Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Things Best Left Alone

He awoke promptly at ten despite the fact that he had just opened himself to sleep barely four hours previous. He heard stirrings from the other room and reached under his pillow for a gun that wasn’t there. Looking around as the haze cleared from his eyes he remembered that he wasn’t in his apartment and sat up, the sun filling the standard white room with a glow that attacked his sleepy eyes from all sides. He scratched at his clean bald head and walked to the heavy reinforced door that led from his bedroom. The smell of breakfast filled his nose as he realized he hadn’t had anything to eat since roughly six the night before.

Walking stiffly into the den area he caught sight of Shin Lao, dressed casually in sweat pants and a white tee shirt. It was quite a contrast to the impeccably dressed woman the night before. The smell of coffee drew him to the kitchen where she was frying what appeared to be eggs. “I’ve already eaten, but I thought this might be more to your liking than what I had.” She shuffled the food off onto a paper plate and handed it to him. He set it on the barren white counter top and grabbed the only mug out of the pantry and poured a cup of coffee. He ate quickly and turned to face Shin Lao as she sat across from him at the large oak table. “Today we see Mac and find out what he knows. While you’re waking up I’ll finish my story that I started in your office. That might shed some light on why Tommy is still alive, and how much shit we got ourselves into.” Skinner sat attentively across the table, aware of his crumpled suit and scratchy face. Even first thing in the morning dressed as she was, she still made him self conscious with her beauty.

“True to his word we showed back up at The Pit three days later. Tommy had a small army sitting around waiting for us. Obviously talking was out of the question. Though we thought that would be the direction that he went in. Challenging an Irish man’s virility essentially just leads into a fire fight. I don’t know if that’s what the Viper was planning on, but that was the result. We walked in there and the bartender brought the shotgun to bear on the door. Whether he had done this to everybody that walked through the door that night or not we don’t know, but the noise of that bit of steel being pumped seemed to stir the nest as it was followed by the sound of every other piece in that place being cocked almost at the same time.” Skinner stopped sipping his coffee for a moment. He remembered walking that crime scene. There were literally hundreds of bullet casings covering the floor along with half that many discarded clips. Forty two bodies had been tagged that night. They had thought that it was a gang hit just by the number of bodies. He found it hard to believe that these two people had taken out that many people and had still managed to walk out of that place under their own power. “So, lemme get this straight, you two walked in there, killed all of those people, and walked out? I know you guys are good but...wow. All I can say is wow.”

“I’m getting to that Skinner. The bartender opened up first. He saw Elias draw his pistols and jumped the gun so to speak. It was hell after that. I dove behind the bar and Elias dropped two rounds into the man. Only hit him in the shoulders though, didn’t kill him. The others trained their guns on him and the Viper didn’t say a word, only raised his guns and scanned the crowd, seemingly daring them to pull a trigger.”

Someone did pull the trigger however. The single shot seemed to ignite the area like the pits of hell the bar was likely named after. The Viper simply seemed to spin around into a crouch, ducking below a table. The spray of bullets passing overhead, plugging into the mirror behind the bar, glass and liquor spraying everywhere as the bullets pounded into the wood behind. The bartender screamed as the rain of high test alcohol soaked him and his wounds. Shin Lao stood up from behind her cover and pulled her .45 pistol. The Viper, ever cool and collected strafed to the left, his fingers creating the torque needed to let fly with a hail of bullets. He tagged three people before the shock wore off and they opened fire again.

Several people were trying to flank the Viper as Shin Lao fired off several rounds, killing several more. Morale was starting to wane in the group as they were realizing that they were outclassed. They concentrated on the staccato beats of the wads of steel and lead flying from the Vipers guns. He had walked himself into a corner but he was far from cornered. Taking a diving leap he landing behind the bar, landing on the wounded bartender. The man screamed once more and started to kick at the Viper, tangling himself in the man’s coat. Stripping it off in a fluid motion the Viper stood again as the goons were reloading. Now only wearing his black suit he picked off several more. They seemed to be in shock as the wounded thugs seemed to fly back from the impact of the .50 rounds making contact with solid bone and flesh. He holstered his pistols and seemed to stare down the remaining thugs. In one motion he kicked his foot and sent the bartender’s shotgun flying upward. He caught it smoothly and aimed it into the crowd before they had time to disperse. He pumped the trigger once, sending a swath of shot into the crowd. Shin Lao followed up with several more rounds into the stunned mooks before she had to reload.

The Viper pumped the shotgun with a loud CHA-CHINK noise before bringing the shotgun again to bear on the few remaining thugs. They threw down their pistols quickly as their will to continue this completely disappeared as they looked around at roughly forty of their fallen comrades. “I was wondering how long it would take you guys to see reason. Now, one of you is going to tell me where I can find Tommy before I start picking the rest of you off. I’d tell you to ask the guys I just hit how much it hurts to have your chest turned into hamburger, but they seem to think that it’s pretty fatal.” He emptied the rest of the shells out of the shotgun and handed the empty weapon back to the bartender. “I’m a killer not a thief. Next time I’d suggest you ask questions before you start shooting. You might want to have those wounds looked at.” He picked up his jacket and strolled around the bar. Shin Lao stood up again and followed behind him keeping her gun trained on the small group that was left. The Viper’s guns were again in his hands, hanging at his sides as he sauntered across the empty space. The crunch of broken glass and bullet casings under his boots made the gathered criminals flinch. “So, again I ask you, where’s Tommy Mac?” He looked at the meanest looking thug in the bunch. The guy just spit and said something hurried in Gaelic. “That, my man is the wrong answer.” The Viper leveled his gun at the man’s head and pulled the trigger.

The click of the empty chamber made everybody jump. They were anticipating the thunder of the ejected bullet. Even the man jumped as he realized that the gun was empty. He laughed and lunged forward confident that he could take the young man. BLAT went the boom of the gun as the Viper brought it up to the man’s chest. The gas vents made the normally thundering crack of the Desert Eagle .50’s sound strange close up, almost like a ghostly wail. The man fell down, his vital fluids running down the large hole in his chest. The Viper coolly slid another clip into his empty pistol and dared the rest of the crowd. “Anyone else feeling brave?” They could almost feel his icy stare radiating from behind the designer sunglasses.

“That won’t be necessary Bruno. You seem to have caught us behind the eight ball.” The Viper turned his head and saw the form of Tommy MacGregor walk out from the side room behind the assembled thugs. No need to blow down the rest of us. You’ve got moxie kid I’ll give ya that. Let’s talk business.” The Viper had heard of Tommy’s obsession with the old 20’s film noir movies. He fancied himself as a Sam Spade or something and seemed to always speak like he actually was. The three of them walked into the back room. Both of the hired killers scanned the room looking for any possible ambush. None came, though thankfully for whom no one was certain. “So, I assume you’re here to bump me off, eh button man?” “That would be the idea.” The Viper set the marked bullet that he had been given by Boss Tanaka on Tommy’s desk. The declaration had been made. “So, fire that bean-shooter of yours and let’s see what the big sleep has to offer eh?” “Let’s talk first shall we.” It obviously wasn’t a request and Tommy shuffled in his seat. “All right, we’ll barber for a bit.”