Chapter 34

His heart wasn’t beating when they loaded him into the helicopter. They got him back but they didn’t know if Reginald would last the flight. Paul watched until it disappeared behind the trees then jumped when Lavender’s hand closed around his shoulder.

“Your hands,” he said as he handed him a wad of paper towels. He had a bottle of water tucked under his arm and Paul realized his hands were caked in Reginald’s blood. He didn’t want to clean them. If he died, the blood on Paul’s hands was in Reginald’s body and contained the last moments of his life.

“You have to walk away from this. Leave it here, with the guns,” Lavender said gently then unscrewed the cap and waited for Paul to hold out his hands. “Denver’s tracking Reginald and will keep us posted if anything changes. He’ll watch him for us until the hospital receives him, then it’s out of our hands and we have to wait. It could be hours before we have news but you need to go to the hospital with Lane and I need to leave before the police get here. You don’t want to be seen with this much blood, it’ll raise questions and slow you down,” Lavender explained calmly and Paul nodded as he scrubbed then dried his hands as well as he could.

“Zubkov isn’t here and I can’t find Toly,” Lane said as he joined them and Lavender nodded.

“Denver’s already helped Ivanof disappear and Zubkov won’t get far,” he murmured then looked around. “I would have been better prepared for this if I had listened to him,” he admitted and Paul shook his head.

“I really don’t think Reginald knew it was this bad until he discovered it was the Red Death. That’s when he got scared. He should have let me in on this sooner, I would have made you listen,” he said and Lane grabbed them by the back of their necks and pushed them.

“Come on, we need to get out of here,” he said and Lavender shrugged out of his grip and smoothed the collar of his shirt.

“It’s bad enough that I’m not dressed. Don’t make it worse,” he spat and Lane sighed in weary awe.

“How do you do it?” He asked and Lavender hummed as he pulled his phone from his pocket.

“Do what?” He asked as he checked the cameras in and around the house.

“How do you stand in the middle of…hell and hit every fucking thing without getting touched?” He asked and Paul’s neck stretched as he tried to see Lavender’s eyes and face as he swiped at his phone’s screen. He watched Sage and Aiden for a moment then nodded slightly before he hit the home button and glanced at the hangar.

“I collect and study weapons because I admire them. They’re art and precision. They’re like instruments, in a way. Each firearm makes its own sound and has its own timing, its own speed and range. If you consider the battlefield to be a stage and each fighter, a musician, it’s a bit like conducting an orchestra,” he said then pointed to his right as his eyes stretched beyond the lot, into the hangar. “If I know how fast that man’s weapon fires and its range and can estimate the bullet’s trajectory. I know when he’s a threat and when to time my shot,” he explained and Paul gasped.

“But for every man and weapon in the room?” He asked and Lavender raised a shoulder.

“It’s not unlike conducting an orchestra. As long as I know my back is covered, I can control the room. I also have an advantage if I control the chaos. I had a feeling Zubkov would use the hangar so I laid the explosives the night you and Reginald arrived.

“How did you know he’d do it here?” Lane asked and Lavender snorted.

“You don’t nurture a grudge like that then rent a random warehouse when you can go back to the scene of your defeat. Revenge is best when it wipes a slate clean,” he explained.

“He wanted a do-over,” Paul said and Lavender nodded.

“You know how dramatic Russians are,” he said.

“That was a hell of a catch,” Lane said as he nudged Paul with his elbow. He shook his head as he held up his hands.

“I played a lot of baseball but I doubt I could have made that catch on a field with a glove,” he said and Lavender shook his head.

“I find that my senses become heightened and my reflexes are more responsive during a fight. Even with all the firing and screaming, I could have heard a pin drop. You might not experience anything quite that extreme but I see the same sort of instincts in both of you,” he said as he pulled his keys from his pocket and Lane stopped.

“I… I think that was a compliment, Paul,” he said and Paul felt a weak grin tilt his lips. Lavender waved dismissively then pulled his door open.

“I see some of the same instincts. You’re old, so they’re fading and Paul’s boring so he doesn’t trust them as much as he should but neither of you embarrassed yourselves today. Thank you for showing up. I’ll see you later, let me know as soon as you hear something about Reginald,” he said and Paul waved.

“I will never understand what you did in there but thank you,” he said and Lavender shook his head as he looked toward the trees and Paul had a feeling he was already tracking Zubkov.

“I thought the best way I could protect everyone was to take myself out of that world and protect what was mine. I thought it would cost me the largest parts of my self and I was willing to pay. But I would have seen this coming if I was out there and it wouldn’t have come home. What happened in that hangar was a message and a warning. I’m not finished yet, those bodies are a downpayment and I will collect the balance.” He gave Lane and Paul a stiff nod then ducked into his seat. The car started and they watched in tense silence as he skidded around the hanger then launched down the runway.

“That’s concerning,” Lane said as he waited for Paul to fish his keys out of a cargo pocket. Paul stopped and stared at Lane for a moment then shook his head.

“I think he’s right,” he stated and Lane’s head pulled back in shock.

“I thought it wasn’t up to us to decide if he gets a pass,” he said and Paul shrugged.

“I was wrong. I don’t know what he is but he isn’t like us or an ordinary citizen. We’re all safer with him out there as long as he has something to fight for and protect. They were blind because they put their head in the sand. If Reginald was collecting intelligence for him and still moving in the same circles, he would have seen it sooner. Lavender would have seen the danger if he would have stepped back, it isn’t enough to protect Lake Cliff. He would have felt Zubkov breathing down his neck and he never would have let him get this close to home if they were still working. He can’t let himself become a sitting target. Not until he’s sure every debt has been settled and his family is safe. Reginald won’t…” His voice cracked and he sniffed hard as he could feel himself begin to crumble. He shook his head and coughed. He couldn’t break down yet. “Reginald won’t last in our world. Things like grocery shopping and normal people would be traumatizing for him and imagine how often he’d be assaulted for saying terrible shit. He doesn’t care about tact and he’s unstable. He’ll get bored or lose his mind and instead of shoplifting or fucking the pool boy like a housewife, it’ll be drones. All the world’s drones,” Paul warned and Lane paled.

“He stays busy, the world stays safe,” he said as he nodded. “Let’s go. You look like hell and it’s not going to get better until we know that crazy shit is out of the woods.”