Joe left Drago\u2019s hive of scum (and villainy) and walked towards the docks. It was still early morning but smugglers worked around the clock and, occasionally, sometimes through it. The dock was actually the city\u2019s sky port for flying craft, but had been branded as \u2018the docks\u2019 because, quite frankly, it was still used for docking ships. Some things never changed.<\/p>\n
Joe clambered up on to a dumpster and hopped over the wall that ran around the front of the sky port. Security had never been brilliant at the docks, and Joe had found himself sneaking along the edge of the sky port before. He always resisted the urge to look down over the edge of the docking bays at the long drop to the ground. The sky port itself hung over the edge of the City of Light\u2019s foundation plate and seemed to be holding on by the lip of its own plate. Many an unlucky gangster had been given the gift of concrete shoes and thrown over the edge. On a quiet day you could hear them scream all the way to the bottom.<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
The docks had an air terminal and generic sky port centre connecting the docks to the city plate. Large aircrafts usually docked around the edge of the plate, hovering thousands of feet above the ground, while the smaller privateer crafts properly parked on the plate itself in the limited space available amongst the stacked cargo containers and fuel tanks. The visitors to this plate were predominantly tourists boarding or leaving the various cruise ships that visited the City of Light, the rest of the plate\u2019s population being the understaffed maintenance crews. Occasionally gangs would sneak in to the docks to conduct whatever business they had, the docks being a sort of neutral turf where no one group claimed the area as their own as part of some unwritten arrangement. It was the only way in and out of the city after all, so keeping rival groups out would be too much hassle. However, every once in a while a fresh-faced new upstart would come along wanting to claim the area as their own, something Joe suspected was happening now.<\/p>\n
The would-be assassin weaved his way between the gaps in the vast steel cargo containers, searching for his prey and occasionally doubling-back into the maze whenever he found the gaps in the containers becoming too thin. He could clearly hear a rhythm and blues beat drifting over from the centre of the structure, and he relied on his ears to guide himself through the maze of cargo towards it. Eventually the maze opened out into a section of hangars and bays, and the music filtered through the air clearly, no longer obstructed by cargo.<\/p>\n
Peeking his head around a crate, he could see a low-rider car parked haphazardly against a hangar. The music was pumping out from its radio and masked the voices of the two Yardies stood talking to each other, unaware of Joe\u2019s presence. Joe really wasn\u2019t fond of criminals like Yardies, who favoured vice achieved the unorganised way; organised crime was just more efficient, and wearing a suit was nice too. To add an extra layer of distaste, these Yardies were wearing dreadlocks of various colours, grungewear in assorted denim tatters and chains and piercings dotted around the empty inches of exposed flesh. A right bunch of \u2018typers1<\/a><\/sup>,<\/a> clearly.<\/p>\n Spotting the Uzis2<\/a><\/sup><\/a> in the Yardies\u2019 hands quelled Joe\u2019s urge to just step out and plug them both with a few quick shots. Instead he slunk around the containers to get a better view of the hangar. Sure enough, poking his head around from a new vantage point, there was the group of Yardies loitering outside the hangar. As far as they were concerned, it was perfect – renting out a hangar and intercepting the shipments of every smuggler in the city was a no-brainer. Joe was surprised that they had lasted this long. He span the chambers on his revolver to check it was loaded and clicked them into place with a swift flick of his wrist. He\u2019d already decided on how he was going to approach the hit, and wedged the gun between his belt and his back into his trousers just as the hangar doors opened to reveal Mr. Blonde Dreadlocks sitting in his own lowrider. Joe moved.<\/p>\n \u201cExcuse me?\u201d<\/p>\n The Yardies raised their guns reflexively towards the suited man advancing towards them. Their poised guns didn\u2019t stop his advance.<\/p>\n \u201cOh, do beg my pardon, I\u2019m new around here.\u201d<\/p>\n The man approached with a beaming smile on his face and a look of complete innocence, which could quite easily be exchanged for complete idiocy in the City of Light. The Yardies lowered their guns as the man neared closer. He obviously wasn\u2019t intending any harm. No one would get that close if they were looking to shoot someone.<\/p>\n \u201cWho be you?\u201d one of the Yardies questioned gruffly.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m the new hangar inspector around here,\u201d the suited man announced. \u201cWho\u2019s the boss around here?\u201d<\/p>\n Another Yardie pointed at Blondie as he pulled his car forward out of the hangar. Blondie frowned at the suited man, sunglasses gleaming in the early morning sun.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat do ya want?\u201d Blondie growled through the bulging spliff drooping from his mouth.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, you\u2019re due for payment on your hangar rental.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat you talkin\u2019 about, mon? We paid last Friday!\u201d Blondie snarled, lying through his gold-plated teeth. He had in fact paid nothing, and had been expecting a skyport official to come snooping around for a while.<\/p>\n \u201cReally? Damn. I don\u2019t suppose you could check something for me, then?\u201d the suit asked. \u201cJust an item I need checked before I go back to my boss and tell him he\u2019s fucking cocked up again.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOkay?\u201d Blondie replied, trying to work out the man\u2019s accent.<\/p>\n \u201cExcellent, Mister…?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLundi. Lundi Dreade.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRight, Mr. Dreade. Can we take this inside?\u201d<\/p>\n Lundi stepped out of the car and shuffled back inside the hangar with the suited man, nodding at the Yardie inside the hangar to indicate that this was private business. As the Yardie left the hangar, Lundi grabbed the suited man and pressed him against the hangar door.<\/p>\n \u201cLet me straighten you out, man,\u201d the Yardie boss rumbled, \u201cwe got a gud ting goin\u2019 here.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s the problem,\u201d the suit calmly replied, \u201cbut it\u2019s not my problem.\u201d<\/p>\n He slid the revolver out and into Lundi\u2019s chest, where a quick squeeze of the trigger promptly put an end to all of the Yardie boss\u2019s concerns, as well as his lungs. Unfortunately it also made a loud bang that echoed around the hangar, disturbing some nested pigeons up in the rafters.<\/p>\n Shit. Forgot to attach the godsdamn silencer<\/em>.<\/p>\n Joe ran out of the hangar, hiding the revolver by his leg. The four Yardies outside were advancing forward, completely aware that there had been a gunshot and that the suited man was now running sideways with an awful lot of what looked like blood splattered across his jacket. The suit pointed hesitantly at the hangar door, shock on his face.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was so upset that he couldn\u2019t make the payment! He just shot himself!<\/em> I-I couldn\u2019t-\u201d Joe realised that they weren\u2019t buying it and that they were going for their guns, \u201c-fuckit.\u201d<\/p>\n He brought his revolver up and shot one Yardie through the shoulder, spinning him around and tossing him to the ground. Joe\u2019s smile was cut short as he stumbled in his backwards run, rolling as he landed to avoid the stream of Uzi bullets that tore through the floor where he\u2019d been a second later. Sitting up he ultimately disarmed the Uzi-toting Yardie with a shot to the head, brain matter decorating the floor as the body landed heavily. The two unarmed Yardies hesitated, ready and prepared to let Joe go. Joe smiled.<\/p>\n The sudden roar of engines signalled the arrival of Yardie backup, as two low-riders pulled up next to the hangar from around the corner. Joe stopped smiling.<\/p>\n \u201cAw shit<\/em>,\u201d Joe muttered as he clambered to his feet and started to run. He could hear the Yardies briefly ordering a pursuit, along the lines of \u2018kill that muthafucker\u2019, and the revving of high-powered engines poised to strike. The squeal of hover thrusters signalled that finely-tuned vehicles were going to run over and burn his arse into the concrete3<\/a><\/sup>.<\/a> The concept of concrete shoes suddenly sounded far more appealing to Joe by comparison.<\/p>\n Joe allowed himself to turn briefly to see what was chasing him, which only made things worse. He then concentrated on sprinting forward, forcing the fact that there was a dead end in the form of a wall in front of him to the back of his mind. He\u2019d worry about it once he got there. If<\/em> he got there. It seemed a mile away. Joe shook his head. He wasn\u2019t about to let time slow down and fool him into thinking things were dramatic. It was only metres away, he could make it. Just force some extra push into your strides<\/em>. The roar of the engines breathed down his neck, their sound grating through his ears. It didn\u2019t matter, he\u2019d just worked out what he was going to do once he\u2019d reached the wall.<\/p>\n At the wall he stepped on to it, pushing off of it with one leg and wheeling around mid-air. Raising his revolver he fired, luckily catching one driver in the neck. Landing, he rolled sideways as the now out-of-control car smashed into the wall where he\u2019d been a second before. Joe grunted as he leapt on to his feet, charging forwards towards the buckled car. Spinning the gun around back-to-front with a deft flick of his fingers, he brought the butt of the gun down across the face of the stunned passenger, who groaned and slumped forward.<\/p>\n The other car swerved to a stop, passengers raising their guns and firing carelessly at the wrecked car in an attempt to kill the suited attacker. Joe reluctantly took cover, fully aware that what he was using as a shield was liable to explode with just one well-placed bullet. He carefully opened the passenger door of the car while hunched down, pausing to squeal as several bullets missed his arm and perforated the dashboard. He flicked the switch for the hydraulics and clung on as the body of the car began to raise up away from the hover thrusters. Waiting for the Yardies to pause for a second, he changed his foothold and pulled himself up, stamping down upon the crumpled bonnet of the car and leaping over the wall-<\/p>\n -realising a second too late that the floor below was miles below, the wall being a perimeter boundary skirting the dock plate. Joe\u2019s hand reflexively grabbed the wall, and his legs kicked into automatic mode, scrabbling to run up the brickwork. Through sheer desperation, one of his legs managed to hook itself around the top of the wall, leaving him dangling from the plate by a hand and a foot. Joe\u2019s vision swirled, far far below he could see the town of Undercit, which looked like a small network of cardboard boxes crafted by ants from this height. The wind lapped at him and threatened to rip him from the wall. Using all his effort, he hauled his face up on to the wall, his arm screaming to let go with the effort.<\/p>\n With chin gaining purchase on the ledge, a chunk of brickwork splashing up into his face as a bullet tore into the brickwork next to his head caught him by surprise. He remembered the car full of angry Yardies, and forgot to keep holding on.<\/p>\n Joe fell. Joe screamed.<\/p>\n Joe realised he wasn\u2019t dead when he was thinking how much his chest hurt, and how the ground felt suspiciously like cold metal. He opened his eyes and felt dizzy as the world blurred past. He rubbed his eyes, but realised that, coupled with the air rushing past, the blurring wasn\u2019t his eyes. He was on top of a truck. He laughed, almost hysterically.<\/p>\n Carefully rolling on to his back, he could see the wall up above some distance where he\u2019d fell from. As luck had it, he\u2019d fell from the one part of the dock plate where the freeway passed underneath. He had marvellously chosen one of the only two sections of wall surrounding the skyport that overlooked the motorway. The freeway was a long stretch of eight lanes which weaved and twisted between the various plates that formed the City of Light. From up there, he\u2019d been too confused and panicked to even notice the stretch of concrete passing by just underneath. He could just about make out two round lumps bobbing above the wall he\u2019d fell from, presumably two angry Yardies. Even with the truck saving his life, it had still been quite a distance to fall. Joe had heard about people falling out of buildings into bushes unharmed, and put his continuing life down to sheer dumb luck, which sounded about right.<\/p>\n \u201cOnly in the City of Light,\u201d Joe muttered to himself, lying flat against the roof of the truck and enjoying the ride. He would get off when the truck stopped.<\/p>\n Joe watched as the city passed by. He loved this city, and knew almost every street, every building, every nook and every cranny. The city hospital loomed among the buildings on one side, and the view on the other side of the truck overlooked the rim of the plate out across the distant horizon, towards the vast desert.<\/p>\n The truck eventually pulled into a delivery bay behind a supermarket, and Joe calmly stepped down on to the cab of the truck, leaping to the ground and dusting himself off, provoking bemusement and double-takes from the truck\u2019s driver and the delivery bay attendants. Joe knew exactly where he was – he was downtown, the north side of the second plate. He could have ordered a taxi, but figured that he could allow himself the luxury of walking. Besides, Drago wouldn\u2019t be expecting him to be back so soon. He smiled, checking that his revolvers were well hidden in their holsters before joining the hustle and bustle of the streets.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n The two monks stood in the doorway of the office. The thin one who had introduced himself as Acheron stepped forward to allow his huge partner, who he had introduced as Tartarus, to block the entire doorway with his bulk.<\/p>\n \u201cGentlemen,\u201d Acheron simpered, \u201cas we explained outside we can do this the easy way or the hard way. Oh do please come out from behind your desks, it\u2019s so discouraging when I have to talk to thin air.\u201d<\/p>\n The door lay in splinters on the floor behind Tartarus. The monks had lost the trail of their quarry, but had picked up a lead with two travel agents. Approaching the travel agent\u2019s office, they had been locked out by swift manoeuvres from Mr. Swill of Swill & Jones Travel Agents, as had been painted on the door before Tartarus had tried opening it. Acheron had found explaining the situation to the whimpering businessmen through the door before Tartarus had opened it quite refreshing. It was a perk of the job.<\/p>\n Swill and Jones stood up behind their respective desks, now wielding small pistols. Acheron sighed, and stepped behind his wall-like associate.<\/p>\n \u201cOh please. You can try if you want, but you\u2019ll only make Tartarus angry. Isn\u2019t that right, Tartarus?\u201d Acheron stated, poking the huge thug as a prompt. Tartarus grinned and cracked his knuckles. It sounded like tree branches snapping in half. Acheron smiled as he heard the sound of two guns being thrown to the floor, and stepped out from behind Tartarus to see the two terrified businessmen with their hands in the air. He waved their hands down dismissively.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know what we want. Just tell us.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cW-we c-c-can\u2019t. C-c-c-client confidentiality,\u201d Mr. Jones blathered nervously.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t worry. It\u2019ll be between you, me, Tartarus and anyone else we tell.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe could be arrested for breach of trust. You don\u2019t scare us,\u201d stated Mr. Swill, obviously the more resilient of the two. Mr. Jones whimpered as Acheron shook his head.<\/p>\n \u201cTartarus\u2026it seems these gentlemen don\u2019t want to be co-operative. How about you persuade<\/em> them until they tell us where the doctor has gone?\u201d Acheron asked his cohort smarmily. Tartarus stood with a blank look on his expression. Acheron remembered who he was talking to and sighed. \u201cKeep hitting them until I tell you to stop,\u201d he rephrased. Tartarus smiled as he understood, lumbering forward and grabbing Mr. Swill by the head in one of his huge palms. Acheron shut his eyes as Tartarus did what he did best. It sounded like a heavy slab of meat hitting a wall repeatedly, only this slab of meat produced additional grunts, whimpers and cries of pain. When he opened his eyes again Mr. Swill certainly looked like his namesake, and Mr. Jones had wet himself.<\/p>\n \u201cWell?\u201d Acheron asked. Jones nodded.<\/p>\n \u201cW-we d-did h-have a g-guy d-dressed as a d-d-doctor come here. He bought a t-t-ticket to S-Samprini, west of here.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHow far away is Samprini?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cF-four hours b-by l-light aircraft.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a shame. That answer just got you killed. Although to be fair we would have had to kill you anyway. You know too much.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cN-no! W-waait! I-I can do you a d-deal!\u201d Jones cried, but Acheron had already turned to leave and had elbowed Tartarus into action. Acheron stepped outside and waited for the screams and fleshy thwumping sounds to die down. Tartarus stepped out of the office as Acheron summoned up a small fireball in his palm. He flicked it on to the paperwork scattered across the desks, and after a minute the office began to burn. Tartarus stood watching him, and grunted as Acheron nodded at him with a smile.<\/p>\n \u201cSo what are we gonna do now, Acheron?\u201d rumbled the thick-headed thug.<\/p>\n \u201cTake a drive down to Samprini, Tartarus. We\u2019ll catch up with the good doctor eventually,\u201d Acheron replied, elbowing the fire alarm next to the office door. The two monks swiftly moved on, and were driving away in their van as the contents of the office incinerated, shortly before the building was evacuated and the fire department arrived to douse the flames.<\/p>\n Joe left Drago\u2019s hive of scum (and villainy) and walked towards the docks. It was still early morning but smugglers worked around the clock and, occasionally, sometimes through it. The dock was actually the city\u2019s sky port for flying craft, but had been branded as \u2018the docks\u2019 because, quite frankly,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[84,58,57,77,86,66,24,60,87],"class_list":["post-306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-hitmans-tale","tag-acheron","tag-gifelle-arms-weapons","tag-guns-and-weaponry","tag-joe-vekowski","tag-lundi-dreade","tag-tartarus","tag-the-city-of-light","tag-the-galactic-finders-of-the-tserulian-monastery","tag-yardies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/tales-of-sin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/tales-of-sin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/tales-of-sin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/tales-of-sin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/tales-of-sin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/tales-of-sin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/tales-of-sin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/tales-of-sin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.payneful.co.uk\/tales-of-sin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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