Chapter 6
The Man With The Plan
Later that night Mordy got Otto’s message and showed up at The Horse’s office on time but he was more amped up than usual. Otto wasn’t doing much better either. He hit up every bar from his apartment to the graveyard to try and drink up the nerve to kill Mordy.
Mordy just paced while Otto smoked and tried to calm down and figure a way out of this. No one said a word for a while and as far as Mordy knew they were just waiting for The Horse.
The briefcase Mordy brought back sat on the desk standing upward.
“Otto, there’s something I gotta tell you.” Mordy finally said.
“I got something to tell you too.” Otto said. “Let me talk first.”
“This is important Otto.” Mordy cut in.
“Whatever you have to say is not nearly important as what I have to tell you. Trust me.”
“It’s about the briefcase.” Mordy said.
“What about it?”
Mordy remained silent. Now Otto wanted to know.
“Did you look inside it?”
“I did. That’s what I want to tell you...”
“No, don’t tell me nothing about that Mordy. Just keep your mouth shut. I don’t want to know.” Otto got to his feet and walked away from him.
“But it’s important. It’s about The Horse and...”
“Did you hear what I said!” Otto launched back and pushed Mordy sending him into the steel file cabinets.
“Don’t you get it?” Otto screamed.
“What’s your problem?”
“You are my problem. You are your own problem. You and your stupid dreams and all your inquisitive bullshit that’s gotten me nothing but a kick in the balls since I’ve known you. You are the reason I’m still digging ditches.”
“Ain’t no law that says you have to partner up with me Otto, you don’t like me so much.”
Otto pushed him again, “Just get the fuck out of here.”
“Without me you got no direction Otto.” Mordy said, backing away from him.
Otto pushed him again, “I said get the fuck out of here Mordy. I’m done with you.”
“You know what your problem is? You blame other people for your own failures. Yeah I may say the wrong thing, I may be a little high strung but I got a vision. Which is more than I can say for you. You take things as they come. I’m busy taking action while you’re sitting around waiting for the right move to fall from the sky. You ain’t got no vision of your own Otto, so you just criticize mine.”
Otto pulled out the switch blade and pressed the button. A thin blade shot up and out from inside of it. It made a dull clicking sound. Mordy jolted.
“You better get out of here before I do something that’s gonna keep me up at night for a few years.” Mordy just looked at the knife.
“You pull a butterfly knife on me?”
“It’s a switchblade.”
“What are you gonna do with it. I mean really Otto?”
“I gotta cut out your Adam’s apple.”
“Why?
“Because you swallowed the forbidden fruit.”
“The fuck?”
“The Horse knows about the Meat Grinder.”
“And how might the fuck he know that pal-o-mine?”
“I told him.”
“What’d you do that for?”
“He was gonna cut me open with a dull meat clever. Besides he half knew everything.”
“So you ratted me out, and now you’re gonna cut out my throat.”
“Just your Adam’s apple.”
“What for?”
“Not my idea Mordy, The Man With The Plan gave the order in an envelope to The Horse.”
“I thought we were friends.”
“We are Mordy.”
“I never had any friends my whole life.”
“Me neither.”
“The first one I get is gonna whack me out. This kinda shit only happens to me.”
“I ain’t got a choice. I have to follow orders. If you did the same then we wouldn’t be in this mess.”
“I ain’t going anywhere.” Mordy stood his ground.
“Then I gotta open you up.” Otto moved toward him. Mordy just closed his eyes.
“Before you do that there’s something you should know about The Horse and The Meat Grinder.”
“Yeah, what about them?” Otto asked.
The door opened suddenly and Sallie The Horse slowly waddled into the room. When he saw Mordy still alive his face contorted and twitched with anger. He turned to Otto and grumbled, “Where’s my fucking case?”
Otto pointed to the desk and there it was standing upright.
The Horse moved toward it and Mordy started to look even more nervous.
When The Horse opened the case and saw it was empty he drew his .45 from his waistband and aimed it at Mordy’s throat. He was only maybe three feet away from him.
“Where’s the shit that was in it.” The Horse said.
“What shit Sallie?” Mordy said.
“Don’t fuck with me!”
Mordy just had his hands up and remained quiet.
“Sallie, just calm down. Okay?” Otto said moving closer to him.
The Horse sneered at Otto, “I told you what was what,” then turned back to Mordy. He would have squeezed the trigger if Otto hadn’t made a play for his gun, which he immediately recognized as having been a bad idea.
The two men struggled and the knife got dropped in the fight. The Horse let out an angry bellow and flung Otto over the desk like he was tossing a stuffed animal. He raised his pistol and fired twice at him just as Mordy appeared and stuck the knife into his side. The mammoth of a man froze as if he was being jolted by electricity and turned to Mordy with a look of utter shock.
He dropped to his knees which split one of the floor boards in two. Mordy twisted the knife as to open the wound even more so and that’s when The Horse relieved himself.
Mordy let go of the blade’s handle and put his hand to his nose and watched the mighty Horse fall forward, dead as the shit in his pants.
He went over to Otto expecting to see a couple of gaping bullet holes in his face but in fact, he wasn’t shot at all. The bullets had gone under his armpit and missed him by a few inches. Mordy helped Otto up and they both stood over The Horse watching him bleed out in disbelief.
“You did that.” Otto said.
“Yeah I did that. I stuck the bastard good.” Mordy said.
“I don’t know what to say, Mordy.”
“Say sorry for pushing me.”
“I am sorry. And for the things I said. I ain’t perfect neither.”
“If you was, you wouldn’t be hanging out with me.”
They smiled and embraced each other.
“I told you our luck was about to change.” Mordy said.
“Not sure how you can see this as lucky, Mordy. The Man With The Plan is going annihilate our whole family history.” Mordy wore a look on his face that suggested otherwise. Just then, a man entered the room. He was small in stature with a thin mustache and sported large horn rimmed glasses. He was wearing a brown tweed suit and had the countenance of an accountant.
Mordy and Otto froze. The dead Horse was prone on the floor and Mordy was covered in his blood.
“Well, how do you like them apples.” The man said condescendingly.
“Who the fuck are you?” Otto asked.
The man turned to Mordy, “You’ re Mordy?”
Mordy nodded.
“I got your package.” The man said.
Mordy’s eyes grew wide. “You... you’re The Man With The Plan?” The man put a finger to his lips and said, “ssh” with a smile as thin as his mustache.
“What package?” Otto asked. “The fuck?”
“I was trying to tell you but you were busy trying to slice my throat. I opened the briefcase and found a plot between The Horse and The Meat Grinder to whack out The Man With The Plan. They found out who he was, where he li
ved... all the intel was in that briefcase.”
“And you mailed it to The Man With The Plan?” Otto said shocked.
“I thought it might help us get a promotion.” Mordy said.
Otto was blown away.
There was a groan and they all looked to the floor and saw that The Horse was still alive.
The man turned to them. “After The Meat Grinder took me out, The Horse had plans to whack him and then take over as The Man With The Plan.”
“How could he really expect to pull that off?” Mordy said.
“Is it really that hard? If you think about it The Man With The Plan is anonymous. If a guy had the right vision, then he could step right into the role and start giving the orders.”
“So all those rumors about The Man With The Plan, the abandoned baby, killing guys with his foot...?”
“Thumb.” The man corrected him.
“... is all bullshit?” Mordy said.
The man just shrugged.
“So you really didn’t pluck out The Horse’s eye?” Mordy said.
“The only person that knows what happened to The Horse’s eye is The Horse himself. I just plant the seeds and they grow. People fill in the blanks with whatever makes the best campfire story.”
The Horse started to cough and wheeze. He was in pain. Mordy got him in the lung.
“I want you both to work directly under me. Take The Horse’s place.” Otto and Mordy looked at each other and nodded back. It was a deal, but the man expected as much.
Mordy leaned into Otto, “I think we’ve just been inducted into The Tarzan Club my friend.”
Otto smiled, “You did good Mordy. You finally did good.”
This was their moment.
But it was short lived.
The sound of the gun shot was deafening in these close quarters. Otto wasn’t sure where it came from or who was hit until he saw the man clutch his throat and fall to the floor trembling like he was having a seizure. The shot came from The Horse’s gun, who drew his last breath, ending with his thick lips curled up into a fuck you smile.
Mordy and Otto watched The Man With The Plan dying on the floor. His cheeks quickly puffed in and out like a fish out of water.
Mordy looked at Otto. This can’t be happening.
The man puffed slower until there was no puff at all and then he just expired.
“What the fuck?” Mordy said. “This was our shot at paradise. We were right there. The roof of the gymnasium ceiling was so close I could smell the lead paint.”
Otto stood still and quiet. He pulled out a pack of smokes and lit up. Only Mordy was completely distraught. Cursing. He had snapped, kicking The Horse’s dead body. Over and over. His face. His ribs. His cock. His balls. But Otto couldn’t take his eyes off the now deceased Man With The Plan. How this little man with a hole in his throat, a little geek book worm, stood in the syndicates shadow all this time. The man who rose to the epitome of power and respect in the organization was nothing more than an accountant.
In the midst of Mordy’s corpse kicking tirade Otto had an idea and looked up to him with hopeful eyes.