16 Gunpowder

Adal must have had a full team working round the clock, because the fox body was back before I knew it. Shiny new paint job, and everything. The thing never ran so good.

With the 93 back in my yard I had the 302 at Tony's shop. He still hated me for keeping secrets like I was. Even so he still took the money when I put it on the table. It probably wasn't fair to hold that against him. He wasn't doing amazing in the nowhere town. No one was.

I found myself at his shop one day after the snow stopped. The roads where a messy mix of snow and mud now making driving no fun at all. The watery mix clung to my shoes and I had to knock it off so I wouldn't track it into Tony's shop.

"I think we got the suspension worked out now. The breaks really got to be changed before you do anything crazy with this"

Tony had the 302 up on the lift now as he was checking over the underside. I tossed my bag against the door to his office before I joined him.

"Who needs breaks?"

"People who want to live I suppose"

I scoffed walking myself back over to the garage door. I hit the button prompting it to groan as it closed. It was way too damn cold to keep it open.

"Who wants to live anymore?"

"That's a good question Jack"

Tony meandered his way over to his work bench tossing a greased stained rag across it.

"Either way you've given me enough to cover it. Shouldn't be too much trouble to swap them once I get them in"

He continued his thought as he put away his tools neatly where they belonged. Behind me the sound of tires sloshing through the muck in the driveway caught my ear. I turned peeking out the glass ovals in the garage door.

My heart dropped into a black pit in my stomach when I saw the black SUV. The same kind I put a shell through in Chicago. Four men exited the vehicle in black suits with ski masks.

The world moved in slow motion after that moment. Tony said something behind me, but my ears didn't catch it. All I could hear was my heartbeat thumping against my ear drum.

The silver of the hand guns they all pulled glimmered in the sun. A dangerous glimmer. One that Adal's eyes had an odd way of replicating. At first, I had no idea how to react. My body just stood there thinking about how it was weird that Adal's eyes could look as dangerous as a gun to me.

A shot rang out shattering glass near my face. The world snapped back to speed and I dived backwards for my bag. My .45 was in there. Tucked safely under a set of extra clothes.

When I dived I heard Tony yelling something. Probably a string of swear words. He collided with his office door faster than I thought possibly for him. I had never seen him move faster than a casual walk.

My bag went sliding into the office and I crawled on my belly after it. I fumbled with it trying to get my gun out. My brain flashed the thought that Tony would be suspicious if I was carrying a gun around, but now was hardly the time to worry about that.

Before I could get my gun free I heard the familiar sound of someone racking a shell in a shot gun. From my right a deafening shot rang out followed by the sound of the glass in Tony's office shattering.

Pressed tight against his shoulder Tony had a brown and black pump action. It was trained right on something out of my sight as he racked another shell. I scrambled again yanking my gun free and slipping a mag in.

The gun made a satisfying click as I chambered a round. Several more shots from the men after us came followed by another shot from Tony. Glass shattered again and something hit one of the metal garage doors hard.

I peeked over the low wall of Tony's office to try and spot the men. Three of them where moving on us quick and one was splayed out across one of the metal garage doors. When I took aim my muscle took over placing the sights right over the chest of some poor soul running for us.

I barely felt the recoil as I squeezed off three shots. One whizzed by my target but the last two smashed right through his chest. Blood splattered and bloomed out from the holes as he reeled back from the force.

I ducked back down putting my back to the wall just as Tony stood up from behind his desk. While I cowered behind the walls of the office he drew up his gun without a trace of fear in his eyes.

They locked on a target and the gun fired off another shot. My ears were ringing now too bad for me to hear if it had hit a mark or not. Like a scared toddler I clasped my hands over my ears and drew my knees up.

Tony fired off another shot and tried to go back behind his desk, but he couldn't move fast enough. He was too old to move fast enough. A bullet shattered one of the last windows over my head and found a new home in his chest.

The world went in slow motion again. I could see every detail as the drops of blood jumped free from the hole. The blood blooming against his white work shirt like a rose. The faintest hint of fear in his eyes as he stumbled back. Another bullet slammed into his chest inches from the first. Tony sucked in one quick breath before he fell over behind the desk.

My brain turned itself off for the moment. I turned around and popped up from my spot. Tony had made it easy for me. Only one guy was up. He was hiding behind the front of another beater Tony had been working on.

He peaked a little too long. My gun locked on like I wasn't even moving it. The hammer fell sending the bullet right into the man's forehead. His head snapped back and fell like a rock to the floor.

On an adrenaline high I dashed from my spot and vaulted Tony's desk to get to him. He coughed and choked on his own blood as he tried desperately to hang on. His shotgun sat beside him in his limp hand.

I had my jacket off and pressed it foolishly over his chest that was gushing blood. My mind raced trying to think of something. Tony faded fast from this world. His eyes locked on mine with a mix of panic and this odd spaced out look.

My breath caught in my throat hard as tears threatened to fall. I grabbed the old man's hand and squeezed.

"Tony, I swear to God if you die on me!"

He choked something. I couldn't tell through the blood in his lungs.

"Tony please don't do this to me!"

I ripped my phone out of my jacket pocket and took my hand away from his to keep pressure on his chest.

The 911 operator came on with a cheerful greeting. She was met with my hysterical screaming. I threw out the road's name four or five times between screaming about how my friend just got shot. My mouth moved too fast for my brain to know what was coming out.

Tony coughed and spit out blood trying to clear his throat. He gasped in a weak breath of air. I hung up the phone and tossed it aside to take the old man's hand.

"Tony please you can't leave me like this!"

I think Tony had at least a foggy idea of what I had been into now. Even on his dying breaths he could figure it out. Me with the gun and the men in suits. He knew. Part of me was terrified that I was about to get caught. The rest of me was pissed at myself for being that selfish.

"Don't... Blame yourself..."

Tony mumbled the words out. Half gurgled them on his own blood. The words took my breath away. I let out some frustrated sound half between a scream and a sob. Tony stopped squeezing my hand in the next few seconds. His eyes drained of life. I watched them fade.

The spark behind the brown rings in his eyes went out. I let out some sort of choking sob still feebly holding my jacket to his chest. I swore over and over again at him. Every swear I had in my head just spilled out without any worry over the arrangement.

Someone had entered the garage now. I heard people moving and checking bodies. I thought it was the police until a familiar face pulled me around. Adalwolf's slicked back blonde hair was in a sweaty mess now and his predatory eyes had lost all danger. They were soft and fearful. Afraid for me.

He pulled me up and away from Tony. I tried to fight him off because I didn't want to leave his side. He was trying to get through to me with some sort of logic, but I was so far from logic now it was ridiculous.

"Jack, we need to get you out of here! The cops are on the way and we need to make sure you aren't implicated."

Being implicated was so far away from my list of worries. Adal had his men grab me and subdue me. I struggled but the fight was gone. I couldn't keep air in my lungs long enough to fuel the fire.

I watched horrified as Adal dropped a case full of cocaine behind Tony's desk. Adal called some other men in from the garage.

"Which one of you were watching Jack today?"

None of them answered for a moment. It was three men. All in black suits and winter boots. Adal's face switched from the worry he had earlier to that dangerous look. The green eyes burned hot in his skull.

"You are all adults. Not fucking children. Own up before I call home and figure out who it was"

The one on the far left raised his hand. Adal motioned the men holding me to take me away. I wasn't taken very far before they let me go. They set me at the office door as Adal dismissed the other two.

"What are you carrying Jack?"

I looked down at my empty blood-stained hands confused.

"Nothing?"

"Your gun damn it! What gun do you carry?"

" .45 Caliber. Colt"

Adal glanced around slowly taking in the surrounding before he scooped something off the floor. I didn't watch him. I just kept watching Tony's lifeless body. My stomach turned hard over and over itself.

Adal came to me and slipped my phone away into my jacket pocket before handing it off to me. He took my gun and put that away in my bag before putting that over his back.

"Nate bring me a .45 from the truck, and grab me a gun off one of the dead guys"

Adal was giving orders to someone behind me. He slipped on a pair of wool gloves before he gave me a tight hug.

"I'm sorry this happened Fox. A lapse in security. It should have never happened"

I didn't have anything to say. I just nodded. When he pulled away another man passed me. Taller than Adal by a few inches, and bulkier. A well-built sort of guy. He handed off two guns to Adal.

Adal turned around without any thought and put a bullet right in the man's head that he left in the office. I gasped and almost let out a scream like a little girl. The only reason I didn't was because it got stuck halfway in the tangle of snot from my crying over Tony.

After that Adal handed the gun back to Nate and tossed another one next to the new body. Slowly as if he was putting care into every movement he slipped off his gloves.

"Burn the gloves when we get home, and watch over Jack when the police get here"

"Consider it done, but I want over time for it"

"Done. I'll see you on the other side of this Jack. Your story is that you came here to look in on your car's progress but saw the SUV out front. When you came in you saw this scene and rushed to help your old friend. That's all you know"

Adal looked to Nate now. I tried to process what he had just said but the situation had just become so much more confusing now.

"Nate, you pulled up shortly after Jack looking to get your car worked on so you can back up Jack when he says he just got here. Any questions?"

I couldn't speak through my tangled vocal cords to begin with. Nate answered for us with an up beat

"No sir"

Adal left. His men followed him, and Nat went outside to put away Adal's gloves. I just stood there dumbfounded. I needed answers, but I didn't know what questions to ask. My legs felt like noodles and my stomach did flips in my chest.

The only thing I could do was sit down. I collapsed hard on the floor hugging my knees to my chest. Before Nate could come back I heard sirens in the distance drawing closer to the garage. Tires screeched across the wet concrete outside and boots sloshed in the wet mud and snow mix.

I put my head in my arms surrounded by carnage. Blood and death splayed out on the walls around me. Tony's dying words lingered on my tongue. I said them to myself quietly.

"Don't blame yourself"

He knew. He figured it out right then, or at least he figured something out. He knew they were there for me and used his last words to tell me not to blame myself. How the fuck was I supposed to do that?!

The sobs started up again just as a whiff of gunpowder wafted into my nose.