To The End

Angel was quietly confident.
Claire had taken great delight in telling her that Frank and Mikey were on their way although the distance meant that there was a window of opportunity. No reason to panic just yet but the request to withdraw Gates had been ignored, that could be a problem. Still, there had been tighter spots than this over the years and Angel wasn’t fazed by the current opposition. Two or three thugs could be defeated by a sharp mind. Claire herself was more of a threat in that way but Angel was a trained killer and in no mood to hesitate.
“Hey ! Hey pal, any chance of a bathroom break here ?”
There was no sound outside for a moment or so before the door creaked and both of the large men appeared. She had sized them both up over the last two visits in, one with Claire and one to give her a glass of water, on neither occasion had they released the handcuffs and the pain in her arms was now fairly intense. That would slow her reaction time but the larger of the two was far too slow, it would depend on taking out the second more lithe one if getting out the cellar was going to work.
They watched her intently, one carrying a bucket and both holding hand guns. Angel smiled sweetly as they put the bucket down and she knew that they had no plan to leave the cellar and give her any privacy at all. Not that she could blame them, it was the smarter plan. There was no sound from upstairs but they had not locked the door behind them and that was maybe not so smart.
“You really will have to let me out of these ?”
The slow one she had nicknamed Gorilla shrugged and looked at his friend who seemed to almost hesitate before removing the key from his pocket. Angel continued to smile sweetly, quickly judging angle and distance between her and the gun Gorilla held. Shorty had been forced to put his back in the holster on his belt, two hands required to undo the handcuffs. She made a point not to move too fast, rubbing the circulation back into her wrists and pushing her hair back before pointing at the makeshift toilet.
“You really going to watch ?”
“Mrs Iero said not to leave the room, we don’t leave the room.”
Angel raised her hands in mock surrender, the slight pout making the bigger man blush.
“At least turn away, jesus.”
Shorty seemed unmoved and pointed to the bucket. His hand was back on his gun and Angel knew that this would be her only chance. She moved her hand to the chair, the motion mistaken by the two men for merely moving it out of the way. Instead she heaved it at Shorty, making him stagger back and allowing her to drop Gorilla with a sharp kick to the balls. He grunted, the gun dripping enough for her to twist it from his hand and get behind him.
Shorty had reached his own weapon but couldn’t fire it as his large friend was blocking his view. There was panic in his expression and he opened his mouth to cry out, more scared than anything by the crack of bone as Angel expertly broke the fat man’s neck and pushed the corpse onto him. The man fell back with a shout, pinned down by the sudden weight. Angel stamped on his wrist and kicked the other weapon away as he started to struggle free. She really didn’t want to attract attention by firing a weapon, instead kicking him in the head hard and adding her weight to that of the dead fat man.
Angel was calm, slamming Shorty’s head repeatedly into the concrete floor until blood and brain matter were spreading and the corpse did nothing but twitch. She listened for any further trouble, calming her breathing before putting the second gun in her belt and cautiously heading toward the stairs. Neither man had carried a radio which surprised her and suggested that there were not many men up in the house to give her trouble.
Now there was just the trouble of getting past Claire.
The door led up to a quiet hallway, tastefully decorated and with a polished wooden floor that caught the drips of blood that still leaked from Angel’s wrists. She couldn’t hear anyone and judged by the fading light that it was early evening. A large picture window showed a well laid out garden beyond and then what looked horribly like a barren wilderness. Fucking middle of nowhere so she would need transport. Angel checked the opposite direction and decided to head toward what looked like the back of the house.
It was too quiet, Angel felt every ache and cramp as the tingling in the fingers of her gun hand caused it to shake. There was a chance to be adaptable here, maybe take out Claire and wait for Frank and Mikey to show. Once all three were dead it would be easy to talk Gee around and there would be nothing left to stay in the country for, more so if she told him about the need to get as far away from Gates as possible. It could work out that Claire had actually done her a favour.
Angel reached the kitchen, seeing car keys and a phone on the counter. She slowed, checking around before silently entering the room. With a scream Claire launched herself from behind the door, a large frying pan catching her enemy with a glancing blow. Angel went down hard, the gun falling from her numb fingers and the other uselessly pinned under her own weight. On nothing more than instinct she rolled, missing a second blow by an inch and frantically trying to scrabble away.
Claire grabbed her leg, screaming for the guards outside to help her. She prayed they were close, taking on Angel when she was holding a gun was not something she felt confident of doing but there was no way she was going to let her walk out the door after so much effort to find her. Angel lashed out with the other, catching Claire on the chin and causing the other woman to fall back. She reached for the second gun, going down again as Claire desperately went for it too.
There was a struggle, they were almost face to face, a vicious grin crossing Angel’s face as she hissed at Claire.
“Your husband is going to find a dead body and then I will slit his throat and make Mikey watch.”
“No, I’m going to fucking kill you.”
Rage fired Claire on and she nearly had the gun before Angel clubbed the side of her head with a solid fist. Stars exploded in her vision and a loud noise very close caused a scream to break free. Claire thought for one awful second that Angel had shot her before realising that one of Frank’s men was dead in the doorway. A strong hand gripped her hair and she fought against being dragged along the floor.
“I never wanted this Claire but you had to interfere.”
Angel was pissed off at being forced to use the gun, anyone outside would have heard it and now she may have to use Claire as a hostage. It would have been better to pick them off one by one, the element of surprise now gone.
“You’re still going to die. They will find you before you reach a town.”
Angel put the gun on the worktop and pulled a butcher knife from the block, twisting it in her hand as Claire tried harder to pull the fingers from her hair. The nasty smile hadn’t changed as Angel forced the other woman up against the table, she had always preferred the feel of a blade to the impersonal gun. It felt intimate, more focused, to kill close up and she allowed a moment of enjoyment to cross her mind.
Claire went for the eyes, managing to punch her foe hard enough for the blow to loosen the iron grip in her hair. They both went down to the floor again, the knife now the sole focus of both their intent. This was a fight to the death, Claire found that the hours of imprisonment and violence had weakened her opponent enough to make it nearly even while Angel remained focussed on her sole intent to kill Claire. Both were soon bleeding freely before Angel pulled back on Claire’s fingers, the crack audible as the scream rent the air.
Angel quickly straddled her fallen opponent and Claire found the blade pressed up against her throat. The pain in her hand was forgotten, she just couldn’t get free and Angel knew it. There was a pause, the knife slowly cutting into the skin as the victor shrugged and Claire hoped that Frank wouldn’t find her first. She didn’t want him to see her all bled out on the floor, probably only Mikey would be able to hold it together after that.
Angel had no time when the rush of air behind her alerted her to the two men’s presence. Mikey tackled her hard, bodily throwing Angel into the counter as Frank skidded to a halt next to Claire. He let his friend have free reign with the bitch as he quickly checked that Claire was ok, shaken and cradling her hand but not mortally wounded.
Mikey was more than pleased to take some frustration out on Angel, both hands around her throat as she struggled under him. They eyed each other with renewed hatred, Mikey wanted her to pay for James dying and for his brother being in jail while she remembered every second of the rape and his attempt to kill her that had stolen years of her life.
“Enough Mikey, we need her alive.”
“No. We don’t.”
“MIKEY.”
Frank helped Claire to her feet and patted his friend on the shoulder. Mikey released Angel grudgingly who curled up coughing as Frank looked down at her with a friendly smile.
“Hello baby.”

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