Fingers grabbed my hair and pulled. I snapped my hand up, grabbing the knife-bearing wrist as it descended towards my neck, and then I drove my head back, right into Turtleneck’s hip, and he stumbled. I twisted, scalp screaming, and shot to my feet, ramming the crown of my skull into his chin. We both staggered. Pain flared through my head, sending black spots across my vision, and I heard two more shots ring dully, still silenced, though I couldn’t tell where they came from.
Fletcher and I needed to get out of there, that much was clear. Never mind trying to take one of the guys in. We were outnumbered, outgunned, and these people actually wanted to kill us, not scare just us off the case. What the hell was Haruto wrapped up in? What could these violent people possibly want with a nervous book restorer?
My vision cleared to find Turtleneck ass-flat on the ground, Goon reaching for his pistol once again, and one of Fletcher’s assailants down, clutching his arm, while the other lunged at her. Fletcher caught her arm, spun the woman, and slammed her into the side of the SUV.
“Fletcher, let’s go,” I yelled as our assailants began to gather themselves again like some kind of automaton set that just kept kicking.
I lashed out at Goon’s gun, hoping to knock it away once more, but I missed, stumbled, cursed, and took off running towards Fletcher. I eyed the dumpster, desperate to reclaim my gun and embarrassed that I lost it in the first place, but a bullet bounced off the metal side, and I had to leave my weapon behind.
Fletcher was already running, but with only five metres between us, I caught up quickly, and together, we sprinted towards the far end of the street. There was no way to glance behind me without falling, but I could hear footsteps coming after us. A bullet whizzed past my head, close enough that I could hear the buzz of its passage. At the far end of the quiet, back street, I spotted cars zipping by, heedless of our peril. I could only hope these goons would call off their attack if there were witnesses around.
Fletcher and I poured on the speed. My boots were heavy and ill-suited for running, but I forced my legs to churn faster and faster, and then Fletcher and I shot out of the cobble-stoned street and into the light traffic of the larger road. A car honked at us, but we didn’t stop until we were on the far side of the pavement. There, I stopped and spun around, chest heaving.
Our four assailants skidded to a halt just inside the shadows of the building flanking the side street where they attacked us, guns hidden by their thighs. The six of us stared at each other without blinking. I swallowed heavily, wondering if they were going to make a move with a car trundling by every few seconds and the pedestrians roaming the pavement on either side of the road, wondering what we would do if they did.
But finally, Turtleneck jerked his head, and he and his cronies disappeared back into the shadows. Once they were gone, I let out a long breath and slumped against the brick wall behind me.
What exactly had we gotten ourselves into?
Ten
Fletcher called for backup as soon as our assailants were out of sight as my phone seemed to have fallen out of my pocket during one of the many times I hit the ground during the fight. My entire right side hurt, my wrist throbbed, and no doubt my entire backside was black and blue. Luckily, my duster remained unscathed even after my many falls, perks of good quality leather.
“Are you okay?” Fletcher asked once she’d hung up the phone. We were going to stay right where we were until backup arrived.
I nodded. “I’ll live. What about you?”
“I didn’t get hit by a car.”
“It seemed like you handled yourself well back there, from what I saw between my many falls.”
“I’ve been taking martial arts classes since I was yea high.” She waved her hand below her waist. “This was my first time in a real fight, though.” Her face began to glow a little bit. “It was kind of exhilarating.”
“That’s one word for it.”
Our backup arrived, two yellow and blue police cars zipping down the street with their lights blazing. Fletcher raised a hand to flag them down as I was still rather attached to the wall, and the cars skidded to a halt in front of us.
Dunnel himself climbed out of the lead vehicle, quickly followed by three other constables. He marched right up to us, all business, though I thought I could see a hint of worry in his eyes.
“What the hell happened?” he demanded.
“We got hit by a car,” I said flatly.
Dunnel glared at me and opened his mouth to gripe at me for being flippant, but Fletcher cut him off before he could.
“Haruto Sato, the man who thought someone’s been following him, called us after we finished speaking with Finn’s friends.,” she explained. “He said that white delivery van was back, so we decided to go check it out. When we spoke with the driver, he got defensive. They took off, we followed, they did hit us with a car,” I nodded vehemently in confirmation, “we got in a fight, and we, well, ran away.”
“It was more than just a fight,” I added and finally pushed myself off the wall into a mostly upright position. My entire body groaned at me in protest. “I think they were actually trying to kill us. They left us alone once there were witnesses around.”
Dunnel motioned to the constables he had in tow. “Clear the scene.”
The constables nodded and jogged off down the side street, moving carefully in case any of our assailants were still around. I started after them, walking much slower. I
