Bullets pass whistling over our heads and they sink into the walls of where we are; She's terrified, I cover her with my body to avoid that a treacherous bullet hurt her, quickly I took her by the hand and led her below the desktop, she´s crying and trembling without control, Matilda wants roar and show those wretches who's the boss, but I must wait for the right time, I can´t put her in danger, she´s very valuable to me, and above all I swear to protect her till the end regardless of the consequences, it's my job, my responsibility is to save her, but mostly, she has become in my only reason which why makes sense to stay alive.
Suddenly silence fills the place, I hear their voices, they´re recharging, is now or never, I release her from my hug and tell her to stay where she is, Matilda shines with the lamplight.
"It's time to dance."
One of them is behind the door, I pull the pin of my always loyal Thompson and full him with lead through it, I break the door with a kick and distinguish two more of them just down the stairs, they look at me surprised and not give credit when I start to spray them with bursts of .45.
"Son of a bitch, damn you."
These are the words I hear them scream before Matilda makes them silent, I quickly descend the steps without releasing the trigger and managed to finish with another 3 before having to cover myself in the pillar to recharge, more of them come running, they´re shooting as if they have infinite bullets, newbies, what more can you expect?, bosses rarely go to do the dirty work. I leave the coverage and walk direct toward them; some are now lying on the floor in a pool of blood.
"Did you not know how to shoot, come on, this is a man's world, children should not play with guns."
I make fun of his bad aim, they don´t like it, five of them appear with shotguns and force me to seek coverage again, I should not trust myself, I am a mere mortal, and I can´t leave her, do not want even imagine what they will do if they catch her. I take cover behind a box, "explosives", just my luck, I break one side extracting the content, grenades? Excellent; I wait to have them within reach before removing the fuse and throw it at them, the explosion is big, their cries of pain indicates me that it was a successful launch, I leave coverage throwing a grenade and pulling the trigger again, one by one fall before our power, the dance is over.
A cry of despair tells me that something is wrong, someone managed to reach her during the confusion, I rush up the stairs, she is still under the table, one of them tries to drag her out of hiding, but he didn´t realizes my presence, I empty the rest of the magazine into his body.
I hang Matilda on my shoulder, I bend down and tend her my hand, she watches me with fear, but after a while gives me a smile, I return the gesture and a feeling of tranquility fills my being.
"Come on, we gotta get out of here."
She comes out of hiding, still trembling like a child watching a horror movie, I tell her to close her eyes, she obeys, I led her out of the building to the car, I start the engine and drive off into the night, she is silent for all the way. We arrived at my apartment, I let her go in and she sits on the couch with her eyes loss on the ground, I put Matilda in the closet and give her a smile. "Thanks honey, I do not know what I'd do without you", going into the kitchen I begin to make coffee, stare at the water boiling, unexpectedly I feel her arms around my waist, she weeps bitterly and that hurts me, I turn around to hug her, caress her hair and let her vent.
"Why me? Why they want to get me?"
Her words make me cringe, I lean over and kiss her forehead, she looks up, her beautiful blue eyes are fixed on me.
"Listen to me, I will not allow anything or anyone hurt you, I will always protect you."
She smiles, and sticks his face in my chest, I feel my own tears fill my eyes, I know what I just said is one of the most difficult acts to perform, may be the only act of pure love that have made in my miserable life, the people behind her are very powerful, and will not stop at nothing to catch her, of course, they will have to kill me first, about why they´re following her as hunting dogs, I can´t tell her the truth...
Not yet...
--- Four weeks before ---
The rain falls incessantly on the city, the night is cold and the lonely feeling in the atmosphere is overwhelming, from the window of my office I watch the cars lights illuminate the darkness as they pass through the avenue, a happy couple passes by smiling and seem to enjoy the rain, the view reminds me of the night that she left.
"Leon, I can´t keep this up, I can´t keep wearing this mask of happiness when in fact I pray to Faust that allows you to come back alive."
"It's my job, I can´t left the case just like that, darling; you must understand that ..."
"Understand what? Understand that you risk your life following shadows? Where I left in all this? Tell me where is left our relationship ... it doesn´t matters?"
I kept silence, I could not answer anything.
"Goodbye Leon, forever."
She took his bags and left, I never saw her again, I didn´t bother to look for her, she was absolutely right, I always put my work above our already worn relationship, I guess in the end the pressure eventually destroyed the little love she felt for me; shortly thereafter I leave my post at the police station and started my career as a private detective, I'm not proud of what I do but it's what allows me to live day to day, but, to be honest, since my last case, which did not end very well, it would seem that misery became my best friend, I feel defeated, don´t have anyone and no one cares for me, many nights I have put the cannon of the python in my mouth and flirted with death, but something always stops me from buying that ticket to hell.
The clock marks ten at night, the rain has stopped and the city lights now shine like a magical dance, I get closer to the window and look back toward the street, a red car stop on the sidewalk, two muscular types descend from the front, I look at them awkwardly accommodating their weapons, would not surprise me that they were here to settle a score, there are many who want to see me six feet under, the two gorillas give a signal to each other and one of them opens the tailgate, someone descend but I can´t distinguish him, the three enter the building.
I sit behind the desk and put the gun in my lap, several minutes pass until the glass of the door darkens, I tight the gun, the door opens and in the doorway appears a woman, is very attractive, wearing a purple dress and her hair is pulled back in a hair up, while she walks toward the desk, she looks at the walls where are hung awards and old newspaper clippings, she stops and looks one of them with great interest, I hear the door close, I still have the revolver in my hand, I do not take my eyes off her.
"So you killed the Wright brothers? Very impressive, there was a great reward for that pair of sadistic, 50 victims"
She feigns a shudder, his voice is soft, but I notice a sarcastic tone.
"By the way, you can calm down and stop hiding the gun detective, I'm not here to kill you"
"Let me be the judge of that Madame." I reply rudely while I put the gun on the desk.
"Haha, I see it's true that you have a heavy humor detective, I like that, but like I said, I do not come looking for trouble, on the contrary, I need your help."
She approaches the desk while from her purse she takes out of an envelope, I get up and approached her cautiously, she hands me the envelope, I open it and watch the content, it is a photograph, in it appears a young woman, is beautiful, she wears a yellow dress, her long hair reaches her waist and part of it fall on her face making her look innocent and shy.
"Her name is Fluttershy, she is part of our organization."
"What organization?"
"That detective, is none of your interest." She looks at me angrily. "She was sent on a mission a couple of days ago, however, some people have managed to capture her and they have her on the docks, I need that you go and rescue her, then you must take her to this address, then we will take charge."
"Why, if you know where she is, and if she is part of your people, why you´re not going to rescue her by yourself?"
"I see that you´re not easy to convince, right? Let's just say that this is a curfew, during which we cannot act, but that does not prevent us to seek other means to achieve our goals. "
"A scapegoat eh? Agree, and what about, my fee?"
"Get the job done successfully without questions and you will receive the other half the day of delivery." She puts her purse on the table and opens it to show a substantial amount of bits, I smile mischievously.
"It's a deal then." taking her hand I plant a kiss on it; she raises an eyebrow and smiles, as she walks toward the door she stops.
"By the way detective, once you have the girl, do not try anything strange ... you have 48 hours."
She leaves the office, "anything strange?", what did she meant with that?, again I look at Fluttershy´s picture, does not seem the type of woman who is in a criminal organization, but I cannot raise conjectures, I must concentrate on the work, they want her and are paying very well to get her.
I go to the closet, I dress the vest, holstered my gun and put it on the belt, in a small suitcase i set several boxes of ammunition and magazines, I take Matilda and the shotgun, I'm about to leave when the phone rings.
"Detective Leon?"
"At the phone."
"I suggest you not to believe in everything that Miss Sparkle said, I know you are on the way, we'll be waiting, oh, by the way, is Fluttershy's birthday, so I would appreciate if you bring a cake."
"Wait, What?... What are you talking about?... Who are you? ..."
The call ends, now I'm really confused, who the hell called? How did he know about Fluttershy, and about that I´m in her search? and more importantly, what about the supposed Miss Sparkle? Perhaps I'm being watched, I go back to the window, but I can´t distinguish anyone in nearby buildings nor the street.
"You better move on man" I tell myself.