“You could carry the presents out,” one of them says as she tries handing off an armful of junk. Like who needs this much shit? It was a rare day that I got one present growing up. I can’t fathom what I’d do if I got this many. I mean… besides Jackson and Waylon. I would buy them a whole store if they’d like.
“I’m busy,” I state.
“It’ll take you two minutes,” the woman insists.
I look up at Henry, who is watching me again. Like does he not care about my evident distress? He could distract them in some way instead of leaving me to suffer. I give him a nod, obviously signaling for him to save me, but he just offers me awave. Is that a “Goodbye, it was nice knowing you” wave, or a “You got this, I believe in you” wave?
I have to assume it was the latter because that man adores me.
Somehow, I need to distract them so I can slip on past and follow Raul who is heading straight up the stairs and out of my sight.
I try saying, “I am so sorry but I can’t.”
The woman is ruthless. I feel like I could be bleeding out in front of her and she’d tell me to suck it up buttercup and deliver those presents to her child with whatever limbs I still had left on my body.
“I’m going to shit myself if you don’t let me through. Would you like me to deliver the presents with an aroma of shit trailing behind me?” I ask.
She looks disgusted and then enraged. “I don’t understand why the fuck Raul hires such crude assholes,” she snarls, and off she goes using herownarms while she storms away.
I quickly meet back up with Henry. “That was a good one, eh? Come on, Daddy Duck,” I say as I hurry him up the stairs. I’m assuming Raul won’t be alone, which is why it’s disappointing that I can’t contact the others to tell them that we’ve got Raul upstairs.
Henry trails after me as we reach the second floor, but I’m not quite sure which floor Raul went up to.
If we pick the wrong floor, and Raul heads back down, I’ll lose that moment where we have him separated from the others.
Down the hallway I see a door cracked open, so I inch toward it, but when I push the door the rest of the way, I see that it’s a guest bedroom.
A noise coming from above me alerts me, so I point to Henry and motion for him to head upstairs while I go to the far end ofthe hallway and take the other set of stairs up. That way, we’ll catch Raul no matter what if he’s coming down the stairs.
The two of us split and I hurry down the hall, listening carefully and checking every room I can before I reach the stairs leading up. Once on the third floor, I see Henry at the other end of the hallway while we creep toward the open door. There are a few guards outside of the room I’ve focused on, so I try to walk up casually.
There are three guards, but I can’t tell how many are in the room with Raul. If he calls for backup, there’s no guarantee I’ll be able to handle the situation without putting Henry in danger.
I give a nod toward the men, implying that I want Henry to take down the one closest to him and I’ll handle the other two. Henry just shakes his head and lifts his hands in a very clear “I have no idea what you’re talking about” manner.
How could he possiblynot? This man can read me damn near as well as Jackson and he’s going to give me a fuss now of all times?
I mime strangling the guy near him and he mimics the motion back at me.
I give him a nod and a thumbs-up before I realize exactly what the issue is. Doing anything wearing these goddamn gloves is impossible. Annoyed, I tug them off and drop them then give Henry a thumbs-up.
That’s when the door behind me opens and I hear a “Who the fuck are you talking to?” whispered at me.
Slowly, ever so slowly, I turn around and look at half-priced Donald Duck before glancing over at discount bin Donald Duck and realize that I’ve been working with the wrong duck.
“Shit,” I mumble as Donald Duck the Inferior nudges a guard and points at me.
“What did you do?” Henry asks.
“Nothing. What are you talking about? I did nothing at all. I was just like… telling this guy how there’s a much better duck out there,” I say as I hurry forward and sock the guard closest to me right in the face. I mean… at this point, what else can I really do? I’ve just told Not Daddy Duck that I was going to take out all of these guys, and he even got a hardcore confirmation from me!
The guy closest to me reaches for his gun, and I grab it before he can even get his hands on it. Raul really needs to work on teaching his killers how to fight better. I duck out of the stupid head, but releasing myself from the suit would take more time than I can waste.
I slam the butt of the gun into his face twice before I notice Daddy Duck pummel Not Daddy Duck to the ground. Henry rips the man’s duck head off and punches him in the face. Henry is apparently put off by the fact that another man tried waddling into his space. I move past the gunmen into the room and press the gun against Raul’s head before they can even react.
Raul lets out a laugh.
“It fucking irritates me how quickly you did all of that,” he says. “I’ve seen you in action and no matter how well I train my men… Lucas just had a way of making true monsters.”
