Chapter THREE

Tom chuckled as he looked closer at one of the coins with the help of his torch. He carefully read the inscriptions on the front and turned it to read the ones at the back. He still couldn't believe his luck. To think that he had dug all these treasures from a private land without even paying a cent was nothing short of something right out of his wildest dreams. The only thing that was both a blessing and a source of regret to him was that the owner would never know! He had been enemies with old Jackson since he was a boy and he would have loved nothing more than a chance to poke at the garrulous old bear once again. But unfortunately, if that were to happen, old Jackie would bury his ass in lawsuits that could probably land him in jail. So yeah, old Jackson must never know. Not now, not ever, not... Tom's head jerked up at the sound of banging he'd just heard outside. What on Earth was that? He stayed silent, with the coin in his hand, waiting for a repetition of the sound. Few seconds passed and nothing came. Suddenly, his dog started barking. Tom hissed and breathed a deep sigh of relief. He had thought it was something serious. That dog was old and mad. It had formed the habit of barking only for irrelevant reasons and even at innocent passersby. Most likely, one of those street urchins had thrown a stone on the roof of the shed which had led to that banging sound. By now, the dog's barking had come to an abrupt end. Tom went back to inspecting his precious find. With an expert's eye and brain, he began evaluating each and every piece, attaching a virtual price tag to each item, calculating the potential costs and estimating his final profits. He was deeply engrossed in this task when the door flew open! Like flash, out of nowhere, something dark whipped his head, sending him flying halfway across the room. "Jesus!", Tom screamed in terror as he landed on his face on top of his halfeaten dinner. He heard the sound of hurried steps coming towards him and he quickly rolled onto his back, but the food had plastered his face, covering his eyes, so he could barely see anything. Suddenly, something... someone grabbed him roughly by the hair and pulled him up. Tom screamed in fear. He thought he was being attacked by aliens or maybe old Jackson had found out about his theft and sent hired killers after him. The person holding him suddenly gave him a sound slap and Tom's face went numb, the force and unexpected nature of the strike nearly making him pee his pants. "Please! Please don't kill me," he begged, shaking from head to foot like a leaf. "Shut up!", his attacker ordered. Tom obeyed instantly. He was still shaking and his fear inspired him to keep his mouth completely shut. He fell back on the ground with a thud as the hand that had been holding him suddenly let go. This gave him some hope that he might be spared after all. The voice that had shouted at him was a female one and it sounded familiar! Still scared to death, but emboldened by the prolonged silence all around him, Tom managed to clean the food off his face with his shaking hands and peered up at the face of... "You!" "Yes, me," Lisha answered testily. "I have come to kill you. I'm just thinking how best to go about it." "But why?!", Tom wailed. "I paid you in full. I... I did everything just as we agreed. I..." "Shut up!", Lisha silenced him. "Did we agree that the bastard should go kill my mother and destroy my family?!" A cold shudder ran through Tom. Now he was sure he was a dead man! This girl would certainly not leave here without avenging her mother's death on him! His mouth opened to beg for his life again, but nothing came out. All that came out was the sound of his teeth chattering wildly. Without notice, she bent down and picked him up by his hair again. Tom closed his eyes, thinking this was surely the end. "Why didn't you let me know when he escaped, huh?!", she shouted into his face and Tom shuddered again. "I swear, I didn't know! Please believe me... I didn't know! I... I... The person I sold him to... he never told me anything. I swear on my mother's grave, I'm only just hearing..." "If you want to live, you will help me find him or..." "Yes, yes, yes! I will. I will. I will help you," Tom nodded endlessly like a zombie. Lisha let go of his head again and stood up. "You better start now," she said and turned on her heels. Tom quickly scrambled to his feet and made the Catholic cross on himself. He could hardly believe that he was still alive and relatively unhurt. But... if he didn't find the escaped merman, he certainly would not remain so for long. "Madam... Madam. Sorry for bothering you," Tom apologized profusely, bowing repeatedly as he ran up to meet Lisha who was already walking down the driveway. "How do I reach you when I have um... information?" Lisha stared him up and down and threw a piece of paper at him. The paper fluttered to the ground and Tom dove after it as if it was the Holy Grail. He picked it up and looked at it carefully. It contained only a phone number. When he finally looked up, Lisha was gone. He still had no idea what her name was. *** Tom didn't waste any time before beginning his investigation. This was what his life depended on, so he would take it seriously by all means. Grabbing his jacket and his gun, he left the house and headed straight for Lucio's, fully determined to strangle that idiot the moment he set eyes on him. Barely half an hour after leaving home, Tom arrived at his destination. Surprisingly, the place was empty! Lucio's restaurant, bar and nightclub was famous in the area and was always open to patrons at any time of the day or night. But today, looking through the glass door at the brightly lit interior, all John could see was the shadow of someone who seemed to be in the act of mopping the floor somewhere inside the place. He knocked once, twice before the shadow dropped the mop and in a matter of seconds, a man walked into view. It was Lucio. "Who is there?", he called out as he walked up to door as if he couldn't see who was on the other side. "It's me," John replied. "Amigo! Good to see you," Lucio hailed and pulled open the door, immediately enveloping him in a bear hug. "How you been, eh?" "Not bad," Tom shrugged, looking around him at the deserted surroundings. Now that he had seen Lucio, his desire to strangle him had suddenly vanished and was now replaced by burning curiosity. "Why's your place empty? What happened?" "Oh. My place, eh? Haha. Uh... it's arrangement," Lucio said, waving off the topic with a laugh. Tom immediately knew that he was lying. But what did he care? After all, he was not the man's mother. "Well, whatever," he shrugged, happy to switch to more important matters. At least, important to him. "So where's that merman? I mean, that creature I sold to you." Instantly, Lucio squared his shoulders defensively and folded his arms across his broad chest. "The merman? What you want with him?", he asked, eyeing Tom suspiciously. "Well, nothing. Just curious," Tom shrugged with feigned indifference. "Merman is fine. No trouble." "Great," Tom nodded. "Happy to hear that. Can I see him?" "No," Lucio answered sharply. "You sell him to me. I pay you all your money. What your business with him?" Suddenly, Tom took a quick step back and swung out his gun, leveling it at the head of the restaurant owner. But he was shocked to find that Lucio didn't even blink an eyelid! "What is your problem? Are you mad?", Lucio growled and Tom suddenly felt like a foolish little boy. Still, he held his ground and lifted his chin in defiance. "The merman has escaped, right?" Lucio made no answer. "Answer me, you thug!" "So what?", Lucio sneered, closing the gap between them and bringing his forehead to touch the muzzle of the gun. "The merman get lost, what your business? You want to kill me for lost merman? Go ahead!" Again, Tom felt like a stupid little child. Yet, he held on to his weapon albeit shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other. "Look, you don't understand the situation. My life... our lives are in danger. That merman or madman or whatever the hell he is has gone and killed the entire family of the person who sold him to me! Now, that person invaded my house to let me know that I... that we, you and I, are living on borrowed time un..." "You and me? Or you only?", Lucio questioned with a ghost of a smile on his lips. "You and I! Look here, do you think I will die alone? I'll scream your name at the top of my lungs along with your address and everything else I know about you." Lucio shrugged but kept quiet. Tom stared at him through narrowed eyes, wondering what exactly was going on in his mind? Was he calculating how he would leave Tom to face Lisha's fiery wrath alone or was he thinking of a nice plan to save both of them? It better be the latter. "Who this person?", Lucio suddenly asked. The question was totally unexpected and had taken Tom completely unawares, but he recovered quickly. He knew immediately that if he told the truth, especially about Lisha's gender and age, Lucio would surely laugh the whole thing off. "Uh... it's a mafia don. One with a very bad reputation. By the way, what does that..." "What his name?" "I don't know! How am I supposed to know her... his name, huh? Was I supposed to ask him when he was kicking me around like a ragdoll?" "Put the pistola down. I will help you." Tom breathed a huge sigh of relief and put the gun back into his pocket. "We don't have much time. We have to work fast."