What a Pain! – Chapter Nineteen
Cap stepped quietly to the garage door and leaned through the opening, trying to detect what it was that Sir Pain was alerted to. Straining his ears, he heard a soft creaking sound, followed by an increase in the volume of Sir Pain's snarl. In the attempt to make out what it was, Hank came to the conclusion the sound was Mike's back gate opening. With a wildly beating heart and quickening breaths, Cap turned off the lights in the kitchen as he ran to the living room and flicked off the lamp behind the sofa as well. Other than the pale shafts of light that filtered through the front window from the street lamps, the living room was dark.
"Stoker!" Cap whispered harshly, shaking Mike's arm, "Stoker, wake up! We need to get out of here!"
Mike blinked and tried to focus as he oriented himself. "C-cap? W-What's goin' on?" Mike asked, blearily.
"Can you sit up?" Cap asked, urgently.
"Um, y-yeah, I think s-so," Mike answered, unsure. "My head h-hurts, Cap, slllow down."
"Sorry, Stoker, we can't slow down. I think someone's in the backyard," Cap placed his arm around Mike's back and helped lift his friend to his feet. "C'mon, let's get out the front door."
"Uhm, Cap? I...I...wait..." Mike was wobbly on his feet and leaned on Cap. The persistent ache to the side of Mike's face was increasing rapidly and it was making him dizzy. He understood the urgency in Hank's voice, but seemed unable to make his body move as fast as it needed to.
Cap was beginning to think he was going to have to toss his engineer over his shoulder and haul him outside, when he heard a car door closing out front. Assuming it was either John or Roy, he gently let Mike sit back down on the sofa and bolted from the house. "Hang on, Mike, I'll be right back. Stay quiet and don't move!"
Outside it was cool and damp, and the misty light emanating from the street lamps gave an eerie feel to the night. Though he knew his paramedics were on their way, Cap was still startled when Johnny appeared from the other side of his Rover and trotted over to him.
"Cap? Where's Stoker? What's goin' on?" Johnny asked.
"John," Cap told him, "there's someone in the back yard and I think he's tryin' to get in the house! C'mon, we gotta get Stoker out of there-NOW!"
"A'right, A'right!" Johnny nodded as he followed Cap back inside Stoker's house. "Didja' call the cops?"
"There wasn't any time. Stay quiet, John," Cap whispered, "I don't want whoever it is to hear us."
Johnny and Cap went to Mike's side, but before they could speak, all three men stopped abruptly at the sounds of Sir Pain screeching from the garage. Banging, crashing, things falling to the floor, and a loud stream of expletives were also heard. Mike's head turned sharply toward the racket.
"Pain? Wh-What's wrong with h-him?"
"Honestly, Mike, I think he's buyin' us some time!" Cap told him, "now let's go!"
Now alert and aware of the danger they were in, Mike allowed Johnny and Cap to sling his arms across their shoulders and practically drag him across the floor to the front door. They almost made it.
Through the door from the garage stumbled a man, obviously agitated and angry. He charged through the kitchen and into the living room just as Cap, Mike and Johnny were about to escape. The man fired a couple of shots toward them. One hit the wall by the door, lodging in the door frame, and with the other, Cap crumpled to the tiled floor. Without Hank's support, Mike lost his balance and collapsed on top of him. Johnny slowly turned around to face their assailant, keeping his hands up in a show of surrender. The man was holding a .45 in his right hand and his left hand was pressed to his left eye. Even in the dimly lit living room, Johnny could see blood running down the man's face and between his fingers from a large scratch. The gunman tore his eyes away from the two men lying on the floor and glared at Johnny.
"You Stoker?" he demanded to know.
Knowing Roy was on the way and not wanting his friends to be hurt further, Johnny answered, "Yeah, man. I'm Stoker. Whaddya' want?"
Although tired, weak and frightened, Mike heard Johnny's words and understood what Gage was trying to do. He moved a shaky hand to Johnny's shoe and held it. For just a moment, Johnny looked down and his eyes met Mike's.
"J-John-ny...no..." Mike gasped.
Johnny ignored his friend's plea and asked again, "What do you want with me? Who are you?"
"You need to disappear, pal," Jordan told Gage. "Especially now that you've seen me in person."
"Man, I don't even know who you are," Johnny responded. "I'm just a fireman, I don't want any hassle. Just tell me what you want."
"You must be as square as they come, fireman," Jordan retorted. "The name's Jordan. You already met me once, but I ain't letting you go this time! I ain't leavin' witnesses, either." He walked over to Cap and Mike. Cap was out cold, and blood was seeping to the tile from a bullet wound somewhere. Mike was smart enough to play possum, and lay limply across his captain, feigning his death.
"Looks like I got two of 'em tonight," Jordan chuckled. As arrogant as he was, Jordan was also far too impatient to check the men and so assumed he had killed them both. "If you do what you're told, Stoker, you might not be the third guy in that pile." Jordan then noticed the large white bandage taped to the side of Mike's head, and gave him a sharp kick to the hip. Mike screamed inside, but didn't let on. "What happened to that guy?" he asked Gage.
"Oh, uh, he fell at the fire station yesterday. My cap- um, the other guy there- brought him over here so I could check him out. He was, uh, not feelin' well and I'm a paramedic," Johnny stammered, desperate for a credible excuse. Inside, he prayed both for Roy to show up and for Roy to stay away. He knew Cap and Mike needed help, but didn't want Roy to become another one of Jordan's victims. As if on cue, Johnny turned toward the door at the sound of a car pulling into Mike's driveway.
"Who the hell is that?" Jordan demanded. "What's goin' on? All you firemen havin' a party tonight?"
"No," Johnny/Stoker told him,"it's my partner. He's here to help me with Mi- uh, my friend here," he said with a thumb pointing down toward Mike. "Take me out the back door and let my friend come in this way. Once he sees these guys, he's gonna call the cops, you dig?"
"Not if I kill him first," he growled, now pointing the gun at the picture window.
Johnny attempted to reason with Jordan, "Man, you think nobody's gonna notice a body on the sidewalk? C'mon, let's just go out the other way and we can get outta here without another murder on your hands."
Jordan started to fidget and sweat. This was not what he needed; all he wanted was for his witness to die. "Awright, move!" He waved the gun toward Johnny and motioned to the kitchen. "Just go to the backyard, but don't try nothin'." Johnny trudged silently through the garage and into the backyard. He glanced around when he heard Sir Pain's distinct growl and noticed the cat perched low on the workbench, his eyes following Jordan. The garage was a mess with things strewn all around, and Johnny knew then that Sir Pain had been the one to inflict Eddie Jordan's injury. With his free hand, Jordan picked up an empty glass jar and hurled it at Sir Pain who dodged it. "Damn cat!" Jordan huffed. "I shoulda' killed him too!"
As they entered the backyard, Gage sucked in a sharp breath as he felt the barrel of the gun press deeply into his back. "Keep movin'," Jordan spat out, "hurry up."
Behind them, Sir Pain jumped soundlessly to the floor and followed them to the backyard. He leaped to a low branch of a scrub tree and watched Jordan push Johnny roughly to the ground. Johnny's forehead and face hit the edge of the concrete sidewalk. "Unhh," he gasped and soon felt the blood dripping from his nose. To keep him from moving or talking, Jordan placed a booted foot on Johnny's cheek, pushing his face deeper into the thick grass.
Keeping the gun pointed at Gage's head, he said, "Now, Stoker, I want you to know a few things about me before I blow your lousy head off," Jordan grumbled.
Roy was around front getting his medical kit from the back seat of his Porsche, and noticed Johnny's Rover. He wondered to himself how long Johnny had been there, and snickered, envisioning Johnny's wild middle-of-the-night drive. Toting his gear, he walked up the sidewalk.
Inside, Mike opened his eyes slowly and looked around; Johnny and Jordan were gone. "C-Cap?" Mike yelped. "Cap, are y-you okay?" He could feel the panic rising in his gut when Cap didn't respond. Mike attempted to roll himself over and flopped gracelessly to the tile. With a weak fist, he pounded on the bottom part of the front door, hoping someone would hear and come to help.