The Eleven

by Adrian Popa

  "Hey, If this city used to be called the Fallen Angel, do you think that also applies to people?"

  "Now's not the time"

  But suddenly something sprang up in my mind, something about these silly names and old stories, I knew of quite a few, and I had to trust this one, the Triangle of the fallen, if it were right, we would soon be at the Kanex building, we could hide out there, and if it came to, it would be our last stand. I reply back to Lily

  "Actually, that's a great idea, nice heads up"

  "Huh?"

  "Don't worry about it, I know where we can go"

  I drive a little further and in my sights was the old Kanex building, I quickly make a stop at the nearby driving lot, I tell Lily to take some of the weapons and ammo and to follow me quickly. Gun fire begins as we head to the entrance, the door is unlocked and we quickly scramble inside, a bullet grazes my left arm, a trickle of blood explodes from it. We quickly get inside and head for the stairs. Lily asks with worry.

  "Are you alright?"

  "Something like this, yeah it's nothing, It could have been worse"

  "So what now, they're right there, and it looks like even more came then yesterday"

  She was right, there was a lot of them, whoever ratted me out must of pissed them off a lot because this seems really serious. As desperation rings through me, I ask Lily.

  "Do you know how to use a gun?"

  "I've only ever read about it, but I've never pulled the trigger myself"

  I look at our supplies. An assault rifle, a shot gun, a sniper, four hand guns. I tell her.

  "Take the sniper and two pistols, and some ammo. I'll use the rest"

  "Wait, that means you're going to the front lines"

  "Well, I can't have you shooting up front, It's too dangerous"

  "B-"

  Before she finished I interrupted.

  "But you can give me cover fire, If it looks like someone's about to get me, you can get them first, if you help me out here, then we can both get out of this alive"

  Even as I say this a strain of doubt passes through my mind, this is just a suicide plan, With the numbers they have, I don't think we can last. But if it gives her some hope, then anything will do. Who knows, we could make it out of here alive, this is the pillar of creation. Lily thinks for a while and then gives me an answer.

  "Fine, but you better not die"

  "I'm counting on you"

  We were at the sixth floor of this building, there was only one way in, I positioned myself near the stairs, I'll shoot them as they're getting up, then I can use some of the rooms as cover. Most of them were unlocked. This was a one shot hallway, I told Lily to back me up at the end of the hallway. If anything goes wrong, she would hide and lock herself in one of the rooms before anyone could see her, and that would be that. I opened the door to the stairs and aimed. This was my last stand, this was my resolve, I had to do this. Just as I was ready for a fight that I could possibly not come out alive, I heard a familiar voice from behind me, I turned around and saw...

  I quickly grappled my way to the old Kanex building

  I made sure I was quick and out of sight. As I zoomed in on the building I saw two people running about. I stopped and took a closer look. It was George and Lily. They made it here. I looked down and saw a group of members from the Blue Mitts. There are a lot of them, way more than yesterday. I better warn them, I quickly went to the balcony on the floor they were on. I knocked on the balcony door and Lily turned. She was startled and opened it, she asked

  "What are you doing here?"

  "No time for questions, there's a lot of them ,and it looks like you two could use some help"

  George was near the stairs, he seemed focused. I slowly walked towards him. I still hadn't made my decision, but that can wait, either way If I don't help them fight back, both of them will be dead at this rate. And if I leave now, knowing that I could of done something, I can't live with that. As I reached him I said a few words

  "So, looks like your starting a party, sadly I wasn't invited"

  I turned around and saw Adam.

  I was shocked, how did he get here?. I looked behind him and saw a door leading to a balcony. But, we' re on the sixth floor, how? Despite my doubts about how he got here, I asked

  "What are you doing here?"

  "Just here to join in on the fun"

  "You have to get out of here, this is dangerous"

  Adam took out two guns from his holster and spun them with his fingers. He catches them in his hands and says.

  "There's about thirty of them, all armed, you think you can take them all on your own?"

  "I can't get you involved, get out of here, this is our problem"

  "Sadly, you don't know who I am, but that doesn't matter, I'll help you, just don't worry about me"

  He goes to the stairs, and aims down. He isn't going to listen to me. I re ready myself and tell him.

  "Fine, but if anything happens, don't tell me I didn't warn you"

  "I've done similar works, this is just a little refresher"

  With that, a group of men being climbing the stairs. Their footsteps ring as they run up. My shoulders tense, It's time. Adam had a calm posture, he was unfazed, he was too calm in fact. He said to me

  "I thought you weren't a fighter"

  I replied with as much pride as I could muster in this situation

  "There's a first for everything, just hope that beginners luck is on my side today"

  It wasn't prideful at all, but it was true, today, I really hope lady luck was on my side. A few men were in our sight now, the exchange of fire began.

  As I held my Blue bird in my left hand and my Vendetta in my right, I began firing at the members of the Blue Mitts.

  Soon they started firing back at us, we both took cover and exchanged fire down the stairs. They kept going up. We're going to be over run at this rate, I told George.

  "Fall back, If we stay here, we WILL die"

  Both of us moved backwards while firing. They soon made it to this floor, and hid behind the walls leading to this hallway. This floor was shaped like a T. I had my guns at the left side, and George had his on the right. He had used up all the ammo on his shotgun and was now using his assault rifle. Lily was aiming down the middle with her sniper. We continued to fire back, it felt like forever, but soon we were running out of ammo. I had one magazine left, and he was down to his handguns. I told him

  "I'm running out of ammo"

  "Same"

  There were at least fifteen more of them still here. We can't get them all, I asked Lily

  "Hey, how much you got?"

  "Barely any"

  This looks bad. I could grapple my way out of here and carry at least one of them before our combined weighted render my hooks useless. If I take Lily and leave George here, he will end up dead, and I assume that John wouldn't care how they die, and I'll save Lily. If I take George with me, Lily will die, and I can never live with myself knowing what I did, this was crunch time, and the clock was ticking.

  We were just about done, our ammo stock was dwindling, and our lives looked bleak.

  I turned to Adam. I didn't have time to question him now, I just hoped, If he got here on the sixth floor, I'm sure he could get out of here in one piece. I took out a bomb that I had saved and asked him while he provided us with cover fire.

  "Adam, take Lily and get out of here!"

  "What?"

  "There's no time, I believe in you, If you could get here without using the front door, than you can also get out of here without it, I'll buy you some time"

  "You're going to suicide bomb!?"

  "It's the only way, now GO"

  Lily intervenes

  "No, I'm staying right here"

  Adam opens the door to the balcony, and attaches something to his arm. He then turns to me while using the last of his ammo to give us time and says

  "Are you sure?"

  "Yes, this is my last dying wish, It's the only t
hing I could ask for, please leave with my daughter, please keep her safe"

  I feel tears rolling down my eyes. I turn to my arguing daughter and tell her

  "Stay strong, without dad, I know you can"

  "Dad, Why?"

  "Please, live, no matter what you do, live, for me, and for Haylee"

  Tears being rolling down her eyes. I tell her in a soft voice

  "Stay strong, I know you can"

  I then move forward while firing with the bomb in my hand. I turn and yell back at Adam

  "Keep her safe, I'm counting on you"

  He nods, and lifts my daughter up. Her sniper rifle drops to the floor as she cries. I mutter a few words to myself.

  "I'm sorry"

  By now Adam already knows with the message I wrote to him but now, it seems more than appropriate to say it once again.

  "Thank you, Adam"

  I quickly pick up Lily and ready my hook

  She squirms and fights back, yelling for her dad. I get ready to launch, I turn back and see George almost at them. I take a deep breath and begin my retreat. An explosion follows behind us as I stop on a nearby roof. Lily remains crying, I try to give her my condolences.

  "I'm sorry, but It's what he wanted"

  We sit there until night falls. Finally she stops and looks at me with eyes filled with will and strength. And says with a strong tone

  "Let's go"

  "Go?"

  "Back to your place"

  "You mean you're staying with me?"

  "He wanted me safe, and I've decided, you can keep me safe, so how about it?"

  Of course I was against it, keeping an Innocent with me, this couldn't get worse. My target is dead, and John will have a new one for me soon, but now I have to deal with this kid, with my line of work, and with her inexperience, It can't end well. She asks me again

  "Well? You don't really have an option, I mean you went out of your way to go to my father and help us, you even agreed to keep me safe to him, you can't just say no to his final wishes now"

  She's right, I already got myself this involved but I have to make sure she knows what she's getting herself into, as long as she knows that her life is at risk and that she accepts it herself, then maybe I can live with myself. Maybe. I take a deep breath, and begin explaining to her, what exactly I do and who exactly I am.

  Chapter 14

  With a quick motion of my hand a trail of blood begins flowing from my targets neck. I begin collecting any valuables and make my way out. As I open the door and start my escape I see a familiar face. It was Lily. I speak in an irritated voice.

  "What did I tell you about coming here?"

  "But hey, you can't carry all of that yourself so I just thought that I would help lift some weight off you"

  "And what would you do if you were attacked?"

  She takes out a pistol and points it towards me playfully, with a relaxed tone she says.

  "I would show them the backend of a bullet"

  I sigh knowing that she wouldn't listen to what I have to say anyway. I throw her some of the load and tell her

  "Come on let's get out of here"

  It's been a while since she joined up with me, being a complete hypocrite, but she hasn't hindered my work, and she hasn't been harmed. Luckily enough, on a good day she would sit quietly back at the old Canex building and just fiddle with gadgets or gather information for me. But every now and then she would decide to come along on some of my jobs. Of course without my prior consent and usually she just shows up after I've done what I needed to. Surprisingly she understood quite well what I did and even at time when shown with the effects of what I do, remain unfazed. John has been keeping quiet lately, for now all I know is that when I get his next target, I better look carefully for any clues. So far the only pattern I've seen is the targets being affiliated with him in the past in one way or another, I'm not so sure about my most recent target, George, but I better pay attention to details. His rate at giving these jobs are completely random, maybe he's forgotten about me or maybe he grew tired of sending me on these jobs. As I walk back towards my room I manage to take a quick glance at Lily's room, I had given her a laptop to work on, It will be less troublesome then using my gear all the time. I figured it wouldn't hurt and knocked on the door. After receiving no response I quietly open the door and enter. This place has been quite redecorated. I go over to her and ask.

  "So got anything new?"

  "I've got a few leads so far, a few odd ones but It might occupy you for awhile"

  She goes through a few pieces of papers on her desk as she searches for information, she picks up one and hands it to me, I take it. The paper was a profile on someone in this city, I ask her.

  "So who's this fellow, Ashton Huw?"

  "He used to work for the Imperials"

  I take a quick moment to relapse, the Imperials was a business association that was highly respected in Courtlyn. They dealt fair and legal items during the day, but during the night, when the masses were asleep they were going through back alleys and wasn't the most respectable company. Not many know about this, but once you get to trading with them using illegal means, It is quite hard to break free from them. Not that I've ever traded with them. I ask Lily.

  "So he used to work for them, what of it?"

  "Well, you probably know this but the Imperials is a double sided company, and our friend Ashton used to work for the not so respectable side, he was one of the dealers for illegal trades"

  "And he managed to leave them?"

  "Yeah, I wonder how he did it, but right now It doesn't matter, for now he's been causing chaos among many respectable trading companies, he goes by a different alias then his real name, the one thing about working for the illegal side of the Imperials is that your face is hardly shown so no regular company knows what he looks like therefore they would take the chance that he was a legit information dealer"

  "Information dealer?"

  "Yeah, he gives false leads to business companies and makes them lose huge margins"

  "But there's a catch to it isn't there?"

  "Yeah, after crashing the companies he would then ask for permission to temporarily have management over them so they could get out of the rut that he put them in"

  "What kind of company would accept that?"

  "Not many, and that's a good thing, but the bad thing is that one company actually did accept it, and now that he's got management, he's turning that company and all of the workers into his personal slaves"

  "And what company accepted his scam?"

  "I'm still looking for the exact name of the company but it's a multipurpose company that makes things that range from food, to clothing and even to normal household appliances and the likes"

  "So he's got an army to himself now"

  "Not only that but he purposefully gives the manufactures false information to make faulty products"

  "So he's trying to run them down even more"

  "Yeah, but that's not the point, the point is the faulty products aren't meant for normal people to use. Apparently Ashton got himself into some gang activities and with the faulty products he is making, they're going to be used to smuggle drugs and arms with them"

  "How does that work?"

  "Well when you have a faulty product, what do you do with it?"

  I laugh a little after realizing what this plan is all about. The garbage trucks that go through most of Courtlyn has one last destination before going back to the garages they came from, and that is at the docks. Now we don't personally handle our trash so we ship them on huge ships to other cities and let them handle it. All you need is insiders working for the garbage handling companies, and the docks and you can start a huge chain. Eventually the illegal goods will make it to other cities without a hitch. This plan might work, and they may make tons of money with smuggling, but the real problem is that other gangs might catch on and do this to get goods into Courtlyn, and knowing what could happen when we have an increased
amount of illegal arms and drugs on the streets, is something I don't want to happen. I reply to Lily.

  "Alright I get it, So where is this guy?"

  "Well, I haven't been able to find the name of the company that he has conned his way in, It's really vague, but I've got a few names of the companies that could work"

  "Ah, well don't bother, I know who to call"

  "An informant?"

  "Yeah"

  "I thought you were lax on money"

  "Ha ha well, you gotta spend money to earn money, I bet if I get this Ashton guy than I can get a pretty penny worth off the release of the company he's enslaved"

  "I guess that's true, the workers must understand of the horrible treatment they're being put through but just can't get the courage to speak up, especially when being threatened at gunpoint, which is exactly what I think Ashton is doing at this point"

  I make the call to Rat. After a short while he picks up.

  "What's up?"

  "I need some more information"

  "Of course, so, what'll it be?"

  "It's about this guy called Ashton Huw"

  "Ashton? Oh that guy who got his hands on a company and is extorting them to make faulty products"

  "Yeah, you seem to already know quite a bit, except, do you know which company he's taken over?"

  "Hah, you got me stumped in that case, I'm still working on that, many clients were dying to know as well, but this one just keeps slipping out of my hands, I've got a few leads here and there, but I don't think they could be helpful"

  "I see, assuming your also on this case then I assume you know what his true objective is?"

  "Of course, and I assume you want a little push towards some of the connections"

  "Exactly, anyone who is with Ashton who's also working for the garbage companies or the docks will do"

  "Heh, well I've got a few names, but I assume that the one for the docks would be a lot easier for you, considering you're holed up at that abandoned building"

  "Hit me with it"