Blade

 

Trying to track someone down quietly on a motorcycle wasn’t the easiest job, but I managed to do it. I followed them until they parked along the curb to eat after stopping by a drive-thru to get burgers. I had been quiet before so I didn’t panic them and endanger the lives of people around them. I had waited while they ate because I wanted to make sure Maggie had a chance to get something to eat.

 

When they pulled away from the curb, the driver hit the car in front of them, proving why I’d been hesitant to make a move before then. I fired a couple of rounds into the side of their car, trying to hit the driver, but he didn’t stop. I spun around behind them and gave chase.

 

The road we were on drove away from town. In a few blocks, there wouldn’t be any more cars parked along the side of the road for the driver to carelessly hit trying to get away or whatever it was he was doing. I just needed to hold out until then, and I had a plan that would hopefully result in saving Maggie with virtually little risk of hurting her or anyone else badly.

 

Once we made it into the unpopulated stretch of blacktop, I sped up. The driver sped up, too. I’d had experience trying to keep up with him. I figured he either had experience driving cabs or he fancied himself a racecar driver, the way he sped away from me.

 

No matter how fast he went, I went just as fast. I wanted to go faster, but he started trying to push me off the road. He’d shift to one side or the other, trying to block me or run me off to the side.

 

I cut my light again. The only way he could have seen me was in the glow of his taillights. There were no more streetlights where we were. I used the headlights on the sedan to guide me.

 

I gunned it, and before he slid over on top of me, I got up beside him. I had nowhere to go but the sidewalk. I was a motorcycle; the sidewalk was a breeze. I wondered why I hadn’t thought of it earlier. I rode up next to the car, but he swerved again in my direction, and there was nothing between us. The sedan came up on the sidewalk with me, causing me to speed up to get out of the way.

 

I watched the headlights as they pulled back onto the road. I backed off, letting myself slow down until he caught up with me. I pulled out my gun, driving with one hand, and shot the front driver side tire. I heard the shot land. The tire popped, and the car swerved on its own. I backed off even more, getting behind them as the car thrashed back and forth in the street like a dying animal. I shot at the back tires, as well, trying to cripple the car as much as possible.

 

With three out of four tires flapping on the road, they finally came to a stop. The driver side doors flew open, front and back. As Maggie started to get out, the driver climbed out of the car and snatched her back by her hair. The front passenger crouched as he crept around the front.

 

“Let her go,” I called to Axel’s two goons. “It’s over. You don’t have to keep doing this.”

 

“I’ve got a gun,” the driver called back to me, pointing a gun at Maggie’s head.

 

“It’s not loaded,” Maggie yelled.

 

“Shit,” yelled the passenger, turning to run from the car and the other two. I followed him with the gun in my hand and popped him right in the back of the head, sending him sprawling to the ground. He wasn’t getting up.

 

“Oh hell,” the driver said, turning around to see his buddy get shot and laid out right in front of him.

 

While he was distracted, Maggie thrust her elbow into his gut. He doubled over and let go of her. She ducked into the car to get out of the way. I aimed at him, but I waited. I wanted him to see it coming. He looked up, and I started walking towards him.

 

“Stay,” I barked, ordering him like a dog. “One wrong move, and you bite it just like your buddy over there.”

 

“You’re going to shoot me anyway,” he said.

 

I shrugged. “True, but I don’t want to do it right here by the car. Let’s go for a walk. Turn around.”

 

He slowly turned around and walked in front of me. I kept my gun pressed against the back of his skull, right about where I’d popped his buddy. I wanted to relish the moment. It had been such a pain in the ass to try to catch these two clowns, I felt like I had earned a little satisfaction. Nothing wrong with taking pleasure in my work, right?

 

“So, where were you taking her?” I asked.

 

“We didn’t know, man. We were trying to stay alive. That’s all. She was going to be our collateral.” He talked quickly, in a panicked voice.

 

“Calm down, all right. No need to wet yourself over this. You’re supposed to be a badass. Just a little over an hour ago, you had two people tied up in an old warehouse used for sex slave auctions, and a third guy had me so I couldn’t even break free. I’ll tell you, man, that’s no easy feat,” I said to try to boost his confidence. “You want to die with dignity, integrity, not whimpering and pissing yourself like a coward.”

 

“Right,” he said. He cleared his throat and held his head up.

 

“Yeah, there you go. So, if you didn’t know where you were going, are there any others out there?” I asked.

 

“Others?”

 

“More people who worked for Axel,” I clarified.

 

He hesitated, and I felt like he was trying to figure out exactly what he was going to tell me. If there were more of them and he didn’t want me to know, he could have said there weren’t any. But if he didn’t want me to know that he was the last one, he could have decided to tell me there were people looking for him, to intimidate me into letting him live. Either way, I didn’t like the hesitation.

 

“Be honest,” I told him, pressing the gun harder against his head.

 

“No, we were all,” he said, lowering his head.

 

“Are you sure?” I asked.

 

“He kept saying there were more, but we never met anyone else. It was only the five of us. Me, Calvin over there, Beefcake the giant, Kyle in black, and Axel. I think the only other people he had were plants or informants, but I think he killed all of them earlier tonight, except for Maggie,” he confessed.

 

“Tell me something before I kill you,” I said.

 

“Sure.” There was a resolve in his voice, a finality to that single world that struck me as ominous. This job was about to be over, and I was going to be left picking up the pieces of something I hadn’t even admitted existed.

 

“Did you ever see Maggie with Axel?” I asked. It was important because his answer would tell me how involved she was with Axel. Or, it would at least give me an idea.

 

He didn’t answer immediately.

 

“Again with the hesitation,” I groaned. “I’m about to shoot you whether you tell me or not.”

 

“No, I never saw her. I know he met with her, but I never witnessed any of these meetings,” he said with a newfound calm in his voice.

 

“Are you sure?” I asked again.

 

“I am.”

 

I let him stand peacefully for a moment after giving me his last answer. He seemed like a nice guy. It was a shame he’d found himself in the wrong place, on the wrong side. He had no business getting mixed up with people like Axel.

 

I couldn’t let him live, not after he’d been present for Vlad’s death, the fight with the big guy, Axel’s attempt to rape Maggie, and after I’d killed everyone he’d worked with. I couldn’t let him live after trying to run off with Maggie.

 

Yet, I hesitated.

 

The night Vlad saved my life, we’d been involved in a shootout. I’d taken a hit to my gut, and I was on the ground, gushing. My life was leaving me fast, but he patched me up and got me the help I needed.

 

I had asked him why once I was able to hold a conversation again. It had taken a while to get me stable, and Vlad had used a lot of resources to make sure I stayed with him.

 

The old Russian looked at me, sitting beside my bed, and he said, “Blade, you are a very strong, very loyal man. You are good and true. We need more men like you. We can’t afford to lose you.”

 

Even after everything else that had happened, I still firmly believed when he said we he meant the world itself, not just his organization. It may have turned out that he needed me in his organization, but I liked to believe I had always been more than just an employee to him. More than just hired muscle.

 

I pulled the gun away from the guy’s head. I wasn’t going to shoot him. There was no way he could do me any harm. If anything, by saving him, I was going to earn an ally.

 

“What?” he asked, shocked. He started to turn around.

 

“Don’t turn around,” I told him.

 

“Oh, okay.”

 

“What’s your name?”

 

“Evan.”

 

“Evan, I’m not going to shoot you,” I stated plainly.

 

“Thank you, Blade,” he gushed.

 

“I’m not finished yet.”

 

“Sorry.” He straightened up, standing in front of me just as he had been when I’d held the gun to his head.

 

“You can run from here tonight and go home to whatever home you have if you promise to get off the street and find a real job where your gifts will be of value to people. Do you understand?”

 

“I do, sir.”

 

I laughed. “I’m not a sir. I’m not your boss, and I doubt I’m much older than you, if I even am.”

 

“Sorry,” he interjected.

 

“Don’t apologize. Do you promise to straighten up and keep your nose clean? Because if I find you out here working for someone else, I’m not going to be as nice next time,” I warned him.

 

“I do. I promise. And thank you, Blade.”

 

“If you ever need anything, find the Marauders,” I told him. “We’ll help you. Now go while I’m still feeling generous.”

 

He tripped and almost fell when he started to run off. I stood and watched as he ran away from me into the dark. I watched until I couldn’t see him.

 

Then, I turned around and saw the real reason I’d been out running all over the city all night. Maggie stood next to the car, waiting for me, wearing her jeans and the black jacket the little guy had given her. She stood with her legs pressed together and her arms wrapped around herself. Her breath made steam while she struggled to keep herself warm.

 

I walked to her, a smile spreading across my face as I closed the distance between us. Despite how cold she looked, she threw her arms around my neck when I got to her. We kissed, a long, tender kiss, our lips simply pressing against each other.

 

I put my arms around her and held her to me. I wasn’t going to let her out of my sight ever again, I decided. No more safehouses. No more putting her aside, whether trying to protect her or not.

 

“Come on, let’s get you home,” I said, putting my arm across her shoulders as I walked her back to my motorcycle.

 

“What was that all about?” she asked.

 

“I let him go,” I told her.

 

“I saw that. Why?” She blinked those big beautiful eyes at me.

 

“Because once upon a time, a man saved my life. He could have walked away, left me to die, but he didn’t. He took me with him and patched me up, even though I belong to an organization that was trying to take him down. Then, tonight, when we all thought he was already dead, he mustered up enough strength to save both of us,” I explained as she climbed on the bike.

 

“You’re saying Vlad shot Axel,” she said, looking at me in disbelief.

 

“He was the only one holding a gun when it happened, believe it or not. And because of that, and because Evan seemed completely out of place working for someone like Axel, I decided to let him go,” I told her, climbing on in front of her.

 

“Yeah, Evan’s a good guy,” Maggie agreed.

 

I smiled as my motorcycle’s engine roared to life, knowing I did the right thing.