Into the Frying Pan
#4 of Assassin's Way
Chapter 4: Into the Frying Pan
Jo soon arrived at the parking structure Henry had died in front of. He silently slipped past the security by the back of the structure. The front was too heavily guarded. He carefully made his way toward the center of the rundown building. There was a smell. Very faint, but Jo's nose managed to pick it up.
It smelled like... Sex...
Curious, the fox followed the smell to the left side of the building, near the front entrance. What he saw was even more shocking than Henry's death.
Terry was lying on the ground, in a puddle of drying blood. His throat had been sliced. His chest fur was matted down with cum.
Jo covered his mouth at the sight and he quickly turned around. Two were dead. With Terry gone, this meant that Ben was the most likely suspect. He was the one trying to take over this branch.
Jo decided that he should get back to Neil as quickly as possible. He started to run back to where he came in, but a sound made him stop in his tracks.
It was the sound of a gun's safety clicking off.
"Hey, you! Fox!" Came a voice.
Jo slowly started to turn around. It was a cop. Looks like the police force finally got clearance to check inside the parking structure. Perfect timing Jo thought sarcastically...
"What the hell you doing in here? How'd you get past the other cops?" The hyena asked.
Jo shrugged. "I was told there was a rave party here." He said very casually. "I can do anything when a rave is promised."
The cop's expression slowly changed to a "what the fuck?" look.
Jo just continued. "I guess I'm in the wrong place. I just thought that all the flashing lights was it."
By now, the cop had a complete "are you fucking retarded?" look to him. "Well, you aren't supposed to be here. This is a crime scene. No party."
Jo hoped he wouldn't decide to look around. The last thing he needed was for them to find Terry's body.
"I'll get another cop to escort you out." The hyena said as he reached to his belt with his gunless paw. Of course, his eyes trailed ever so slightly. Right to where Terry's body could be seen. The cops eyes shot back to Jo's.
He pressed a button on his walkie-talkie and quietly spoke into it.
Jo swore under his breath. Time to go.
He took off with unnatural speed. Catching the cop completely off guard. The hyena fired his gun, but he didn't even come close to hitting Jo. And before he could even think about firing a second shot, Jo leapt over the edge.
They were only on the first floor so Jo was able to land perfectly and keep running. Not losing any speed.
He could here some yelling behind him, and he heard a gun go off. But Jo was way to far away, already heading back to the Tail Bar & Dance to tell Neil the news.
***
Chris swore again. He was losing feeling in his injured leg.
"Fuck..." He said quietly. He had been one of the fastest assassin's in this stupid branch. But now...
He looked out the window that was next to him. The full moon was clearly visible. No clouds in the sky. It made him smile.
But his smile quickly faded and he drew his gun. He could hear footsteps coming up the stairs.
It was probably that stupid medic that Ben called for. But one can never be too careful.
A figured appeared around the corner. It was a female cougar. Short brown hair, dressed in black short- shorts, a white, sleeveless shirt with a black vest. Probably the most noticeable thing about her was the eye patch that covered her left eye. The vertical scar still visible however.
"You Chris?" She asked.
The mouse nodded. Keeping his gun trained on her.
"No need to keep pointing that thing at me." She said. "My name's Artemis. I'm the medic the Agency sent to make sure you recover."
Chris lowered his gun. "I figured as much since you knew my name."
Artemis kneeled down beside Chris and started to examine his leg.
"Good lord. How'd you make it to the second story of this building with an injury like this?" She asked.
"Sheer determination." Chris replied with a slight sneer.
Artemis examined the wound for a bit longer before she reached into her bag.
"It looks like that bullet is still in there." She said. "That needs to come out before this gets infected."
"Yeah, okay." Chris said.
Artemis pulled a needle out of her bag and prepared it.
"Hey..." Chris said.
Artemis continued to fiddle the needle. "Yes?" She replied.
"Do you think my leg will ever be back to how it was?"
"I can't say for sure. Just let me work on it for now."
With that, the cougar inserted the needle into a vain on Chris's injured leg. Chris winced slightly.
"This supposed to numb my leg?"
"Yes, something like that." She looked up at him. "You should be feeling the effects right about now."
Almost as if on cue, Chris's leg lost all feeling.
'Woah, potent stuff.' He thought. But then he lost feeling in his waist. Then his other leg. His chest and arms soon followed.
He tried to open his mouth to say something, but all that came out was a unrecognizable slur.
'W-what the hell is this!?'
Artemis just smirked at him. "Sorry Boy'o." She said. "I'm not really a medic."
Chris's eyes would have widened... If they could move.
"The Agency sent me to give Ben a hand remedying the situation here. Since you are utterly useless, there's no reason to keep you around."
Artemis pulled a small knife from the bag and lifted it above her head as Chris watched helplessly. She brought the knife down into his gut four times. Blood leaked from the new wounds, soaking his shirt.
The cougar packed her things back into the bag and stood up.
She smirked. "You better hope that you die before the anesthetic wears off. Or you'll be in for a very painful experience."
All the mouse could do at this point was watch her walk away. The realization of death slowly creeping up on him. It was a sadness that he had never felt before.
He cried.
***
A few minutes after the whole parking structure incident, Jo was back at the club, weaving in and out of the slowly thinning crowd of furs.
He found Neil still sitting at the table, seemingly taking notes on a piece of paper.
"Organizing your thoughts?" Jo asked, sitting down next to him.
"Yeah," Neil replied, "Just trying to make sense of this."
He pushed the paper to Jo. Written on the paper were the various things that he and Neil had discussed earlier. Suspects, motifs, the other's status.
The fox looked the paper over quickly. "You'll have to put Terry down as deceased." Jo said quietly.
Neil just nodded. "I see. So that means that Ben is our number one suspect."
"It would appear so."
Neil started to cross some of his writing out and replace it with more notes. "So Ben's the one who's trying to restructure this branch, huh? It just doesn't make sense..."
Jo looked at him. "How so?"
"Well, it's one thing not to like the people you work with... But to kill all of them to get replacements? If he was tired of working with us, he could have just asked the agency for a transfer to a different branch..."
"So you're saying there's way more to this than we know?"
"Exactly."
They were both quiet for a period. Each trying to figure out what it was exactly that Ben was up too. The crowd was soon almost nothing. The janitors were beginning to clean up the trash that was scattered around by thoughtless furs too drunk to care. Jo glanced at his wristwatch again. Almost 1:00am... This place was closing early today.
Finally, Jo turned to Neil. "Neil, I think the only way to figure out what Ben is up too is to ask him directly..." he said.
Neil looked at Jo with a blank stare.
"As crazy as that sounds... I really think it's the only way."
Neil stood up and gathered his papers. "I agree with you on that. But we'll worry about it later. Right now, we need to find another place to plan."
Jo stood up and followed Neil to the exit. As soon as the doors closed behind them, they had disappeared into the shadows. The two lovers moved quickly, scanning every building they passed, searching for a potential base.
They soon covered a few blocks. Finding nothing but closed shops and useless convenience stores. They stopped in an alleyway to think. Plus, Jo needed to rest. He had been doing much more running than Neil had lately.
"So... Any ideas?" Jo asked.
"Not a'one." Neil replied. "But we need to find something fast. I don't like being out in the open like this."
Neil stepped forward and looked out into the street, searching for somewhere they could call their temporary base.
However, he quickly leapt backward when a gunshot rang out into the night. The bullet bouncing off the brick walls they were next too.
Both Jo and Neil pulled their guns out. They were being fired on! They weren't able to tell which direction the bullet came from so they both backed deeper into the alleyway. Who had found them? Was it Ben? Or maybe Chris was going to try again? Neil shook that last thought out of his head. Chris would be lucky if he was able to walk properly again, thanks to Neil's aiming.
Two more gunshots rang out and Jo winced, inhaling sharply. That last shot had grazed him. His left paw quickly shot up to his shoulder as Neil wrapped his arms around him and pulled them both behind a dumpster.
"You okay?" Neil asked quickly.
"Yeah, it's just a scratch."
Another bullet bounced off the dumpster.
"We're sitting ducks out here!" Jo shouted.
Neil glanced around quickly, spotting a rusted door a few yards behind them. "There!" He shouted.
Jo took off down the alleyway with great speed. Reaching the door in a matter of seconds. He tried to turn the knob but it didn't budge. He swore under his breath. Wasting no time, the fox backed up slightly and lashed out at the door with his foot, knocking the rusted piece of metal off its hinges.
He dashed inside with Neil right behind him. They both turned around and lifted the door off the ground, putting it back in it's frame. A conveniently placed desk was quickly pushed in front of it. The two stayed quiet. The gunshots had stopped.
"Whoever had been shooting at us is probably reloading or following us down here." Neil said. "Either way, we need to be prepared."
Neil looked around the perimeter. It seemed to be a storage room for an office building. That would explain the desk. It was a fairly good size too. It must be doubling for a fire escape route. There weren't any windows either, the only light source being a single bulb near the center of the room. And the only other door was on the far end of the room. Likely, the only way to get here through that door was to go through the actual building, which would be locked at this hour.
"Okay Jo, grab these desks and form a barricade. Let's try to make this thing thick." Neil said. "I'll get these cubical dividers. It won't last long, but it's all we can do."
At once, they both got to work. Within a matter of minutes, a makeshift barricade was before them. But before they even had time to admire the structure, someone began to bang on the rusted door with all their might.
Jo and Neil quickly ducked behind the barrier, guns at the ready. The heavy banging continued, knocking the desk back slightly each time. It wouldn't be long now...
The fox stared intensely at the door. Ready to begin firing the moment it came down. But he felt someone turn his head, and lips came into contact with his. Neil had kissed him.
"Huh? What? Neil you-" Jo started to say, but was cut off by Neil's lips kissing him again.
"I'm sorry love. I felt it was necessary. Just incase something happened."
"Don't say things like that... please." Jo said. "We'll get through this, no matter what."
Whew... That took a while. Ah well. The action is heating up!
Gun fights galore coming up! Major plot details getting ready to be uncovered!
Let's see what I can pull out of my ass for the next chapter >.>
Until next time. Ciao.