Dark Guardian

by Ammar Habib

  Without a second thought, Ethan pulled the trigger. Looking at the corpse, he carelessly tossed the gun onto the snow and turned around to check on Katrina. Behind her, he saw Ivan racing across the snow towards them with his own weapon drawn and ready. He looked back at Katrina as she emotionlessly stared at him. She looked like she was about to pass out at any moment. The blood of the dead men began to paint the snow red and the smell of it began to fill her lungs for the first time in her life.

  The Russian finally made it to them and stopped by Katrina’s side. He had his handgun drawn out, looking down at all the dead bodies and then back at Ethan. Katrina finally spoke. “Ethan…wh—what’s going on?”

  Ethan began to move closer to the other two. “Ivan, get her out of here. Stay by her side all night.”

  Ivan, sensing the urgency of the situation, nodded and reached over to grab Katrina’s shoulder. “Ma’am, let’s go.”

  Katrina took a step backwards as her bodyguard pulled her. “Wh—what about you? Why did they attack us? How d—did you do all that?”

  Ethan walked over and put his hand on the side of her head and the other on her opposite shoulder. He leaned in close to where their foreheads almost touched. “Listen, Katrina. There’s no time. People I know may be in danger and I need to make sure they’re safe. Go with Ivan. He’ll keep you safe. He knows what to do.”

  She put her arms around him and tightly embraced him. With her face buried in his shoulder tears streamed down her cheeks. “Ethan… they were about to kill us. If you hadn’t done what you did they… they…”

  He gently rubbed the back of her head with his gloved hand as he looked over at Ivan. “It’s alright. It’s alright. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  She continued to cry on his shoulder for several seconds as he gently calmed her down by softly rubbing the back of her head. “You really need to get out of here before the police arrive.”

  He felt her slightly nod against his shoulder before she slowly pulled back. Her hands were on his shoulders as she looked up at him. Her eyes were still full of tears. “I’ll see you in the morning…won’t I, Ethan?”

  “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

  As Ivan began to walk her back to the car, her stare stayed fixed on Ethan. As they began to move, Ivan broke the silence. “Thank you, Ethan.”

  Ethan kept his gaze on Katrina. “Thank me by keeping her safe.”

  ***

  Minutes later, Ethan was far from the park.

  He made his way down the sidewalk alongside the deserted road. There were only a few pedestrians around as most people were waiting for the fireworks to start. Numerous cars whizzed by, but he kept his stare out in front. With his hands in his pockets, he kept his head down. Only one thought consumed his mind right now.

  Anthony Griffin knew who he was.

  There was no other explanation. Those men were dressed a step above the average street thug. The guns they had were the same that the cartel issued its henchman. They had been tracking them the whole day. And they definitely weren’t undercover cops.

  If Anthony knew who Ethan was, he would figure out soon enough that William was the reporter he was after. William would be the first person he would kill. Then he would execute Ethan’s family one-by-one. Those thugs had been ordered to kill Katrina, not him.

  His worst nightmare had been realized. Everyone he loved was now in danger. By tomorrow morning, his entire family could be dead. Griffin would kill anyone that had a connection to Ethan.

  Ethan knew that he had no reason to protect William. After all, he had been the one who had killed those three officers over the past few months after he got his vengeance on O’Hara and the mayor. William knew the risks. He knew that after he pulled that trigger, his life was in jeopardy.

  But Ethan remembered seeing the body of those dead women he had failed to save—how he could never forgive himself for abandoning them. And if he did not save William, then the blood was on his hands. His heart knew that he had pulled William into this mess. William had enough enemies in this city.

  It was time he had an ally.

  ***

  Ethan banged against the apartment door. “William, open up!” He loudly knocked again. “Answer the damn door!”

  Hearing the neighbor’s door open, Ethan looked and saw an elderly woman come out in her long night robe. It was obvious that she had been fast asleep. “Do you have any idea what times it is?”

  He ignored the annoyance on her face. “Sorry, it’s an emergency.”

  “Are you looking for William?”

  “Yes. It’s urgent I see him.”

  “I’m afraid that’s impossible, son.”

  “Where is he?”

  “A team of cops came by a few hours ago and took him away.”

  “Where to?”

  “I overheard one of them mentioning the central station.”

  “Thanks.” Ethan turned around and was about to go down the steps to leave, but he paused before doing so. “Listen ma’am. It’d be better if you did not tell anybody I came by looking for him.”

  “Believe me, I won’t. I’ve had enough dealings with damn cops to know better.”

  “And stay indoors tonight.”

  “Why?”

  “Trust me. Stay indoors.”

  He began to hurry down the steps. He quickly pulled out his phone to make two calls. He needed to get his family out of the city safely. He had a plan to save everybody he cared about and take down Griffin. Griffin obviously had not made his knowledge of Ethan’s identity public; otherwise the police would have been after him in full force. Only a handful of people would know the truth right now. And if Ethan played it right, he could keep that secret safe after the night was over.

  Ethan knew it was time to unlock the crates. Time to use the gift he had been given by Daken.

  …Time to pull out the knife.

  Chapter 27

  Den of Wolves

  Victor stood by his office’s window. With the phone to his ear, he looked to make sure his door was closed shut. “We have William.”

  “Good. Has he spoken yet?”

  Victor glanced out at the dark heavens. “He just got here. I was about to go pay him a visit.”

  “After you dispose of the body, come meet me.”

  “Where can I find you?”

  “At the Wyatt building. 13th floor.”

  “Wyatt building. Got it.”

  “Let me know when you’re on your way.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I had my man take out Charles. We don’t want any loose ends. Send your team to dispose of the body. It’s at his house. Make sure they get there within an hour, before his family gets home.”

  “I’ll dispatch them immediately.”

  “Has the team called back from the park?”

  “No, sir. I don’t mean to second guess you, but don’t you think we should send out another team to see how it went?”

  “If you don’t want to second guess me, then I suggest you quit doing it.”

  Hearing the scolding caused Victor to get a little warm under the collar. “Yes, sir.”

  The line went dead. Letting out a quick sigh of relief, Victor slipped the phone back into his pocket. He looked out the window once more and up at the cloudy, nighttime sky.

  Griffin was no fool. By now he would have sensed that the team had failed and that Ethan would have connected the dots. And the first person he would come after was Victor. The police chief was beginning to wonder if his boss was setting him up to die this night. But for what purpose? Victor had been nothing but loyal for Griffin over the years. He thought of himself as Griffin’s most trusted man…unless Griffin had a different agenda.

  But worrying was not going to change anything. If he disobeyed or asked too many questions, then he would be as good as dead. Victor turned away from the window and headed out the door and towards the cell blocks.

  He had no choice but to follow orders.


  ***

  At the other end of the building, William sat on the cold bench of the jail cell. Through the bars, many of the officers looked his way. They all were hungry animals, waiting to be given permission to make him suffer. The officers posted at the central station were the worst. William looked back down, knowing that there was no hope for him. Nobody cared if he was alive or dead.

  After battling corruption for years, he did not have a friend left in the world. If they gutted him here and now, nobody would realize he was dead until he did not show up for work the next day. He wondered if anybody would attend his funeral. Then again, he wondered if he would even have a funeral.

  He was a dead man.

  Hearing the door to his cell open, he watched a large man entered the chamber. William immediately recognized the new police chief. The cell door was loudly closed behind him and another officer locked it. Victor stared down at him for a few moments. He was completely expressionless, but his cold voice gave William chills. “You know how this goes, don’t you? Or do I need to explain it…like I did to your friend Carl?”

  William did not reply back to the monster. Realizing that the man in front of him was the one who had slain his friend, his heart was consumed by flames of anger, but he did not do anything.

  “You can either tell me what I want to know, and I’ll simply put a bullet through your head. Or, you can be silent. Then I will let these men have their way with you.” Victor began to pace in front of William. “You see, William, the police announced to the public that it was the masked vigilante who killed those three cops in the past few months. But, I know the truth. It wasn’t the vigilante’s work. It was yours.”

  The prisoner looked at the ground.

  “I’ve taken the liberty to inform my men that it was you who butchered their friends and comrades. That you that are the one responsible for them having to bury their friends. And they want nothing more than to make you beg for mercy, to make you suffer.”

  William looked back at Victor. “What do you want to know?”

  Victor stopped pacing as a sly smile came across his face. “What do you know about Anthony Griffin? Who else have you told?”

  The prisoner smiled back at his foe. “You sound pretty scared of him.”

  The smirk disappeared from Victor’s face. “You think I’m playing, boy? These men will tear you limb to limb. They’re all killers, but with you they’ll be animals.”

  “One way or the other we’re all dead men. But what we do in out last moments defines our life.”

  “Brave words from a lonely man. I wonder if Ethan will say the same. If my clock is right, he just watched his girlfriend slaughtered right in front of him.”

  William’s smile disappeared. So, they knew who Ethan was. Just like William had warned him, these scumbags had finally figured it out. It was all starting to make sense now. He did not know why, but he feared more for Ethan’s safety than his own. After all, Ethan had people who cared about him. A loving family, a soul mate. Thousands of citizens he had helped that admired him. What did William have?

  Absolutely nothing.

  “I don’t think he’ll be coming to save you even if he could. He’s not the saving type. You know how he let Carl get butchered.”

  William rose to his feet. “Maybe. But I also know how dangerous a wounded lion is. I know how the deadliest animal is one whose home is threatened.”

  “Sit down.”

  The prisoner ignored the command. “Trust me, Ethan loves Katrina. He’s going to hunt you and your damn boss down like animals just for trying to touch her. He’s going to spill out your guts and make you beg for mercy like a dog.”

  “I said sit down!” Victor suddenly struck William across the face with his forearm and then kicked him back onto the bench.

  After loudly falling back on the seat, William looked up at Victor.

  “So are you going to talk?”

  William laughed, acting as if Victor’s strike left no pain. “Send your boys in. Let them do their worst.”

  Victor controlled the color of his face. “Oh, they will.”

  “You animals took my wife and child. What more can you do to me?”

  The captor did not utter a reply. Turning around, he motioned for the officer to open up the cell door. As the door opened, he stepped out and the officer quickly closed the entrance with a bang. Just as he prepared to lock it, he froze.

  From halfway across the building, the sound of multiple shattering windows rang through the hallways, followed by the sound of men screaming. The screams of the dying. Everyone whipped their heads around and looked towards the closed door of the cell block.

  After a split second, Victor grabbed his radio and spoke into the device. “What the hell was that?”

  Shouting could be heard coming from down the hallway now. Thunderous roars made it impossible for anything to be heard. Above the shrieks, more shattering glass was heard and then even louder yells. Some of the cries were of fear. Others were those of dying men.

  The radio emitted some static before a voice answered, “Three officers down. There’s a sniper shooting in thorough the window on the east side of the building. I repeat, the east side of the building is under fire. Multiple officers are down.”

  Victor glanced over at William. He knew who was here. They both did. The reporter smiled as he saw the fear in his captor’s eyes. Victor again pressed the button on his radio. “Clear away from that room. Get away from all the windows on the east side. Now!”

  Turning, he quickly ordered the officers in the cells to make their way into the main part of the station, except for two of them standing guard. But before the command could be followed, a different voice was suddenly spilling out of the radio, causing Victor to momentarily freeze. “Sir! Somebody’s shooting in on the west side of the building. I repeat the west side is now under fire! Three office—”

  The line went dead.

  Victor pressed the button to his radio. “Are you still there? Braxton, come in.”

  No reply came from Braxton as he lay on the floor on the west side of the building with a bullet in his head and a stream of blood running out the wound. Around him, there was total chaos as officers tried to hide from the bloodthirsty sniper.

  The original voice came back on. “The sniper is still shooting in on the east side. Two more officers are down. They’ve been confirmed dead.”

  All the officers looked at Victor as horror was spread across their faces. They could still hear the screams coming from the nearby windows. Their comrades were dying and they could do nothing. They waited for their commander to say something. Anything.

  But it wasn’t his voice they heard as a new officer’s voice came in through the radio. “Heavy gunfire on the north side of the building, sir. Four officers wounded, two dead. We’re clearing our people away from the windows.”

  The officers exchanged glances of horror, not knowing what to do. One of them was brave enough to speak. “What the hell is happening? How many are there?”

  William’s voice answered, “Just one very pissed off citizen.”

  Once again, the radio silence broke. “Masked intruder has been spotted in the gunroom. I repeat, he is in the gunroom. It appears to be the vigilante. We have officers engaging him now.”

  Victor turned to the ten men he had with him. “Four of you stay with him. Rest of you, follow me.”

  They momentarily paused as the radio went off again. “Sir, all of our surveillance cameras just went out.”

  The chief spoke back into the radio one last time. “All units to the gunroom now.”

  As they ran out of the room, Victor ordered one of the remaining men to close and lock down the thick, metallic door that separated the cell blocks from the rest of the station. As soon as Victor left, the command was followed.

  Little did they know that they were sealing themselves in their own tomb.

  ***

  In the gunroom, Ethan, in full costume, str
uck the nearest officer with his forearm, knocking him headfirst into the wall. With a loud crash, his unconscious body fell next to his fallen comrades. Ethan ducked to dodge the baton of the next officer and with a fluid motion sliced the man’s stomach. As the man screamed, Ethan bounced back to his feet and quickly slashed him right across the left part of his chest before letting his dying body fall to the floor.

  Ethan twirled around and easily knocked away the next officer’s attack with his free hand before slicing open his neck. As he turned, his grey cape flew in the wind behind him. Before the body hit the floor, Ethan leapt backwards and launched a throwing knife at the fourth officer while he dodged a stream of bullets. By the time he had released six rounds, the officer fell dead to the floor and the gun skid across the ground, stopping a few feet away from the corpse.

  Feeling the tall officer coming up from behind him, Ethan crouched down and rammed his elbow into the man’s stomach. Turning around, the vigilante grabbed the man by his head with his free hand and forced him to bend over before stabbing the officer in the back of his head. Ethan wrenched the dagger out of the corpse and let the body fall to the ground.

  Swiftly turning around, Ethan faced the final two officers who charged him together, batons in hand. Ethan blocked the first one with his dagger and sent a powerful kick right at the second man’s stomach. It made contact and the officer let out a groan of pain as he went sprawling on the floor several feet away. Ethan instinctively sidestepped the first officer’s next attack. As he sent his third blow, Ethan grabbed the man’s wrist to stop the assault. He then kicked the officer on the side of the kneecap, causing his leg to give out under him as he yelped in pain. Without any hesitation, Ethan’s other boot smashed into the man’s skull, knocking him out cold.

  Letting go of the unconscious man’s wrist, Ethan pulled out a throwing knife with his free hand. As the officer who got off the floor pulled out his gun, the masked man launched the weapon and it plunged itself into the officer’s neck before he had a chance to take aim.