Danger Zone

By Divamercury

Enjoy Chapter 9 and please, please review!

Chapter 9

Even though I was still mad at Sara for barging in, I swallowed the sarcasm that was threatening to come out and continue to annoy Sara and said, "Well, the roots of both of these problems go back to Irons. Why not just get rid of the source?"

Ian and, to my surprise, Sara both disagreed.

"I can't say that I don't want to dispatch that limey bastard for ruining my life; I do. But now just isn't the right time. The Speakers might, and I can only say might, stop if Irons was dead so they could sink into the shadows and avoid the publicity, but with the White Bulls it's personal. They hate me and they're not afraid to show it. They won't back off. I know too much about them and they know all too well that I can bring them down. So even if we did kill Irons and get rid of the Speakers, we'd still have the White Bulls breathing down our necks."

"Should you and Ian disappear for a while, Sara?" Mac asked, speaking up for the first time.

Sara shrugged. "Tried that already. We could give it another go but I've never had that much confidence in hiding when you could actually be doing something to solve your problem."

"I think it might be best if you and I go see Will. You should meet the Associates; they're good people and they'll be able to help."

"Yep, they're pretty nice," I said.

Sara whirled and met my eyes. "You know them?"

"Yeah, Mac dragged me along. Seems like an organization working towards a good cause."

"Thanks, Gabe," she said, smiling.

* * *

I glanced over at Ian. Something wasn't right. His expression was confused and anxious.

"Something wrong?" I asked.

Ian made a gesture for quiet and came a little further into the room, positioning himself between the door and myself. Soon someone's footfalls on the tile floor were clearly audible to us.

"Well, well, if this isn't a meeting of the Sara Petzini Fan Club," an all-too-familiar voice drawled. "Where is the bitch anyway?"

Ian stiffened at this remark, ready to defend my honor, but I put a hand on his shoulder and stepped out behind from behind him. Dante, Orlinsky, and two other dirty cops that I couldn't quite recognize were darkening Gabe's doorway.

"Ah, there she is."

"What do you want?" I snarled.

"I would think it was obvious. A good friend of mine wants your head on a platterand of course that wouldn't be any skin off of my nose."

"Yeah, well, the feeling's mutual."

Suddenly, before any of us could blink, the two mystery cops grabbed Mac and Gabe, who struggled to get out of their grasp. Orlinsky deluded himself in thinking that he was good enough to cover Ian, while Dante came face to face with me.

"Your problem is with me, Dante. Those two are innocent; leave them out of it," I said, gesturing to Gabe and Mac.

"No one who's tight with you is innocent, Petzini. And what about him?" Dante asked, jerking a thumb at Ian who was winning his staring contest with Orlinsky.

"Him? I think he can take care of himself," I said, and with that Ian disarmed Orlinsky and shot the cop with his own weapon. Mac thrust a sharp elbow into her captor's gut and he fell, winded, to the floor. Dante lunged at me but I avoided his attack and watched him fly past me and hit Gabe's bed, stunning him. The Witchblade, which had been itching to show itself during the entire exchange, slid into place on my right forearm and with it I cracked Gabe's captor's skull. The four of us scrambled into the public portion of Gabe's apartment and barricaded ourselves behind some shelves.

"Hope you have insurance on some of this," Ian said to Gabe over his shoulder as a furious Dante and the recovering winded cop ran out of Gabe's room.

"Sure. I'll just say it was a home invasionand for once I wouldn't be lying on my claim," Gabe remarked.

"PETZINI!" Dante roared.

"Oops. I think we broke one of his friends," Ian whispered.

"Make that two. Remember Orlinsky," I responded at the same volume.

"We won't be having any more trouble with him."

"Petzini, you're going to pay for this!" Dante yelled, searching through the labyrinth that was Talismaniac.com for us.

Ian took two weapons out of his coat and audibly loaded one of them. Dante tried to turn towards the sound but went in the opposite direction, thinking the sound came from there.

"Sara, you get Mac and Gabe out of here. I'll take care of this problem and follow you."

"This is where we'll be," Mac said, handing him a card identical to the one that she had given me earlier. He accepted it graciously.

"Hey, hang on, wait a second. Even if you are a macho, bad-ass assassin, I'm not going to just leave you here. I can help you," I murmured.

"Sara, I would feel much better if you would leave; then I wouldn't have to worry about you. Please, for my sake?" He used his most lethal weapon: the sad puppy look.

I was helpless against that. I looked up at the ceiling, rolling my eyes. "Fine," I muttered. "I'm really going against my better judgement here but I can't stand it when you do that."

He smiled. "I'll meet up with you shortly."

I nodded and Gabriel, Mac, and I crept slowly towards the door. Ian fired a few shots at Dante and the other cop, distracting them from looking at the exit. We were able to make a dash for it, leave the apartment, and close the door before Ian was finished.

"Gabe?" I asked as we were running.

"Yeah, Chief?"

"You really need to start locking your doors."