Chapter 22: Chapter 22: Playing politics

Franka’s stiletto heels made crisp echoing strikes on the marble floor as she walked down the hallway to her office. Technically she didn’t have a political position, being only the former Mayor’s wife, and thus shouldn’t have an office in the government building. But she managed to grab the reins of power before anyone realized what was going on.

She had easily coerced the new Mayor into keeping her around. Using her abilities only cost her some dignity, and Franka was ok with losing a bit of that in private if it meant she could keep her position and power. She only wished her ability was more predictable. Franka’s ability wasn’t mind-control. She could only suggest things to people she had been intimate with. Things that weren’t too far outside of how they would normally act. Which was galling. Not like that Keith, or was it, Kevin? Not that that stupid kid’s name mattered and despite his mind control it hadn’t saved him anyway.

All the kid had to do was keep his hands off the girl and everything would have worked out fine. But the hormonal fool couldn’t keep it in his pants. When her father, the new Mayor found out, he was furious enough to slip from Franka’s control, albeit briefly. That little slip brought about the boy’s death at the hands of the new Mayor. Franka hadn’t found out about the issue until after the kid’s body was already cold. The fact that she hadn’t been informed beforehand had bothered her far more than the boy’s death.

She wasn’t mad about the loss of the boy, but she was irked that her leverage over the Mayor’s daughter had up and vanished. Now that the daughter was back in the picture, it made her job harder. Harder but not impossible.

Franka hadn’t been idle while the girl was out of the picture. She used that time to work her charms on the new Mayor and worm her way into the man’s bed and a trusted advisor position. The longer she had control over someone the more she could guide them how she wanted. This meant her previous husband had to go. But that was a price she would pay any day of the week. That man was a filthy degenerate and deserved everything that was happening to him.

Franka could have easily been Mayor herself, but why put a target on her back? It was better to lead from the shadows and let the idiots take the heat if anything went wrong. She could always find another idiot willing to take the reigns if the new Mayor didn’t work out.

Not all of her plans had worked out that well, however. The biggest trouble she ran into was when she got the Jorik involved with her plans.

Somehow Sin and his goons had figured out where they were staying and managed to snatch the Jorik delegate right from his hotel room. Incensed at this blatant disrespect, Franka had sicked her attack dog, Gail, on the few known hideouts of Sin and his flunkeys.

They never were able to locate or recover the missing delegate and the Jorik left shortly after. The pompous idiots used it as an excuse to threaten her. Vowing to bring about the town's ruin and other such nonsense.

Franka didn’t believe any of the vitriol that spilled from those pointy-eared bastards' mouths but it was always best to ensure that people learned they couldn’t get away with that. She simply applied Gail to the problem and the rest of the Jorik delegation vanished without a trace. Franka didn’t ask how her friend handled it and she didn’t care to know. The only thing that mattered was that it was done.

That left Sin as the only major problem she needed to deal with at the moment. The man was a nuisance, and he wasn’t the only criminal element in town. But the others were laying low for now.

Franka opened the door to her office and paused. Speaking of problems. There was another one sitting in her chair with his filthy shoes propped up on her designer desk.

Anyone that saw this man would be hard-pressed to think of him as anything other than a punk. The man sitting casually behind her desk sported a blonde mohawk that had enough hair gel in it to keep the hair pointed straight up. Then there were the numerous tattoos that dotted his bare arms, all punctuated by spiked leather bracelets that wouldn’t be out of place in some dominatrix’s playroom.

But that was the whole point, wasn’t it? To misdirect people's attention away from the calculating and clever man beneath the disguise.

Franka scanned the hallway before closing the door. “Why are you here?”

“Aww, is that any way to talk to a friend?”

Franka scoffed, “friends, is that what we are now, Toby? I didn’t think spooks like you were allowed, friends.”

“You wound me Franka,” Toby mimed covering a wound over his heart.

“…”

“Fine, you’re no fun.” Toby kicked his feet off the desk and tapped an unassuming manila folder. “I brought you the information you requested.”

Franka reached for the folder but Toby slid it away from her. “Uh-uh-uh, I don’t work for charity Franka. Money first, then you get your dirt.”

“How do I even know there is anything worthwhile in there?” She crossed her arms and glared at the man.

“Franka, my dear…do you think I would waste my time waiting for you in your office if I had nothing to sell you? I can guarantee this information is new, what you decide it’s worth is your problem.”

“Fine. I’ll take it, but if I catch you breaking into my office again-”

Toby quirked an eyebrow, “You’ll what, have me arrested? Or killed? That wouldn’t be very civic-minded of you, now would it Franka? Not when I’m here to help clean up this city.”

She handed Toby his payment and snatched the folder off the desk before responding. “Yea, fat lot of good you are. If anything, things are getting worse around here. I thought you told me you had an in with Sin?”

“I do, but there was a slight snag.” Toby shrugged, “everything is back on track though. I could speed it along with some assistance from you.”

“A favor?”

Toby shook his head, “civic duty. Or would you rather continue to watch your city slowly burn down around you?”

“Is that a threat?”

“No, Franka. Just a reminder of what is at stake.”

“And what would this assistance consist of?”

The man produced a small bottle of nearly black liquid from a pocket. “This is a sample of the healing potions Sin is being supplied with. I need something a little less… healthy, that I can swap in their place.”

“Where did you get this?”

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“Since you already paid, I guess I can answer that. It came from the necromancer, it's all in the file you are holding.”

Franka opened up the folder and glanced through the sheet. There wasn’t much in the report that she didn’t already know about the man. She slapped the folder down on her desk in disgust.

“This is all you have? It’s all garbage.”

Toby shrugged again, Something Franka was getting tired of. She wanted to slap the amused smirk off his face.

“The man is a stoner and layabout, what did you expect to find? A hoard of undead perhaps?” Toby chuckled as he finally got up from her seat. “I was honestly surprised I found anything of note, but it did present an opportunity.” He tapped the vial she was holding in her hand.

She hadn’t realized the man had gotten so close. Franka could feel the heat coming off of him and it was making her start to sweat. She tried to take a step back but found she had backed toward the door during their discussion and her back pressed up against it. The man towered over her and her heart began to beat rapidly bringing her to a near panic.

Before she could totally freak out, Toby backed away with a slight smile on his face. Had the bastard done that on purpose? Of course, the jackass had. He must know all about her past trauma.

She took a moment to collect herself before answering the man. “Fine, I think I know someone that might be able to help. Now get out.”

“Yes, mam,” Toby saluted casually before leaving her office.

Once the man was gone, Franka sat woodenly in her office chair. She brushed the wrinkles out of her expensive suit dress to help center herself. She would have preferred to scream obscenities and question Toby’s parentage but that would be unbecoming. She would do that later at home, in private.

While the man was tiresome to deal with, he did bring her some good news. She would need to contact Gail though. That idea made the edges of her mouth twitch down in a frown.

Her old friend had kind of gone off the deep end once she had gotten her witch magic to work properly. However, Gail’s old insecurities never left her and Franka was able to pull on those strings as she had for their entire friendship.

It was rather easy, Gail had always wanted her husband. And despite the man’s well-documented nature of sleeping around and his less-known issue of being a serial abuser, he did have standards. And Gail fell far below those. Not that it mattered. Franka had simply slipped a suggestion into her husband's empty head and off he went to Gail, vanishing in the night.

Gail of course did her thing and turned the man into her thrall. While Franka would have preferred for her to just kill him, this arrangement actually worked better for her. She could feign being upset when Gail tried to use the man as a bargaining piece and Gail would double down on keeping her former husband to herself.

She wouldn’t try that tactic today though, She had the new information Gail had been clamoring about so she would just offer that up to ensure the woman’s assistance with creating a poison.

***

Toby sat in his van, listening to Franka speak with Gail over the phone.

Bugging Franka’s office had been quite easy and it was practically undetectable thanks to his ability. His ability had a limited duration before it wore off though so it wasn’t perfect. He just needed to present something to the woman that would get her to act quickly.

The temptation of finally getting rid of Sin and his gang seemed to be a large enough catalyst. She had acted almost before Toby got back to his van.

Nothing she said over the phone was a surprise to Toby. He knew of Gail and her abilities but she kept a low profile for the most part. He hadn’t been able to track down her headquarters due to how secretive the woman was. That was about to change today though.

After an hour of waiting, Toby spotted the courier. The goofy child-like grin on his face didn’t fit his heavily muscled body. This was a clear sign of Gail’s influence. Toby felt bad for anyone caught in the woman’s web, it wasn’t likely going to end well for any of them. Toby waited until the man exited the building with an envelope in one hand and a small bottle clutched in the other.

It was time to act. Toby pulled his van up next to the sidewalk.

“Hey, you!”

The man stopped and pointed to himself.

“Yeah, you, come here,” Toby motioned for the man to approach the van. This whole plan made him feel a bit like a child abductor. Toby had to remind himself that this was a grown adult.

“I’m not supposed to talk with strangers.” The man looked around in worry.

“Oh, I’m not a stranger. Franka sent me to drive you back to Gail.”

The man-child’s worry evaporated in an instant at those words and he smiled. “Ok.”

The man jabbered away incessantly as Toby followed the directions to Gail’s place. They had to take a few detours around congested streets, but eventually, they arrived at a closed-down boutique store with an apartment above it. The front of the store still had displays filled with clothing but the lights were off and the sign on the door was set to ‘closed’.

He wouldn’t have ever guessed this was her place of operations, it was just so… normal.

Toby stopped the guy before he could get out. “Franka wants me to pick up the stuff once it’s complete.” He handed a card to the man with his number on the back. “Just give me a call when it’s ready.”

“Ok, Thanks, Mister,” The man waved happily as he headed toward the back of the building.

Toby just smiled. This was going to be easier than he thought.

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