The Magistrate: The Jade Token

We’ve been best friends since day zero. Born literal weeks apart and lived a mile away at most. We played pretend together, chased girls together, hell we even trained at the same military camp. The gods had a hand in that, I’m sure. You and I were never friends. Brothers. Now we’re a part of the same resistance tribe. We’re the most lethal unit this tribe has. I’d give my life so that you may live a heartbeat but… there’s no guarantee you’d come out alive because of it.

We shared lunch that day when we were approached by the appointer.

“Do you boys spend all your time together?” Said Daniels, “I can’t imagine it bein’ real easy to share y’alls twin sized bed. Must have to cuddle real close,”

“What an exaggeration,” retorted Bill. “You happened to catch us having our daily lunch together. We only do one lunch every day together and you think that's all our time?”

“Yea besides, neither of us have twin sized beds anymore. It's much easier to cuddle on our respective queens.” I chimed in.

“Y’all are so cute together. Listen, I got the order to bring you two to the chief. He said he has something he wants to ask you.”

We walked with Daniels with nervous anticipation. It was never a good thing to talk to the chief. And Daniels was there so whatever Bill did we couldn't corroborate our story.

We entered the chief’s tent and internally I was sweating bullets. Oddly enough Bill looked cool as a cucumber. He must not have done anything that could get us killed.

“Good Afternoon boys. How are you? I hope Chop didn't interrupt your lunch,” the chief said, confusing me even further.

“A little confused but otherwise great. And no not at all. We actually ate in front of him until we finished then came straight here,” Bill said without skipping a beat.

“Confused? About what Bill?”

“Normally coming in here I’d assume one of Alvy’s antics but I’ve kept him on a tight leash so… I guess I'm hopeful this is good news.”

“No Bill. Not news at all actually. I need a favor and as the two most capable men in our resistance with the most capable unit in any resistance I only saw it fit to ask you two,”

“A mission?” I questioned. “Why not just send us away? I’ve never been asked to perform my sworn duty before. Why start now?”

“Well unfortunately this mission is far more important than anything anyone has done before. You see we have gotten word that the Jade Token has gone missing. It's no secret that Antoine de Cristo has had his eyes on it for quite some time now. Our insiders say he’s finally gotten his hands on it. We need to act fast. With that kind of black magic wealth The Magistrate will only become more of a threat to the world we used to know.,”

“Interesting. So Alvy and I are getting assigned a suicide mission finally,” Bill said with his hand on his chin. I’ve known Bill for long enough. He was crunching the survival rate numbers.

“Absolutely not. I would never want to endanger my two best rogues. Are you joking? Reconnaissance. That's what your mission is. You are NOT to engage.”

Bill and I looked at each other with the same almost insulted look on our faces.

“So… you’re sending us on a recon? Why us?”

“Alvarado, I'm not going to sugar coat this. I’m sending you two because I KNOW you two believe in the cause. Anyone else in the squadron I couldn't trust NOT to get swayed by unimaginable wealth.”

Bill’s hand hadn’t left his chin. He had been staring at the same spot on the floor this whole time.

“We’ll need some equipment,” Bill said, finally breaking the silence. “We know where they are, yes?”

“Yes. Our intel says that the first use of the Jade Token was to purchase tickets to a carnival on a yacht. I suppose he’s seen enough movies to think that he should be careful what he wishes for,”

“Whaddya think Bill? Should we visit the tailor?”

“We’re going to be posing as rich snobs vacationing on a yacht. The tailors can wait until after we pick up some sandals and Hawaiian shirts.”

We prepped the plan for hours and hours. Just recon we kept saying. For the sake of the cause, just recon. We both wanted to be the heroes and neither believed this was the way. But we kept lying to ourselves. Just recon. For the sake of the cause, just recon.

We boarded without a hitch. This yacht felt more like a cruise ship. It was so huge. I bet you could fit The Magistrates palace on it. It was time for step one. We rubbed elbows with anyone willing to lend an ear. We were probably on that cruise for a solid 3 days of “work.” All of which included shmoozing, stealing bottles of booze from room service passing, and stealing women from married men to stupid too pay attention to their 10 star wives. At night we’d stay locked in our room reminding each other. Recon mission. Nothing else. For the sake of our survival, nothing else.

After about 5 “painstaking,” days of debauchery we hit paydirt. A greasy, spineless and quite frankly ugly Antoine meandered his fat ass to the same bar that Bill and I were showing off fake comedic magic tricks at.

“That was pretty cool trick. Do you know any real ones?” He asked in his accent. I couldn’t tell where it was from but if I had to take a guess I’d say somewhere just south of Hell. Everything about this vermin made me sick. From his yellow tarnished teeth to the way he held his cigar. But Bill and I knew what had to be done for the sake of the mission.

“Well, if you count making beer disappear through a funnel and come out my dick several hours later… yea I got one,”

“You’ll have to excuse my friend. He’s a little drunkypoo,” I wasn’t. But that doesn’t mean I wasn't a great actor.

“Aahm not drunk. Yer… yer right aahm drunk.” I said, giving Antoine’s bodyguards the up-down. I’d only need help with one of them. He was heavier and I’m definitely faster but it would give him the advantage in a grappling match, which was Bill’s specialty anyway.

“Not to fret my friend. Nothing that can’t be settled with some of that fancy, fine whisky you boys have been putting away,”

So we did. We got him drunk. Drunk enough to where he let “Jade Token,” slip. He had it. So we got him more drunk. We waited for him to say “in my room,” or “at my house,” or “buried in a forest,” but he didn’t. He didn’t say anything. We partied for hours. I actually got drunk. Thank God Bill could drink enough liquor to put down an elephant.

We went back to our rooms. 8 in the morning came so soon. And Sunday wasn’t a party day. We ate dinner with the actual guests of the yacht. We didn’t shmooze. We didn’t drink. We “worked,” on our laptops the entire night in that mess hall. That night we went to our room. We said nothing but we both knew what had happened when he said nothing. This went from a recon mission to a search and destroy mission. We had to find the Jade Token. Then… we’d sink The Magistrates cruise ship.

We spent most of the beginning of the week “lost.” Too far in the bottom levels where we knew Antoine’s room was. We figured he got one of the lower-class rooms to keep a low profile but he couldn’t fool us. We played drunk to not raise suspicion and it eventually became a game to us and surprisingly enough even the maintenance staff began to play along. They’d take us back to the bar and after enough snooping they’d bring us back to our room. That’s enough drunkypoo for today, boys. Thanks for your money but we need you to stop playing around down there. You’re going to get hurt with all those pipes that are down there. We wanted to act fast so Thursday night we prepared our gear. Friday morning we put the suits we had tailored to have extra “whisky,” pockets. We put our armor under the suits. An extra little precaution as we had our favorite tailor “add some cushion.” It was time. That lunch hour we sent our good ol’ buddy a text message. He came to have a drink with us at lunch. A drink became two drinks became seven. We convinced him we should try and get a couple girlies to hang out with and they did. We didn’t even have to flash the cash. Two or three of them scooped him up and took him to a room on the top floor. Bill snuck the key card from Antoine so we partied our way towards the bottom floor. We never made it to the bottom floor. We used the key card. We locked the door behind us. We searched. We found the Jade Token. Not… a single… hiccup. It all went off without a hitch.

We unlocked the door and stepped out. There were guards coming in. We “drunkenly,” stooped and shut the door behind us. We fell and made a ruckus. We wanted them to pay attention to our stupor and not where we had exited but it was too late. They charged us with a “HEY!” and we knew we had been made. The first two weren’t hard to get rid of. A bullet here and a stab wound there. We got out without a scratch though, the dynamic duo. We took cover and set a rendezvous point. We had it. We had the Jade Token. We knew our strategy to the top. We walked with a purpose but not guns ablaze. The strangest part was that for about five floors it was nothing. Finally we got to the second to the top floor. Man… how bad could our luck have been? Antoine knew somehow. There was a layer of security and Mr. De Cristo himself in a towel ready to take back his token. An arm drag. A knee strike to a neck. Twisting a gun pointed at me and firing two to the chest and one into the head next to me. The one that had Bill in a choke hold. One man left. The one in the towel. We hurt. We were both bleeding from a few places. Bill more than I. We killed De Cristo. His last words were “Don’t kill me sober you bastards.” We did.

At the top floor… boy was it a mess. It was a blur, you know? There were so many of them. It wasn't looking good for us. We were all but pinned and a thought occurred to me. We have a better shot of getting away with the Jade Token if one of us fends off the dozens of suits and ear pieces.

“Bill… take the token,”

“What? Why?”

“You know good and God damn well why. Get to the rendezvous point. I’ll take care of these guys for now.”

“The hell you will! I’m more banged up. I can stay back and…”

“Bill. We don’t have time for this. You and I both know who’s more likely to have little ones alright? Name one after me. Get the fuck out of here.”

Not a single tear in his eye. Bill was a stone from beginning to end. My brother ran to the end of the boat and jumped to the ocean. That was one of the last things I saw. Next thing I knew I was unloading. Not in any particular direction. Just buying time. I was shot. First in the shoulder in good ol’ Hollywood fashion. It hurt like a bitch but it wasn’t the first time I had been shot. I picked up my guns and got ready to provide more cover. The second bullet went through my hand. I couldn’t hold a gun anymore. I pulled my combat knife out from my foot holster. I sat with my back to one of the oxygen vents. I heard charging. Bullets cleaned my arms and legs. The last thing I saw was a man with a bullet wound in his trapezius. Blood was running through his fingers. “Fuck you,” was the last thing I heard. I don’t know if Bill completed the mission. I don’t know if The Magistrate ever got dealt with. I know I bought Bill precious moments of life. That’s all that matters to me.