Into the Fire - Part Thirteen

Or, "Bang bang all over you!"

Previously on - Helen and Laurent, well mostly Laurent, escaped from a police station after knocking Helen on her ass. Then he stole a police car and ran. Someone caught up with them and drew down on them.

I shoved Helen down and threw the car into drive. The noise was furious. The rear glass shattered under the onslaught. Bullets passed through the driver's seat and then through me. I managed to get the car rolling in the right direction and floored the accelerator. The car responded well enough and we were down the road and nearing the highway when I looked down. “We’re going to make it, Helen.”

That was when I saw the blood. I don’t know if one bullet or a dozen had hit her. I could see she still breathed, but I didn’t know how long she’d have before she bled out. A look into the rearview let me know that our pursuers hadn’t given up. I took the gun from her slackened grip and pointed it over my shoulder.

As I pulled the trigger I let loose a stream of invective in the faerie tongue. As ugly as we were beautiful, the strange words put power into and behind the steel-jacketed bullets. Each of the five found their targets. I watched as the vehicle lost control, veered into the ditch and flipped over. I felt no remorse over the killings, but at the same time, there was no thrill. There was only anger. I drove on, fighting the clock as I felt warm wetness spread across the leg of my jeans.

I'm not sure how far down the highway we'd gone before I felt her mumble something into my crotch. I took my restraining hand from her and she sat up.

"If I'd been down there much longer I would have bitten it off."

I didn't need to ask to what she was referring. "You've been shot. How bad is it?"

She reached over and touched her left shoulder blade. A hiss escaped her lips. "I think it's a graze on the shoulder." She looked down at the blood stain on her blouse. "I've got a through and through on my side." She reached into the footwell on her side and pulled out an orange box. From it she drew forth gauze. After raising her shirt, she examined the wound and swore. "Gonna need to have someone look at that." She began twining the bandages around her torso.

I looked at the speed limit and took us down to a normal pace for this highway. "How soon?"

"I should be okay for a little while." Once she'd secured the bandage she put a hand to her head. "I'm lightheaded, but I don't think I'm gonna pass out."

"Where should we go to get you taken care of?"

"The hospital is out. I've got a few things at home that I can use to do it myself. Especially if you can help."

"I have some experience in mending people. After that where should we go?"

She bit her lower lip. Even wounded and bedraggled as she was it was somehow stirring. "You're the one who said he knew some things. I'll let you take the lead for now. Did you get the license plate on that SUV?"

I brought up a mental picture of the vehicle. "There were no identifying marks. It's my understanding that such people frown on being remembered."

She smiled. "That's true. Sometimes they make mistakes, but I guess not this time. We'll go to my brother's place to start. I'd put a call in and have someone check on the SUV, but you've made using official channels hard. They were using automatic weapons and they had a nice ride, but that doesn't narrow it down much. They could be bangers. They could be Federal agents."

"Tell me where your place is, and we will get you sewn up. Once that's done you will be a little more clear-headed. Then we'll go by your brother's place. Perhaps there is something of significance that was missed."

She began giving me directions to her place. "Oh shit."

"What?"

"We're in a shot-up police car. Aren't we?"

I nodded. "This does make us a little more conspicuous. Does that change our plans?"

"Our immediate ones. I imagine there's already an APB out on the car. We're lucky that we haven't already been picked up. Take the next exit."

I did as she requested. We took a few turns and were soon in a less than desirable neighborhood. That never seemed to take long in this part of the world. I parked behind a house that had been abandoned for some time. We got out and I had to help her stand upright.

"We're going to have to steal a car." She scanned the surrounding neighborhood. Nothing promising was in sight.

"I know how to make one work without keys." My own words surprised me. It felt like the braggadocio of a young boy.

Helen lifted an eyebrow but said nothing. She leaned back into the patrol car and pulled the shotgun free. She had that and her pistol as armaments.

I could see the wisdom in not leaving anything behind that could be used against someone. "Can you walk on your own or do you need to be carried?"

She shouldered the shotgun. "I'll be okay if we don't have to go too far."

I let her go ahead of me. The way she walked made me wince. I could probably take away her pain, but something told me she'd take some sort of offense. I smiled at the rugged self-reliance mixed with sheer stubbornness. She would make a good full-blooded fae. We didn't go far before she spotted a car that would meet our needs. The blue and white sigil identified it as a BMW. Its brown paint had seen better days.

Helen got into the passenger side without needing to be told. I took my place as the driver and reached under the steering wheel. I grabbed the exposed cables and spoke a brief word of power. The engine coughed to life. Just as I pulled out into the street I heard the shouting. A large black woman was shaking her fist at us and cursing us loudly in a mix of languages. I left her behind in the cloud of white smoke.

"Take us back to the highway, and I'll tell you how to get to my place."

I couldn't help but smell the tang of blood in the cramped warmth of the car. "Your wound has started bleeding again."

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