Alerted by the loud pounding, John rushed to the door in great worry. With just a peek through the door, Andrew charged in and held the door closed behind him, out of breath.
“What’s going on?” Fluttershy asked, worried.
“They’re coming,” Andrew replied as he closed the blinds.
“Who?” John asked.
“The agency,” He replied worried. “The ones looking for your girlfriend.”
John fell silent for a few seconds as he noticed Andrew taking out his pistol and checking over. Andrew then grabbed his phone, dialed a number, and began to speak into it.
“Markus,” he said into his phone. “How fast can you get to my location?”
John could hear a faint number just out of reach of his hearing.
“Twenty minutes?” Andrew shouted. “I need you guys here now!”
John could hear a faint ‘why’.
“Why?” Andrew echoed. “Because my partner was just blown to pieces and I think I’m next!”
Fluttershy and John were stopped by the statement. Their hearts hurt as they took in what was said.
“I’m with their target and there’s no doubt they are coming here to execute her.” Andrew continued.
Andrew’s words knocked John back into his seat. His heart pounded as he ran his hands through his hair in shock. He turned to Fluttershy who was panicking in the corner of the couch.
“Five minutes?” Andrew replied. “Hurry up, we need help fast.”
John covered his forehead as his worry bored deep into the back of his head. However, his mind couldn’t concentrate on a single thing as he could hear his housemate crying behind the couch. His mind raced, his teeth grit, and his forehead began sweating as he tried to think of what to do.
Finally, he fell into a familiar spiral as he did the only thing he felt he could do.
“What the hell is going on?!” he shouted. Andrew turned as he hung up on his phone. “You came here to talk and all you did was bring some government agents to not only take her away, but kill her?”
Andrew sighed as he turned to him, “these aren’t government.”
John’s eyebrow rose. “What?”
“This is a private entity that has been accused of breaking multiple human rights laws under the justification that they aren’t human.” Andrew pointed in the direction of the couch. “They used to be good, until the new captain took command and started to wreak havoc amongst the visitors.”
“There– there are more of them?” John whispered to himself.
“We need a place to keep her out of harm’s way,” Andrew ordered. “Do you have a panic room?”
“No,” John replied as he began to think about how to keep her safe. Andrew’s body language made him uneasy as he remembered the one person who could help them. “I need to make a call.”
He got his cellphone out and looked for a specific number. The speaker rang on the other end as John tapped his foot in anticipation. A click came from the other end, followed by a gruff voice.
“What do you need John?”
“Earl, I need you to do me a favor.” John replied.
“Sure, what do you need?” Earl repeated.
“We need your safe room and some guns.” John waited for an answer. There was an heavy silence that followed.
“John,” Earl answered awkwardly . “I might have to turn you down. If you are being hunted by the government, I don’t want to get involved.”
Andrew stepped forward and took the phone. “Earl, this is Special Agent Andrew Alvarez of the FBI. We require assistance in moving a person of interest out of harm’s way and distracting a dissolved private agency until my reinforcements arrive. Are you willing to serve your country to prevent the death of a government agent, a person of interest and a civilian, along with an international incident?”
A longer silence followed the speech as they awaited an answer. Finally an answer came. “Are you a lying to me?”
“You can come over and look at my badge if you need conformation.” Andrew said into the phone.
“I’ll be over to help. Should I go through the back or front?” Earl asked. Andrew repeated the question to John.
“Back?” John answered in confusion.
The call ended suddenly as John looked over to Andrew with a quizzical look. “Civilian?”
“How long until this friend of yours gets here?” Andrew asked, avoiding the question.
“He is my neighbor. I find him useful since he is a preparer. He has me on his emergency contact for the apocalypse. Makes good venison.” John explained.
“Do you always make friends with potentially useful people?” Andrew judged John.
“My only friends are a cop, a second amendment supporter, and my boss.” John explained his relationships. “Things happen.”
Andrew looked behind John to the screen door, and at a bearded man knocking on the glass. By reflex, Andrew aimed his pistol at him.
The man raised his hands and shouted, “It’s me, Earl.”
John opened the door and let the man in. Andrew pulled out his badge and flashed it at him. Earl took his phone and looked through a list of badges. After finding the right badge, he double checked and stood up straight. “Alright, you said you need a person of interest helped?” He replied.
The two men stepped aside and looked at Fluttershy. Earl looked quizzically at the three and pointed in confusion. “Her?” He asked.
The two looked at him with sweat on their brows.
“I can’t explain much,” Andrew told him. “We need to keep her safe for the next five minutes.”
Earl looked him over. “Can’t argue with a man with a gun,” he said as he turned around. “Follow me.”
The three followed the hairy man into the back yard. Andrew continued to keep a close lookout for the agency. John, however, was surprised by the hidden sliding door in the fence between the two houses. He brushed off this dire invasion of privacy due to the matters at hand. The three stopped at the cellar entrance as Earl opened the heavy, steel lined doors.
“Alright, come along,” Earl said as he stepped in.
In the cellar, the guests were befuddled by the amount of rifles, tools, and dried foods, something he normally saw from obsessive doomsday preppers on T.V. The sheer numbers of guns he had before him would have concerned John if it weren't for the convenience this brought him. John looked across the gun rack to get a feel for one again.
“Take your pick,” Earl ordered. He then looked over to the fearful woman and pointed at her. “You, get in the room.”
She walked slowly as Earl opened a vault door to get her secured. Andrew picked an assault rifle, and John chose a top loading rifle. They lifted the boxes of munitions and a vest.
Andrew looked at John’s choice. “You know how to use that thing?” He questioned his skill.
John looked at him and smiled. “I get still train at the range.”
Earl passed two radios to the men. “Keep them on,” he ordered again. “I’ll stay here and defend our V.I.P.” He then closed the door and sealed Fluttershy to her safety. “Get back and cover your tracks. Go.”
The men then ran back into the other house and closed all doors behind them. As they entered, they heard brakes squeal from the front of the house. The two men took simultaneous, breaths calming down from their thoughts of eminent demise. John gripped his wooden rifle as he muttered out a prayer. As he plead for forgiveness, he began to think of what Fluttershy had told him. His guilt dropped him back down to depression as he looked back into his occupied hands.
“Andrew,” John said aloud, “do we need to kill them?” He began to worry about his relationship with the merciful woman he grew attached to.
Andrew took a quick look at him to get a look of his face. John gazed at his rifle with woe. “We just need to distract them. As long as you incapacitate them, it will be enough.” He looked at his watched and muttered to himself as they had three minutes left until backup arrived.
Peering through the crack in the curtains, John could see five SUVs surrounded by men in armor and holding rifles.
“These men aren’t here to apprehend.” Andrew commented in disgust.
“Question.” John pointed out a concern. “Do I get compensation for damages to my house?”
“I hope so.” Andrew responded as he thought of a greater concern. “Why do you care for this woman? You never seemed to care about anything before, why her?”
John looked ahead as he thought of what he had said. “I like having the company. She was the first woman I met that treated me like a person and helped me.” His spirits lifted as thought of the smile that kept him from going crazy for the past week. “I felt a connection I haven’t felt in years.”
Andrew took it in silently, believing his brother had finally moved on and fallen in love.
He looked out the window as he noticed the men preparing to break in.
“Are you ready?” Andrew shouted. John pulled the curtain aside as he saw the soldiers line up. “Aim for the legs!” He ordered. The two then stepped back and fired through the windows.
The furthermost three were hit in the leg They crumpled on the lawn as the others dispersed. The men began to fire into the windows, shattering the glass and shredding the curtains with a barrage of bullets. The two defending men dropped to the floor.
“How many did you see?” John frantically shouted as he reloaded.
“There were eight or ten.” Andrew replied, “I think we hit three.”
John noticed Andrew holding his side with his elbow. A grim look burned onto his face as he realized what had happened.
“Andrew, you’re hit.” John said with worry.
“Just grazed my arm.” He hissed the pain away.
Suddenly the bullets stopped. John and Andrew worried they were getting surrounded. The first thing they heard was a buzzing of a speaker.
“Agent Alvarez.” Sounded a voice only familiar to Andrew. “You, nor any of the immigrants in the building have no where to run. Give up now and we might go easy on you.”
Andrew struggled to get up to the door. “We won’t let you get to her, Oswald.” Andrew shouted. “You have nowhere to go,” he looked at his watch. “In less than a minute backup will arrive and apprehend you and all your friends.”
“Bullshit!” Oswald shouted.
“I mean it,” Andrew got his feet up. “You brought a squad, I am bringing an army. You have vans, we have choppers, and tanks. You are screwed. Even if you kill us.”
John looked out the window and saw a well-dressed man stomping around holding his head. He then reached for his pocket, took out his phone and began to dial on his phone. After the final tap on his phone he looked up with a strange smile on his face, one of a rat cornered by the cat ready to pounce one last time. A chuckle followed by a laugh of menace as he dropped to his knees and held his head puzzled over his actions.
John’s phone rang with the notification tone. He noticed a text message that was composed entirely of links. He looked up to see Andrew holding his phone in anger.
“Son of a bitch,” he whispered to himself.
“Oh, Andrew,” Oswald said gleefully. “Since you guys are taking over, try cleaning this mess.”
From a distance, Andrew could hear the chopping sound of helicopters racing towards them. Oswald held his hands in the air as the helicopters stopped above them dropping troops around the now-debunked agency.
Andrew felt relieved as the soldiers took the men into custody. He fell to the floor revealing a dark red stain on his suit.
“Andrew!” John shouted as he dropped his gun and ran to his brother’s aid. He noticed the injury to his ribs.
The radio clicked on and a voice came on. “John, I see choppers out there, are you alright?”
Soldiers then entered the house and pulled John off of Andrew as they applied first aid.
The sight of his brother was to him as if again he was seeing the child in the alley. There was only one thing that came to his mind.
“I’m sorry.”