Rebound

I ground my heel into his shoulder so hard that his scream made Sky roll up into a ball in her seat. I was sorry she had to witness this, but I was exacting revenge for Lily and no one was going to stop me from getting it, not even Sky.

"Mikhail."

I'm pretty sure he was close to passing out from the pain.

"Barkov... Barkov..." he finally said. It meant nothing to me at that time. I heard police sirens wailing in the distance. Someone must have heard the gunshots and called it in. I scanned the interior for cameras. There were two mounted in the corner that covered my area, but like the outside ones, they were switched off.

I took my foot off him.

"Get up you piece of shit."

I kicked him in the side again.

"Now!" I shouted.

He struggled to his feet. I didn't help him. Instead, I took three steps back.

"Scream Sky... scream," I yelled to her.

She let out a blood curdling scream.

The man instinctively turned his head to look at her.

I had my gun pointed at him and fired a point blank shot to the side of his head. His body recoiled and blood splattered against the back wall. He dropped to the ground, dead instantly.

I walked up to him and spit on what was left of his face. "That's for Lily," I told his corpse. I watched my spit run slowly down his bloody and twitching cheek.

I used my jacket sleeve to cover my hand. I picked up his gun by the barrel and carefully placed the grip in his right hand.

I knew exactly what I was doing and I made Sky an unwilling accomplice. Sometime justice needed a nudge.

"Max," Sky whimpered. I went to her, shivering like a small child, and held her tight in my arms.

"Sky... you're with me now... you're safe."

She looked at me with sadness in her eyes. She'd experienced the true terror of knowing she was about to die and then witnessed a grisly death by my hand. She'd have to lie for me at the mandatory inquisition that would undoubtedly follow my killing a suspect. We would both testify that I fired to keep him from killing her... that I had no choice.

We all had our crosses to bear and I'd just asked Sky to take the rough justice I'd meted out to her grave. But I'd also saved her life, and standing up for me was a small price to pay for her life. She had to be grateful that I discovered her near fatal error in judgment and got there in time. I risked my life to save hers. I knew all of that because of what she said next as she was clinging to me.

"Max, don't leave me again."

Those were the words I wanted to hear. Just not there and not then.

"I won't honey. Not now. Not ever," I assured her. I stroked her hair to comfort her.

"Promise?" she asked, her eyes blurry with tears.

She was breaking my heart.

"I promise honey."

Sky had returned to me, but not in the way that I'd hoped. She was alive, and that's all that mattered. I was going to keep my promise and she was going to keep my secret.

_|/_

Max will continue the hunt.