“I know you from somewhere.”
“We crossed paths once or twice before,” Bridge said.
Kenny squinted his eyes as he tried to remember the face. Then he got it. “You were with the agency.”
“I think it was the Ukraine when we last saw each other.”
Kenny nodded. “Yeah. That was it. You got out soon after that as I recall.”
“Yeah. Now I freelance. Work for myself.”
“It was a good move.”
It was almost like the two of them forgot the situation. They were talking like old friends that hadn’t seen each other in a while. Like they didn’t even realize there were guns being pointed, or that they had just been shooting at each other.
“Were you the mole? Is that why Gary Abbott died?”
“You shouldn’t have gotten involved in this,” Kenny answered. “Doesn’t concern you.”
“You the one who shot at me outside Bevell’s place?”
A slight grin came over Kenny’s face. “I wasn’t trying to kill you. I just wanted to give you a warning to back off.”
“It didn’t work.”
“Clearly.”
“What are you doing here?”
Kenny shrugged. “House-sitting.”
Bridge smiled, then heard something alarming. It was a high-pitched kind of voice, coming from the house. He’d heard it before. It was that unmistakable voice he could never assume was anyone other than Chris Abbott. The sounds were faint, but he eventually made them out.
“Mr. Bridge!” The next one was still faint, but Bridge could hear it fine. “Luke!”
“Where is he?” Bridge asked.
Kenny shrugged. “Search me.”
Bridge pointed to the house with his gun. “Show me. One false move and I’ll shoot either one of you, clear?”
“Got it.”
“Move.”
Kenny and Werther slowly walked into the house, with Bridge right behind them. As soon as they walked into a room, Bridge stopped them.
“Where’s Abbott and where’s the other guy?”
“I’m right here,” the other guy said, jumping out from the shadows and leveling Bridge with a right hand to the cheekbone.
Bridge stumbled back as Kenny jumped on top of him. They started wrestling on the ground, each trying to get the upper hand. Nicole then broke through the front door, figuring something was going on since there was no gunfire. She ran into the room and immediately saw what was going on. She ran right into Werther, who was standing flatfooted, and not expecting what was coming. Nicole rammed her shoulder right into Werther’s midsection, the force of the blow putting them both onto the floor, though Nicole wound up on top.
As Nicole straddled her opponent, she started throwing right and left hands alternatively, until the third man of the group rescued his partner. He grabbed Nicole by the arms and pulled her off. Nicole held her own against the man, surprising him with a few kicks. Werther got up and kicked at the back of Nicole’s legs, bringing her to her knees. The man gave Nicole a back kick of his own, landing square on her jaw and knocking her over.
At this point, Bridge was getting the upper hand on Kenny. They were having a knockdown, drag out fight, with both getting in a ton of shots that would have put down a lesser man. By now, Bridge had Kenny on the ground and was delivering blow after blow. Kenny was just about out. Bridge’s actions were interrupted, though, by the sound of Nicole’s voice. It was a mix of a groan and a scream. But it was clear enough that she was in trouble. Bridge looked over at Nicole, seeing her get hoisted over the other man’s head. Like he was a wrestler delivering a press slam, the man threw Nicole down. She landed hard on top of a coffee table, which stood up from the thump at first, then suddenly broke apart. Nicole lay there in a considerable amount of pain.
Bridge got up and charged at the man, ramming him in the stomach with his shoulder. Their momentum was stopped when the man’s back hit the wall behind him. Bridge immediately started working the man over, and was clearly getting the upper hand, and not by a little. Seeing Nicole get thrown around like that flipped a switch inside him, making him look like an MMA fighter who was going in for the kill. There was nothing that was going to stop him from taking the man down and out. Except someone coming up behind him.
A few seconds later, Werther grabbed a weapon, which turned out to be Bridge’s gun, and hit its owner in the back of the head with all of her might. Bridge went down. With Bridge laying there, seemingly out of commission, Werther ran over to Kenny to help him get back to his feet. The man that Bridge was just battling took a few seconds to get his breath back, but then came over to them as well.
“C’mon, we’ve gotta get out of here,” Werther said.
“Let’s finish them off first,” the other man said.
“No,” Kenny replied. “She’s right. We don’t have time for that. They’ve probably got help on the way already. We can’t get stuck here and worry about anything else.”
“Our bags are outside,” Werther said.
Kenny pointed to the other man. “You get our bags from out back, then head out of here.”
“Right.”
The man left, and Kenny looked at Werther. “You’re coming with me.”
“What about my car?”
“It’s compromised. Leave it.”
They started to go out the front door when Werther suddenly stopped. “Wait, what about Abbott? We need him.”
“Oh. Almost forgot about him. Get the car started. I’ll bring him out.”
Werther went to the car and waited, getting nervous about any help showing up. She kept looking at the rearview and side mirrors. She watched as the other man got in the car and took off. She then looked at the door and saw Kenny bringing Abbott out. As soon as he put their prisoner in the car, Werther thought she detected an unmarked SUV approaching.
“We gotta go! Now!”
Kenny jumped in
