. They had become each other’s beloved companions. They kissed for the first time. It was a small sweet and gentle meeting of their lips, but the wave of loving energy that passed between them made it remarkable. They both parted that night of one mind for the present but with separate thoughts for the future.

Archie thought the Countess deserved so much better than a vagabond fox with no hopes and no future but a life of lies and deception. She would never understand or forgive his past. She would never be able to see past that and into a future for them both. A masquerade ball was to be held to celebrate the arrival of the cure in advance of the plague. It would also provide the large distraction needed to get every associate of the Organization out of Champagne cleanly. The Actor would take advantage of the moment to right many wrongs.

Archie had worn many masks, but he had never crafted one himself. He needed the perfect mask to match the perfect performance. He needed to create a cover that would hide love and fool a dear heart. The acting would have to be flawless in order to mask his true feelings for the one he loved. The loved one he would deceive to set her free. The performance would have to be duplicitous. The performance would have to be a lie.

Upon her arrival at the ball, and before entering the Champagne Pavilion of Dreams where it was to be had, the Countess was met by a physician wearing a plague mask. She would remember two things from the encounter. The first being how much the mask made the doctor look like a crow and the other was the terrible news he brought with him.

The doctor was there to inform her that Anthony Christopher had succumbed to symptoms of the plaque. He had died just hours ago. The doctor assured the Countess that she was in no danger now that the cure had arrived. He continued to reassure her, but Aimee was gazing at the doctor longingly. 

Did you think you could hide from me behind a mask?

She suddenly asked.

There’s a look in your eyes that your heart can’t disguise.

The fox was speechless.

Do you think I want to lose you?

No.

Do you want to lose me?

Never.

Aimee removed the Actors mask.

Investing in my heart is a foolish endeavor.

Archie explained.

One in which I am willing to invest with all my heart.

She implored.

I wish I could tell you that this is where they kissed and all was made whole again. With all my heart I wish I could tell you that was what happened. But it never did. As your storyteller I wish that I could tell you that I hadn’t fooled her completely. But that wouldn’t be true.

Matters of the heart are complicated affairs. They can scratch and bite and tear at one’s soul. But they can also be glorious and liberating and life affirming. Love won or lost is love still had, and that stays with a being until the day they die. Everything in Archie’s life would change and be transformed with this affair of the heart but one thing would remain a constant. Archie would always love Aimee, but she would never be his again.

When great love is denied something dies in the male of a species and that makes them ache for escape and so the fox left it all behind once more. On the same night that Benjamin Nightthorn’s family was murdered under the big top, the Actor was escaping under the cover of dark. It was time for him to travel now, not to the new world, but across the Empire.

With his plan in place the fox left Champagne and began his long walk. He had traveled a few miles when he found himself standing at another crossroads but this time he was not alone. He had spotted two figures standing there from some ways back. They hadn’t moved as Archie continued moved closer. They seemed just as determined to wait for the fox as he was to get away from them.

Then there they all stood.

Look who it is, boss.

The owl said with feigned surprise.

I believe it’s the Actor in our employ.

The Chief growled low as he puffed his cigar.

I wonder what he’s doing all the way out here?

The owl chided.

I suspect he’s running away.

Now why would he do that?

Because love makes one do extremely foolish things.

The fox looked into the bear’s eyes and he could see the sense of betrayal and anger within them.

Fortune favors the foolish.

Archie foolishly added.

After a moment the bear began to chuckle under his breath. He then elbowed the owl jokingly as his feathered accomplice began to laugh as well. Archie laughed because at that moment he had no idea what was going to happen next, but he knew he was probably going to die.

The Chief took two large puffs of his cigar.

Here’s the problem, Actor.

He pulled it from his mouth.

You put the entire Organization at risk.

He took another two big puffs and threw the stogie to the ground.

You almost traded the harlot over the hustle.

He crushed it under his foot.

Careful Chief.

The Actor threatened.

No need to lose our manners here.

The bear nodded his silent approval.

Point taken, brother.

The point being, brother, is that I chose to leave. I did my part, I revealed nothing, and the Organization is getting its in and out without any trouble.

The bear thought and then agreed.

That’s true.

The trouble is you’re tainted now.

The Linguist added.

The Chief spit towards the woods.

That’s true too.

The bear said as the owl threw an empty sack on the road between them.

What’s that?

The fox asked.

It’s for your body.

The owl snickered.

The real trouble is that you can never be trusted again and you know too much to let you just wander off.

The fox heard something in the woods.

I see your dilemma.

Archie said as the bear pulled at the top of his cane and withdrew a sword from its deceptive sheath.

You’ll understand if I don’t cooperate.

Archie said as the owl pulled a knife from inside his vest pocket. He clicked it open with a quick flick of the wrist.

We had no illusions to the contrary.

The owl giggled.

We seem to be finishing the way we began.

The bear joked to his owl friend.

In the blink of an eye two raccoons jumped out of the woods and fell upon Archie. The fox struggled but they managed to get him to his feet. The bear lunged at the fox with his sword leading the way. Years of stage combat training made the fox turn hard to his left. The raccoon then took the Chief’s sword in his side to the hilt.

The bear withdrew the blade and took a step back as the pierced bandit fell dead to the ground. Archie saw the owl pull his arm back and throw his knife. The fox then turned hard to the right allowing the raccoon left standing to take the flying knife directly in his chest. As the raccoon fell, the fox pulled the knife from the dying bandit’s wound. He turned in time to find the bear directly in front of him. The fox blocked and avoided the sword with his arm and a turn. As he spun back, he drove the knife deep into the bear’s throat.

The Chief dropped the sword as he grabbed at his  spewing neck. He fell to his knees and let loose a blood gurgling scream. Archie calmly picked up the sword. He could see the owl was turning to run. As he ran the fox took aim and flung the sword after him. It tumbled, end over end in the air, until it hit its mark. The sword entered the Owl’s back and severed his spinal cord. The Linguist was crippled and dead before he hit the ground.

Four dead bodies now lay in the crossroads. The fox was still standing. Archie really hadn’t had time to think. He just did what he had to do to survive. There was nothing left for him now. He pulled the sword from the owl’s back, returned it to its clever cover, and decided to take it with him. He extricated the knife from the bear’s throat, clicked it closed, and put it in his pocket. The last thing he retrieved was the sack. Still in shock, the deadly fox chose none of the four directions at the crossroads for himself. Instead he decided to blaze his own trail through the woods.