The Gold Coast

CHAPTER 3: AN AUDIENCE WITH THE ENEMY

Earl "Duke" Pyke had never been much for stealth. Hell at 6' 10" and packing 380 pounds on his muscled frame, he was about as subtle as a tank trying to pass for a Volkswagen Beetle. But today Duke had a mission straight from the boss and he didn't make a habit of failing at the tasks assigned to him. Luckily for him today's prey seemed distracted and intent on its own prey, bearing him no mind at all as he closed in on the petite feminine figure crouched beside the run down service station.

Duke knew not to underestimate this one, small as she may be, he knew what she was capable of from the boss's stories and the devastation viewed by his own eyes. He approached his target from behind slowly and cautiously. He heard her say something to herself about the boss and he knew he had to move now before it was too late to stop her. She began to move and quick too toward the tree line. He had to think of some sort of distraction!

He looked at his feet to find an empty, half rusted can of pork and beans and he picked it up quickly. He took his aim and fired it as hard as he could at his moving target. It hit its marked, striking the girl on the shoulder and deflecting to the side. Duke, for one of the few times in his life, instantly began to regret his actions, as the figure pivoted at an alarming rate and began charging straight at him. The speed and grace with which she moved was stunning, so much so that she had fired six 9mm rounds at him before his mind could even catch up to the fact that she had drawn to pistols seemingly from nowhere.
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Just as she had gotten herself all prepared for a surprise attack on the unsuspecting miscreants just through the tree line, Jo felt something glance off her shoulder. Not losing any momentum, she felt herself round back in the other direction drawing her dual 9mm pistols from her chest holsters. She had fired off 3 rounds from each in rapid succession at the behemoth of a man standing where she had just been crouched. She was dumbfounded when all shots found there targets in various places on the burly male figure only to dead stop at the surface of his hide and fall to the asphalt in a rain of flattened lead. She continued to charge headlong at this impossibly still standing mountain with legs, re-holstering the useless pistols and drawing her hunting knife.
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Duke felt the hot metal of each projectile striking his clothing and flattening on his miraculous flesh underneath. Each round felt like being stung by a small swarm of bees but none punctured the skin. That was never going to be something he would get used to. Every time he found himself in a life threatening situation he always thought "This is the last one! This is the one that is gonna break through and end it!", but they never did.

He watched as she switched from the pistols to a well crafted hunting knife. He had no intention of fighting her, as harming her was against the specifications of his mission, so he raised his hands in a symbol of surrender. Yet she still continued to close the gap between them. He was not about to let little miss hothead slice and dice the on decent outfit he had managed to scrounge up over the last couple of months that actually fit, so he resorted to a even greater weakness and tried reason.

"Will you stop for 2 seconds! Please!" he bellowed at her. To both of their surprises she did just 5 feet away from where he stood, looking ridiculous with his massive hands held high in the air. "What ever it is you plan on doing to me isn't gonna work and I have no intentions of harming you. So can we just stop and talk for a minute?"

"So talk!" she responded, secretly grateful for the change of events at least delaying the seemingly impossible task of taking him down.

"Fine! I know what you were about to do, but you should know they have already been alerted to your presence and you won't catch them off guard. As for what I want, I was only told to bring you to Thinker unharmed."

I told you they knew we were following them!

Shut up and let me handle this!

"If they all know I am here, then how is it that I am not surrounded right now?"

"Because Thinker's ghost stories are not taken lightly and I was deemed capable enough of the task of bringing you in alive. In case you haven't noticed, we are a bit short-handed lately and we could afford any more casualties."

"Why does Thinker want to see me, alive of all things, if he knows who I am and what I have done?"

"I honestly have no idea and have learned not to ask when it comes to the orders I am given."

"What if I refuse to go with you?"

"Then the alive part still stands, but the unharmed part gets a little hazy."

Despite her better judgement, Jo put her blade away slowly and sarcastically gestured for Duke to lead the way. He walked past her cautiously and headed for the tree line as she fell into step behind him. Duke was not sure what to think about this one. For some reason Jo felt comfortable even safe following in his wake covered by his enormous, lengthening shadow.

What do you think you are doing?

Getting an armored escort straight to our target!

A sly smirk crept onto her face as the shadows of the forest engulfed them.