Her Protector
Hello, my fellow readers. It is I, the great James Stryker bringing you another great chapter of Her Protector. Alright, this is the chapter where things are peaceful before some serious shit goes down. Now, somebody will die in the chapter. There will be a couple of deaths in the chapter and I'm not going to tell you who will get killed. Alright, I have like 497 reviews for this story, let's hope I could get this to 500, so let's keep reviewing this story because it is on it's final legs before I finish up Juliet's World. Last time on Her Protector, Josh and Maya had a close call with Mallory and Josh finds out about the text that Scalisi sent to Maya and he's furious. Also, Lt. Keegan finds out about Riley and Lucas' engagement. Today, Riley and Lucas visit Auggie's grave. Let's hope that nothing bad happens. So here it is, I present to you all chapter forty-eight of Her Protector. Sit back, relax and enjoy because this is the calm before the storm.
Chapter Forty-Eight
A Walk Among the Tombstones
New York City. New York Marble Cemetery. May 11th, 2030. 3:15 PM
Lucas and Riley finally arrived at New York Marble Cemetery after stopping off at Starbright Floral Design on W. 26th Street to pick up some flowers to put on Auggie's grave. With Lt. Keegan behind him, Lucas drove through the entrance and parked his car, turning it off before turning to his beautiful fiancée, who was nervously playing with her engagement ring on her finger. Riley felt her heart rate racing, this was the first time that she came to visit her little brother's grave since the funeral back in April. She couldn't face it before, but the moment has finally arrived and it was time for her to face it.
"Riley?" Lucas asked, placing his hand on top of Riley's hand. "You don't have to do this, you know?"
"I know. But I want to. It's been a while since I came to visit Auggie's grave. I guess it's that time for me to do so." Riley said. Lucas smiled at Riley and held her hand before stepping out of the car. After exiting Lucas' Ford Mustang, Lucas held Riley's hand as he walked her down the cemetery with Lt. Keegan walking behind them and watched their surroundings, making sure there's nothing fishy going on. Once they arrived at Auggie's grave, Riley and Lucas looked down at her little brother's headstone. Riley took a deep breath and laid the flower down on the grave.
"Riley, do have anything to say to Auggie?" Lucas asked.
"Hey, Auggie. It's me. Sorry that I haven't been able to come down to visit you. I guess I didn't have the heart to come down here because I have been grieving over you. Ava missed you, and so does mom, dad, Josh and Maya. I also missed you as well, you little ferret. I spoke to Ava and you're going to have a baby boy. Plus, she came up with the perfect name for your son. She's going to name him after you. Your son's name will be August Matthews, Jr. I also have some news to share with you as well. Actually, it's about me and Lucas. First up, Lucas and I are going to have a baby. That's right, I'm pregnant. You're going to have a little niece or nephew. And second, we're getting married. Lucas proposed to me on the day of my interview with 20/20. It's going to be a small wedding, not a big one. I only invited family and friends and I was thinking that the wedding would be on the rooftop of the apartment or a church. Maya insists that Lucas and I get married in a church. As for the honeymoon, Lucas and I would probably go to Paris for our honeymoon. He always wanted us to go to Paris together." Riley said, trying to stay strong. She then begin to pull something from out of her princess purse, it was her grandfather's silver boxing gloves pendant which he earned by being the second best boxer in the US Navy and gave to her father and passed them down to Auggie. "I brought you the silver boxing gloves that dad gave to you when you were seven while we were looking for Barry the Bear bear."
Lt. Keegan turned to Lucas and gave him a look. "Barry the Bear bear. What the hell is that?"
"It was Riley's childhood teddy bear that her parents gave to her when she was little. She lost her bear fourteen years ago while we were in high school. Oh, did I mention that her little brother bit the face off of her bear when they were little?" Lucas asked.
"No, you did not mention that to me." Lt. Keegan said.
"Well, he did do that, so she was carrying around a faceless teddy bear." Lucas said.
"Why the hell would a little girl walk around with a faceless bear for years?" Lt. Keegan asked.
"Here parents tried to sew the face back on until the face fell into the garbage disposal. There was one time when Riley and I were looking in her room for Barry the Bear bear. We stopped looking for it because she has me now and I agree to be her new bear. She gave me a big hug that caused me to squeak like Barry and I started singing, "I love Riley and Riley loves me." Good times." Lucas said.
"Sounds like a cute story." Lt. Keegan said as Lucas watched Riley get down on one knee and quickly kissed Auggie's headstone. Tears begin to stream down Riley's face as her emotions of grief and sadness got the better of her. Lucas walked over to Riley to try to console her.
"He was only in college. He had his whole life ahead of him. He has a child and bright future. He's gone and Ava is all alone without him in her and the baby's life. He won't be at our wedding or see the birth of our his child, all because of that monster took his life away." Riley began to cry as Lucas held her close. Lucas felt Riley's tears staining his dark green button-down shirt.
"Your brother had so much to live for. Look at me." Lucas said as he cupped the sides of Riley's with his hands and looked deeply into her brown eyes. "I can tell you this, Scalisi will pay for what he did to Auggie. Justice will be served and I will not stop until I put him away for life."
Suddenly, three men appeared from out of nowhere walked up to Riley and Lucas while they were standing in front of Auggie's grave. Keegan began to notice the three men, the man in the middle was wearing a brown leather jacket and he had black hair and hazel eyes with a bit of stubble on his face.
"Excuse me, you Lucas Friar?" The man in the middle asked.
"Yes. Do I know you?" Lucas asked as Lt. Keegan walked up to him and Riley.
"Somehow I don't think that he was about to tell you that you won the lottery." Lt. Keegan said.
"Yeah, like I'd won the lottery. What is it that you want from me?" Lucas asked.
"This is regarding you and your fiancée. Our boss has a little message for you." The man in the middle said. Riley turned to Lucas and looked at him, then looked at the three men. The three men reached into their jackets to pull out their weapons. One of the men pulled out a Mac 10, the man in the middle pulled out a P99 pistol and the third man pulled out a Skorpion machine pistol and aimed it at Lucas and Riley.
"Lucas!" Lt. Keegan exclaimed as he pulled out his .44 magnum from out of his jacket. Riley screamed as Lucas grabbed her and took cover behind Auggie's headstone. The man in the middle fired the first shot at Lucas and Riley, the bullet ricochet off of the headstone. Keegan aimed at the man in the middle, hitting him in the abdomen, then aimed his gun at the second man on the left, instantly shooting him in the neck.
"You fuck!" The third man yelled as he shot at Lt. Keegan, the bullet hit Mike in the arm. Keegan grunted in pain from the bullet hitting him as he shot the third man twice in the chest.
"Mike, are you okay?" Lucas asked as he got out from cover with Riley.
"I'm fine. Just get Riley out of here. I'll take care of Taglialucci." Lt. Keegan said as he ran up to the dead hit man's body and picked up his P99 pistol.
"No way. I am not leaving you alone so you can take care of these bastards by yourself." Lucas said. "I'm staying with you."
"Lucas, don't be a hero. You have Riley and the baby to protect. I can handle it." Lt. Keegan said.
"Lucas, listen to Mike. I don't want to lose you. I lost my brother and I lost Charlie. I'm not going to lose you as well." Riley pleaded.
"No. Forget it. This is the final time that they've gone after Riley. This ends now." Lucas said as one of Taglialucci's men run up, firing his Type 95 assault rifle at Riley. Riley screamed while staying in cover as Lucas shot the hit man in his head. "Come on, Mike. Let's go, kill these fuckers and get out of here."
Keegan gets up from off of the ground and picked up his gun as two more of Taglialucci's men come in from the left. One man was armed with a SPAS-12 and the other was armed with an MP11 sub-machine gun. Riley stayed in cover as Lucas and Keegan took down both of the shooters. One of the shooters, this time the shooter was armed with an FAD assault rifle, took cover behind the angel headstone. Lucas stayed in a crouching position while Riley is down while they took cover behind the headstones with Keegan while the hit man shot at them as the headstones begin to break because of the bullet impact.
"This cover is not going to work. We need better cover." Lucas said as he shot at the hit man. Three more men appeared from the right as one man armed with a Mac 10 shoots Keegan in the abdomen.
"Ahhhh!" Keegan screamed in pain as he fell to the ground.
"No!" Lucas shouts as he shot one of the men in the eye before trying to make his way to a wounded Keegan, who was coughing up blood.
"Go. I can't make it with you. You need to make a break for the car. I'll hold them off from here. Now go." Keegan said.
"Mike…" Lucas said.
"No. I'll be fine. Take care of Riley. My time has come now." Keegan said as Lucas turned to Riley, then looked at Mike once more.
"Good luck." Lucas said as him and Riley make a run for it while Keegan holds them off. Keegan watched as Lucas and Riley run to the car, then turned to the armed gunmen heading towards him.
"This guy's all alone! Leave Friar and the girl. Hanzo will deal with them." One of Taglialucci's goons said.
"You fucks are not going near those two!" Keegan yelled as he got out from cover and charged at Taglialucci's goons. Keegan fired off a couple of shots at the shooters, two of them were gunned down by him while the other two stayed in cover. After running out of ammo. Keegan tries to reload his weapon, but it was too late. The two armed goons, one who was armed with a Five Seven pistol and the other who was armed with a Kuda submachine gun guns down Keegan while he made his last stand after taking some hits to his body, he got down on his knees as the other shooter took one last shot to him, this time he shot him in the head, execution style. The two goons leave the area, leaving Hanzo to deal with Riley and Lucas.
Lucas held Riley's hand as they ran to Lucas' car to get away from Taglialucci's men. Lucas reached inside his pants pocket to pull out his keys to unlock the door until the car exploded right in front of him and Riley, knocking them down to the ground. Lucas held Riley close and watched as the burning fire engulfed his car.
"What the fuck?" Lucas whispered, looking around the area to see where the shot come from, noticing a man with dark hair standing by an angel headstone all dressed in black, armed with a G36C with ACOG sight and a grenade launcher attachment. Lucas sees a tattoo on the man's neck. The same tattoo he saw on one of the men that he shot in Chinatown last month, the tattoo of an eagle with the words "Audentis Fortuna Iuvat". That could only mean one thing, the shooter is a member of the New Sons of Liberty. The shooter was revealed to be Hanzo Kazama. Riley and Lucas got up from the ground and made a run for it as Hanzo shoots at them before chasing them throughout the cemetery. Hanzo fired his gun at them as Riley screamed, feeling the bullet grazed her leg. The two begin to spot a building where they could hide in.
"That building. We'll hide in the morgue." Lucas said as he looked down at Riley's leg, noticing blood on her TOPSHOP petite X-Ray butterfly tube skirt. "Oh, God."
Riley looked down at her leg and gasped after she noticed the graze wound on her leg.
"Lucas…" Riley said.
"You'll be fine. We need to go inside." Lucas said as him and Riley head inside the building. With Hanzo hot on their trail, Lucas and Riley ran down the hallway, running pass the office where the morgue worker spots them as he gets up from out of his seat and entered the morgue to stop them.
"Hey, what you doing? You're not supposed to be here." The morgue worker named Henry said.
"Sir, I am with the NYPD. There's an armed gunman chasing us and there's an officer down outside, call the cops now." Lucas said as him and Riley left the morgue. Henry the morgue worker ran into his office and picked up his phone to call the police, then looked up only to see Hanzo enter the building.
"Hey, you're not supposed to be…." Henry said as Hanzo guns him down before following Riley and Lucas. The member of the New Sons of Liberty entered the morgue, looking through every room to find Riley and Lucas, until he hears a loud slamming sound coming from down the hall. Hanzo reloads his gun while walking down the hall, making his way towards the stairs, to where it leads to a church. Hanzo looked around the room, checking the pews to see if Riley and Lucas are hiding behind them.
"I know that you two are in here. Come on out now. I won't hurt you. I just want the girl. You think that you and Riley will have a happy ending together? He won't stop. He won't stop until you are dead. He'll go after Maya and Josh. Those two will be dead, along with their little girl. You know, those two were at the park earlier. I could've taken their little girl away from them, Maya and Josh were lucky that Mallory didn't get abducted. I could've killed her. Then your parents will be next and your little brother's girlfriend and her unborn child, they'll join him. And as for your fiancé, Scalisi will have a little fun with him. He'll make you watch him torture Lucas, and slit his throat right in front of you and Scalisi will give you the same treatment as your ex-husband and make you die a slow and painful death." Hanzo said as he threatened the lives of Maya, Josh, Mallory, Cory, Topanga, Ava and Lucas. People that Riley cared about.
"Hey, asshole." Lucas said. Hanzo turns around and sees Lucas standing in front of him as Lucas gives him a hard right hook to the face, then struggled with him to get the gun from out of his hand. Hanzo opened fired at the podium and the wall while Riley hid behind cover. Lucas threw Hanzo's gun at the far side of the chapel, then pulled his gun out as Hanzo kicks it out of his hand, landing next to the podium and Riley.
Lucas take a swing at Hanzo, but misses, giving Hanzo a clear shot at the chest by roundhouse kicking him. Hanzo then trips his opponent with a leg scissor takedown. Hanzo grabs Lucas by his shirt and gives him a front elbow strike to the jaw, sending Lucas to the floor. Blood spilled out of Lucas' mouth as he looked up at Hanzo, then charged at him and threw him into one of the pews. Riley stuck her head out from out of the podium as she watch the fight that was going on. Hanzo began to kick the side of Lucas' knee to partially incapacitate him. Riley looked on in horror after hearing Lucas screaming in pain, then threw the detective down on the floor and starts beating him. Riley shut her eyes tightly, trying to ignore the sounds coming from Lucas while he's being beaten to dead. Then, something inside her snapped. A pit of anger rose throughout her body as she grabbed the gun and got out from behind the podium and aimed her weapon at Hanzo.
"STOP!" Riley screamed as Hanzo looked up at her. Riley pulled the trigger and fired at Hanzo ten times. Round after round as the bullets hit his body until she ran out of bullets, only to hear the clicking sound of an empty weapon as Lucas looked up at her.
"Riley?" Lucas asked after he got up from off of the floor.
"What have I done?" Riley asked, traumatized at the fact that she took a life. Lucas slowly walked towards Riley and takes the gun away from her. Riley began to look at Hanzo's bullet-riddled body, lying in a pool of blood.
"Don't look. Don't look." Lucas said as he held Riley and walked out of the church, making sure that she doesn't look at the body. After they left the church, Riley starts crying into Lucas as they make their way to Lt. Keegan's car. Lucas' phone started to vibrate and pulled it out, receiving a phone call from Josh.
"Josh?" Lucas asked.
"Lucas, you and Riley need to come over right away." Josh said.
"What is it?" Lucas asked.
"Scalisi threatened Maya with a text message at the park. He threatened my wife. He threatened my daughter. I want him dead. This shit needs to end now." Josh said.
"Josh, Taglialucci sent his men to kill me and Riley at the cemetery while we were visiting Auggie's grave. Mike was there with us. They killed him. He died while trying to save us." Lucas said as Josh stayed silent for a few minutes.
"Oh, God. Not Mike. I can't believe it. What about Riley? Is she okay?" Josh asked.
"I don't think she's going to be okay. She killed someone." Lucas said.
"Jesus. Get over here right away and we'll talk more. Poor Riley. I'll talk to you later." Josh said as he hung up right before Lucas starts the car up and drove out of the cemetery. A traumatized Riley sat there in shock, thinking about what she's done. Her hands started shaking and her heart started racing all because of what happened.
Ladies and Gentlemen, in the words of Martin Lawrence from Bad Boys II, "Shit just got real." And it did. Farewell to Lt. Mike Keegan, who died a hero while trying to protect Lucas and Riley. Poor Riley, she took a life for the first time while trying to save Lucas. And now she's got to live with it for the rest of her life. Next time on Her Protector, there's trouble in the homefront for Joshaya when Josh and Maya have an argument with each other until Lucas tells the two of them about what happened and about Riley. Next, Taglialucci meets his maker. Will this be the end of the Taglialucci Crime Family? Don't forget to review this story, add this to your favorites and follow it for future updates. This story is on it's final legs. I'm depending whether or not the intense climax will take place in the Rucas wedding or at Josh and Maya's apartment, in which a hostage crisis takes place. There's also the mystery man involved and another mysterious person involved in wanting Riley dead. Which one do you want the climax to take place: the Rucas wedding or at Josh and Maya's apartment? Take your pick, my friends. The choice is yours. Also, how do you think this story will end? Will it end with Rucas having a happy ending or will Riley lose the man that she loves? Oh, I had to mention the deleted Rucas moment that was in Girl Meets Bear and Rucas fans like myself were livid when they deleted that scene and Lucaya fans were being immature about it saying that they're glad that they deleted it and Smurf did too, the hypocrite! I'll see you guys next time for chapter forty-nine. Till next time, my fellow readers.
Let's Talk!
TeamCapGMWPLL: Glad that you love the new chapter. Let's hope that Josh and Maya reconcile soon. Things turned bloody at Auggie's grave and Lt. Keegan was killed and Riley killed Hanzo, which traumatized her about taking a life. Riley and Lucas will have that discussion about it in a later chapter. I'm really looking forward to Girl Meets the Great Lady of New York and Girl Meets She Don't Like Me. My favorite moment from the Girl Meets the Great Lady of New York promo would have to be the part where Maya says that she's Irish and she starts playing the bagpipes and Cory says, "No! Bagpipes are Scottish, not Irish.". I hope that you like the new chapter.
Guest #1: Don't worry, Mallory is not harmed. Sometimes when I update a story, my update schedule is every two weeks or every day.
Mr. Authentic: You'll definitely enjoy the new chapter because things will get really bloody. Thanks for the review. How do you think that the story will end? Also, can't wait to read the new chapter of Her Guardian Angel. After I'm finished with this one, I'll be working on Juliet's World next and finish it, then probably start a sequel to Juliet's World involving Juliet and her friends in high school. Keep up the awesome work.
gmwfanforlife: Well, it's not Zay and Farkle. It's somebody else. And you were right about the bad guys coming for them.
Roxy1971: Let's hope that Rucas has a happy ending and hope that nothing bad will happen to them. Hope that you enjoy the new update.
ShortyStarRose: I know. Let's hope that Joshaya reconciles before things get bad.
Boris Yeltsin: Thanks for the review. Things will get really intense when you read the new chapter.
