I sent another glance toward the police officer.Another had joined him.Both deliberately ignored our group.I knew the Outfit and the Organization worked together, but I hadn’t realized how closely until this point.“Lead the way.”If I was going to kill these bastards, I’d like to at least not get shot by police while doing so.Divide and conquer, Don Manca whispered in my memories.
We hit the street, and they steered me toward a stairwell door next to a tourist attraction.The circus-style signage promised torture, courtesy of the Medieval era.
I glanced at the grotesque image of a man in a bright red executioner’s hood as we walked past that entrance.Too bad we weren’t going in there.I knew at least a hundred ways to use the tools and devices behind that door to kill these bastards.
Two flights of stairs later, my guards were winded, and I saw an opening.Phil was the first to fall.I elbowed George, putting my weight into the shove so I could pin him against the wall.With my body so close, Phil hesitated to take the shot.I squeezed the trigger twice, taking him out with a bullet to the chest and another to the head.
George struggled, stumbling down a step and teetering on the edge of his balance.I spun, using the momentum to swing my gun into his face and ending his chance with a single shot.He fell backward, and I let him go.
As he fell, he took out one of the men behind him.I shot the other as he raised his weapon.It took three bullets to take him down.
The other rolled with George’s bulky form down the entire double span of stairs, only losing a small amount of momentum as they hit the landing between the first floor and the second.
Above me, a shot rang out and the bullet gouged the plaster by my head.I went to a knee, returning fire and ending the threat.As he slid down the steps face-first, I tapped him a second time.
The man at the bottom groaned and shoved George off him.I fired down the slope and missed.My bullet hit the glass door, but the heavy glass absorbed the brunt of it.
Bulletproof.Figured.
I fired again, then an itch made me pay attention to the top of the stairs.Two more men opened fire on the stairs.I rolled, only breaking my momentum to snatch at the door frame of the second floor and flatten my body in the recess.Using it to block the bullets from above, I timed my return fire.But they were well-concealed by the framed opening above.A third joined them and chewed up the wood with his automatic.
I shot the door behind me to break a hole in the heavy wood.Chancing it, I kicked the knob and slipped inside as the frame splintered from a bullet that landed too close to my head.
A piece wedged into my shoulder.I pulled it out and rolled into the narrow hallway.At the end was a window.
I hoped like hell it had a fire escape because my welcome was definitely revoked.I fired, shattering the glass and praying the fall wouldn’t be hard as I dove out the opening.
Luckily, the cross bars stopped me from dropping to the pavement below.I kicked at the rusty drop ladder to escape, but it wouldn’t budge.
A shot pinged off the iron frame and I pushed my back against the brick.
As I waited for Vincent’s goons to find their balls, I checked and replaced the clip of my Glock.The familiar waffled hand guard of an ArmaLite poked out.I rolled and fired into the body of the idiot who’d been stupid enough to broadcast his presence.Then I took out the two behind him as well.One of them didn’t get up, but the other crawled toward a door probably hoping to get away.
Before I killed him, I shot the man still in my grip.
The pieces of his head splattered against the wall, painting it red.
That made the one still moving scramble.I chewed up the frame trying to end him, but didn’t get the right angle to take him out.
The guy who fell down the stairs with George emerged at the end of the hall and fired at me as I tried to correct that situation.His bullet caught my jacket, leaving a trail of heat and the familiar sting of a graze.
That was too close and it pissed me off.I fired on him until my gun ran out.Then I tugged the rifle away from the dead body hanging out the window and let the hallway feel my wrath.
The echoes of the rapid fire made my ears ring.
That’s how I missed the guy coming down the fire escape.
Instead of killing me, he hit me on the head once.That hurt, but I was still standing.
Which just wouldn’t do.
The second blow took me down.
I woke tied to a chair.
The angle of light coming in from the windows told me I’d lost an hour.
Ellie was going to be pissed at me for ditching her.
