FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

All over it was chaos. We followed the detective chick as we made our way out, threading our way through the madness that was the hospital waiting areas and hallways. People were shouting across the hall, streaming up and down, running every which way and generally it was panic. I overheard one of the nurses saying that they needed to prepare for the mass influx of casualties, another one was in a panic over the whole hospital going emergency mode, everything was a mess and they hadn't had something like this since...ever. I shook my head and kept walking until we emerged outside where the first ambulances were arriving in the emergency bay. Most held people in police clothes, riot gear, but here and there I saw someone in gang colours, or even plain clothes, innocent people caught in the crossfire. Rodriguez shook her head and led us to her car.

"This is insane. And all because these two groups of psychos won't stop until either of them they're dead. Or both."

A few minutes of weaving through traffic later and we were at the police station, where she gathered her team. At this point I wondered what we were still doing there, which was when one of ye officers ushered us out.

"Sorry folks, but we gotta close up. Boss' orders."

And just like that we were out. No questions asked. Take care of us? She just left us out on the street to fend for ourselves. We weren't gonna be better off at home either, cause home was...right in the crisis zone shit.

"Alex, we gotta go home, now."

"Why?"

I gave her a look. She gasped as she remembered.

"Oh my god you're right."

"The sooner the better too."

I stood out and waved my arm for a cab and soon we were on our way back. The cab driver was visibly nervous on the journey back, cause our home was right within the lockdown zone, but I eased his worry with a twenty. He took it and drove us all the way through, even going as far as to sneak past the police blockade by heading through an alley nearby that sidestepped the roadblock. One block down from our place he stopped and let us out. The whole street was covered in smoke. Couldn't see jack shit out there, but at least I could roughly make out the street. I turned and stopped the cab from driving away. I could see inside the driver's seat, the guy was Hispanic, nametag said he was Julio.

"Hey Julio. I'm hiring you as my driver for the day. I'll pay you double. You just need to get me around this place until I say you can go."

I waved a fifty in his face. He stared at it with wide eyes and nodded like his face was going to fall off. I smiled and kept it.

"I'm gonna need you to stay here first though. Need to grab stuff from home."

He gave me an enthusiastic thumbs up through the glass and hunkered down in the cab. I nodded to my sister and off we went, down the street towards the dojo and home. The journey was nothing short of harrowing, even though we were a street down. Smoke was everywhere, though I couldn't tell from where. Broken glass littered the street, there were busted cars, trash all over the place, but the biggest worry was that the streets were completely empty. Not a single person in sight, though I could hear the chaos in the distance. The cops must've gotten everybody out of the area as soon as the riot started, kept the place to themselves and the gangbangers as quickly as possible. I turned to my sister as we broke into a jog.

"We better hurry. The action's elsewhere, but we gotta get back home quick."

She nodded, her lips pressed together tightly. I knew it was grim, I felt the same way.

---

The dojo was almost trashed. I thought that from the broken glass out front and the state of the interior, but what hurt more was that the till was trashed. Nothing left.

"Shit."

I knew it was bad to keep our fees in there until the end of the month. The door behind the counter was still intact, and when I checked it, it was locked.

Thank god.

Alex unlocked it and we went upstairs. The apartment itself was untouched, thank god, so I went to my room to grab what I needed. Hidden underneath my bed were some remnants of my past, a past I didn't especially like. I pulled the old shoebox out from underneath the bed frame and opened it, pulling out the two tarnished brass knuckles that laid within. I smiled to myself and stood, putting them on and feeling their familiar weight. I stared at their tarnished beauty and gave each one a little kiss on the flats.

"Betsy, Sue, sorry for leaving you, but Booker's back and he requires the services of his ladies."

After I'd graduated from high school, I bade my farewells to Daniel and went back to Boston with my sister and parents in tow. There, my parents decided to set up their own little corner store, which I hated manning, but it paid the bills and it didn't suck so much, so that helped a little, but it didn't last me that long. I took to roaming the streets, reuniting with some old friends from my kiddy days before we moved. They'd gone banger, hooked up with a small-time crew, called themselves the Ghosts, prided themselves on being able to boost anything without getting caught or leaving a trail. I wasn't the most light-fingered sonuvabitch, but I was handy in case we bagged the wrong loot and some rival gangs came for our take, especially if it happened on their territory. When the going got rough, the Ghosts turned to me, and I turned to the competition with Betsy and Sue, my favorite pair of brass knuckles. Picked them up cheap from a flea market, punched bags with them on ever since. When my fists met faces, no one stuck around for the aftermath. The Ghosts rolled as one for a long time, we had people that could do everything; we had a runner, called himself Icarus cause he was so quick and fast, sometimes I thought the man could fly. The bruiser was me, obviously, and I earned the nickname Booker not long after I debued the ladies. We had a driver, a middle-aged man that called himself Slick cause, according to him, he was like an oil slick on the roads, slippery 'n hard to catch, and hey, we believed him. Guy could drive anything as long it had four wheels, a steering column, an engine and two pedals. Then we had our spotter and brains, Rock, contrary to the name, he was a big guy but he was smart, cool and calm under pressure, and he had the sharpest eyes in town. Lastly our handyman, V, rounded out our little gang. He could pick anything, and he got his name for his penchant of wearing cheap, cheesy Guy Fawkes masks during our jobs. We usually did our jobs masked, but Slick had the idea of painting our black balaclavas with white ghost faces. Each one of us had a different face, mostly skulls, but with variations too, and so the Ghosts became real ghosts.

Wasn't long before we'd hit the big time. Rock had a big job for us, a huge con that would've made us rich. I wouldn't have to work the crummy corner store, my sister could go to high school and my folks could pay off their debts to the realtor.

It was the job that ruined us.

Long story short we crossed the local Mob goons that ran the town, some violence was had, and the Ghosts parted ways. Rock and Slick were dead. V was in the hospital for broken legs, I was nursing bruised hands and a fractured arm, and Icarus was gone to the winds. I'd lost contact with V shortly after he was discharged from the hospital, and that particular story came to an end I didn't enjoy at all. By that time, dad was in the ground from a stroke, and mum joined him roughly a week later after she hanged herself. We didn't have enough money to pay the rent so it was the street for us.

That was when master Wong took us in, made us his disciples at his dojo, and the rest was history. I never kept any other reminders of that troubling time except for Betsy and Sue. They reminded me that I once had a group of friends, men that meant something to me. Now they were all gone.

I shook my head and cleared my thoughts. I brought the ladies to the bathroom sink and gave them a good wash to get the dust and grime off. Couldn't really remove the tarnish, but I had all the time in the world to clean that off once we were done here. After I cleaned myself up I went back outside, where my sister was packing a small duffel bag with whatever we needed, clothes and water and other toiletries. She looked up at me and saw my lack of a bag. Then she saw the ladies on my hands and groaned.

"Dylan, haven't we had enough violence already?"

I shook my head.

"Alex, the gangs brought this on us. They stole all our hard-earned money! They trashed the dojo! They damn near wrecked our home if I hadn't remembered to lock the door on our way out this morning, and I'm pretty damn sure they would've done it too. If I don't show every single one of these prissy motherfuckers their place, then this is going to spiral out of control! We won't get our lives back, not if these idiots become history!"

My little rant was broken by my phone going off. I picked up. It was Max.

"So, I hear down the grapevine that you're feeling like a little vendetta?"

"Yeah no shit, how'd you know?"

"A little bird told me."

"Right. What else did he tell you?"

"He told me to provide you with what you need, so I have what you need and I'm sending it to your phone right now."

My phone dinged rather loudly in my ear, which startled me. I held the phone up again and stared at the screen. He'd just sent me another file, a small one, but I didn't have time to open it.

"What's this?"

"Its another file, like the one I sent you a few days ago in the library, but smaller. This list contains the names and addresses of the big bosses of both the Saints and the Men. Be careful though, their places of stay are bound to be full of the elites, the gangers that made it to the big time in the streets. They won't go down without a fight."

Right.

"So you sent me a hit list."

"Exactly."

"Thanks Max."

"No problem. The FBI is using all available assets to solve this problem, and it's officially considering you and your sister as one of them."

My sister? She was just as proficient as me at kicking ass but less...into it.

"My sister?"

"Yep. I think you can come up with sufficient motivation for her to join you."

I stole a glance at her. She had her arms folded and her face was creased in a frown.

"I hope so. She's a tough nut to crack."

"Then I wish you all the best in cracking her. Oh, and one more thing, Dylan."

"Yeah?"

"From me and the little bird, we wish you good luck and happy hunting."

I smiled.

"Thanks man. Tell him I've got the company of some lovely ladies, they'll sort me out real good."

"You betcha. See you after this thing blows over."

I clicked the call off and kept the phone. Alex stared at me, unflinching.

"So what was that about?"

So I told her.

"The FBI wants us to handle the gang thing."

"Really?!"

"Yup. That was a friend of Daniel's in the Bureau. He says that the guys in suits want us as part of the fight downtown. He just sent me a hit list too."

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

"Dylan, what did master Wong tell us?"

"That violence begets violence?"

"Yeah."

"Well we have to give them back what they gave us, right? They trashed our dojo! Master Wong's dojo! If he were still alive he'd have gladly gone round to their places and kicked all their asses upside down once he finds out that they messed up his school!"

I took her by the shoulders and she looked away.

"Alex, look at me."

She refused. I took her chin gently in one hand and turned her face so she was actually looking at me.

"Alex, master Wong entrusted us with his livelihood just before he passed on, and it's our responsibility. We need to do this, if not for our sakes, then for his. He would want it this way."

I saw the tears welling in her eyes. She sniffled and wiped away her tears with a hand.

"Fine, what do we have to do?"

That's the stuff girl.

"Well, the hit list contains two targets, and they're the bosses of the Saints and the Men. We just gotta hit them one at a time, take them out, then this whole war's over. Cut the head off the snake, its body will die, right? We take the heads off the two gangs, and the war will slowly die in the streets once word spreads. We gotta hit these guys where they live, and no doubt they're gonna be protected by their best men. We gotta wipe them all out. All of them."

"But Dylan...you're talking at least thirty people. From one gang alone. Times two that's at least sixty people! Dylan, we're only two fighters, how are we possibly going to accomplish this?"

"With my help."

I got startled at the voice. I turned around to see an unfamiliar man standing in the doorway. He was tall, taller than me and Alex, and he had a bandanna over his scruffy brown hair. He was chewing on a toothpick as he approached me and stuck out a hand.

"Brandon Husher. We have a mutual friend."

I took the hand, which was gloved, and shook it.

"Nice to, um, meet you, I guess."

"Thanks, and it's a pleasure ta meet you too, little miss Alexandria."

Brandon stuck his hands in his jeans and smiled, still chewing on the toothpick.

"Grapevine's been buzzing about you two. I thought that you two couldn't possibly take on that many wankers by yourselves, so I took it on myself to come down to help."

Max. It had to be. Was he a fed as well? I didn't know, but I had to trust him.

"Well, welcome to the party, I guess. You have the hit list?"

Brandon smiled and nodded.

"Oh yeah. I got it memorised, and figured you could use the help. It's on you to decide who we hit first."

I was starting to like this idea, and I already had a plan in mind.

"Let's hit Those Men first. Their gang's pretty tough and mysterious, but knocking them out of the game should make the Saints pretty damn happy."

"Yeah, inflate their egos, right? Then we hit them when they're riding their bloody high horses, take the sods down to the ground and put 'em in their place. Sounds great."

He grinned and I couldn't help but return the gesture.

"So, how are we getting there, friendos?"

"I've got a taxi waiting outside. Paying him a lot to stick with us the whole way."

"Oh so that's the bloke outside with his knickers, in a twist, eh? Better go out and untwist 'em, get this show on the road, what d'you say?"

He stuck out a fist, and I gave it a bump with my own. He withdrew it with a yelp. I forgot I had my knuckles on.

"Whoops."

"Well bloody hell don't break me hands yet I need 'em. Nice ta see you're packing heat though, that's good. I've got some heat of my own, it's downstairs."

I nodded and turned to Alex.

"We ready?"

She nodded, duffel bag already forgotten. She'd wrapped her hands with bandages and tied up her hair in a bun that was held in place by a green jade ring, her favorite.

"Alright then, fellas, let's go."

---

In the taxi, the three of us sat in the back while Julio drove us downtown. Brandon was between us, and I was getting nervous from the heat he said he was packing. Earlier when I saw him take it out of the duffel he brought I was stunned speechless.

"An assault rifle?!"

"Like it, eh? It's American made, don't you worry your little head off. Bushmaster ACR. Bloody thing's a bullet hose and rightly so, but it's good and I got it recommended to me by a friend. I've got enough bullets to put down an elephant in my jacket, so why not we get the show going?"

At first I thought he was joking, but the look he gave me made me think otherwise. Afterward we'd piled into the cab and I greased Julio with my promised fifty and he took off in the direction of our first hit. The headquarters of the Men was an old fish gutting place down at the marina, quiet and undisturbed by the events that were going down in the city. Perfect spot for us, the relative silence was welcoming. The cab stopped outside the main gates to the place, and I handed Julio twenty more to stay until we were done. He gladly accepted, guy was probably getting paid more than he'd ever earn in a month, poor guy.

My wallet was getting pretty thin.

We trudged inside, Brandon leading the way, obviously, since he was the one with a gun. The dirt path from the gate wasn't too long and it wasn't a minute before we saw the hulk that was the processing plant. Before we even got close, Brandon pushed us back.

"Wait. Door guards."

I peeked round him and sure enough, there stood two guys, armed with baseball bats, dressed in the black and red colours of the Men. Only the two stood between us and the inside of the place. Brandon took us behind the cover of a nearby guard shack and ushered us to quieten down.

"Alright, here's the plan, fellas. I'm going to sneak around those two sods at the front and make my way to the roof. Chances are these guys will be quite heavily armed, since they're a big gang. What I want you two to do is wait until I'm in position. Once I'm up there, I want you two to start for the plant, as menacingly as you can. Kick the arses of the two idiots at the door, go in, then kick everyone else's arse. I'll be up high, in case anyone with guns decides to show up. Those guys will be my priority, you guys will have to take care of everyone else, sadly. Once you locate their boss, tag him but don't bag him, we need him alive."

"Alive? What for?"

"We need to put on a show for the Saints, remember? What we do is we get the guy, then have him taken into police custody on camera, preferably a news camera. Once the Saints get word, that's part two of our plan in action."

"And what about the police? Aren't they doing their own operation to take down the gangs?"

Alex piped up from her silence. She hadn't said a single thing from when we'd left the apartment til now. Brandon smiled.

"That's the fun part. I'll keep that bit a surprise until we're done here."

I was puzzled but decided not to question it. Whatever his plan was, it was apparently well thought out enough. I trusted him. He nodded to us and then left, presumably to get up to the roof, but he stopped mid stride and turned back. In his hand he held two little earpieces.

"Take these. Wireless mics, keyed into their own frequency. I'm wearing one already, so put these on and I'll be able to talk to you."

I nodded and took them while handing one to Alex. I slipped mine onto my ear, unsure of what to expect, then Brandon's voice crackled in my ear.

"Hear me fine?"

"Yeah."

"Good. I'll be on me way then. Don't move until I tell ya to."

Brandon took off again and I was left to wait behind the shack with Alex. She and I sat there for a while, contemplating the ground or whatever held our eyes, and it seemed like an hour had home by when his voice came, crackling in through the earpieces.

"Alright, I'm on the roof. If you look out you'll see me."

I snuck a peek out from behind the shack. Sure enough, he was there, crouched on the roof like a panther.

"Got it. What now?"

"Well, get the show going! Get off your arses and go kick some already!"

I didn't understand his enthusiasm but okay. I tapped my sister on the shoulder and she got the message. As she stood and went round the shack, I gave my ladies a look see and dusted them off.

"Well girls, it's time to get dirty."

In my baseball cap, hoodie and jeans, I didn't cut an imposing figure, but with my sister beside me, we caught the attention of the two guards out front. One of them yelled at us, something I couldn't catch from the distance between us. The other guy reached into his jacket and spoke into something, maybe a radio or something, I didn't know. As we walked closer the two men advanced slowly towards us, bats at the ready, so I balled my hands into fists, the brass knuckles cutting gently into the flesh of my palms. I loosened up my arms and I could see my sister doing the same, yet something in her eyes betrayed her not wanting to follow along with this stupid plan. The two men drew even closer, I could see one of them gesturing at us to scram.

"Hey, you two, skedaddle, get outta here, go on."

I ignored him. I had to focus on the task at hand. I glanced to the side at Alex.

"Relax sis. Just remember, these guys are guilty of doing bad things, so beating them up is no issue."

I muttered softly to her and she nodded. Ahead of us the two men were getting antsy.

"Hey! I said stop bro, turn around! This ain't no place for you!"

I ignored them, quickening my pace instead. Within seconds I was within arm's reach of the lead guy. He tried to stop me by putting out his bat horizontally so I'd hit my chest against it.

"Turn around man, I don't wanna hurt you."

"Oh yeah? Well I wanna hurt you."

I hopped forward and swung a haymaker at his face. Sue drove herself into his nose and I felt it break under my fist. Blood sprayed out from his broken face as he flew backward, and I saw my sister run forward to clobber the other guy. She leaped forward and planted both her knees against his chest and he fell as well, and I saw her arms fly up and then come straight back down, her elbows cracking against his skull. I kept my pace and wiped Sue off against my hoodie while Alex got up and dusted herself off, keeping in stride with me. Again I heard Brandon speak.

"Nice work mate. I can see the guys inside, you've caused quite a stir. Be prepared for a lot more of that, cause they sure are."

I nodded, more to myself than anything, and headed for the plant. Its entrance was nothing more than a pair of solid steel doors, built to slide in and out on horizontal tracks. They were closed, so I went forward and pulled them open. I was greeted instantly by a whole buttload of guys, all dressed differently but with one thing in common: they all had the black and red colours of the Men. All of them had some form of weapon in their hands; lengths of chain, aluminium bats, pipes, even rudimentary weapons like bats with nails driven into them, MMA gloves that had studded knuckles, and I saw a few machetes too. They were all around the entrance, either on the ground floor or up on catwalks. All of them were glaring at us. Oh boy.

"Relax kid. I've seen what you can do. These chumps ain't got nothing on you two. I'll be up here covering you if need be."

Well at least we had a man with a gun up high where we needed him. It gave me some form of comfort, at least.

At the end of the plant, where I assumed was the manager's office, emerged a man. He was dressed smartly, in a black suit and red tie. He had a cane too, and he walked with a limp. In the empty plant his voice echoed across the way, loud and clear.

"So, you two are the ones that own the dojo downtown. I never expected you to side with the Saints. Your talents would've been greatly appreciated here with us, had you accepted our terms."

"And give up the dojo? Fat chance, asshole!"

Duncan Clark smiled and shook his head. The man was wanted by the feds for a number of things, from arson to bribery to fraud and tax evasion, but above all they wanted him for one thing: gun running. The man was an arms smuggler that had ties to the gangs in Brazil that fought with each other on a regular basis. He sold them guns from Russian dealers, he was paid in drugs and money in return. "But we would've provided you with safety and an assurance that you'd have some form of protective insurance should there be any attacks on your property."

"Yeah fat load of good that did you eh, now there's a war raging in the city and there's nothing anyone can do! You're ruining lives, man, the lives and jobs of innocent people!"

The man shrugged.

"A mere consequence of war, sir. Nothing is ever fair in it. If I had the power to win this conflict without harming innocents I would've done so, but it is impossible to win without sacrifice."

"Yeah? Well in that case you better be ready to sacrifice everyone else in this damn joint, cause we ain't gonna stop until all a' ya'll is sent to the hospital."

"Really now? And why exactly did the Saints send you alone? It's not like them."

"That's cause we ain't on their side, numb nuts."

He looked confused for a second. The tension in the plant was thick.

"Then whose side are you on?"

I smirked.

"My side."

The tension broke as the closest man swung at me with a machete. I twisted as the blade swung by, then I put my foot forward and drove Sue into his face. He fell backward and all hell broke loose. Men started rushing forward to get at us. I didn't hear any gunshots ring out so I assumed we were safe for the time being. I swung my left out to stop a man that was charging me. He staggered back and I shot my foot into his gut to put him down. Another guy ran forward, chopping at me with a knife. I stopped his downward swing with my forearm, grabbed his wrist with my other hand, then twisted his arm around and yanked him towards me. As he staggered forward I drove my elbow into his face, causing him to fall flat onto his back. With my grip still on his wrist, I twisted his arm the other way around and then stomped on his wrist, making him drop the knife with a scream of pain. I hopped over him and kept moving forward towards my target: the office. Beside me, Alex dispatched another guy with a kick to the gut and one more to his face.

The group of men around us had grown wary of our ability to kick ass, and were circling us like sharks as we moved forward slowly. One of them, a dude with a bat, broke the circle and charged forward with a two handed swing that would've put a ball out of the park. I ducked underneath it and stood back up to sock him in the cheek and as he spun around I drove my other fist into his chin in an uppercut that put him on the floor. I grabbed the bat from his arms as he fell and swung it at another goon that tried to charge me. The aluminium bat struck him on the jaw and he fell, out like a light. Behind me I heard Alex yelp. I spun around to find her in the arms of one of the goons, trapped in a headlock. I dashed towards her and grabbed her by the ankles, then pulled her backward while taking a few steps quickly back. The goon holding onto her struggled a little as he suddenly jerked forward. I gave Alex a nod, then hoisted her ankles above me then pushed and lobbed her bodily up and over the guy that was holding her. She flipped and came back down with her hands clamped around his wrists, pulling his arms back painfully as she landed. She gave him a push forward and I twisted and drove the heel of my shoe into his chin, sending him back and onto the floor.

So that left, what, twenty more dudes? I could do that, no sweat.

Just then I heard gunshots ring out from above me. I looked up to see Brandon firing at somewhere further ahead, or more accurately the tip of his rifle. I glanced ahead and saw some guys fall over. They were armed with rifles of their own.

Shit that asshole couldn't play fair now could he.

"Don't worry kid I got your back! Just focus on beating those guys up! Another one coming on your left!"

True enough there was a man armed with a machete coming in swinging from my left. I dodged his initial swing, then ducked underneath his next one. I hopped over the return swing and shot my fist out at his face, catching him on his chin. He stumbled back a step and I moved forward to drive a fist into his chest. He got pushed back again and I stepped forward one more time, using my momentum to punch him in the gut and push him back at the same time. He sprawled head over heels and out of the way, but another guy took his place almost immediately, swinging a huge length of chain like a propeller. I ran back and tumbled out of the way as he brought the heavy thing right down overhead, crashing it into the concrete below. I quickly got back onto my feet and immediately had to hop backward from him swinging the chain horizontally at me, barely grazing my chest. I ducked his next swing, stepped into his range and straightened up, shoving my shoulder into his gut as I stood. He stumbled backwards and I used the moment to grab him by the collar. I twisted round, bent over and shoved my elbow into his gut, using the momentum of the twist to pull him forward and up and over, flipping him onto the floor and knocking him out of the fight.

Behind me Alex took care of another goon and moved in to help me clear out the guys that were clustering around me. Clearly they didn't see her as much of a threat, but when she vaulted over a guy that tried to tackle her, landed and then leaped onto another guy's shoulders in a handstand, people noticed. She quickly twisted around on the guy's shoulders and shoved off, pushing herself off as she fell behind him. Her legs came up and her feet shot into the back of his head and he fell forward and out of it. She fell flat on her back, but before she could get up someone plowed into her from behind. The goon tackled her to the ground and drove his fist into her back and she grunted in pain. He was poised to do it again when she curled her leg, slapping the guy in the back of the head with her heel. She used his confusion to roll over underneath him and then to give his gut a solid whack, doubling him over. She grabbed him by the hair and then pulled his head forward, making it collide with her forehead. He flew backward and she shoved him roughly off herself and got back up.

By this time several of the other guys were backing off slowly as we gathered ourselves again. It was no wonder though, as I look back at it. Here stood two people, a guy and a girl, that had singlehandedly beat up some very tough dudes. To top it all off, they had a guardian angel that had shot down several other men that were armed well enough to take them out in one spray of hot metal. No wonder they were scared. My brass knuckles were grimy and bloody from all the faces I'd punched in, and I was panting quite heavily. But we weren't done yet, not by a long shot. We still had to fight our way to their boss and take him down for good. I wiped perspiration from my brow and tightened my fists. Then I glanced to Alex, who was behind me, resting gently against my back as she caught her breath.

"You okay, Alex?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just winded."

"Alright girl, we good. Just a bit more, okay?"

"I'd cheer for you two but unless you hurry it up the boss man's going to get away!"

Brandon chimed in from above as he fired at the catwalks. I saw that he was keeping the crime boss trapped in one of the many other office chambers up there, but I knew that as accurate as he was, his bullets weren't infinite.

"Okay, just help us keep him down. We'll clear the way."

"Roger, but make it quick, aye? I ain't got all day."

Right then.

"Heard that Alex?"

"Yeah."

"We aim straight ahead. No more screwing around here."

"Mmm."

I charged ahead and dove underneath a wild swing from a machete. I ignored the guy that was swinging at me and ran past him, aiming to head for the nearest staircase up. Above me I heard more gunfire as Brandon shot at the goons behind us, keeping them from catching up to us. With Alex behind me I clambered up the stairs to the catwalks and I saw the boss man take the opportunity to run from behind his cover. He was obviously running away, but I had a plan to get him.

"Brandon! I need you to keep fire on Duncan, he's getting away!"

I heard the fire shift and I saw sparks shoot from the metal railings and floor around him. He was forced to veer right and take refuge in another office building, while I gave chase.

"Alex, sorry sis but I need you to give the guys chasing us a hell of a time. I'll be back once I have Clark!"

She nodded and stopped at the top of the stairs while I went on by her. I dashed my way to the small building he was hiding in, avoiding several other goons that had made it up to the catwalks from other staircases.

"Brandon, stop firing the moment I get there man! I don't wanna become Swiss cheese!"

"Gotcha mate! I'll just keep these sods off ya!"

I smiled. This guy was a big help. Within minutes I was at the office and I barged into the door. He was there, his face covered in fear and surprise. I threw myself at him and tackled him to the floor, and as he brought up his arms to defend himself, I bashed them away and threw the ladies at his face. In moments he was on the floor, out cold, blood streaming from his nose and the cuts in his face that the corners of the knuckles made in his flesh. I hauled the unconscious man onto my shoulders and went outside to the sound of sirens rapidly approaching. Up above, Brandon fired shots at the last of the goons on the catwalks and then I saw his rifle disappear from the hole in the roof.

"Right, that's me gone. I'll be waiting outside at the cab, you leave Clark to the cops and bail out quick, we're on a tight schedule."

I set his limp body down on the catwalk and got to leaving, even as I saw Alex finish off the last man that tried to get past her. The others below were scared enough by the sirens to run, and she got the message as she looked for me.

"Dylan, should we be going?"

"Yes, Alex, we gotta move. Like, now!"

She nodded and I followed her to a side door that led out. As we took the long way around to get back to the main gate we saw police cars streaming in. Not a second later officers piled into the plant, there was a lot of shouting and a lot of yelling, which I assumed was the police taking control of the situation. We made our way back up the slope to the cab, where Brandon and Julio were waiting for us. The former had a big smile on his face, and he clapped me hard on the back as I approached.

"Slick moves in there, kid. You and your sister too! But we have a schedule to keep, and we're almost behind time."

We pilied into the cab, but I was puzzled at his words.

"Why are we on a schedule?"

He was sitting in the front seat, and he turned to face us as the cab drove off.

"We're going according to the police operation, mate. Right now they're finished with nailing the bulk of the Saints and the Men, so now they're moving in on their commanders. They've already gotten the situation in control there, so we've got to push it to get to the Saints before they do."

I was still puzzled.

"But wouldn't the police handle the situation better than us?"

"Yeah, maybe, but people will die, and more often than not it's the cops that take the brunt of it. I've seen operations like this go sour publicly cause of how the idiots that were in command took their teams behind enemy lines without prior know-how of they handle themselves, no intel on their base and so on. Like, there was one op carried out by the Thai police on a drug kingpin. They sent in two squads of six men, twelve men in total, plus three commanders that went with them. Fifteen men in total. Of those men, only two made it out alive. All because the idiots in command didn't have the sense to get some idea of what they were going into."

I nodded grimly. He was right all the way, and it was something master Wong would've told us too.

Know your enemy, I think that's how the quote went. My memory of those was poor enough.