Rival Rising

by Ben Swallow

  “Come on, why would anyone be here? This building looks like it could fall apart any moment!”

  Bryan looks at me and smiles. “That would make it the perfect hiding place, though, wouldn’t it? Where no one would ever expect you to be.”

  “So what? We sit here for hours and wait for Wang to probably never show up?”

  “Yeah, that’s about it,” Bryan shrugs. “Told you, stakeouts are fun.”

  “Well, then glad I never asked you if you wanted to have some fun,” I chuckle.

  He raises an eyebrow, his lips curling into a slight smile, but doesn’t say anything.

  With a sigh, I continue to watch the house, search for shadows moving in empty windows. But there’s nothing, the house is empty.

  “So, tell me, Bryan, what were you doing before all this? Before you were working for Cross?”

  “Would you believe me if I told you I was one of the top stockbrokers in Galmont?”

  I stare at him in surprise, even though I guess I shouldn’t be. Back in the club, I would have immediately believed him. Some kind of trader, maybe a lawyer or doctor, something that pays well would’ve been the first guess.

  But as Bryan starts laughing, I squint my eyes at him. “What?”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment. But no, I was actually working construction. I wanted to go to university and study, become something real. But we couldn’t afford it, so my summer job eventually became a permanent job. Somehow, I ended up becoming something like an advisor to the board, someone to speak up in the name of the workers. Probably because they just needed a pretty face in a suit.”

  “Or maybe because of your compassion and empathy,” I roll my eyes. That actually sounds like the perfect job for him, taking care of everyone.

  Bryan smiles, his eyes sparkling as he shrugs in return. “Maybe.”

  “And then your brother got into trouble?”

  “Yeah. About a year ago. My brother called me over to his place, asking for help. I was still there when Dahl and a few men stormed the place, demanding Cross’ money. When they saw me shield us with a barrier, he brought me to Cross who then offered me a job as a bodyguard. And well, I haven’t really been doing anything else since then.”

  “Wow. You must have quite a few stories to tell from your time with him.”

  “Yeah, it certainly was never boring.”

  “Tell me a few.”

  “Really? All right.” As we sit there for almost 2 hours, talking about the missions he went on, the people he protected, the messes he got involved in, I realize that Bryan wasn’t that wrong. I guess a stakeout can be fun when you are in the right company.

  But eventually, after not seeing any movement for over two hours, we decided to check out the other location, just a few minutes away.

  It was in a neighborhood just as bad, in the outer parts of the Pit. The place looks like an old factory building, or maybe a warehouse. We can’t get too close with the car, though, only park in the street in front of it.

  From our location, we can only see the wall, but without any windows on ground level, there’s no way to see if there’s anything going on inside.

  “Wanna go look around a bit, Bryan?”

  “You think that’s a good idea?”

  “What, are you afraid of an empty building in the dark? Is that too spooky for you?” I tease him with a laugh.

  “We are supposed to scout out the locations, not start a fight with this gang.”

  “All right, then we will just tell cross that the second location was probably empty, at least as far as we could tell from looking at its outer wall.”

  Bryan shoots me an annoyed glance, then sighs and get out of the car.

  I’m not entirely sure why I am actually pushing him to scout the place out. I’m not that big on getting into trouble, myself. I guess I only wanted to tease him, but it’s too late to turn back now.

  I get out of the car and follow him to the locked gate. As we climb over the wire mesh fence, I get a little uneasy. So far, it has been all in fun and games. But now we are actually trespassing, breaking in, even if it’s only an abandoned old warehouse near the Pit. I guess it’s easy to forget that you are working for a crime lord when he is sitting in a penthouse downtown, wearing a suit.

  But as we walk into the building, I see in relief that it is empty, only a few dusty crates and barrels lying around.

  “See? Nothing here,” Bryan shouts as he spreads his arms out and turned in a circle.

  “Fine, you were right. But now we know for sure.”

  We walk around for a bit more, exploring the ruin, until we suddenly hear a door open.

  “What was that?” I whisper to Bryan who’s right next to me.

  “Probably a dragon,” he whispers back.

  “Yeah. Wait what?”

  He just grins in response as I punch him in the shoulder.

  But as we walk towards where the sound came from, a man suddenly appears out of the shadows. And of course, like everyone else we have met so far, he’s pointing a gun at us.

  My eyes widened in surprise as I recognize him. “You again!”

  “I know you still have my ring. I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if I have to.”

  “What you mean your ring? I sto… got it from an antiquities store.”

  “Smooth,” Bryan whispers, suppressing a grin.

  “I don’t know anything about that, but this ring belongs to my family. It has been handed down for generations, and I will not let you escape with it again,” the man shouts as he comes closer, waving the gun at us.

  This seems like one of those encounters that could be easily solved with a shockwave. But I already felt bad taking a ring from the store, and I don’t think I could walk away from this with good conscience. After all, I’m still one of the good guys. Right?

  But since I still don’t have a job and I’m still working to pay off my debt to Cross, I can’t just give it away out of the goodness of my heart. My mother’s life might depend on me selling it.

  “I’m sorry about the ring. I didn’t mean to steal it.”

  “Steal? I thought you said you bought it.”

  “Well, not exactly. But I’m not a thief, I only took it because my mother is sick, and without the money, she would die.”

  “Oh, so you’re not a thief because you had a reason to steal. If this is how it worked, there would be no criminals in the Pit,” the man scoffs.

  As I glance over to Bryan, I see a security guard walk towards us briskly, a real hulk of a man. I sigh in relief, although I wonder what he’s doing here.

  “Thank god you’re here, we are…”

  But before I can finish, he steps behind Bryan, pulling his arms behind his back and twists his hands.

  The security guard stares at me grimly. “Hand him the ring and no one gets hurt.”

  I swallow hard as Bryan’s face turns into a painful grimace. I thought the security guard was on our side, obviously. But I guess we really are the criminals in this situation.

  The other man takes a step forward, looking at me with a softer expression.

  “Look, man. I mean… Look, girl… woman? Uhm…” The man lowers his gun a little as he frowns at me in confusion. “Whatever. Look, I’m sorry about your mother, but I need that ring and it is rightfully mine.”

  “I’m sorry, too. I would give it to you, but my mother needs me, and I don’t really have a job right now. Not one that pays, anyway.”

  This must be the worst mugging ever. Both of us apologizing to each other, wanting to help.

  “What if I knew someone who might be able to help you?”

  Oh, not that again. I’ve had it up to here with people who ‘might be able to help’.

  “Unless your friend is handing out free money, I’m not sure how he could help me.”

  “He’s not a friend. Just someone I have heard of. And he can do better than money. He could heal your mother.”

  I stare at the man in s
urprise. Considering how many people with abilities, powered people, are apparently running around this city, I guess it makes sense that someone has the ability to heal. I should’ve thought about that earlier.

  “Who? Where do I find him?”

  “Hand over the ring and I will tell you.”

  With a deep sigh, I pull the ring from my pocket, wondering if I’m doing the right thing as I look at it one last time.

  “Fine. Here, take your ring.”

  As the man grabs the ring from my hand, he puts the gun back, tucking it into his pants. The security guard lets go of Bryan, too, and walks over to the other man.

  “You should ask for the Shaman. The barkeeper in the Black Moon should be able to help you.”

  “The… mute one?” I ask in confusion.

  “Exactly. He might not talk much, but he makes up for it with listening. And since people aren’t worried about what he might say, they often talk about things freely without minding him. He knows all the right people to send you to.”

  “Huh. Thanks, I guess.”

  I’m not entirely happy about losing the ring, but I guess it wasn’t mine anyway. I nod to Bryan as I turn around, walking back the way we came from. We were already a few steps away as I hear the man say behind us “actually, there is one more thing I have to do.”

  My blood freezes in my veins as I turn around, expecting him to try to shoot us. But apparently, he wasn’t even talking to us, but to his companion.

  My mouth drops open in surprise as the man drops to his knee, holding up the ring to the security guard.

  “Joe. When we first met, you were pointing a gun at me and my companions. My heart stopped, not because of the gun, but because I saw you. When I met you again at the coffee shop, I thought you will arrest me, but that was a risk I was willing to take just to talk to you. I still think of that as the best decision I’ve ever made.”

  The other man, Joe, has tears in his eyes as he laughs, covering his mouth with his hand to contain his excitement. Similarly, my initial surprise turns to wonder as I witness this completely unexpected proposal.

  “Everyone told us that we could never possibly work out. A criminal and a police officer, like a modern-day Romeo and… well, Romeo. But we proved them wrong. You made me a better person, put me back on the right path. And I don’t ever want to live my life without you again. Will you marry me, Joe Gordon?”

  “Yes! Yes, of course, Darren!”

  I still gasp in astonishment as I watch Darren put the ring on Joe, both laughing with pure happiness. This must be the sweetest thing I’ve ever witnessed.

  Without thinking, I walk over to them, smiling from one ear to the other, and put my hands on their shoulders. “That was beautiful, I’m so glad I gave you your ring back.”

  The guy, Darren, looks at me with tears in his eyes and hugs me. Before I can even react, the other man joins in, patting me on my back.

  “Thank you, kind stranger.”

  I quickly wipe away a tear as we separate again. As they have already turned to each other, I walk back to Bryan. “Oh my god, this did not turn out the way I thought it would.”

  “Yeah, that was… something else,” he chuckles, his eyes filled with the same wonder and surprise I felt.

  Chapter 7

  We are on the way home, still slightly confused by what just happened, when Bryan’s phone rang. I’m quite surprised as he presses a button on the steering wheel and the call is routed through the car. I did not suspect this older model to have such a feature.

  “Bryan, where are you right now?” I immediately recognize Cross’ voice.

  “On my way home. We scouted both locations, no signs of Wang.”

  “Another scout found him. I am paying him a visit in an hour and was hoping you could join us. It’s time to teach him not to mess with me or my men.”

  …and women? No? I guess this is not the time to complain.

  “I’ll be at your office in 20, boss.”

  “Good.”

  The car chimes as the call ended. Bryan looks over at me and shrugs. “I guess this day is about to get even more interesting.”

  “You mean we get to kick his ass? I’m in,” I grin in return.

  We turn around and drive back downtown, arriving at Cross’ building about ten minutes later. But instead of parking on the street in one of the reserved spots Bryan usually takes, he’s driving down into the garage.

  As he parks the car, I see Cross with five of his men gearing up around an SUV that looks like that kind of car I initially expected him to drive. Huge, black, aggressive, probably all-inclusive with reinforced windows and hull.

  As I see them loading their assault rifles, I swallow hard. I haven’t really thought about how this ‘visit’ is going to look like, but I did not think of getting into a heavy gunfight.

  On the other hand, Wang’s men probably don’t want to get in one, either, so the ass-kicking should be all on our side. I can’t really imagine anyone standing up to someone like Cross.

  As we get out of the car and walk to the others, I realize with some relief that we aren’t the only ones that don’t wear heavy battle gear.

  Four of the men are wearing heavy jackets and boots, carrying assault rifles, while the fifth just wears a leather jacket and jeans, similar to me. I’m not sure what I should think of Cross, though, who still wears only an expensive-looking suit. He looks powerful in it, but not like he would survive long in a fight. Then again, I guess that’s what Bryan is here for.

  Cross nods at us as we approach, then gesturing the others to get in. “Let’s go, men.”

  I roll my eyes a little, still a bit annoyed by his choice of words, but get in without protest. The car is as huge inside as it looked, three rows of seats providing enough space for all of us.

  I sit between Bryan and the other guy without battle gear on my left. Since he doesn’t look like some hired muscle as the others, I turn to him.

  “Not a fan of guns, either?” I whisper with a slight grin.

  The guy raises an eyebrow and chuckles. “I don’t require guns to do my job, love.”

  I immediately like his British accent, it fits his well-groomed, rather handsome face. I’m not a big fan of being called nicknames like that by strangers, though, but I guess I can make an exception.

  “Oh, is that so? What is your job, then? Charming them with pretty words?”

  “If we wanted to charm them, darling, I believe you could do this mission alone.” He smiles at me with sparkles in his eyes, but there’s something about him that makes his charm not feel pushy.

  “Oh no, I’m actually here to kick some ass if it comes to it,” I wink at him.

  As I glance over, I see Bryan watch me with narrow eyes, but looking away as I look at him. Is he getting jealous because of a little flirt with the Brit?

  “Forgive me, but I didn’t catch your name earlier,” the guy smiles at me as I turn back to him.

  “Oh, that’s because I didn’t tell you, love,” I grin and look away again. Our little flirt has been fun, but I probably shouldn’t forget that regardless of his refreshing accent, he’s still working for Cross. Not the kind of person I should flirt with.

  We drive the rest of the way in quiet until we arrive at a rather normal looking building near the Pit.

  “All right, guys. You know the drill. You don’t shoot until I gift the commando. If everything goes well, we don’t need to fight. But if they force our hand, they will learn what it means to mess with us. Let’s roll.”

  We get out of the car, marching towards the house. Two of the armed men lead the way, then Cross, Bryan and me, and finally the Brit and the other two soldiers.

  I didn’t really expect them to knock nicely, but I still flinch as they kick the door in forcefully.

  We march into the house, through a short hallway and into a big room, where Wang and six rather regular looking people are waiting for us. Anger wells up in me as I see him wearing the onyx amulet, the o
ne he killed Robby for. He doesn’t quite look like an amulet-wearing kind of guy, so I guess it must have magical properties or something. But before I can think about it some more, Cross’ voice sounds through the room.

  “Wang. I hear you have been making a mess in my city. I haven’t properly introduced myself, so I think it’s time for that now. I’m Cross, and I run this part of Galmont.”

  “Is that so?” Wang chuckles. “And who exactly voted for you?”

  Ignoring the interruption, Cross continues. “So listen carefully, Wang. I will not allow unnecessary bloodshed in my city, and I will not let you harm innocents. The people here can live in relative peace because we are united, looking out for one another. If you think you can threaten this balance, we will end you.”

  “Peace? Balance?” Wang laughs loudly. “What you have is no peace. These people here,” he says, gesturing to the men and women around him, “are afraid to use their full potential, even afraid to leave their house. I merely wish for my people, us with unique gifts, to be able to live in peace. Free from shackles and fear, able to help each other.”

  I must admit, what Wang describes resonates with me. I could keep my abilities hidden, but my brother was not as lucky. With the right help, he might be still alive.

  A door to our left suddenly opens. Anger spreads across Cross’ face as Dahl and four armed thugs march into the room.

  “Surprised to see me, boss? I always told you, you don’t have what it takes to rule the underworld.”

  Cross clenches his jaw but quickly brings his face back to a neutral expression. “So, this is it? You officially rebel against my lead?”

  “We merely want peace and freedom for our people, Cross.” Wang shakes his head, looking at Cross like a misbehaving child. “So it is up to you, do you want both our people to live in peace beside each other, or do you want to continue to suppress us gifted people?”

  “You speak of peace, yet the first I’ve heard of you is a trail of burned corpses. If that is your idea of peace, I will not have it. End him.”

  Apparently, that was the command his men have been waiting for.