The Last Bazaar

CHAPTER TWO

Kono staggered away as he grabbed for her, a finger grazing her arm. Fighting to stay focused, she forced the flooding fear from her mind. Debilitating terror was what these bastards worked to achieve. They would not beat her so easily.

“You think you’re gonna get out that way?” The man nodded at the window, knowing her only exit. “Take a look. Hey, don’t worry, I can wait.” He studied his knuckles.

Kono inched over to the open window, enjoying the breeze on her hot skin. One look outside showed several craggy upturned faces. They were waiting for her.

“Just scoop you up and carry you back inside.” The man’s voice dripped malice. “Save us a job fitting you in that coffin though.”

Kono prayed for inspiration. “Why are you all doing this?” Maybe help was on its way.

“Those guys downstairs? Well, they enjoy the payday. Me? I just love breaking beautiful things.”

Kono shuddered. “Webb sent men before. They all ended up in the ground.”

“Que sera.” He spread his arms. “I don’t care.”

Trapped, out of options, Kono prayed for some luck. She broke for the window, expecting and receiving no reaction from the man taunting her. She climbed over the window sill, looking down into the blank eyes of those who waited. Then she did something totally unexpected.

She jumped.

Angling to the right, she caught hold of the water pipe with both hands. It took an enormous amount of courage to relinquish her hold on the window and dangle above the street but a moment later she was doing just that and crab-walking up the side of her own building, ignoring next door’s small but functional balcony. Even if she gained entry she would be no better off and poor old Mr. Calabretta would end up dead too. The roof lay only a few feet away though and soon she reached for the gutter to help pull herself over the top. The metal felt thin and sharp, almost coming away with her weight. But Kono held on, breathing hard, feeling gravel scraping her belly as she squirmed over the top but knowing that meant she still lived.

Quickly, she glanced down. One of the men was speaking into a two-way.

Kono rose, suddenly screaming in shock as her taunter’s face rose above the roof’s edge. He had followed right behind her and now reached out with extreme confidence.

“It’s a nice bit of exercise, sweets, but we’re getting short of time.”

“Fuck you.”

Kono started to scream. The noise would send cops, she knew. Maybe they were already on the way. The roof of her apartment was flat, concrete, and empty. No outlets to run behind, no air-conditioning ducts. For a moment she paused, again a scared rabbit caught in the headlights of this man’s smug proficiency, but then the sound of sirens split the morning air. She leaned over and vented her lungs.

Her heart leapt. She had a chance, the sound of sirens galvanizing her like nothing else could. And the man saw it. Determination replaced the superior set to his features and he quickly darted at her. For once, Kono anticipated it and jumped out of range. Her eyes swept the roof. What would Drake do? Again that phrase, keeping her alive, sharpening her wits. She would not panic. But catchphrase or not it offered a solution.

Jump.

Kono ran hard, the force of her launch spinning tiny bits of gravel out from the back of her heels. The edge of the roof came up fast, but there wasn’t even a millisecond to spend entertaining doubt; she leapt across the gap, landing askew on top of the next roof. Pain exploded in her ankle and she tumbled. Thoughts of Mano and his absence flashed through her mind. She ended up against the far edge, crawling, groaning and then sitting up to watch her would-be killer make his leap perfectly and then approach.

“Too bad.” The outer smugness was back, though the eyes were dead. “A millimeter either way, like me, and you’d still be running. Pfft. Into the horizon.” He keyed his two-way. “Move around to the side of the apartment. I’ll kick her off the roof.”

And just like that this man decided her fate. The morals of it meant nothing. His principles were below gutter-level. To have lived for this long, experienced all that she had, harbored hopes and dreams and made plans — all for this. To be kicked ignominiously off a two-story roof.

“Wait.” Kono held up her hands. “Dude, just… wait.”

“Be quick with your pleadings.” The man checked his watch. “I have someone else to kill at one o’clock.”

“Oh, well,” Kono had never pleaded in her life and wasn’t about to start now. “If that’s how it is…”

Without knowing exactly what she was doing she kicked out with her heels, aiming every ounce of power at the man’s knees. It was all she had, all she could do. The movement itself sent trails of fire through her damaged ankle. The impact caused explosions. But it also produced a raft of emotions to finally emerge from the empty-seeming man — pain and hatred and several doses of anguish.

“You… you bitch!”

“Oh the temerity,” Kono struggled to her feet despite her own discomfort, “that the poor little victim should fight back.

The man stumbled toward her now, experiencing some agony of his own. Kono in turn stumbled away, the two of them performing an unusual dance. Inch by inch she backed away until the edge of the roof lay at her back.

“The good news is you didn’t break my leg.” The man grimaced as he spoke. “Bad news? You’re still head-diving off this roof.”

He leapt at her, trying to force her into a sudden step back, but Kono didn’t move. Not at first, instead she waited and waited until the man was close enough to place his hands on her waist and just push. Their eyes locked together.

“You feel nothing?” she asked.

“Life gave me no conscience,” the man said evenly. “You’d be surprised how many people it dealt similar gifts too. Right from the top of the food chain and downward, believe me.”

“You think it is a gift?”

“Depends on your perspective.” The man glanced over her shoulder. “Yours ain’t so hot, right now.”

“I pity you.” Kono said. “I really do.”

The man hesitated for just a moment. “And would you forgive me?”

“For killing me? That’s possible. But for all the other murders you committed? No, for that you will rightly burn in Hell.”

“Oh, well.” The man laughed as he shoved her off the edge of the roof.