June turned right and started down an alley. The man across the street made a corresponding directional change and hurried to stay in pursuit.
“No, what are you doing?” Sean said.
“Going into an alley like that definitely isn’t a good idea,” Adriana voiced Sean’s concern.
“Yeah. What do you think we should do?” he asked as he twisted sideways to avoid a rather plump man in a gray suit and tie.
“You’re asking me?” She sounded surprised.
“Always open to good ideas.”
“You go in behind this guy. I’ll go up to the next street, run around, and cut them off.”
“You sure you’re fast enough?”
She lowered her head and gave him a playfully irritated look.
“Yeah. I’m fast enough.”
Before he could question her, she took off, ducking and weaving through the pedestrians. It didn’t take her long to reach the next corner, where she disappeared behind the row of buildings. Meanwhile, Sean peeled off into the alley behind the spotter as he pursued Tommy and June.
Now, in between the buildings on either side, June’s voice resonated louder than it had on the main street.
“I told you, Tommy, I’m going back to work. Leave me alone. I don’t want to get involved with whatever you all are up to.”
“June, please. Just listen to me. I’m sorry,” Tommy said. “Please. We really need to get back on the main street.”
Tommy turned around and saw the man in the pea coat behind them. Sean ducked behind a garbage bin before his friend could see him.
Seeing the spotter following them, Tommy knew they were in trouble. “June, sweetie. I think it would be a good idea if we go back to the cafe and chill out for a bit. Just let me explain things.”
“What is there to explain? You and your friends are obviously involved with something dangerous. I’d prefer to keep that kind of danger out of my life. My car is just around the corner, so I’ll be fine.”
She’d no sooner gotten the words out of her mouth than the gunman from the cafe stepped out from behind the corner ahead. His towel was gone, and now he held the weapon in plain sight in front of his waist, aiming it right at the approaching couple.
June stumbled to a stop. Tommy saw the threat and stepped in front of her.
“It would have been easier if you had given me the medallion at the cafe, Mr. Schultz. Now you’ve put yourself and your girlfriend in a bad situation.”
“I’m not his girlfriend,” June said.
“She’s not my girlfriend,” Tommy said almost simultaneously, though he sounded a tad hurt.
“I don’t care,” the gunman said. “Give me the medallion and the folder.”
Tommy shook his head. “Like my buddy said, you won’t fire that weapon here. Too many people will hear it. Police will be all over you within minutes. Then what will you do?”
The gunman flashed a toothy grin. “Well, we can’t have that.”
He reached around his back and produced a black cylinder. His fingers made quick work of the sound suppressor, and within twenty seconds it was attached to his weapon’s muzzle.
Tommy swallowed.
The spotter stepped up from behind and grabbed June’s arms. She shrieked for a second, but the spotter covered her mouth with a gloved hand. She struggled for a moment, until she felt something press hard into her lower back. Tommy spun around to rush to her aid, but there was nothing he could do. He saw the gun in the spotter’s hand.
“Don’t make this harder than it has to be,” the first gunman said. He put out his hand with palm up. “Medallion. Now.”
“I don’t have it,” Tommy said. “It’s at the cafe with my friends.”
“You must think we’re stupid. You would never let something as valuable as that medallion leave your sight.”
“What do you want with it anyway?” Tommy asked. “I guess a two-bit criminal like you plans to sell it on the black market. No one even knows what it is. I doubt you could get more than a few hundred bucks for it.”
“We aren’t interested in money, Mr. Schultz. You have no idea what you’re dealing with.”
Out of nowhere, a can of tomato sauce zipped through the air and struck the gunman on the side of the head. As he toppled sideways, the gun in his hand went off, sending the bullet into one of the wooden support beams of the building to his left.
The spotter shoved June aside and took aim at the corner from where the can had been thrown.
“Who’s there?”
He heard rapid footsteps behind him and spun around in time to see Sean charging at full speed. Before the spotter could react, Sean plowed his shoulder into the man’s midsection and drove him backward toward Tommy.
Sean let out a growl as he forklifted the guy an inch off the ground.
Tommy stepped out of the way as Sean drove the guy into the ground. The spotter’s head smacked against the hard surface, knocking him out instantly.
The original gunman recovered from the can striking his head. After a few seconds of staggering, he regained his balance and took aim at the new threat.
He only heard two footsteps from his right before a foot snapped up and kicked the gun out of his hand. The gunman ignored the sharp pain in his hand and turned to face the adversary who dared interfere.
“Ms. Villa,” he said, assuming a fighting stance.
“And you are?”
He swung a fast kick at her midsection. She knocked it down with a swipe of her fist. The kick was just a decoy to lower her defenses. He faked a jab, which she tried to block, and then sent a roundhouse into her right cheek.
Her head whipped to the side, and she stumbled backward. The man didn’t relent. He jumped through the air and kicked hard with his right foot, landing the blow on the same cheek he’d just struck.
Adriana tripped and fell backward, crashing into three garbage cans next to the corner.
Sean and Tommy saw what happened and rushed to help. The gunman glanced over his shoulder and saw them approaching. He reached down, grabbed Adriana by the jacket, and yanked her up onto her feet. She winced in pain but was still conscious.
The man produced a knife and pressed the sharp edge against her neck. “Stay back,” he warned.
Sean and Tommy skidded to a stop just ten feet away.
The man shuffled his feet backward. “I’m warning all of you. Leave this place. You do not know the power you’re meddling with. Those who raise the sword will die by it.”
His hands moved suddenly, and he threw something onto the ground. He shoved Adriana forward and dashed down the adjacent alley just as the little metal disk erupted in a searing white flash.
Sean grabbed her and dove clear of the blast radius. Tommy tackled June and covered her to keep any shrapnel from hitting her.
“Tommy, you guys okay?” Sean asked, unable to see anything as his eyes started the slow progression of adjusting back to normal light.
“Yeah, we’re okay. You guys?”
“Yeah. It was just a flash bang.”
Tommy sat up and waited for the world around him to slowly change back from bright white. “It looked like one of those disks you got from your buddy at DARPA.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Sean said. The white light had already started fading. He helped Adriana to her feet and then half felt his way over to the unconscious man on the ground. “You hear what he said about raising the sword?”
He felt around in the guy’s pockets, but found no identification, money, or credit cards. The only thing he discovered was a single key. It was certainly old, since keys like that were rarely used anymore except for historical buildings. At the end of the stem, an interesting design had been carved out of the metaclass="underline" a sword and a crescent moon.