Mr. Jay’s Castle
“I don’t care what your excuse is for not finding the Pillar until now,” Mr. Jay said from his dark desk. His words were followed but a number of bullets, dropping most of his men dead. “I want results.”
“The world is going crazy right now,” one of his men says. “It’s not easy to find a sneaky man like him.”
“The problem is that in the end I am sure he will be hiding in plain sight,” Mr. Jay said. “That’s what the Pillar does. He plays on the naivety and superficial expectation of stupid people like you.”
“We’re sorry,” one said.
Mr. Jay shot him, too. “I hate that word.”
None of them spoke, in case he hated other words as well.
“How much time is left before the deadline?” he asked.
“One hour.”
“Did the world governments reach a different verdict?”
“Unlikely. We think they’d prefer to have everyone in the asylum dead. That should please the masses,” one of his men dared speak. “Especially with the mad new pope encouraging war in the Vatican. It’d be easier executing those in the asylum than starting a world war three encouraged by a man everyone suddenly trusts.”
“Leave Angelo to me.” Mr. Jay’s voice was indecipherable. “Do we still have some of our men in the police force at the asylum?”
“Most of them died in the clash after the Pillar killed the Queen, but we still have a couple.”
“Authorities?”
“Indeed.”
“Good.” A wiry smoke ring swirled into the room, as if from a pipe or a hookah. Mr. Jay usually smoked when he was feeling good, or was about to say something that’d make him feel good. “Tell our man in the police force to order nuking the asylum.”
“Nuking the asylum?”
“You heard right.”
“But that’s too much…”
Mr. Jay shot him.
Silence was suddenly draped like a dead man’s coffin onto the room.
“Nuke the asylum,” Mr. Jay repeated. “Margaret will take care of the Parliament’s paperwork.”
“Margaret Kent is dead. She died in the limousine’s explosion along with Jack Diamonds and Lorina, Alice’s stepsister.”
“As if Margaret was my only hand in Parliament,” Mr. Jay puffed. “I’ll take care of it. Just order the nukes. I don’t care where they get them, or who is involved, or who this upsets. Nuke the asylum.”
“Can I ask why it’s important to nuke when we could just shoot them inside?” a reluctant member asked. “And please don’t shoot me. It’s just a question.”
“We have to nuke the asylum so I make sure everyone’s dead, including Alice.”
“But the Pillar is outside.”
“That’s what you think,” Mr. Jay said. “Knowing him as long as I have, I’d go with him having sneaked back in, maybe disguised in a suit or something. Just do as I say.”
“And how about Fabiola? She is the only Inkling outside.”
“Fabiola is in the hospital. Send someone to kill her while she is weak. Make it look like she died from injury complications. Anything else?”
“No, thank you, sir,” the man said.
“Good.” Mr. Jay shot another couple men. The piling bodies on his carpet pleased him and reminded him of the beautiful day of killing Alice’s family in Wonderland.