Chapter 87
He had assessed the situation as he was on the move from the rooftop. There were four men, two holding Catherine while the other two were fighting with a man he couldn't see well. His first priority was of course Catherine. Landing in the alley like an avenging angel, he grabbed the shirt front of one of the men holding Catherine, and with an arc of his arm, threw the man against the wall of the building behind him. There was a sickening crack and he slid to the ground motionless. As the first man was still flying through the air, Vincent took a mighty swipe at the man who's hand had been over Catherine's mouth. The second man gurgled from the slashes across his throat as he slumped to the ground in a pool of his own blood.
Her mouth free, Catherine called out, "Vincent!"
Radler, while having a hard time against the two men on him, still managed to spin his head and question, "Vincent?"
Catherine had no time to answer him though because the man who hadn't been holding Jeff's arms took advantage of his distraction and punched him in the face. The guy holding him let Jeff go and he fell to the ground unconscious.
By now the last two guys had gotten a look at Vincent and had started to flee the alley. He easily caught up to them and cracked their heads together as Catherine went down on her knees next to Jeff to check on him.
The scarred side of his face was turned from her as Catherine tried to discover how hurt he was. When Vincent knelt down next to her she quickly looked around the alley and saw all four men on the ground. She turned her gaze to Jeff when she heard him moan like he was about to come around.
"Vincent you'd better go before he wakes and sees you," she said, but when he didn't move, she looked up at him and saw shock on his face.
Jeff's head had turned and the scars were visible, but Catherine couldn't fathom why they would be that shocking to Vincent. Again, she tried to get him to leave, "He's waking up, you need to go Vincent!"
But it was too late.
Catherine heard Jeff mutter, "Vincent?"
"Devin?" Vincent exclaimed.
"Devin?" Catherine questioned.
"Vincent!" said a surprised Jeff/Devin.
"Jeff?" Catherine was bewildered.
"Jeff?" Vincent looked perplexed.
"Yes, Jeff Radler," Catherine confirmed nodding at the man on the ground.
"No, Devin!" Vincent insisted.
"Your brother?" she asked.
"Yes," he replied.
"But how?" Catherine wanted to know.
"Hey will you two focus here and help me up?" Jeff/Devin demanded.
Vincent was quicker to move. He didn't want to have Catherine doing any lifting in her condition. Putting his hands under Devin's arms easily lifted him to his feet.
Devin looked up and up at his younger brother and said, "Good lord! You got huge!"
"I was a child when you left Devin," Vincent replied.
"I still don't get what is going on here! How is it that you know him as Devin and he is working at the DA's office as Jeff Radler?" Catherine questioned.
"It's a long story, and not one for here in an alley. We should get out of here before someone comes by and see all this," Devin evaded the question.
Catherine's moral upbringing balked at the idea of not calling the police and filing a report. But then, she looked at the four men that she assumed were all dead, as well as the wounds some of them had, and lastly looked at Vincent. How could all this be explained without putting the man she loved at risk?
Nodding reluctantly, she quickly followed the now hooded Vincent and his long lost brother out of the alley. They crossed the street and briskly walked a half a block before ducking down another alley. Vincent lifted a manhole cover off with ease and said he would go down first so he could help Catherine. Devin brought up the rear, pulling the cover back into place to conceal the entrance to the tunnels.
To be continued….