Chapter 19

Chapter 19: High Stakes

Skinner wasn’t sure how much time had passed when he slowly became conscious again. He looked up into the face of a wiry black man and began to frantically struggle. “Calm down man. You’re all right. I pulled you outta that car back there when the coast was clear.” “Wha-what do you mean clear? What happened? All I know is we were driving and then the world exploded and everything went dark.” Skeet had a grim look on his face as he helped the detective up into a sitting position. “Well some guys came around the car and pulled the driver out. I guess they thought you were dead. To be honest you almost were if they had waited around another couple of minutes you more than likely would have burned to death. Not one of my favorite ways of going I might add.” “Shit, I’ve gotta call Elias.” “Whoa, calm down there sparky. You’re confused, Elias is dead.” “Shit. No. No he isn’t, it was an act. Fuck. Why didn’t I notice them? Dammit!!”

Skinner hadn’t noticed the pain in his abdomen until then and winced loudly as he clutched his stomach. “Yeah, I forgot about that. I pulled a hunk of metal out of your stomach. Don’t worry though, it didn’t go deep. But if you keep getting excited like that it’s never going to close up right. So, tell me again what you said about Elias. I just don’t seem to believe you on that one. Must have been the knock to the head.” “I’ve got to get to a phone. Can I use yours?” “Yeah, but I think you’re going to be disappointed.” “Just trust me on this one. The person they pulled out of the car was the Ghost. If that doesn’t tell you a little something about who I know then I don’t know what to tell you.” “That doesn’t really prove anything though, everybody knows that name and who she tended to work with.” “Whatever just get me the phone. This throws a new wrinkle in everything.”

Skeet brought the greasy phone over to where Skinner was laying. “Sorry it’s not cordless, but these metal buildings don’t exactly give you good reception.” Skinner nodded and dialed the Viper’s cell number. “Hey it’s Skinner. I’m at whom I presume to be Skeet’s shop. No she’s not with me. That’s why I, oww fuck, called. They got her. The Honda’s totaled.” Skinner sat silently as the raised voice from the other end blared through the old receiver. He looked at Skeet and shrugged. “Listen, just calm down and pick me up if you could. No I don’t know if she called Edgar. We were doing a little recon and I guess they tailed us from there. OK just get here.” Skinner hung up the phone and handed it back to Skeet. “Well, whether you believe me or not he’ll be here in about thirty minutes. Is the Beamer done yet?” “Nope, but it will be shortly. Just have to finish putting in the windshield and it’s gotta set for a little bit but other than that it’s golden.

The Viper roared through the streets of New York screaming and pounding on the steering wheel of the Aston Martin the entire way. This new turn completely screwed up the job as he’d set it out. He tried to steel himself again but found himself simply getting angrier and angrier. He calmed himself down enough to obey most of the traffic laws. The last thing that he needed was to get pulled over tonight, especially with the weapons that he had in the car that he obviously wasn’t licensed to carry. He came up on the warehouses quickly and roared expertly between them. He had traveled this path many times to Skeet’s shop and came upon the still smoking wreckage of his Honda. He felt his fury rise again as he fishtailed around the corner and down a few more rows, screeching to a halt in front of Skeet’s warehouse. Skeet recognized the sound of the Aston Martin’s engine like it was the voice of his child. In essence it was. He had taken that piece of machinery apart last year and rebuilt it for performance from the ground up. If what the man had said was true, Skeet was afraid. Not necessarily for himself, but for whomever crossed the man’s path. If that was the Viper coming through the door, hell was about to be unleashed on earth.

Despite these feelings Skeet felt a twinge of awe as the man came marching through the open door of his shop. He was walking so briskly that his overcoat was billowing wide in the self created breeze. His holsters clearly visible and heavy with the two hand cannons that he particularly liked. His immaculately styled hair was the only thing that didn’t move dramatically as he came around to face Skinner. “OK, tell me what happened. I need to know down to the letter.” The man was normally all business, but this last occurrence was strictly a personal strike against him and he was ready to go on the warpath. The grim look on the man’s face frightened Skinner as he struggled into a sitting position which only resulted in grabbing his stomach and cursing the blood he felt trickle down his stomach through the bandage. “I don’t know, we were driving here, there was an explosion and then the next thing I knew I was lying here with, who I presume is Skeet telling me that he pulled me out of the car.”

The Viper’s face softened for a second as he turned to face Skeet, who was personally floating between scared for his life and awestruck. “Thank you Skeet. I owe you one.” “No way man, we’re just a little closer to even is all.” The Viper extended his hand and the mechanic gladly shook it. “It’s good to see you among the living again man. You had us all worried for a minute there.” The Viper didn’t say anything but glanced around the shop. He wasn’t sure what he was looking for, but he knew he’d recognize it when he saw it. There was nothing that caught his attention however. Everything appeared to be exactly as he remembered it. “Did you see anything Skeet?” The assassins steely face turned towards Skeet and the man shivered. She swore he could see the anger glowing in the man’s eyes. “I just saw a couple of guys pull someone from the driver’s side and throw them into a van. Then they just took off. Me and a couple of guys ran over after they’d left and pulled him outta the passenger side.” “Thanks again Skeet. You’re a lifesaver.” “Anything I can do for a friend man. Oh, the Beamer’s almost done. Just gotta let the glass set for a bit.”

“Unfortunately Skeet, we don’t have time for that. Skinner can you walk?” Skinner groaned a little bit but struggled to a sitting, and then to a standing, position. “I’ll damn well be able to walk outta here.” The Viper smiled at the man’s tenacity. “Good, you’ll be driving the BMW back to the house. You’ll follow me and I’ll pick up some artillery and I’ll be on my way. Thanks again Skeet.” “Don’t mention it. You gonna go get the bad guys now?” The Viper looked at him with a determined expression on his face. “Yeah…all of them” The Viper turned to Skinner and led him back to the BMW. “I’ll stay under the speed limit for this, so don’t get too excited while we’re on the trip. We don’t need any more attention tonight.” Skinner nodded and climbed painfully into the driver’s seat of the BMW. “Now easy with that thing man. It’s got a couple more horses under the hood than your average truck.” Skeet instructed him as he shut the door. “Don’t worry, I’m used to big engines” Skinner backed out of the warehouse as Skeet raised the door and turned to follow the Viper back through the back alleys of New York to the Interstate where, much against what he’d said, stomped on the gas and rocketed the Aston Martin upstate.

They arrived at the house in what felt to Skinner like no time at all. To be honest his gut was killing him and he’d almost blacked out on several occasions, only the lights from passing cars keeping his eyes open and his mind aware. Unusual for the Viper he had parked the Aston Martin in front of the garage and walked around to the driver’s side of the BMW and opened the door. “Let’s get inside. I’ve got to pick up a few things and I’ll be off. Skinner looked at him as he hopped down out of the SUV. “You make it sound like I’m not needed anymore. You’ve said ‘I’ this whole time. I’ve got something of a stake in this myself.” The Viper looked thoughtful for a moment and turned to the door. “You’ll be staying here. You don’t need to be mixed up in this in your condition.” Skinner didn’t have time to retort before the Viper hit the access code to the alarm quickly and opened the door, holding it for Skinner.

The Viper quickly jogged up the stairs and went through the hall to his office where he flipped the switch on the wall, opening the door to his workshop. Skinner lay back on the couch in the office while he listened to the hit man mill about in his hidden sanctuary. He emerged with a large black duffle bag and started tossing as many large caliber pistols, shotguns and rifles as he could fit. He stuffed another one with armfuls of clips and shells and zipped them both up. “You need to calm down man. Your heads not in this right to be going in with both barrels blazing.” Skinner was the recipient of the Viper’s icy glare as the man turned quickly. “I’ve got to do what I can tonight. This has turned quickly from a search and destroy to a rescue mission all because you two couldn’t stick to the simple plan.” “HEY! She was only doing what she thought needed to be done. Yes your plan was simple and we didn’t stick to it, but you know…we were trying to get a better idea so don’t blame us. We were sloppy yes, but we got some better idea of what we were going to be facing. I have something of a vested interest in making sure you stay alive or have you forgotten the deal we made back in the day?”

There, Skinner finally came out with it. It had been bugging him since the man’s miraculous resurrection and he finally came out and said it. “I’m still working on that.” “Yes I know, but that work doesn’t do me any good if you’re dead again, no does it? By the way in case you’re interested, there’s no less than twenty five people guarding the outside of the building and Shin said there were probably at least twice that many on the inside. So happy hunting prick and I hope you get what you’re looking for.” Skinner went silent and looked at the Viper defiantly if not a little daringly. The man had cut him a little deeper than he’d known with his comment and he simply grabbed his duffle bags and stormed out of the office. He threw the bags into the back of the BMW. Skinner looked from the open office door as the Viper roared backwards out of the gravel driveway and off into the night.