Another of our short little treats while i work on the next section of our still unnamed hotel thriller. Enjoy this one. -simon- The Greatest Scam of All It was a cold stormy mid September night, the rain poured down onto the building as three conmen were trying to crack into the safe of Mr T. W. Lewis, one of the richest men in England. One of the men said, “Do you hear something?” They all went quiet and listened as the silence was filled with the sounds of police cars surrounding the building. Next came a voice over a loud speaker saying “This is the police, we have you surrounded, come out with your hands in the air.” The group stood up and was heading for the door when suddenly a light filled the room as bright as the sun and as red as blood, when the light faded a man stood before them. He was a tall well dressed man wearing dark glasses and a black suit., he walked past the men, then turned to look at them and said ‘good evening gentlemen, now let me see” he took out a small notebook and opened it before continuing “Yes, James Anderson 23 years old, twice incarcerated on charges of fraud, Damon Porter, 31 years old, just released after serving 15 years for armed robbery and Marcus Dent, 19 years old, spent most of your childhood in juvenile facilities on charges of theft and assault.” There was a short silence before Damon looked over to the man and said ‘’well thanks for the mate, under these circumstances I was just thinking, ‘I wish somebody would come in here and tell us who we are, now if you wouldn’t mind, who in the hell are you? The man walked around the room before looking back towards them and saying ‘’whore I am, is not important right now, what is important is that you are three talented young men who are about to go to prison for a very long time, and I am the only person who can help you.” The group confer between themselves for a short time before Jaames turns to the man and says “How exactly can you help us?” The man looked for a while before replying “For a small price gentlemen I can not only get you out of here but arrange it so you are not wanted by police, and you are independent wealthy.” “What’s the catch?” Marcus inquired. “What do you want from us?” The man said nothing, he just reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out three contracts, placing them on the table and looked up and said, “all I want is for you to sign these”. The group looked utterly dumbfounded. “What are they?” How can you get us out of here?” Asked Damon “Look, in exactly forty five seconds those officers will storm in here, we can do the whole question time thing or I can get you out of here to sign it, and sign it now” the three of them looked at each other then signed the papers, just as the doors were kicked in by the police suddenly the room was filled with the same flash of bright blood red light. The boys opened their ryes to see they were sitting in a bar somewhere, they all looked around feeling confused before James asked, “Where are we? How did we get out of there? Who are you?” “Well, this gentlemen this is your club, how I got you out is my little secret and as for who I am” the man took off his hat revealing two small horns on his forehead and continued “I am the man you three just sold your souls to, my young friends, I am the Devil and ten years from this day at the stroke of midnight I shall return to collect what you owe me” With that, he vanished in the same blood red flash with which he had appeared. The men all looked at each other confused and shocked by what they had just seen. They decided if it was tue or not all they could do is live the best they can for the next ten years then eal with it when he returns. Over the next ten years the men worked hard and built up the business they turned one club into two, then three and by the end of the decade they ran a total of seven bars, give nightclubs and nine restaurants. On the eve of their tenth year they decided to hold a party to celebrate what they had achieved. At the minutes to twelve they made their way up to the office and poured a few drinks, then sat around waiting for midnight. As the clock began to chime the men looked up at it and finished their drinks, with the final chime the room was filled with a blood red flash and once again the Devil stood before them. Dressed just as he was ten years ago, and not looking a day older. He looked over towards them and said ‘‘so gentlemen are you ready to depart? Damon looked over to him with the little smile on his face and said ‘’just one second old friend, we’ve had lots of time to look over that contract you tricked us into signing.” The Devil interrupted “You all signed of your own free will” “Perhaps but none of us knew what we were signing, however as I’ve said we’ve looked over it and we have a chance to win back our souls don’t we?” The Devil looked at them and said ‘’yea it’s true you can challenge me but believe me gentlemen it would be pointless I have been doing this for millions of years and no creature has ever managed to defeat me.’’ ‘’ Well if it’s all the same to you I think we’ll give it a go anyway” Marcus replied, the Devil just smiled and said ‘’Ok, well then gentlemen you can ask me three questions then you must set me a challenge, if I can not complete your challenge you win.” “So if we beat you we can keep our souls?” “Yes you do, but nobody ever beats me, two more questions to go” Marcus looked confused and said ‘‘that wasn’t one of our questions’’ “You should be more careful boys.” The three men conferred between themselves and thought carefully for hours before coming up with their next question, James asked “Is there anything you don’t know?” The Devil laughed before replying “No, I have lived since the universe began and shall be here when it ends, I know all that has happened and all that will happen” The boys looked a little demoralised but started to think of their final question knowing this one is their last chance to save their souls. The hours rolled by as the three thought before Damon finally asked ‘‘is there anywhere you can’t go?” The Devil looked on with a smile and said ‘’I can go anywhere, I can cross galaxies in the blink of an eye, it looks like you lose gentlemen you have one hour to set me a challenge then your souls will be mine”. With that the Devil vanished in another bright flash of red light. Each tick of the clock seemed to get louder, than the last as time slowly slipped away from him to her. The seconds drifted away as the hour was gone the Devil returned with another great flash and said “Well gentlemen do you have a challenge for me?” The men looked depressed, and Damon was about to say no when Marcus jumped up and said “Yes, we do, so you know everything, you can go anywhere, and do anything, you are all powerful, well there’s my challenge, get lost!” The Devil screamed out as he was encompassed in a thick cloud of smoke before disappearing in another flash of light. The group cheered and hugged, realising they had just out-schemed the biggest player of them all, not for money or jewels, but for their souls. The room was filled with the Devil’s voice “You may have beaten me friends but it’s only a matter of time.” The group realised they need to make up for all they have done wrong or they would be joining the Devil one day, they decided the best way to start was to go to church and repent. AS they walked out of the building an out of control car jumped the kerb and crushed them into the wall. As the smoke and flames died down the Devil was stood on the corner, laughing The moral of our little story here is that no matter how hard you try and no matter how smart you are or how lucky you are, nobody can cheat the universe, everything you do in this life has a price and you can never get out of paying the price. And as our three friends learnt, when you dance with the Devil, the Devil always leads.
Posted on: Sun, 07 Jul 2013 00:44:29 +0000
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