Page 60 of Phantom
“Oh, looks like you’ve made friends all over the place,” Luther said with a laugh. “Maybe I’ll save this one, and we can kill you together. Just let me finish things off here first.”
Luther started to turn back toward Nick while Taylor advanced on me. I perched myself into a crouch and waited for Taylor’s next swing. His blade caught the edge of my shirt and managed to slice through some of the skin underneath, but I got out from under him. I tackled Nick backward under his meeting table and used a boot to kick it over so that it shielded us from the fray. Looking to my left and right, Avery and Bernard were holding their own, and a couple of the Unchained Dogs were already down. The Steel Knights had the upper hand, but between Luther and Taylor, there was more than enough to tip the balance.
I reached over the table and fired, narrowly missing Luther, who immediately fired back. When I ducked back down next to Nick, he laughed. “You’re well-liked.”
“Yeah, I like to leave an impression.” Once again, I lifted my head up, but that time, Taylor had advanced and swung, nearly getting me. “Shit. Your son is batshit.”
“Yeah, I’m learning that. Crawl.”
Following Nick’s orders, I crawled forward, and he pulled the table, keeping it blocking us like a shield. “Thank God I invested in the strongest wood.” The table collided with the wall, creating a sort of nook in which we were positioned against the wall, leaving us less exposed due to the tabletop blocking the majority of the fighting. “CJ, why are you here? I gave you twenty-four hours so that you could run.”
“We saw them coming and had to come back,” I replied.
“We?”
“Yeah. Tess is outside, putting in work.”
“You guys gotta get out of here,” Nick said. “Grab Tess and go.”
“We’ll see this through to the end.”
Nick shook his head. “As long as Taylor is here, neither of you will be safe. You gave us the edge we needed by showing up and surprising ’em, but now you gotta go.” He put a hand on my shoulder. “Trust me. Get out of here. Take care of my girl.”
I nodded. “I will. I promise.”
Nick pulled his gun out, and I held mine up, and at the same time, we crawled out of the sides of the table and jumped into the insanity. Nick went for Luther, and because Luther had his eyes on me, Nick was able to get the jump on him. They wrestled around a bit, both of their guns knocking free, and though Nick was older, it wasn’t long before he got the edge over Luther and had beat him down to the ground. Bullet, Avery, Bernard, and even the prospects were holding their own. Nick was right. They had what it was going to take to defend themselves. It was what I was hoping for all along. With Nick’s blessing, we could go in peace.
That is, we would if I could escape.
Suddenly, someone backed into me, and I went flying across the room. I was prepared to turn and fight, but I looked up, and Paulie was ducking away from an angry Taylor.
“Pay attention, rookie!” Paulie yelled.
Little did he know, but he saved me from Taylor. With his huge machete held high over his head and bloodlust in his eyes, my next course of action was going to be somehow dodging Taylor. He’d never let us out without a fight. The warehouse was awash with the Dogs and Knights, along with the debris of several broken items scattered around. Some of the crates in the corner that held some of the bar’s cooking items had tipped, and a few bags of flour were spilled on the ground. It was a long shot, but I turned and ran straight for the crates, jumping into them and using my feet to kick up the flour.
The more mess I could make with the flour, the better. The flour created a hazy shroud around me. I could barely see any way out, but I was pretty well oriented and was hopeful that I could get to the back door. Taylor was advancing, trying to see through the haze, and when his blade swung down, slicing into another bag of flour, I slipped to the right. Every time there was a burst of noise, I moved behind an adjacent stack of flour, and relief covered me when I noticed Taylor turn in the other direction and start fighting his way through the mess I’d created.
It was as clear a window as I was going to get. I slunk along the wall, passing unnoticed behind a few of the fights happening near the back door, and took my time to press the button on the door carefully so that it didn’t make much noise.
When I was out in the setting sun, I raced around to the front and saw Tess sitting in the car with Lockjaw. The keys were still in the ignition, so I started up the car and moved at a slow, quiet pace as I pulled back out onto the road, where I picked up the pace and left Hoppa’s behind.
“What happened?” Tess asked. “What about my dad?”
“Your dad’s fine, and the Knights are gonna be fine, but Taylor…” I shook my head. “He tried to kill me.”
“He just doesn’t know how to leave it well enough alone. We came back. What more does he want?”
“My head,” I responded. I kept looking into the rearview mirror, afraid that Luther or Taylor may catch on and follow me, but after about ten minutes, I still saw no one coming. The pounding in my heart finally started to slow, and I immediately felt dizzy.
“Colin?”
The car veered as I steered, and I knew I wouldn’t hang on much longer. I quickly pulled us over onto the shoulder and pulled the car to a stop. My eyes were starting to cross, and it felt like I might throw up or pass out at any second. I opened the door of the car and stumbled out, hoping that maybe a bit of fresh air would help. It was difficult keeping my feet straight as I walked around the car to the safety of the embankment, but as soon as I was out of the street, I collapsed. My lungs were burning like they were going to give out, and it was only then that I noticed the searing pain in my side.
“Colin!”
Tess ran over just as I was rolling over onto my back, and my head was barely able to focus on the beautiful sight in front of me.
“Fuck, he got you.” Tess’ hand was on my stomach then, lifting my shirt and causing my side to scream out in pain. “It’s not too deep, but you lost a lot of blood. Do you have extra tape?”
