Page 1 of Gunpowder

1

GAUNTLET

Blair Kennedy figured he would get shot eventually, but that didn’t mean he had to be happy about it.

The roll-up bay doors of the warehouse stood open on either end, letting in a rare breeze for a humid July night. It blew through the otherwise empty space, tickling the locks of auburn hair that stuck out of his beanie. It was a great night for a stoop party at Ricky’s place. He was probably cooking already, which was all the more reason to wrap this deal up quick.

Incindious, the gang to which Blair belonged, had entered from one side of the warehouse and Phantom from the other. The two gangs now stood a few feet apart with a briefcase full of firearms between them.

“That’s all of them and not a serial number in sight. Just like you wanted,” Felix said with a note of warning in his voice, daring the other man to make a fuss.

Chink, chink. Chink, chink.

Spencer stood on the other side of Felix, their leader, and Blair didn’t have to look to recognize the sound of Spencer flipping his lighter between his fingers. Blair didn’t take his eyes off the three members of Phantom standing before them but still listened closely to that flicking, the telltale sign that something had Spencer on edge.

It came a little faster now. Chink, chink, chink. Chink, chink, chink.

Blair had been present when Spencer voiced his trepidation to the boss about selling guns to a rival gang, but Felix had shrugged him off and said it made more of a statement that they weren’t intimidated enough by Phantom to turn down their business. Felix was stubborn, prideful, but Blair didn’t think that small disagreement was the reason for Spencer’s current restlessness.

Phantom’s leader, Isaac, inclined his head and the tall one on his left picked up the briefcase sitting between the two groups. Blair’s jaw tightened. Based on the rundown Spencer had given them about the higher ranking members of Phantom, that person was Jinx, a lunatic in lipgloss. Jinx inspected the weapons and nodded to Isaac. In the dim lighting, their eyelashes threw long shadows down their face like tear tracks, and Blair could have snorted at the absurdity of the thought. Everyone in Phantom had their screws loose and not only was Jinx no exception but probably the greatest example. Little was known about them, from their age to their gender but there was a consensus on the streets that few people had lived to see Jinx twice. It only furthered Blair’s anxiety that Issac had brought them along to this meeting.

“You made quick work of this, Felix,” Isaac said. “You must have quite an impressive team. I suppose there’s something to be said for doing things the old-fashioned way.”

Blair almost broke his resolve of watching the other gang to roll his eyes. Just because Isaac had a special techy wheelchair and knew how to hack a computer, he thought technology was the answer to everything. Blair held his tongue. Isaac was always spouting nonsense and it was a waste of everyone’s time to start conflict over it. Blair was the front line of Incindious’ defense but they hadn’t had more than a few petty scuffles with the newly reformed Phantom, so he wasn’t going to drag this deal out by picking a fight. Going by the sound of Spencer’s Zippo knocking between his fingers, Spencer was getting tired of all the chitchat, too.

“The best in the business,” Felix said. He slipped a cigarette between his lips and felt his coat for a lighter.

The third member of Phantom smiled—Adrian, the only one who had yet to speak. His too-long black outfit and jovial smile put Blair uncomfortably in the mind of a priest. Adrian looked to be the oldest of the three, with his face showing lines and his mousy brown hair was going grey at the temples, but he wasn’t to be taken lightly. None of them were.

Adrian raised his hands in an infuriatingly placating gesture. “I’m just glad we can all get along.”

The flipping of Spencer’s lighter was constant now, raising the hair on Blair’s arms.

Felix patted his pockets to no avail and grumbled a wordless request to Spencer. He turned his head for the blond haired man to give him a light. Spencer did, but Blair would bet if he could see over the tinted lenses of Spencer’s glasses that he never took his eyes off the group in front of them. The cigarette crackled quietly as the paper burned away.

No goodbyes were said between the gangs as they parted ways. Jinx turned to leave first and Isaac followed with a buzz of his wheelchair. Blair was glad, since he didn’t like the idea of putting his back to them. He was also relieved to see Adrian lower his spread hands and make to follow his other two members.

Spencer closed his lighter too hard.

Clack.

The lighter hit the cement floor of the warehouse.

The sound took a too-long second to register in Blair’s mind before instinct kicked in.

Spencer must have seen Adrian’s hand disappear under his long shirt, because the blond haired man was already in motion by the time Blair recognized the glint of silver. Almost in sync, he and Spencer rushed forward, blocking Felix with their bodies. Spencer seized Adrian’s wrist and forced the gun to the side, his other hand already moving in to knock it from Adrian’s grasp, but Adrian wrenched his arm away before he could be disarmed.

It only threw Spencer off for an instant. He didn’t have a large enough opening to draw his own weapon but he struck Adrian in the ribs with his elbow. Adrian wheezed as the air rushed from his lungs, his hand flying to his side. Though Blair couldn’t tell that Adrian’s weight had shifted, it must have done so just barely—and that’s what Spencer seemed to be counting on. Spencer hooked his foot behind Adrian’s ankle and swept his feet out from under him. He followed Adrian down with a knee on his chest and the other on his shoulder, pinning Adrian’s gun arm to the floor.

Blair’s hand hesitated on the pistol in the back of his waistband. Adrian was putting up a hell of a fight against Spencer, and they were way too close together for him to take a shot. He could disarm Adrian by hand but that would mean leaving Felix unguarded. Blair glanced at their leader.

Felix spit his cigarette onto the ground and sighed. He reached under his long coat, his movements unhurried.

“Leaving one man to take us all on?” When Felix took his hands out of his pockets, he had the MAC-10 in one and the magazine in another, and he connected them in one fluid movement. “That’s not very nice, Isaac.”

Blair should have known the boss didn’t really need their protection when it came down to a fight.

He pulled out his own Beretta 92 and brought it to bear, hearing Jinx’s booted footsteps outside and the mechanical hum of Isaac’s wheelchair. Then both sounds were drowned out by the rapid popping of Felix’s gun. In the direction they could hear Isaac and Jinx retreating, Felix littered the thin metal walls of the warehouse with .45 caliber sized holes. The Incindious mark embossed on the leather grip of Blair’s gun danced like a live flame in those pinpricks of light. Felix stalked towards the bay doors to pursue the others and Blair turned his attention back to Spencer.

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