Chapter 4: Our Boy

We came to a clearing with a few boxes and bags lying around, and we heard footsteps approaching.

"Here we go," Joel whispered as three large men came into view. Robert's goons.

"Let us through," Tess said to them.

"You guys need to turn around and head back if you know what's good for you," one answered.

"Our beef isn't with you," Tess said. "We just want Robert. You don't wanna do this"

"Turn the fuck around and leave now," the same goon said.

"I'm not going anywhere without Robert."

"Bitch," he drew a small pistol. "I will bash your skull unless you turn around and get your dumb ass outta here."

Tess paused for a moment, then said, "fuck this." She drew her gun quickly, and shot the man in the head. He collapsed with a large thud, and the two goons ran from us and hid behind some boxes opposite where we were standing. The three of us followed their lead, crouching behind some boxes that were stacked next to us. Tess had just begun a shoot out.

One of the goons called out, "I'm gonna fucking kill you," and we drew our guns.

"Maybe someday," I said to myself. "But definitely not today."

I rose to my feet, my revolver aimed at the boxes where the goons were hiding. As soon as I saw a body part, I fired. I ended up shooting one of them in the arm, giving Tess and Joel enough time to spread out, taking their own shots at the goons. They were both dead within a few minutes. None of us even had a scratch on us.

"You really are a hell of a shot, you know that?" Tess said as we reloaded our guns.

"I learned from the best," I said, snapping the cylinder back into place, keeping the gun in hand. I didn't know what we'd come across before we reached Robert, but knowing Robert, he would put several goons between him and us. Coward.

"How the hell did he get all these guys?" Joel asked, taking the bullets out of the pockets of one of the goons.

"If Robert's good at one thing, it's writing blank checks," Tess said.

We continued to the wharf, having to be hoisted over a fence, climb up a flight a stairs, then hop down to a lower level again to yet another area with scattered boxes. We heard footsteps again, but this time, we took cover behind the boxes, and peaked over the top so we could see who it was. I didn't want to start another shoot-off unless it was completely necessary. I wasn't as ruthless as Tess when it came to that kind of stuff.

"More of Robert's guys," Tess said, seeing two men approaching the area.

"Shit, I see 'em," Joel said

"How do you know they're coming," one of the men asked.

"Two of our men died trying to take Tess out," another answered. "I guarantee that she, Joel, and Kara are on their way here right now to get Robert."

"Jesus," the first one said. "We shouldn't have taken this job."

"Not our call. Let's spread out and make sure no one's creeping around in here." They began to walk around the area, away from us.

"Nice and easy, you two," Tess whispered, as she quickly but quietly went up to one of the men from behind and strangled him, lying him gently on the ground. The other man didn't even hear the commotion, and Joel and I snuck up on him. Joel grabbed him by the head, and lowered him down to my level so I could stab him in the throat with the pocket knife I had in my back pocket. We didn't have to say any words to each other; we just knew what were going to do. The three of us were a good team in that way.

Tess led us to the warehouse where Robert was supposed to be. We went through the different levels, finding supplies and killing goons as we went. It was common knowledge in our line of work that goons weren't important. Their lives didn't matter; it made no difference whether they lived or died. For our purposes, however, it was better that they were dead. When we reached one of the higher levels, we heard a few of them having a conversation, so we paused to listen.

"We consolidated the crates in the South warehouse," one said. "supplies are locked up."

"Good," the other said. "Let's do another once over and then head out. It's getting close to curfew."

"What about Robert?" a third man came out and said. "Who's he holing up with tonight? Guy's too paranoid to stay here by himself."

"Fuck if I know," said the first man. "We'll check in with the others and come up with something."

"Okay."

Joel grabbed a bottle that was nearby, and threw it in an area away from us so that the men would be distracted and go where it was. This made killing them easier. I almost felt bad about it sometimes. Almost. As we kept going up the levels of the warehouse, it became obvious that the number of goons posted on each level was increasing, making it harder to kill them quickly.

"We shoulda brought more people," Tess said.

"They'd just slow us down," Joel answered.

"Yeah," Tess said. "You're right."

"You doing okay, Kara?" Joel asked me randomly. We'd barely spoken to each other this entire time.

"Yeah," I answered. "Not a scratch on me."

"Of course she's okay, Texas," Tess said, smiling briefly at me before turning to him again. "Relax."

We came to a garage door that opened to the outside. Tess said, "the docks are this way."

"Let's do this shit," I said.

Joel helped us open the door, and once we were outside, I could smell the ocean immediately. Seagulls flew around above us, and the docks were basically nothing but dumpsters and buildings made out of rusted metal. We were standing on a platform, and it was as if the wharf was a vast kingdom below us, even though it was only about a five foot drop to it. The sun was setting, giving the entire place a reddish glow, while goons paced around the area endlessly. We crouched behind a broken off piece of what once was a concrete railing, and peeked over it to look for Robert.

Tess eventually pointed to the left, and said, "there's our boy."

I looked to where she was pointing. Three men stood standing in one spot, one of them being Robert. Although his face was rough from scarring, unlike Joel and Tess's rough demeanors, his was slightly calmer. His blond hair hung straight to just above his shoulders, and was tied back in a ponytail. His blue eyes drooped so that it looked like he was either tired or high off his ass. He finished talking to the men, then walked in the opposite direction of us.

"Pfft," Tess shook her head. "That cocky son of a bitch."

"Let's go wrap this up," Joel said, hopping over the railing onto the lower level, finding something to hide behind until it was time to strike at the goons. Tess and I followed close behind. As we waiting, I heard the whispers of the men.

"Shipment's been dry for a long time," one said.

"W we lost our contact in the North, lost our contact in the South. Shit, I don't know who's left out there," another said. I tried not to listen to them. Nothing they said mattered.

When the moment was right, we each separated from each other, making our way to the far end of the dock, where Robert headed. Trying to be as quiet as I could, and knowing that I wasn't strong enough to strangle one of the goons yet, I took to knifing them in the throat. They never even saw me coming. Stealth was one of my strong suits, along with sharp shooting.

I was the first one to reach the far end, where I was met with a door, leading into an old office building for the dock shipments. The others weren't far behind me, but I waited for them all the same.

Tess and I stood on either side of the door, our backs to the wall. Joel opened the door quickly, then ran to stand next to me. Bullets fired through the doorway, and I heard Robert's voice call out, "get back! Get the fuck back!"

"We just wanna talk, Robert," Tess called into the door, bullets still being fired.

"We ain't got fuckin' nothin' to talk about!"

"Put your gun down!" I called, peeking my head through the door, then pulling it back moments before a bullet hit where I'd had it.

"Go fuck yourself!" Robert called.

"He can't just make this easy, can he?" I asked. He obviously knew we wanted to kill him, and just as I thought he'd do, he started to stall time. We saw his gun fly through the door, and Tess screamed, "he's running!"

We rushed after him, screaming profanities at each other along the way.

"Robert!" Joel called after him.

"Screw yourself, Joel!"

He tried to slow us down by shutting the doors to the building as he went through them, but Joel bashed them in with his foot so we were never far behind him. We chased him through allies, where he through over trashcans that we just hopped over, and different buildings. We eventually caught him in an ally where he was expecting to go through gate, only it wouldn't open. He pulled at the fence desperately, while we each stood behind him. I crossed my arms.

"Hello, Robert," Tess said.

Defeated, he turned around to face us, "Tess. Joel. Kara." He began to walk toward us, "no hard feelings, right?"

"None at all," Tess said, picking up a pipe off the ground.

"Alright," Robert said before trying to run past Tess, who only knocked his legs out from under him with the pipe. He hit the ground with a thud, screaming, "Ah! Goddammit!" He didn't try to get up, and all our eyes were on him.

"That was a dumbass move, you know it?" I said, shaking my head.

Tess through the pipe on the ground again, "we missed you."

"Look," Robert said, "whatever it is you heard, it ain't true. Okay?"

"Yeah, like we fucking believe that shit," I said.

"I just wanna say–," he began.

"The guns," Tess interrupted. "You wanna tell us where the guns are?"

"Yeah, sure, but…," he panted. "It's complicated, alright?"

"Hmm," Tess looked toward Joel, who began to walk toward Robert.

"Look, alright, just hear me out on this. I gotta–," he tried to say as Joel kicked him in the face, knocking it against the ground. "Fuck."

Joel grabbed his right arm, and stretched it out so that he had a grip on both ends of it.

"Stop!" he begged. Joel paused.

"Quit your squirmin'," Tess said, as she squatted down, getting in his face, gun in hand.

I stood back. Joel and Tess normally liked to take care of these kind of things.

"Hey Kara, you want in on this?" Tess asked. She'd been letting me participate more and more as I got older. It still surprised me every time she asked, though.

"Don't mind if I do," I said, squatting down beside Tess, grazing my pocket knife gently along his neck. "I have no problem cutting your throat out if you don't cooperate." I took after Tess in the fact that I could be just as ruthless as she was even from the beginning of me coming with Joel and her on missions. Joel was often shocked at my actions, but Tess knew I had it in me. She said I had a spark.

Robert's eyes were tightly closed, blood splattered slightly on his face. He was breathing heavily as we spoke to him, no doubt afraid. Good.

"You were saying?" Tess asked him.

"I sold 'em," he said.

Tess looked up in disbelief, then back down at him, "excuse me?"

"I didn't have much of a choice. I owed someone."

"You owed us. I'd say you bet on the wrong horse."

"I just need more time," he begged. "Just…gimme a week."

"You know, I might've done that if you hadn't tried to fucking kill me."

"C'mon, it wasn't like–…"

"Who has our guns?!" I demanded, digging my knife into his neck slightly, drawing a speck of blood. He was trying to drag out time, and I wasn't going to allow that.

"I can't," he said after a long pause. The three of us looked at each other. I took my knife off his neck, but Joel firmly grabbed his arm.

"Please, just gimme a couple of days–," he began as Joel broke his arm, pulling it toward the sky. Robert cried out in agony. Joel let go of him, and he rolled over on his good arm.

"Who. Has. Our. Guns?" Tess asked again.

He paused again before saying, "it's the Fireflies. I owed the Fireflies."

"What?" I asked, my knife aimed at him. How did someone even begin to owe the Fireflies? They weren't too keen on deals. Boy did he ever fuck himself. Even with the Fireflies on one end, we were still the worse of the two. The Fireflies didn't kill those of us who were on the same side. Us, on the other hand, we didn't discriminate.

"Look they're basically all dead. We can just…just go in there, finish 'em off. We get the guns. Whadaya say?" he began nodding excitedly.

We all looked at each other once more, and stood up.

"C'mon. Fuck those Fireflies," he said. "Let's go get 'em."

Tess humored him by looking at Joel and me, then simply said, "that is a stupid idea."

She then aimed her gun at him, and shot him twice in the head.