Frozen Ones

Chapter 2 (Jack)

He slowly slid the rag over the already shiny table surface. He put his hands on his hips and looked around the club, yawning. Nobody was there anymore, not even the employees. Only he stayed until dawn. 

They opened again in 9 hours, until then he could lie down for a while. 

"Marshmellow, come with me," he called into the darkness and threw the rag into a compartment behind the bar. An old cat lady crept leisurely towards him. In the dim light it almost looked as if her brown-black fur had turned slightly gray, which wouldn't surprise him considering she was over 19 years old. 

A smile crept onto his face that only his little friend could bring, and he gently picked her up.Like a small child, he cradled her in one arm while he slipped the tip of his foot under a broom handle and kicked it into the air, where he caught it with his other arm and finally leaned it against the dark wood of the counter. 

"Off to bed, my little one," he murmured into the cat's ear and, yawning, moved towards the door to the private part of the house when he suddenly heard a creak. The creaking of the floorboards to be more precise. But in his club only two wooden boards creaked, one directly in front of the left end of the bar and one in front of the front door. 

He gently let Marshmellow slide to the ground and spun around to see a dark figure standing in the entrance. The person was frozen and didn't seem to expect him to notice them. 

"We're closed," Jack informed the stranger in a calm tone. "You can come back tonight." He was aware that this figure wasn't here to drink liquor, but he still wanted to test how they reacted to it. 

In any case, the reaction was not verbal.The stranger rushed towards Jack and he could only just avoid it. He nimbly ducked behind the bar and grabbed a bottle of whiskey.He quickly turned around and grinned boredly at the stranger whose hood covered their face. 

"Do you want some of this? It's on the house."This time the stranger stopped and hastily pulled a pistol out of their coat. 

But Jack didn't panic. He'd been in enough street fights to stay calm in a situation like this. 

His counterpart fired their first shot without much thought, but it missed Jack as he fell to the ground. He was already on his feet again, reached out and smashed the bottle onto the stranger's head, where it broke and spilled its contents over the stranger. Along with a shower of broken glass. 

With a kick he freed the figure's gun from their hand. It slid along the ground for a few meters and finally came to rest.Jack confidently held the shattered neck of the bottle aimed at his opponent. He knew they were sharp enough to seriously injure someone and the stranger certainly knew that too. 

"Would you like to take off your hood and tell me what exactly you've been up to?" he asked, as if he were speaking to a normal customer. 

The stranger snorted, then actually took off his hat. 

Jack was mildly surprised to notice that it wasn't even a "he", but a woman with chin-length brown hair. Attentive as he was, he immediately memorized her face. Maybe something would be of use to him someday. Her chin was quite pointed, her nose was long, and she definitely wore false eyelashes. Her eyebrows were drawn and red lipstick made her mouth appear wider than it was. Her dark eyes stared at him maliciously. 

Continuing to study her, Jack guessed, "You still have an ace up your sleeve, am I right?" 

The woman seemed surprised, but replied in a composed tone: "That's true. There's a second pistol in my bag that I can shoot you with if you don't pay attention to me for a second, and there are ten of my employees waiting outside who will rush in if I don't come back in twenty minutes." 

Jack let the information sink in for a moment.He shook his head, smiling. "I don't know who you work for, but you should work on your lies a little more. Your first statement is not true, I believe you the second." 

Now she could no longer hide her surprise. "How do you know?" 

"That's easy. It benefits you to tell me that your people are waiting outside. So I'll probably think twice about what I do next. But pointing out to me that you still have a gun is just plain stupid of you since I've been forewarned this way. So at best it will only put you at a disadvantage and so I suspect it was just meant to be a distraction." 

Her eyes narrowed into slits. She didn't seem to like that Jack had realized all of this. Normally she probably worked with other people. Those who were less attentive. 

Looking at her watch, she finally said: "All right, then let's talk plainly. I don't have the time or the desire to deal with someone like you anymore." The way she emphasized it suggested that she was trying to convince herself that she hadn't lost to him, but that she was doing all this just because she felt like doing so. 

If Jack wasn't a little curious about her "plain text" he would of course tell her immediately. 

"I'm listening?" he simply replied and continued to keep his eyes on her as she spoke. 

"You're Jack, the man who owns this bar, right?" she immediately started the conversation with a question. 

He nodded. "And what is your name, if I may ask?" 

"That does not matter." 

"Tell me anyway." 

She rolled her eyes, which struck him as very unprofessional. "Well, my name is Loren. Anyway, I'm here to pick you up, Mister Jack." 

"And where should we go?" 

"You don't need to know that yet." 

Jack shrugged. "Do I have to pay the travel costs myself?" 

"Um...no, you don't have to." 

"Can I take my cat with me?" 

"Yes...you are allowed to do that." The woman seemed very confused by his questions. 

"Whiskey too?" 

"I guess so." 

"Very good." Jack smiled calmly at her, then tossed her the neck of the bottle. She quickly caught it and now stared at him as if he were an alien. 

"Then wait another five minutes, I have to call someone to check on the bar in the meantime. I'll be right back."With that he took a few steps away from the woman, took his smartphone out of his pocket and dialed Roger's number. 

The guy was a member of the Mafia and Jack's long-time friend. He could count on him. 

"Hello?" 

"It's Jack," he said. "The bar goes to you." That was her code for an emergency. 

"All right," Roger replied, and his tone showed Jack that he understood. "When?" 

"I don't know for how long, but I'll let you know when I get more information." As he spoke, he pulled a small object that had been attached to his cell phone case and attached it to his own neck. "Let's keep in touch, shall we?" 

Another code. 

"In order. I take good care of the bar. Bye." 

"Goodbye." 

With Loren's gaze behind him, Jack put the phone on the counter and looked around for Marshmellow. It turned out she had hidden in a cardboard box behind the bar and fallen asleep there. 

"You're so lazy," he murmured, shaking his head and picking her up, whereupon he received a sleepy, angry look. "We're going on a trip." Marshmellow yawned and started climbing up his shoulder. While Jack took a bottle of whiskey out of the fridge, the cat lady reached her destination: his head. It certainly wasn't easy to stay up there, but with a lot of balance and claws she managed it. 

With practiced movements he opened the bottle and poured some of the contents into a glass. After adding ice cubes to the mix, he moved around the counter carefully so Marshmellow wouldn't fall off his head. 

"I'll be ready then, Loren," he remarked, receiving an incredulous look. 

"Then follow me," she said simply and Jack left the bar, sipping his whiskey.