Four
I foot my foot down and accelerated. I had hung back at 50 mph long enough. I had allowed there to be some distance between me and my two remaining targets. My engine whined as the speedometer's needle steadily rose until it hit 130. I was going well beyond the speed limit, but I was in little danger. Years and years of ponification had left most highways almost completely empty. On the long interstate highways like I was currently on, you could go 10 miles without seeing another car.
After a few minutes, I slowed down again. My targets once again came into view as I reached the top of a hill. If they had been traveling alone, I would have sped along next to them, stuck my gun out the window and ended it quickly. However that was not the situation I had in front of me.
It was a convoy. A convoy of PER ponies. Six vehicles in all: A tour bus, two utility vans and three sedans. A team of five Pegasi stood atop the bus' roof and kept watch. I was quickly gaining on the group and, not wanting to give them a reason the come after me, slowed to a crawl at the top of the hill. As I tried to think up a game plan as to how'd I'd cap Jordan and Alisa. My mind took me back to my attack on their building.
********
After I'd nailed Carly right in the neck, I quickly fled the roof and the building. By the time I made it to the street , sirens were already audible. There was a huge crowd of terrified looking converted ponies and humans standing in the street. They were all looking up at the smoke pouring from one of the buildings windows. I l moved through the crowd and easily spotted Jordan as he was the only pony trying to move in the opposite direction of the growing mass of onlookers. I started to following him, my gun case still rolling behind me.
However as more and more people joined the crowd, I had trouble keeping pace with him. My case kept knocking against people and slowing me up as I tried to move quicker. The fire engines and police showed up a few moments later cutting through my path and causing me to fully lose track of Jordan. I was going to keep heading in his direction despite the distance he had gained, but the police had begun doing crowd control and I didn't want one of them having a look at me twice. Almost anyone could get off on violence against ponies, but blowing up an apartment would definitely get one in some pretty hot water.
"Fuck." I spat out as turned around to head back to car. I was pissed Jordan managed to get away from me on foot. Thats when I realized that Alisa was still out there. Still it wasn't a bad day. Two hundred and ten thousand dollars was already mine with another 140 grand quickly on the way.
Or so I thought.
I grabbed my car and headed back to my tiny motel room and crashed. I woke up a close to two o' clock in the morning. I decided it was time to start my search again. That began my three day dry spell.
I had no leads. No where to begin searching. I called every contact I had and every one of them fell through on any information. All saying things like "Nah, I haven't heard nothing man." or "Things have been quiet around here."
Later around noon I drove over to the Conversion Bureau to find Teresa, thinking surely she'd know something. However her replacement at the desk informed me she'd taken a sudden leave of absence and that she was unsure when she would return.
I returned to my motel room and sat on the bed unsure of what to do, when an idea it hit me. I ran to my bag and pulled out the documents I had swiped from the ponies apartment. One of them was a map of the metro area. Large sections were outlined and shaded in with light green marker with darker green dots and one orange dot in them. A few smaller areas were outlined in red. My knowledge of my city allowed me to deduce that the single orange dot was the City's only conversion bureau. From there i guessed that the green dots were locations that were significant to the PER.
And my guess was right. For the next 28 hours I staked out seven spots on the map. It was tedious boring work. Sitting low in my car and watching PER meetings happen small apartment buildings or alleyways where I witnessed a drug deal-like exchange of conversion darts and weapons. I would observe them for two or three hours and then move on to the next spot. I was leaving one spot in a PER heavy part of time that I was very familiar with. I rolled passed one street when something came to mind. I had completed a job some in the vicinity a fews prior. I pulled to side and checked my map. There were no more green dots in the area, but I knew there was some kind of PER safe house close by because I'd assassinated a pony through the window of it.
After a few twists and turns I ended up a block away from the building I had remembered. I was about to do a slow drive by of the place, just to see if it was still active, when a giant tour bus coming from the right cut me off and turned down the street. It was followed closely by a few more vehicles. They all stopped adjacent to the building and dozens of ponies exited and flooded into the building. A few pegasi flew unto the bus' roof.
"Oooh shit." I said in awe as I gazed upon the PER platoon in front of me. I floored it and turned to the right, absconding back my garage. The PER was moving out and I just knew in the back of my head that my money, I mean targets would be with them.
I wasn't about to try to pursue them in a Camry so I swapped it for my CTS V when I returned to my garage. I had an emergency full jerrycan in the trunk in case I had to fill up while I was on the road. The trunk had an assault rifle and pump shotgun while the back seats had a bunch of handguns and ammunition, a taser, and knifes in a dufflebag. When I returned to the a PER’s apartment block, the two sedans in the front were just being to pull out from the curb. Fast forward three hours later and we’re still on the highway.
The PER convoy showed no signs of stopping. Since I’d been on the highway, I had tried to think of some kind of plan. However I couldn’t think of anything. Attacking them on the road would almost certainly lead to either ponification or death, neither of which was ideal. I still had no definitive proof that Jordan and Alisa were even on the bus, though I was willing to bet most things I owned that they were. However if they weren't, I would most likely lose their tracks for good. It was a gamble, but I was supremely confident that they were somewhere in the convoy, however they was no way to tell which vehicle they were in. I could only hope that one of the vehicles would run low on gas and be forced to exit the highway.
After another half hour I had to stop to fill my tank with the Jerry cans. I used damn near all of what I had and would be in trouble if I ran out again. However I knew that if I was empty, then at a least of couple of the PER vehicles had to be getting close. I hit 150 mph as I hurried to catch up to them again. And as luck would have it, I managed to see the last sedan in the group taking the off ramp.
"Finally!" I exclaimed as I followed. I had a smile on my face as we exited the highway. They each took a left and I thought they were heading for a Shell station. However my smile dissipated when they continued past it and turned right into the parking lot of a medium sized restaurant.
"Damn it." I sighed as I pulled into the Shell. I paid and filled up my Jerry cans, watching as the ponies exited the vehicles. The buses parked on the street and as there ponies stepped off, I was given two good pieces of news. Firstly the bus was certainly not filled to capacity, carrying only around fifteen. The second was that I spotted both Jordan, leaving a van and Alisa, steeping out of a sedan. I made a special note of which ones.
When all the PER ponies left the parking lot, I crossed the street and parked very close to the side of the building. I made sure to get a spot that was out of view from the windows. I sat in my car for a while thinking about what I would do. I didn't have a plan and that made me nervous. I always had an idea for something. While in my thoughts I looked out of my window and found my self staring at a PER propaganda poster. And there were dozens more covering the brick wall. Great. A bunch of PER ponies inside what was definitely a PER controlled business.
But I still had two targets left and I wasn't going to let them go. If I let them get back on the road, there was no telling where'd they'd go next. I'd heard rumors of PER strongholds in the countryside. If that was the case I might as well just shoot myself. However I couldn't just waltz into a PER establishment with guns blazing, I didn't have near enough for that. I'd have to do it stealthily. But how could that happen within a room full of ponies?
"Fuck it." I spat out. I reached into the duffle bag behind me and picked out a few small items and stuffed them into my pockets. The only weapon I grabbed was my black bladed combat knife. I slipped the 7 inch weapon into a sheath strapped to my right leg. I exited my car and walked around to the restaurant's front door. I took a deep, slow breath before I grabbed the handle.
The door made a loud creaking sound as I entered which drew heads towards me. I couldn't tell if the conversation actually died down or if it was just my imagination.
"Shit." I said to myself. There were dozens of ponies in here, way more than had exited the convoy vehicles. Thats when wanted desperately wanted to facepalm. I was just now processing that there were at least six or seven more cars in the parking lot, not with the convoy.
I tried not to pause for too long and quickly found a seat at an empty table. When I sat down things seemed to return to normal.
My heart was beating quickly. It felt strange to me and I then realized I hadn't been in a situation that made me nervous in a long time. I scanned the restaurant for either pony, but with the very poor light, all of them seemed to look the same.
"Whatchu want?"
"Excuse me?" I looked up suddenly, realizing that that someone was standing over me.
"What do you want to eat, human?" The waitress said in an annoyed tone.
I stared at her for a moment trying to process the ridiculousness of her last word. It was even dumber to me considering that she herself was a young human female. But it suddenly made sense when I saw the PER tattoos she had on her arm. They usually kept a few of their new recruits as humans, thinking that they were useful for certain tasks. There were a few human patrons in the restaurants that had been drivers for the convoy.
"Ill take, lets see here..." I hadn't even picked up a menu yet. Instead. I just looked at a near by table to see what they were eating. In doing so I saw Jordan. He was sitting at a full table near the back where the restrooms were. There was an empty table very close to his. "Just give me whatever nonvegetarian item you have. And can I sit over at that table? I think this one's dirty."
"Whatever." She said without concern as she walked backed to the kitchen.
I sat down at the other table and observed Jordan while I faked looking at the menu. He still looked pretty disoriented and wasn’t engaging in the conversation with the others. He simply stared blankly ahead just slowly sipped from his cup. He was at a circular table occupied by four other ponies and one human. I slightly turned my head to each side, but I couldn't spot Alisa. I did see some angry expressions pointed in my direction. I turned away from them at put my face into my menu. I started to hear the hisses of whispers about me and I started getting a little sweaty. I was sure that at least a few of them could pop me with a dart and not think twice about it. The longer I stayed in the restaurant the more appealing that might look to them.
I could leave just yet though. I needed to take out Jordan. I glanced at him once more. He seemed agitated now, a slightly pained look on his face and rubbing his back hooves across each other. After a few moments he whispered something to the older looking pony next to him. He responded something and patted Jordan on the back.
Thats when I saw an opportunity open up to me. Jordan moved from the table and turned into the boys bathroom. I smiled and began to rise from the table. I bumped into the waitress again who gave an annoyed huff.
"I forgot to ask what you want to drink." She said. "We've got a special blend of tea today."
"Yeah right." I thought to myself. I wouldn't be around long enough to enjoy my half tea, half conversion potion. I turned to her with a forced smile and with a finger lightly tapping her shoulder said, "I think I'll take all my food to go."
"We're not that kind of restaurant, asshole!" She shouted at me as I pushed open the heavy door to the restroom.
It was cramped and dirty, certainly not a place I'd want to spend my final moments, but then again Jordan didn't really have a choice. I saw his pony legs in one of the stalls. I took the one next to his and waited. There was a human at the urinal who was still going strong.
However the peeing in the next stall was slowing to a dribble. If the other guy didn't leave the bathroom before Jordan, I'd be fucked. I was sure I could kill them both, but definitely not without a noisy struggle. The door to the restroom did seem pretty heavy and I guessed that it could suppress sounds decently well. I waited a moment then peeked from the stall door and saw that the human was finished and was now shaking some the remaining piss from his dick. He finished and was zipping his pants up when Jordan exited the stall.
It was now a race to see who would get to the sink first. I was confident at first when it looked as though the human would reach it and Jordan would have to wait. However they awkwardly bumped together as the human finished fixing his junk in his pants. The contact allowed Jordan to get to the sink first.
I was about to curse and spring form my stall to take them both out when something unexpected happened. The human walked right on out of the bathroom without washing, the dirty dick bastard. Though it did leave me and Jordan alone for some quality time.
I pulled my blade from my leg and opened the stall slowly and thought it was fitting the door had a creak to it. Jordan had his head pointed down in the sink and was splashing water in his face. I quietly moved in position behind him and he when he looked up into the mirror, his face wet from washing and tears, I spoke.
"Hey there, Jordan. " I said menacingly. He had a confused look on face, like he had on idea what was about to happen. " Does the name Jeffery Stevens mean anything to you?" Before he could say a word I clasped ahold of his mouth with my left and hand pulled his head up exposing his vulnerable ares. My right hand plunged my knife into a middle spot just below his neck. A pained gasp escaped his mouth as I buried it to the hit.
Jordan started to thrash around, but he was going no where with my arm firmly around him. I saw the horrible terror in his eyes as his life left him quickly. I decided to get one last word in.
"His father didn't quite appre-" My line was cut off by Jordan leaning back and putting his hind legs on the sink. He pushed off with pretty great force and sent us both flying back into the stall door. The piece swung back and clanged and reverberated loudly against the wall. It bounced back and hit my back again, making even more noise.
The hit came as a surprise to me and took me a moment to recover. We were on the ground now and Jordan was stamping his hooves wildly across the tile floor. "Shit!" I exclaimed as I grabbed the knife again. I twisted it and dragged it across his chest area. After this his movements rapidly came to a stop and, after a total of maybe 40 seconds, my fourth target was dead.
I slid his body off mine and stood up. My back hurt from the hit and my hands and shirt were covered in blood. I was about to wash my hands when I was jolted back to the situation in the restaurant. I moved to the door. It was pretty heavy and I told myself that perhaps no one heard us. I cracked the door ever so slightly and took a tiny peek out.
I slowly closed it again and chuckled as a shook my head. Damn near the entire joint had PER weapons drawn and aimed towards the bathroom door.
"Come on out of there so we can end this, human." A pony outside said in a normal voice. The door hadn't muffled a thing.