Thanks to...
fowlfan - especially you, for typing on your ipod even though it bugs you : )
Readergirl99 - I wish you allowed PMs so I could thank you personally, but here's your thanks. THANK-YOU : )
Kida Ookami - Good guess. I will continue, enjoy.
...for the reviews. They are very much appreciated.
Anyway, more action you may be pleased to know.
A distraction.
Butler bolted towards them, but, before he could get there, two tanned and tattooed men had grabbed Artemis and Juliet, dragging them away into the night.
"Butler!" Juliet yelled again, writhing like an adder in her captors grasp. Artemis was completely still in comparison and for a horrible moment Butler thought he was unconscious, but the young genius had simply realised that struggling was more likely to get him hurt and hung, as limp as a doll, in the muscle-man's arms.
More bullets. Warning shots.
"Look out!" someone shouted.
Butler didn't care. He sprinted towards the escaping kidnappers, vaulting the police-cordon just in time to see a car roar away into city. It weaved through the late evening traffic causing many a driver to blare their horn and many a pedestrian to scream with terror.
He followed, still sprinting and even managing to keep up for a while.
A small hatchback swung out from a side street and Butler had to jump the bonnet, sliding over it and straight into the path of an oncoming bus. The vehicle swerved and only clipped his side. A normal person would have a least been thrown to the floor, but, with the adrenaline flooding his system, Butler kept going. It could be argued that the bus actually came off worse, when the young driver panicked and crashed into a lamppost, blocking both lanes and causing a three hour traffic jam.
Butler didn't know about that. He didn't look back. Kept his eyes forward and his breathing rapid, pushing his body to its, slightly blood depleted, limit.
He was running flat out for at least a mile, but, eventually, the car pulled further and further ahead until he could no longer see the blink of its tail-lights in the rest of the city glare.
He stopped and leant on a lamppost panting. Waiting for his breathing and pounding heart to pay back the oxygen debt. Cursing himself. What a waste of space. He didn't deserve the tattoo on his shoulder, or even the title of big brother.
Shut up, His rational side snarled. Enough with the self pity. Find them.
Butler looked around. A taxi rank a few hundred meters away gave him an idea.
Later, when interviewed by the police, the owner of the cab would describe the event in his statement as: "A giant bald guy came up to the car and asked me to get out. Then he dragged me through the window and threw me out when I said no." which was, more or less, what happened.
A police car would have been a better grand-theft-auto option to get people to move out of the damn way however, fortunately, most motorists will respond accordingly when you drive straight at them on the wrong side of the road beeping your horn.
Driving one handed at pushing three-figure speed Butler still didn't catch the car, but he had some idea where it was headed.
In his little chat earlier, The Major had informed his nephew that the deal had been with some Somalian Pirates over the buying of a fleet of stolen yachts. Artemis Senior had decided that the price and risk of prosecution was too great and politely declined. It would now appear that, after the damage of one of their buddies and the no-sale of a near armada of hard-to-hide stolen boats, the pirates were finding another way to convince Fowl to pay up. And they weren't going to play fair.
Butler cut the lights before he pulled up to the gates to the port, swinging the battered cab over the gravel as quietly as he could.
He trod quietly up to the high metal gates. They were chained, but the padlock was still swinging in the warm, calm air.
He prowled the perimeter, looking for a way in. It took less than twenty seconds to find one.
Using a skip full of rubbish as a platform, Butler grabbed hold of the top of the chain-link fence and, trying to avoid the coils of barbed wire, flipped himself over it, landing on his feet more lightly than should have been possible and hissing slightly at the gip he got from his arm for that particular manoeuvre. He paused a second to tighten the unfinished bandaging. Blood was already seeping through the stark white material in two dark circles, but he wouldn't even consider spending any more time dealing with himself, when Artemis and Juliet could be in danger. Or worse.
Don't think that, he told himself. Concentrate.
Sounds of a struggle cut through the quiet darkness. Pulling out his gun he edged along the side of a building towards the voices.
"Now if either of you scream, you get a slap? Got it?" one man was saying. The men holding the pair released their mouths. Juliet dutifully let out a yell that sent a couple of seagulls into the sky. There was a skin-on-skin contact sound and the screaming stopped.
Hidden in the darkness, Butler felt the rage burning through his veins. They'd hurt his baby sister.
Juliet bit her lip and refused to cry. Her cheek stung like hell, but she was a Butler.
"I said don't scream." The man hissed, grabbing a handful of her hair.
"Juliet, I think it would be for the best if we just..." Artemis began quietly.
"Silence. I did not say you could speak." The man turned to Artemis and in that instance Juliet swung back her leg, booting her holder in the shin and turned it into a lovely pole-axe kick to the gentleman's area for the man who slapped her.
"You little bitch." The man gasped in a voice half an octave higher than it had been a second ago. Unfortunately, Juliet couldn't verbally make fun of this, as the man holding her had just shifted his hand to her neck, almost choking her. The pirate in front breathed deeply for a few seconds to regain his composure, then brought back his hand.
Juliet flinched, but before he could hit her again there was a noise like an explosion. Probably because it was an explosion. The man dropped to the floor crying out in agony and holding his bleeding hand. There was a ragged-edged hole all the way through.
"Let go of the kids." Butler growled, striding from the shadows and aiming his gun at the man on the floor. "Or I shoot him. Again."
The two holding Artemis and Juliet looked worried. But not as worried as they should have been at an armed enemy seemingly appearing out of thin air. And that was when a plank of wood hit Butler on the back of the head.
Ouch. That wasn't part of the plan.
It was then he realised he didn't actually have a plan.
Unfortunately for whoever threw the lump of wood, the impact did not have the desired effect of knocking their opponent out. Skipping the 'rubbing-of-skull-and-groaning' part of this crazy script his life was becoming, Butler swung round, fired two shots in the general direction of the thrower and turned in a slow circle to look for any others. And there were others. About a dozen of them. Butler swore under his breath.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here, then?" The dark-suited Jace drawled, appearing at the top of a loading ramp like something out of an action movie. "A rescue party. How nice."
The outnumbered rescuer whipped round to face him, but stayed silent. And Jace found himself with a Butler's gun aimed squarely at his forehead for the second time that day. The difference this time was that he had the advantage.
"No, wait. Scratch the party. You're alone? Tut tut. You should know better than to waltz into a pirate den demanding what you want and shooting my crew. I don't take kindly to that, you understand."
No response. Butler was using the monologuing to look for a way out. Not much was springing to mind so far.
"I'd appreciate you pointing that pistol elsewhere Mr. Hero, and by appreciate, I mean order."
Still nothing. This was a hostage situation. He put down his gun and he had nothing to bargain with. Hopefully, he'd be able to get his shot off before one of the twelve other guns aimed at his head and chest killed him and that thought in Jace's head was the only thing keeping him alive.
"Ah the strong silent type. Or are you just thick?" The pirate captain taunted.
Still Butler kept his mouth shut, eyes flickering toward the captives every few seconds.
"Very well." Jace sighed dramatically. "I'll make it easy for you. Drop the gun or we shoot the kids."
Butler thought that process through quickly. "What's in that for you? Shoot them and you won't get a ransom."
"Ah, he speaks. Who said we'd kill them? Besides, only one of them is Fowl's kid, I just haven't worked out which yet." Jace shrugged. "Shoot one. Your choice which, Fenter."
The man named Fenter raised a gun with his remaining good hand. It wasn't a hard choice on his behalf. Barrel trained on Juliet, he went to pull the trigger.
"Alright." Butler spat, raising the gun above his head.
"Stop." Jace called and Fenter turned his weapon back on the brother of his intended victim, snorting in disgust. "Drop it and kick it."
Butler did so. Slowly. Grudgingly.
"Good boy." Jace smiled chillingly and seemed to ponder something for a second, before... "Kill him."
A dozen marksmen took aim.
"No!" Juliet yelped.
Sorry Juliet. Sorry Artemis. Butler thought, facing down death and hoping the ghost stories were real, so he could come back and scare the crap out of these idiots.
"Wait." Jace snapped his fingers suddenly. "Let's keep him. Fowl might pay extra for a bodyguard and kid package."
The pirates audibly sighed as one. They'd been looking forward to some bloodshed.
"What's this, men? Did some of you fancy a bit of blood?" Their leader asked innocently. "Go ahead. I only said I wanted him alive."
Butler settled into a defensive stance. If they wanted a fight, they could come and get it. There was a pause whilst the offer was considered, then at least half a dozen of the men rushed forward.
To his credit, Butler managed to knock out around half of his attackers. Spinning and twisting in a mix of martial arts and street-fighting, he gave a good volley of blows and several things snapped. Legs were swept from under them and knees were driven into various soft areas of the body, solar plexus jabs, windpipe chops, elbow strikes to faces, full-blown roundhouse punches all followed in rapid succession.
The kidnappees cheered, only to be silenced by the men holding them. It would appear that the quote 'Nobody ever roots for Goliath.' wasn't exactly true this time. However, there were rather a lot of murderous blood-thirsty 'Davids' as his opponents.
In under two and a half minuets, Butler stood in a circle of floored and groaning pirates, fists raised. His expression alone said 'Who's next?'. Needless to say the next six were more cautious. They approached slowly, circling like sharks before lunging upon him with whatever they had to hand.
Butler fought back again - obviously. But even he couldn't last forever. In the end, it was his previous injury that proved his downfall. A block that should have happened faster didn't, allowing the heavy punch to land solidly on his temple. Butler shook his head to clear it, but it was too late.
Another then another punch broke through his chinked defence. He backed away, stumbling on the piece of wood originally meant to get him down. One pirate took advantage of this and, to Butler's severe annoyance, another kicked him in the back of the knee and he staggered, dragging down a few of his enemies as he hit the floor.
After that it was a case of too many bodies. The remainder of the crew all jumped in once he was down, reigning blow after blow until Butler could barely see. His vest protected his ribs but the rest of his body received some serious punishment. At some point there was a knife that was jabbed under his armpit in one of the only parts of his torso left unprotected by the Kevlar vest, but it did little more than pierce the skin before he broke the wrist holding it and threw it away.
"Speed things up a bit, lads." Jace jeered, throwing a something into the mêlée.
Someone must have caught it because the next thing Butler knew was that there was a guy kneeling on his shoulders, pinning him as best he could and holding a bat.
He rolled, thrashing about violently and trying to prevent the inevitable. The attacker swung it back and Butler saw stars. A second time and he stopped struggling. There wasn't much need for the third but the pirate gave it to him anyway.
OK maybe I deserved that, Butler thought before the blackness took him. I did just take out most of his mates.
My reviews have nearly doubled - whoop : )
I just realised I made a boob. The (2.) part of my rant at the end of the last chapter applies to this one. The "Goliath" quote is from a man named Wilt Chamberlain.
Thanks to everyone and I'm sorry I've gone and left you on another cliffie.
There's a few more chapters more to come yet.