"Ah, fuck me! I am too old for this crap!" Death pushed himself up from the ground. "I knew it was a bad idea coming here. Jimmy, where the hell are you?"
"Yeah, over here. What the fuck was that?"
"That, my friend, is the handy work of the Network."
"Well, they have a way of saying, mind your own fucking business." Jimmy rubbed the elbow he landed heavily on.
"No shit!" Death replied.
Windy and Destruction rushed through the smoke and debris to find the men on the grass.
"Death, it's time to go. Windy, help Jimmy up. We are not hanging around here."
"Honey, it's your typical date night." Death half laughed off the explosion.
Windy looked at Death. "Remind me not to hang out with you two on date night!"
"You two are living up to your names." Jimmy reached up for Windy's helping hand and the four ran to the SUV.
"Everybody in?" Destruction did not wait for an answer before she sped away from the scene.
"Jesus! I am supposed to be on vacation and it seems I landed in a fucking Die Hard movie. What the hell is next?"
"Rinse and repeat."
"Not funny, Death."
"Jimmy, this has been our lives for longer than I care to remember. My wife is better at dates."
"No dates honey. That would give my age away. This is life. Accept it and we will show you the dirty world of human trafficking."
"And if we want to walk away?" Windy raised an eyebrow to Death.
"We say goodbye and you go back to your old lives."
"And if we accept this...this life?" Jimmy looked back to the rear seat.
"Well, we find an off-grid lab for Windy to be Windy and we will show you the underbelly of society."
"So basically go into hiding for the rest of our lives?" Jimmy rolled his eyes.
"No no no!" Destruction smiled. "You need to be fully visible so no one expects you and will never believe you could possibly be anything but who you are."
"Huh?"
"Jimmy, you are a writer. A good start but you need more. Do you sing? Play music? Now that would be a great cover! You need to make yourself as unlikely of an individual as there would ever be hunting these traffickers."
"My wife is right, Jimmy. You need to be visible and maybe be a little more, let's say, presentable?" Death chuckled.
"Good luck with that." Windy scoffed. "He showed up for Valentine's Day dinner after an afternoon playing basketball with his friends!"
"I did show up." Jimmy laughed.
"You two were something at one time?" Destruction looked in the rearview mirror at Windy. "Still a spark there?"
Windy looked out the window and spoke softly. "That ship sailed, D."
"Jimmy?" Destruction urged an explanation from her passenger.
"Yeah, Win has it right, that ship sailed."
"You know, you two are not very convincing. But we'll let it slide. For now." Destruction smiled and concentrated on the busy New Orleans night traffic.
"Win? You don't need to go all-in with me. But after Lana dying and what those women went through I can not say no."
"Are you ready to do this Jimmy? I mean, really ready?"
YOU ARE READING
Dark Path - Crescent City
Mystery / ThrillerJimmy Carrick is enjoying the Mardi Gras parade with his girlfriend Lana, the love of his life, when she disappears into the crowd. Lured into an abandoned building by a man claiming to know where she went, he is thrust into a life and death struggl...
