Gabe was half expecting the call to come. So he stood without a word when the guard told him he had a visitor the next day.
Instead of being led to the row of partitioned seats, where family member talked through wire grilled windows, he was taken to a private room, where he would meet with his lawyer. But his lawyer wasn't coming today.
The guard chained his wrist to the table and left the room. Leaving Gabe to muse on the stupid control games that reinforced his status as a prisoner. It didn't matter that this was minimum security, or that he was a non-violent offender; that wasn't the point at all.
Gabe rested his eyes where he could watch the door and the clock as the minutes crawled by. He began to wonder if the delays were because the guards were harassing his visitor or if his visitor wanted him to stew a bit. He was annoyed either way. He knew who was coming and he wanted this over with. He would leave if he could, but he was literally chained to the table.
Eventually, the door buzzed and opened. Mr. Xero stepped in.
He was tall and dressed for a cocktail party, rather than a prison. His suit probably cost more than all of Gabe's clothes combined. His dark hair was slicked back and ended neatly at his collar. His face was all flat planes and his body was lines, bold definitions of shape in the air. Intimidation walked in with him and settled like a tiger around him when he sat down on the cheap plastic chair.
Gabe swallowed, but met his eyes squarely.
"Mr. Xero." He said.
The man inclined his head slightly. "Gabriel Malkovich."
Gabe forced his knee not to bounce. You didn't show fear when a predator was watching you.
Clearing his throat he said, "It appears I have you to thank for me not getting killed last night."
Mr. Xero smiled a jagged icicle, dangerous and cold. "That is correct, Gabriel."
Gabe's eyes darted away at the use of his full name. It pissed him off to hear it. He went by Mr. Malkovich or Gabe.
"What do you want then?" Gabe asked bluntly. Favors were the name of the game, and Mr. Xero had already played the first round.
Xero tilted his head again and flashed another cut like smile and said, "How do you know I haven't gotten it already?"
Gabe felt the threads gathering around him as securely as the manacle on his wrist. Xero dealt in favors. He cultivated and traded them among the gangs, crime bosses and mafia on the street, those who took part in the dangerous games that took place in the underworld of Grace City.H e negotiated deals for the players and enforced them when necessary. He sat at the middle of his web and watched the flies struggle to escape as he sucked the life out of them. His expensive cologne might as well be the stench of death.
Gabe took a steadying breath. "Mr. Xero, I would prefer it if you would just tell me what you want from me so that I can oblige. I do not like owing anyone."
"You mean you don't like being indebted to me." Mr. Xero responded casually, adjusting the lie of his cuff.
Gabe pressed his lips together but said nothing.
"In any case, the deal is done. You are indebted, whether you want to be or not."
"What do you want?" Gabe gritted out, growing impatient, his anxiety making him edgy.
Mr. Xero shot him a sharp look, which told Gabe to reign himself in.
"You witnessed an occurrence." Mister Xero went on as if he hadn't threatened Gabe with less than a look. "On the night you were arrested."
Gabe shifted. Gabe shifted and looked away. He knew what he had seen. Not who, but what. And he knew that's why he was in jail now. Xero's interest in him began to make sense.
When he looked back Mister Xero nodded slightly and continued. "And the thing you witnessed, could be very sensitive information. Very valuable information."
Gabe's gaze didn't waver.
"You chose, however, not to divulge, said information."
Gabe shifted again, making the chain on his wrist chink slightly. "I don't snitch."
The cops had tried. They had wheedled and threatened, and that's how Gabe knew that what he had seen was important. When they had offered to clear him of charges if he told them, he knew that it was probably far more important than a small-time criminal like himself.
Mr. Xero nodded again, approvingly. "And yet, you have no reason to keep such information to yourself. You could have used it to bargain for your freedom."
Something about his tone made Gabe think Mr. Xero knew exactly what he had been offered.
"I could've, but I didn't obviously," Gabe replied, pulling his chain to its length to cross his arms and looking at Xero pointedly.
Mr. Xero glanced at him then away, as if bored with his plight. "The event you witnessed happens to pertain to a friend of mine, and he would very much prefer it to remain private."
Gabe assumed 'friend' meant 'client' and 'private' meant 'never to be voiced in the open air.'
"So while you are here, I can offer you some measure of safety." Mr. Xero finished.
Gabe chewed on his lower lip. "That seems a bit too simple to me. Offer me protection just because I saw something? It would easier to kill me."
Mr. Xero's face remained immobile, but he turned an intense stare in his direction. "Yes, that is true."
"Then what?"
Mr. Xero folded his hand on one knee, leveling a frank look at Gabe. It struck Gabe that though Xero looked like he was currently hiding claws, he was rather handsome.
"I always need more ears inside. And from what I know of you, Gabriel, you are very good at gleaning and filtering information."
It clicked now, and Gabe clenched his hand briefly then let go. "You want me to be your man."
"One of them." Xero corrected. He was smug as he watched Gabe process the situation with hard, glittering eyes.
Gabe knew he was in danger, from Xero, from whomever he'd seen that night, from the hell hole he currently lived in. Watching Xero with his perfect hair, in his perfect suit telling him what to do flashed that anxiety to anger. Gabe was vibrating as he did before a fight, his fists clenched. But his voice was even and his malice carried perfectly. "I belong to no one, Mister Xero ."
The air in the room chilled, radiating outwards from the man across from Gabe.
"Excuse me?" he said quietly.
Gabe leaned forward, knowing it was stupid. But, if he was going to die anyway, he was going, to be honest. "You can't buy my silence. I'm not looking for a favor, so if I choose to keep my mouth shut, it stays that way. So your friend has nothing to worry about. But if you're blackmailing me into becoming a part of your slave network, think again."
Mr Xero narrowed his eyes, and Gabe knew with alarming certainty, just how much shit he had just landed himself in.
"I hope you don't think that prison can keep you safe from me, Gabriel."
Gabe's eyes widened. "No, that would be stupid. You obviously have your strings everywhere, but I'm not going to be your puppet. Sorry. So if you need to kill me, then just do it."
He was sorry. For himself. For his stubbornness and runaway mouth too.
"Your pride is worth more than your life?" Xero asked, still quiet.
Gabe was shaking as he replied, his fists still clenched. "My life is only worth anything if it's still mine. I know you, Mr. Xero. And I know that once you have your hooks in someone, you never let go."
A long silence followed this, and Gabe had the feeling of being examined minutely, his character weighed on scales.
Without another word, the tall, austere man got up and left