The Eleven

by Adrian Popa

  "Lily, I was part of a major cartel back in the day"

  "Like a gang?"

  "Kind of, they used to trade illegal guns to other gangs and sometimes even the police. They also worked as a gang like you said"

  She doesn't seem scared or confused anymore. She seems more assuring and more calm than ever. She processes it within her mind for a brief moment . She then says with a serious tone

  "And now that you left, they're after you?"

  Looks like I was worrying for nothing. Well trying to raise a daughter in a sheltered life style never works. When facing imminent danger, even knowing the fact that we could die right here right now, she puts on a front

  "Yes, but I don't want you to get involved, so get out of here, go to aunt Claire's home, she will know what to do"

  Lily raises her voice a little and sadness strings through her voice

  "No, I'm not leaving you, dad"

  "You have to, these guys are seriously going to kill you if you stay"

  Lily takes a deep breath. She looks me straight in the eyes, and with a persuasive and confident tone in her voice she replies,

  "If you're going down, then I'm going down with you"

  I laugh, all those times of letting her do what she wants and watching all those movies must have toughened her, I can't fight here with her, it's too dangerous.

  "Looks like I shouldn't have watched all those movies with you. Fine then we will both get out of here, this place is abandoned but it used to be one of their old bases, they will be here soon, but not without a little surprise"

  "A surprise?"

  "Yeah, I'm not leaving without paying my respects"

  I quickly find a remote and gather all of the weapons I found and gesture for Lily. I rigged this place with explosives as well. The moment I press this button, this place goes sky high, giving us the perfect cover for escape. In the mean time we should head to the old Canex building, that place should give us cover for a while.

  "Alright, let's get out of here, we're going to head to one of my old friends apartments, except this apartment is abandoned now"

  "Geez, how much abandoned stuff are in this city"

  "Ha ha, I don't know if you have ever heard of this but, they used to call this city, Courtlyn: The fallen angel"

  Lily's eyes light up

  "That sounds kind of cool actually"

  "Yeah"

  "Hey, if you were part of a gang, then what was the name of it?"

  "The Blue Mitts"

  Lily bursts out laughing. I give her an irritated look . Lily calms down for a brief moment.

  "Sorry, but, that must be the most ridiculous name I have ever heard"

  "Come on let's get out of here"

  I lead us to the back of the house where a parked car is. I take out a key and unlock the driver's door, and put the keys into the ignition. Lily gets into the back of the car. I put the weapons into the seat besides mine and start the car. Just as I begin driving I hear the sounds of bullets hitting the side of the car . I takeout the remote and press the button while I say one word,

  "Boom"

  The house explodes, debris begin pelting the ground and anything unfortunate to be near the vicinity of the explosion, the smoke gives us cover , enough for us to make our way to the apartment. Lily, being unfazed by the situation shouts with excitement

  "That was awesome!"

  Sooner or later she would have to adapt to this city, maybe, she already has, but my intuition tells me that, it's not for the better.

  Chapter 12

  This day can only get better, all I wanted was to go pay respects to my wife, and it just had to be this day that they decided to come for me.

  I continue to drive, Lily was amazed and fascinated that I used to work for a gang, although I wouldn't call it anything but pathetic.

  "So did you get into any gang fights?"

  "Not myself, I wasn't the fighting type"

  "Really? Than what did you do?"

  "I was an informant, I just gave them information"

  "What kind?"

  "All kinds, anything they needed, I would get, In a way I didn't do anything wrong, but at the same time, the information I got was dangerous"

  "Why are they after you?"

  "Because they're afraid that I'll sell them out, once you're in, it's hard to get out, loyalty was key"

  "So why did you leave?"

  "Because we wanted to raise a child the regular way, we didn't want someone to be influenced by this city, we've been meaning to leave, but, It's hard, once you're in it's almost like being bound to a contract"

  "So what are your plans now?"

  "I'm not sure, but since your already being involved this much, it's hard to turn back, I'm sorry"

  "It's alright, I kind of was prepared and even ready for this"

  "This?"

  "The day, I would experience true violence"

  "You were?"

  "You gave me the internet, so I did some research, although you didn't let me watch the news, I could still read about it, you weren't exactly lax on rules"

  "Ha ha, I guess I'm not the best father out there"

  "Still, you tried, but there is one thing that I find weird"

  "What is it?"

  "When did you leave the cartel?"

  "Around the time your mother died, so about ten years ago"

  "Why after ten years do they go after you now"

  "Because I haven't done anything, I went into hiding for all those years, but they didn't bother to do anything because nothing was happening to them, they weren't scared enough to fix their problems"

  Lily asks once more

  "So why now then? What made them scared enough to find you now?"

  "I'm still wondering that, I thought I had lost their trail but, I guess not, It looks like even after all those years, we still have some bad blood, It's strange isn't it"

  "If you didn't do anything, than they must be after you because someone else framed you"

  "It seems that way, and what horrible timing they had, of all days, today"

  We finally arrive at the old Canex building, It looks like the hunters from the Blue Mitts haven't caught up to us yet, I drive a little more and stop the car at a parking lot ahead.

  "Alright, Lets go"

  We run quickly to the Canex building. I open the front doors, unlocked. There should be an apartment we can hide in. I climb the stairs, It's time to think of a plan, forget trying to find out who framed me, right now, I need to figure out how to survive.

  Just as I'm ready to head out, I hear some noise, a few rats have got in, this time I'm read.

  I pull out my Blue bird and have it at ready. Looks like they're coming up the stairs. I aim directly at the doorway and prepare for a battle. The door slowly opens and just as I'm ready to fire, I see two people, unarmed. Wait a second, he kind of looks like George Haywin, and he has a little girl with him, his daughter? They notice me and they fear instills across their faces. With my gun still up I ask

  "Who are you, and what are you doing here"

  "My name is George, and this is Lily, we don't want a fight, I was told that this building was abandoned, but it looks like I was wrong, we only want a place to stay"

  George huh, this might just be my guy, what luck, but I can't be too sure, I better play it low for now

  "If you're coming to a place like this, it must mean you're looking for refuge from a dangerous source"

  "Yes, we are"

  "Sorry, but I don't do bodyguard service, your gonna have to find someplace else"

  Of course I'll be joining whoever is searching for you, just to be safe, can't let you off the hook that easily. I lower my gun. The man called George begins again

  "Please, just for today, we will be gone tomorrow, please just let us, we won't get in your way, you can just ignore us, all we need is shelter"

  "What's in it for me? I see no reason why I should let you, but I also see no reason why I should deny
you, make it worth my while, of course I could just kill you right now, but hey, that's not what I do"

  Not unless I know your full name. Of course Lily might be a problem. I really don't want to involve any innocents, and if this George turns out to be Haywin, then It's going to be really hard dealing with this. If he is just a regular father, than my stakes are all for nothing. George thinks for a moment, after he finishes thinking he continues

  "Look, I have tons of money in my bank account, If you let me stay, you can have it"

  He thinks I'm a sell out? Well I kind of am. I guess if money is involved It might be worth the trouble. I mean in a way, It's right up my alley. Except this time the roles have reversed. Instead of me coming to them, they came to me. Well I guess I should comply.

  "Fine, You can stay in one of these rooms, stay here I'll get some keys for you"

  I go back to my room and find the keys to the room besides mine, this way I can keep them under watch easily. I come back out and throw them the keys and point at the door of the room next to mine.

  "That key goes here, knock your selves out"

  "Thank you"

  They enter the room, I head back to my own room and set up some recording equipment. I set up a few devices that let me hear any conversation coming from the room next to mine, you can never be too sure. Since I don't necessary trust them here, I spend the rest of the day doing maintenance on my fighting gear. Night had fallen pretty soon, I figured they were pretty bored as well, and since they are here I might as well ask them about their situation. I get up and head to the room next to mine. I knock, and receive a response from George

  "Coming"

  He opens the door, I quickly ask him

  "Sorry for the intrusion, but I was just wondering if you guys needed anything"

  "Oh, no that's alright, the fact that you let us stay here was enough already"

  "If you don't mind, can I come in?'

  "Sure"

  I enter the room, and sit on a nearby chair. Lily seems to be sleeping, the room was pretty plain, there was hardly anything in here other than basic furniture, they didn't really do much I guess, other than small talk. I start off the conversation

  "So, since you only plan to be here for a day, I might as well ask you now while I have the chance. How exactly did you end up in this situation of yours?"

  "Well, that's something you shouldn't be getting yourself involved with is it?"

  "That might be true, but if all I want to do right now, is to know about it, it can't possibly hurt me"

  And besides, I'm not sure you know, but I'm a self employed hit man, I can probably hold my own in a fight, dealing with a gang might be problematic, but I see it as possible. George takes a deep breath , I quickly remember and calmly squeeze in another question just before he speaks.

  "Oh, by the way, I never did catch your full name, if you don't mind, I'm just curious"

  "Haywin, George Haywin"

  Well that was easy, didn't think he would budge that easily, but I guess it doesn't matter now. He begins speaking.

  "Well I guess It can't hurt to tell you, It's not like it will come back to bite us either. You see, I was part of a gang back in the day"

  "Back in the day, so you left and their after you?"

  "Exactly, except, I left ten years ago"

  "Ten years! What took them so long to realize that you had left?"

  "Well, I didn't plan to do anything with Lily. Didn't want to go back to that life so I just ignored it, but now they're after me, someone could have framed me and this could just be a bad case of coincidence"

  "So which gang were you in?"

  "They were more or less using the title as protection, but they were called the Blue Mitts, they were actually a big cartel, did some illegal trades here and there"

  "You did some grunt work for them?

  "Nah, not much of a fighter myself, I was an informant"

  Well looks like luck is in my favor again. George Haywin, my target just walked into his own death. Executing this will be easy, finding the right time, might not be. I really don't want to get Lily involved, she truly is just innocent, but if I carry out my job here, all I'm doing is killing a father. I'm still not sure myself but, what would John do if I didn't kill him here, my fourth target. What could he possibly do? If I experiment and end up not continuing on with his little game, could he do something worse? I live by killing off criminals, the scum of Courtlyn. George would of been right under my radar ten years ago, but that fact is compelling me. He hasn't done anything for ten years, he raised a daughter, he lived normally. But why now? Why would the Blue Mitts chase after him after all those years. It just doesn't line up. I ask him

  "So who do you think could of done it?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "Who could of put you in this situation, where you need to run for your life"

  "I don't really know myself, I never really had any enemies when I was in the gang, and even after leaving, if anyone had a grudge on me, they would of ratted me out a lot sooner. All it would of took was some police or gang involvement during one of their trades and they would think that I had sold information on them"

  "And then they would of gone after you"

  "Yeah, but nothing has gone bad for them after all these years, the Blue Mitts don't like wasting time, and if I wasn't doing any harm to them, then there was no point in wasting time and effort killing me. And besides, I did do a lot of good for them back when I was still working for them, even if their a shady organization, they still have some pride and respect over people"

  "I see, well if that's all then I better leave you to rest, It's pretty late"

  "Alright, good night then, and thanks"

  Just as I'm about to open the door, George quickly asks

  "Oh, you never told me your name"

  I turn back to face George who was still sitting on the chair with a smile on his face. I reply

  "Adam"

  "In that case, good night, Adam"

  I close the door behind me and head back to my room. Tomorrow is the day I decide, whether I kill him, or leave him be. I have two tough decisions to make. Do I really want to kill a regular normal father all for a person I hardly even know who's manipulating me for his own selfish reasons. Or do I fight with him, and let him live peacefully with his daughter. I'm getting soft, really soft, I might be losing my touch, or maybe my nature has just dulled. Either way, these days have just been getting crazier and crazier.

  Chapter 13

  I decided to wake up early today, I still didn't know who could have framed me but the one thing I do know is that the Blue Mitts are still after me and that I have to move quick to lose their trail.

  I quietly wake up Lily, she gives me an agitated look but I put a finger on my lips to signal for quietness. She understands and begins to whisper.

  "What are you doing?"

  "We're going to leave now, if we head to the port at Southbridge, we could get out of here"

  "The port?"

  "Yeah, I know a guy there, he will give us a lift"

  "Well, how about him?"

  She gestures to the room next to ours. I think for a little. We could always just leave as it is, we don't have to give him money, but, he did let us stay here in one piece. And where we're going, I guess they won't accept money from here, so it wouldn't hurt to leave it to someone. Funny enough, I was able to find a broken pencil and a torn scrap piece of paper lying around here. I write down the details of my bank account, and a little message of my own at the back.

  I quietly open the door and gesture for Lily to stay down and make as little noise as possible. We head for the stairs, It's time to move out.

  The day started out rough for me, woke up, still hadn't decide my decision, and found out that my target had already left.

  Great, now I have to track them. I didn't manage to put any tracking device on them either, looks like it's time to make a quick call. I quickly call up Rat to find out wh
ere they're heading, I'll make my decision on my way there. It doesn't take long for Rat to pickup

  "Yes?"

  "I need some information, quick"

  "Go ahead"

  "Do you know where George Haywin is?"

  "That old informant for the Blue Mitts, what a coincidence, I saw him moving towards the port at Southbridge not too long ago, It was a shame that these men in black suits stopped them"

  "So where is he now?"

  "I saw him take a detour to the old Kanex building"

  "Alright thanks, I'll send you the money later"

  I hang up and write a quick note. Funny enough, the old Kanex building isn't very far from here, there's an old story that was centered around these three buildings, back when I hadn't made this one my home. But it was fun hearing it. Apparently, this building, the Canex building, the one George is at, the Kanex building and another building, the Annex building are aligned to make a triangle. They used to name this trio of buildings, the pillars of creation. Probably some occult, gibberish, but they did have some meaning. These buildings served as a hideout for many new gangs back in the day. Some of them still around to this day. In a way, they were recognized places for a new gang to start out. After they were abandoned, no one really paid attention to them anymore, the city expanded greatly, there were many more places. As for the triangle, they used to call it the; Triangle of the fallen. The area in between these buildings used to hold many gang fights, and many people were killed in these skirmishes, many gangs were brought down. Of course this was way back in the day, these old nick names and stories are just being past down to whoever may need it. Funny enough, the Kanex building isn't that far, and I'm not usually the type to believe in superstition, but, I have a feeling that something is about to be created, whether its for the best or for the worst, I still don't know.

  We drove towards the port, but unfortunately, we weren't the only ones who thought of that.

  The car of the hunters from the Blue Mitts, blocked our path, they decided to open fire. I made a quick turn while telling Lily to keep her head down. We managed to turn back and in a spur of the moment I drove off without any direction. We still had our guns and ammo, but if we fight here, we're surely going to die due to sheer numbers alone. On the drive back Lily asked something