1 Disclaimer ~ I don't own the Crow; someone who isn't me does. Thought
most of the characters in this story are mine and I would appreciate it if
they are not taken without my permission.
Moonlight gave her sleeping form an angelic glow, making her paler than usual.
She no longer looked like a part of his world.
Which was true of course, he thought, she wasn't.
She murmured something unintelligible, turning away from him. He lent over her and his lips brushed her cheek. "I'm sorry, sweetheart," he whispered as he pulled away from her.
He walked out of the room and didn't look back.
* * *
Rebecca stirred in her sleep. She turned round, hands seeking the warmth of Nick's body. The other side of the bed was cold and empty. She sat up in bed suddenly wide-awake and stared at his side of the bed, wondering if he was in the bathroom or the lounge, but she knew it wasn't true.
Hesitantly, she called out his name but receiving no answer made the fear curling icy tendrils around her body now take firm root. It spread with each passing second. She knew where he had gone.
She hoped she had enough time to stop him.
Nick entered the warehouse, his footsteps making a hollow echo through the building. He could hear other voices, raised in argument and he moved towards them. There was a set of offices through the back. They were in better repair than the rest of the building and considerably warmer too. That's where he found them. Ace and Rick were leaning across the table, almost screaming at each other.
"Now children, play nice or it's a time out for both of you," Nick interjected, his smooth voice seemingly filling the room and settling there. "Marco, you wanna telling me what the fuck is going on?" he addressed a taller man standing silently in the shadows.
Marco pushed himself up from the wall, the movement slow and lazy. "There's a girl in the other office, boss."
Nick glared at Rick, "I thought I told you to stop bringing girls here, Rick. This is no place for them to play." Nick's voice never rose but his anger was apparent in each syllable.
"She ain't one of Rick's," Marco interrupted. "She saw us on a job. We brung her here to...take care of the problem."
"So what's the issue? Why haven't you done it already?"
"Well, Rick just wants to put a bullet in her brain, but Ace...has some other ideas."
Nick passed a hand over his eyes, "You mean Ace wants to fuck her ? So what's the problem ? He's never asked permission before."
Marco smiled, "That's true, boss." Ace was grinning like a kid at Christmas.
"Look, both of you take her outside. As long as she ends up dead I really don't give a shit about how you boys get your kicks." Nick sighed. "Just don't get caught."
They both left. Ace practically skipping and Rick muttering under his breath. He stopped when he saw the looks he was getting from Nick.
Turning to Marco he said, "Honestly, those two are so fucking brainless I don't know what I don't just put them out of my misery. Let's talk business."
Marco nodded. "They're releasing Mike tomorrow afternoon."
"How did he swing that one?"
"Off on a legal technicality. His lawyers discovered that the police didn't have a warrant when they searched his house. A fact which they managed to keep from the entire proceeding."
Nick smiled grimly. "Good."
* * *
Rebecca stood in the shadow of the car park. The warehouse looked deserted but she knew it wasn't, somehow she could feel that there were people inside.
"Shit! Nick, you promised me you were done!" she whispered angrily against the wind. She shivered and rubbed her arms vigorously, trying to get warm.
So what now, she wondered. Should she go in, demand he leave? She wasn't even sure how many where in there, but she knew what they were capable of. She should turn around right now, walk away and give him hell in the morning but she stood where she was, frozen in place.
She heard a girl scream close by, the sound tearing through her. The girl's screams got louder and shriller. Rebecca was frozen, unable to act.
"God, no, p...please don't!"
Those words dragged her into action and she moved forward, stumbling a little as she moved towards the sound. At the same moment two men emerged from the side of the warehouse, dragging the still screaming girl between them as she struggled to get free. Her clothes were torn and she had no shoes. Blood poured from her nose and one eye was black and swollen.
The men dropped her and she fell to her knees. She struggled to stand but one of the men pushed her back down again as the taller of the two drew a gun. The woman saw it and began to whimper.
"Please! I won't tell anyone...I swear that I won't! Please just let me go...please..." her words trailed off at the end as wracking sobs jerked through her body.
For Rebecca everything slowed down. It seemed like it took an eternity for the man to pull the trigger. An eternity in which to act. An eternity to know she was as helpless as the other woman. She felt she could see the bullet leave the barrel of the gun, could see the ripples it made in the air as it passed, like she could reach out a hand to catch it and stop what was happening. It seemed like centuries passed before the woman's body hit the ground, before the men noticed that Rebecca was screaming.
"Oh shit!" Rick cried out, "Ace, fucking grab her and get her to shut the fuck up!"
Ace moved to obey the older man's order, ran towards her and Rebecca was dragged sharply back to reality where time moved the way it was supposed to.
She turned and ran.
Fast though she was she could hear the man gaining on her. If I can just make it to the car, her mind screamed.
Just make it to the car!
The weight of his body knocked her to the ground and knocked the wind out of her. Tears sprang to her eyes, blinding her. His weight rolled off her and she curled into a ball, trying desperately to breathe. She was able to utter one word.
"Nick..."
Rick approached and raised his gun. Ace grabbed his arm.
"Fuck off! You already did one tonight, no fucking way are you doing her as well!" Rick screamed.
"It's not that. I think she knows Nick."
"Shit! We better get her inside then. See what he says."
Between them they carried her to the warehouse.
* * *
Nick was aware of the door opening. "Well it's about fucking time!" he called out before becoming aware that they were carrying a struggling body between them. "Shit guys! I told you to kill her! Last time I checked dead bodies did not fucking move!"
"She ain't dead," Ace supplied.
"I can see that!"
"Different girl," Rick continued, "She said your name. We think she knows you." They dropped her unceremoniously on a battered grey couch that sat in one corner of the room. Nick moved closer.
"Rebecca," he whispered.
"You know her, boss?" asked Ace. Rebecca stood shakily. She slapped him hard. Rick punched her and knocked her to the ground. Tasting blood she knew he had split her lip. She raised her eyes to Nick's.
"Boss? That's not the version I got!"
Nick pulled her to her feet and forced her to sit on the couch. "Well, sweetheart, I couldn't exactly tell you the truth."
A knowing smile spread across Ace's lips. "Pretty little bed warmer she is boss. Congratulations."
Rebecca glared at him. "I'm nobody's bed warmer !"
"Careful girl," Marco warned, "Ace has a soft spot for women with a temper, willing or not."
Rebecca's face paled. She pushed some dark hair out of her eyes and turned her attention back to Nick. "What the fuck is going on?" she whispered. "Where's the orphan boy who had no choice? Where's the man that swore to me he was done with this?"
Nick didn't answer her. She pressed her face to her hands. Composing herself for a few moments. She'd be damned if she cried in front of these people. Ace sat beside her on the couch and stroked her hair. She pulled sharply away, slapping his hand in the process. He raised a hand as if he meant to strike her.
"Don't!" Nick's voice cut through the air.
"Did you order that woman's death?"
The question hung in the air until Nick nodded in answer.
"You fucking bastard!" She stood and tried to leave but Nick caught her arm, holding her in place.
"I can't let you leave Becca."
"W-w-what?"
"You saw too much. You should have stayed in bed."
"I don't understand!"
"I know you, hon, as much as you love me, you'll go to the police if I let you walk out that door." He raised his hand and cupped the side of her face, forcing her eyes to meet his. "And as much as I love you, I can't let you fuck this up for me."
His hand fell from her face and she tried to jerk from his grasp but he was stronger than she was and before she could do anything else Marco was holding her from behind. Nick moved closer to her and he crushed his lips against her own, bruising them. She bit him and he pulled back, slapping her once across the face.
The barrel of the gun pressed tight against her stomach.
Fear tightened around her, choking her. He shot the bullet up into her, her eyes widening with shock and pain. It tore through her body, ripping through her lungs and grazing her heart. She felt blood pour into her lungs, a desperate need for air and a warm stickiness swelled up inside her, filling her mouth and gushing over her lips.
She fell forward, tumbling out of life, but he grabbed her on the way, holding her up to look in her eyes as they dulled and fixed on something he could not see.
She was gone. He opened his arms, and she fell away. He looked down at her, regretting her loss but it had been a necessary sacrifice. He had worked too long and hard to let one pretty face screw the whole thing up for him now. Such a pity that she had followed him, that she had to play the hero.
"Take her outside. Bury them together," he said hoarsely, turning away from her body. Ace and Rick moved to follow his orders. Lifting her body between them, they carried her from the office as Nick and Marco sat down to talk.
* * *
Rick laughed. "Well, she's certainly easier to carry when she doesn't struggle,"
They got outside and dumped her body beside the other girl then went back to retrieve a pair of shovels. They were used to digging shallow graves, making the hole just deep enough to enable them to cover the two women. Dragging the bodies across the ground, they pushed them with their feet into the hole. One on top of the other.
Ace grinned. "Kinky, huh ?"
"Shut it !" growled Rick, blowing into his hand. "Its fucking freezing out here. Let's get them covered."
Ace nodded, throwing a shovel of dirt on the women's hair. At least they weren't looking at him. Dead eyes gave him the creeps. He kept shovelling and Rick joined in. It didn't take long to fill the grave. It never did.
* * *
"So everything's ready for tomorrow?" Nick asked Marco as they entered.
Marco nodded. "The car will pick Mike up at four."
"It's finally all coming together," Nick stated with a satisfied smile. "I thought the whole
thing was screwed when Mike got himself put away."
"The others will arrive tomorrow and the everything can be set in motion." Marco stated.
Nick didn't reply.
"You listening to me ?"
"What ?" He shook his head. "Did you hear something ?"
Marco shrugged. "What are you ? Scared of birds all of a sudden ?"
"No," Nick said, his voice barely a whisper.
* * *
Outside it began to rain and a huge black shape settled on top of a broken fence and
waited…..
Moonlight gave her sleeping form an angelic glow, making her paler than usual.
She no longer looked like a part of his world.
Which was true of course, he thought, she wasn't.
She murmured something unintelligible, turning away from him. He lent over her and his lips brushed her cheek. "I'm sorry, sweetheart," he whispered as he pulled away from her.
He walked out of the room and didn't look back.
* * *
Rebecca stirred in her sleep. She turned round, hands seeking the warmth of Nick's body. The other side of the bed was cold and empty. She sat up in bed suddenly wide-awake and stared at his side of the bed, wondering if he was in the bathroom or the lounge, but she knew it wasn't true.
Hesitantly, she called out his name but receiving no answer made the fear curling icy tendrils around her body now take firm root. It spread with each passing second. She knew where he had gone.
She hoped she had enough time to stop him.
Nick entered the warehouse, his footsteps making a hollow echo through the building. He could hear other voices, raised in argument and he moved towards them. There was a set of offices through the back. They were in better repair than the rest of the building and considerably warmer too. That's where he found them. Ace and Rick were leaning across the table, almost screaming at each other.
"Now children, play nice or it's a time out for both of you," Nick interjected, his smooth voice seemingly filling the room and settling there. "Marco, you wanna telling me what the fuck is going on?" he addressed a taller man standing silently in the shadows.
Marco pushed himself up from the wall, the movement slow and lazy. "There's a girl in the other office, boss."
Nick glared at Rick, "I thought I told you to stop bringing girls here, Rick. This is no place for them to play." Nick's voice never rose but his anger was apparent in each syllable.
"She ain't one of Rick's," Marco interrupted. "She saw us on a job. We brung her here to...take care of the problem."
"So what's the issue? Why haven't you done it already?"
"Well, Rick just wants to put a bullet in her brain, but Ace...has some other ideas."
Nick passed a hand over his eyes, "You mean Ace wants to fuck her ? So what's the problem ? He's never asked permission before."
Marco smiled, "That's true, boss." Ace was grinning like a kid at Christmas.
"Look, both of you take her outside. As long as she ends up dead I really don't give a shit about how you boys get your kicks." Nick sighed. "Just don't get caught."
They both left. Ace practically skipping and Rick muttering under his breath. He stopped when he saw the looks he was getting from Nick.
Turning to Marco he said, "Honestly, those two are so fucking brainless I don't know what I don't just put them out of my misery. Let's talk business."
Marco nodded. "They're releasing Mike tomorrow afternoon."
"How did he swing that one?"
"Off on a legal technicality. His lawyers discovered that the police didn't have a warrant when they searched his house. A fact which they managed to keep from the entire proceeding."
Nick smiled grimly. "Good."
* * *
Rebecca stood in the shadow of the car park. The warehouse looked deserted but she knew it wasn't, somehow she could feel that there were people inside.
"Shit! Nick, you promised me you were done!" she whispered angrily against the wind. She shivered and rubbed her arms vigorously, trying to get warm.
So what now, she wondered. Should she go in, demand he leave? She wasn't even sure how many where in there, but she knew what they were capable of. She should turn around right now, walk away and give him hell in the morning but she stood where she was, frozen in place.
She heard a girl scream close by, the sound tearing through her. The girl's screams got louder and shriller. Rebecca was frozen, unable to act.
"God, no, p...please don't!"
Those words dragged her into action and she moved forward, stumbling a little as she moved towards the sound. At the same moment two men emerged from the side of the warehouse, dragging the still screaming girl between them as she struggled to get free. Her clothes were torn and she had no shoes. Blood poured from her nose and one eye was black and swollen.
The men dropped her and she fell to her knees. She struggled to stand but one of the men pushed her back down again as the taller of the two drew a gun. The woman saw it and began to whimper.
"Please! I won't tell anyone...I swear that I won't! Please just let me go...please..." her words trailed off at the end as wracking sobs jerked through her body.
For Rebecca everything slowed down. It seemed like it took an eternity for the man to pull the trigger. An eternity in which to act. An eternity to know she was as helpless as the other woman. She felt she could see the bullet leave the barrel of the gun, could see the ripples it made in the air as it passed, like she could reach out a hand to catch it and stop what was happening. It seemed like centuries passed before the woman's body hit the ground, before the men noticed that Rebecca was screaming.
"Oh shit!" Rick cried out, "Ace, fucking grab her and get her to shut the fuck up!"
Ace moved to obey the older man's order, ran towards her and Rebecca was dragged sharply back to reality where time moved the way it was supposed to.
She turned and ran.
Fast though she was she could hear the man gaining on her. If I can just make it to the car, her mind screamed.
Just make it to the car!
The weight of his body knocked her to the ground and knocked the wind out of her. Tears sprang to her eyes, blinding her. His weight rolled off her and she curled into a ball, trying desperately to breathe. She was able to utter one word.
"Nick..."
Rick approached and raised his gun. Ace grabbed his arm.
"Fuck off! You already did one tonight, no fucking way are you doing her as well!" Rick screamed.
"It's not that. I think she knows Nick."
"Shit! We better get her inside then. See what he says."
Between them they carried her to the warehouse.
* * *
Nick was aware of the door opening. "Well it's about fucking time!" he called out before becoming aware that they were carrying a struggling body between them. "Shit guys! I told you to kill her! Last time I checked dead bodies did not fucking move!"
"She ain't dead," Ace supplied.
"I can see that!"
"Different girl," Rick continued, "She said your name. We think she knows you." They dropped her unceremoniously on a battered grey couch that sat in one corner of the room. Nick moved closer.
"Rebecca," he whispered.
"You know her, boss?" asked Ace. Rebecca stood shakily. She slapped him hard. Rick punched her and knocked her to the ground. Tasting blood she knew he had split her lip. She raised her eyes to Nick's.
"Boss? That's not the version I got!"
Nick pulled her to her feet and forced her to sit on the couch. "Well, sweetheart, I couldn't exactly tell you the truth."
A knowing smile spread across Ace's lips. "Pretty little bed warmer she is boss. Congratulations."
Rebecca glared at him. "I'm nobody's bed warmer !"
"Careful girl," Marco warned, "Ace has a soft spot for women with a temper, willing or not."
Rebecca's face paled. She pushed some dark hair out of her eyes and turned her attention back to Nick. "What the fuck is going on?" she whispered. "Where's the orphan boy who had no choice? Where's the man that swore to me he was done with this?"
Nick didn't answer her. She pressed her face to her hands. Composing herself for a few moments. She'd be damned if she cried in front of these people. Ace sat beside her on the couch and stroked her hair. She pulled sharply away, slapping his hand in the process. He raised a hand as if he meant to strike her.
"Don't!" Nick's voice cut through the air.
"Did you order that woman's death?"
The question hung in the air until Nick nodded in answer.
"You fucking bastard!" She stood and tried to leave but Nick caught her arm, holding her in place.
"I can't let you leave Becca."
"W-w-what?"
"You saw too much. You should have stayed in bed."
"I don't understand!"
"I know you, hon, as much as you love me, you'll go to the police if I let you walk out that door." He raised his hand and cupped the side of her face, forcing her eyes to meet his. "And as much as I love you, I can't let you fuck this up for me."
His hand fell from her face and she tried to jerk from his grasp but he was stronger than she was and before she could do anything else Marco was holding her from behind. Nick moved closer to her and he crushed his lips against her own, bruising them. She bit him and he pulled back, slapping her once across the face.
The barrel of the gun pressed tight against her stomach.
Fear tightened around her, choking her. He shot the bullet up into her, her eyes widening with shock and pain. It tore through her body, ripping through her lungs and grazing her heart. She felt blood pour into her lungs, a desperate need for air and a warm stickiness swelled up inside her, filling her mouth and gushing over her lips.
She fell forward, tumbling out of life, but he grabbed her on the way, holding her up to look in her eyes as they dulled and fixed on something he could not see.
She was gone. He opened his arms, and she fell away. He looked down at her, regretting her loss but it had been a necessary sacrifice. He had worked too long and hard to let one pretty face screw the whole thing up for him now. Such a pity that she had followed him, that she had to play the hero.
"Take her outside. Bury them together," he said hoarsely, turning away from her body. Ace and Rick moved to follow his orders. Lifting her body between them, they carried her from the office as Nick and Marco sat down to talk.
* * *
Rick laughed. "Well, she's certainly easier to carry when she doesn't struggle,"
They got outside and dumped her body beside the other girl then went back to retrieve a pair of shovels. They were used to digging shallow graves, making the hole just deep enough to enable them to cover the two women. Dragging the bodies across the ground, they pushed them with their feet into the hole. One on top of the other.
Ace grinned. "Kinky, huh ?"
"Shut it !" growled Rick, blowing into his hand. "Its fucking freezing out here. Let's get them covered."
Ace nodded, throwing a shovel of dirt on the women's hair. At least they weren't looking at him. Dead eyes gave him the creeps. He kept shovelling and Rick joined in. It didn't take long to fill the grave. It never did.
* * *
"So everything's ready for tomorrow?" Nick asked Marco as they entered.
Marco nodded. "The car will pick Mike up at four."
"It's finally all coming together," Nick stated with a satisfied smile. "I thought the whole
thing was screwed when Mike got himself put away."
"The others will arrive tomorrow and the everything can be set in motion." Marco stated.
Nick didn't reply.
"You listening to me ?"
"What ?" He shook his head. "Did you hear something ?"
Marco shrugged. "What are you ? Scared of birds all of a sudden ?"
"No," Nick said, his voice barely a whisper.
* * *
Outside it began to rain and a huge black shape settled on top of a broken fence and
waited…..