The Virus Within (Original rough draft)

Chapter 111

The man pointed his gun toward me as I remained motionless. I could faintly hear Nina's muffled scream of protest and the grunts of the guy trying to restrain her desperate thrashing.

Click.

There is a certain look of complete disbelief when a person is so far gone up shit creek that they know they are about to go backward over a waterfall. This man was wearing that expression. I smirked and pulled the gun magazine out of my pocket and displayed it in my one hand, "Is this what you were looking for?"

The man froze. My instincts were raging behind my attempt at a cool and collected façade. This was the third time he had tried to kill me. I slowly dropped into a crouch with a low growl, "Three strikes and you are out."

I knew they were mostly watching my eyes since it was so dark out. I closed them as I launched forward. My eyes opened at the last second to ensure that my strike didn't miss. A shocked gasp was choked off into a gurgle as a sickening crack told the other two of the failed assassin's fate.

I slipped my sunglasses on once more so the last man couldn't see me as I backed up into the shadowy night once more. He didn't have a knife, but he was big enough that he didn't need a weapon to inflict serious harm. He had his back against the wall and retained his grip on Nina, knowing that she was his only chance of getting out of this alive.

I glanced over my shoulder and faintly growled as I noticed another person approaching. Company was the last thing I wanted at this precise moment. I began to wonder if one of the voices in Nicky's head had a magnetic attraction to any dangerous situation. It was bad enough to have Nina wandering around unsupervised and if Nicky was sleep walking, then I was going to tie her to the bed in the future.

The man also noticed her approach, "Hey, can you give me a hand over here?"

I suspected that he hoped that I would back off and leave if more people showed up. Nicky kept walking in this direction. She paused some distance from the guy and scratched her head with a sleepy and bemused expression, "Can I give you some tips on women?"

Her question was not what the man had expected, "Uh... Okay...."

He was stalling for time as he tried to figure who the lady was by her voice since he couldn't see her face clearly in the dark. I slunk into a low crouch as I carefully worked my way in closer as Nicky distracted the man.

Nicky yawned lazily, "For starters, women don't like to be silenced with a hand over their mouth like that. But we don't really need to speak to get our point across. You can tell a lot from a woman's hands. For example, if she is pointing a weapon at you, then she is probably angry."

The man was more confused now than before. My problem was getting Nina out of his hands without him harming her. The way he had his hand over her mouth, he could twist her head and damage the muscles in her neck or possibly even damage the spine. The last thing I wanted was for him to snap her neck.

The man glanced between the dark surroundings and the strange philosophical lady who seemed bored, "Huh? What weapon?"

Nicky dropped her face into her hand as if exasperated at the man's stupidity, "Oh boy. I was hoping for a battle of wits, but you, sir, appear to be completely unarmed."

I actually had to restrain a chuckle as the man just continued to stare at the redhead in complete disbelief. The fact that she had not run off screaming for help the moment she saw the situation was completely baffling the man. Her bizarre comments were not exactly helping him process anything either.

Nicky yawned again before shaking her head, "Okay, I would really rather be in bed since you are clearly no fun, so let's get to the point. What the hell are you doing with Nina and why is Trinity stalking you like that? You must have really pissed her off for her to do that."