“Well put my pipe in a child’s mouth and arrest me for aiding and abetting underage smoking!” the Commissioner shouted in surprise. And why not? This is quite the shocking state of affairs. Lincoln’s killer, the only man that could stop the juggernaut of justice, not only survived his execution, but apparently still lives to this day! I’d be quite interested in learning how they pulled that off, wouldn’t you?
“John Wilkes Booth!” Lincoln growled. “At last we meet face to face.”
“As opposed to face to back of the head?” Booth sneered malevolently. “Yes, get a good look at my face, Lincoln. Since it seemed to offend you so much before, this time I’ll make sure you know I’m going to kill you. Feel better now?”
“Knowing that you still walk this Earth is enough to make me want to punch a water buffalo in the face,” Lincoln bit his lip, trying to contain his anger.
“Excellent point you almost raised, Lincoln,” the Commissioner stepped forward. “Just how is it you are still walking the Earth, anyway? Are you a…a…ghost?”
Booth laughed. “No ghost am I, unless it’s the ghost of the past come to haunt our friend Lincoln here.”
“…Is it?”
“No.”
“Then are you a zombie?”
“No!”
“…A werewolf?”
“No no no!” Booth stomped the ground in anger. “I am none of those things! Nor am I a banshee, a boogieman or anything supernatural! I stand before you today because of the efforts of a shadowy organisation that would kill me for even speaking its name to you.”
“What the devil are you on about?” Lincoln clenched his fists, ready to punch the living daylights out of Booth.
“You may very well mention the devil, for it might be him that’s behind it! Suffice to say, I represent an evil coalition of diabolical forces that are dedicated only to the cause of evil! To this end, they revived me from my decomposing state and provided me the resources to infiltrate this goody-goody organisation.”
“Then you mean…the Director…?” the Commissioner stammered.
Booth gave a toothy smile. “Me all along. Didn’t you think it strange that you only heard of this mysterious Director only a few weeks ago?”
“I just assumed you’d been transferred. I never thought…oh no…”
“Oh yes! Thanks to my brilliant acting skills, it was child’s play to trick the pitiful idiots of this organisation. All except our new arrival, it seems. You may have seen through my cunning ruse, Lincoln, but it won’t do you any good! I’ll still finish what I started all those many years ago, and get rid of you once and for all!” Booth gave a nasty, sinister laugh. Boo, hiss!
“But Booth, why? Why go to all this trouble? You’d already managed to finish me off before, why would you make such an effort to resurrect me just to kill me again?”
“You think this was my idea?” Booth spat at the very thought of such a thing. “As far as I was concerned, you could stay deep within the cold, wormfilled ground. But Project Pendragon was always a possibility. My new comrades thought it best to nip it in the bud before it could stab them in the back, if you’ll permit me to mix my metaphors for a moment.”
“I don’t believe I shall.”
“Well too late, I already did! Anyway, once they learnt of the project’s existence, they knew it would just be a matter of time before you were brought back to life to stop their efforts. That’s why they revived me beforehand, the only one who could ever stop you. It was my mission to resurrect you, get you alone and then murder you once again. And although the plans have been changed a little, I think I’ll do just that!”
Booth slammed his palm onto the desk behind him, making a drawer shoot out. He reached into it and pulled out a revolver. “And I suppose I’ll have to get rid of the Commissioner too. Which frankly I’m somewhat happy about.”
“Hey!” The Commissioner huffed indignantly.
“Well Lincoln? Any more questions while you can still ask them?” Booth readied the gun.
“Just one, you villainous thespian….why a woman?”
“Eh?”
“Well, if there never was a real Director, and you could have picked any disguise…why did you choose a woman? Surely it would have been easier to play a man, not to mention more convincing. So why did you pick a woman?”
“…Shut up, that’s why! I don’t have to explain my actions to you anymore! Now die!”
Booth squeezed the trigger and fired. Is this the end of our hero?
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