Chapter 5: What Goes Around…

Keith rolled over and glanced at the clock. 2:33 PM. It’s still morning somewhere. I can sleep.

The knock on the door said differently. I swear…if that’s Antonio…he is going to get SUCH a stabbing…Keith picked up a plastic fork from last night’s dinner. All the better to hurt you with…Shrugging on a pair of shorts and a shirt, he opened the door.

Two men stood in the doorway. Keith squinted against the sunlight filtering through the cloudy sky. “Can I help you gentlemen?”

One spoke up. “Are you Darren Kinsley?”

Keith sized them both up. Big guys, very official-looking. “No, I’m not. Who’s asking?”

The men looked at each other, then at Keith. “Campus Security needs to talk to him.”

Keith tried to smile, but the best he could do was grimace. Right, Darren said they’d be here. “Yeah, he went to the old cathedral near the lake. He said he’d be there for a while.”

The men nodded. “Thanks.”

Keith closed the door. I’ll never get back to sleep now…but no harm in trying, right? He laid down and pulled the blanket over his head.

The doorbell rang again. You’d think the ‘Beware of College Kids’ sign would scare them off…He got up and shuffled to the door.

Opening the door, he was greeted by…two more men. Also big and official looking, but these two were wearing badges and vests with “Campus Security” emblazoned on them in yellow.

Keith frowned. This doesn’t make sense. “You guys are Campus Security?”

The men were pretty friendly for their stations. “That’s right; we’re here to see how Darren’s doing. We heard about the fight, and well…we want to congratulate him.”

Keith smiled. I like these guys already. But…“Who were the other guys, then?”

The men grew sober. “Other guys? We were the only ones dispatched.” One of them stepped back and started talking into his radio.

Keith’s heart skipped a beat. Oh no. “The other guys that said they were Campus Security. I told them Darren was at the cathedral. You think…someone’s getting revenge for Antonio?”

The men were already heading back towards their car. “We’re not allowed to tell you that. Unofficially…Antonio has some powerful friends. You can help by telling us if you hear from Darren.”

Keith nodded, dazed. He knew Darren could handle himself…but he couldn’t face a posse. I guess…I better call Sara and let her know.
~
Darren basked in the atmosphere of the old cathedral next to the lake. Gothic architecture reminded him of a time long, long, ago when the worship was real and the music was powerful. He sat in the front, bowing his head in silent prayer. Give me strength.

Martinez and Louis pushed open the heavy oak door and looked around. “Come on, man, there’s no-one here.” Louis was ready to leave. Martinez wanted to poke around a bit. “You want to tell Antonio that you left as soon as you got here, go ahead. I’m looking.”

Louis grumbled, but stayed and searched. After finding nothing, they left, closing the door behind them.

Darren watched from the rafters, hidden by a long black trench coat. How polite of them. Shaking his head, he started climbing down, and then stopped as the door opened again. Sara stepped in, immediately looking upwards towards Darren and calling to him in a loud voice. “They’re gone, you can come down now.”

Darren started to climb down again, almost forgetting why he had climbed up in the first place. He crouched low and whispered to Sara. “Where are they?”

Sara looked around, then pointed to the open door and motioned that they had weapons.

Darren frowned. I warned him. “Sara, run towards the ladder that I set up in the back room, and join me up here. Quickly!”

Sara hesitated, knowing that she’d be pursued. But he knows something…Then she ran.

She had just closed the door to the back room when the goons walked in. They started towards the door Sara had disappeared into. Darren stood up silently. Unacceptable. He dove off the rafter, twisting to land on his feet five steps away from the pair. “I warned Antonio, didn’t I?”

The two nodded. “Yes, you did. He doesn’t like being warned.”

Darren smirked. “He doesn’t like much of anything nowadays, does he?” It was more of a statement than a question.

Martinez and Louis stepped apart. It wasn’t a big walkway, Darren noticed. Good, there’ll be no surrounding anyone. The goons pulled out switchblades. I swear they like them just because they’re illegal.

Darren looked around slowly. Where did I put it? Ah, there we go. A five foot long metal pole used for cleaning purposes wasn’t much ordinarily, but it would do. He had been expecting others, after all.

As usual, Darren let the attackers make the first move. Louis slashed at his arm while the Martinez stabbed for his heart. He could do little in the long run about the slash, but the jab was easily remedied permanently. Darren sidestepped to his left, and brought the pole down hard on the back of Martinez’s hand, numbing the entire arm, then whirled around and smacked him on the back of the head, taking Martinez out.

Louis would not make the same mistake. He was aggressive, never slowing down or letting Darren counter. Darren let himself be backed up, dodging the slashing until he reached the steps up to the altar, then jumped the first two steps, flipped over Louis, and swung the pole at the side of his head, connecting. Louis collapsed like a sack of rotten potatoes.

Darren winced. He’ll feel that one later… "Sara? You can come down now!”

“I don’t think so! I’m sort of running for my life here!” Darren looked up quickly.

Antonio had snuck in the back way while Darren had been busy with the goons, and climbed up the ladder. He had a short sword and was trying to corner Sara with it.

Darren controlled the rage he felt. Make it work for you…Taking a deep breath, he gave himself ten seconds to study the running people up on the rafters.

She heads to the left…he to the right…she heads to the right…he hesitates. Darren shifted the pole to his right hand. Notice the bad boards and the good ones…NOW! Darren flung the pole with all his might, narrowly missing Sara’s foot and smashing one of the boards in half.

The rafters swayed dangerously, and one long piece of wood fell from the rafters to the ground. Sara looked down at Darren. What is he…And then she saw. The broken fragments of wood on the ground. The stained glass window next to her, with dark curtains adorning it. No…this can’t be…

Antonio took his time cornering her. “It’s ironic, isn’t it? The pole was supposed to hit me, and yet it contributes to your doom. You would’ve been better off staying away from Darren. He causes nothing but trouble. If only you knew him better, you’d know about-ugh!”

Darren ran into Antonio, sending them both out the stained glass window.

The world slowed down. Sara felt the scream rip from her throat, but couldn’t hear anything. The anger on Antonio’s face and the panic on Darren’s face froze in that position. Panic? I’ve never seen him…scared. What’s going on?

Without warning, the world sped up. Darren pushed off of Antonio, rolling to the edge of the lake. Antonio charged, and surprisingly, Darren did too. They hit hard, a mess of punching and kicking.

Darren’s control was gone. He was no longer master of his panic. Antonio realized this, and drew back, planning. Darren rushed towards him, planting a hard punch to Antonio’s gut. Antonio gave with it, then hit Darren with a rock he’d picked up. Darren fell to the ground, clutching his head.

Sara, watching from the window, screamed again. Antonio paused in his killing blow, turning to look at Sara. That was all that Darren needed. Sweeping his legs into Antonio’s feet, he yanked on Antonio’s arm and pulled himself up. Antonio tumbled to the ground, dropping the rock.

Darren stood above Antonio, bleeding from his head. He was in control now. It has no hold. He placed a foot on Antonio’s throat, preventing him from moving. “You’re staying here until Campus Security comes.” Antonio struggled a bit, until the foot on his throat prevented breathing. “None of that, now.”

Sara came running out the front door. “Darren, are you okay?” He turned towards her. “The bleeding is minor. It’ll be alright.”

Sara decided that now would probably not be the best time to ask about what Antonio had said. “What can they do about him? There’s no actual proof.”

Darren grimaced. “Sara…could you go find Campus Security? Maybe go tell Keith where we are?”

Sara looked puzzled. “Keith knows…he’s the one that told me.”

Darren gave her a pointed look. “I know. Please go find Keith and let him know where we are.”

It hit her. “No! You said you’d let it be.”

Darren’s patience was stretched. “I know. But Antonio wouldn’t. So now, look where we are. A good afternoon ruined. Two people unconscious, I’m bleeding, and one ready to kill if I let him go.”

Sara was torn. “Deacon…”

Darren almost lost it. “SARA….” He calmed down. “Please…it would only hurt you more to be here.”

Sara gave in tearfully. “Don’t…don’t kill him.” And then she ran towards his apartment.

Darren stared after her. If I could still…ERRRGHHH! I can’t. But soon…

Darren took his foot off of Antonio. Antonio lay still, not taking his chances. Darren went to get the pole where he had dropped it, not taking his eyes off Antonio for more than two seconds.

He came back. “Stand up.” Antonio didn’t move. “I said STAND UP!” Darren yanked Antonio to his feet. One good whack was all it took to knock Antonio out. Darren dropped the pole. Let them find my fingerprints. It doesn’t matter anymore.

He turned and walked into the wooded side of the lake. Let them come.
- posted by Nick @ 4/02/2004 09:25:00 PM