SYNDICATE - Season 1 - Episode 6

6 years ago

SYNDICATE - Season 1 - Episode 6

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Lia was scrubbing the floor of the large foyer. She thought about her home situation, and dreamed of how to get away. Not that home wasthatterrible. Her parents just seemed… incapable ofnotreproducing. They were sixty. That meant Lia’s mother gave birth to her when she was forty years of age. She had seven older siblings, and three younger siblings. Their house was a d--n circus.

Half her older siblings still lived at home.
She already had a few nieces and nephews for God’s sake.

Her poor father worked in management of a construction company. He was always at home, a drink in hand, eyes glued to the television by the time she got home.

Most of the time small children would be running around her legs, the noise would be unbearable. But her father managed to keep his cool. He was a soft man, who had never yelled at Lia. Her mother was the obnoxious one- always criticizing Lia, ordering her around, yelling at her. Lia was fonder of her father than her mother.

But at least she got to work here. When Lia was younger, she didn’t work that much, but she was here a lot. Sometimes she would just go into deep corridors of the house and pretend she was a princess. It was a silly game, she now reflected. But she still did dream.

Lia noticed she had been scrubbing the same spot for the last minute, and crawled to a different section. The foyer always got soiled the easiest. It had beautiful granite flooring, but was an area of high traffic.

The doorbell rang. She moved aside to let someone else answer it. A man named Henry walked by. Henry was a little younger than she was, and very handsome. He was an immigrant from South America, but was very intelligent. Henry led three men into the foyer, and told them to wait while he got Mr. Kieran. Lia surveyed them. They were not the typical- well dressed, middle-aged, dangerous looking men that frequented the house.

They looked like hillbillies to her. They were all wearing dirty jeans and pla!d shirts. One of them had oil stains all up his arms.

Another was chewing a piece of straw. Lia had a special talent for blending in with the house. However, these men were immune to her invisibility.

“Well, well, you’re beauty, ain’t ya?” one of the men asked her. She looked down, at a loss for words.

“She ain’t gonna answer you, Carl. You ugly as sin,” another said. Lia smiled politely.

“I bet a pretty thang like that would like to be taken out to dinner,” Carl said. Lia didn’t make eye contact. She was rapidly growing uncomfortable. “Wouldn’t ya, sweetheart?” Carl prodded, getting closer. Lia tried to shrink away, but her grabbed her arm. Lia was now afraid, her heartbeat pounding like a metronome in her chest.

“ Touchmy employees again, Mr. Swindler, and I can guarantee you won’t like the consequences.” The voice was harsh and slightly raised. Carl immediately dropped her arm. They all looked over at Kieran and Will. Carl said nothing. Will lit a cigarette and inhaled the smoke. After a few moments of silence, Kieran spoke again.

“Shall we, then?”

The men followed Kieran and Will down the hall. Lia sank to her knees, and began scrubbing the scuff marks off the floor.

* * *
Will wondered how long they would have to listen to these insufferable hillbillies.

They requested that a neighbor’s dog was to be shot, to send him a warning. Carl Swindler and his cronies helped supply the blue collar folks with the drugs the O’Meara family received. Most people feel more comfortable buying goods from friends. Swindler was a good rep. So, Swindler was no stranger to Kieran.

“I’m pretty darn sure he rigged that dog race,” Swindler said, spitting brown colored saliva into a bottle, the result of chewing tobacco.