Harley had never seen his newest client in such a towering rage before.
There were no news highlights about May's hostage or reports on the police radios and yet none of his men were answering his phone.
Drew was never involved in such dirty work and felt that his own contributions would be clear evidence to put him behind bars. That was why he came to the Syndicate, as their hands were already stained from blood.
Harley ordered killings before, personally being there to execute them at times but now he had taken the feud as personal. It could have been because she escaped his clutches and he wanted revenge however.
He wanted to toy with her as much as he could before she died.
Now the man who ordered the hit was ranting off to him like a child that was denied his favorite game.
"You're a fucking idiot!" Drew screamed into the phone, "You were supposed to kill her off and make it look like it was an accident! I paid you plenty of money for this kind of job, not for your personal agenda with May to come in!"
"I have unfinished business with her!" Harley snapped back, "And it's not over by a longshot! If you want her dead, your only hope is that you kill her before I do!"
"Fine!" He rubbed his temples, suddenly feeling extremely hot in his business suit, "What about the GPS lock on her cell?"
"It's still active. You can use her number to track it."
"That's all I need."
"I'm ordering another hit," Harley said, "If they kill her before you get there, that's not my problem. Once the job is done, then I'm leaving the country for Cinnabar to lay low." He paused for a moment, "Consider the payment insurance for me keeping my mouth shut about you."
He hit the button to end the call, severing the last contact the two would have with one another.
Ash exited the car and ran right up to May, who sat in the driver seat of her sedan.
"Ash!" She cried out, flinging herself into his arms. After the tearful embrace, she tilted her head upwards and her lips touched his in a kiss. Their movements were a reflect of a combination of both worry and relief.
"How did you-" May couldn't help but ask after they parted.
"You made the right choice," Ash looked over at the ambulance with Caroline inside as it pulled onto the highway behind the apartments. The sirens came on and it wailed loudly on its way. "Damien filled me in on everything."
"I could've lost you!" Tears began to form in her eyes.
"Can't get rid of me that easily," He gave a lopsided grin, "Those were Harley's men."
"I know." May looked down, "This is all because of me! I put you and my mom in danger!"
"May!" Ash grabbed her shoulders, "None of this is your fault! You reacted and followed your own instinct and did the right thing! There is nothing to be ashamed of!"
"My mother," She breathed, "She going to be okay?"
Ash shook his head, "I don't know."
"Can we see her?"
"Not while she's in operation, but we can see her after that I imagine."
"Hey," Damien and Jewell sprinted up from the apartment with gloves on. They handed several bags containing evidence before she decided to brief him, "No clear way of entry, so it's likely that she opened the door before they charged right in."
"This neighborhood is one of the safest in Hoenn," May said, "Most of the people even leave their doors unlocked."
Damien looked out over the rest of the apartment "If this makes the news, that will likely change today."
May was cleared by the authorities to go so she and Ash took her car, following the ambulance to the general hospital in greater Odale. Traffic was beginning to thicken up as people from the Petalburg metro began to flock back to their homes in the smaller cities to the east. Thankfully they were headed northbound and the other highway lanes had already been clogged for the rush hour.
"Yes." She blurted out in the passenger seat.
"Yes?"
"I said ask if I would marry you last night," May looked over at him, "My answer is yes."
"I would kiss you right now, but I'm driving."
Looking in his mirror, Ash saw Damien and Jewell following close behind.
Another thing caught his eye. The driver of a large van was closing the gap between them rather quickly.
Was it more Harley's men? Could they have intercepted the ambulance?
Time to find out.
Ash signaled to take the offramp.
"What are you doing?" May asked, "The hospital is another three exits down."
He didn't answer, but looked behind. Both Damien and Jewell had puzzled reactions but the van was following them and he saw a second van pull off the highway ahead and speed right across the bridge.
The other one came from behind without warning. Ash and May were thrown forward, their seatbelts locking in place and airbags deploying with a loud bang.
His head throbbed and all of his nerves were set on a complete frenzy. Through all of it, he looked over at the passenger seat. May was similarly dazed and she felt immense pain in her left arm.
"May!" Ash shouted, "Are you okay?"
"What was that?"
Before either of them could respond, the van in front pulled beside them with the front window down. A burly man with a compact machine pistol leaned out, extending the weapon.
Ash knew already what was going to happen and he had his own sidearm out before the other vehicle began to slow down to allow the shooter a clear sightline. His fingers flicked the safety and he had the sights centered on the hitman.
The P226 kicked in his hand and he shifted his grip, making the weapon's predictable recoil nonexistent. Two bullets found their mark into the gunner's chest and the weapon disappeared from sight.
May shrieked from the sudden gunshots.
"Get out of the car!" Ash demanded, already scanning for more hostiles.
The sliding door on the side of the van opened up to reveal two other men with the same weapons. They unleashed a hailstorm of bullets and would've hit them both had he not ducked and pulled May down with him.
She frantically opened the door with her good right arm just as he rose again to return fire after a brief pause, giving her enough time to scramble out and press her back against the side.
Even when he was preoccupied, he knew it was only a matter of time before one of them used his friends to distract him enough to splatter May's innards all over the car.
Blindly firing again, he used the suppression to launch himself out of the car through the passenger's side and quickly took post next to May. She was shaking and her blue eyes radiated pure fear.
"Are we going to be okay?"
Where the hell were Damien and Jewell?
More gunshots were coming from the bottom of the highway.
His team was preoccupied.
"What can we do?" She asked.
"Best bet," He gestured to the thicket of trees and growth beside the road, "Go into the forest and hide." Looking at his pistol, "I have enough ammunition to hold them off for about ten seconds."
May looked at the distance. All of a sudden it seemed as if it was twice as long as it really was.
"Ready?"
"You won't leave me right?"
"I won't ever leave you." His eyes glistened with sincerity as he raised his weapon.
That was her cue, as soon as she heard his pistol's distinctive sound, she took off. Her heart pounded and she constantly braced herself for the painful sensation of a bullet striking her body.
Breaking through the mass of leaves, she immediately found a decent place to hide and watched the offramp, hoping Arceus was going to save him.
Back on the ramp's side, Ash's pistol clicked and the slide went back.
He was out of ammo. "Shit."
Footsteps sounded from the other side indicated that he was about to be flanked and exposed.
The gunman rounded the back of the sedan with his pistol raised. He kept a good distance when initially coming since charging out a longer distance would be more time to shoot.
However what he did not expect was the side of the car to be empty. The only trace of the Commando's presence were a few empty brass casings at the bottom of the tire.
He moved to investigate.
That's when Ash exploded out of the ground. Not literally, but to hide; he had pinned himself against the side of the hill to prevent himself from being spotted when the hitman first came around the side of the car. Watching him out of the corner of his eye, he made his move, charging up the hill with as much force as possible.
He slammed the arm with the pistol against the car. The gunman grunted in pain, but he kept a firm grip on the gray gun. A knee to the other person's groin bought himself some time and enough pain to rip the automatic pistol out of his attacker's hands. He smashed the weapon against his head, not bothering to make sure it was nonlethal.
Bringing it around, he sprayed a volley of bullets, catching the guy's partner who was coming to assist.
"Jewell! Damien!" He scanned the van for more hostiles, but only found the corpse of the other guy.
"We're okay," Damien yelled back.
He peered around the corner to see them with four dead bodies surrounding the van. They were similarly dressed and carried the small machine pistols as well.
"You three," A voice came from the top of the hill, "Drop your weapons and do it slow."
The JETS whirled around, immediately bringing up the figure in their weapons' sights.
Harley held a pocket pistol to May's head and positioned himself behind her as a shield.
"Let her go Harley," Ash demanded, "Don't be stupid."
"Stupid?" He chuckled, "You should be the one heeding that warning. You even think about shooting me, I'll put a bullet through her head."
"May had nothing to do with this. If whatever you have is with her, you can take it out on me."
"Absolutely not!" The pistol was pressed in the side of her head. Ash could see her fighting the pain, but it still wasn't enough to cause her stifling a whimper. "Drop it now!"
"Please Ash," May whisper pleaded, "Put it down!"
"This man tried to hurt you," Ash adamantly said, adjusting his aim, "It's not going to happen again."
"Please," She repeated, "It's not worth it."
The look of defeat on her face crushed his heart.
"Let them down," He said, the glare at Harley unchanged.
Ash let his gun drop to the ground.
Harley shook his head in disgust. Even though he was not intent on ratting Drew out to anyone, he still wanted to fulfill his own agenda of May's death. Now it seemed that her boyfriend, this precious Ash was more valuable to her than he had expected. Losing him would be devastating to her.
Maybe she wasn't be the one he should've gone after.
"Not what I expected of you Ash. Son of a bitch."
A single gunshot rang out as he aimed his gun right at the more vulnerable of the two lovers and began to pull the trigger.
Hey everyone. I have to apologize as I haven't updated in a while. Hope none of you thought I was going to quit on this story.
Anyway I was out of town because of a death in the family so I did not have ample time to write. Family comes first after all.
I appreciate everyone's patience and those who have stayed faithful, sticking around even when me...the writer did not. I'm optimistic this action-centric chapter makes up for the prolonged hiatus.
Thanks for reading and reviewing, you give my writing purpose.