"Si, Patron, but you know how those donut eaters like to brag. Also, there were two according to them. The other seemed to ride off with no problems. I have a cousin in The Playground, he says that bike belongs to The Snowman. If so, we might have big problems on our hands."
"Why do you think I'm down here? The men need to see I'm not scared of any myth. If The Snowman wants to bring his little game up to Filmore Heights, he's going to find that we're a lot harder to scare than those Confederation bitches. They were strong, but soft in a lot of ways. We're the ones on the edge of the steel every day. We'll see. But the boys need to relax. We'll take care of business."
I'd heard enough, and thought it was time to see if Villalobos was willing to back up his words. Sneaking my hand down into the leg of my pants, I eased one of my backup weapons from its holster.
Blowguns are one of the world's oldest stealth weapons. The darts are light, and in the hands of a skilled user, are very accurate. The main problem with them is that they're limited range obviously.
I had gone with something a little bit more high tech, but still old fashioned. Using high tensile strength rubber and the tube, I combined the ideas of a slingshot with a blowgun. I'd seen similar devices online and from talking to old prison veterans, but mine was certainly stronger than something made from rolled up newspaper, cardboard, and the rubber out of someone's underwear. I could hit accurately at up to fifty meters with the device, and best of all, it was totally silent.
Sighting carefully, I loaded my dart, and sent it into Villalobos' leg, right above his knee. I could have killed him if I'd used some of the darts that I keep on hand, but that wasn't my purpose. I wanted Filmore to stay even until Patrick and I could work together to take all of the groups down. Instead, the drugs inside temporarily paralyzed his leg, making him tumble to the ground with his next step. I took off, and was a rooftop away before the Latin Kings below knew what had even happened. Still, I could hear some yelling, and I hightailed it as hard as I could. I wasn’t going to repeat the same scene as last time.
I was still clearly ahead of them when I got to my bike and twisted the throttle, flying out of Filmore Heights at full speed. I streaked through The Playground before looping the Park area once again and hightailing it up towards home.
The bells of the clock towers around the city were just ringing one o'clock.
Chapter 6
Tabby
I could feel sweat trickling down my back as I waited for Patrick. I'd changed into workout clothes, and looked over at the spot where I had last been with him, the mats where I'd taken him in. My body yearned for him, but my mind still reeled at what he'd said afterwards.
I knew I was still screwed up inside from Scott Pressman. If I had ever needed more proof, it was in the way I'd fled from Patrick after he has said he loved me. Seriously, what person does that? He hadn't been growling or trying to hurt me. In fact, he'd never hurt me, hadn't even raised his voice to me once. When he'd told me, he struggled, and I knew he was telling the truth. He was as surprised by what he'd said as I was.
Even still, it scared the hell out of me. Sophie held me for nearly an hour as I went through hysterics that night, and since then I'd still felt cold sweats every time I went into the gym. Sophie had even changed my workout the day before to outside, taking the time with Mark to haul the weights I was going to use into the backyard of Mount Zion, just so I could get through it.
Today though, I wanted to face my fears. Why should I be chained by the mental fuckery of someone who never cared for me? Should I let Scott Pressman's screwing with my mind forever prevent me from hearing the words that any person should yearn to hear? Determined, I changed into my exercise clothes and stood in the middle of the gym, tapping my foot while I waited. It was six thirty.
"You know, you don't have to do this," Sophie said to me quietly as she waited with me. "I didn't call him over for this purpose. I called him over to do some training.”
"I know," I replied, "but I can't just go hide in my room or something until I get over it. Besides, we both know he didn't do anything wrong."
Sophie nodded. It’d actually been touching, considering how much he was annoyed by the man, that Mark came in later that night and talked with me about it. He'd been convinced Patrick had meant no harm, and was genuinely broken up by the whole thing. Even Vanessa had done some surreptitious inquiry, giving me a hint into just how widespread the executive assistant network ran. I wondered if I could tap into that somehow.
"You really think he's a good guy?" I asked Sophie. Six twenty nine. He'd have to get there soon or else he would be late.
"Mark seems to think so, and he's got good taste in women at least," Sophie told me, earning a smile from me. I heard the front door of Mount Zion slam, and feet running through the house.