Saturday
The Week of Hell was finally over!
A lot of bad things had happened and a lot of good people had died.
But a lot of bad people died, too and that had included one who had very much deserved to die, so much, much more, than the rest!
Finally, Chris D'Amico was no more!
Even better, both Dave and I had put him out of his misery. I got revenge for his shooting me three times, in the chest and Dave had implemented the coup de grâce, with a brilliant choice of words. Shame Chris was not fully aware of the true significance, of those words.
On top of that Chris had left us a small gift!
It seemed that Chris and his watchdogs had just left their vehicle and Dave had found the keys when he had searched the pocket of one of the watchdogs. We had continued around the warehouse and found a parked SUV. So we had seized it as loot; well Chris wasn't gonna need it anymore, as he had kinda lost his head!
The SUV was a beauty; it was another Land Rover product, a brand-new Range Rover, in black. Even better it was armoured. Thank you Chris D'Amico!
It was now time to recover and move on.
The Safehouse
I awoke to a knocking on the door of our bedroom.
"Mindy, Dave!"
It was Chloe!
I looked at the clock. It was half past seven, in the fucking morning!
"Shadow, do you really want to die!" I yelled.
"Never gonna happen!" Chloe said, grinning at me from the open door. "I just thought I should knock in case you two were 'busy'!"
"'Busy'? You mean Dave might be fucking me?" I asked, with an evil smirk.
Chloe blushed.
"Sorry, Chloe! Couldn't resist fuckin' with ya!" I said, laughing.
"You really are an evil bitch, Mindy!" Dave said, from beside me.
"So, what happened? It's all over the news; Chris D'Amico is dead! Apparently they found the body early this morning..." Chloe explained, then stared directly at me. "They then found the head a little while later!"
I felt my face warming up.
"So!" I said, quietly. "I got carried away!"
"She severed his head 'just to be sure' and then kicked it, like a fucking soccer ball!" Dave elaborated.
"So cool! How do you feel now that Chris, is no more?" Chloe asked, looking at us both.
"Pretty damn good!" Dave replied.
"Almost as good as the first time I had sex with Dave!" I mused, without thinking.
Both Chloe and I blushed that time.
"That good was it!" Chloe asked, facetiously.
"Oh yeah!" I replied, giggling and burying my face into Dave's chest, as my face started to burn!
"What is the fucking racket?" Marty demanded, coming into the room. "Oh, hi Chloe!"
"Morning Marty!"
We all got up and showered, before getting breakfast.
Dave cooked a massive meal and then we sat down and went through the previous day's activities, explaining everything to Chloe. She was quite shocked about Marty almost getting killed, along with Hawk! But Chloe did point out, that without Hawk, we might never have been in a position to kill Chris!
I had to agree with her logic. We owed Hawk and more than a little. But we still had our reservations about her, as she seemed very good at getting herself into shit!
Anyway, we decided that we needed a rest; time to recover, as our bodies were exhausted after seven straight days of activity. Not to mention that I have a hole in my left arm and I was involved in a motorcycle crash! That was the most depressing bit about the entire episode, my Ducati was wrecked!
"Oh, I almost forgot to ask! Why the fuck is there a big black, rather cool looking, SUV parked downstairs?" Chloe exclaimed.
"You saw that did you?" Dave replied, smirking.
"I'm not fucking blind!" Chloe responded.
"Wow, young Chloe has developed a really foul mouth!" I commented.
"Little rich coming from you!" Marty responded, delicately.
I scowled at Marty, then smiled.
"Okay, I'm not the best person to complain about profanity! I said, smirking at Chloe.
"The SUV was a gift... From Chris D'Amico," Dave explained. "Well he didn't exactly need it anymore!"
"I hope it's not gonna have another lame name, like 'Speedy'!" Chloe groaned.
"Yes, that name was lame," Dave said. "I actually thought of calling it 'The Beast'!"
"Why not just 'Beast'?" Chloe suggested.
We all agreed on 'Beast'. Marty would transfer the 'FUSION' plates to the new vehicle and fit the relevant communications equipment.
Abby turned up later that morning, and after going loopy over Beast and hearing about the past events, she got to work with Marty, checking out the new SUV.
They were both very impressed, from the geek point of view. The armour was to Level IV and should stop 7.62-millimetre rounds. There were also a good set of run-flat tyres and Chris had thoughtfully left a small armoury in the trunk!
Chloe went out to see Kyle, while Dave and I went out to get some fresh air, without having to worry about being attacked by an Archer!
Dave suggested going via his work, so we drove over to Plainfield.
..._...
"Hi Dave," Roger said.
"Hi Roger! This is my partner Mindy. Mindy, this is Roger, my boss!" Dave said.
"Hi Roger," I said, with a smile.
"Wow!" Roger commented. "You never told me how hot Mindy was!"
I felt myself blushing!
"Ignore him, Mindy, he'll chase anything with tits!" Dave said, laughing.
"I know; Mindy's off limits!" Roger said, dejectedly, wandering off.
"I'll be back in a minute... Go drool over some guns!" Dave teased.
I glared at him, but I had to admit, though, that there was a damned nice selection there and I did kinda enjoy checking guns out! I was checking out a good selection of Smith & Wesson pistols, when I heard my name.
..._...
"Mindy, how are ya? I thought I saw Dave."
I turned around to find Kim.
"Hi, Kim, I'm doing fine, you?" I replied.
"A bit shattered, been a hard week!" Kim said.
"Tell me about it!" I commented. "It's been 'The Week of Hell'!"
"Want a coffee, I'm just about due for a break?" Kim asked.
"Why not?" I replied. I couldn't think of a good excuse to decline and I could do with a drink.
..._...
We sat and chatted for about half an hour, before Dave reappeared.
"You two seem to be enjoying yourselves!" Dave said. "Should I be worried?"
"Maybe!" I replied, grinning.
"Okay," Dave said, slowly.
"We should have Kim over for a meal," I suggested.
"Don't see why not!" Dave replied.
"How about Monday evening?" I suggested.
"Don't see a problem with that," Kim replied.
"We'll see you then and I'll text you the address," Dave said.
The following morning
Sunday
West Ridge
I woke up late, to find that Mindy had got up already.
I showered and dressed, before heading downstairs, but as I got to the bottom of the stairs, I heard giggling, a lot of giggling! I looked into the living room and saw Chloe and Mindy rolling around the couch, very nearly pissing themselves with laughter!
"What are you two watching?" I inquired.
It was a minute before Chloe could talk.
"Family Guy; they're showing it all day!" Chloe managed, before disintegrating into laughter.
"Fuck this!" I said.
I enjoyed Family Guy, just as much as he next guy, but I could not listen to those two giggling all day! I headed out to the garage; I'd get breakfast out – the fucking laughter was getting louder!
"Can I join you?" Marty asked desperately, appearing in the garage.
"Please do!" I replied.
..._...
After breakfast, Marty and I went out to have a look at the apartment blocks that Mindy was interested in buying. The two apartment blocks were very different.
The first apartment block was just under five miles east of the centre of Chicago. It had seventeen units that were a mixture of one, two and three bedroom units. It was also close to the Pink Line. The area was not the best, but it was relatively safe and of course we could make it safer!
Marty was interested in having an apartment there, due to its proximity to the University.
The second apartment block was about nine miles south of the centre of Chicago and about four miles to the east of the Safehouse. It was a lot larger than the first apartment block, with twenty-five units, which were a mix of one and two bed units. Currently the entire block was empty, but we expected that to change, easily enough. This block was on a nice leafy, tree lined street, in a nicer part of Chicago and near to the Red Line. We intended to convert one or two of the units into a second and maybe a third Safehouse.
Mindy had made offers and we were awaiting a response, which may take another few weeks. Marty had found a reputable agent, who could handle the apartments and tenants for us. Marty had thoroughly checked out the properties, to make sure that there would be no surprises!
..._...
By the time we got back home, it was almost four in the afternoon.
We parked in the garage and went into the house. Not surprisingly, the two girls were still giggling and laughing away, in the living room! I noticed that Sophia was asleep on the couch on the lower floor; she must have had enough of all the giggling. Marty went up to his room and I joined Sophia to train.
I had been training for about twenty minutes when Marty appeared and asked to join in. That was a bit of a surprise, but Mindy had hinted the other day about Marty wanting to join in more with Fusion, when we were out and about. It had occurred to me that we did have Abby, to provide technical support, which would free up Marty to come out with us. Admittedly both Abby and Marty would need training to bring them up to scratch.
Marty, was training Abby in everything she would need to know about the technical side of Fusion. Marty would need a lot of training, before he could go out as a vigilante. Yes, he had been out before, but nothing major, and the warehouse the previous year, well that had just been a total free for all! Marty had managed very well the other day, when he had come out to help us at Chris' headquarters. He had managed to kill some watchdogs that day, too and he had seemed to enjoy it.
I had to admit, though, that I had spent almost my entire life with Marty and he had always been a little overweight. I could not quite imagine him being fit enough to fight the way Mindy and I did. However, Mindy turned me around and that had been no small task! I also could not quite imagine Marty using Taekwondo, either. Maybe he would be a weapons guy, more than a Martial Arts guy.
I suggested a few warm up movements for Marty to start with, then went back to my training. Forty minutes later Marty was dripping sweat and looked completely exhausted. I smiled, Marty was really putting a lot into this.
He was obviously serious!
The next day
Monday
West Ridge
We made preparations for dinner that evening.
Dave had acquired a large ham and I was going to cook it, with Dave's help. Marty was going to be out with some new friends of his, so it would just be the three of us. Preparing the food was a bit of a nightmare, but we got it done and of course, I was very good with knives!
Kim was expected to arrive about six that evening.
Once the food was safely cooking, I went to get changed, while Dave got things ready in the dining room.
..._...
Kim arrived on time, at six.
We invited her in and sat down in the living room, while we waited for the food to finish cooking. Strangely, Sophia seemed to be okay with Kim. Usually, Sophia was a little wary of strangers. It was as if Sophia already knew Kim, which was impossible. We chatted for about twenty minutes before the food was ready.
Dave served the food and we sat at the table in the dining room and started eating.
"Kim, tell us about yourself. What did you do before you started at the gun store?" I asked.
"Well, I originally spent time as a flight attendant, with Delta and got to see the world; well bits of it anyway!" Kim replied.
"Anywhere nice?" Dave asked.
"London was good and I enjoyed the longer trips to Tokyo, but they were very tiring. The best was probably to Australia; I liked Melbourne," Kim replied.
"What did you do after that?" I asked.
"I joined the Chicago PD," Kim replied.
Dave and I exchanged a glance at that!
"I spent some time at District twenty-one, after the academy. I enjoyed pounding the streets, had a few close calls, then I finally got injured a few months ago and decided it was time to leave and move on," Kim replied.
"How were you injured?" Dave asked.
"I got shot in the leg; it took a while to heal, but I decided enough was enough. Now though, I miss the excitement of chasing bad guys and feeling good when I put somebody away, or help somebody out," Kim explained.
"Must be nice," I commented, trying to keep a straight face.
"What is it you do, Mindy?" Kim asked.
"I spend my time providing training for people in Taekwondo, Aikido and also general fitness," I replied.
"That would explain why you and Dave look so trim," Kim commented, eyeing up Dave.
I saw Dave smirk at me... Ass!
The rest of the evening went well and we all enjoyed the meal.
Afterwards we had coffee in the living room and I am sure Kim was trying to come onto Dave!
Mindy and I decided we wanted to have a Fusion celebration.
We intended to have a night out; just the four of us. Mindy called Chloe and advised her that we would pick her up at seven in the evening, on Friday, and she should dress smartly. Mindy said she would have a surprise for me and wouldn't tell me what she would be wearing, but insisted that both Marty and I wore a suit!
I had told Mindy about Marty training on Sunday and she had told me about what Marty had said the previous week. We talked about him joining 'the operators' – the fighting side of Fusion. I believed that he could be an asset, but only once he was physically fit of course. Marty joined us daily, when we trained and Mindy had set out a training schedule for him, to gradually increase his fitness and we said that we would allow him a few weeks, before we took him out jogging. He also joined us each day when we walked Sophia.
Mindy's wound was healing nicely, but she still needed a lot more time before it healed completely. I also know that it was hurting Mindy a lot more than she would admit, but that was just typical Mindy! Mindy had become more determined to improve her blade skills and spent many hours with either a Katana or her Tanto. I had also noticed a change in her, since I had killed Chris; she seemed happier, a lot happier. Chris D'Amico as Red Mist was a stain on Hit Girl; a failure for Hit Girl. Now I had helped remove that stain and erase that failure. I also felt that we were now closer, much closer than ever before.
The one thing that concerned Mindy the most, though, over and above the injury, was the loss of her pride and joy, the purple Ducati Panigale. I knew that she missed that machine, more than anything else; it has been a part of her.
Mindy had not spoken about the Ducati at all since the night it was wrecked, but I knew she missed it hugely.