Same Self

by Brad Raylend

  * * *

  The Mercedes rounded yet another turn; Bohden was no doubt trying to utilize the many turns to lose Todd. Todd stepped down hard on the brakes, gritting his teeth as he had missed the tight turn made by Bohden. He quickly shifted into reverse and whipped the car around, speeding after him. However, he could no longer see him on the long stretch of road. The rain streamed down the speckled windshield, causing the many lights from the city to glare off the small drops. Kara gripped the door tightly as Todd pushed the gas pedal to the floor board.

  “I don’t see him anymore! Why is he trying to lose us?” she said over the loud engine.

  “I don’t know. I’m thinking he doesn’t trust either York or me,” replied Todd.

  Todd glanced in the rear-view mirror to see a single headlight growing behind them. He continued to look back at it as it came closer, the glare of the bright light beginning to wash out the mirror. Todd looked in the side mirror to see York whip off to the side of the Mustang. He shifted into the next gear, hoping to create a gap between them. York drew his M9 once again, holding it out to the side at Todd. He closed the gap between the bike and the car. He held the pistol at a slight cant, trying to steady his aim on Todd’s head. Every imperfection on the road made it difficult for him to keep the front sight locked on him. With his free hand on the throttle, he eased the handlebars towards the car, slowly closing the gap.

  He could faintly see two people inside: a driver and a passenger. However, the rain obscured his vision and he assumed Michael would be lying down in the back seat. He pulled his pistol and inched closer to the car, trying to see the back seat. Todd jerked the wheel to the left. York quickly turned to avoid the collision but was too late and the two collided. The bike was forced towards the sidewalk, the front wheel wobbled out of control, and York was thrown off the bike as it was laid down on its side. The pavement bit him hard as he crashed into it, rolling until his body smashed into a dumpster.

  The Mustang took a hard left, then straightened out on a long stretch of road that skirted a narrow river. Todd peered in the rear-view mirror, then briefly over his shoulder. “Shit!” he said. “The cops are on us.”

  Kara was frantically tapping on the MTX, scrolling through the digital map of Miami. “He cannot be far. He was heading north on Collins Avenue … we’re currently on Indian Creek Drive. The two roads eventually merge only a few blocks from here!” she said excitedly, looking over at Todd.

  “Okay,” Todd replied with a small grin.

  Sirens, and the slamming of doors caused York to slowly lift himself off the ground. He raised his head, blood seeping through his gritted teeth. The suit was badly damaged with abrasion-covered flesh exposed. Two police officers approached him, .357 pistols trained on him. He slowly rose to his knees, placing his hands on the top of his head.

  “What the hell?” one of officers said, seeing the unworldly suit.

  “Stay down!” the other yelled. “Keep your hands where I can see them!”

  The officer pulled his radio from his belt, slightly dropping his fix on York. “This is Unit Six! We have a possible suspect in custody; requesting …”

  Suddenly, York lunged forward, pulling the officer’s extended arm over his shoulder and throwing him to the ground. The other jumped back quickly, firing a round into the wall behind York. York quickly grabbed the weapon with both hands and forced his back to the man, prying the weapon from his hands. He quickly cocked the hammer and aimed in on the police officer who cowered on the ground at his feet. He aimed the weapon at his forehead.

  “Please … don’t,” the man pleaded, his hands raised.

  From the open window of the squad car, York could hear the squawking sound of the department’s dispatch. “All units, be advised we have a high-speed vehicle heading north on Collins avenue. Requesting any available units to intercept.”

  York looked back down at the man. It then occurred to him that there was no reason to kill him. Sure, whatever he did this night would be undone once Michael died, but there was no need for any more collateral damage. He dropped his aim and quickly walked to the police cruiser. He opened the door and stepped in. The car took off down the road, the sirens still echoing through the streets. He took the first left which put him on Indian Creek Drive. He pressed the gas pedal to the floor and the buildings whipped past, the wind booming through the open window. Taking one hand off the wheel, he quickly pulled the helmet off of his head and tossed it into the passenger seat. His long bangs stuck to the blood oozing from the gash above his eye. Pain throughout his body was becoming overwhelming.

  Todd slowed to almost cruising speed as the Mercedes came to an abrupt stop only a few hundred meters down the road in front of him. He could see two figures rush out of the vehicle and into the tall building that loomed above them. Todd came to a quick stop, examining the building where they had entered. A few brief moments of moonlight assisted in his observation. It was a rundown-looking place. Graffiti was visible on almost every floor of the dark building. The top floor looked to have once been under construction but had never been finished as there was visible space between the roof and the floor below it.

  Todd coasted to a stop next to the sidewalk. He turned off the ignition and pulled the silver 1911 from his waist. “Look …” he said, quickly examining the magazine which only contained five rounds. “I need you to stay here. Stay out of sight.” He reinserted the magazine and checked the chamber for the sixth round. He quickly opened the door and stepped out into the pouring rain.

  “Todd!” Kara pleaded.

  “Please, Kara,” he said, looking back into the dimly lit cabin of the Mustang. Her saddened eyes caused him to question his own judgment. “I can’t let anything happen to you. I have to make sure Bohden keeps Michael safe. I’ll be right back.”

  He took one last look at her. Every part of him wished the circumstances were not as they were. He wished he could stay with her, not only in this moment, but for eternity. His heart ached in his chest, but his conscience told him to hurry and get into the building. He shut the door and sprinted to what appeared to be a fire exit in the alleyway. He popped the door open, checking the dark corners of the stairwell before him, and began ascending the stairs.

  CONFRONTATION

  Bohden held his breath at the landing of the fifth floor. Michael squatted behind him. Their sprint had come to an abrupt halt at the sound of yelling and movement from the floors above. They heard thunderous footsteps of multiple individuals and the banging of hardware, probably weapons.

  “What have we just stumbled into?” Bohden whispered.

  He slowly pulled his pistol from his jacket and crept closer to the base of the stairs leading to the next floor. Michael crept closely behind, breathing heavily, and looking around as if he were an animal being stalked.

  “What is it, man?” he asked. “Are they going to kill us?”

  Bohden peeked up to the next landing to see the flickering light of fire creeping through what appeared to be a thick blanket covering a doorway. Suddenly loud voices echoed through the stairwell and multiple individuals stormed out of the room, moving quickly and yelling back and forth.

  “What the fuck are the cops doing here, man?” one yelled to the other. “Don’t know, but we betta ice deez fools quick.”

  Bohden shoved Michael back down the stairs, his gun raised. “Go, go!” he whispered. The two quickly returned to the lower landing and made their way into the interior of the building. They moved down the long dark hallway before them. Bohden kept his pistol raised, briefly checking open doorways to the abandoned hotel rooms. He felt his stomach leap up into his throat when Michael stepped on a large piece of broken glass.

  “They’re down here!” a voice called from the stairwell.

  “Go, now!” Bohden said, shoving Michael down the hall and aiming at the door behind them. The door opened and Bohden fired several shots into it. Automatic fire erupted from the stairwell, muzzle flashes and bullet sparks lighti
ng the dark hallway.

  “Run!” Bohden screamed.

  * * *

  Todd stopped and aimed his pistol up the stairwell. The loud echoes of gunfire and screaming caused him to tighten his grip and clench his jaw. He squinted in the dark, then his eyes widened as he saw two raggedy individuals come storming down the stairs with assault rifles. He quickly identified them as neither Michael nor Bohden and fired up at them. The first man dropped and rolled down the stairs; the next managed to fire off a burst before Todd emptied the rest of the mag into him. Todd reached down and grabbed the first man’s CAR 15. He checked the weapon, briefly pausing as he examined the stubby twenty-round mag. He continued up the stairs with the weapon resting in his shoulder. The gunshots from above were becoming louder and more frequent. His heart pounded in his chest and adrenaline was rushing through him, making his movements quicker and his demeanor more aggressive. He arrived at the fifth floor, where he found a dead man lying on the landing. He looked up at the door and could see that he had been shot through it. He bypassed the door and continued up the stairwell.

  * * *

  York stumbled out of the squad car and towards the Mustang. He cradled his stomach, wincing as he realized his ribs felt broken. He leaned up against the car and peered inside, seeing that it was empty. He held the pump action shotgun from the squad car’s cabin in his free hand. His shoulder slumped low. Looking over the roof of the Mustang, he could see an open door just down the alley that led to a stairwell access. He looked up at the building in front of him. It was the same one he had spent the night in the night prior. “Of all the places …” he muttered. He limped down the alley, occasionally looking up as he heard the sound of gunfire. As he entered the dark building, the sounds of screams and the cracks of bullets caused him to stop at the base of the stairs. He held onto the railing, looking up into the darkness.

  * * *

  Bullets from above caused Todd to dive through the door on the sixth floor. He landed, orienting his muzzle down the long hallway. He scrambled to his feet and rushed down the hallway. He heard commotion from behind him. He whipped around quickly, dropping to a knee, and fired four shots into a gang member at the doorway. Another entered through the doorway and sprayed wildly with a Tec 9 machine pistol. Todd aimed in but the trigger felt mushy as he squeezed it and the weapon didn’t fire. “Shit!” He quickly kicked in the door to an empty room as bullets zipped down the hallway behind him. He knelt down and pulled on the charging handle. It didn’t budge, meaning the empty casing from the last round he’d fired was stuck in the chamber. Suddenly, a figure entered the doorway.

  The man yelled, “Gotch you, you mutha …”

  Todd stood up and forcefully smashed the butt stock into the man’s face, simultaneously using the momentum to rip the charging handle back and extract the empty casing. The man fell to the ground, grunting in pain. Todd fired two rounds into his chest then moved back out into the hallway. He looked down both sides, then sprinted to the adjacent stairwell access. He popped open the metal door and was greeted once again by a volley of fire. He waited for a lull in the fire and then crept up the stairs, shooting four to five rounds into each man as he processed them.

  The CAR 15’s bolt locked back and he dropped it to the floor, picking up a UZI 9mm submachine gun. He extended the collapsible stock and continued up the stairs, firing small automatic bursts into the gang members.

  Finally, he came to the ninth floor. It was cleaner than the others, as it was no doubt newer and had seen less unwelcome occupants. He burst through the door to find himself in an open floor with no walls on either side. Unfinished concrete pillars and exposed rebar made up the walls. Abandoned floor plans and construction equipment littered the floor. The rain had stopped and the sky was beginning to lighten, pink and orange light cresting over the dark waters on the horizon.

  Amongst the few drops of water, Todd could hear the sound of footsteps from above. He quickly climbed a stack of rotting lumber and leapt to an open hole in the roof. Pulling himself up, he spotted Bohden, who was stripping off his leather jacket and exposing the sleek black suit beneath. Michael stood beside him, a bewildered look upon him.

  “Bohden!” Todd yelled.

  Bohden turned quickly and fired, the bullet striking Todd in the chest. Todd felt the wind immediately become pulled from his lungs and he fell back onto the hard concrete. He gasped for air but felt only the intensifying beat of his heart and the desperate need for oxygen. He tried to pick himself up, his hand touching a warm pool of blood forming around him. His eyes widened as he touched the burning bullet wound below his left collar bone. He trembled slightly, then looked back up at Bohden.

  Bohden turned and began fixing the cable lanyard around a thin pillar near the edge of the roof. Michael watched in horror, looking at Todd in confusion. Was it the fact that he had seen him in the club only a few hours earlier? Or perhaps something much more unexplainable. Like he was looking at someone he once knew, or maybe had yet to know and would now never have the chance. He couldn’t understand why this man on the ground in front of him stole his curiosity.

  “Who is he?” Michael asked.

  Bohden didn’t answer. He continued fixing the lanyard to his harness, then switched on his MTX and began entering in a year.

  Todd stared up at the sky. The clouds had pulled back to reveal what was soon to be a new day. Only a solitary star remained visible. He stared at it, gasping for air. His mind didn’t race as it once had when he was near death. He didn’t think of all his pain and regret. He didn’t ponder the many wasted efforts, nor did he feel the guilt that had lingered on his mind his entire life. All he thought of was …

  “Kara?” Bohden said, looking to the roof access from the stairwell.

  Her eyes went to Todd, and the look of horror overcame her. “Todd!” she screamed. She ran to him and dropped down beside him. Her hands combed over him, stopping at his hand, which was pressed against his chest. She pulled it away to reveal the wound. She cried out, placing her hands on it and looking at him with tears streaming down her cheeks. “Oh God no. Please no!” she cried.

  Todd continued to stare up at her, a gurgling sound hidden beneath each desperate gasp for air. He raised his shaking hand towards her, his trembling fingers touching her cheek. She grasped it, holding it against her face. She opened her tear-filled eyes and looked into his. His body arched up with each throaty moan, his collapsed lung causing his chest cavity to fill with air. His quivering lips slowly curved up between the shallow breaths to form a smile. She cradled his head, continuing to plead for him.

  “Please don’t leave me … not again,” she said.

  It took every bit of strength he had left for York to pull himself on to the roof. He emerged to see Bohden with his attention elsewhere, and Michael in the open. The rising orange sun peeked over the dark ocean behind him. With the handle of the pistol, he struck Bohden in the back of the head, causing him to fall to the ground. He gritted his teeth, blood running down his face and into his beard. He raised a Tec 9 at Michael, struggling to keep the front sight on him. He shook as he aimed in at his own soon to be father. Every bit of hatred, every bit of guilt, would all be wiped clean by this man’s death. He would erase himself and his mistakes from existence. His final mission was about to end.

  He had spent his entire life honing his knack for survival. Developing a sense of awareness and focus that would keep him alive in the most unpredictable situations. Yet his attention was stolen away by something off the side. A sight that he had daydreamed about many times during the lulls in focus. Perhaps that was why it had distracted him, being that it had been but a mere fantasy for so many years. Holding the weapon up at Michael, with his head turned to the side, he watched as Kara cradled a dying Todd York. Kara closed her eyes, leaving Todd in want of the sight of them before he perished. Yet all the pain in his body and soul was briefly vanquished when her soft lips met his. He felt a warmth overcome him, and with the strength he had left
, wrapped his arm around her. She pulled away, tears still streaming down her cheeks.

  York felt something inside him. Something that if given a lifetime he could not comprehend or explain. It was in that moment of heartbreak and a flurry of emotions that an entire lifetime of mistakes could be made right. With just one decisive action in the midst of his confusion, he knew he would find his redemption this day, but not in the way he had originally intended. With tears in his eyes, he turned to see Bohden rising to his feet, raising his pistol at the wounded Todd York.

  “Move, Kara!” he yelled, swaying back and forth from the recent blow, leveling his sights on Todd.

  Kara turned to see York standing just behind Bohden. Her eyes widened. Not in surprise to see him, but in a desperate calling for help. Michael tried to grab the gun from York, who quickly delivered a blow to his jaw, knocking the gun out of his hands and over the edge. He kicked Michael back, turning to see Bohden raise the gun at him. Bohden fired, hitting York in the abdomen. York moved forward, grabbing the barrel of the pistol and orientating it towards the ground, smashing his forehead into Bohden’s nose as the same time. Bohden grunted. Stepping back, he shook his head. He seemed surprised to finally see York. They stood facing each other, the Five Seven pistol on the ground between them.

  “Todd?” Bohden said. “It’s you … the real you.”

  “I knew I should have left you to die that day,” York said. “I’ve always known you were a coward.”

  Bohden grimaced and he lunged for the weapon. York quickly kicked it away and assisted Bohden’s descent towards the ground with a throw. He grabbed him by the collar of the suit and pulled him up.