-Harry
"That was the proof we needed right?"
The weight of the simple question fills the silence in the car as it travels up Flushing Ave towards Corona. I look over, seeing Arthur grip the steering wheel firmly as he weaves the old BMW through the sparse late night traffic.
"Dad." Everly speaks up again from the backseat, "Was that the proof we needed?"
"Once I can link the victims in that container to Carter, along with both your statements. Then yes.. I think we'll have the definitive proof we need to bring everything I have to the FBI. It's just WHO we can bring it to.." Arthur's voice fades off, his brow creasing in thought.
"The woman who brought me in, Margo, she could help us."
"I'm afraid it won't be that easy." Arthur shakes his head, "Carter has people everywhere. In every aspect of law enforcement, every bureau in New York. We have to move very carefully or whatever I turn in will just disappear."
"Has that happened before?" I ask tentatively.
"More then once." He confirms, "That's why I've been in hiding these past months. He has someone on the inside, and my guess is it's someone at the top."
"Do we really stand a chance then?"
"Carter is getting desperate. Before he's always made calculated decisions. Every move was so precise. That's why it's been so difficult to piece together the evidence I needed. But now it's different, he seems to be making decisions rashly, not thinking them through to the end before he acts. That means he's making mistakes. If he's making mistakes, then yes, we have a chance."
I exhale deeply, feeling a bit of a relief wash over me. We have a chance.
I glance back at Everly as the car takes a left turn. She still looks pale after what she witnessed back at Red Hook, her eyes staring out the window though not focusing on anything. We left so quickly after I took out the guard, afraid we'd alerted someone else of our presence, that I'd had no idea what she'd seen until we reached Arthur's car a few blocks away.
The thought of it makes me sick. Coach's body having been just discarded so carelessly. Most likely to be dumped in the ocean off the coast, along with Maya's and the other innocent people's bodies in that container. No doubt they were all innocent. Just another victim of Aiden Carter's fucking game. They deserved better. They need justice.
I reach between Arthur and I's seats into the backseat so my hand can rest gently on Everly's knee.
"Hey." I say softly, "You alright?"
Her gaze sifts from the window to me, her eyes glossed over. A light smile forces it way upon her face, "Yeah... yes."
"We'll get him Everly. He'll pay for what he did to them."
She nods, looking away from me and back out the window. "Yeah.. he'll pay."
I start to open my mouth to assure her more that she needs to hold on to some hope, but a muttered curse from Arthur stops me.
I look forward just in time to see 3 masked men on the street 150 yards in front of the car, all holding rifles.
I brace myself against the console as Arthur slams on the brakes, skidding the car to a halt in the middle of the otherwise empty intersection.
"He knows." Everly breathes out.
All my senses heighten as I find my gun that fell to the floorboard, my fingers gripping it firmly as I see Arthur readying his own weapon.
I glance back at Everly, her eyes wide as they find mine.
"Everly, get..."
My words are cut off as a bright light blinds us from the left, and I barely have time to look past Everly's shoulder and through the window before I see another vehicle rushing towards us.
Seconds feel like minutes as the car slams into us, the impact hitting right behind Everly's seat. Glass shatters and seems to hang in mid-air as I feel my body violently jerked to the side. The car spins in slow motion as Arthur's head is thrown into the steering wheel. The loud whack seemingly echoing through the car. My head smacks against the window next to me and everything goes BLACK.
............
A loud ringing is the first thing I hear.
I grimace, groaning in pain as I try to force my eyes open. Everything is dark and blurry.
Where am I?
I feel heat running down the side of my face, my head pounding intensely. I reach up, wiping my forehead and my hand is wet. And red? Blood. I blink a few times, trying to center myself.
The car. Shit!
"Everly!?" I immediately call out, my voice sounding horse as I sit up in my seat and try to get my eyes to focus.
A wet cough next to me makes my vision shoot to my left, finding Arthur leaned back in his seat, his head resting against the headrest.
He coughs again and a spray of blood shoots out of his mouth, onto the steering wheel and broken windshield.
"Everly!?" I ignore my throbbing head, looking into the backseat.
It's empty. Her door wide open. She's not here.
"Everly?!" I scream, trying to get my door open. It doesn't budge so I throw my body weight against it, forcing it open.
I rush around the car, tripping over a few broken pieces of the car to get to her door. The blood runs down into my eye from the cut in my temple, stinging, but I ignore it.
"Everly!" I yell for her again, searching for her body on the ground around the car.
"They... took her." Arthur spits out, his voice weak and strained.
I rush to his door, practically ripping it off the hinges to get it open.
Blood drips out of the corner of his mouth, his eyes bloodshot. I suck in a sharp breath when I notice his chest. It's covered in blood, the circles littering his shirt becoming larger by the second.
This isn't from the car.
He was shot. Multiple times.
I reach in my pocket for my phone but it's gone.
"Help!" I scream out, seeing not one soul on the street. It's as if the New York has been abandoned entirely.
My hands move to his chest, pressing up against his wounds firmly. I feel completely helpless as the blood continues to seep out around my hands.
I look up into his eyes and see in them what I just realized.
He's not going to make it.
"Shit. Shit!" I curse, looking up and down the empty street again, "Someone HELP!"
"You..." Arthur coughs, spattering blood across the front of my white tee shirt as I lean over him. "...have to save her."
His hand grips my arm forcefully, "My apartment... everything you need. You have to... end this."
I'm at a loss for words as the color continues to drain from his face, his hold on my arm weakening.
"Save her." He chokes out, "She can't die like her mother."
My jaw tightens as I finally find my voice, my breath coming out unevenly. "She won't.... I've got her."
He gasps, trying to take a shuddering breath.
"I've got her Arthur." I repeat with more conviction.
He faintly nods, his eyes drooping closed.
"I've got her." I say quietly one last time before his head falls forward.
His hand drops from my arm and falls onto his lap.
It feels as if hours tick by before I finally remove my hands from his chest. There was no point in trying to stop his blood loss anymore, but I couldn't bring myself to give up on him. I couldn't bring myself to face the fact that he's gone.
Arthur is dead.
And they have Everly.