Chapter Eight
Scott answered his cell phone as he turned away from Lu. He peered out into the forest that lay under the balcony and the stars that stood high above.
"Yeah? It's a go?" he asked.
Lu could hear mumbling coming from the phone, but it was to low to understand. As Scott listened to his phone, still glaring out into the distance, Lu noticed a low deep humming sound.
"Jonas?" she asked.
"Hold on a sec," he put the phone away from his ear, "What is it?"
"Do you hear that?"
Scott put the phone down to his side and listened. After a few seconds of silence the low humming sound made it into his ear.
"Yeah, what is that?"
He turned behind him. Suddenly the low humming stopped, a few seconds of silence followed. A high pitched squeal began to emerge from somewhere. Both of them covered their ears in pain. Scott opened up one eye, the other shut tight in pain.
"What the fuck is going on?" he turned to Lu, she was huddled over, hands clasped to her ears.
The high pitched sound ended, followed by a series of explosions. Scott fell backwards as the ground shook beneath him. He could already smell the smoke from the fire.
Quickly he grabbed the phone that had landed a few feet from him, "Charlie? Charlie, are you there?"
There was a moment of silence.
"Charlie?"
After a few more seconds Charlie responded.
"What's going on? There weren't supposed to be any fireworks."
Peoples screaming drowned out the mumble sound from the phone.
"I see, well, wish us luck."
Scott snapped the phone close and got up. He grabbed Lu by the hand and helped her up as well.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"Seems we ain't the only people that got word of this mission, there are others that want the bounty too, and they already got the place secured," as Scott spoke he pulled out his gun from the opposite inside pocket of his coat, and loaded it, "From here on out it is a timed mission to who can get the old fart first. Let's get a move on."
Scott took out an extra gun and tossed it to Lu.
"It's already loaded," he said, "You just have to turn off the safety."
"I can't do this. I can't shoot anyone," she held the gun out away from herself.
"Listen to me! Listen very closely! These people here want this man at all costs. They won't hesitate or even think about killing you. They will just drop you dead where you stand. Do you understand me? It's too late to turn back. You made your choice when you followed me here. Now, let's go!"
Lu grabbed the gun, "Okay," she flipped the safety off, and made sure it was cocked.
They ran quickly back inside. Lu hadn't even noticed how cold it was outside on the balcony until she returned into the ballroom. All the people had taken cover, some running towards the exits. Scott was surprised to see that Lathon had disappeared. Some Captain, to afraid to help out people. He must have just ran for the door the second the explosions hit.
They continued running, Lu had difficulty keeping up in her heels. She quickly flicked them aside and ran over broken glass wood so that she could keep up with Scott. He was too blinded by adrenalin to think about her at this moment. They reached the first room where they had first entered. Half of it had caught on fire, and it had blocked many doors.
"We're in luck," Scott coughed out, "The door we want is over there."
The door he pointed to wasn't on fire, but the path to it was. He looked behind himself and saw Lu on her knees in pain. Her feet were to cut up and bruised to keep up with him, let alone go through fire.
Scott quickly grabbed her and picked her up in his arms. He ripped off the annoying bowtie he was wearing and broke the top button of his butterfly shirt. Before Lu was sure what was happening he was sprinting up the small stair case to the room they wanted. She closed her eyes in fear as they became engulfed in flames.
Before she could have thoughts of doubt they were already out of the flames and into the next room. Scott continued to sprint down the hallway, all the way to the door that lay just a few ten meters from him.
When he reached the door he leaned back quickly as he raised his right leg and smashed the door down. A man was in the middle of the room with his hands wrapped around his head, squatting on the ground. Scott hadn't even noticed that through all his running, explosions of the manner were still going off.
"You Darthon?" he asked.
The man looked up. He had short gray hair and a clean shaven face. His eyes seemed to be black, dulled with age. He wore a dark brown tuxedo and dark brown dress shoes.
"Please don't hurt me!" he cried as he wrapped his hands around his head again.
"Shut up old man! I'm not going to hurt you as long as you do what I say," Scott advanced into the room.
When he finally noticed that he still was holding Lu in his arms he quickly set her on the ground. She sat down with legs out, her whole body positioned a little to the right so that she could keep her feet from actually touching the ground.
"Stay there," Scott ordered.
She obeyed without a sound, and Scott advanced toward the man. He stopped when he was just in a few inches from Darthon.
"Get up," he ordered clearly.
Darthon did not move. He continued to hold his head and sob.
"You fucking old faggot, I said 'get up!'" Scott grabbed him by the collar and forced him up.
He fought a little then gave up and acted like dead weight. Finally he stood in front of Scott, both looking into each others eyes. Darthon stopped shaking. His eyes opened wide, his eye brows raised up high, and his jaw dropped.
"You, it's you," he put his hand on Scott's face.
Scott was taken over by surprise; he didn't even think to slap Darthon's hand away from him.
"Is this my punishment?" he asked Scott, "Is this my punishment for being a doctor and a scientist? I didn't mean to, I was ordered to, please don't kill me. Please don't kill me!" Darthon closed his eyes and tears poured from the corners.
Scott came to his senses, "What do you mean punishment? For what?"
"They made me do it, you see. They made me do it. Why did they make me do it? I didn't want to do it. If I could only take it back. Why can't I take it back?" Darthon was yelling frantically at Scott.
Scott grabbed his shoulders. He could sense the fire slowly closing in and that time was running out, "Come with me old man, we don't have much time," he shook up to try to snap him out of his confusion.
"I can't," he responded, "This is my punishment. This is my redemption."
Darthon fell to the floor and seemed to accept burning death. After a few seconds Scott sighed loudly and pulled out his gun. He put the barrel on Darthon's forehead and put his finger gently on the trigger. Lu's eyes got wide; she knew Scott wouldn't hesitate killing anyone.
"I'm sorry old man. I've run out of time and if you won't come back with me alive then you're going to have to come back dead."
He slowly began squeezing the trigger, hoping that Darthon would react.
"It's okay," he belted out with tears, "It's my punishment. If it should be by anyone, it should be by you."
Curiosity was rising in Scott. What did he mean by punishment? Why was it tied with Scott? He had never seen this man before, but this man seemed to have known him for a long time. Scott wanted to know badly, but wanted to still be alive and rich. He began squeezing the trigger again.
Before he could completely pull the trigger a loud shot came from behind him. Scott could feel a bullet graze his right arm, shortly paralyzing it. Without a thought he jumped behind the desk right next to them. His arm hurt awkwardly for such a small graze and he grabbed onto it with force as the blood pored onto his coat.
"I'm sorry Jonas, if that's even your real name, but I cannot let you do that," that voice, he had heard it before, it was Lathon, "I see we were really after the same goal. Such a pity, are you two even married?"
Scott gasped; he left Lu right next to that guy. He rose up to his feet with, gun grasped in his left hand, pointed straight at the door. It was Lathon; he was standing next to Lu facing towards Scott, but with his left hand towards her. His gun was resting on her forehead, the same as he was just doing to Darthon. Lu could feel the cool sensation from the barrel, but she couldn't react to it. Shock and blood loss had started to affect her greatly.
Sweat poured down Scott's face. He couldn't shoot Lathon, Lu would surely die. Darthon had passed out in the middle of all this commotion, tears still raining from his eyes.
Lathon laughed, "I'm just kidding my dear boy. I would never hurt an unarmed person, especially a woman. It would be a pity if she was married to you though, such beauty," he removed his gun from her forehead and Lu fell over.
Lathon quickly pointed it straight ahead at Scott.
"What a pickle we are in." Lathon stated, "I'm sure you know how to use your weapon, as so do I."
His smile made it seem as though he deeply was enjoying the whole moment, like a relaxing conversation.
"I knew you two were fake from the start, but hey, so was I. Before we end this, what is your real name?" he ran his free right hand through his hair.
"Scott Kitman. What's yours?"
After a few seconds Lathon realized that he asked him his real name, "Mine? It's really Degery Lathon."
"That's not very original," Scott smiled.
"Yeah, I know, but I could also be lying to you as well," he smiled back.
"I know, but there is no sense in lying. There is nothing to fear once this is over; only one of us will survive."
"That is true, you're very smart Scott."
Scott could feel the heat rising, the fire was very close. Time was out; if he wasted anymore time he wouldn't have enough to figure out a way to get Lu and Darthon to safety. The thought of dieing by Lathon never once crossed his mind.
"Let's stop all of this ridiculous talking," Scott tightened the grip of his gun, "We are both mercenaries."
"Oh? I suppose you are correct there. This talking is quite absurd," Lathon kept the smile on his face and tightened the grip on his magnum as well.
Both stood still, not a single movement or fidget for what seemed like ages. A crystal ball from the desk began to roll at the small vibration of an explosion from the opposite side of the manner. When it hit the ground and shattered, both guns fired off at the same time. Lu opened her eyes at the loud explosion of gun powder. Her vision was blurry for a second but she could see someone standing above her.
He was gripping his right arm tightly and began to bend down towards her. She could feel the fear rising and closed her eyes tight.
"Are you okay Lu?" it was Scott's voice.
Lu's eyes snapped open and she looked above to him, "Yeah," she responded.
Scott turned towards the body lying on the floor. Lathon had been shot through the chest and blood gushed from the wound. Scott thought he was dead but Lathon spit up blood and tried to raise himself back up. Scott moved towards him and bent down.
"What is it?" Scott asked.
"It's nothing," Lathon's words were soft, "Do you really believe me to be a mercenary?"
"Well, yeah, why would you be here otherwise?"
Lathon laughed which caused a great deal of pain and ended up making him cough up more blood. Scott helped him lay back down.
Lathon looked him straight in the eyes, blood gently seeping from his, "You fool, you really don't get it do you? I guess you won't. Damn these young kids and their childish ways," he was silent for a second, "Inside my coat there is a letter in an envelope, already addressed. Do you think you could send it to my wife fore me? I bet she is wondering what her dead beat husband is doing these days. Please, don't read it, it's all that garbage you young children hate."
"Yeah, I'll mail it, rest easy pops."
Lu began to tear at the sight of the dieing man. She had never seen someone die before. She closed her drenched eyes and looked away.
Lathon smiled, "No one told me dieing hurts this much. Those who don't deserve it, yet take it on are truly gods."
With that final word he spat up blood and his body lost all tension. His head, which was in Scott's right hand, became increasingly heavy and Scott laid it gently to the ground. Without saying any words he reached into Lathon's coat pocket and grabbed the letter. It was soaked in a little of his blood, but not bad enough to ruin the inside note. He quickly stored it into his pant pocket and got up.
He looked at Lu to make sure she was still fine, then over to Darthon. Scott's breath left him, Darthon was gone. There were no signs of him escaping out the windows, and he was next to the door so there was no way Darthon could get by. Scott came to the conclusion of maybe a trap door, but the ground seemed completely one and finding it would take to much time. It was now a mission of survival.
He reached for his cell phone and pressed some buttons, a few seconds passed and he quickly said, "Darthon's room."
Scott snapped the phone and put it in his back pocket. He took off his jacket and put it around Lu's head.
"Don't take this off no matter what. You got me?" she nodded at his question, "Make sure this covers your eyes, ears, mouth, nose, the whole thing."
He picked her up the same as when he was running through the manner, and then looked over towards the window. It was fairly big so he took a deep breath and began to run towards it. He jumped and brought his legs toward his chest, ramming into the glass knees first, with full force, instantly shattering it and sending him outside. As Scott fell he aimed for trees, anything to stop him. He was in luck that a semi-large tree was just in falling distance and he tried to hit every branch down. His face and arms were cut repeatedly and his coat around Lu's face was being ripped apart. When the branches ended he fell about two meters down, smashing onto the roof of a car.
Charlie got out and they looked at each other for a moment. A giant explosion from the room which he had just fallen took both of their attentions.
"Guess that old geezer had one last surprise some where on him," Scott smiled with relief as he handed Lu to Charlie.
As they drove off into the darkness, there was no sound. Charlie didn't ask about Darthon, he knew just by instinct of deduction. Lu had passed out and was in need of medical attention. Scott had let her rest on his chest even though she wouldn't have noticed if he just shoved her off. Deep in Scott's mind he was still stuck on his quick uncomfortable conversation with Darthon. Why did someone who he had never met, act so afraid of him? So scared as to want immediate death? He closed his eyes as he rested his head on the cold glass window. The rain had begun to pour again. The sound was soothing and he lost touch of reality.