The man leaned back on the deck chair on the top of the high-rise building, surveying the world before him. Smiling easily, he reached out for the newspaper that lay on the rack next to him and raised it up to glance at the headlines. “’The Chessmaster’ has done it again!” The bold, thick font of the newspaper spelled it out. He skimmed through the contents before tossing it back onto the floor. For many years, the police had been searching for a criminal who went under the name “The Chessmaster”, a man responsible for the many thefts and bankruptcies around the world. His smile widened to a carnivorous grin as he recalled the words in the newspaper, “the police suspect he has already left the country…” The world was a chessboard, whilst all the other pathetic humans in it were the chess pieces. He, was the chessmaster. It was all too simple, how many times had he fooled the world? It was too many to count. It was practically child’s play, this game he played.

“What do you want now, Mr Thief?” a scratchy voice came from behind him.

“I prefer the term ‘Genius’ over ‘Thief’,” he replied, not bothering to turn around. “In fact, ‘Conman’ would suffice, if you really have to…”

The man who had just arrived sighed, raking his hand through his graying hair, “You called me for?”

“I need the details of this company,” the self-proclaimed genius said smoothly, throwing a file backwards.

The file was caught, and the contents read through silently.

“Any questions, Anderson?” the genius asked when the silence became too prolonged.

“It’s in Milan,” Although Anderson knew the answer before he even asked, he still could not help himself.

“And so?” the polished voice came as predicted. “Your flight is waiting.”

Anderson exited, his feet shuffling in reluctance. The Chessmaster shook his head with a sardonic smile; how simple it was to control the minds of these fools. Just remove something precious from them, and they would be firmly in your grasp, trapped like a bug with nowhere to go……

To the chessmaster, Anderson was his only failure. The only time he had accidentally let his defense slip, and it was there that a civilian had spotted him. Killing was never something he liked to think about, otherwise, he would have become a murderer instead. Still, he had to do something about it, before his many years of careful planning shattered. After panicking inwardly for a second, he had realised it was all very simple really, after all, he was Mr Genius. He smiled in a sickly sweet manner as he saw the photograph the stricken man had dropped in fear. There was a child and a female in it. How simple, practically child’s play……