The Recoil Of The Mind

Chapter 7: All Hail The King

Just then Marlon's phone rang. "It's House. Lemme take this." He strolled out of the room. Bo followed suit.

"Come on, Rick. Let the man take a nap." Bo called out to him as he went outside the room. Rickard turned and began to walk but DeShawn's voice caught him by surprise.

"Rickard", DeShawn called out suddenly, the seriousness booming in his voice. Bo stopped in his tracks to hear what he had to say.

"Yeah, boss?", Rickard answered.

"Good job out there. Marlon won't admit it, but you're starting to feel like one of us. For a mercenary, you're quite adept at what you do. Thank you for your loyalty."

"And thank you for giving me a chance. Listen-", Rickard thought how he wanted to say this. "I wanted to ask you something."

"Go on, I won't bite."

"What happened to the reinforcements your brother promised us?"

"So Marlon told you all about him, huh? Well I guess he's earned his reputation for it now."

"Don't you think it's suspicious that they arrived, what, an hour late than when they were supposed to?"

"I trust Griffin, he would never turn on me."

"Okay. Sorry for pressing this onto you, boss."

"Yeah", DeShawn smiled weakly. El Caravaggio arrived into the room, a vial in his hand. Rickard turned to leave.

Bo turned towards Rickard. "I'm thirsty. You want a water?"

"Sure." You are always thirsty.

Bo went into the kitchen, Rickard followed him. He took out a bottle of cold water from the cooler and handed it over. He took a beer for himself.

"Look, I know you mean well, but you're still a newbie to us, okay? He'll entertain your questions, but the others, oh they won't." Bo said as he gulped down his drink.

Rickard took a swig of the crisp, cold water in his hand. He paused for a moment. "Trust me, I am already regretting asking him. Let's just find Marlon."

Bo and Rickard arrived into the passage, the one with the dirty couch, but Marlon wasn't there. They found him sitting on the stairs leading to the main entrance to the house.

"What did House want this time?", Bo asked as he leaned in onto the stairs.

Marlon looked up. "He's sending a car. He wants to meet us, as soon as possible. Uncle Lou never sends his men unless it's something big."

"What do you mean? What's happening?"

"He insisted on telling us in person."

Rickard's phone buzzed with a text alert. Not knowing who it was from, he went over to a secluded corner of the room, while Bo and Marlon went over what they should do next. Rickard couldn't be bothered. He unlocked the phone and checked the text. It was from Bradley. The texts kept on coming. Richard read them one by one.

Ricky
I'm gonna be quick wit dis
Intel has found out that the current leader of the East is dead
That's DeShawn
Intel has also found out that his brother is gathering a host of DeShawn's crew leaders to hunt down the Chinese
Stay sharp

When Bradley was sure that Rickard had read all his messages, he deleted his texts and cleared the chat. Rickard did the same, but not before sending out a message of his own.

DeShawn ain't dead yet. Who's your informant?

Bradley responded with a single message that made Rickard skip a beat.