Random Flash Fiction #2
Check out the first one here.
Image prompt provided by InspiroBot.
Corruption
Sen. Walter Davenport walked into the darkened room with no small amount of trepidation. This was only the third time he had come to meet the shadow masters, those who pulled the strings behind every single government plot, and before they’d approached him six months earlier he hadn’t believed in their existence.
But the proof set before him now, seventeen men around a long council table, sitting in the dark to obscure their features. He wouldn’t have betrayed any of their identities even if he’d known them, but he understood their caution. He had done enough in the shadows himself to want to protect his identity in light.
“Walter, so good of you to join us,” the man at the head of the table said. He always personalize his addresses, using Walter’s first name, asking about his family. In another setting he might’ve found it pleasant, but here he found it only threatening. This man knew far too much about him.
“I’m sure you want to hear about the election,” Walter said. “That’s why you called me, right? You’re wondering why I’m losing to Cynthia Barton?”
“You know as well as we do that the election doesn’t truly begin until someone learns to heed our agenda. So far, our calendar has been as accurate as any,” the man replied. He stood and walked to the corner of the room. Walter heard the clinking of glass, the slashing of liquid, and the sound of approaching steps as the man joined him in the small sliver of light from the hallway.
“It’s time you learned more about us, Walter,” the man said as the light revealed his face. He was nearly unrecognizable to Walter, merely because the man had retired as CEO of a successful company nearly 20 years earlier, and his face had not been in circulation since then.
The man handed him a glass, filled with whiskey by Walter’s best guess. Whiskey was Walter’s liquor of choice. They clinked glasses, and drank together, both downing the shot quickly.
“Does this mean you’re finally ready to fully endorse me?” Walter asked.
“Actually,” the man replied, “we’ve decided to go with Cynthia.”
A sharp pain spread through Walter’s chest. At first he thought it was a reaction to the news, but as the shot glass slid from his fingers and bounced along the floor, he figured it out.
“You poisoned me!” Walter gasped, collapsing to his knees. “Why?”
The man chuckled and stepped away, returning to his seat as he answered, “all we did was ensure you had a fatal heart attack. And what do you know, it was right on schedule. Perhaps you could have been trusted to keep our calendar after all. I suppose now we’ll never know.”
Walter collapsed the rest of the way, and darkness consumed him.
______________________________________________
Check out my Patreon for early access to my novels and exclusive content(stories posted only at Patreon as of this posting)! https://www.patreon.com/Cynus
Or if you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee, go here: http://ko-fi.com/cynuswriting
Special thanks to my patrons for their support: Michael, Charlie, Bill, Paul, Matt, James, Shadow, Joe, Bart, John, Mark, Sam, Pete, Richmond, Scott, Frank, Amr, Haldon, Jay, Mark, Joel, Steve, Don, Jos, Peter, Chris, Heiko, Jeff, Frapsity, Raymond, Ganymedes, Jerod, Mike, Craig, Jack, Pooven, Caleb, and YOUR NAME HERE. You’re all awesome!
Next entry here.
