Locked Out of Heaven [Complete]

Part 8

A ringing sound bounced back and forth between the walls of the twisting streets. Roberto pulled up short and turned in a full circle, searching for the sound's origin. His own phone beeped in time. He choose a side street and set off, checking and rechecking where he is. She should be somewhere around here.

C'mon. C'mon. C'mon. It's too bad Dusty-hair or any of the kids, for that matter, couldn't read beyond the first grade level. He could've told Roberto exactly where they were. At least he knew his numbers. And thank god Adelina didn't have a lock on her phone. But time was running out; each time he thought the ringing came from around a corner, he found that it receded into yet another corridor of the maze. His breath was coming in increasingly short gasps and the ringtone taunted him, just out of his reach.

He broke out of the alleyways into an open road. He scanned the length of the road. There, a lone figure near the dumpsters at the side of the road. Wait.

He broke into a dead run. "Get your hands off her, you filthy motherfucker!" Phillip "Gourmet" Bean whipped around. In his arms, Adelina laid slumped, still. Hot blood coursed through him and his hand reached for his gun. He's gonna kill this motherfucker for hurting her. A small part of him whispered that she might be dead, but he rejected it and focused on his anger instead. Anger is safe. Thinking is not.

"Shit!" Gourmet dropped her and ran, pushing through the crowd of children who, encouraged by Roberto's appearance, were trying to trip him up. Adelina's head hit the concrete and she groaned and turned onto her side. Roberto could've sighed with relief if he didn't know what Gourmet would've done with her if he hadn't arrived in time. Several of the children had already rushed up to her and little Amy cradled Adelina's head in her lap. He ran past them, the ball of fury in his chest demanding release.

Roberto spotted Gourmet turning a corner and followed him. His skin burned tight and hot. Here in the underworld, it's an eye for an eye, but Roberto doubted he would be so generous. Then, Gourmet found himself pitching forward. The hand on the back of his head slammed his face into the concrete. Roberto wasn't done yet, oh no he wasn't. He took hold of Gourmet's collar and heaved him up so that he laid on his back. Roberto worked away at his face until it was a bloody pulp.

"Talk."

It took a few seconds for Gourmet to blubber something intelligible. "I was... She wandered in... needed help... the children... a mistake..."

"What a crapload of bullshit." Roberto drew back to punch him again. But Gourmet, taking advantage of the space between them, landed a kick to Roberto's midsection. They broke away from each other, each stumbling to their side of the alleyway. Roberto had run out of adrenaline and leaned against the brick wall, out of breath, and Gourmet was too disorientated to run anywhere.

"Why do ya care so much about her, eh? Or have you taken a special, say, interest in her?" A few seconds rest seemed to have revived Gourmet to his normal self, albeit bloodier. He might have wiggled his eyebrows, but it was hard to tell amongst the blood running down freely over his face. New stains dotted his jacket front.

"I'm not like you."

Gourmet chuckled, a bubbly twisted sound. "Sure, Prince Innocent. Nothing like me. So what're ya gonna do? I'm a bloody mess and I'll have trouble pulling in any, ah, lovely bed warmers for several weeks. Is that going to be all?" He nodded towards Roberto's gun.

In response, Roberto lifted his hand and aimed it at his heart. Gourmet was unfazed.

"Oh, the little baby Prince has a scary gun pointed at me. I bet it hasn't even seen a drop of blood." Roberto wavered. Gourmet could tell and he pressed on. "C'mon. Kill me, little man or else I might designate her as my new-" he searched for the right word"-plaything." He sketched an hourglass figure in the air and smirked, looking Roberto in the eye.