Black Market Merchant

Chapter 151: Watch Your Step
Xander was furious hearing the news of Saul’s death. Not because Saul was dead, but because it happened on the compound’s premise in an area that was not under his surveillance. Something had gone wrong with the auto camera tracking according to his tabloid and now there were no witnesses! Queen was in the clear for the moment, but he knew for sure that she did it. He just needed proof.

Standing at the scene of Saul’s death, Xander looked around with a critical eye. This area was well out of everyone’s normal traveling routes, so it was easy to see why there were no witnesses. However, it was odd that the cameras, that he himself set up, had such an obvious blind spot. He had been careful to check for this exact issue, so why did it happen here? Did Queen set this up beforehand?

As he continued to look around, Xander went over what his guards had told him. Queen and the other two, they were unimpressionable, claimed that three attackers killed Saul and fled into the bushes after Queen shot once at them. Looking up at the rotating camera he shook his head in disbelief. “There was no way three assailants made it across the lawn, killed Saul and then ran back in a panic without the camera catching the slightest glimpse of them.”

Walking over to the bushes, he roughly parted them and looked around. Sure enough, there was indeed a hole in the metal wall and a loose panel to cover it. However, this meter high and over a half meter wide hole was far too small for any adult to pass through easily. Moreover, why did Queen only shoot once at three men? Also, when did she get a gun? Things just didn’t seem right.

Turning away from the bushes in disgust, Xander called out to the three guards that had arrived here first at the scene. ”How could you believe that an adult could fit through here? Which one of those three told you such an idiotic thing?”

All three of the first responding guards stopped working and looked nervously at him. Then the youngest of the three stepped forward to answer. ”Uh, it was the little girl that mentioned the hole being there.”

”Yeah, and Queen told us that it was in the bushes.” Another one chimed in.

”What an obvious set up! Gah, I am surrounded by idiots!” Xander shouted as he kicked at the bushes and started to stomp away. ”Get this body out of here and next time don’t let anyone leave a scene like that before I get here. If you do, you won’t be let off alive!”

The three guards gulped audibly and nodded fervently. ”We understand perfectly, Lieutenant Xander! We won’t let it happen again.”

”Hmpf.” Xander grunted as he left them and the continued to gripe to himself the rest of the way back to the Arena. ”I am going to get to the bottom of this. What exactly is she playing at and planning on doing next? Queen you are permanently on my red list!”

A smug look spread across his handsome face and he then proceeded to brush back his pale blond hair, ”Perhaps Rickshaw can do something about this? Even if I can’t yet directly confront her and with the suspicious death of a MFA manager, Rickshaw can suspend her from fighting. That might make her slip up somehow.”

…

”You did it!” Sadie cried out as Zane left the Arena stage.

Zane had a relieved and excited expression on his face, but he was probably more confused that it ended in such an odd way. Shrugging Zane replied, ”Thanks. I guess you were right, Sadie. His reactions were slower than most others. He couldn’t even beat himself.”

”See, just follow my guidance and you can’t go wrong.” Sadie replied crossing her arms triumphantly across her chest.

”It was just odd that this own weapon knocked him out. There wasn’t any bloodshed either.” Zane said taking off his tiger claws.

”A win is a win.” Lisa said while putting on her coffin in preparation to go. ”Come on let’s get going, the sooner the better. Things might not go to well for us if we stay much longer.”

Heading Lisa’s word and without giving any questions, the group quickly headed for the exit once again. The illegal property market was as crowded as ever as they passed by. Richly dressed people and droves of assistants bustled hurriedly around the posh white tiled lobby. After Zane’s fight ended there was another similar ranked fight that was to follow. Thus, most of the patrons were more interested in buying and selling thing than watching another low interest fight.

The little group didn’t get far through this large crowd though, before they spotted trouble. Waiting at the main exit were three people they didn’t want to come across. Jackson, Nicky, and Xander.

All three of them looked equally annoyed at seeing one another too. They didn’t seem to be having any conversations either, just angrily glancing at each other. Nicky was the first to see them coming her way and started towards them, leaving the two men alone.

Nicky had a smirky look as she walked close alongside Sadie. ”Lucky win. However, he is not all that good as I guessed. You’ll have losses soon coming your way soon. Goodbye.”

Sadie looked down and wanted to let it go, but Zane overheard Nicky. ”You’re just jealous. I don’t plan on loosing anytime soon!”

”Whatever!” Nicky replied rolling her eyes at him. Then she disappeared smirking while being swallowed up into the crowd.

Jackson and Xander blocked the exit and waited until Lisa was standing in front of them before they spoke. From their serious expressions, Lisa could tell she wasn’t going be able to brush them off.

”Looks like you’re in some trouble. Saul is dead and I know you had something to do with it.” Xander said speaking calmly, though the tone was definitely hostile.

Sadie inhaled sharply. ”Saul is dead? When?”

Xander ignored her concern, as did Lisa. The two gazed at each other observantly. Neither showed having any signs of backing down or emotion.

”I have no idea what you mean. I told the guards what happened already. You should know I had nothing to do with that.” Lisa replied casually, still playing on her bluff.

”Time will tell.” Xander snorted. Then looking past Lisa, Xander nodded in that direction. ”Here comes Rickshaw. I am sure you won’t like what he has to say.” A faint smile parted on his lips upon saying this.

Both Sadie and Lisa turned to look curiously at the old manager approaching from behind. Rickshaw had a serious, glum expression and a bit disappointed lingered in his eyes too.

”Sadie, I am going to have to suspend Queen for a while. At least until the circumstances of Saul’s death is understood.” Rickshaw said handing her a pink slip.

”Are you serious?” Sadie said taking the paper to look it over. ”But she’s on a hot streak! Letting her stop now would be a bad move.”

”My hands are tied. You know the rules. A Match Fighter can’t kill a Manager.” Rickshaw replied giving a mater-of-fact shrug. “Even if there is no proof, the suspicion is enough for me.”

”Well, this won’t do!” A voice called out from behind everyone coming from the crowd.

An older man with grey hair and a cane in hand, came up to them. It was McMathers and an unusually dressed tubby man was with him. The two joined the growing group crowding the Warehouse Arena entrance.

”I have just been speaking with the Announcer here, Mr. Davos, about Queen’s potential next matchup. It would be such a shame to put a stop to such a lucrative fight.” McMathers continued and the tubby man, Mr. Davos, stepped up to speak as well.

”Indeed! A fight between Queen and the Crescent Moon of Moab City would sure to be the largest fight and income that this Arena has ever seen! How you got Spindle to agree to this arrangement is beyond me.” Mr. Davos then turned to look at Rickshaw. ”Are you sure you can’t reconsider?”

”I am not sure that I can, unfortunately.” Rickshaw replied scratching his chin thoughtfully. ”Queen was seen first at the crime scene and no other culprit was captured or seen on camera. Despite no evidence, as of yet, Queen is under suspicion and must be banned until a solution is found.”

Jackson took a glance at Xander while Rickshaw was talking and saw that Xander had a faint confident aurora about him. ”I bet you had something to do with this, Xander.” Jackson thought in disgust. ”I lost my bet with Queen, so its best if I respect that and help out now. Besides helping her just to spite you would be worth it anyways.”

Jackson cleared his throat and spoke. ”Excuse me, Rickshaw, but looking at this from my financial stance for the gang, we aim to lose more from this. If Queen is banned and can’t fight, then your employees might not have anywhere to stay.”

”What are you saying?” Rickshaw said turning to look at Jackson, as did everyone else listening in. This was a rather bold statement considering the MFA workers had been stationed here for some time.

”According to the last income report, the gang has had a decrease in income due to a potential upcoming conflict with the Skull. The number of patrons coming to this location has also dropped by fifteen percent.” Jackson replied. ”We spent a lot on supplies and as you can see behind you in the market, our newer fights aren’t getting a lot of attention. Thus, our budget needs to be balanced out. To solve this, I might have to resort to having the MFA staff find lodging elsewhere in town or that you all start paying rent.”

”Are you serious? That is not what the contract would allow. Staff lodging, food and accommodations are available to us in exchange for holding the planned MFA fights here.” Rickshaw retorted. ”Why can’t you just increase production at that factory of yours?”

”Factory?” Murmured Lisa perking up curiously hearing this. ”I hadn’t heard of this before. Curious.”

”I am sure you knew this, but Queen just killed all three overseers of the factory: the former Triplets. Finding someone to replace them and increase production at the same time is not possible. I don’t have any influence in that department anyway. I’m just pointing out what I might have to do to keep this gang running efficiently as possible. What happens with the MFA staff is not my main concern.”

”How ridiculous! I will speak with Martinez myself about this insult.” Rickshaw replied shaking a finger in Jackson’s face.

Jackson sighed and took out a cigarette from his coat pocket. ”Look, don’t be mad at me. Xander is to blame for not having his security system and guards fail to not monitor the area. This whole incident could have been solved already if not for that.”

”What?!” Xander shouted, surprised by the sudden dig at him. Though they were definitely not friendly with each other, this betrayal was unnecessary. ”I’ll have you know that the camera angle was tampered with! I have my guards right now checking the footage to see who moved the camera. We will soon see if Queen or these others are responsible!”

Just then a guard with dark sunglasses and a red marked armband came up to them. He approached Xander before making his report. ”Lieutenant Xander, we checked the footage and unfortunately the culprit is not who we expected.”

”What? Go on then, tells us! Who was it?” Xander replied sounding very agitated.

”Well, uh, it was a w-woodpecker, sir.” The guard stammered in reply.

”A f****** bird!” Xander shouted in disbelief.

”Y-yes sir. The woodpecker knocked over the camera’s alignment two months ago.” The guard replied taking a timid step back.

”Well, it looks like Queen is going to stay innocent after all.” Jackson said giving a light chuckle at seeing his nemesis’s displeasure. Letting out a puff of his cigarette smoke he continued, ”Rickshaw, you have to reconsider the ban now. It seems there won’t be an answer unless someone comes forward and gives their account.”

Rickshaw sighed heavily. ”I have to uphold the rules or it’s my job on the line. So, here’s what I suggest, Queen is banned from any official fights until Crescent Moon comes to fight her. When is this going to happen?”

McMathers cleared his throat. ”Spindle said that he could be available in a month, but sooner if need be. He can get impatient easily.”

”So, a month-long suspension it is.” Rickshaw said turning to look at Sadie and Xander. ”This should be enough time to satisfy the both of you, right?”

”Yes. This will be acceptable. Right Queen?” Sadie replied.

”I can wait that long. Xander won’t find anything against me anyway. It was those three guys that showed up out of nowhere that are to blame.” Lisa said indifferently.

”This is fine, but I’ll find out what happened for sure. You better watch your step around me Queen! Get out of my way, I’m going to check the footage myself!” Xander shouted while pushing his guard aside and headed for the security center.

”Well glad that’s settled.” McMathers replied. Then he reached out to hand Sadie a business card. ”Here my information, young lady. Contact me if things change around here.”

”I will. Thank you.” Sadie said taking the card. McMathers gave a curt nod and headed off towards the illegal market leaning heavily on his cane.

”Mr. Davos, we need to talk. Come with me.” Rickshaw grumbled and left Lisa’s group and Jackson behind.

”Let’s go outside.” Jackson said gesturing out the door. ”We have more to talk about I’m sure.”

”Yes, we do.” Lisa replied gladly stepping out from the lobby.