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Gunner
The wailing is impenetrable. Alicia ID’d the guy as McNeil, and I remember him from my interrogation, but there’s nothing in the world that will make me understand that wailing. She got a good shot off on a guy who was clearly prepared to kill us. It was kill or be killed. She chose wisely. I don’t really get why the hemming and hawing now. But as I try to get her to come with me, I can’t help but notice how inconsolable she is.
“Come on, Alicia,” I tell her. “Pull your shit together, girl! We have to go! They’ll be sending more guys after us.”
But she refuses to leave the corpse of her dead ex-partner. She doesn’t even seem to question what he was doing there – it’s just abject wailing, and she can’t pull herself away from this body.
Just then, I hear the roar of bikes in the background – three of them, clearly looking for trouble.
They rev their motors, and I take the gun from Alicia and just start shooting. I have no inclination at all to be a part of their body count, at least not today. One of the guys goes down immediately; the others drive off like the pussies they are.
I run up to where the guy went down. He’s still breathing. I pull him up over my shoulder and take him into an abandoned building for my own form of questioning. The first thing I notice about him is that he’s wearing a Blazing Spears patch – clearly, this guy was ordered to be up on me. As he comes to, I smack him in the face, making sure he stays dazed and compliant.
“Who the fuck sent you?” I scream in his face.
“Huh?” he asks, confused.
I hit him again. “Who. The fuck. Sent you?” I repeat in a much more staccato tone.
“Jesus!” he cries out, almost prayerfully. “It was – it was R-R-Roaster.”
“Roaster?” I laugh heartily. “That fucking idiot? He couldn’t order carryout from the Chinese place next door. Why the fuck should I believe you?”
“It’s the truth,” the guy says, spitting out blood.
“What does this have to do with Panama and the Feds?” I demand.
“Nothing to do with the Feds.”
I hit him again, then cock a gun against his temple. “C’mon, give me a reason.” I seethe at him. “Lie to me again, would you? C’mon. I dare you. I double fucking dog dare you.”
“No, I’m not lying!” he squeals.
“You’re working with the Feds,” I say, my trigger finger getting a little itchy.
“Yes, but this has nothing to do with the Feds.”
“So what’s it got to do with then?”
“Your man,” he whimpers, “Panama. That’s what they call him, right? Panama? Well, Panama is apparently charging us out the ass to work with him. You know, just for the pleasure, right? He doesn’t really do a whole lot. So we’re going to cut him out.”
“What do you mean, cut him out?”
“We’re going to work directly with the Feds.”
I hit him again. “Anytime I hear an answer I don’t like or something that rings untrue, you’re gonna get that again, you hear me?”
“I hear you, man, I hear you!” he screams. “Now please, get the gun the fuck away from my head, would you please?”
I put the gun back in my pocket, mostly as a sign of good faith. Then, I turn back to him and say, “Now, tell me about this plan to get rid of Panama. What, you’re going to kill him?”
“What? No. No way. He’s too powerful. He’s got ins with the Feds that we’ve never dreamed of. But that’s the problem – he forces us to pay for access. And he clearly doesn’t like any of us, especially Roaster.”
“What do you mean?”
“Rumor has it that he wants to work with the Iron Raiders. Supposedly, he prefers their brand of ‘justice’, whatever the fuck that means.”
Just for good measure, I hit him again. You don’t talk about my brothers’ deaths so casually and get away with it. Then, I say, “Continue.”
“Would you fucking stop hitting me? Come on, man, I’m telling you what you want to know.”
“I fucking said continue!” I yell at him. “Now you fucking continue, or I will pull my gun back out and blow your fucking brains all over the wall of this place, and no one will give a fuck because no one gives a fuck about you. Do you understand me?”
“Yeah, yeah, man, I get it, I get it,” he whimpers again. “Wh-what do y-you want to kn-kn-know?”
“You were saying that Panama prefers the Iron Raiders,” I say, leading him.
“Yeah, that’s the rumor,” he confirms. “But I don’t know how real it is. I’m rather dubious myself. Panama only gives a fuck about one goddamn person in this entire world – Panama. And he’s not going to just give up a good contact.”
“So what is the Spears’ plan then?” I demand.
“Total fucking anarchy,” he replies, and a slight twitch comes to his lips. He’s smiling, the stupid bastard. “We figure we can get rid of Panama, use the Feds to take out the Iron Raiders, and then have the Feds’ protection when it comes time for anything else because they’re dirty as fuck.”
“What makes you think the Feds won’t turn on you?”
“Because they’re in too deep now. They’ve got guys who are embedded with us. They’re practically working for us. There’s no going back from that. Now, come on, man, if you don’t help me out here, I’m gonna bleed out.”
“You’re fine.” I growl. “And you’re coming with me.”
“What?!” he exclaims. “Where are we going?”
“You’re coming with me to see my boss. And if you don’t comply with every single thing I tell you to do, I have no problem whatsoever wasting you. Get me?”
“Yeah, man, I got it,” he replies, trembling again.
“Good.” I smack him in the head one more time, this time harder than ever, and his head slumps, unconscious.
I throw him over my shoulder, head out to the alleyway where I left Alicia, and break the window of a car, letting myself in. I toss the Spear in the back seat and hustle over to Alicia, who’s still sitting next to the body of McNeil, whimpering in disbelief.
“Alicia,” I say to her sternly, “come on now. It’s time. We have to get out of here.”
“And go where?” she demands through her tears.
“Alicia, come on!” I say, a little louder. “Get the fuck up! We’re going back to the clubhouse to regroup.”
“Don’t you fucking get it?” she screams at me. “I’ve just killed a federal agent – and a friend! But, of course, how would you understand that?”
“Alicia, he wasn’t your friend,” I say, trying my best to moderate my tone given the circumstances. “He might have seemed like it, but he would have killed you without a second’s thought. Think about it. He knew who you were, and he was still firing at you. He wanted you dead.
“Whatever,” she says coldly. “Look, I’ll go with you to finish this, but when it’s done, so am I.”
“Excuse me?” I ask, not quite comprehending what she’s saying.
“You heard me,” she says, her tone unchanged. “When this is all over, I’m gone from your life, and I don’t ever, ever want to see you again. Do you hear me?”
“I –” I stammer momentarily, unable to wholly take in what she’s saying to me. Is she breaking up with me? “But... but last night, Alicia, I—”
“Things are different now.” She looks longingly at the dead body of McNeil laying there in a heap. “When this is all over, I... I’ll need to do my own thing. And you should do yours.”
“Fine, whatever,” I say quickly, doing my best to hide how I’m feeling. “Look, just get in the car over there, okay? We really need to go.”
Without saying another word, Alicia stands up and walks away from me towards the car. As I watch her go, I have to wonder if this is one of the last times I’m ever going to see her again. It almost chokes me up – but I’m not gonna let this bitch get to me. That’s just not how I roll.