Unbeaten

by A. R. Shaw

  It was Linda’s shrill voice behind them, toward the guard station in the middle of the bridge, that got their attention.

  A man held her there by the back of her wild hair, her hat nowhere in sight, a gun pointed at her temple. The man was none other than Tale himself, flanked by his inner circle.

  “What we have here…” Tale said, dragging Linda before him and then using his bodyweight to fling her by the hair forward again, “…is an opportunity.”

  77

  Kent

  Inside the truck, Kent began packing things away for the drive home. Periodically he’d look through the scope of his gun out over the darkened waters, in hopes of spotting the boats in the fleeting dark as they arrived.

  “You’re not really going to leave here without her, are you?” Marvin said.

  Kent kept his back to the man, not willing to discuss the argument going on inside his own head.

  “She has no way of returning without the boats. She’ll have to walk the long way around—assuming, of course, she manages to avoid Tale and his men. She won’t make it, mate. And she damn sure won’t succeed in her mission.” He chuckled lightly. It was the drugs, Kent knew, that made him that way.

  “Shut up,” Kent said and that’s when he turned and saw a woman running through the bridge. He grabbed his rifle and watched her through the scope. At first, he thought of Sloane, but this woman’s build was different. She was nearly halfway when her hat flew off her head and over the bridge. She stopped but not because of the renegade hat. No, first one man and then two stepped out of the guard station in the center of the bridge.

  “What is it?” Marvin asked.

  “Wha…wait, where the hell did they come from?” Kent said.

  The woman backed away. A third man stepped out of the guard station and then the first two ran after the woman as she turned and fled back the way she’d come. But she was no match for them. They caught up to her, threw her to the ground and hauled her back to the third man.

  “Oh shit.”

  “What’s going on? You can’t keep doing that. The suspense is killing me,” Marvin said, laughing.

  Kent turned to him. “Can you sit up a little higher?”

  “Well, yeah,” Marvin said, and Kent helped him, then showed him what was going on through the gun’s scope.

  “Is this a problem for us? Is that woman in danger?”

  It didn’t take him long to say, “Yes, and yes.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “That’s Tale talking. The other two goons are his inner circle.” Marvin paused then and said, “Shit…that’s Linda. Anyone else might have a chance but he hates her. No chance in hell. Davis must be doing one hell of a job over there. She’s always been confined to her house.”

  “Who’s Linda?”

  “She’s the doctor.”

  Kent watched through the window and saw a blue truck coming fast toward the bridge and shortly after, a Humvee.

  “Who’s that?”

  “Oh my God!” Marvin said as the blue truck blocked the entrance to the bridge. “That…would be Ivan…and apparently, Davis.”

  By then, Tale and his three men, as well as Linda, had retreated into the guard shack.

  Puffs of smoke and tiny bursts of fire lit from the weapons being fired at the other end. The bangs came a second late to Kent’s ears as they watched the scene unfold.

  As if it just dawned on him, Marvin said, “Where are the boats?”

  “Give me that,” Kent said, reaching for the rifle and moving into position to look at the other side of the bridge, and that was when he saw the tail end of the last boat floating underneath the center of the bridge, right below the guard station. “Dammit.”

  When he looked back at Marvin, his eyes were wide. “You realize I have the detonator?”

  Marvin said, “What a conundrum.” His face was sympathetic but his sentiment still bore a shred of mirth. “Here you have the perfect opportunity to rid yourself of the menace and yet your people are trapped underneath the bridge you wish to blow up.”

  “I didn’t need you to spell it out.”

  “I should have just said ‘bummer, man?’”

  Kent nodded. Then his attention was again drawn toward the bridge as he watched Tale pull the woman from the guard shack. The firing ceased, and they were now yelling across the bridge.

  “She’s a hostage?” Kent asked.

  “Oh sure…hell, everyone wants Linda. She just won’t have anyone. That’s always been her problem.”

  Kent fleetingly noted Marvin’s sing-song voice indicated the pain drugs were wearing thin.

  “He’ll kill her, without a doubt.”

  “Shit…what the hell do I do?” Kent said.

  “Another conundrum…if you fire from this direction, they’ll focus gunfire on us…killing me, of course...which ends my final problem in life, but you’ll die too. Then your people will likely be discovered still trapped beneath the bridge.”

  Without taking his eye off the situation through the scope, Kent said, “This is a personality flaw that should have gotten you killed long ago.”

  “Hah!” Marvin said. “I’m just pointing out the facts, my friend. I’d say she has about thirty seconds left. What’s it going to be? Save one, endanger all or let her die, the majority lives?”

  78

  Sloane

  It was the vehicle noise, the sounds of engines revving, tires squealing, and then the abundance of gunfire that caught Sloane’s attention at first. One minute the boats were headed to the bridge’s center safely and then all hell broke loose on the hot end. She heard the shouting and alerted Jason. They watched the drama unfold and then saw Chuck get out of his boat to set the bomb. Then as Boyd, in the lead boat, went to leave, he quickly backed up, seeing the problem above. They were trapped now, beneath the bridge with a bomb set to go off at Kent’s command.

  Jason tapped her on the arm.

  Let’s go, he meant.

  They had to draw the commotion away from the bridge. If they could stop the guards in the Humvee, the hostages and the boats beneath would have a chance to escape.

  79

  Davis

  One minute, Davis and Ivan were horrified to see Linda in the hands of Tale. The next, the guards in the Humvee were out of the vehicle and shooting at their feet.

  “That’s right, boys,” Tale caterwauled to them. “Come and get her.”

  At one point, Davis turned quickly and aimed at one of the guards.

  “Don’t!” Ivan yelled and jerked Davis by the arm, back around to see that Tale had Linda standing to the side of him, his arm at full length, the pistol to her head.

  She was shaking, or Davis imagined so, arms clasped tightly to her sides.

  “Don’t. Please let her go. We’ll do what you ask, Tale. Put the gun down,” Ivan shouted.

  “Put down your weapons for starters,” Tale said.

  Davis shook his head in frustration and then tossed his gun off the side of the bridge.

  “You too, Ivan. I expected more of you, my old friend,” Tale said, and Davis noticed that Ivan visibly shook.

  “Kind of makes me want to take a shower,” Ivan said under his breath.

  “Ivan, when we get closer, just make a run for her and dive over the bridge,” Davis said.

  “I’m not leaving you, jackass,” Ivan said with a drawl.

  Davis was about to argue with him, but it was then they heard gunfire from behind them, and the shots weren’t aimed at them.

  When Davis turned around, he saw the familiar blond hair belonging to Jason at a distance, taking cover behind the corner of a brick building. He and a woman were firing on the guards, already taking down two of them.

  Without another thought, Davis turned around to see Ivan already had the same idea. He was running like hell for Linda.

  That was when one of the guards dropped near Tale, only Ivan didn’t have a gun on him.

  Where did that come from? Davis th
ought but saw another man on the other end of the bridge firing on Tale and his men.

  The other guard raised his gun in the man’s direction and Davis began to run as fast as he could, but it was too late. The man at the other end of the bridge fell to the ground.

  80

  Kent

  Kent grabbed the handheld radio and his rifle and ran the short distance to the bridge.

  Their attention was turned to the other end. There was some kind of commotion going on. Then gunfire. Everyone had their backs toward Kent and he noticed Tale had lowered his weapon from his hostage’s head. It was the perfect opportunity to kill the man, one he’d not likely get again. Kent raised his rifle, aimed and fired…and missed. Instead he hit the guard’s leg next to him, causing Tale to turn in his direction, and before he could get another round off, he felt before he heard the shot that tore through his side, flinging him to the ground.

  81

  Sloane

  Sloane saw it happen in her peripheral view, as surreal a moment as anything ever in her life. A man was exposed at the end of the bridge. He was there one minute, while she was both receiving gunfire and shooting back. The next second, the figure in the distance was gone. In the back of her mind, she knew it was Kent, but at the time, she had no choice but to continue to distract the guards away from the boats as they fled from under the bridge.

  There were many more of them, and she and Jason held them off until they heard the click of an empty magazine. Jason looked at her and shook his head. That was all they could do, and she hoped it was enough for the boats to make it to shore.

  She searched the waters below, but Jason grabbed her arm and tried to pull her away. “Wait,” she said and watched as a man lunged into the hostage and sent both of them off the bridge and into the water below.

  “Da-vi,” Jason said in alarm as the other man ran straight for Tale and his men.

  82

  Davis

  He didn’t know how he’d avoided the gunfire. He watched as Ivan swooped into Linda and the next thing he knew, the two of them disappeared over the railing. They were gone, just like that. It wasn’t a long fall off the Young’s Bay Bridge. Try something like that on the Astoria-Megler bridge and you were done for.

  Once that happened…there was nothing in between him and his quest to kill Tale once and for all. He ran full on, eating the ground, except that merely thirty feet away, he felt his leg go out from under him. His left knee was blown out.

  Sprawled to the ground, Davis yelled in agony.

  “You thought you had me? Didn’t you?” Tale yelled as he sauntered toward him, gun aimed. He laughed then, that squirrelly-ass laugh.

  At least it’s over, Davis thought. At least Ivan and Linda made it. I’m done now. It was a cop-out, he knew, but at least his own pain was over.

  With his head on the cold pavement, Davis focused beyond Tale and his men. The wind blew at his sleeve. Even Tale’s hair reached for the sky with the breeze as he came nearer. It was quiet for the first time in a long time. No gunfire. Nothing…except for a man dragging himself, with the aid of a big stick, toward the dead man at the other end of the bridge. He stooped and picked up something from the ground near the body.

  Tale talked but Davis wasn’t paying attention to anything that guy had to say.

  The struggling man leaned on his crutch and waved both arms like an idiot and then Davis knew…he knew who the man was.

  He made another hand gesture…one where both of his hands cupped into one big circle, each fingertip touching its opposite, and then he quickly released them. There was no time to think.

  Marvin put his fingers in his mouth and let out a high, piercing whistle.

  Tale and the others turned in his direction.

  A muffled roar.

  In slow motion, Davis sprang up on his good leg and yelled as he leapt over the side of the bridge, but not before the bright, flashing rumble.

  83

  Sloane

  The light of that morning allowed Sloane and Jason to become spectators to the end of Tale and his men. There was nothing they could do as the bridge came down. Chunks of concrete and metal blew all over. They hid for a while as the survivors of Astoria sorted things out.

  When they thought it was safe, they stole a boat and rowed to the other side of Young’s Bay. Back the way they’d come.

  The others from the boats were surrounding two bodies on the ground. Their legs were all she could see.

  “Jason!” Wren yelled and ran into his arms when she noticed them approaching.

  Sloane stopped and stared, stunned. She had to see Kent for herself. She began walking again.

  “No, Mom, don’t,” Wren said, catching her arm.

  “I have to see him for myself. I have to say goodbye,” Sloane said.

  “Mom, you don’t understand.”

  “Wren, let me go.”

  “He’s not dead! She’s working on him. He’s lost a lot of blood.”

  Those sweet words sent Sloane to her knees.

  Wren and Jason helped her up and together they walked near the others. They parted for Sloane to see the woman from the bridge sitting on the ground near Kent.

  “Someone make a stretcher. We need to get him into the van,” Linda ordered. Chuck and several others scrambled.

  His eyes were closed, and he had a gash on his head that the woman was putting pressure on. But that’s not what took her focus; the large red plume of blood on the rags near his side did.

  “Is he yours?” The woman was speaking to her.

  “Yes.”

  She smiled. “Good. He’s going to make it.”

  “Sloane?” Kent murmured.

  “Come here, honey. He wants you.”

  Sloane edged between the two bodies on the ground and crouched down, holding Kent’s hand.

  “You made it,” Kent said and opened his eyes a slit.

  Tears drained down Sloane’s face. “I did,” she said. “We did,” she added.

  “Only…because of him,” he said, nudging his hand toward the other one, unmoving, beside her.

  “Is he okay?” Sloane asked but it was the woman that shook her head quickly, no. It was then that someone laid a cloth over Marvin’s head.

  “It’s okay…he wanted to go…he just did it with a bang,” Kent said.

  Sloane stepped away as they put Kent on the stretcher and took him away. She followed them as a gravelly voice caught up to her and asked, “Pardon me, but did you guys see the man that jumped off the bridge in the end? Did he make it?”

  “You mean Davis? The guy they were fighting? No…we didn’t see him after the explosion. I’m sorry.”

  The man she would later call Ivan smiled sadly and nodded. That’s when Sloane realized he was carrying a child. She looked up and saw that it was the little girl she had taken care of earlier.

  “Is she yours?” she asked.

  Ivan shook his head and seemed a bit confused at first. “Uh, he’s actually a boy. And, no, he wasn’t mine, but he is now, I suppose.”

  The boy with the dark almond skin clung to him.

  84

  Davis

  Six months later.

  * * *

  It was just like he remembered. A monstrosity. Like something out of Jurassic Park. Yet this time the gate was locked, unlike before. He banged on the metal with his fist. It felt awkward. I mean, what else do you do to a fence like that? he thought. He knew it wouldn’t be long, knowing they’d seen him coming from miles away. He’d heard the drones stalking him as he approached.

  It was Jason that opened the door. He smiled.

  Davis said, “You gonna let me in?” Then he quickly started shaking his head, with his eyes held wide. “Only no fucking music this time.”

  Jason smiled wider and opened the door.

  Sloane greeted him. “We’re so happy to see you,” she said. “Thank you for coming. We’ve heard what you’ve been working on in the last few months. We’re grateful.”<
br />
  Davis nodded and felt suddenly embarrassed. “I ah, I had to do something. It took some time to heal as well.”

  “We all had injuries to heal from.”

  An awkward silence ensued.

  “How’s uh, your husband?”

  “Kent…he’s fine. He’s still recovering as well. He’s getting around better now. Thankfully Linda was there to take care of him. Kent’s our only doctor. Having Ivan and Linda here to help us recover has been incredible.”

  “Oh, he’s a doctor, too? I um, didn’t know that.” Davis couldn’t seem to string more than a few sentences together at once. He felt cagey. It was hard to get back into the swing of things like normal conversations after keeping to himself for so long.

  They’d just passed the spot where he’d last seen Jerry and the puddle his blood had created.

  Sloane touched the back of his arm and made him jump. “Oh, sorry…why don’t you come this way? Ivan is here, and he has something to show you.”

  Davis looked down the road at the small building Sloane had pointed to. They walked there in silence. Why didn’t Ivan come to the door? He was the one that sent word over and over for him to come here. It was a question that bothered him. When he walked in, Sloane held the door open.

  “Hello? He’s here,” Sloane said, and Davis thought she seemed too happy. What was there to be so damn happy about? The main room he walked into was empty. There was an open door straight to the back, where he heard the laughter of children and the squeaking cadence of a swing set in full motion.

  “Oh…they’re in the backyard. Go ahead,” Sloane said, urging him forward down the narrow hallway.