Better the Devil

by Solomon Carter

  Twenty-six

  Dan tested doors as he passed them in the upstairs corridor. His skin was slick with sweat. The vigilante was coming. Their first meeting had been a foretaste. They were never going to be friends, allies or even on the same page in life. Dan saw the vicious competitor in the man’s eyes outside The Refuge, the cockiness, the daring. He had seen in it every decent fighter he’d ever come up against in the ring. Those ones were difficult. But Dan backed himself, even now. Yes, he was cracking up, but what other kind of motivation did he need? Eva was in dire need of him. Dan would prevail. He pounded doors, and opened them straight after. None so far contained Eva. He came to a room with a four-poster bed with shining pearlescent sheets and puffed up pillows. There was a mirrored ceiling in the four-poster. These Galvans were an absolute disaster in style and taste. He slammed the door and moved on but as he looked ahead, Dan saw the masked man arrive at the top of the stairs. His footfall was near silent.

  They appraised each other, slowing down to an even pace. Here it was. Dan kept himself limber and loose and eyed up the man’s physique. Equally he was looking at the layout of the plush corridor all around him. The walls and furniture and framed art and vases provided obstacles and fighting opportunities of all kinds. Dan felt the other man thinking the same thoughts. Not good.

  “So, what are you anyway? Do you think you’re a ninja? Or do you really have superpowers to go with that stupid mask? I read that some people don’t believe you exist, that you were made for a publicity stunt either by the papers or by some stupid kids. That’s what you want, isn’t it? To become a legend?”

  “You’re talking about the mask.”

  “I’m talking about the idiot behind it. When you’re wearing a mask there isn’t a lot else to talk about.”

  “We don’t have to talk at all, do we?” said the masked man in his gruff voice.

  “Yep, sorry about that part. I’m such a gabber mouth. Eva will tell you, I’ve always talked too much. It’s just one of my many issues. I use the iPad too much. I surf the web too much. These days I bite my nails too much, and yeah, I still talk far too much.”

  The masked man said nothing.

  “You, not so much. You know, you being here causes me problems. You’ve created the ideal opportunity for a hit. A lot of distraction and confusion, meanwhile the real ninja, the one paid to kill Maggie does their job just fine.”

  “Maybe it’s you who is getting in the way,” said the masked man.

  “You’re an ego on stilts, masked man. You want fame and glory but you want it in secret. I’ve got you down as some kind of introvert with a desire for recognition. Maybe you’re a pervert. I’m not a psychologist of course.”

  “I noticed that.”

  “But I’d say you’ve got a complex. You need your head checked. You want to be adored, don’t you?”

  “Not as much as you want to hold the stage right now. Move aside. I’m here to do my work, then I’m gone.”

  “I’m here to rescue Eva Roberts. What’s your work?”

  “Settling the score. I’m going to help your partner too.”

  Dan’s face changed. “Settling the score? Maybe you’re the hitman.”

  The masked man shook his head. The atmosphere between them was now ice cold. Both men had slipped into warrior mode, looking for the early gap.

  “I’ve come to restore justice. That’s all.”

  “No. You’re in the way of what’s right. You’re not going to leave, are you?”

  The masked man shook his head.

  “Neither am I.”

  They masked man lunged forward. Dan stepped aside and was quick enough to dodge a follow up punch. The masked man was nimble and strong. Dan didn’t recognise which martial art he was using yet - Savate maybe? - and he was good at it. Dan feinted a punch, he did it again with his left. This time the masked man smashed his fist into the back of Dan’s wrist, and his arm went dead. It didn’t hurt but it was numb. He managed to use the same dead arm to parry two blows before a stinging right glanced off his chin and he was sent back against the wall. Using the wall to launch, Dan pushed off back at the stranger. He was angry, but he needed to control the emotion or it would cost him. Dan held his rage, and channelled it into a volley of punches. The masked man parried left and right, and stabbed a punch through Dan’s guard, aiming for his solar plexus, but it failed to connect. As Dan rained blows in around the man’s head and kidneys, he felt that he hadn’t yet connected at all. He was already running out of steam. He slowed his rate of attack, and suddenly, the man had reached up, grabbed Dan’s head and shoulders, pushed up hard and threw his whole body over Dan’s head like he was a gymnast’s horse bench in PE. Dan did his best to spin around, dumbfounded. He would have to defend straight away. Dan blocked three successive punches to his turning face, but forgot about the man’s feet. The masked man kicked, connected and almost knocked Dan’s head off. His head rolled back and his body followed back and down. Dan shot backwards across the corridor floor.

  “There’s no shame in defeat,” said the masked man.

  Dan rolled and groaned before he sat up and dabbed his jaw.

  “Bullshit. Of course there is. That’s why I’m not losing.”

  Dan pushed up to stand, and moved into a loose boxing stance.

  “Did you know only sissies box with their feet? Sissies and horses.”

  “I didn’t know that.” The masked man moved against him quickly, running to build momentum. Dan sidestepped, and delivered two blows. The first was blocked, the second hit home in the kidney, and shuddering, Dan went for a third into the small of the man’s back as he passed him. It sent the man bent the wrong way, and he clattered into a side table and went down. As the clattering finished, the masked man sprang to his feet, Dan saw Maggie appear at the far end of the corridor. She was in a hurry. She looked at them with a vicious smile and hurried on. She was climbing another staircase. Dan saw the gun in her hand. A nice shiny Sig Sauer. A good and reliable gun. The masked man saw it too. Dan tried to push past the masked man, who shoved at him, but he broke away. They ran a race, shoulder barging each other up the steps. Dan went first and the masked man let him go.

  “If that woman hurts her, I will hold you responsible,” shouted Dan as he bounded up the stairs.

  “It’s your fault, man.”

  They got to the top of the flight. Up here they were in a narrow space with bare dark wood doors going off towards the left and to the right. They fell silent and listened. The masked man pressed his ear to the right door. Dan shook his head at the man’s comic book pretensions. Idiots pissed him off. The masked man did not say a word. It told Dan Eva had to be behind the door closest to him.

  “You’re carrying weapons,” said Dan pointing to the man’s bulky black jacket. “You go to draw them, and I will kill you, plain and simple. I’ll have no choice.”

  The masked man shrugged.

  “You’ve been warned,” said Dan.

  They tried the door. It wouldn’t give.

  Maggie entered Eva’s room holding the heavy pistol. For hours Eva had been sitting down beneath the window, occasionally peering just above the sill out into the dark Estuary view, looking for a sign of the person who had been watching them all this time. The feeling of being watched had stayed with her the whole time. She still felt their eyes even now, even as Maggie appeared and glowered at her with the gun at her side. Though no one could have seen her there. The threat was everywhere. Maggie closed the door behind her and locked it. Eva saw the red mark on Maggie’s cheek, the bruise already showing. The woman’s dark eyes were flaring. She was shaking but mostly the madness was in her eyes. The manic high. The ascendancy. Eva was in danger now, she knew it. But it was late in the day. She looked death in the face. What the hell did she have to lose?

  Eva stood but backed away from the window.

  “We probably have only a few minutes, Eva darling.”

  “Is it the assassin?”

  M
aggie shook her head dismissively. “That doesn’t matter, sweetheart. What matters is the decision you make in the next thirty seconds.”

  Maggie’s gun hand twitched and the weapon glinted at Eva

  “Remember, Maggie - I helped you. I came to work for you, to help you get safe from your husband. I got you safe. You said I helped save you from Kendra. Then I got you a deal with the Galvans. But you ripped me off all the same. You double crossed me, again.”

  “You stole from me and you were going to leave me.”

  “I took what you promised me. You killed your own cousin in front of me. Your own flesh and blood. Of course I was going to leave. I value my life.”

  Maggie smiled and took a step forward. “You leaving me was never a part of the plan, darling. You see, you were the first to betray me. You owe me a kiss.”

  Instinctively Eva drew back and pressed her body to the wall. Maggie smiled.

  “Let me make you a final offer. I value your life Eva. But only when it belongs to me. Understood. You got away from me once, but I need to know you will never ever do that to me ever again.”

  “That was your aim from the start? But you had Kendra. You were happy.”

  “This little girl has always liked more. Besides, Kendra was my employee. You are my trophy.”

  “This whole thing was about revenge on me?”

  “No, my dear. I needed your help. But when I had your help, I knew I would never give you up again.”

  Eva took a short sharp breath. She felt the gun move in the woman’s hand, but kept her eyes locked on Maggie’s. She wanted to see the first hint of the kill. “What do you want?”

  “You know exactly what I want. But there’s no time for that now, is there?”

  “Forget that. What do you want?”

  “I want you to promise me you’ll stay with me.”

  Eva didn’t nod. She didn’t say a word. She kept her eyes on Maggie. The gun began to rise.

  “I need a sign of your compliance, Eva. I need you to sign on the dotted line. I want the kiss you owe me.”

  How was she going to die? How did she want to die? With dignity. With self-respect. She would fight of course. She could hear it in her head. Eva Roberts went down fighting. Maggie took another step forward and the gun came up toward her face. She could feel it near her but refused to look away from Maggie’s eyes.

  “A kiss. Just a kiss, Eva. And then we will fight our way out and you will live. With me.”

  A kiss was never just a kiss. Maggie Gillespie was a liar, a double crosser and a killer. Eva had one choice left. To go out fighting.

  Dan drew his Browning pistol from his jacket pocket, stood back as he aimed it into the handle and lock of the door. The masked man tugged his shoulder. Dan span around and aimed at his chest. The man pulled a short crowbar from his jacket which had teeth at one end. Dan shook his head and let the man go in front of him. The masked man threw his weight into the weapon, gouging into the crack between the door and the jamb. The wood splintered, and then he leaned all his weight against the crack and jimmied the door inward. The door broke and they were in.

  They saw Maggie in profile, towering over Eva. Maggie grinned ear to ear, as the door caved into a small ornate bedroom. Maggie was calm, serene even. She held a gun straight out from her shoulder. Eva Roberts stood with the gun pointed at her head. She looked tired, she looked stressed, and to Dan Bradley she looked drop dead gorgeous. Her pale green eyes opened wide and she smiled as if the gun wasn’t there.

  “Dan. Dan…Where’ve you been you bastard?”

  “Nice to see you too, hon.”

  “Why did you have to bring him along?” said Eva, nodding at the masked man.

  “He gate-crashed.”

  “These boys never grow up, do they? Look at you, still playing dress up. Who the hell do you think you are?” said Maggie.

  The masked man said nothing. His eyes looked at each of them in turn. Dan was wary. The man felt like a bomb which was ready to go off. Dan didn’t know which way this was going to go down. But he knew which way it needed to fall. Maggie grinned at them both and then she stopped grinning. Everything changed in a split second.

  Eva dropped and swung her body to the right, making it difficult for Maggie to track her with the gun. The woman’s head turned as Eva was moving, but her gun movement was too slow. Eva ducked under the gun arm. She took a breath and shoulder barged into the woman’s hip.

  “Eva!”

  She pushed and drove through Maggie’s strong body like a rugby player, hammering Maggie back against the wall by the window. Maggie groaned, winded, but held onto her gun. Eva was completely exposed. Maggie now faced the masked man as they stood by the door. She smiled wickedly as Eva tried to grapple for the gun, but Maggie lifted the gun high out of her reach. Dan saw evil intent in her eye. He ducked and shoved the masked man out of the way as the room exploded with noise and a flash of close up light. Eva’s ears hurt, she could hardly hear a thing. She dropped a knee on Maggie’s thigh. The bitch groaned again, and Eva pushed higher and snatched at the gun. She seized Maggie’s gun hand, scratching at her fingers, prising at the handle. Then Eva’s face was filled with Maggie’s thin brown hand and dark red nails scratching at her. The nails caught her cheek just below her eye. She felt the skin concertina and tear with burning pain. But the pain made Eva angry. She launched upright, seizing the gun hand with both hands and smashed her knee into Maggie’s face. Maggie held tight to the gun. Maggie scratched at Eva’s legs, and bit down hard at the front of her ankle. Pain filled Eva’s senses, and she thrashed her leg as hard as she could until she kicked Maggie’s head back against the wall. Now Maggie was dazed. Eva seized the gun, and turned around to assess the damage.

  “You okay?” she said to Dan. He nodded and stepped away from the man in the mask. He turned and looked at the door, behind him, as if checking for something.

  “We need to talk, Dan.”

  “Maybe, we’ve said it all before.”

  Eva swept her hair out of her eyes, and tucked it behind her ear.

  A faint noise carried in the air beyond the windows. They knew it well. The sound of sirens. But there were other noises too. Noises close to silence. They didn’t hear any of the quiet noise.

  Eva turned and looked at Maggie.

  “Look what you’ve done. You did all this to yourself, didn’t you? You could have had a new life, Maggie! You had Gerrard. You had money and a place with The Galvans. Now what have you got?”

  “Exactly what I came into this world with… and that’s been enough for me up to now.”

  “I helped you and you ripped me off. You needed help…. Look how you repaid me…”

  “You want it all so neat, don’t you, darling? Nothing in life is neat. It’s dirty. It’s painful. Take your money. Take it all. The Galvans were only going to bleed me dry anyway. I can’t have pond scum like them getting rich from me. But do yourself a favour. Ditch those frumpy suits and wear something womanly.”

  Eva grunted at Maggie, and turned her head toward Dan cutting him off from replying. He knew better and his mouth was shut.

  The masked man spoke. “You’re a killer. You’re going to serve a long time behind bars. But the truth is you deserve far more than that.”

  Maggie snorted deeply spat on the floor. The masked man moved back as the glob landed on the floor in front of him.

  “You’re an idiot. You’re going to end up face down in a ditch before you hurt the likes of me.” The sirens were wailing louder. They had minutes. Two at best. The sirens would wail out over the Estuary here so they could still be far off. Under the gaze of the loaded gun, Maggie dragged herself upright. She was smiling again, proudly, defiant under the gaze of her enemies.

  “One day, I’ll have you Eva. You know that don’t you…”

  Before Maggie finished speaking there was a shocking crack, two cracks which filled the air. They split the room in half. The masked man dived to the left, Dan cowed to the other s
ide. Eva saw the full horror of Maggie’s head opening up from the top to the bridge of her nose. A whole clump of flesh and bone matter spattered against the wall. Maggie Gillespie was dead and still smiling even as her body pressed against the wall and the window, and slid slowly down. Eva looked at the bloodied window behind Maggie as she fell down, her detective brain faster than her body. The window was intact. Maggie was dead. Eva turned around. She looked at the masked man – but he had no weapon drawn. It wasn’t him. Dan wore a look of utter shock. He looked back at Eva eyes wider than she’d ever seen them. Eva’s view was blocked by Dan and the vigilante. Dan saw someone running hard down the stairs. Still on his haunches, he pushed up quickly but the masked man was already up and running. Dan moved after them. Eva followed in shock.

  They ran down two flights. The figure ahead of them was lithe in dark clothing, fast and physically strong. They were a whole two flights ahead, and the masked man was flying down the stairs so fast Dan could barely keep up.

  “Get the bastard. Get him!” shouted Dan.

  They reached the kitchen space to see them grab a parcel from the table and run through the hall and out through the front door. Now the motorcyclist was up close, the leathers revealed the shape beneath, the rounded curves and the feminine stride. The hitman was a woman. They saw clearly now. A woman with dark skin, a hard business like but pretty face, her hair all drawn tight and tied high on the back of her head. She ran hard with gritted teeth down the path towards the Estuary. She was faster than both of them, though the masked man was far quicker than Dan. He reflected on the sorry state of his fitness. If he survived, much more time was needed in the gym. The masked man reached the gate and turned left after the killer. Dan emerged on the main road to hear the rumble and growl of a large sports engine motorbike. The motorbike appeared from the around the corner close by, turning so fast, hard and low around the corner it should have fallen on its side, but it righted again and burst onto the main road. Dan skipped back. The motorcycle was the same colour and the rider was wearing the same sports jacket, as before. Dan made out the dark coloured vest and the shape of the killer’s feminine curves. The masked man emerged at the corner and dropped to his knee, aiming a pistol held in two hands. It was a small gun, impressive only for the silencer mounted on it. Dan had always liked the look of silencers. He liked them as tools, but he disliked the way they weakened the power of a gun. Dan knew the masked man had missed before the masked man knew it himself.