Indigo:Well, that depends on the day and my mood. Today, it’s “Die Hard” by Stela Cole.
Before I knew it, hours had gone by with me splayed on the mats, texting with Riordan. His truth game was fun, and so far I’d learned he was allergic to kiwi, afraid of snails, and his favorite movie wasSnatch(which I had never seen but made a mental note to watch). I didn’t realize how late it had gotten, and I had work tomorrow, so I gathered my things and wiped down the mats quickly so I could get a shower in before bed.
Indigo:I have a shift at the bar tomorrow, so I’m going to head to bed. Thanks for today. Getting to know you isn’t all bad.
Riordan:What a rousing endorsement.
Indigo:I can’t wait to show Lennon the picture of you in your scout shorts. Are your knees still knobbly?
Riordan:Indi…
Indigo:Night, night!
Stepping out of the gym, my cackles of sadistic glee were cut short when suddenly, the lights on the entire compound were cut. The floodlights that usually illuminated my way back from the gym shut off, and I was shrouded in darkness. I dropped my towel and palmed my knife, instantly on alert. Could it have been just a random power outage? Sure. That didn’t explain why the backup generators hadn’t kicked on yet, though. I knew the club had them, so why weren’t they on? I stood as still as I could and counted fifteen Mississippi’s before I crept on tippy-toes around the side of the gym facing the garage. I heard the faint sounds of boots on gravel, which froze me in place. I crouched down low so if someone was trying to attack me, I wouldn’t be where they assumed I’d be. Most people aimed or swung at chest or head level, and I hated to be predictable.
The next thing I knew, someone shined a flashlight right in my face, ruining my night vision. I may or may not have hissed like a pissed-off opossum when the light blasted my retinas.
“Chica loca?” Aiming his flashlight to the side, I heard Bones’s boots crunch in the gravel as he came across the driveway.
“What the hell, Bones? Turn that damn light off! Agh, my eyes,” I snapped.
Bones clicked his light off and helped me stand. “I saw the light on in the gym when I went to the garage. When the lights went out, I figured I’d check on whoever was out here.”
“Yeah, well, try not to blast me in the face with your flashlight next time.”
“Sorry,” Bones said sheepishly. Well, I assume he felt sheepish. I couldn’t really see his face very well. But he sounded sheepy.
“I thought you were at Rusty’s tonight, working on that restoration?”
“Uhm, I was,” Bones replied, “but I forgot the hood ornament for the ’57 Chevy Bel Air that I had Ace help me refurbish, so I came back to get it.”
Bones lightly grasped my elbow, guiding me away from the gym and in the direction of the clubhouse.
“It’s weird that we had a random power outage on the one night no one is really here…” I muttered, glancing around as my night vision slowly adjusted.
“Mm-hmm,” Bones murmured, also glancing around. Abruptly, Bones’s grip on my arm hardened, and he stopped moving. I was instantly in meerkat mode, eyes wide as I searched for a threat.
“Do you hear that?” Bones whispered harshly in my ear. I craned my neck and closed my eyes because everyone knew you heard better when your eyes were closed. Just like you drove better when you turned your music down, especially when you were driving somewhere new. Somewhere behind us, I heard what sounded like metal on metal, like theshhhickof shears cutting through the Crow’s chain-link fence. A small voice in my head said that it was a good thing we had that storm yesterday because if it was raining, it would be so much harder to hear whatever was happening here. Whatever was happening…Panic tried to claw its way out of my stomach and up my throat, but I wouldn’t give it the satisfaction of escaping. I pulled Bones down into a crouch and motioned for him to follow me back to the other side of the gym, facing away from the fence.
“Indigo,” Bones whispered, “do you have your phone? I left mine in the garage.”
“Yeah,” I whispered. I slid my phone out of my pocket and tucked it under my shirt. I hunched like an armadillo, desperately swiping to lower the brightness level and shield any light from escaping my shirt so my phone didn’t become a beacon for anyone who might be creeping in the darkness.
“Call Duke. Now.” Bones positioned himself in front of me and removed a handgun from where it had been tucked into the back of his jeans.
“You forgot your phone but had time to grab a gun?”
Bones clicked the safety off and whispered, “You gotta problem with my priorities, chica loca?”
I huffed a quiet laugh and clicked on Duke’s name. An annoying beeping sound pulsed in my ear before the call ended. I tried Cricket next, with no luck. “I don’t have any service. What the hell?”
“Okay,” Bones whispered in my ear. “We need to make it back to the clubhouse. Stay close to me.”
“Youstay close tome, and for fuck’s sake, stay low.” I began a stealthy crouch-like run, skirting buildings and doing my best to keep from being out in the open. I had tucked my phone into my back pocket but kept my butterfly knife grasped in one hand. Bones was right on my tail the whole way. We were almost to the clubhouse steps when a figure emerged from the darkness. The shadowy figure dressed all in black grasped a steel baton that he extended with a flick of his wrist before he swung it in my direction in a brutal arc. I threw myself backward, barely avoiding crashing into Bones. Several more figures approached in the darkness, all in black and all silent. I counted five attackers—not the worst odds, but the situation wasn’t ideal.
Bones and I were standing back-to-back now, desperately trying to keep our attackers within our field of vision.
“Youputasare making a big fuckin’ mistake,” Bones hissed through clenched teeth. Simultaneously, our attackers came, the baton twirler and one other at me, the other three at Bones. The harsh blast of gunfire rang through the night. Grunts and the sounds of fists meeting flesh followed. I was focused on dodging the baton twirler when my other attacker landed a vicious blow across my cheek, making stars dance across my vision and dropping me to one knee. Bones squeezed off another shot and the subsequent sound of a body hitting the ground was music to my ears. Grabbing a handful of sand and gravel, I threw it into the face of the man who’d hit me. I bellowed my Xena war cry and tackled him, thrusting my trusty butterfly knife under his chin and twisting it before I wrenched it back out.I didn’t even have time to think of a stellar kill tag line before the baton guy swung for me again.
