Page 96 of Incubus
“I don’t see him,” Sasha whispered, looking sharply around the parking lot. They walked with Jim between them just in case he crumbled to the ground.
“Why doesn’t that make me feel any better?” Nathan said.
The parking lot was empty of people. They had chosen a motel in that specific neighborhoodbecauseit was quieter and close to the Veil doorway. Nathan glanced at their car's tires, remembering the Gatehouse. They looked fine.
“We can still make a break for it,” he said.
“But our stuff,” Jim said, looking up at the motel.
“It does seem a little too easy,” Sasha said, bending over to look at the car more closely, as if he half expected to find a bomb hidden under the carriage.
“Walter?” Nathan called.
“The way seems to be clear, Nathan,” Walter said from nearby, though his expression was equally wary.
Looking away from the car, Nathan noticed that Jim had started wandering out into the more open part of the parking lot. Jim was looking up, almost as if he was enjoying the few dim stars, but Nathan recognized the worried look on his brother’s face.
“He's watching us…” Jim said softly to the air. Then he jerked to the side, just in time as a bullet whizzed past his head and struck one of the cars behind him.
“Jim!” Nathan called, racing for his brother.
Sasha’s voice yelled after him. “Nathan, up there!”
Nathan risked a look back but not before he had reached Jim and started pulling him aside. Gabriel was visible in a window on the fourth floor of the motel, maybe he was even in their room, and he had his gun steadied on Jim.
All Nathan cared about was moving fast and getting out of the line of fire, even with Jim’s feet stumbling along beside him. He saw Gabriel disappear from the window soon after.
Sasha indicated an alley up ahead. With Jim in tow, they quickly ducked down it.
“At what point did we think this would be a good idea again?” Nathan said bitingly. He called ahead to Sasha in front of them. “Any more brilliant plans, Starsky?”
“Does that make me Hutch or you Hutch?” Jim asked.
How Jim could manage to still dodge a bullet on instinct was beyond Nathan.
Sasha seemed to be looking for a place they could hide, which Nathan didn’t really consider a better alternative to continuing to run.
“He'll have to regroup again,” Sasha said. “It'll be a moment before he can come after us and realizes where we went.”
“Even if he does come down here,” Nathan said, slowing his pace since he was winded and Jim was heavy even moving mostly on his own power, “do you have a plan or are we just hoping for dumb luck here?” He grabbed Sasha’s shoulder when the incubus stopped in front of him. Then Nathan realized what Sasha was staring at. “A dumpster?”
Sasha grinned as he turned around. “Jim,” he said slowly, “all I need you to do when I give the word…is concentrate as hard as you can.”
Oneortwoagonizingminutes passed before Gabriel's footsteps were heard running down the alley. He was otherwise very quiet, moving swiftly and precise. Walter was standing out in the middle of the alley keeping watch for when Gabriel grew closer.
Nathan could feel Sasha’s breath on his hair as they waited, and Jim’s more labored breathing against his cheek that smelled faintly of alcohol and lemon from the Long Island. They were huddled tight together on the hidden side of the dumpster, easily visible once Gabriel got past it, but not until he came further down the alley.
Sasha had placed Jim’s coat across from the dumpster against the other wall. If Gabriel took the bait, it wouldn’t take him long to spot where they were hiding.
“Where are you...?” Gabriel said to himself in a harsh whisper. Nathan couldn’t see him yet, but he assumed Jim's coat had been spotted.
"He's here," Walter said, even backing up a step as Gabriel came into view.
Across from them in the narrow alley, Gabriel reached down to pick the jacket up. If he turned just slightly, he would be able to see his quarry right there beside the dumpster.
Jim’s breath hitched and Nathan tightened the hold he had on his brother’s shoulders. Another moment. Just one more moment...
“Jim, now!” Sasha yelled.
