Persona (37 page)

When the door of the warehouse implodes inward with a creaking bang and in the opening, she sees Liam and the others.

Reinforcements, finally she thinks.

***

Liam can feel the door give under, after only one hit from him, and he finds it funny that his mother’s incessant whining about eating Wheaties actually paid off. Though he is pretty sure it has nothing to do with food, and all of the way his persona is riding him like a rage filled wave.

He is followed in by the others, and they don’t pause to give the Purists a chance to fight back. They just rush right inside the warehouse, which took them no time at all to find. Of course, it took much longer for the man back at Gordon’s to spout off directions, than it did to find the freaking place.

He is just glad to be here now, and he and the others split almost in unison practically leaping over the ruble of the door.

He has only second to take in the warehouse before he is affronted by the nearest man dressed in black, sans mask now. The room is large inside, different than the way it looks from the small lot outside they came to a couple minutes ago. Most of the bodies in the room scattered when he and the others took their flying leap into the room, but there are more here than he thought to find.

Aside from the two dozen men dressed in black, there are a handful of woman dressed in flowing white robes. He deduces they must be the ‘Purists’, and he refrains from yelling out that no matter how much white you wear you’ll never be completely pure ladies. The woman are the ones mostly scattering, while some run for a second door at the back of the room, the rest of just three, head for two forms bound on the left side of the room.

This is where all the breath is knocked out of his lungs and he practically stumbles over whom he sees bound up. It’s Moira, and beside her is a limp form of an unconscious Raven, but his eyes are all for Moira though.

Even while arrows are being whizzed by his head, and bodies of friendlies and un-friendlies rush by, he can’t take his eyes off of her. He had the feeling that he’s never see her again, and he is so glad to be wrong, no matter what happened earlier that night. The woman that were heading towards her, are now blocking anyone from reaching her, and by anyone he means Ray and Daisy.

They strategized before they got here, and decided that he with Marty and Gordon would do all the fighting, while they went and searched for the girls. As luck would have it, these zealots aren’t exactly the organized type, go figure, and the fight and rescue are all together.

As Ray and Daisy rush to the woman claws outstretched, even Liam knows the woman doesn’t stand a chance against them. Then Moira lifts her head, almost as if she senses him and their eyes meet. He picks up the apple scented thrill of her persona as it churns through him, and he has the sense that they are joined closer than he realized; then she looks away to his right.

He is confused for half a second and a little hurt, before he remembers where he is. He has only a millisecond to half turn, when a body crashes into him and sends them both colliding onto the hard ground.

They land in a heap with the man on top and Liam eyes the familiar recurring baton as it is being raised in an attempt to strike him with it. Before the man lands the blow though, Liam catches it in a steady hold inches from his face. Growling, he pushes the man off of him with ease, and keeps the baton in his hands. He leaps up to his feet in one swift move, and stalks the man that is now trying to get to his feet. Before he is successful, Liam rushes at him and swings the baton like a baseball bat at him.

The man falls to the ground on his back, and he doesn’t try to get up again. His eyes search out Moira again, and he is relieved to see that while Ray is only fighting with one woman now, Daisy is untying the restraints on the girls. He is about to help out Marty and Gordon, who are holding their own nicely, he spies someone familiar across the room.

It’s that irritating boy Paul from Moorhead, and in his arms is a loaded crossbow. He is joined by his father and brother; the three of them are firing into the masses not caring who they hit. Now Liam understands how a cult group found out where they were, they had a plant on the inside.

He wonders how much other information they might have leaked, like things about him and his family. He’s not worried though, because the rage that was rising in him courses through his veins with a new sense of strength. He knows that the boy and his soon to be exiled pack members won’t be living past this night, not if he has anything to do about it.

Then the Paul looks in Liam’s direction and their eyes meet. The fool makes a mistake in smiling at him, which in a way, makes things easier for Liam; there is no guilt now. Letting a growl slip through his clenched jaw, he rushes at Paul.

As he runs, it feels like his feet isn’t even touch the ground, and it makes him move faster than he has ever before. It’s not a quick rush though, because Paul being smart is trying to shoot Liam before he reaches them. Liam dodges around flying arrows like he’s playing a professional game of dodge ball. It is easy for him, he’s been leaning how to move around air borne object his whole life, and it’s all in the hips.

He is on them in a flash before they even see him coming, which is a mistake on their part, they are like him after all. Fighting back should be a cake walk and yet they turn to weapons, he thinks them cowards. Within touching distance, Liam leaps into the air while raising the baton high in his hands. He lands on Joseph, the older boy, and as they fall to the ground he brings the baton down on the boys head in a series of hits.

He is unconscious by the time they land, but Liam doesn’t pay him any mind, he is turning his attention to Paul.

The boy looks nervous now, and spins the crossbow towards Liam. Before he can even release an arrow though, Liam is already rushing to him in a flash of speed and knocks the weapon out of his hands with the baton. Paul lets loose a growl and goes down into a crouch before Liam, which makes him smirk from ear to ear.

Is this boy serious he thinks, he really is going to try and fight him; alright bring it on little man. Liam see’s the boys shoulders tense and knows he’s going to leap for him before he even springs, giving Liam time to retaliate. Disregarding the baton, he wants to use his natural talents against this putts, he turns sideways and kicks out at him with one leg as he is airborne.

His foot lands right at the center of the boy, and causes him to jerk to a standstill before he goes flying backwards and crashes into the back wall.

Paula hits with such a force that the entire metal wall shakes, and then of course the boy’s head collides with the wall too before sliding to the ground; he doesn’t get back up either. He is about to turn in search for their father, that surprisingly hasn’t tried to get him yet, when he hears the first chorus of police sirens.

Then he knows why they must have taken Moira; the reward for her return. At the sound, most of the men in black put up less of a fight, which is good, because they all need to get out of here before they are caught; and he’s die before he lets that happen. He knows he only has minutes before he has to make a choice in how they are going to go about this, and thankfully he finds that Moira and Raven are on their feet, being supported by Ray and Daisy. Who are already leading them through the rubble of the front entrance.

Satisfied, he knows the others will get them safely to the truck, which is parked in the parking lot out front. Really he thinks, this rescue is entirely too easy, and these baddies are really amateurs.

He turns and searches for Marty and Gordon now, who he knows has been busy at work based on all the laid out bodies of men in black scattered around the room. Not seeing Paul’s father anywhere, he knows he must have fled already, and it doesn’t sit well with him knowing that either; looks like he’ll have another problem to deal with if they ever get out of here now.

He finds Gordon just a few feet from him, and is just standing up from pummeling another man that is now unconscious. He turns just as the sounds of the sirens get closer, and he knows they even less time to get Moira out of here. Liam starts for the door before he even realizes what he is doing.

A sound of a struggle brings him to a stop, and for a heartbeat he thinks its Moira, but then thinks himself paranoid since he saw her go outside already.

What he sees instead is Marty fighting off the last three men in black, and they are besting him. One got a lucky hit to the back of the boy’s head, while he punched another one. As the man falls to the ground, Marty stumbles forward from the hit, and the third man jumps him from behind.

They crash to the ground with the man striking out at him with a baton, while the second man advances to help with him own baton. Liam has the sense that he should help, but a tiny voice urges him to go to Moira and to keep her safe.

While he hesitates, Marty is laid out on the ground getting hit repeatedly, but then Gordon is there and yelling for Liam to go.

Jarred out of his stupor, Liam turns to the entrance, while he glances back and see’s that Gordon had already knocked one man out. He is now rushing the man on Marty, and when they go tumbling to the ground together in a pile, Liam sees that Marty is still. He advances for the door though, and wishes the boys is alright and it makes his sick to know he is glad the boy was pummeled.

By the time is over the rubble and see’s that the others are at the truck waiting for him, the police sirens that are much closer draw his attention to the road on the left. In the distance, he can see the flickering red and blue lights of the police cars in the early morning darkness.

They will be here in less than a minute now, and he has the realization that they have to leave.

He makes it to the truck calling out from them to get in, and glances behind him to the warehouse that sits on a tiny lot in the middle of district nowhere, and finds there is no movement from inside. No Gordon, no Marty, no one.

In a split decision that kills him inside, he knows that if they stay they will be caught, so he gets in the truck with the others.

As he drives away towards a back road behind the building, the others are yelling at him over having to leave Marty and Gordon behind. He stays quiet as he grips the steering wheel tightly, and watches out the rearview mirror as the cars pull into the empty parking lot of the warehouse.

All the while knowing what he just put Marty and Gordon into.

***

By the time the truck comes to a stop just off of the highway after the tolls going into Montana, the sun is already high in the sky, and Moira is about ready to take a flying leap out of the trucks window. She has been in a daze ever since she woke up at the warehouse not that long ago, but not enough to not know what is going on.

Apparently, in brilliant move on his part, Liam thought it would be best for them to leave behind Marty and Gordon so the rest of them could get away. She really doesn’t see the logic in that thinking; she would rather be caught herself than know that Marty has been taken in right now knowing they left him behind.

What makes it worse is that it won’t be long before Fletcher gets a hold of him to question what he knows.

“Explain to me again, how we ended up leaving them behind please? It makes the kind of sense, that doesn’t at all.” Ray asks as he turns to Liam from the front passenger seat.

Liam sighs and turns off the truck after sliding it into park. He grips the steering wheel though, and even from the back seat with the girls, she can see the tension playing across him.

Not that it makes her any less confused or angry at him, just that it’s nice to know he isn’t so blasé about it.

“I already told you Raymond, there wasn’t enough time to back, unless we all wanted to get caught too.”

His voice is so quiet; Moira almost misses the way that it shakes as it comes out.

“That doesn’t tell me why you left him though. We could have got on ourselves; you shouldn’t have walked away like that.” Ray spits out.

“Your right I know, but there wasn’t enough time I said. I just reacted, and knew we had to get out of there.”

Liam sits back in his seat then, and turns to face Ray, not exactly giving him the friendliest of looks. And Ray in not typical Ray fashion, returns Liam’s with one of his own.

The tension in the front seat is enough to cut through with a knife, if you could that is, Moira thinks. Letting out her own version of an aspirated sigh, she really has had enough of this grandstanding. Raven is lying between a crying Daisy and her in the backseat, still slowly bleeding with an arrow still lodged into her left shoulder.

She is having a hard time keeping her eyes open, and Moira knows they have to get the arrow out of her so she can heal. Speaking of heal, the arrow in her own leg still needs to come out too, and she has the feeling it isn’t going to be pleasant. She can literally feel her leg trying to heal itself around the thin wood of the arrow, making her leg quiver and causing her to feel slightly nauseated.

“Can this wait until some of us are no longer bleeding out? Just saying, because I think my leg is trying to heal around the arrow; and I’m guess that isn’t normal.”

Both Liam and Ray turn to her at the same time, as do the girls. Their looks tell her no; in fact it is not normal.

Great, she thinks, more things unknown about herself to add to the ever growing pile. Whatever keeps her mind on the moment and not over what is currently happening to Marty.

“You can feel it healing?” Daisy asks her softly.

When Moira only nods, the others glance away with worried looks on their faces, and maybe a hint of horror. Not the kind that they are afraid for her though, the kind that say they are afraid of her.

She is right there with them though, she can barely think about what she did back at Gordon’s; it feels strangely surreal. Liam clears his throat then, and points out the window towards the empty rest area they are parked in front of.

“We should go in and get cleaned up then.”

No one moves very fast, but soon enough they are all out of the truck and standing around in the parking lot staring at the rest area. Raven is being held up between Daisy and herself, while she hobbles on only one leg. She is about to ask Ray if he could switch with her, when the boy gets all up in Liam’s personal space.