Fatal Attraction Ch. 07

The man moved over as Zelderman's own surveillance expert took over. A few controls switched over later, he had disengaged the night vision screens leaving the screens pitch dark for a few moments till the power was switched by someone who had rushed to the control room a floor below.

Everyone peered into the screens, crowding around the monitors.

"It's empty!"

Stevenson saw the numerous bodies lying around, in the midst of glass and rubbish and pools of blood. Bodies of his own men.

"Did those three die?" It was Randy asking in a meek voice from behind.

"Confirm it!" Stevenson yelled again.

Zelderman, who till this time had been quite, signaled her own men. "Try and see what's happening down in the Mongers favi, but don't go down there. The way those bodies plopped down one after the other, I think There's some sort of a monster Venus-flytrap or something down there."

Immediately her men bustled as they exited the door to head towards the bar.

To say Stevenson was enraged would be an understatement. In a few seconds he had lost thirteen of his most able men; their deaths shrouded in mystery. And within that rage, rose insanity of another desire. Another bird he had planned to take down on this trip.

His eyeballs twitched around maniacally, taking in the occupants of the room. There was himself, the man who had coordinated his squad, and another bodyguard of his. Then there was Zelderman's surveillance expert, one of her own bodyguards, and some Randy fellow he didn't know. All in all, it was not that bad a situation to carry out phase two of the plan.

He signaled his bodyguard.

Zelderman shrieked as Stevenson's bodyguard suddenly dived on her and within a couple of seconds had her in his arms, a gun held to her head. Her own bodyguard reacted instinctively, only to be socked on the head by the other of Stevenson's men.

The surveillance expert startled expression and raised hands in the next few seconds indicated that he was not going to be one to put up a fight. Randy Rodriguez cowered in fear as he backed off to the wall.

The room was suddenly a bunch of nerves.

"What is the meaning of this Stevenson?" Zelderman yelled.

Raphael Stevenson raised his head slowly, is eyes a dangerous red, his nostrils flaring as a trace of spit trailed down his chin, blemishing his otherwise immaculate silver face.

"This? This is what I've been waiting to do since a long long time. I can't have that hacker nerd boy, but at least I can kill you, you bitch!"

"Have you gone mad Raphael? Have you thought over the consequences and repercussions of this? You've already lost most of your crew tonight! Do you honestly think you'll survive with the remaining after killing me?"

But Raphael Stevenson was beyond reasoning. His hair had gone wild and he withdrew a pistol from under his coat pocket and pointed it at the female gang leader.

"Stop blabbering you bitch! And die!"

Bang!

Stevenson was clutching his bleeding hand the next moment. There on the doorway was Duke, his gun pointing at the man whose hand he'd shot, with Christian standing a few inches behind him; his face marked with confusion at finding Stevenson there.

"You fucking bastards!" Stevenson yelled grasping his hand in pain. "You killed all my men you fucking...."

Stevenson paused as he looked up at Duke's expressionless face. And then suddenly he burst out into a maniacal laughter. Laughter that echoed eerily throughout the room.

"So you're going to trust that thief now?" he gestured towards Christian with his chin. "Don't you know he sold you out already?"

Duke's eyebrows knit themselves together as he looked at Christian, wondering who this man was and what he was talking about.

"He hasn't come here to rescue you sweetie, he's come here to fetch you for me. And he's doing it all for cold hard cash!"

Duke's ramrod hand fell a little slack as he stared at Christian's face, waiting for an explanation.

"Ask him Goddammit! Ask him! Did he collect the money to deliver you to me from me or not! Ask him?"

Duke's face acquired a questioning look as Christian swallowed and bowed his head, unable to meet his gaze. The formers face turned to one of pain, of being betrayed, of reestablishing his belief, being manipulated and then being left in the lurch to bleed to death. And within those moments Duke decided who his greatest enemy was. And his arms turned slowly as it shifted targets.

The Colt M1911 was now pointing straight at Christian's chest.

A startling turn of events took place. Stevenson suddenly withdrew another gun form his coat and with his unhurt hand pointed it towards Duke. Christian saw his movements just before he pulled the trigger.

Bam!

Duke stared in shock. Christian had dived forwards, pushing him to the side and shielding his body with his own as he did, and in the process, had taken a bullet himself.

Another crash was heard as Zelderman suddenly caught hold of Stevenson's guard with both her arms and flung the man in a wide-arc, sending him crashing to a wall. And she charged at Stevenson, yelling a battle cry with a dangerous object in her hand which she flung at his head.

Stevenson stood motionless, shocked. One of Zelderman's pink stilettos jutting out of his head, the sharp edge sunken in.

And then he fell to the floor, dead.

Duke was in a state of utter shock. He flopped to the floor, holding Christian in his arms as he frantically ran his hands through Christian's hair.

"Why?"

Christian grimaced with pain before he spoke.

"Because I love you."

And at that Duke's tears began to flow. For the first time in over a dozen years, Duke cried, and cried his heart out. He was aware of nothing that happened around him after that. HE would not remember the many guns that pointed to his head; Zelderman's men returning from a fruitless search of the two fugitives and finding a peculiar sight. He would not remember Zelderman's orders to let them go. He would not remember Randy Rodriguez raising his voice and being slapped by Zelderman in front of everyone. He would not recall Zelderman giving orders for an ambulance to be discreetly arranged.

All he would remember was holding Christian's hands tightly and not letting go. Of staring into his soulless eyes as life drained out of him. And his tears showed no signs of stopping as he wept for the man who had saved his life once again; the same man who he had held his gun to.

~~~ ~~~

"No seriously honey, he wasn't all that great. I mean, he looks like he'll give it to you real good once he gets you into bed, but all he did was lie around like a dead frog. It was so boring and quite, I could hear the tinkering of the ice-cream vendor's cart the whole time!"

Duke feigned a yawn as Christian smiled trying to appear genuinely interested. But this time Damien's tale had a listener, that too of the female variety. A red-haired 'Fiery Babe' named Vanessa, who had acquired quite a penchant for being a fag hag.

"You kidding me?" she squealed. "And here I was thinking he'll rock the bed whole night!"

"Not a chance darling. He's as boring as my biology professor in the seventh grade."

The four were sitting in a restaurant for dinner. The subject of discussion was a man that Damien had had his eyes on since the past three days. Apparently he had just made his conquest the previous night and everyone was being forced to hear the details of it now.

Duke tried to change the topic. "So how's the wound?"

Christian smiled as he slid his hand to slightly below his right rib cage. A spot still wrapped in bandages.

"Oh, I'll live."

Everyone fell silent for a few moments.

"Can't believe we went through all that and still lived", Christian continued. "Can't believe its been nine days since the incident. It's still fresh like yesterday in my mind."

It had been three days since Christian had been discharged from the hospital.

"I thought that I'd lost you forever." It was Duke, with the darkest and gloomiest of faces as he thought back to the memory.

Christian smiled as he lifted Duke's face by putting a finger to his chin. "Oh, you ain't getting rid of me that easy!" He was rewarded as a slight smile broke across Duke's face.

"So what you gonna do now honey?" Damien asked Christian. "I mean, you aren't gonna go back to stealing stuff are you?"

"No way, no more risky stuff!" Christian paused as he added. "At least not till this heals completely. He touched his bullet wound slightly as Duke scowled at him.

"I'm sure I kind find something that fits me!" Christian quickly added when he noticed Duke's frown.

"You better not go back to all that!" Duke growled in a low voice.

"By the way, I have a surprise waiting for you outside."

"Are you changing the topic again Chris?"

Christian sighed in helplessness. The new overprotective Duke was completely different from the one he'd first met. And he liked the change.

"No, I mean it. Lets just finish dessert and I'll show you. It's waiting outside."

Ten minutes later, the four exited the restaurant. Damien excitedly talking about how cute their waiter had been, but how he'd seemed to young while Duke wondered what his surprise was.

And then he saw it directly in front; shining in all it's glory.

"A Suzuki Hayabusa!"

He turned towards Christian, his eyes glittering like stars and caught a bunch of keys flying at his face just in time.

"Yep. And it's yours now!"

Duke ran to the bike like a ten year old receiving opening gifts on Christmas morning. And he paused a few paces away from it to admire its beauty.

"Holy shit!"

"You like it?" Christian asked, walking over with a smug expression on his face.

"YEAH! Obviously!"

Christian laughed as he looked at Duke's expression; the man's face was beaming like a house on fire as he ooh-ed and aww-ed identifying each and every accoutrement of the bike.

Suddenly Duke paused and went a bit stiff. "How did you pay for this Chris?"

"Oh, I managed", Christian replied nonchalantly.

Duke however did not seem satisfied with the answer. He looked down an stroked the bike's surface gently with his fingers as he asked what had been rankling him since many days now.

"Err Chris. I wanted to ask you this before." Christian sensed the tension in the air as Duke paused. "What did you do with that money you got form Stevenson?"

Christian smiled a gentle smile at his lover.

"I burned it."

"What?" Duke looked up with a startled expression.

"I burned it on the way to Salvia. Believe me, it wasn't easy, but then it was the worst kind of blood money possible and I would never forgive myself if I used a single note from that money. So I burnt it all."

Duke shook his head in disbelief as he absorbed the news.

"So this bike is..."

"This is a gift to you from my personal savings. Let's just leave it at that okay. Now put on that goofy helmet and take me for a ride you oaf!"

"You betcha!" Duke smiled, the joy returning to his face as he grabbed the helmet and handed the second one to Christian who walked up behind him.

What Christian had not told Duke was that h had spent almost how much ever he collected in a long time on his gift for Duke. And still, to Christian, it had seemed to less for him.

Vanessa and Damien pretended to be bored and mocked Duke to bring back Christian alive from the ride.

The driver flipped them his middle finger as the bike roared to life.

They sped off into the horizon.

* * * * *

OK. So that's a wrap folks; with that I finish the story. Hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. The whole story writing experience was an awesome one this time as well, with all of its ups and downs.

And I thank you for bearing with my poorly edited work and flimsy writing. Forgive me for that, I'm the only one to blame on that account.

Anyways. So it's good bye from me till inspiration strikes again.

And I love all you readers out there! Keep mailing in!