Page 128 of Borden 3

Blood flowed through the streets. The police were oftentimes caught in the crossfire. Borden had to push back despite it all. This underworld warfare spilled over into car chases and flying bullets from dark alleyways. Or held up in sad looking buildings, the thugs battling with walls between them because they were such pussies.

Borden would have thought himself a fucking action hero until he reminded himself he was the one popping kneecaps and decorating the sky with human ashes. No good side in this fight. Just thugs vs refined thugs.

Yes, Borden was still a fucking thug, wasn’t he?

They could sugarcoat it with words like mafia and high calibre syndicate all they wanted. The truth could be boiled down to such basic terms, and it didn’t even bother him.

It was still better than being a Rainbow fucking Ranger or a Mambo number 7 or whatever the fuck.

Well, anyway, these less refined thugs didn’t expect the sort of backlash that Borden had pulled together. They didn’t know that under some of their nests was an access point for these Lost Boys. And Theo was handing it over to Borden. He was telling him everything. Drawing him maps, pointing to these places that were beneath Borden’s nose, until, quite fucking frankly, Borden wound up staring at this Theo cunt in utter shock.

He wasn’t thinking about what this sort of power had the potential to yield. No, he was thinking of something entirely different.

“Did you visit her?” he demanded at that moment.

They’d been bunkered in one of the basements, getting ready to surface after four hours of constant gunfire. Minutes ago they heard noises drawing closer. Unconcerned they were being closed in on, Theo had disclosed to him everything. He sounded so impersonal, like this was clinical work. Like this city was a body and he had dissected it with utter dispassion.

Theo, covered in blood spatter, looked down at his gun. “Yeah.”

Borden didn’t expect this level of honesty. “When?”

“A few times.”

“For what purpose?”

Now Theo looked at him. “To see if she was happy.”

Borden frowned, his heart tight in his chest. “I ought to fucking kill you.”

“Not yet,” Theo returned with a slow smile. “But soon I’m sure you’ll try.”

Theo was a mystery.

“Where the fuck did you come from?” Borden wondered aloud as they reloaded their guns.

“Hell,” Theo simply answered.

Borden believed him.

“So is that where I’m sending you to?” Borden asked.

“I deserve it.” Theo paused, his mouth parted for a moment, all amusement gone now. “Borden, thank you.”

“What the fuck for?”

“Emma was right. You’re an honourable man.”

Before Borden could answer, the door to the basement blew open. The sound was thunderous. In an instant, Theo drew his gun and fired, sending a bullet into the head of a man whose gun was aimed straight at Borden. Borden froze, shocked for a moment at how close he came to dying. The man collapsed to the floor before another head popped in. He blew him away without blinking, and then he turned to look at Theo.

A thanks was at the tip of his tongue, but he held it there, watching Theo carefully as he walked over to the bodies and kicked at one’s legs.

“They’ve slowed,” he said, triumphantly. “They’re scattering, Borden. They’re dying. We’re nearing the fucking end.”

Borden continued to stare at him, his chest moving rapidly as his hold on the gun tightened. He wondered what would happen after this was over. He wondered where Theo would be. He glanced at the men they’d killed, and his chest seized with the power he held in this moment. With Theo looking down at them, vulnerable, so easy to pluck off. The trust Theo had entrusted in Borden to be alone with him in a room.

Everything had come together for this moment. Borden was watching a man that had been the cause for so much pain. A man that had sides to him he would never get to the bottom of. What was scary about Theo was that he could be a chameleon and blend seamlessly into his environment. He could charm, and he could rage. He could be violent, and he could be soft. Borden could have been staring into his own reflection. A version of him he might have become had he not found Emma. He could so easily have lost himself and done further harm to the very few that cared for him.

No, this needed to end.

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