The Last Option
Chapter Forty-Seven: The Challenge

With his new appearance and in another car, Duncan parked on one of the busy streets in the center of town. He looked at himself in the mirror and contemplated the image: he had put on a sports jacket, his once blue eyes were now black; his wig, also with black hair, was combed to the right side, letting a small strand fall over his forehead, and to complete his new face he put on a padlock-style beard and mustache, also black.

"Damn! If I took off the padlock and left my blue eyes, I would look like the fucking Superman!" he said to himself with a smile, accommodating the strand, which refused to stay up. He decided to leave it like that on his forehead, then taking his cell phone and a piece of paper out of his jacket pocket, he dialed a number that he had written down there and waited.

Bernard had returned to the room-office and sat at the desk, silent and thinking. Anthony, who was already sitting there too, looked at him curiously.

"I didn't want to go out to see who they were so as not to bother you," he told him. "But I see it was someone who affected you a lot. What's going on?" Bernard came out of his musings and looked at his father-in-law with a resigned air.

"It's over," he told him. "The police already know that I was the one who offered the bounty."

"It can't be," Anthony said. "Only Gonzo, Don and the two of us know that. The police couldn't have known."

"Well, it was West and the other detective, and they just told me that a minute ago. They didn't tell me how they knew, but West said he knows it was me."

"He's bluffing, son. If so, he would have arrested you. He somehow found out about the bounty but he still doesn't know who is offering it. If he had evidence against you, he would have already arrested you. He only said it to see your reaction, and if you didn't show him anything that would give you away, he'll keep investigating."

"He also said that they knew who the killer was, and that they're about to catch him."

"I don't think so. A few months have passed without achieving anything. He's definitely bluffing with you."

"He told me the bounty was starting to create problems to them. What could have happened?"

"We should call Gonzo and Dan to see if they know anything so far."

Bernard had the disposable cell phone on the desk, and at that precise moment it began to ring. Bernard and Anthony looked at each other somewhat surprised, and then at the phone.

"Could it be that someone already has him?" Bernard said.

"Well, answer to clear up any doubts!" Anthony grabbed the phone and handed it to him. "One moment! Wait for that person to speak first, you should not compromise even your voice if it's a trap." Bernard nodded and pressed the call key. He waited a few seconds.

"You no longer have to offer a bounty for me," Duncan told him, "partly because I'm here now, and partly because anyone who comes for me I'll kill slowly and painfully and they won't be able to collect it. You should already know who I am and what I'm capable of."

Bernard looked at Anthony a little surprised to hear the killer himself calling him on the phone. He took a piece of paper and a pen and wrote: It's the killer. Anthony read it, and also surprised he wrote back: speaker, and Bernard activated the function of the phone.

"You don't say anything?" Duncan continued. "I thought you wanted me in front of you anyway, well here I am! How are we going to handle this? Or have you already chickened out?"

"You must pay for the deaths of Nathan and Norma Hicks," Bernard said, "as well as the person who hired you to kill them."

"I assume you're the driver, right? That millionaire had no other family that would dare to avenge his death; he only had you, his late wife and that child you have with you, who was his son," Duncan let out an evil laugh that would have chilled someone else's blood, but not Bernard, rather it made him angrier. "See how I know everything about you?"

Bernard felt the resentment and hatred towards that subject increased every second. To end it all at once, he decided to play a dangerous card, which Anthony wouldn't share later.

"I'm going to rip your damn heart out and throw it to the rats in a dark, dirty, cold alley," Bernard told him slowly, his voice not trembling. Anthony looked at him with wide eyes, surprised and at the same time scared to hear his son-in-law speak that way.

"Oops! My blood ran cold!" Duncan scoffed, still laughing. "I swear, I just got goose bumps. I can see you're a tough guy, I imagine you feel that way because you managed to knock Billy "the bully" down that time. But I'm not him, driver, I assure you I'm not."

"I'm sure not. You're just a fucking coward who hides in the shadows and murders good, innocent people for money, just like the person who hired you. It was Louis Randall, right? Another miserable, cowardly rat who can't have it all on his own."

Insulting him was one thing Duncan could ignore, but hearing his great love insulted was another. That he couldn't allow it.

"Your problem is with me, driver!" Duncan yelled to the machine. "Only with me!"

Duncan cut off the connection, furious, and started hitting the steering wheel of the car violently until his knuckles ached. In the apartment, Bernard and Anthony stood expectantly, confused by the killer's sudden reaction.

"I think you shouldn't have said those things to him, Bernard," Anthony complained, a little worried. "From what we hear that guy is some kind of very dangerous psychopath, and pissing him off like that will only make him even more so." "And that he makes mistakes too," Bernard said, "which is what I want. He already committed the first one, and was to contact me."

"What do you have in mind if he calls you back? Because it's sure he will. He's not going to keep that one."

"We'll set a trap for him, and hand him over to West. But before that he'll have to tell me if it was Louis Randall who hired him. He didn't seem to care when I mentioned him."

"Because maybe he's not the one who did it. Although his reaction seemed strange to me, he may not want to involve his clients."

"I still think it was Randall. Think about it: there's no one else who would want Nathan dead, unless there's something deeper going on that we don't know, like he was a mobster or something. Nor would his sister have any interest in him dying, even if she inherited everything. She already enjoys her money in her way."

"A mobster? Come on!" Anthony giggled. "From what you've told me, that guy was almost a saint, although sometimes appearances are deceiving."

"What do you mean by that?" Bernard asked suspiciously.

"Well, I say it partly for you, because you have left me surprised by the way you spoke to that murderer. You were always a calm and quiet man. I didn't know this Bernard." "Perhaps the pain hardened me."

"If you'd hardened, you wouldn't have your dead ex-boss's son here with you. You've only gotten a little stronger, and now you won't let them hurt you anymore. That's it."

At that moment the disposable cell phone rang again. Bernard answered and put him back on speaker.

"If you want us to get this over with," Duncan said, "I'm willing to see you, but only you, driver, no one else. We'll see what you're made of, and if you're as tough as you sound."

"You don't scare me, Duncan, because that's your name, right? I always knew it was you and I longed for this moment. You better make me kill you, because if not, I'm going to hand you over to the police and you'll pay for all the bad things you've done in your life. All those deaths and murders. All your criminal and twisted life."

"Until now there has been no one who has seen my face and is not underground, driver. What makes you think I'll let you live?"

"And what makes you think I will let you live? You don't know me, Duncan, you don't know what I'm capable of. You messed with the wrong people and worse for you, you left the wrong person alive. I mean, me, and I'll make you pay for what you did to my friends."

"Okay. As I told you: we'll see what you're made of."

"Where?"

"Under the Williamsburg Bridge, on Roosevelt drive, at midnight. If I smell something strange, I leave. I don't think you're one of those people who cowardly lay traps. We agree?" "I'll see you there."

Duncan closed the communication.

"You're not going alone to that guy," Anthony told him. "He's very dangerous, and he can kill you without saying a word. You better tell West and he'll take care of him."

"If the police get involved, he'll know and he won't let them catch him. Psychopaths are very smart. What are you thinking to do?"

"You will help me. You will be hidden about three or four hundred meters away with a rifle, and when I give you a signal you will shoot him in the leg. Then I'll catch him." "I haven't shot a rifle in many years, Bernard, I'm out of shape. I don't think I can help you."

"I trust you can do it."

"And if I fail? In a matter of seconds he would kill you if I don't get it right. I don't know, it's very risky."

"Then I will have to face it alone, relying on my skills. Either way I'll be running the risk of dying there." Bernard reached into the desk drawer for the gun he'd bought and loaded it.