Short Story: The Lady in Black

I have always dreaded writing. This sentence will probably come out as a shock to everybody who knows me because most people know me as being an obsessed writer. But I can tell you that writing is similar to torture. Then why do you do it, someone will ask.

You see, the reason I actually want to write is not because I take pleasure in struggling to string words together so that people I have never met before would be willing to read it. It's because I enjoy watching the story unfold. Believe me, any writer will tell you that the greatest frustration of all time is having a fantastic idea in your head but not out in a piece of paper. You have to get that idea out into a sheet of paper(paper? oh, did you mean a Google Doc?)and sit and commit to it. That is where most people give up. Endless revisions and countless of thinking and prodding to write down your thoughts on paper. That is the backstage scene of writing. And that is why I sit and do it.

Recently, I have started on a writing project which I am hoping to publish soon. I have made great headway into this project and I was thinking about sharing a piece of my(really)rough draft in here. In my account, it is simply titled "Prelude 2" but I decided to name this piece "The Lady in Black", mostly because the latter makes it sound much cooler. Please do not judge my grammar and English skills, this is a piece I wrote in a frenzy when the idea just popped into my head. It's supposed to be a prelude to this story I'm writing, so some things might not make sense. But I hope you like it and enjoy my really really really rough draft! (Did I mention that this is a rough draft?) 

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Fort McAllister Historic State Park, Georgia

July 3rd,1982

The night was as dark as the hood of a lady darting behind the shadows of Fort McAllister. Everything was quiet since the park was in its after hours and was closed to the public. A group of people had put up a table on the picnic area, discussing and putting up last minute Fourth of July decorations. A portly looking man, probably the head of the committee, was talking to another man, shooting occasional orders at the people around him.

The lady hid behind a large tree and watched as the group was trying to decide who would dress up as Uncle Sam for the festivities tomorrow.

“I think ol’ Riley would be swell for the part!”, a burly old man said with an accent. ” We could save money on the costume!”

A man with a long white beard fearfully shook his head, “No can do, McMurdo. I ain’t got the guts to be out in front of all those folks out yonder.”

McMurdo laughed an earthshaking laugh and pointed at another man.

“How about ol’ Bernie here?”, he asked, emptying a bottle of water,” He’s been in the Army, haven’t you Bernie? Fought right through World War II, oh yessir he did!”

Bernie was a frail looking man who gave no indication of having been in the army.

“No sir, I don’t want anything that has to do with the army again!”, he said, pointing at another man who was hunched into the corner.

“Let Mordecai do it. Young chap’s the new one. Let it be some ol’ sort of initiation into the committee.”

Mordecai seemed to be the quietest and youngest one of the group. He looked around twenty and had an attractive face - blue eyes and a chiseled jaw and tufts of brown hair.

The lady behind the tree took out a pair of field glasses from inside her cloak and studied each person in the group. She shifted from McMurdo to Bernie to Riley and then came Fred and Paul and John when at last she reached Mordecai and she studied him for a minute.

Meanwhile, Mordecai was jovially rejecting McMurdo’s offer of being Uncle Sam when he suddenly rose to go.

“Where’re you off to, young Mordecai?”, Paul asked.

“I need to go take a bathroom break. I’m guessing this park has a bathroom somewhere…?”, he asked, scanning the terrain.

Bernie chuckled, “Down yonder. You sure you don’t need someone to come with you, young chap? What if that Katie Bronx is out here somewhere, eh?”

“Bronx? In Georgia?”, McMurdo snorted, ” Yeah, I’ll bet that she is safely in Canada by now. Though, it wouldn’t be a curse if you saw her out here.”, McMurdo said, winking, ” What a waste of a pretty girl!”

Mordecai sat down again, forgetting his bathroom break.

“So, she escaped from the Chicago police force?”

McMurdo snorted again.

“Have you been living in this world, Mr. Mordecai Truman?”, he asked, taking another swing from his wine glass.” Bronx was a gangster genius! Why, I remember when she first got her name way up in Chicago in the 60’s. Why, she gave those Chicago gangsters a run for their money! That lunatic of a girl killed her own mother! Who can do that?”

“And then, she got caught by the Chicago Police Department but you can guess what happened then. She escaped and no one has heard from her for the past two years! They’re doing a countrywide search now. She’s a dangerous woman, oh yessir she is!”

“Though there are some theories that she let the police catch her which is what seems sensible.”, Bernie interrupted.” She escaped the police for twenty whole years! Surely she let them do that!”

Mordecai seemed to be interested in Katie Bronx but nobody said anything more so he got up to go.

The hidden lady saw Mordecai get up and she quickly hastened to change her hiding spot but then she saw him walking towards her and stopped in her tracks. It couldn’t be…

“Hello, Miss Bronx?”, Mordecai called out softly towards her direction.

Katie stood where she was, she wanted to make sure this wasn’t a hoax.

“Miss Bronx?”, Mordecai called out again.” We need to get out of here. You're too close to civilization.”

Katie still stayed put.

Mordecai sighed. “Quem mundus non*... ”

Katie finally emerged from the shadows and got a good look of Mordecai.

“Potest solvi puzzle*.”, she finished.

Mordecai gave her a small smile.

“I’m Mordecai. Mordecai Truman.”

“Where do you have in mind?”, she asked, nodding. Her voice was bold and full of purpose.

“Follow me.”, Mordecai said, and started jogging quietly in the direction of the fort. Katie copied his example and both of them made their way to the place where the majestic fort stood.

“Won’t there be guards posted inside?”, Katie asked Mordecai as they made their way to a boulder to examine the terrain.

“I wouldn’t worry about that.”, Mordecai said with a small smile, ” Do you have those tasers you stole from Officer Gregory back in Chicago?”

“How did you…?”

“No time for questions, Miss Bronx.”

“Yeah, I have it here.”

“May I borrow it?”

Katie looked at him. He looked young.

“Depends. How old are you?”

Mordecai gave a small snort and rolled his eyes.

“Today is my nineteenth birthday.”

Katie gave him a mischievous smile, “Well then, happy birthday.”, she said, giving him the taser.

“You're awfully nice for a gangster.”

Katie just shrugged.

“Now, I have studied the inner portion of the fort. The guards switch positions every hour. It’s almost nine now. We need to get into the west sector of the fort where the guards from the south sector move in. We’ll have approximately two minutes to make it safely inside but if anything should happen, leave that to me. Do not expose yourself.”

Katie nodded her head and they waited until they heard a small bell go ding and an old fashioned park clock chiming nine times.

Both of them swiftly made their way to the wall located on the west sector.

“It’s approximately 20m tall.”, Katie estimated. ” I should have brought a grappling hook!”

“Well, it’s a good thing you are with a PHOENIX agent.”, he said and took out a grappling hook from underneath his jacket shot it into the air. It caught on the railing with a soft clink sound on his first try.

Katie and Mordecai swiftly climbed up the rope .

“That took at least a minute and half.”, Mordecai whispered as they were about to reach the top, ” So we have about thirty seconds to run to the other end.”

“Is that possible?”, Katie asked as she joined Mordecai up at the fort.

“HALT, right there! ”, came a voice from behind.

They turned to face a group of guards all pointing their guns at them.

“No.”, Mordecai whispered.

Katie was completely covered with the cloak except for her face and she had put on a disguise to cover her tanned skin. The guards didn’t seem to recognize her at first. They were too distracted with the intruders to notice the fact that the escaped gangster was standing right in front of them!

“Put your hands up in the air now! Don’t try anything funny.”, one of the guards said. They obeyed.  

“One of ‘em is only a kid!”, one of the guards said, gesturing to Mordecai.

“I’m nineteen!”, Mordecai exclaimed exasperated.

“If you ask me, that is old enough to put the boy in jail!”, some other guard said.

“And if you ask me, that is old enough for the boy to have a taser.”, Katie commented and removed her cloak and wig to suddenly reveal herself, much to Mordecai’s disgust.

The guards recognized her immediately. She had the same short black hair, the same revolver hanging in a belt around her waist and the same smirk that occupied the WANTED section of every single newspaper in the country. Her family crest pendant hanging around her neck was a tell-tale sign that the great gangster was among them. Now that Mordecai could see all of her, he reasoned that McMurdo had been right. Katie was pretty -- in a violent sort of way. She looked about forty but she had the agility of a child.

“It’s...it’s...K...Katie Bronx!”, one of the guards stammered.

“NOW!”, Mordecai yelled and he charged at them with his taser while Katie cut through them to get inside the building. All the guards were confused as to what to do because they were all frozen in terror at the mere sight of Katie but they couldn’t let her inside the fort. Some of them fought back valiantly while others huddled into groups and alerted other guards around them. Katie didn’t use her guns on any of them but she used her fist which was enough to knock out a person for days. Mordecai and Katie cut through the crowd and started running inside.

“Where do we go?”, Katie asked, looking around the inside of the fort.

“This way, quick!”, Mordecai replied, leading her through a series of passageways until they came to a dead end.

“Mordecai!”, Katie exclaimed.

“Hold on. There’s an entrance right here!”, he said, feeling the walls.

“Mordecai, the guards are gaining!”

“It has to be somewhere here.”

“We’re toast.”

Mordecai suddenly got the brick he was looking for and slowly stuck his thumb out at it.

“Fingerprint Accepted.”, a female voice came from the brick. “Welcome, Jay.”

“Who’s Jay?”, Katie asked as the brick slowly disappeared and a tunnel opened in front of them.

“No questions right now, Miss Bronx. In you go.”, he said as they both disappeared into the tunnel and the brick wall closed behind them, leaving the poor guards dumbfounded.

~OOO~

  

“Tea?”, Mordecai asked, pouring some into a cup from a small tea kettle.

Katie held out her cup.

They were inside the secret room inside Fort McAllister while the puzzled guards were busy wondering where the duo had disappeared.

The room was sparsely furnished with a bed, a couch, a pantry with non-perishable food items, a bathroom and a kitchen counter with basic kitchen utensils.

“What is this place?”, Katie asked, looking around in wonder. Even after living the gangster life for twenty years, she had never seen a hideout this ready and exquisite.

“PHOENIX has safe places everywhere around the globe.”, Mordecai explained, pouring himself a cup of tea, “One of the safe places in Georgia is this fort. I’ve actually been living here for a week now.”

“The tea’s good.”, Katie said, sipping hers, ” but you know what can make it better? Mint leaves.”

“Beg Pardon?”

“Watch.”, Katie said, taking some leaves from her satchel and crushing them. She then dropped them into the tea.“ Mummy used to make this all the time. It’s her recipe.”

“The same 'mummy' you murdered?”

Katie didn’t reply. She just sipped her tea and stared at some distant object, her mind far away.

“Can I have some mint in my tea too?”, Mordecai asked after some time, extending his cup. Katie put some crushed mint leaves into his cup too.

“This actually tastes wonderful!”, he said, sipping his.

“Why did you ask me to see you here?”, she asked, setting down her cup.

Mordecai took a sip of his tea and finished it in a gulp.

“I need your help.”, he said, looking at her.

“And why do you think that I will help you?”

“Because you just followed me, a total stranger from some strange organization, and you trusted a completely crazy nineteen year old to break into a protected fort. I think you know why.”

Katie didn’t reply to his statement because she couldn’t come up with something to say.

“I also know that Maria Perez was a PHOENIX agent and you know that, which is why I openly talked to you about this organization and the reason you met me here.”

“How did you…”, Katie asked for the second time that day, surprised.

“Like I said, it’s my job to know things.”

Katie took a deep breath.

“What other people regard as insanity might be someone else’s only way to remain sane. What she did to Dave was… was...unforgivable! And I don’t care what others say.”

Mordecai nodded.

“What is your plan now?”

“I’m going, away from the States.”, she replied.

“Which country?”

“South America.”

“South America isn’t a country.”

Katie made a face. “It’s not like I’m going to tell you where.”

Mordecai got up and retrieved a rusty brown box. Devouring his eyes on it for the last time, he handed it to her.

“South America sounds good enough for me.”, he replied, “Will you please take care of this and guard it with your life?”

Katie tried opening it.

“What is it?”

“Something confidential. And don’t bother opening it. The key is at the other end of this world. But, just to be on the safe side…”

Katie looked down at the box.

“For my mother’s honour.”, she replied.

“So be it.”

Katie got up to go.

“I need to leave. My transportation is going to be here soon enough.”

“Thanks for the Mint Tea recipe.”, Mordecai said, slowly opening another secret tunnel that resembled a slide, leading down.

Katie looked at him and for a second, like how a mother might proudly look at her son.

“You’ve grown, Jay.”, she said, softly.

Mordecai looked at her, showing the slightest hint of surprise.

“You knew all along?”

Katie nodded.” Your mother would be so proud.”

The boy didn’t say anything. He didn’t know what to say.

Katie slowly pulled her pendant with the family crest and put it in his hands.

“I remember when I first saw you, a couple months before I went to Chicago.”, she said, as he examined the pendant. “You were such a fat and red baby, your mother, father and Jeffrey had to together keep you down because you were so full of energy. And I can see now that that energy has not vanished.”

“Why are you giving me this?", Jay stuttered, "Isn’t your family crest the only thing you…”

“I’ll have plenty of things to remind me of my family where I am going. But I ask one favor from you. Please keep this for me and give it to someone responsible when your time has come. You never know, Jay, it might just be the answer to your problem at hand.”

And with that, Katie leaped through the tunnel and disappeared forever. He never saw her again.