City of Rebellion

The car skidded to a stop, screeching on the pavement. I tossed the cigarette out the window and followed suit. The back door was yanked open by one of the men that'd picked me up an hour earlier.

"Get your ass over here." He said gruffly, pulling me out by my collar. "A little fucking courtesy goes a long way, you know?" He sneered, shoving me towards their leader; who stood waiting for us on a corner in the heart of downtown. It was late at night, but there was a constant buzz of activity around us; people strolling down the street, cars whizzing past. It was life in full bloom.

The man standing before us wore a tailored black suit with a crisp white shirt that had been unbuttoned at the neck to reveal his muscular chest. His face was angular, with sharp cheekbones and thin lips that seemed to have been drawn on with a ruler and pencil. His eyes were sharp and deep-set hidden behind thick-rimmed glasses that sat low on his nose. He stood there serenely, looking down at me as I approached with a broad smile on his face that could've been mistaken for friendliness.

He turned to look at the man who'd pulled me out of the car and nodded pleasantly at him before turning his attention back to me as he reached into his jacket pocket and retrieved a cigarillo, placing it between his lips and lighting it before taking a long drag and exhaling slowly as he flashed me another smile."Mr Slate." He said warmly "I do hope our repulsive friends in there were not too much trouble." He gestured towards the club across the street from where we stood. The sounds from within were loud and raucous; so loud that they would probably wake someone if they were sleeping nearby.

I didn't say anything; just stood there looking dumbfounded at him as I tried to figure out how he knew my name and why he seemed so damn cheerful about everything when my life had just been threatened not ten minutes ago.

"Well?" He asked expectantly after seeing that I wasn't going to speak up anytime soon "Don't you have something to say? Or are you just gonna stand there like some kind of mute?" He shook his head sadly "That's ok though." He said as he puffed away on his cigarillo while looking me over intently "I'm not scared of you." And then with that he reached into his suit jacket again and pulled out what looked like an old-school revolver with elaborate engravings carved into its wooden handle which he held up proudly for me to see before tucking it back into his suit jacket pocket. "I don't need this little toy to take care of you if you get nasty." He said nonchalantly as he blew another cloud of smoke in my direction while pointing the stem of his cigarillo at me teasingly "So why don't you tell your boss that we'll be expecting payment by tomorrow evening or else..."

It took a moment for it all to sink in before I finally got what he was saying and started laughing hysterically until tears rolled down my cheeks; shaking uncontrollably as I doubled over trying to catch my breath from all the laughter. After I'd calmed down enough so that I wasn't gasping for air anymore I looked up at him curiously wondering how someone could be so stupid.

Reaching into my pocket for another cigarette, I lit it before taking a long drag and returning his gaze coolly before speaking up "You're either really fucking stupid or really fucking desperate if you think your threat is gonna scare anyone." Noticing how startled he looked by my words, I couldn't help but chuckle under my breath as I continued "And even if your threat did scare people; they wouldn't pay no matter how much they were being threatened because they know how ridiculous it is." Taking another drag from my cigarette I smiled softly before telling him: " You should learn how to talk without sounding like an idiot before opening your mouth next time."

When he didn't respond right away; still staring at me strangely with wide eyes wondering how someone like me could've spoken so casually about such things, I decided to make things easier for him by asking: "Are you sure you guys aren't cops?" Shaking my head pityingly at him I told him: "Because this whole act screams 'Police sting operation' to me but hey... maybe it's just me." And then when he still didn't say anything, obviously still confused about how nonchalantly I'd responded to all this nonsense, I shrugged lightly before turning around and walking back towards the car where two guys sat smoking cigarettes while watching us curiously through the windows before turning their attention back to each other when they saw us approaching them once more.