SAINTS AND SINNERS

By Tobias Christopher

Quentin Glass had gotten a few miles away from the Saint’s mansion when he pulled out his cell phone. The man who had been hired to kidnap Benji Martoni had done exactly as asked, only he never showed up. While Howard Saint had wanted to use Benji as a pawn against the Punisher, Glass had other plans. He was going to keep the child as far as possible so that Saint didn’t have a bargaining chip when the Punisher arrived.

“Where the hell are you?” Glass asked, making sure no one followed him. “You were supposed to take Castle’s kid to the appointed area to hold him.”

“Plans have changed, Mr. Glass. I’m keepin’ the kid and killing Castle myself after he inevitably kills you and your boss.”

“You fucking psycho, we had a deal!” Glass shouted into the phone. “You were only supposed to keep the kid away from Saint until after Castle killed him!”

“I’m still keeping the kid away from Saint. Only now, the plan is for everyone to die. Saint. Castle. You. And this fucking brat if he doesn’t shut up. He’s got his old man’s attitude.”

“You bastard, I’ll kill you myself,” Glass told him. “Or even better, I’ll make sure Castle knows it’s you that took his kid.”

“If Castle survives, send him my way, ‘cause I’ll be waiting for him.”

The person on the other end of the line hung up as Glass threw his cell phone against the wall. It was time for plan B. He’d make sure that by the end of the night, Howard Saint was dead and that he was the new man in charge.

“Frank, what the hell is this place?” Chip asked as they looked around the huge room, which was filled with prostitutes. “Don’t you normally burn down places like this?”

“It was a few years back, and I found out a pimp was beating his girls, treating them like trash,” Frank said as they followed behind their tour guide. “I beat the fucker within an inch of his life, at which point he had an epiphany. When he recovered, he turned his whole operation around. Started treating his girls nicer, made sure none of them were doing drugs, even started paying them a fair amount. I still loathe what goes on here, but it’s the lesser of two evils. At least here they’re not drug addicted or getting the shit beat out of them.”

“Our boss is just about the only game in town these days,” the prostitute leading them along told them as they headed for a large, gold plated door. “Virtually every girl in town is willingly working for him because of the conditions he’s given us. He doesn’t employ girls against their will, we come and go as we please. You really made him see the light, Mr. Castle.”

The girl opened the door as Frank and Chip saw a black man sitting on a throne at the far end of the room. He was dressed in a white suit, with black shades and a large white fedora and a red feather sticking out of it. He was drinking out of an oversized wine glass, big enough to hold a quart of red wine in it.

“Frank Castle,” Pimpin’ Longstocking said as he stood up. “Long time, no see. I knew you’d be back someday, but you ain’t gonna find nothing in my place. My girls are clean, and have been ever since you beat the shit out of me all those years ago.”

“I’m not here about that,” Frank told him. “I’m here because me and my partner need a place to hide out until we can plan a way to take out Howard Saint.”

“Howard Saint?” asked Pimpin’ with a disgusted tone. “You’re here to kill that motherfucker? Count me in on that one. That bastard’s men have constantly stiffed my girls on the bill, and a few of them even tried to rough some of them up. Because of him, I’ve implemented some changes here. Whatever you need, you got it.”

“Just a place to hide, and some weapons, if you have them,” Frank told him.

“Weapons? You came to the right place,” Pimpin’ told him. “Follow me.”

“Tell me the truth,” Michael said to his partner, James Griffin as they were sitting in the motel room, looking over case files. “Why are we really here? Is it because the Punisher’s out here?”

Michael had heard the news report about the Punisher being wanted for a murder and was now wanted by every officer in the city.

“The Punisher isn’t our concern,” Griffin lied as he looked through the files, hoping to find a clue as to where to find Frank before he did something to get himself killed. “We’re here on other business.”

“We could have looked at case files back in the office at Washington,” Michael told him. “What’s really going on? Come on, tell me the truth.”

“The truth is that we’re here to stop a bloodbath before it happens,” Griffin told him. “If we can find the Punisher and talk some sense into him, we could save countless lives. But the thing you really to know is that this is completely off the record. No one outside of the room can know what we’re doing, or we can both lose our cushy jobs.”

“You can trust me,” Michael told him. “I’ll help you find the Punisher. And we’ll… talk to him.”

“Dad, what the hell is going on?” Saint’s oldest son John said as he walked into the room. “Why the hell are they saying that me and Morgan have to go to a safehouse?”

“It’s for your protection,” Saint told him. “A very bad man is coming and I won’t have my family in the line of fire.”

“What about you and mom?” asked John. “Why aren’t you coming?”

“Your mother’s her own person, she doesn’t take orders from me,” Saint told him. “But she’ll be safe, I promise. But you need to take your little brother and keep him safe, John. You two are my legacy, and I need to keep you safe.”

“If you’re in trouble, I can help,” John said as he looked at his father. “I can fight for you. I’ve been waiting for this day since I was little.”

“Absolutely not!” Saint shouted. “My boys will not have any part of this, do you hear? Now, I want you to take Morgan and go before it’s too late! That’s an order!”

John stormed out of the room as Saint looked out the window, where the added security was just starting to arrive. He picked up his cell phone to call Glass and find out where he was, and where Frank Castle’s son was at.

Pimpin’ guided Frank and Chip through the building, taking them through a training room where several dozen prostitutes were practicing martial arts and weapons fighting.

“I’m having all my girls learn self defense,” Pimpin’ told them as they headed for a weapons room. “Now they can kick any man’s ass on top of all their other tricks. Nobody beats up my hos.”

Pimpin’ opened the room up, to reveal a large armory. “Not only are my bitches learning to defend themselves, they’re defending the streets. We’ve been taking all this shit off the gangs that try to move into the neighborhood. Ain’t a single bullet or piece of drugs on my turf. Can’t make money if the clients are dead.”

“Jesus, Frank, how badly did you beat this guy up?” Chip asked. “He certainly doesn’t seem like a traditional pimp.”

“Pimpin’ Longstocking goes beyond motherfuckin’ traditional, son,” Pimpin’ told you. “You have to do in my line of work. You take all the weapons you need, I’ll round up the bitches for a debriefing.”

“Wait—what?” asked Frank with a raised eyebrow. “You’re sending an army of hookers to take on Howard Saint?”

“You haven’t seen my bitches in action,” Pimpin’ told him. “You don’t know Howard Saint. Yeah, you read about that motherfucker in the papers and you think you know what kind of seedy shit he gets into, but that’s all the stuff he wants you to know. My bitches have seen his world, and what he’s capable of.”

“He’s right,” Chip replied. “He’s the guy of guy who’ll blow a hole into a six month baby’s head.”

“The Saints own every cop, politician, and judge in this whole motherfuckin’ town,” Pimpin’ told him. “He’s going to have his place locked down with more security than Fort Knox. You’re gonna need help getting in there to kill him.”

“Fine,” Frank told him as he looked at Chip. “This ends tonight. Are you ready?”

“Show me one person that can stop me,” Chip replied as he grabbed a gun.

Morgan sat in the safehouse when he saw his older brother sneaking out the window. “Where are you going?”

“Dad needs me,” John told him. “Stay here, I’ll come back for you after this is all over.”

John climbed out the window, making his way to the Saint mansion. Just as Morgan was getting comfortable, he heard gunshots outside the door. He rushed to the window, seeing Glass standing over the dead bodies of the guards on the ground. He saw the doorknob slowly opening as he headed upstairs to hide.

Glass walked in, leaving the dead security guards behind him. “Morgan? It’s your Uncle Quentin. Everything’s going to be alright, you can come out now.”

Glass walked upstairs, drawing his gun as he went, finding no signs of the boy. He got to the final room and walked in, looking around. He laughed as he saw a pair of shoes sticking out from under the bed.

“Got ya, you little bastard,” Glass said as he grabbed one of the shoes and pulled it, finding that it wasn’t attached to a foot. He stood up, as Morgan snuck out from behind the bedroom door with a ballbat in his hands.

“Surprise!” Morgan shouted as he brought the bat down on Glass’s back. As he buckled under the hit, Morgan turned, getting him in the kneecap. Glass raised his gun, but Morgan brought the gun down on his arm, forcing him to drop it. “You know something, Uncle Quentin? I am just loving this bat you got me for my birthday.”

With that, Morgan swung upward, knocking Glass onto the bed before he ran out the door.

Frank looked over the small army of prostitutes that were armed to the teeth. He couldn’t believe he was about to lead an army of call girls into battle, but it was the only way to get past his forces and rescue his son.

“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Frank asked as he looked at Chip.

“Howard Saint killed my family, I have to do this,” Chip replied as he put the last gun in his belt. “Let’s take him out.”

It was then that Frank’s cell phone started ringing.

“Not a good time, Griffin,” Frank told him.

“Frank, I’ve been trying to call you for hours,” Griffin told him. “Where are you?”

“I’m about to kill Howard Saint,” Frank replied as he looked at his watch. “I should really get on that.”

“Frank, Saint’s going to have every cop in town at his mansion, and I know you won’t kill any of them,” Griffin told him. “This isn’t going to end well.”

“James, you need to trust me on this,” Frank told him. “I have everything under control except for one tiny detail.”

“Benji.”

“I’m going to get my son back, and no force on Earth is going to stop me,” Frank told him. “We’ll meet up after before we leave town.”

“Frank, wait—” Griffin started to say as Frank hung up on him. “Terrific, Frank, you’re going to either get yourself captured or killed.”

Michael was listening outside the door, hearing Griffin’s side of the conversation. It looks like he was going to meet the Punisher sooner than planned.

“The cops are WHERE!?” Saint shouted into the phone. “No, this is unacceptable! I own the fucking police, they should be where I tell them to be!”

Saint slammed down the phone as he sighed. “No police, no Punisher’s kid, what else is going to go wrong?”

Morgan had to run all the way in his stocking feet, which slowed him down. He would be the last of the party guests to arrive, as Quentin Glass was already there, gun in hand, ready to kill everyone.