Tunnel Vision

CHAPTER 4 – II

Geryman found himself in another mediation the following evening when Augustina took him out for dinner. Harry had stomached all that he cared to – and then some – from Geryman’s “baby” sis. The fact that she was still alive, so he said, was due to his fondness for Geryman (in reality, hitmen had secretly been on the hunt for her for weeks and yet today she agitates, not because of Augustina’s beneficence, but because of Urissa’s vast network of connections and her own cunning). Harry wanted his young protege to think that he was actively seeking a peaceful resolution. He floated the idea of buying her off simply to buy some time to vanish her in a way that would not arise too much suspicion in Geryman’s eyes.

Augustina then laid out on the table a letter he had intercepted at Urissa’s now-vacant apartment. Augustina sipped his wine and chewed on his veal chop. It was to Urissa from a woman claiming to be Glendan’s lover. Carenf Lumiere. Merely touching the paper sent shivers through Geryman’s extremities. His eyes blurred, vision tunneled. He could barely make out the words. In this letter Carenf actually encouraged Urissa to take the fight to Harry. To take out Harry. But worse than that, she cautioned to be weary of Geryman’s loyalties and intentions. What had she been saying to Glendan? Who was this woman to drive a wedge in his family?

It was Augustina who wanted to drive a wedge by convincing Geryman his brother and this mystery woman thought of him as the enemy. He conveniently omitted the intercepted letters from Glendan pleading with Urissa to cease conflict. When Harry then said that Glendan and Carenf were both known to be traveling up to Seattle, Geryman’s heart pounded so loudly that he could not hear. Something about this mystery woman ignited an existential fire in his mind. It was as if there was something inhuman…uber-human about her. And it ignited the same something within him. The path he knew he must travel would lead to her.

Augustina was frankly grasping at straws with this gambit to turn Geryman on his family. Something was happening that he did not understand. Ever the opportunist, he took command. The inner darkness that he sensed all those years ago, that he had spent so much time nurturing and cultivating, proved to be stronger and more mysterious than he had ever imagined. Now…to put it to use.

Controlled breathing; steady hands
Direct eye contact; composed
Deception unearthed! Heart raises; breath shortens
Excitable as a creeping creature exposed