Chapter 19 - The Aftermath
Bruce stood besides Vicki listening to Intel on the operation from his ear piece. There was nothing so far but he knew better than to be fooled. The assassin was one of his pet projects in the academy and being an organizer himself he knew just how important the details were.
Vicki looked out across the city towards the park hoping Henry would be ok, knowing that out of all of them he was the most dangerous which made it ironic that they had chosen him as bait, the handsome, harmless comic book writer. Just as she began to let her guard down a low sonic boom echoed over the city, a cloud billowing in the distance from the park.
Vicki stood still for a second trying to take in what had happened before turning, sprinting for the door with Bruce at her heels.
"Target A in the vicinity of explosion all units respond." This was Bruces worst fear, the assassin would change his MO, maybe he only wanted to kill them now and it didn't matter how many others died in the process.
Vicki, Bruce and the CIA body guard were out the door in seconds.
Exiting out of the elevator and moving towards the doors Bruce grabbed Vicki's arm and swung her round to face him.
"Get back inside NOW!" yelled Bruce into her face, making a gesture to her bodyguard to haul her through the door if necessary.
Vicki allowed herself to be pulled into the back lobby before collapsing onto the ground. Bending down the guard didn't see Vicki's fist before it was too late and his head recoiled from the blow, landing on the floor moaning, barely conscious. Reaching down she yanked off the Intel ear piece and reached in for his gun checking the safety before sprinting out the door in the direction of the park. If the CIA thought they could keep her out of this their profile work up on her sucked.
People were frozen in place outside the hotel looking at the cloud billowing up on the horizon. Vicki ran to a car stopped in the middle of the street and shoved the gun into the surprised man's face as he turned from the scene of destruction, his eyes widening in fear.
"Get the Fuck out of the car now or I'll blow your head off" said Vicki gripping the gun with both hands in a shooting stance.
"Don't kill me, please don't kill me" yelled the driver opening the door and spilling onto the pavement scrambling back away from the gun.
She didn't have time to play nice right now, she needed to get to the south entrance as fast as she could. The adrenaline kept the fear at bay. Was Henry still alive?
...Henry...
Henry rolled onto his side his body a blaze of mind numbing pain, right arm broken blood seeping into the ground. People were running screaming, crawling away from scene. Looking over to his left he saw the remains of Agent Cassedy, half her face torn away one eye staring without seeing at the sky. He had experienced death centuries, sometimes being the means. After so much time life had become more precious with each decade passing, he saw from his prospective of many lifetimes just how precious life was, how fleeting.
Struggling to get up using his left arm a police officer came running over to check on the dead and dying in the park.
...Assassin...
It felt so good, much like the abstract paintings he so loved visiting in the gallery, colors splashed across the ground mixed in with flesh colored textures, bright clothing burnt around the edges. It wasn't his favorite way to kill but it was artistic and it gave him pleasure, so much pleasure to see so many broken dolls.
Walking over to enjoy his handiwork the assassin stopped dead in his tracks. He moved, the dark handsome one moved, he hadn't died. Pulse beating in excitement the assassin walked over and crouched down looking at his beautiful blood covered face, reaching out with his hand tenderly caressing his new toy...
...Vicki...
Heart pounding Vicki swerved through the traffic making her way towards the south gate and the chaos. Swearing loudly she braked in front of a line of vehicles throwing open the door and rolling out onto her feet. Adjusting the ear piece and attaching the rest of the CIA device to her belt Vicki sprinted around the mass of people running away from a burning truck smoke billowing out in the air.
Reaching the south gate without breaking stride Vicki moved into the area of greatest devastation looking desperately for Henry.
...Assassin...
He easily picked up the smaller man in his arms cradling him against his chest whispering sweet words into his ear about the masterpiece he would become. The dark one looked into his eyes trying to focus on the face before him and make sense of the words being said. He pushed his head against his chest and walked towards the police vehicle tenderly placing him in the back seat pushing him to one side and sliding in closing the door behind them...