February 2002 continued

I cleaned up our clothes before heading in to the bathroom for a shower. I stood under the blazing hot water, trying to come up with some way to explain the whole situation to Iniri. I could hopefully leave out the part about the threesome, but I would have to find an explanation why I picked up two strippers and was now trying to keep them safe from the mob.

I turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. I hear the click of a door opening. I turned, expecting to find one of my two new friends entering the bathroom. But the bathroom door stood open, and my two new guests were still asleep. I snapped around the corner of the bathroom, ready for a fight. I didn’t know how the assassin had followed us, but I didn’t plan on letting him fulfill his task. I lunged forward towards the new arrival.

I barely pulled my punch before it slammed in to Iniri’s cheek.

“What the hell is going on, Freedom?”

I shushed her in response, which didn’t serve to lower the look of pure anger on her face. I ushered her in to the bathroom and closed the door behind us.

“It’s a long story,” I said.

“Is that all you’ve got to say?” Iniri’s voice rose again in fury. I come here to give you a surprise wake up and I find two naked sluts in your bed… and that’s all you have to say!”

“Iniri-”

“And then-then you almost take my damn head off! What the hell, Freedom!”

“I’ll explain,” I said. “Please just keep it down to a dull roar.”

Iniri glared at me and crossed her arms. But at least she listened as I began the story. I re-tied the towel around my waist as I told her about the previous night’s events. She didn’t look any happier when she learned they were strippers, and even less happier when she found out the mob wanted them dead.

Iniri crossed her arms and tapped her feet. “And what exactly do you plan to do for them?”

“Help,” I said.

“With what... some kind of vigilante justice? The cops will be all over your ass if they see you, especially the ones on the Mafia’s pay roll.”

“Maybe, but it’s the right thing to do. Renet’s only guilty of falling for the wrong guy. I’m not going to let her die because of it.”

“You’re being an idiot, Freedom. They’ll kill you.”

“I’m sure they’ll try. I don’t plan on dying anytime soon.”

“Yeah,” she said. “It’ll be a little hard to do when they gun you down in cold blood, hun.”

“Just watch,” I said. I picked my razor up off the side of the sink. I turned my arm over to show the smooth skin on its bottom. It took me only a second to pull the blade down the length of my arm. It tore a series of painful gashes from just above my wrist to my elbow.

Iniri gasped at my self-mutilation. “Are you going crazy, Freedom?”

“Just give me a second.” I pulled up the edge of the towel around my waist and wiped the blood away from the wounds. I washed off the remainder.

Iniri gasped as she saw the clean, unscarred skin below.

“How?”

“I heal fast. Broken bones, cuts, bruises, even gunshots, I presume.” I jumped backwards, doing a three hundred sixty degree flip before landing on the side of the bathtub. “My reflexes are also way better than a normal guys. I can jump several yards, too, but you’ll have to take my word for it in here.”

“You-you’re a meta too.”

“A new one, but yeah.”

Iniri paced, trying to take it all in. “But vigilantism is still illegal in the state of New York. What happens-”

“Nothing happens,” I said. “I’m not getting caught.”

Iniri frowned at my bravado.

“Will you help me?”

Iniri remained silent for several painful seconds. “Yes, I’ll help you, as much as I can. But we’ve both got to worry about our jobs first, and we’ve only got a couple hours to get to them.”

“You head to yours,” I said. “I think I’ll pay a little visit to mine. Let’s just say I’ll tender my resignation to Vin, more or less.”

“Please don’t do anything stupid, Freedom.”

“I don’t know the meaning of the word.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of.”

*****

Nothing makes a guy feel more foolish than talking up a big showdown before having to hop on a subway for the forty minute ride to said showdown. Hey, a guy’s got to do what he’s got to do. I left the still sleeping Renet and Eriko a note telling them to stay put and took a train to my work site.

I arrived at the work site at a little after seven in the morning. The sky was clear, two clear for New York. It was also bone chillingly cold. I ignored the freezing temperatures as best as I could as I walked the final six blocks to the site. I walked right past the empty work vehicles. None of my co-workers would have arrived yet, but I knew Vin came in early most of the time. I walked right up to the small trailer he used as an office, yanked the door open, and went in.

Vin sat behind his desk at the far side of trailer, about ten feet away. The trailer contained only a small fridge and a single filing cabinet, both behind his desk. Nothing stood between us but air. Nothing to keep me from him, and nothing to protect me from the gun in his hand.

“Patton!” Vin sounded generally excited despite the weapon in his hand. It didn’t do a damn thing to lighten the mood, even when he lowered the gun to his desk. I’d never cared much for Vin, and his relationship to the apparent hit made me like him even less.

“We were really worried about you after that mess at the club,” he said. He glanced down at the gun on the desk. “Hell, I’ve been jumpy ever since. We spent an hour or so talking to the police. I told them what you did to save the girls and everything. You should really talk to the police about the whole thing. I’m sure they’ll want to hear your story, not to mention find poor Goldie before that psycho does.”

He pushed the phone across his desk, picked up the receiver, and held it out to me. I ignored it.

“Hang it up,” I said. “Please, don’t bullshit with me, Vin. I know you or someone you’re related to called a hit out on Goldie.”

“I don’t know what’s come over you, but-”

I shot forward, covering the ground between me and the desk in less than a second. I leaned over the desk and grabbed him by his collar. “I said not to bullshit me, Vin. You went to that club for a reason. Tell me the damn truth.”

Vin’s hand slid towards the gun on the desk. I didn’t need to hear the cry in the back of my head to know what he planned. I brought my hand down in a nano-second and grabbed Vin’s wrist. I twisted his arm to one side, forcing him to point the .45 in his hand at the wall.

“Now, that was really stupid, Vin.” I twisted his arm further back, right to the breaking point. “Now drop the pistol before someone gets hurt.”

He let the pistol drop out of his hand. I grabbed it before it could fall, preventing any accidental discharge.

Fury burned in Vin’s eyes. “You’re going to pay for this, you bastard. My family eats shit like you for breakfast.”

“Your family eats shit, Vin? That doesn’t sound very healthy to me.”

I let the smirk on my face fade back to grim. “Now, I suggest you tell me what I want to know, Vin.” I twisted his arm back again for added effect. He cried out in pain.

“It’s my goddamn uncle you want, Patton. I tried to keep him from calling in the hit, really. Shame to let a fine piece of ass like that go to waste.”

“I’m sure it would be,” I said. “I assume the uncle you’re referring to is Michael Santangelo.”

Vin nodded.

“Where can I find your good ol’ Uncle Mikey, Vin?”

He scoffed. “You go after my uncle and you’ll be as good as dead, Patton. He owns the damn cops, and his bodyguards would eat you alive.”

“Is that before or after their breakfast of shit, cause honestly, I don’t ant to smell their breath after that.”

“Laugh it up all you want, funny boy, but you and everyone you know will be dead by this time tomorrow.”

“I know you, Vin. Are you going to kill yourself, too?”

Vin glared at me, but another quick twist of his arm killed his look of anger.

“Just tell me what I want to know, Vin.”

“Worldwide Storage and Shipping,” he said. He rattled off the office as well. “He hangs there every afternoon, while his guys do the real work.”

“Thanks, bud,” I said. I slid Vin’s .45 in to my coat pocket. I walked around the desk, directly behind Vin, without ever releasing the grip on his arm.

I yanked the phone out of the wall and threw it across the room. I took a moment to check inside the drawers of Vin’s desk. I found a knife with a mean-looking six inch blade and another .45. I pocketed the knife and raised the gun to Vin’s temple.

“Strip,” I said. He looked confused. I gestured at his pants with the gun. He started to remove his clothes. A few seconds later he stood in nothing but his boxers.

“Now I don’t want this conversation getting out to the police. After all, I don’t think there’s any reason to get them involved. You can let Uncle Mikey know I’m stopping by tomorrow though. We’ll settle the whole issue there.”

I bundled Vin’s clothes around the phone and gave my mostly naked ex-boss a big grin

“You’re going to pay for this, Patton.”

I held the clothes in a bundle under my arm and opened the trailer door. “I’d say it was nice knowing you, Vin, but I’m trying not to lie if I can help it. I think it would be better if we didn’t meet again though.”

I stepped out of the trailer as Vin fumed in nothing but his boxers. I dumped the phone and the clothes in a dumpster on the far end of the site on my walk back to the subway station. I had quite a bit of recon work to do before I headed back home for the evening.

*****

Despite the note I had left, Renet and Eriko were still a little jumpy when I returned. The two girls nearly took my head off with a pair of frying pans as I came through the door. Only my unnaturally fast reflexes saved me from a concussion.

Eriko looked at me with an embarrassed grin. “Sorry.”

“You would have been more sorry if you’d taken me out with that thing.”

She looked down at the floor like a scolded child.

“I think I’ve got a plan to end your problems with Santangelo,” I said. “It may prove to be messy, but it’s the best shot we’ve got.”

Eriko nodded in agreement. Renet walked over to me. She took my hands in her own and looked me straight in the eyes.

“You don’t have to do this for me,” she said. “I couldn’t bare to see you die for this.”

“I’m doing it for Frank as much as I am for you, Renet. We’re get through this, I promise.”

Renet hugged me and at that very moment, Iniri stepped through the door.

“Am I interrupting?”

Eriko raised her frying pain up and charged at the new arrival. I dove in between her and Iniri.

“Calm down,” I said. “This is Iniri, my girlfriend. She’s here to help us.”

Renet and Eriko exchanged glances at the word girlfriend.

Iniri grabbed me by the shoulder, and I turned back towards her. “I don’t think I can help you, Freedom.”

“What? But Iniri-”

“It’s this Michael Santangelo, Freedom. He’s on the board of directors. It could cost me my job, my whole life.”