The Magicians

He moved to the corner and entered the men’s room.  He opened his bag and deftly attached the silencer to the .45 and placed the two spare magazines into his coat pocket; he flushed the toilet and went back out toward the front door.  Pausing, he got the attention of the young waitress.  “Excuse me miss, do you know Dave?” and he pointed towards Dave’s shop.  “Sure, everybody knows Dave” she replied.  “ Well, did you know that today is his birthday?”   She gave him a puzzled look.  He chuckled.  “ I’m Dave’s brother and I came into town to surprise him for his birthday.  I was going to sneak in the back way, but I could use a little help.”  He put a $20. bill in her hand. “If you could call his number in about 15 minutes, it would really help.”  He gave her a big smile and got out a pen to write down the number for her.  “You don’t have to pay me sir, I’d be glad to help.”  He gave her the number and said, “ Thanks, you have no idea how much this will mean to Dave.  15 minutes then?”  He was out the door.

He slowly made his way across the street until he was out of sight of Dave’s, then hurried around the corner toward the fire escape at the rear.  Choosing the fire escape on the building next to Dave’s, he quickly ascended the stairs to the top.  Standing on the rail, he lifted himself to roof level and cautiously peered over the top.  The roof was clear.  He pulled himself up onto the roof and set his bag down.  In a crouch he moved across the roofs and to the skylight on Dave’s roof.  Peering down, he saw his old friend.  Tied to a chair in the middle of the room, Dave had definitely seen better days, but he appeared to be alive.  With him were three men.  Quickly now he retraced his steps to the fire escape, leaving his bag on the roof.  He jumped quietly onto the fire escape of Dave’s building.

Inserting his key into the lock, he drew the .45 and checked for the spare magazines in his pocket.  He waited for the phone to ring.  On the first ring, he was through the door in a crouch.  Diving to the right, he was careful to put the three men between him and the window.  The second ring and he put two bullets into the first two men before they knew what was happening.  On the third ring, the last man turned toward him, not understanding what was going on.  Theo dropped him with two shots to the head.  Instinctively, he dropped the magazine from the gun and fed a fresh magazine into the .45 while scanning the area.  Clear.  Moving quickly, he checked Dave and moved to the top of the staircase.  If he was right, there would be two more men down stairs.  Fourth ring, and he was at the bottom of the stairs.  One man swung to engage him, he dropped him without loosing stride.  Fifth ring, and he was moving through the curtains.  Shit!  Two men turned to shoot.  He dropped the man on his weak side and without hesitation swung and dropped the other man.  Changing magazines again, he checked the area.  Clear.  He checked to make sure all three were dead then returned to the second floor.  On the second floor, one man was still alive.  He put a bullet in his head.  He knew this man would tell him nothing.

He holstered the .45 and untied Dave.  As he was undoing the ropes, Dave briefly came to and tried to focus.  “Bout time you got here” and he lapsed into unconsciousness.  He carried him down stairs and put him on the couch.  Making sure Dave was all right, he systematically searched each body.  He found nothing, but he didn’t expect to