Chapter 5

The sounds of the footsteps were soft and eerie. He for a second thought that they were just part of his dream he was having. He was dreaming that he was running outside, but he wasn’t sure what he was running from. His feet were hitting the pavement harder and harder as if he was trying to get away from something, but he couldn’t for the life of him figure out what it was.

Was something chasing him? Was he running after something else? He didn’t know, but as he looked up at the beautiful sunny sky he had to think that whatever he was running from was really not that bad. It was nothing that he could not deal with. He knew who he was after all.

Alicia was beside him. He now heard two pair of footsteps. As he glanced over at her beautiful face she smiled at him and gave him one of those sexy winks she did that just drove him wild. There was something special about this woman. He was starting to feel something for her, something he swore to himself that he would never let himself feel.

But he couldn’t help it. She was everything he had ever wanted in the perfect woman that he held in his mind’s eye. He used to think that there was no such thing, but after today he was not so sure. There had to be a perfect ideal that he held in his mind and his heart. He knew it because he was starting to think that he’d found her.

But he couldn’t. No. He had to protect this girl and get her out of his life. He was obligated to keep her safe until then, but could he really be with someone? Was it too late for him?

He thought for a moment that he might be able to, especially now. He was unlikely to ever be able to go back to doing the work he did, at least not for the same crime family who now wanted him dead. He was tired of it anyway. He had enjoyed it for a while, but he really didn’t want to do it anymore. This was actually a perfect way out.

But he hated that he had dragged Alicia through it. She was such a sweet girl and she didn’t deserve this. But they would never stop. Their reach was far and wide along the coast. They would never really be able to hide from them. He had not even begun to meet all of the outsourced guys the Carliss’ had under their thumb.

He didn’t know what to do. Joe had always been proud of his ability to think of the right thing to do and to be able to make snap decisions. It had saved his life on several occasions. Today was a perfect point of that. But he was at a loss. For perhaps the first time in his life he was uncertain. He did not allow himself to be scared, at least not for his own safety. That was the kind of thing that would get you killed. Fear was immobilizing and it would make you second guess what you were doing.

But it wasn’t just about him this time; he had to think about Alicia. She had gotten mixed up in this mess and he felt responsible. Why the hell hadn’t he just taken her home first instead of going to the drop? It was a rookie mistake and he had known better. He was tired and had endured a momentary lapse in judgment. It had been stupid and it had been lazy. Now they were both paying the price for it.

Joe did not often make mistakes, but when he did he was man enough to admit them. But it was unlike him to dwell over a slip up. But he was not able to let this one go. He was starting to admit to himself how much he was really starting to like this girl. It was an interesting feeling and one he was not at all accustomed to. He was not sure he would ever forgive himself if something bad happened to this innocent girl because of a stupid mistake he made. That was inexcusable.

He was going to fix it. He was starting to develop an idea of what they needed to do to get out of this jam. The Carliss crew was never going to stop looking for them. Alfred’s eldest son Carmine was probably going to take over as head boss of the family if his father did not recover from the gunshot wound, which was very unlikely. Joe hated Carmine. He was ten times more ruthless than his dad and twice as smart too. He was tenacious beyond anything that he had ever seen and the man would stop at nothing to make sure that both Joe and Alicia were dead.

Something was wrong.

His eyes bounced open and he saw a flash of movement. Joe’s body leapt into action with lightning fast reflexes, grabbing the gun that had been only inches from putting a bullet in his brain and slamming it against the wall. In the darkness he did not recognize the attacker who was wearing a ski mask and dressed in black from head to toe, but he was big and strong as hell.

As Joe continued to pound the gun against the wall to weaken the assailant’s grip the masked man held on with a strength that could have been possessed by the Devil himself. Joe was using both hands now to try to knock the weapon loose and pry it from his grip, but the man was insanely strong.

There were not many men who were as strong or stronger than Joe that he had ever encountered, and he had always said if he ever did meet someone like that he was not sure he would want to fight them, especially if you added a good dose of madness to that equation.

Well, here he was face to face with that man.

Joe saw the shine coming towards his face just in time as he raised his right hand up and caught the wrist that was now holding a large Bowie knife. The blade was only inches from his face and coming closer and closer.

Joe was now in an all-out power struggle against the maniac and he felt that the other man was starting to gain the upper hand.

“Joe!” Alicia yelled jumping out of the bed, having been awakened by the sudden struggle taking place at the foot of the bed.

Joe tried not to let her screams distract him. Instead he used her voice to propel him farther harder. He had to protect her.

Joe leaned his head back and cocked it like a gun. Swiftly and with expert precision he brought it forward and smashed it hard against the bridge of the attacker’s nose. He felt the nose soften, collapsing under the force of his hard cranium smashing into it like a bike wreck.

The man groaned in great pain and Joe felt his grip weaken slightly, but he stubbornly held on.

Alicia turned the lamp on beside the bed just then as she curled up in a ball on the bed. Joe could see in his peripheral the fear and the confusion that she was experiencing and he wished he could make it instantly disappear. In the light he could now see that his attacker was indeed a huge man possibly outweighing him by thirty pounds.

The ski mask was seeping through with moisture on the nose, some blood trickling out of the nostril holes. Joe used this to spur him on as he smashed his head harder and harder time and time again into his nose. The man dropped the gun and swept Joe’s legs out from under him.

Joe hit the floor flat on his back hard knocking the wind out of him. The man was now free of his grasp as he brought his huge leg down towards Joe’s chest. Joe quickly rolled out of the way allowing the man’s huge boot to crash against the floor. Using this distraction Joe kicked outward hard connecting solidly with his knee and breaking the bones there.

The man cried out in pain as he slumped to the ground clutching his knee. Joe saw the gun lying on the ground beside him and he picked it up quickly and backhanded the assailant upside the head with the butt of the pistol, crushing solidly against his temple. The man’s eyes rolled up in his head and he slumped to the ground. Unconscious.

“Is he dead?” Alicia asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe. We have to get out of here. If he found us his friends won’t be far behind.”

Joe staggered to his feet exhausted from the ordeal and ripped the ski mask off the man lying passed out on the floor at his feet.

“Roland Dean. Just as I thought,” Joe said.

“Who is that?” Alicia asked.

“He’s a hit man who does some jobs for the mafia. He is big, strong, and crazy as hell. They figured he would be able to take us out quietly and since he is outsourced he doesn’t work for the mob per se and would be much harder to trace back to them.”

It took them less than five minutes to pack.