Tom Potts

[Greywall]

The door swung open, the small cramped house already furnished laid a rather unimpressive layout, two figures entered a man in his mid 30's and a woman in her late 60's. The man looked grimly around as he held two small briefcases as the only things he brought with him, the old woman already tired of her job chastised him "Look hun, why don't you just settle in it for the night before you go hating it." She laid two sets of keys to the home on the kitchen table and began waving her tired arms around, "There's a bathroom, kitchen, and a damn bed somewhere here, good? okay then" she began walking to the door when the man spoke up "Is that it?" she turned annoyed at him, "That's it, look. I have stuff to do. The home was bought by another party and that party told me to bring you here, give you the keys and that was it. Bye darling." The old woman left closing the door, the sound of her old beat up Royce took off without hesitation. 

The man sighed as he looked around his new home, he walked over to bedroom which was a small cramped space that matched the small house. He laid the two briefcases on the bed and decided to explore. The house was in the middle of nowhere, no signs of other homes for miles, just endless fields wide open. He turned to the South and saw the Royce shrinking in the distance down the road as it kicked up dust, not even a real road just a dirt path that led to the property. To the North the dirt path went into nothing, farm land owned by one of the wealthy farmers but it being winter was just nothing for now. He looked up and seemed surprised to see utility wires going to poles heading south. His new home was the only thing these wires fed to, at the very least he had a radio and even more surprisingly a television, whether he picked up anything on them was yet to be seen. He went inside poking about the kitchen, fully stocked with food and the deep freezer had meat in it. His benefactors did indeed want him gone, disappeared, he went back to the bedroom and opened one of the briefcases. In it were personal belongings, photos of his parents, some old baseball cards he had collected as a kid, war medals from the fifth stoal war. He opened the second and aside from a black bag, thousands of pounds in paper notes, well over 200,000 pounds and in the black bag a Franerre 1911 handgun with three magazines and some spare ammo. 

The law was indeed taking care of him, he had killed the biggest crime lord in Ulster-Gaelia, he had a new life and could live like a king in this rural place. But he was being hunted, the Shirley Mafia had placed a massive bounty on his head, Ned Flannigan for 400,000 pounds dead. They already killed his mother, he had nothing left when he took a deal with the authorities and ratted out the Mafia. He robbed their safehouses before being put into protection by the Kingdom's service. But as far as the UK government was concerned, Ned Flannigan was hiding without their aid, they had no idea where he went. Unofficially he was needed until all the Mafia leadership was round up, then Ned would be brought in discretely for testimony to bring the entire organization to heel. Till then, Ned was gone, from this point on he was Tom Potts. Potts was living in what some would call an isolated hellhole on Ouhiri, Western Zedon in the town of Finely, it was just a farming town that produced crops to then truck over to a larger town called Ripley which then by train sent it to Jamestown to be sold and distributed. Finely was a miserable place, population of 300 or so people, it had a single strip of stores and homes like many of the small farming towns in Western Zedon. No one would ever move here, but off the record, Mr. Potts moved here with a home purchased by the housing authority of the province. 
He took out the pistol from briefcase and closed the money before putting it under his bed. He put a magazine in the pistol and laid it on the dresser near the bed before laying down, tomorrow someone was delivering a car he purchased while waiting in Sepedia for his train to Jamestown. He would start his life out here, doing anything but draw attention to himself. 

[Greywall]

BORING.

That's all Potts could think about in the last four days in his little home, his television picked up one channel, a delayed broadcast of the CBC. He'd watch a baseball game or two before getting irritated at the news droning about the situation in Elenria or the war between Utrax and Meiji. At the least the radio picked up several stations, he settled on a swing station to play in the background as he read what few books he had brought with him. The days melted slowly by, he was going mad, but he had to stay here as long as possible. He stared outside at his car that was delivered a few days ago, longing to drive it...anywhere. 
On the fifth day, rain came, the road turned to outright mud bringing a new horror to the situation. "Oh fuck, I can't leave here when it does this..." depending on how long the rain went could trap someone out here for days. Finally after what seemed like eternity, the rain stopped and the sun began drying the road again. Potts looked outside for the thousandth time at his prison see the sun bleach the plains of Western Zedon, he went back inside and opened up the cupboard for breakfast and finally had a reason to leave the house "Just about out of everything." He got dressed, took some money from the briefcase, and grabbed the handgun sliding it into the back of his trousers hidden behind a loose shirt he wore. He grabbed the keys off the nightstand and walked to the car, a McLaren Kat, an entry level two door car powered by a simple inline six cylinder engine. They were becoming unpopular as 'war time' cars made cheap but for 300 pounds it was hard to beat. The little car roared to life at the turn of a key and Potts began his drive to the small town of Finely. The road was a hell of its own, the rain distorted it into a uneven mess, the car rocked violently forcing Potts to drive slow frustrating him slightly. The drive was a long one, at the very least thirty minutes, he turned on the car radio and picked up a news station to listen to.

"And that's the latest from Glascow as the Cardinals best the Hawks 3-2, in other news Royal Police raided a warehouse today in Eire that contained illegal contraband such as firearms and narcotics. They arrested thirteen individuals and unfortunately had to take the life of one who refused to surrender after opening fire on the officers. The group is believed to be associated with the criminal organization Shirley Mafia, the Ministry of Justice has made it clear that zero tolerance for organized crime will be enforced. Rumors abound that the crime group has been rendered leaderless were confirmed after a bloody shootout among rival factions within the Shirley Mafia revealed to law enforcement that a civil war within the organization could tear it apart."

Potts turned the radio off, he was starting to smell the gunpowder...

At last the town of Finely came into view, it was a dreadful little town. Barely busy at all, its single strip lined with a few stores and shops, Potts pulled in looking around seeing one thing in common and that was no one looked to be interested in the man pulling into town. If his memory served right, Finely was just a farming town, farmers and growers came to send their wares to larger settlements, wait for money to be wired in from the sale and then spend their money here or in the closest real town which was Ripley. Potts pulled into the only grocery store, a Clyde-McDaniels chain store looking busier than anything else on the strip. Potts stepped out of the car and walked inside, soft music played overhead and the air was warm to contrast the cool winter air outside. A few people were inside shopping, gossiping, and probably with nothing better to do just loitering. Potts grabbed a basket from the entrance and was given a half interested greeting from a young woman working the front register, she had to be in her early teens and bored out of her mind "Me too lass" Potts said quietly. He went to one of the aisles and couldn't help but overhear two women over in the next, "Lord above, the winter weather is coming soon, probably will get another snow like last year. Make sure you get bread." Potts was beyond annoyed now, snow would shut him in for sure, he began grabbing things to leave sooner than later because even out here in this isolated part of the world someone might recognize him and try for the bounty. Despite the location the store had a great selection of various goods you would find in any grocery in the UK, more than likely a plus to having a chain store although Potts noticed it wasn't always a Clyde-McDaniels, subtle little things there showed it was once a local shop more than likely bought up by the bigger company. He also noticed the only people working were an elderly couple and the young girl upfront, he thought to himself they must be the original owners and kept their jobs after selling the store. He had finished getting what he needed when he came to the last aisle, "Oh thank Fu-" he corrected himself quick realizing how loud he was talking, magazines of all kinds lined the shelves of the aisle. He had the cash, so dammit all he grabbed a large bundle of them. He didn't care what they were, it was new and he could read them, he came to some in black bags and out of curiosity picked up one "What are th-" he turned blood red nearly dropping it as a large breasted woman fully nude covered the front page. He turned around panic and saw the old woman up in a desk counting money was peering right at him, he felt the warm blood in his face now burning hot as she gave a small smile in amusement before going back to counting. He coughed a bit and slowly snuck the black bag magazine into the stack. "Fuck it, I don't know em."

He went to check out and the young girl as she began adding it all up started to look at him oddly, she saw the black bag and rolled her eyes before putting it in a brown bag. "Totals 3 pounds and 23 pence" Potts pulled a five pound note and laid it on the counter, "Keep the rest lass" her eyes shot up at him in shock and he realized he made his first mistake, people in these small towns don't have this kind of money. He took the assortment of bags to his car and noticed the young girl still glaring at him through the opened door of the store. "Oh fuck." he jumped in the car and drove back to his home, the radio was playing some generic swing music as the car rocked on the dirt road back to his home now having to think of ways to be more careful and blend in until he could leave this place for good.

[Greywall]

Dublin, a city of industry, laid along the Eastern coast of Eire she was the only real city on the entire island. A grey sky hung over the living city as people went about their day either to work, shop, eat or in the case of a man trying to avoid the Queen's police; just lay low. Anthony Brown quickly walked himself down an ally as rain began pelting down on him, he knocked on a door on his right and almost immediately got a response "Who do the birds sing?" Anthony responded, "The birds don't sing on the bourgeoisie". The door opened and he walked into a dark room and was grabbed by an unseen figure, "do not move". The unmistakable feeling of hands feeling all over him for a weapon as they pulled a knife and revolver off of him, "Go on he's expecting you" a light shone an two unsightly individuals guarding the door appeared from the darkness. Anthony walked down a hall and into a room, three large men holding shotguns stared him down as they waved him to a smaller gentleman watching television in the dark. Anthony walked to the smaller man, mid 50's, balding and smoking a cigarette as he stared off into the escape of tube induced electrons.

"You called?" Anthony stopped by the chair the man was sitting in trying to avoid the heavy smoke smell emulating from him, he clearly been here awhile just burning one cigarette after the other. "We lost another warehouse, fuckin Queen and her fuckin cops. At this rate, won't be anything left, they're hunting us into extinction." the man put the filter that was in his mouth into an overfilled ashtray and began lighting another cigarette, "I got a job fer ya, shipment of Franch guns we stole out of Touli. All that crap going on down there, they didn't even notice, I need those guns pushed quick. Got a fella...cleaning them, right? I'm gonna sell them to those loons in Elenria." Anthony scoured at the notion, the Shirleys had always run risky operations for cash, but this was desperate and stupid. "You know, the moment those guns try entering Elenria now-" Anthony was interrupted, "I need this. God dammit, I need this money. Those fern fucks, whatever takapoda cunt dragons I don't even know. All I know, is they money is Kumo and that is good enough for me." The man stood up now showing his overweight body that was slouched into the chair he was sitting in, he snapped his fingers and one of the armed guards brought a manilla folder "guns leave tomorrow night, you're going with them. You make sure they leave on this piece shit boat and get into Elenria, and then you get me my money." Anthony took the folder, it contained passes, paperwork needed to enter Elenria and the 'boat' "Old gods...what is this?" The small man grunted in confusion, "Tyler, your brother wouldn't do something this stupid. The Kumo will catch us, if not them the Royal Police, if not them the Elenria whatever they got down there...hell if the Franch find out we stole their guns they could try and intercept us and take them back." The man known as Tyler was growing angry, "Listen Brown, I don't have anything else, the drugs? gone. The liquor? gone. Hell I just lost my last gambling house. That cunt Queen and her bulldog Moriarty are killing us now, ever since...my brother got killed by that useless rat and then the raids...I need this. Just do it, i'll give you thirty percent" Anthony gave a disregarding sigh, "fifty" Tyler's face turned blood red, "thirty five!". 

Anthony shook his head, the armed men gripped their shotguns and he knew he needed to stop, Tyler unlike his older brother who ran the mob lacked patience. "I'll go to the dock, get these damn guns loaded." Anthony turned around and headed to the door with the folder, "Yea you do that" Tyler looked at another spent filter and reached for his cigarettes only to see the packet empty, "OH FOR FUCK SAKE!" he threw it at one of the armed men, "GO GET ME MORE! YOU USELESS CUNT!" the sound of furniture being thrown around filled the building as a grown man threw a toddler fit over cigarettes. Anthony grabbed his revolver and knife back and turned around at the chaos down the hall, "our way of life is over, the Shirley Mafia is dead." The two door attendants wouldn't acknowledge the remark but didn't deny it. The rain had completely picked up, Anthony shoved the folder into his coat to keep it dry and he made his way to a parked car several blocks down. He got in and the weight of it all hit him, "This is it, my last job...I can't do this anymore." He started the car and drove away not noticing another following him with two undercover officers. 

Anthony pulled into a flat and parked his car on the street, running inside to avoid the rain. The car that followed him was a simple Royce coupe, it parked down the street out of sight, the two men inside were members of the Royal Police. "That's the lad, some kind of enforcer" said the passenger making a note in a small book. "Simple looking chap, was expecting scars or an eyepatch" the driver put the car in park and opened a small packet of cigarettes offering one to the passenger, "gods Leary, are you gonna stop? No I don't want one" the driver scoffed lighting a cigarette and rolling his window down to let the smoke filter out of the car, "Your loss Gery, shit I should have eaten something." Gery looked around, it was almost dark as the day was coming to an end, "think there's a fish and chips stand down the block, you pay for both of us and i'll brave the weather for it." Leary in almost a fit began digging into his trousers and pulled out a pocket book and some pounds, "I want extra chips, get me a drink too, one of those cold sodas the uh...uh...ah shit the blue one." Gery rolled his eyes at him grabbing the pounds and unlocking the door, "Pepsi you uncultured cunt" he went into the rain and began pacing toward the stand. Leary kept his eyes on the flat, watching as the lights came on trying to get an idea of what Anthony was doing.