Trying Anyway...(an excerpt from Fell Shadow's Eve)

The corridor was cramped, boiling heat turning it into a furnace. Sweat matted his hair to his forehead and neck as he looked around for sign of pursuit. It was a question of when, not if.



How could I have been so foolish!

Pulling out his last resort from the folds of his tattered, bloodstained coat, he ran his thumb over the serial number on the side.

1147512

Not the time. Heavy boots falling on the grating behind him echoed his next thought. I shouldn't have come. Moving swiftly in the opposite direction of the footsteps.

...

"He cannot have gone far!" heavy boots stopped as they reached the end of the sweltering hallway," Radek! Oskar! Head up the stairs and meet us outside. We'll flush him to you!"

Tytus Radomil knew every inch of this building, as he should. The fool was still here...he shouldn't have come.

"Go! There is no failure in House Avaritia!"

Pulling his weapon from the holster under his left arm, Tytus beckoned to the other two who had stayed with him, and began moving in through the lower levels of the building. He did not expect to find the boy. If he was here, he was probably above them somewhere. Perhaps he would run into Radek and Oskar. If they were lucky he would hole himself up in one of the offices and make a stand.

Tytus moved with nimble precision belied by his ample bulk. Years of this kind of work had formed patterns in his mind that he could never shake...not that he had ever wanted anything different. Killing this one would be a pleasure. The two under his command followed with similar, if not a less practiced familiarity. They held their weapons tightly, knees bent and head on a swivel. Just as he'd taught them. Good boys.

As he opened the door to the next room he heard a click and threw himself to the floor as three well placed shots erupted through the thin office wall. Hitting the floor Tytus rolled and came to one knee firing, emptying his clip into the room in a wide spread. A dull, heavy thud caught his ear. He turned just in time to see one of his two men fall from his knees to the floor, blood tossed upon the wall behind him a crimson stain.

"блудница детский!" Tytus spit out under his breath.

Nodding to the other man, a skinny one with a hawkish nose, he stood and moved again to the door. Kicking it open he stepped inside and dropped to one knee as comrade followed, lithe frame moving his weapon around the room in a professional manner. It mattered for not.

"Gone up to Radek and Oskar," Tytus said slowly, looking up at the ceiling vent hanging open," the air ducts."

Tytus was out the door of the office a second ahead of the other man, Irios if he remembered correctly.

"If he slips past the others before we get outside he will be gone!" Tytus yelled over his shoulder as he moved his heavily muscled frame down the halls like one of the trains of the old world.

...

Oskar Dobrosław picked up his pace as gunshots rang out from beneath both he and his comrade.

"OSKAR!" Radek bellowed from close behind," the boss needs us!"

"NO! We do as he said, the boy is quick and if we let him in front of us we will not catch him," Oskar took a deep breath as he ran through an open doorway and turned the corner to leap down a small flight of stairs," if he escapes then we too will have to run. Or die."

There was no fear in this admission. Oskar knew that to fail the boss was bad enough, but to fail under the command of the head of the House was death, instant, and without consideration. This was, in itself, a simple matter. Oskar liked things simple.

The hallway opened up into a large storage area that marked the last room before the exit. They could only hope the boy had not beaten them here. A loud clang. A small grate fell to the floor in the hallway behind them as the boy dropped like a shadow into a tight roll, weapon out. Oskar threw himself over the railing to the floor a good ten feet below as the boy's gun thundered twice, catching Radek in the shoulder and the face.

There would never be any more late, drunk talks in the local bars. Never be any more of anything for poor Radek. Oskar felt his brain slosh around in his skull as he landed on top of a roughly assembled pile of crates. Staggering to his feet he raised his gun and hammered off three shots before gaining his legs and ducking behind a machine the laborers used to cart boxes around the storage room. If the boss and the others did not come soon the boy would get away. If that happened they would all die, but not like Radek. Not so quickly.

Oskar smiled triumphantly as he saw the boss and Irios move out of the offices and into the storage room, weapons at ready. Oskar pointed up at the entrance to the large open room from the second floor halls. When the boss mouthed Radek Oskar frowned and pulled a finger across his throat. The fury on the boss's face chilled Oskar enough for him to slip as he tried to reload. Apparently they would all share the same fate if this ended poorly.

"Tytus!" the boy called from his hiding spot above them," let me go Tytus. I didn't want to kill those two of your men, I had no choice."

"You had a choice in coming here tonight незаконнорожденный!" the boss shouted back, veins straining in his forehead," you knew it would end like this if you returned! Why did you think he would change his mind?"

Silence. Oskar absent-mindedly rubbed his side, only bruised ribs if he was lucky. Glancing at the boss he turned his eyes quickly back to where the boy was hiding. The sound of the rest of the men coming from deep inside the offices and from somewhere on the second floor carried on ominous tension. Oskar swallowed nervously and kept his eyes on the walkway above.

"Toss down your gun and we will not shoot!" the boss yelled, keeping his gun locked tight in the ready position.



Oskar frowned at the obvious lie. There was no chance that the...movement from above. Oskar stared in bewilderment as the boy leaned out from the entrance to the hallway above and tossed a gun down to them. He realized his mistake as the first shot impacted into his chest. The gun that hit the floor in front of them was Radek's 9mm Les Baer. Oskar cried out in pain as the next shot shattered his left knee.

As he fell he felt the taste of blood in his mouth. The boss was shouting as more gunshots erupted from above. Irios was running to the stairs on the far side of the room, the boss returning fire. If the men on the second floor could push the boy into the open then Irios would have a chance at one shot, maybe two. Oskar pulled himself across the floor, blood staining the ground behind him. He paused to look up as Irios made it to the top of the stairs.

The boy was running at the man as shouts echoed from the hall behind him. Oskar watched in a numb disbelief as Irios raised his weapon, face tight with concentration. The world seemed to slow down, the pain almost disappear as the boy ducked under Irios' first and only shot and threw himself into the air. Whirling like a top the boy caught Irios under the chin, knocking him back towards the stairs. Several of the other men ran out from the second floor hallway and began firing at their prey.

"NO!" Tytus roared as he ran past where Oskar lay, footfalls splashing through blood.

The boy was behind Irios in the blink of an eye, pulling the man down the stairs with him. Blood plumed in fatal mists as bullets found there mark in Irios. Oskar cried out in anger and helplessness as the boy and his slain opponent fell down the stairs to land in a heap at the boss's feet.

...

His head ached and his left hip burned with the only shot to hit him before he could use their comrade as a shield. There was still hope. Pulling himself to his knees he grabbed his weapon from the bloodied floor and...

The cold touch of the barrel of the gun against the back of his head felt almost good. He was so tired.

"Baldur...you should not have come...глупый."

The curse hung dead in the air as footsteps on the walkway above sounded out menacingly. He relaxed his shoulders and sat back on his heels.

"I had to."
"Fool."