Page 11 of Urban Justice

When he turned, he saw it—him. The Vigilante was halfway down the steps, his face in darkness under the hood, his gun lowering.

Without knowing if he should bring his hands down or not, and despite the pain radiating from his face and side, Luke was transfixed as the figure slowly advanced through the fleeting light. Before he got off the stairs, the Vigilante stopped and spoke for the first time.

“Are you all right?”

Luke immediately heard the modulator disguising his voice, but it didn’t completely shadow the hint of concern. That alone was enough to lower his guard, if only a little, as killing wasn’t on the menu for the dark figure. “Nothing an ice bath won’t cure. I’ve had worse.”

“No doubt.”

A frown etched deeper on his face at the Vigilante’s remark, and he was about to ask what was going on when the Vigilante swayed a little, and he saw him touch his side ever so briefly before turning his head as if listening to something.

“We need to move, more men are arriving and this time, we’d need an army to contain them. Follow me.”

The Vigilante didn’t wait for his reply and dashed past him, going down. Luke should have hesitated, turned back, and tried to find a different way out, but what was he running from? He had no known enemies, and apart from what happened in the reservoir, he couldn’t see what he’d done to bring danger to his door. He was in the dark, blind, and only one person seemed to have the answers, so he followed him.

The Vigilante didn’t slow down for him, and headed to the back of the building, away from the broken-down door, stepping over two dead bodies from whoever was after them. That man was a cold-blooded killer and had saved his life. In Luke’s mind, it was a paradox that didn’t bode well. People who took justice into their own hands were bound to become uglier monsters than the criminals they were pursuing.

The Vigilante exited without turning back. Luke followed, if not because he’d saved his life, then to get the answers for this mess. The Vigilante was running now, and Luke was trying to keep up, his breathing shallow and the pain barely manageable each time his feet hit the ground.

Just as they arrived at the edge of the building, the Vigilante stopped and gestured for him to do the same, a well-known military signal that he immediately recognized.

Less than a foot away, Luke noticed how much shorter the Vigilante was than he’d expected. In the tunnels and then going down the stairs, he’d appeared taller, or maybe it was the aura surrounding his stature that gave the impression. Nonetheless, being so close now, it was as if he could almost dwarf him, but it was only an illusion as the energy, the power emanating from the suited stranger was warning enough that he shouldn’t be messed with, years of combat training had taught Luke that.

A touch to his chest confirmed the Vigilante was listening to someone using another device Luke knew well and raised another question to file away until later.

The Vigilante waited a beat, and then two, and lifted his hand to tell Luke to stand by. As if on cue, he broke into a run again, this time keeping the shadows as close to the buildings as possible before disappearing into the next alley. Before he turned, Luke looked back and saw three vehicles screeching to a halt in front of the building they’d exited seconds ago. Yells and the sound of guns firing told him they hadn’t been fast enough to go unnoticed. In the other alley, the Vigilante was entering a dark car. He didn’t know what to expect, but through the gleaming lines, he recognized a modified Bugatti Veyron. The matte paint job made it blend in, to the point of almost disappearing.

“Get in if you want to live, professor.”

As another question popped into his head, the use of his title made Luke move and get into the car just in time as the men appeared before them. Half expecting the Vigilante to reverse, he had another surprise when the machine exploded forward like lightning, heading straight at the men firing in front of them, like a roaring weapon.

They scattered like butterflies, all but one who tumbled over the car in a sickening agony of crushed bones and bleeding flesh.

“Put your seatbelt on.”

The command took a moment to compute until Luke realized that the Vigilante had buckled up, and that meant he expected worse to come. The Bugatti moved like a steel panther through the streets but didn’t have a chance to gain distance from the men behind them. One look in the mirror told Luke they were driving muscle cars, not as fast as their bullet, but unless they had a straight stretch of road, the game wasn’t over yet.

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