Title: Soldier Boys
Summary: No, you certainly don't play with a man that's got dead eyes and with John Winchester, there's nothing there.
Dougie Sharp held the flannel shirt to the wound but there was no stopping it. The blood was soaking straight through. He still held it, though. He held it until Evans stopped choking and started looking straight through him. No, ain't nothing in those eyes now.
Pops was a salesman and a gambler, a damn good one. He used to say it was the eyes that won you the game. Your eyes could lose it for you, too.
Old Marcom had brought a stranger to their poker game once and Pops had folded straight out, hadn't even tried. Dougie laughed at him when the men went off, the stranger having taken all Old Marcom's money. "Scary eyes, Pops?"
Pops expression was serious. "Dead eyes," he corrected. "You don't play with a man that's got dead eyes."
Dougie moved the shirt and let whatever was left in Evans' body trickle right out.
No, you certainly don't play with a man that's got dead eyes.
RonaldEvans popped his gum.
The stranger stiffened.
Evans began tapping a beat on the table.
The stranger clenched his jaw.
Alex Gavin looked at the floor, hiding his smile but not his shaking shoulders. Evans was a real comic. Gavin loved it. Dougie thought the guy was a damn idiot; a good guy but still a damn idiot.
Evans popped the gum again.
The stranger looked straight at him. "Soldier," he said, warningly.
Evans' chewing stopped abruptly. Gavin looked up at the stranger. He looked back down. Dougie didn't bother looking. He caught the stranger's eye when he came. No, he didn't want to look again.
Another man entered the room. Evans, Gavin, and Dougie stood at attention. The stranger narrowed his eyes. "Stryker."
"Winchester," William Stryker greeted. He smiled. Dougie repressed a shudder. Stryker didn't smile nice. "It's been a long time."
"I was gonna' make it longer."
"I remember a time when you were dying to get out in the field."
"I was stupid."
"You were young."
"It's the same damn thing," Winchester snapped.
Evans looked from one man to the other. He didn't say a word, though. He had enough brains not to interrupt Stryker.
"You agreed," Stryker pointed out. From Winchester's glare, he didn't have much of a choice. Stryker turned toward them. "Boys, meet John Winchester."
John Winchester; Johnny Boy to Evans, only in private.
Dougie let out a slightly hysterical laugh. It was tough Johnny Boy, the soldier. It was soft Johnny Boy, the man with pictures of two little boys in his pocket. It was crazy Johnny Boy, the man that was hunting all their asses down.
Johnny Boy, Johnny Boy, Johnny Boy…
The target was a male; twenty-seven years old, blue eyes, blond hair. He was an all-American boy who could blow shit up with his mind.
There was more in the file but that's all Dougie needed to know.
Winchester's voice came through the communicator. "Evans, cut him off from the back. Stay out of sight. Gavin, hold your position. Stay at the ready. Sharp, don't let the girl pass you. We're taking her in for questioning."
Dougie responded with a whispered, "Yes, sir."
The girl; twenty-two years old, brown eyes, brown hair. She was an empath. Dougie wondered why the hell she didn't know this guy was gonna' freakin blow her guts all over the room, like his last nine dates.
Dougie's hand tightened around his gun. He stayed quiet. He stayed at the ready…
POP!
…He watched the guys' brains shoot out the left side of his head.
Gavin's brains went the same way as the all-American boy. They shot right out the side of his head and splattered the wall behind him.
Dougie thought the guy had no heart. He was cold, dead-eyed Johnny. Ain't nothing stopping his trigger finger.
He was wrong.
Turned out a pretty little girl crying her eyes out would hold back John Winchester. Dougie couldn't blame him. She was a kid; dark hair, pale skin, and so damn scared. She was dangerous, though. Killed with a touch, as her boy friend and that lowlife asshole from the alley figured out.
Killer touch; talk about a bad break.
"I swear to god it was an accident," she pleaded. "I didn't know." She looked down at her gloved hands like those things were filthy. "I didn't know."
Dougie waited for the signal. Winchester wasn't giving it just yet.
You were just supposed to wait for the signal but Evans – damn idiot – always had to talk. "Sorry, kid. Kissing someone to death; that's just not normal."
And that's when Winchester shot. Put a slug right in Evan's leg. Gavin and Dougie dropped behind a low brick wall. Evans brought his gun up. Winchester moved around the side of the building. Evans started shooting.
Dougie risked putting his head up, watching Evan shoot the wall -.
-Watching that little girl take off without a look back.
Seems like momma didn't raise no fool.
Johnny boy had heart for pretty little crying girls but not smart-ass little soldier boys. No, he took them out without a problem. Gave 'em a chance to walk but they didn't know that. They didn't know that 'cause Stryker didn't tell them.
Gavin hoped that guy would die next.
The boy was flying high.
He stumbled out of the apartment, a little blonde woman hanging onto his arm. She must have knocked something on her way out because there was one loud clang from just inside the door. They both started laughing. The girl's giggle was high-pitched and, a second later, there was a pounding from the floor. They must've been real noisy.
Dougie didn't know what this one did. Stryker organized the missions now, ever since Johnny boy made a run for it. Let that little girl go. When Stryker organized, he didn't tell you a damn thing.
You just take the damn shot.
No, he didn't know why this kid was dying.
What the hell, those were his orders.
He gave the signal.
Dougie liked to believe he had pride. He was brave. No retreat. No surrender. You stiffen that upper lip. You stand strong. You were a soldier, yes, sir.
And a soldier don't beg.
But, god, he wanted to. He wanted to make it clear. "Those were Stryker's orders. I'm a soldier. I just followed my orders. I didn't know."
No, sir, John Winchester, sir, I didn't know.
He barely recognized that voice, not cold but scared. Man was worried.
"Dean!"
The boy dropped to the floor, taking that girl with him. He dropped just as Gavin shot. Dougie saw the blood shoot out. Didn't know if it was a good shot but didn't care. They ran, disappeared as good old Johnny boy pounded up the stairs.
Dougie could say the boy lived. Close call but that boy lived. It wouldn't help shit, though. It wouldn't save his ass 'cause he wasn't supposed to live and Johnny boy knew that. That shot was supposed to take away Johnny boy's boy. Ha! This was shit in a basket. He didn't know.
Dougie heard him come. He heard those big boots and he heard that gun click.
He wanted to open his mouth. Just say, I didn't know. I -.
BANG!
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