The Tempest Act 3, Scene 3

Act 3, Scene 3

Alan took a bite of the pastries and threw it aside. It was late morning, and the boys are out in force to looked for Freddy, leaving him with Gonzales. He was feeling hungry and was getting impatience.

"Gonzo, where is the imp?" Alan asked. "Where is my breakfast?"

Gonzales who was looking through some papers from his attache case, looked up. He looked to the doorway and the window. He saw the mid morning sunlight warming the hall they were in but there was no new food on the table.

"Maybe he is coming." Gonzales replied and went back to his papers.

"Well, I am hungry. Rush him up for me." Alan had just bitten another pastry to spat it out.

"I can't do that, Alan." Gonzales replied. When he used the personal name, he was being serious. He knew Alan long enough to go on first name. "We are not in your hotel or home. We are guests here."

"Aargh!" Alan was in frustration when he swept the plates off the table. He looked around and then asked for the boys.

"Have they found Freddy yet?" Alan asked.

Gonzales did not offered to reply but shook his head. That got the older man agitated.

"Well, then find them." Alan shouted out. It was then Stanley walked in with Anthony. They were carrying their guns, but no Freddy. Soon to follow was the others including the hobbling Ernie.

"There is no sign of Freddy." Anthony spoke up. "More to it, all the doors are locked or padlocked from the outside. We could hardly move out of this block."

"James here lost his tommy gun." Blake reported to Alan on the loss of the sub-machinegun. "He said he leaned it on the wall while he looked through some cupboards, but it was later gone. None of us could find it."

Alan pulled out his gun and had it leveled at James, but Blake stepped in.

"Mr, Nates. We would find it. So please no shooting now." Blake was holding his gun and he looked like he would used it. It was Gonzales who stepped in and ease the tension.

"Gentlemen, please quit the child play. We got to get out and find Freddy." Gonzales had stepped in and lowered Alan' gun. "Rest for a while and then resumed."

As the boys sat down, in came Ariel with the fresh breakfast food and drinks on then push cart. He apologize for being late.

"I was serving my benefactor his breakfast." Ariel stood there in his butler suit and smiling. He turned to walk away when Gonzales stopped him.

"We are leaving today." The Attorney told him.

"Oh, you can't. The last storm had some mud slides and look." Ariel pointed to the window. "There is a new storm coming in."

"I be darned if I stay another night here." Alan got up from the table. "I am leaving when we find Freddy."

Alan looked to the boys.

"Finished up and leave for the search. Split up to cover more grounds." The boys split into three of four each, with Ernie staying back. Again then, no one noticed that imp was missing.

Stanley and Anthony was with two others, Brooke and George while Blake had Simon, Gerry and James. The last group was Peter, Lance, Jones and Murphy. Each group had a sub-machinegun each. They decided to take floor by floor. Stanley took the first level, while Blake the second and Peter the next one. They checked every room, and kicked in the locked ones. The thing that scared them was the rooms are mostly dark with the curtains closed and the windows shut with planks. There were little lights and lots of loose boards. Each room was decorated with the lavish sets and four pole beds with walking wardrobes.

Ariel had his tasks to performed as instructed by his benefactor.

The first to sample the task was Peter and his mates. They walked into this room which was larger than any bedrooms. It was filled with the scent from the burning candles and lighted bottles of essence. The room was smoky and the quartet soon found themselves falling to their faces. It was an old trick of the place, to mixed the sedatives in the scent smelling candles so that the inmates would sleep better. Ariel later appeared with the gas mask on to removed the unconscious men into the hidden corridors. There they were binded with ropes and blindfolded.

The next group was the Blake' team with the same results. The only group left to searched was the Stanley group which completed their search and walked back to the hall where Alan was waiting.

They waited and nothing happened. The two groups were not back.

Then the rain came again. It poured like yesterday, from clear skies to dark wind swept ones which lashed against the windows.

"Another rain." Alan sighed. "My Freddy still missing. Had he been swept away by the muds? Or lain dead in the cold rain?"

Gonzales walked over to consoled his friend. He could see that despite the fiery and arrogant portrayal that Alan showed to his boys, inside of him was a fellow concerned man for his loved ones. Gonzales tapped his friend and told him not to worry.

"I am sure Freddy is alive somewhere. Maybe another home had given him refuge."

It was then Stanley whispered to his cousin.

"The moment presents itself. Do you move or I would do it for my own?" Stanley asked. But before he could move, Ariel was seen pushing in the push cart with the noon meals. Ernie got up to be the first to grab the food. When he did that, he was standing in between Stanley and Alan.

"Stanley, eat up while the others would joined later." Anthony defused the situation. He himself then walked to the table blocking Stanley from his vile action. The others soon followed on and the reluctant Stanley did the same. After they had some bites, suddenly Stanley threw away his food. He placed his fingers into the throat to puke the food out.

"Look!" Stanley pointed at the food on the tables. "Those are worms."

They all looked to the foods on the table. It was all covered with worms and dead insects. Everyone puke their food out, including Gonzales.

"What manner of sorcery is this?" Alan shouted out. "Where is the Imp?"

Everyone looked around and could not find the imp. The hall meanwhile had grown dim lighted with the falling rain, and with a surprise, the imp appeared. A moving image on the fall wall above the fire place. It was the imp or looked like him in the dim light. There were the angels at his feet holding him up.

"Sinners and Saints? You three are not the later." The imp floating in the air spoke up.

"Destiny brought you here, be it by the rain or the hatred of your victim.

 The three of you are unfit to be called man when your hands have stained with blood

 The blood of your victim who was innocent yet you hunt to removed the life."

"Foul deeds you do for greed of power; snatch or theft, kill or maimed

 You care not for their being, but only yourself in full.

 Are you mad to be denied the sanity of man when you kill

 An innocent life that dealt no pain towards yourself."

"Killers, I have seen many in my time; murderers I have not

 Yet you three have shown me more in one day

 That you are not to benefit from new paths on this journey of life."

Stanley looked to the imp and leveled his sub-machinegun. He fired off a full clip and watched the imp danced to its death, but soon the imp was replaced with that of another.

"Its the devil himself." Ernie who was a staunch believer of the faith bellowed out. The man fell onto his knees and spoke his prayers. Stanley who was in rage, turned his gun to shoot at the praying man. It was Anthony who grabbed the gun.

"Stop it, Stanley. They image was not referring to us."Anthony told him. "It was referring to Uncle Nates."

Both of them looked at the older man who looked pale in the face. Alan Nates may had been a mobster, but he was also a man of devout faith. He fell onto his knees and spoke.

"I am sorry, Bernice." Alan spoke up. "It was not supposed to happened that way."

"Speak your sins, the one who knew." The figure appeared again on the wall again. This time it was the image of one man they all knew; Paul Miller. The younger Nates were shocked by the new image.

"Paul, I am sorry." Alan spoke up. "Bernice was not to die. It was all Brady' fault."

Paul recalled that night before they were to visit Paul' home. They were in a meet nearby at the drinking tavern. There was Brady, Christopher, Steven and Charlie.

"There would be no gun play. I would speak to Paul for the option. I would be boss and deal with the Digby. Once its over, Paul takes over again. If its goes wrong, I am responsible to the Digby."

"No, Alan. You do not play second fiddle no more. I want you up there. We could retire Paul Miller." Brady smiled. He never liked Paul since the other had him reprimanded in the open at the warehouse. He was in the wrong, but he was Alan' brother in law. He ought to be given some leeway, but not from Paul Miller. It was Alan who saved his bacon that day. But since that moment, he had a personal dislike of Paul Miller. Brady drew the gun that shot Paul, but the guards were quick too. Fortunately, the others covered Brady from them, but Paul escaped. Brady was not satisfied that he needed to do the whole family. He rushed up before Alan could stopped him. It was also then, the other guards came rushing in from the front and delayed Alan' ascent to stop Brady. He heard the shot but was late. He did loved Brady and in his rage, he shot the dead lady.

Alan told the truth that day, but the imp was to reply differently.

"Sinner, your blood would be his to collect." With that the imp threw something towards them but was aimed at the table. It created a flash and caused the worms to disappeared from the plates.

It also made Stanley to go wild with the sub-machinegun as he sprayed the walls with the remaining clip. He then took out his personal gun to shoot at the wall. But there was nothing there; it was all a dark wall. The hall smelled of cordite, and the others were in a prayer position or standing there looking glazed.

"The food....." Gonzales looked to the table. "The worms are gone."

"There are no devils. If there was I am the Devil." Stanley shouted out. He was in a state of delusion from the drugs in the food but he was also a free thinker. One with a strong will like his dad, he was fighting the drug induced state that they saw the devils.

"To hell with that devil." Stanley was still holding his gun. He saw Brooke reaching for the gun, and shot the man in the face. The other one, George reacted as expected on seeing his mate getting shot but was gunned down by Anthony who saved Stanley' life.

"Hold it!" Gonzales staggered forward to stop the two young man from shooting more people.

"I said to hold it." Gonzales spoke out in a lower tone. "We need to get out now."

"No!" Alan shouted. "I am not leaving without my Freddy. He's all I got left."

"Boys, get the guns. We would fight this devil whoever he is." Alan took back command. The two man collected the guns from the dead men and stood by Alan's side.

"Someone playing us for fools. We would find Freddy and get out together." Alan walked to the doorway. "Even I have to burned down this whole place."

Gonzales looked at the three men who walked to the doorway. He knew them to be crazy, but this is madness. All of that was madness. Paul's vengeance and Alan's perseverance to find his son. Freddy could had been dead last night. Some wolves may had eaten him by then.

They are all mad. He was also mad to be here.

But he had to put a stop to it. They would all be killed. And it would his conscience that would hold the burden.

"God help me." Gonzales muttered to himself.