Tainted Time

Tainted Time
Chapter 16
Last Second Dance

Great.. just great.

Lupin sighed, the third or twenty-second time he had done it. He had lost count. But this.. This was worth all those exhales.

The thief stared down the narrow passage, which stared right back. Really. Thousands of beady eyes blinked at him and more then a few hissed.

Maybe that was mouths, not eyes, doing the hissing. It could have been the walls hissing for all he knew. Hand still bleeding and the pain raking at his nerves like a child paid $100 to get all the leaves from a small yard, Lupin wasn’t completely sure of any of it.

“I hope, I hope you are all figments of my addled brain. Though if you were, I would think I would of made a cave full of women, scantly clad. Or at least a scantly clad cop.” He laughed, sending a ripple through the bats.

“Okay. “ He said, uneasy as the ripple produced a chorus of protests. “I just gotta.. let me slip by you….” He grinned sickly, taking a few steps in.

Seconds later, the cave echoed with almost girlish screams as Lupin came running back out, coated in angry bats.

He sneezed, quickly covering his face to muffle the sound. Goddamn doctors cigar. He wasn’t sure what was wrong with it, but he had been sneezing ever since. This dangerous mission just became even more so.

And as much as he cared about Goemon, he hated it when he right about this sort of stuff. They should have forced the hack to tell them what was needed while they were still there, at the compound.

But Jigen decided, even if it was on his deathbed, or blood matted foliage, he would stick to his choice. Because, hell, nothing he could do about it now.

It was almost being sneakier then he, flitting between the leaves, stirring sleepy birds, but Jigen could feel the dawn creeping along. They didn’t have long. Praying that if he didn’t return in time, Goemon would have the sense to abandon the cop before he became a victim as well.

Sneezing again, he scowled, grinding his fist into a tree, the bark rubbing his knuckles raw. It hurt like a son of a bitch, but it was a welcome release from his anger.

Lowering his hat, Jigen ducked slightly, watching the path of the night guards, looking for the pattern. He was almost sure he had found it, but almost wasn’t enough.

Behind him, a bird sang, starting up a chorus of other. Screw this, almost would have to do. The missing doctor may delay the explosion for a few minutes, but not enough for him waste trying to make this mission perfection

It was now or never.

Jumping the low brush on the outskirts of the compound, Jigen moved swiftly, feet barely making a sound as he came up behind the first guard. The man turned at the tap to his shoulder, not expecting the solid fist that followed instantly.

Jigen looted the gun off the man, hoping he wouldn’t need it. This was supposed to be a quiet mission. But as if reading his thoughts a sudden sound whipped his head to the left.

“Halt!”

Shit! He had been wrong! The timing of the guard was way off of what he had assumed! Cussing, he ducked a crackling hail of bullets as he ran behind a nearby small building.

“Machine gun..” He muttered, wincing as his fingers explored where a bullet had grazed him. Wasn’t the first time and he hoped not the last either. Snapping open the gun he had taken from the first guard, Jigen counted the remaining rounds with a quick glance. Flicking his wrist, the gunman grinned as the chamber clicked back into place.

He took a deep breath and listened to the world around him, the shuffle of feet, the clack of guns as they were moved about, pointed here, pointed there, all looking for him

Ah, it was nice to be wanted.

Three. That’s how many there was. Only three. That meant only the guards on duty were looking for him, if he took them out, no one would be the wiser. They must have assumed he wasn’t a real threat. That was almost as nice as being wanted. He just loved proving someone wrong.

Dust billowed behind him as he darted from behind the safety of the wall; gun cracking loudly one, two, three times, over the sounds of shock and pointless returned gunfire.

“Heh.. that was easier then pegging Lupin for being a pervert.” Jigen grinned as he walked past the bodies, slowing for only a moment to stoop and retrieve a blood-spattered pack of cigarettes from beside one of the downed men.

Scratching his beard, Jigen turned towards the hut, a thin cloud of nicotine shortly hovering over the battered fedora. “Tastes like a good day.” He took another deep drag as he stood in the middle of the bodies before stubbing it out and going in for what he had came here after.

Goemon paced the table; ignoring the glare he kept getting from the Inspector as he cut off the light from the wall lamp for a split second with every pass.

“When did you join them, Miss.. “

“Just call me Marge.” She insisted, her voice thin and threading, like a string pulled tight and fraying. “I joined them ten years ago. I was young and stupid.” She sighed, smiling in a manner that wasn’t at all cheery. “I was so very stupid..” Marge repeated, her voice barely above a whisper.

“We are all at some time.. its how we learn and how we grow.” Zenigata assured her. “But please go on Marge.” He nodded before ducking his head to scribble out her words for his report, praying the half rotted stub of a pencil he had found in the back of the huts broken desk, would be enough to get it all down.

If there was one thing he prided himself on, it was his full and detailed notes.

Oh, and being the only one able to arrest Lupin. Though granted it would be much easier now.

“She should be in bed.” Goemon grumbled, the disapproval thick in his words. “The woman cannot end hold herself up.”

“That’s what chairs are for, right?” She asked, her attempt at a smile failing when the swordsman didn’t even look her way.

“Let her along Goemon. I should be in bed too, but there is something’s that you cant just put aside. I need her words to help convict these bastards.”

“It will do you no good if she dies, Inspector. Corpses can’t be sworn in or testify.”

“Is he always this cheery?”

“No, today he seems to be about over the rainbow. You should se him when he is in a bad mood.”

Marge giggled at that, the mirth quickly turning into racking coughs, thick red liquid spattering across the paper as she fought to control her heaving lungs, the panic growing with each second.
“Marge! Goemon, do something!”

Without a word he pulled the chair put, the woman pouring off the side and into his arms the moment her support given by the table was out of reach.

“You can ask her these questions tomorrow, if any of us live that long.” He said simply before taking her to the bedroom, the front of his komodo already dampened by crimson dots, Marge’s coughing out of control.