Blowback, p.2
Blowback, page 2
part #12 of Nathan K Series
Before the man’s eyes could adjust to the darker interior, Nathan darted forward. He batted aside the poorly held weapon, following through to make sure the arm did not come back. A round fired off into the wall. While surprise still held the man, Nathan knifed a flat hand under the chin of the helmet grazing the man’s throat — not enough to kill but certainly enough to shock. Though all of this bought Nathan a matter of seconds, that was far more than enough. A sharp knee to the groin, and as the man went down, Nathan ripped back the helmet’s visor. He pointed Maggie directly in and squeezed a single shot. He never bothered to see the man’s face.
Gray mist seeped out of the helmet — the man’s soul. As it drifted upward, Nathan glanced back up the hall. Dieter and Becka paled, staring at him with innocent alarm. He turned to the door. Taking a breath, he popped out to peek into the alley — empty. Pulling back, he kicked out the mop and shut the door until it locked. When he faced the group, Dieter stood by the shattered door to the main room, Robin looked ticked off, and Becka was nowhere to be seen.
“What the hell happened?” he said.
Dieter snapped his focus at Nathan. “You murdered a man in front of my daughter. She is a child, not a criminal. Do you think she has seen such things before?”
Robin said, “She ran back to the customer part of the store.”
“She’s had enough to deal with lately. She doesn’t need this.”
With a calm, cold pace, Nathan walked toward Dieter and waited for the man to step aside. “You’re the one who brought her here,” he said. Then to Robin: “The alley’s clear for the moment. Take Dieter and find us a vehicle.”
“I-I have a van,” Dieter said. “A few blocks away.”
“Go get it. Robin, make sure he doesn’t run. Be back here when I bring Becka into the alley.”
“You got it,” Robin said.
Dieter raised his chin. “A biker gang and no hesitation to murder — what did the two of you do?”
“You know better than to ask that.” She locked her hand around Dieter’s wrist, and they hurried toward the back.
Nathan waited until he heard them enter the alley before ducking through the shattered door. No gunfire came. That much was good, anyway. With quick motions, he reloaded Maggie. Staying low, he scurried across the debris of the demolished room until he could press his back on the wall next to the remnants of the big window.
Still no gunfire. He snuck a glance outside. The first three gang members remained parked across the street, never taking their eyes off the store like wolves watching a rabbit warren, waiting for their prey to dare show itself. But the other two gang members were gone. One lay dead in the hallway, of course, but the other helmeted man could be anywhere.
Police sirens. In the distance but coming closer.
Eyepatch motioned over his head and his partners kicked their motorcycles alive. They drove off. Not a bad idea. No amount of bounty would keep them waiting to be pinched by the cops.
A quick scan across the destruction and Nathan picked out the dark corner where a pile of T-shirts quivered. He strode across, the glass and ceramics crunching under his feet. Gently, he removed one shirt after another until he revealed Becka’s terrified face.
“You don’t want to stay here,” he said.
She shriveled away from him. “Leave me alone.”
“I’m sorry I scared you, but you need to think for a moment. Which is worse — me, the guy who is willing to kill to protect you, or them, the gang sending in men to kill us? Not a hard choice, if you ask me.”
Becka buried her head in her arms.
The sirens grew louder, and Nathan considered grabbing the girl. But forcing her along would turn out bad. She would struggle, maybe fight back, and that would slow him down worse than another attempt at kindness. One more try, anyway. If that didn’t work, if she resisted, he would have to punch the side of her head, knock her out, hope he didn’t give her a concussion, and throw her over his shoulder. Either way, they were leaving in the next few minutes.
“Becka, I know how frightened you are, but I’m not here to hurt you. I don’t want to hurt anybody. In fact, I try my best to help people. Right now, I want to help you live through this mess. In order to do that, I need you to work with me. We’ve got to get moving. Your dad is getting his van right now so we can escape. Those police won’t be much longer.”
She lifted her head. Her eyes searched his face, and he tried hard to offer a friendly smile.
With a sniffle, she said, “Everybody’s dying.”
“I can protect you.”
Her eyes shimmered. “I don’t want to die.”
“Then stick with me.”
He chanced putting out his hand. Though she shivered, her fingers finally reached out and slipped into his. He helped her up, and they walked together toward the security door in the back. When they reached the dead man, he made sure Becka did not look down at the bloody pulp of the man’s face. They stepped over the corpse and continued on.
At the door, Nathan took Becka by the shoulders and looked straight into her eyes. “This is the important part, now. Once we go out there, you need to follow me every step. No questions. No hesitation. If I tell you to do something, then do it. You understand?”
She nodded, but he couldn’t tell if that was acceptance or shock. “Where’s my papa?”
Shock, then. “He’s with my partner. Getting the van. Remember? We have to be ready, and we can’t stay here — the police will be combing through this store any minute.”
She nodded again, and this time Nathan thought he saw a glimmer of comprehension. If not, she would have to cope. No more time left. He opened the door.
Looking up and down the alley, he sought a deep alcove or a decent dumpster. Anyplace to hide Becka while they waited for Robin and Dieter. No alcove — all the doors ran flush with the walls. Only one dumpster — but it had been situated near the end of the alley for easy access. Nathan did not like the idea of crouching that close to where he expected his enemy to arrive. Not when he had this frightened girl with him.
Not much choice, though. They couldn’t simply stay there as open targets.
Taking Becka’s hand, Nathan led the way toward the dumpster. They did not get far. The threat of a motorcycle announced the arrival of the second helmeted gang member. Becka’s grip tightened on Nathan’s hand and a mewing whimper crawled out of her throat.
They stood in the middle of the alley, completely exposed. Nathan put his body in front of her. The motorcycle moved up past the dumpster. Nathan and the rider stared at each other like gunslingers, each waiting for the other to make a move.
Nathan wanted to fire off Maggie with a few well-placed rounds, but the noise would attract the police. Right now, the authorities would spend plenty of time approaching the shot-up store with caution. Sudden gunfire, however, would have them racing around the corner, expecting danger, and perhaps a bit welcoming of it.
The gang member did not see it the same way. With two strong revs of his engine, he tore down the alley, driving with one hand and using the other to wield a Glock G17 — the apparent preferred choice of gang members in Australia. Nathan spun, wrapping Becka in his arms. She shrieked. Bullets slammed into his back, jarring his body. As long as he could hold out, the rider would think Becka was Robin and not know that one of his targets was escaping.
Two more bullets pierced his torso. Despite Becka’s unending screams, Nathan tried to focus on the approaching engine as the edges of his vision clouded. The Darkness would come for him soon.
Louder and louder the engine grew. Becka shuddered in his arms but her cries ceased. Another wave of shock had robbed her of all reaction. Poor kid would end up a therapist’s dream when this all ended.
As the motorcycle roared by, Nathan kicked out his leg. Not an attempt to knock the bike over. Instead, he thrust his leg at the wheel. His foot caught, and as the motorcycle shredded his flesh and bones apart, the rider lost all control. The bike spun to the side and smashed into the alley wall. The rider’s momentum tossed him forward, smacking the brick with enough force to snap his neck.
The bike also dragged Nathan several feet before depositing him near a filthy puddle. He moaned as the distress of his torn foot burned up his body. Adrenaline managed the pain a bit, but he knew true torment would be coming soon enough. Flopping to his back, each breath scraped his damaged lungs, and he could see the Darkness closing around him. Torment, indeed.
Soon he would die. His second soul would leave his body, and the healing process would begin. The bullet would push out of his skin and the wounds would close. The torn muscles and pulled tendons in his foot would grow anew.
Nathan would feel it all.
He turned his head toward Becka, offering a smile of some reassurance that everything would be okay. No matter what convulsions his body experienced, no matter what noises he allowed to escape, he would be fine. Just wait. But she did not look back at him with concern or shock, fear or awe. In fact, she looked back with nothing at all. Nothing but the soulless eyes of the dead. Light gray mist had already seeped from those eyes and only the final remnants dissipated high above them.
Nathan ran one hand across his belly and found two holes — two points where bullets had passed straight through him and into her.
The Darkness took over. The emptiness. The isolated nothingness. The end of all and the beginning of none.
Nathan felt the Darkness pull his second soul like a favorite toy gets gently tugged away from a sleeping child. The healing kicked in, but while it occurred, while Nathan endured the pains of renewing himself, he curled his fists and grit his teeth. Becka deserved better. No teenage girl should have been brought into such business. Worst of all, had Nathan not targeted Russo, the Immortals would not be after him. They would not have hired this biker gang. They would not have attacked.
Becka would be alive.
CHAPTER THREE
He floated in darkness — but not the Darkness. He knew the difference by the feel of pavement beneath his back. Fully healed now, he lay there. Unwilling to move. But a warm presence beckoned. A pale hand reaching out of the dark. He could hear the bustle of a busy New York deli and the promise of a bright future.
Then Robin arrived. Nathan opened his eyes, sat up, and got to work.
Driving aimlessly through Brisbane, Nathan kept the van to the lighter traffic roads and smaller neighborhoods. They looked much like American suburbs, and it reminded him that being in a foreign country did not mean everything would be foreign. Even more than the homes, however, it was Dieter’s shivering cries that spoke to how similar all people were.
He sat in the back next to Becka. She was wrapped in a tarp, but he had found an opening to place his hand inside. Robin huddled next to him. Even if Nathan couldn’t see much in the rearview mirror, he could hear her words of consolation, Dieter’s calming sobs, the rattle of the van as they drove over bumps, and Dieter’s renewed wailing.
Each labored exhalation, each gasping inhalation, echoed throughout the small van with the force of a rock concert guitar scream. Dieter wracked his head against the metal wall, trying to pound away the loss. Nathan glanced back in time to catch Robin glancing forward — the helpless desperation in her eyes unmistakable.
He understood. Ever since that first day dying on that deli floor, ever since acquiring his ability for immortality, Nathan sought only to help people. At least, that was what things were supposed to be about. It was Larkin and Russo that ruined everything. From the start, Larkin had trained Nathan for the purpose of using him. And Russo — that prick had been insane with his power. Nathan did not mourn that man’s permanent death.
Still, for Robin, the idea of helping others dug far closer to the heart than it ever had for Nathan. Or perhaps it had been equal between them once — a time in the past. It was hard to feel deep concern for every little problem people had, though. Watching manicured house after manicured house drift by the windshield, Nathan thought of the endless troubles the people living out there endured. Most of which had been of their own making. Most of which, no matter how serious, would ultimately disappear — either by being solved or by the death of those involved.
That was something he could not be sure Robin fully grasped. Being an Immortal meant that big problems never died off. Oh, she surely understood the concept, but the physical, deep in the bone meaning — how could she comprehend that?
“I am sorry,” Dieter said, his hunched shoulders quaking as he dribbled tears onto Becka. “It is all my fault. Look what I brought to you.”
Robin said, “You shouldn’t blame yourself.”
With sudden aggression shaking deep in his words, he slapped the van wall. “I don’t. This is all your fault. Both of you.”
Over his shoulder, Nathan said, “You want to be mad at me, go right ahead. But don’t take your pain out on Robin. She had nothing to do —”
“She is the one who contacted me.” Dieter spit the words out, his tears magnifying the angry red of his cheeks. “I expect my clients to be in some trouble — that is why you hire me instead of taking legal means — but she never indicated that a biker gang would be after you both. She never warned me that my daughter would be in danger and killed.”
Robin pushed away to her feet and settled in the passenger seat. All the while, she spoke. “I never knew you even had a daughter. And what kind of idiot brings a loved one into a situation like this? Don’t even start with your crap about not knowing. You said it yourself — people in trouble hire you. That’s why you exist. You remind me of a hacker I once knew who would take stupid risks and whenever he got caught, which was often, he then blamed bad coding or another hacker or poorly designed hardware. Anything but himself. I got news for you — we didn’t ask you to bring your daughter along.”
Nathan noticed a local park off to the right. He turned down the road and slowed until he spotted a lot near the open field. No cars for the moment. He stopped in the space furthest from the entrance. With his face as tight as Dieter’s, perhaps more, Nathan twisted around back. The grieving father inched against his dead daughter.
In a measured tone, Nathan said, “We did not cause this. You never saw us, never knew us, never nothing about us. Your daughter went out this morning, said something about taking a long walk, and never came home. That’s what you tell the police. Then you wait. Today or tomorrow, somebody will find your daughter’s corpse in the bushes of this park. With bullets in her, the police will have to investigate, so you better come up with a good alibi. And that’s it. If you get a dogged cop, the investigation might go on for a bit, but in the end, they won’t be able to solve this one. Do you understand what I’ve said? You better.”
He climbed out of the van and stomped over to the park, scanning it for a good dumping location. At the first tree, he crossed his arms and did not move. From the outside, he may have looked like a machine — sturdy, reliable, cold and unfeeling. No — he only wanted to look that way. Surely, Dieter, Robin, heck, the whole world could see how furious he was. If some old lady watched the scene from her living room window, she would shake her head and wonder what had gotten that man so riled up.
“It’s not your fault,” Robin said as she came alongside. “You were trying to save her.”
“He had no right to blame you.”
“Don’t worry about me. I’m not really angry. Not at him. I mean I’m not not angry at him because let’s face it, he screwed up bringing a young girl into this mess, but I can’t blame him for being upset and lashing out. Besides, and I hate to admit this part, but I wasn’t raised to lie to myself. The truth is that you are at fault. So am I. That girl would still be alive if she hadn’t crossed our path. Those men were trying to kill us for what we did in Korea.”
“What I did.”
“Don’t you start that again. You don’t get to put this all on your shoulders. I’m in this, same as you. Not forever, but just because I’m going to die someday doesn’t make a difference.” She paused. “Hey, don’t you need a new soul?”
“Don’t worry about that right now.” Even thinking about the gap within him got his arms itching. “We have to figure out who gave us up. Somebody talked and there aren’t that many to be suspicious of. Either Dieter betrayed us or his daughter let something slip. That lady working the store could have done it, too.”
“Becka admitted to using her phone.”
“Not good enough. She may have said something about her dad, but she knew nothing about us because Dieter knew nothing about us. And I doubt he would’ve raised her to be stupid enough to give the store’s address to any of her friends.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. Of course, Clockwork is still out there, too. Probably spending all of his computing time trying to track us down. We’ve done a good job staying off-grid, but no matter how hard you try — using only cash, avoiding security cameras, ditching phones — all good and necessary steps, but it’s next to impossible to not be found unless you go live in the desert. Even then, he’d probably know you were somewhere in the desert, just not the specific spot.”
Rubbing his face, Nathan said, “We still have to get back into the States.”
“We will. But don’t we have a responsibility here, first? I mean, it is our fault that girl is dead. Not entirely, but we do share some of the blame.”
“The longer we stick around, the more people are going to get hurt because of us. We need to forget about Australia and get out of here.”
Robin’s brow wrinkled as her mouth tightened. “No, that’s not right. Not in the least. You know, whenever you get like this, start to wallow in this woe is me with my Immortal curse attitude, you always forget your purpose. My purpose. So, pay attention: we are here to help people. That’s it. All your stupid games with the other Immortals, all your worries for my safety, all this nonsense about who is to blame — all of it doesn’t matter. We are the ones with the ability to do some good here. End of the line. There’s no argument.”
