Freelancers: Falcon & Phoenix

by Thackston, Anthony

  Phoenix looks at Falcon who has a hopeful smile on his face. “What are you so happy about? Either way you’re going to the Ivory.”

  “Yeah, but at least with you, I won’t be tortured.”

  “Good luck with that.” She watches as the Dealer slides two cards in front of her. “He’s only got to win this one hand.”

  “But if he doesn’t, you play another three out of five. There’s still a chance.”

  Both players flip their cards over. Phoenix shows a total of four while the Dealer sits on seven. Phoenix takes one card. Three. She takes another. Five. She takes one more. Seven.

  “Nineteen,” Falcon says.

  Phoenix starts to reach for another.

  “Wait. You should stay.”

  “What?” Phoenix turns to him.

  “If you get anything but a three, it’s over. It’s too close. Stay. Trust me.”

  Phoenix reluctantly pulls her hand back from the deck. “Stay.”

  The Dealer reaches for the top card of the deck and pulls it to himself. His expression looks less than happy. It gives Falcon and Phoenix a measure of hope. “That’s a smart move you just made.” He starts to lay the card face up. “Ordinarily.” He lays the three down.

  Phoenix shoulders slump in defeat.

  “Don’t look so sad. You still got a shot.” The Dealer smiles as he reaches for the deck.

  “One,” Falcon mutters.

  “What?” Phoenix looks at the card. It’s a two.

  The Dealer reaches for the deck.

  “Two,” Falcon mutters again.

  The Dealer turns up the card. It’s a five.

  “Better get ready.” Falcon’s shoulders tense.

  “Ready for what?” Phoenix asks.

  “Moment of truth.” The Dealer reaches for the deck, again. He grabs the top card and starts to turn it over.

  “Three.” Falcon grabs the table and flips it up toward the Dealer. A couple of the other players fall backwards in their chairs at the surprise maneuver. The Dealer stumbles back, knocking his chair over as he tries to stand up. He draws his gun while trying to keep balance.

  In the commotion, Phoenix pulls her own gun and swings it around the room. Firearms of various types all seem to come out from everyone in the place. The Dealer gets his legs to steady under him. His long-barreled silver revolver is pointed directly at Falcon.

  “I’ll just have to add that little infraction to the list of others you’ve accumulated.”

  “We still have a deal.” Phoenix turns her gun to the Dealer. “I need him alive.”

  “So did I. But now, I think I’ll just take my winnings in one shot.” The Dealer pulls the hammer back on his revolver.

  “Honor the deal!” Falcon squares his shoulders.

  “Deal was with her. Not you.”

  “Well now it’s off. You gonna give me that car, now?” Phoenix’s tone is demanding.

  “You can have the car when he’s dead.”

  A major blast shakes the bar. Everyone, whether they’re holding a weapon or not, ducks down at the sound. The whole room appears to turn around all together. Behind the bar is a woman in a leather duster. A long scar runs from the middle of her forehead down across her eye all the way to her jaw. The iris and pupil of her scarred eye is completely white. She holds two combat shotguns in front of her but only stares at Falcon. “He’s mine.”

  The other weapons quickly disappear back into holsters and various hiding places.

  The Dealer keeps his gun out and on Falcon. “This one owes me, Rosario. A deal’s a deal. He broke that.”

  “You’re the one who walked,” Falcon fires back at the woman behind the bar.

  “I don’t care about whatever deal the two of you had. This is a personal matter.” Rosario turns one of the guns toward Phoenix. “I don’t know who you are or why you’ve got him cuffed to you but you’re going to let him loose or the only thing that will still be attached to him is going to be your severed arm.”

  “Let me guess. Crazy ex?” Phoenix mutters.

  Falcon leans in toward Phoenix. “She’s why I didn’t want to come here.”

  “Everyone just relax. He’s my contract. I honor my deals.” Phoenix tries to calm the situation.

  “I didn’t make that deal.” The Dealer swings his gun back and forth between Phoenix and Rosario.

  “Neither did I.” Rosario keeps her guns trained on Phoenix and the Dealer.

  Falcon grabs Phoenix’s gun and fires off a round at Rosario. She ducks. The Dealer takes a shot at the bar only because he’s already facing that direction. Falcon rushes toward the Dealer, jerking Phoenix along. The two cuffed Freelancers clothesline the man in the hat as they pass him. He falls to the ground and, reactively, pulls the trigger on his gun. The bullet wings the leg of another man who pulls his gun and fires a shot at the Dealer. It just misses but it’s too late and the two get into a firefight of their own.

  Rosario pops up from behind the bar and takes a shot toward her front door just as Falcon and Phoenix pass through it. The entire bar roars with the sound of gunfire as other Freelancers tangle with one another. Most of them keeping each other’s guns aimed at the ceiling while fighting to keep from getting shot. The sound of so many guns going off echoes out into the street, getting the attention of everyone in the outpost.

  Falcon and Phoenix run toward the Dealer’s car lot. Falcon’s foot hits the trunk of the small car first. Phoenix doesn’t waver or quarrel with him about it. She just follows. The two launch themselves from the roof of the little car to the top of the gate. The guard sluggishly runs toward the fence to stop them.

  They climb over the gate and hit the ground. With barely enough time to form a plan, they’re almost barreled over by the guard but Falcon spins in the opposite direction, yanking Phoenix into him. The two come out of the spin to see the guard crashing into the fence. The chain links stretch out toward the street from the impact of the heavy man. His size threatens to tear the gate it from its hinges.

  He pushes himself off of the fence and turns to the runners. Falcon rushes the guard, hoping that Phoenix will get the idea as he runs his shoulder right into the man’s belly. She copies the move but even the force of their combined weight is not enough to knock the man off his feet. The guard takes only two small steps backwards before his large fist meets Falcon’s face. The impact sends Falcon backwards, taking Phoenix with him down to the ground.

  The guard raises his heavy booted foot and brings it down towards Falcon. Falcon rolls out of the way and on top of Phoenix just in time. She shoves him off and scrambles to her feet.

  “Stop them!” The Dealer yells as he runs out of the bar, bullets whizzing by him. The command distracts the guard just long enough for Falcon to get to his feet.

  “Clothesline him.” Falcon runs toward the guard. Phoenix follows. The two leap to get up to the guard’s neck. The chain of the handcuffs finds its mark but it does little good. They still aren’t heavy enough to take the large man down.

  Before their feet can hit the ground, the guard swings his arms around the two of them and he runs forward to leap into the air, taking the two of them with him. The guard lands on his stomach, slamming Falcon and Phoenix to the ground.

  “Gotta employ more competent people.“ The Dealer stops in the middle of the street and takes careful aim at Falcon. A shot gun swings into his stomach like a bat.

  “He’s mine.” Rosario aims her other gun toward the car lot and fires off a round. The buck shot seems to go everywhere except for her target. Both she and the Dealer run for the chain link fence.

  Falcon and Phoenix manage to get their cuffed arms out from under the guard who struggles to get up. They swing their fists down at the back of the big man’s neck. His face goes straight to the concrete. He doesn’t move after that.

  “Is he dead?” Phoenix asks.

  A bullet hits one of the cars. “Does it matter?” Falcon works himself out from under the guard’s heavy arm. Phoenix d
oes the same and the two run for the cars. Each of them has a different idea about which one to take.

  “We need to get out of here, quick.” Falcon motions for the fast car.

  “We need to be able to make the whole trip.” Phoenix motions for the larger gas tank.

  The jangling of the fence catches their attention. They turn to see Rosario climbing up and the Dealer fumbling with the gate lock. Falcon uses the distraction to pull Phoenix toward the fast car. He opens the unlocked door and crawls inside, not even thinking about how Phoenix is, once again, behind the wheel.

  “He leaves the keys in?” Phoenix turns the ignition.

  “He’s got a mountain for a guard. Hit the gas.”

  Falcon watches as the Dealer gets the gate open the same time as Rosario jumps down. She aims one gun at the car and pulls the trigger. The scatter shot hits the hood and the bottom of the windshield, cracking it across half of its surface.

  “I’m gonna get banned from here, too.” Phoenix puts the car in drive.

  “Welcome to my world,” Falcon says as she hits the gas and races toward Rosario. The scarred woman dives out of the way. She rolls back to her feet and fires both guns at the speeding vehicle.

  The Dealer runs into a garage behind the only car left in the lot. Rosario runs back to her bar.

  “Every time.” Phoenix hits the steering wheel. “Now we’re in this thing. It’s gonna eat twice as much gas as the other.”

  “Who cares? Now we can get away faster.”

  “That won’t matter if we have to stop more often. Your contract is quickly becoming less worth it.”

  “You should have thought about that before you took it,” Falcon tells her.

  “I thought it would be an easy job.”

  “I’ll try not to take offense.”

  Phoenix looks in her rearview mirror. “I hope this thing is as fast as you think it is.

  Falcon looks in his side mirror then turns around in his seat. Two vehicles tear onto the road and quickly gain on the escaping car. Both cars look like they’ve had major enhancements.

  “I didn’t know they had those,” Falcon turns to Phoenix.

  9

  The Dealer speeds ahead of Rosario. His car looks like an oversized dune buggy. The exposed eight-cylinder engine vibrates the steel cage surrounding its driver as it tears down the road.

  Rosario’s car sits lower to the ground, with four large off-road tires dwarfing the chassis and doubling as a sort of protection. She keeps decent pace behind the Dealer as they chase after Falcon and Phoenix.

  “We need to stay ahead of them.” Falcon looks in the back seat, hoping to get lucky with another explosive weapon. Unfortunately, it’s empty. And this time there’s no secret trunk access.

  “You think I don’t know that?” Phoenix yells. “What are those things?”

  “Ridiculous custom jobs. I guess they’re good ways to get around debris.” Falcon looks in his mirror and sees the Dealer quickly gaining on them. He rolls down the window.

  “What are you doing?” Phoenix looks over her shoulder and sees the Dealer begin to take aim at their car.

  Falcon holds the gun through the open window and fires off two shots at the oncoming vehicle. The bullets only ricochet off of the steel roll cage. The Dealer returns fire. His bullet hits the top of the car door, narrowly missing Falcon’s head.

  “We had a deal!” The Dealer’s words go unheard over the sound of his engine. He changes out his revolver for a machine gun and hooks it into a steel cradle, creating a mounted turret. The machine gun fires rapid bursts, hitting the rear, right side of the car.

  Falcon ducks back inside as Phoenix slams on the brakes, letting the Dealer speed ahead. Switching his aim to focus on the back of the super-charged dune buggy, Falcon fires the gun but his aim is thrown off by the sudden rear end collision of Rosario’s tires. He and Phoenix are both thrown forward from the impact.

  Phoenix recovers from the hit and drags Falcon’s arm toward her to get both hands back on the steering wheel, regaining control of the car.

  Rosario moves up, placing her oversized tires on either side of the getaway vehicle, trapping it between them. She steers her modified car left and right, batting the rear end of Falcon’s and Phoenix’s car from side to side. Falcon slides the gun on the dash board and pushes Phoenix’s leg down, flooring the gas.

  The car speeds out of the death trap, ahead of Rosario. Phoenix grabs the gun and shoots out the driver’s side window before veering to the right, placing them just in front of the passenger side monster tires. She holds the gun through the open window as they race forward and fires off two rounds, backwards, at the large tires. Just like Daken’s truck, the bullets hit and bounce right off. “Damn steel walls,” she says.

  Phoenix pulls the car up alongside the dune buggy. Both Freelancers are forced to duck down as far as they can while machine gun bullets riddle the hood of the car. The windshield takes five of the bullets before the dealer stops firing. Falcon punches at the shattered glass, trying to knock it out.

  “Leave it.” Phoenix cuts the car to the right, slamming into the Dealer’s car. She tries to stay as close as she can, making the machine gun useless.

  “Try now.” She tosses the gun back to Falcon.

  He holds the gun out and fires. Even at this range he still misses.

  “Don’t you know how to shoot?” She demands.

  “Not with the way you drive.” He pulls the trigger one more time. Click. “I’m out.” He ejects the magazine.

  Phoenix reaches into her jacket and pulls out another magazine. “My driving is fine. You keep pulling me toward you.”

  “You cuffed us together.” He slides the magazine into the gun and ratchets the slide back on the door frame before re-aiming at the Dealer. Falcon pulls the trigger. This time he hits the man in the shoulder. “Got him.”

  The Dealer slows down from the shock and pain of being wounded. Phoenix pulls the car in front of him as the dune buggy starts to veer off the road.

  Falcon spins in his seat and notices Rosario keeping up but not gaining on them. “There’s no way she’s going to catch up. See? Fast car.”

  Phoenix looks over her shoulder to see the monstrosity of a vehicle several yards away and not getting any closer. A slight smile crosses her lips.

  “Watch it!” Falcon’s arms go straight to the dashboard to brace himself.

  Phoenix looks toward the passenger side just in time to see Big Wang, in another truck, smash into them. The impact knocks Falcon into her and turns their car ninety degrees, slowing it just enough for Rosario to catch up. The oversized tires hit the driver’s side of the car, knocking Phoenix into Falcon.

  The tires of Rosario’s vehicle threaten to roll right over the car. Falcon and Phoenix look out the driver’s side window to see one of the combat shotguns aimed right at them.

  Falcon panics. “Get us out of here!”

  Phoenix floors the gas pedal and the car surges forward, getting the rear end free of the large tires just in time for a shotgun blast to blow out the small driver’s side rear window. The car gradually starts to fall back into the tire trap of Rosario’s vehicle but Phoenix cuts the wheel to the left, turning toward their pursuer. The car speeds off of the other tire but Rosario still manages to get another hit on the car, making it spin off the road.

  Big Wang shoots at the spinning vehicle. Jerked around by centrifugal force, Falcon throws up his arm to keep his head from hitting the frame of the car. He hears bullets slam into the door before he’s jerked in the opposite direction.

  “Can’t you control this thing?” he shouts.

  “I’m trying!” Phoenix shouts back.

  Jerked back toward the window, Falcon sees the Dealer and Rosario pass them. His vision starts to blur then settles as Phoenix turns into the spin, finally getting the vehicle to straighten out.

  “About time,” he mutters.

  “You wanna drive!?”

  Dirt is kicked
up as the car speeds onto an intersecting road heading right toward the storm. Falcon looks back at the other vehicles as they slow down to turn around. “Good thinking. We can lose them in the storm.”“I don’t want to go in the storm,” Phoenix tells him.

  “We don’t have much choice.”

  The Dealer is the first to catch up. He and Falcon trade shots at each other while Phoenix veers the car to avoid the machine gun fire. Plumes of dirt and blades of grass pop up as bullets tear through the ground. Falcon gets halfway out of the window and shoots at Big Wang’s truck. He ducks back inside when the Dealer takes his shots.

  “This is going to sound weird. I’m glad Rosario is well behind us,” he says, taking another shot at the Dealer. The bullet hits the door of the dune buggy forcing the Dealer to fall back a little.

  “Yeah, I feel lot better about that, too,” Phoenix says sarcastically as she steadies the car.

  Big Wang’s truck nears the rear end of the getaway car. The passenger side of the windshield rolls down and Little Wang climbs out onto the hood. He draws his own gun and fires at the back windshield, blasting out the glass. Falcon and Phoenix duck. Falcon looks back to see Wang’s truck nearly on top of them. He aims the gun at them and fires. Click.

  “I’m out.

  “So am I,” Phoenix says as she tries to shake the close vehicle.

  Big Wang stays right with her as Little Wang continues moving out across the hood. He gets right to the edge of the vehicle and signals for his brother to get closer.

  Falcon watches the scene as Little Wang readies himself to jump onto their car. “Dammit.”

  Big Wang rear ends Phoenix’s car, sending Little Wang flying onto the trunk. The gun pops out of his hand and bounces over the roof. Phoenix watches the pistol slide down the windshield and fall over the side. Falcon watches the little brother scramble through the shattered rear windshield and into the back seat. As he falls into the car, he bumps the front seats. The hit makes Falcon drop his gun and Phoenix lose momentary control of the car.