Paintshark by Kingsley Pilgrim

of starving to death, which some may think is bad for business.”
    It was all or nothing for Elias. “What if I was to give you one thousand?”
    Mr Tidy looked confused, while Apollo seemed curious. “You can get that sort of money?”
    “Just give me a few days, I can get the money.”
    “What do you mean?” asked Apollo.
    “Savings, it’s my savings, I can give it to you, if you leave my family and school alone.”
    Apollo had a gleam in his red eye. “This school must mean a lot to you.”
    “You have no idea what it took for me to get that school.”
    “Well, that’s a story for another time but we may have something here.”
    Apollo thought for a moment. “Ok, we have ourselves a deal.”
    Elias breathed out heavily.
    “Just one thing, Elias…can we trust you?”
    “Of course you can, as you said before, you’re a businessman. This is a good business proposition.”
    Apollo seemed to be deep in thought. “You make it sound so tempting, but just another thing and then I’m gone…what about your daughter?”
    Elias seemed perplexed. “What about her?”
    “Well, if I’m going to relieve you of one hundred thousand notes and go back to my boss empty-handed, you have to promise me to leave town for a while, we will make sure to keep your school open for you until ‘Big Man’ loses interest in your school.”
    “How long will it take?”
    “Big Man likes a challenge, if yours was the only school left open in the district and it’s the biggest school too… he’d stop at nothing to find you to finish the job personally, no you go but your daughter stays.”
    “Why do want to my daughter to stay?”
    Apollo smiled an assassin’s smile. “Because we’re going to train her to be one of us…who knows…we might train her to come after you in the future, that would be something…don’t you think?”
    “NEVER!” Elias ran to him but was held back by Mr Tidy. He still gave him a piece of his mind. “Do you really think that I would up and leave without taking my daughter? I thought you were bounty hunters but obviously buffoons suit you better.”
    “Hold your tongue!” snapped Apollo.
    “Hold yours,” Elias snapped back.
    Apollo smiled again. “Firstly we are not bounty hunters, we are freelance security officers.” Mr Tidy released Elias and went to whisper something in Apollo’s ear. Apollo continued. “I’m sorry, I forgot we’re now part-time. Secondly, it’s nice of you to grow some balls at last but it’s too little too late.”
    Elias tried to speak. “Wait!”
    Apollo cut him off and his voice grew in volume and anger. “Shut up! Shut your stinking mouth, you useless worm! You’re not in school now! You mean nothing to me! I’m taking you to Big Man and he can deal with you…one hundred thousand? That’s chump change to me, fella! I keep that under my mattress, I leave that as a tip to my milkman, I eat people like you for breakfast, you little wimp!”
    Mr Tidy again whispered something in his ear, and Apollo sighed. “But my doctor said to cut back on eating fatty foods for breakfast.”
    Elias lifted his head and spat his reply. “Two hundred thousand – my final answer.”
    Apollo rubbed his chin. “I need a shave, don’t you think?”
    Elias remained silent.
    “Fair enough, Mr Glaucas, you talk the talk but can you walk the walk?”
    “Yes, I can, I can get the money for you.”
    Apollo must have had a dozen codes when nodding his head to Mr Tidy; he did so again, which Mr. Tidy may or may not have understood, but never the less he nodded back.
    “The deal is still on then, two hundred thousand notes to keep your school open and to leave you and your daughter alone. I’ll need to smooth it over with the Big Man but I’m sure it won’t be a problem.”
    He went to shake Elias’s hand but Elias refused.
    “The deal is still on, but I cannot shake hands with the man who broke into my home and made threats about my daughter.”
    “That’s very true and