Justice Lords Limitless Act 1: ReBirth

Chapter 6

"PAPA!"

"Go! Run!"

Bang.

Kimber ran.

"Surprise, girlie!"

Fist to the face. Knee to the groin. Run.

"Where are you, little brat?"

Bang.

A sharp pain in her side. Darkness.

-Eight minutes earlier-

"Ha! Check and mate!" Kimber laughed gleefully in her father's face as he put on his best pout. Circumstances aside, staying in the house and playing chess as the setting sun filtered through closed blinds was pretty fun. Rare were the days that she and her father spent time together and there was almost a nostalgic warmth to the old but familiar board and pieces. Usually, he would be busy at work or she would be away at the library studying or out with friends. It had been a while since she and her father had played chess, but she hadn't grown rusty.

"I told you you should have joined the chess club," Goren said as he admitted defeat.

"I would have if it wasn't for one thing."

"What?"

"It's the chess club."

"Oh please," Goren shook his head. "It shouldn't even carry that negative connotation. It is all about strategy, wit, and creativity. You've got to plan ahead, know your opponent, and trick them; lull them into a false sense of security before you trap them in place! It is like fighting a war!"

Kimber giggled."Yeah, against pizza-faced, braces-wearing losers!"

"You know... I was on the chess team in high school," her father said quietly.

The color drained from her cheeks. "Oh... Well, I mean today it is for losers." She quickly tried to rewind the words.

"Nice try, kiddo. But I ain't buyin' that. Partly because you were right." Goren winked and then flexed his muscles. "I wasn't always the strapping young man you see today."

"Oh please, Papa—" The phone interrupted her sentence. She looked at the handset on the charging cradle and read the Caller I.D. "It's Jacqueline."

Her father scrambled to grab the phone. "It's for me, kiddo." He picked up the phone.

"Hello? No, she's alright... Yes... Yes, I'm okay as well, thanks for asking. We're all okay... I know... I know! Look, I'm sorry I brought you into this..."

As Goren continued the stressed phone conversation, Kimber trotted off to the kitchen to warm up a slab of beef from the previous day's leftovers. Her suit was nowhere in the house – partly because her father loved to snoop – but right now, she wished it was. She had no idea what was going to happen, or when, or even if the threat was just a bluff; but whatever the case, she would have felt more comfortable with her suit on at least under her clothes. After all, some of it was bulletproof. "And some bulletproof is better than a tank top and sweatpants," she mumbled as she looked down at her loungewear.

There was a crash and instantly she set down the meat and looked at her father. "What was that?"

Goren hung up the phone with little parting words, his eyes locked on the corridor to the bedrooms and the rest of the house. "I don't know." He primed his pistol and hushed his daughter.

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

"Oops, my bad." Steve chuckled as he crawled through the basement's window narrow.