Nicole awoke to a swift kick at the back of her legs. She momentarily forget where she was, her brain foggy from sleep. Opening her eyes and seeing the decor of the room, she remembered yawning so much that Angel practically ordered her to go to bed where she fell asleep instantly last night. Angel followed her to bed, and was the one who kicked her as he moved to his side as he slept.
It was still fairly dark, only just past dawn. As Nicole couldn't sleep she turned into her back, staring at the ceiling as Angel slept on beside her, mouth open slightly. Glancing down further she realised he had fallen asleep in his boxers and t-shirt on top of the covers. She had done the same, but thrown the comforter over her. She pulled it round her tighter debating on getting up - and going where? Doing what? - versus staying put and hearing Angels steady breathing.
A few moments later a loud knock came at the door. Angel jerked awake, sitting up as his hand reached under his pillow.
"What?" He called angrily, still sleepy.
"Wake up call," the male voice on the other side chuckled and Nicole remembered it as belonging to T-Bone.
"Alright," Angel replied groggily rubbing his eye with the palm of his hand, yawning. Memories of last night pushed into his brain, one of them being that he asked T-Bone for a wake up call at 7am. He wanted to be on the road by 8am. What a stupid fucking idea that was. Stumbling sleepily out of bed Angel rubbed his eyes again declaring he needed to piss. Whilst in the bathroom, Nicole lifted the pillow he'd slept on, curious as to what he was reaching for. She gasped when she saw a gun.
Once ready for the day, they headed to the main bar area which was practically deserted at this time in the morning, thus seemed much larger than last night. T-Bone was sat with another man at one of the tables. Last night he'd looked average build but in the light of morning and sitting in an empty space, Nicole decided he was larger than he first seemed.
He caught Angels eye and motioned for him to come over with a motion of his fingers.
"Grab us a coffee?" Angel asked, placing a hand at the base of her spine gently pushing her to the small kitchenette.
Finding mugs and figuring out how the damn percolator worked led Nicole to stay in the kitchen while the guys talked. She could hear their voices and the odd word but didn't know what they actually saying. The tones she could pick up changed as their conversation went on. It started off polite then moved to short, almost snappy. Perhaps even accusatory?
as Nicole left the kitchenette area with a mug of coffee in each hand, Angel nearly bumped into her. She stopped in time sloshing some coffee over her hands.
"Put it on a to go mug, we're leaving," he told her.
Nicole retreated back and took a few mouthfuls of the hot liquid slurping it from her hands and followed Angel outside. No way was she going to spend more time looking for travel mugs.
Angel was already on his bike and helmet on. He thrust her helmet into her chest with a grumbled "Hurry up".
She wanted to ask what was wrong but didn't want to risk getting her ear chewed off so put the helmet on as quick as she could and settled herself on the back of his bike. He pulled off faster than she was used and she let out a squeak, wrapping her arms together around his slim waist. He rode fast, the scenearu normally passed at a pleasant pace that she could take it in, but now the buildings cars and land they passed was a mass blur of colours.
They stopped at a gas station that had a small diner right next door. Nicole didn't want to sit down again but at least the seat would be more cushioned than the one on the bike.
When their orders came they ate in silence. There were a group of school kids taking up most of the other seats, being loud. They got louder and as Angel stole glances towards the growing noise, it became apparent of the reason for the ruckus. Sitting in a small corner booth on his own, was an overweight kid. The others were stealing his fries, dipping it in sauce and trying to force feed him. From where he was sitting across the room Angel could see the pink and tear stained cheeks of the kid being bullied. He shouldn't get involved, it wasn't his kid but it bought back memories. Memories that he didn't want anyone else to have.
Angel stood and Nicole startled.
"Where are you going? Angel, they're just kids!" She hissed after him. She stood too, ready to run if needed when he punched some kid in the nose.
Angel was tall, especially to a bunch of pre-teenkids. He placed his ring clad hands palm down on the table. The noise emitting from the kids instantly stopped.
"Hey, pineapple top," He spoke low to a boy who had his hair shaved apart from a large tuft on the top, looking like a pineapple. The boy inhaled sharply, cowering back in his seat at the intense glare he was receiving. "Leave my friend alone, okay?"
"Your-your friend?" The little boy repeated.
"That's right, ese, my friend. And my other friends will beat the snot out of you if you do this shit again, comprende?"
The little boy nodded emphatically. Angel stood, giving the bully some room as it looked like he was out to pee his little pants. Angel picked up the bullied boys food tray. He too looked like he was going to shit himself before Angel gave him a small smile and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "C'mon, join us."
Nicole watched the interaction with interest, and slid slowly back into her seat as Angel returned with the bullied boy wiping away his tears and snot from his face with his sleeve.
"This is Charlie, Charlie this is Nicole. " Angel introduced, as the boy sat at the table with a small wave to Nicole which she reciprocated.
A little while later Angel let Charlie sit on his bike and took a picture, whilst the other kids looked on. One of the other kids asked if they could have a seat and Angel growled at him.
"That was sweet." Nicole said to him.
"Anyone would've done the same thing," Angel shrugged it off, tossing the helmet to Nicole. "Last leg." He winked at her.
The desert scenery turned into more lush greens as they neared the outskirts of the city. Streets were lined were shops, mainly boarded up with teenagers hanging around outside smoking cigarettes. Angel seemed lost - he was hesitant at stop signs as to which way to go and she was sure they'd passed the yellow painted flower shop at least twice. He eventually pulled away from the city and up a hill to an industrial warehouse to slipped away for a moment and made a call to get more of an exact location as to where they were supposed to be. The phone call didn't seem to be going too good as his voice rose and he paced quicker, arm making wide gestures.
The bikes were on them so fast neither of them had time to react before a spray of bullets hit the ground right next to Angel's feet. He dodged and ran behind a corner. Nicole ducked off to the side and hid behind a dumpster, out of sight. She had the gun Alvarez gave her but Angel didn't have anything on him. His gun was on the bike which coincidentally now had a few extra bullet holes than it did beforee.
"Spread out!" A man's voice called and Nicole remained in her crouched position and went round the back of the warehouse towards the same direction she'd last seen Angel. She came across an access ladder and jumped up to climb it to the roof. Slinking on the roof she could survey the area and saw only three men, guns drawn and looking for them. One of them was walking down the side of the building she was on top of and she saw Angel down below, watching from behind a corner as the unsuspecting asilant walked towards him. Angel grabbed the guy his arm going round his neck and held it there until Nicole saw his victim slump to the floor. She managed to catch his eye and he made a gesture to her but she wasn't sure what he meant. She shrugged her shoulders dramatically. She saw him sag his shoulders and huff before he repeated the motion.
"On the roof!" A man shouted from below and Nicole's head turned to the sound, cursing to herself that she hadn't kept herself properly hidden. She took off running and made a leap across a small gap to another building. She kept running leaping, climbing - if she wasn't being chased she would've enjoyed it. The gun's cold steel against the skin of her lower back was a constant reminder that it was there, and if she knew how to use it she would've pulled it out at the first signs of danger.
She soon became lost in the maze of warehouses on the industrial unit but on realisation shewasn't being chased she felt relieved. Catching her breath and listening for footsteps, when she heard none her relief soon turned to fear as she thought of Angel. Walking around some more she eventually came on sounds of a struggle and saw victim number two on the floor at Angel's feet, a bloodied pipe in his hand.
He wiped the sweat from his forehead and smeared blood on his face. "We gotta go," he said breathlessly.
"What about the last guy?"
"You fucking deaf? We're leaving!"
A bit put out by his comment she followed wearily behind him. Turning a corner Angel stopped abruptly holding his hands up in surrender. On instinct, Nicole did the same. Her eyes widened as she recognised the man with the gun in angel's face.
"T-Bone." Angel grimaced, clenching his jaw.
"Not here to hurt you, brother. This thing with the Cartel, it needs to end before it gets going."
"You know that's not gonna happen. It was voted-"
"I don't fucking care! I've seen this shit before. Yeah you make big money but soon after bodies start dropping. Friends, brothers, families, kids - Cartel don't care. Let's end this. Now."
T-Bones mistake was aiming his gun at Nicole, as Angel took the opening to tackle him to the ground. As the two wrestled Nicole watched on hopelessly as they rolled towards some scaffolding left over from building renovations - Nicole recognised it as she'd scaled it earlier and it didn't feel safe.
T-Bone was winning the fist fight as he had Angel on the ground landing punches to his face. Nicole looked around for a weapon and pulled the gun from her waistband. She aimed it at the two men ordering them to stop. The roles had reversed and now Angel was on top, pounding th eother man's face who was still trying to get him to stop the Cartel partnership.
Nicole's finger found the trigger, and the shot fired into the scaffold pole just above T-Bones head. Both men stopped anad looked to her in shock. She fired off another shot, the bullet more or less going in the same place as the last one and as both men's eyes were trained on her they didn't realised the scaffolding was falling - tools, wood and buckets of paint fell in slow motion from the top and in the last few seconds Angel managed to scramble out of the way, mostly.
T-Bone was pinned to the ground by a pole in his thigh, a piece of wood through his side and a paint bucket on his chest. He coughed up blood screaming in pain. Angel laid a few feet away clutching his shoulder that was in agony and trying to pull himself up and out the way. Nicole threw the gun away and helped Angel stand listening to horrible gurgling coming from T-Bone. He wouldn't make it even if they called an ambulance.
"What the fuck is wrong with you? Shooting a gun? You could've killed me! Or yourself!" Angel admonished when he had managed to stand up.
"It worked, didn't it?"
"El Diablo, it worked she says - barely! You point a gun near me again I'll chop your hands off, comprende?"
Everything went blurry as tears welled up in Nicole's eyes. She screwed her eyes shut as a tear rolled down her cheek.
"I was just trying to help!"
Angel sighed and started to apologise, Nicole's tears dissipating as she listened to his smooth voice. He started stumbling on his words, slurring slightly and then he swayed on his feet before he hit the ground.
