The Dark Knight

2. The Double-Cross double crossed

It was now close to midnight and she was sure the date was over when he leaned forward and gave her a soft kiss.

‘You like our date so far?’ he murmured in her ear

‘Yea’ she breathed out, take me home she added silently

‘One more stop’ he said, his eyes gleamed wickedly and pulled away from the kiss, driving them down the lonely streets

‘O-kay..’ she stuttered, suddenly getting nervous

The drive to the edge of town was quiet and he packed his car thirty minutes later at a serene park then motioned to her to get down

She gulped. No one knew she was here with him so far away from home and she began to doubt why she had agreed to this

‘Come on girl, I would never hurt you. You know that’ he said, smiling genuinely at her and waiting for her in front of the car

She nodded slowly and got down from the car, walking to him.

He took her hand and led her through the park to a line of taverns, hugging and stealing kisses from time to time then a call came in and he went a few yards from her to answer, asking her to excuse him for a bit

‘Boss it’s time’ Marx said on the other line

‘Okay activate’ Jerry said curtly

‘Yes boss’ he answered and cut the call

Then Jerry called Big Joe ‘I have your package’ he said

‘Good, now bring her to me’ Joe said gruffly and ended the call

He nodded and smiled to himself, Cool. ‘We have to head back now dear’ he called to Lucy who was enjoying the night breeze and serene atmosphere

‘Okay the date over already?’ she asked, puzzled

‘Yes’ he simply said, then walked her back to the car

As they got to the car, they were surrounded by six men

‘Hey man’ one of the men greeted him cautiously, his gun in his hand, Lucy grabbed unto Jerry’s hands tightly

‘Hey...who are you?’ Jerry asked ominously

‘Big Joe sent us’ the man replied, coming toward Lucy. She cringed as she heard his name

‘Why would he?... I told him I will bring her’ Jerry answered, his eyes red with anger, somebody ratted him out and he was enraged. He missed the shocked look Lucy had on her face when she heard him say those words

‘Well plans have changed.’ The guy, obviously their leader responded, looking at her

‘We will take her now... deal is off with you’ he continued. Lucy shook off his hand and looked at him mortified. She couldn’t believe this, the date wasn’t real?...all his plan to take her to the evil Joe?

‘What?’ Jerry panicked ‘She isn’t going anywhere’ he said, flashing his gun at them and stepped in front of Lucy

‘Step away man don’t want you getting hurt’ the guard said a little nervously. They knew of the ways of the Jx but even now he was outnumbered so they were not afraid

A gun shot went off and hit Jerry on his side and he fell down; by the time Jerry looked up, the men had carried Lucy off in their van and he reached for his cell phone but was growing faint….. too faint to make the call quickly

When the initial daze wore off, Jerry pushed himself up against the jeep and dialed Marx. It rang without reply, 10times

He knew he had been double crossed by his own man, he laughed scornfully and dialed a second team asking them to activate and rescue his girl

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‘Where is this girl?’ Meredith, Lucy’s Aunty asked no one in particular, looking the clock as it chimed midnight

She had been calling her niece’s phone continually for the past two hours. She had not told her she would be home late so she was worried now

‘Come on Mama, Lucy is a big girl, she won’t be happy you are worrying over her like this’ Katie, Lucy’s younger sister chided her, though their Aunt, they referred to her as mom, because that’s what she had been to them for the past ten years

They all lived in a small apartment on top of the bookstore Meredith owned. Her late husband left her the property in the downtown area of the city and their bookstore was her only means of livelihood and she used it to take care of her nieces after her sister and husband, their parents, were killed in a robbery attack by a gang in the notorious suburbs

Katie was also secretly worried, Lucy would always alert her on her whereabouts but the phone chats had been silent all night, she left Aunt Meredith in the living room and went to her room to call up Lucy’s private work station.

Their aunt did not know Lucy sometimes worked as an escort and also as an exotic dancer, all in the bid to put herself through online school where she was completing a major in Graphic Arts. She didn’t get to go to college like Katie did because of a slim budget on the College funds, so Lucy chose to sacrifice so that their slim purse would be enough for Katie to go to college. The sisters had just a two year age gap and they loved each other. Katie 18, was in College studying to be a Pharmacist and Lucy couldn’t be more proud.

Worried for Lucy she dialed Madam Ronnie and braced herself or the lecherous voice that was sure to come through

‘Well well if it isn’t my little minx...ready to take my job offer missy?’ Ronnie drawled, ‘You would pull a lot of the guys you know’ she said playfully, loving to trouble the girl whenever she had the opportunity

Katie grimaced, ‘No Ronnie, I’m a church girl, I pass’ she said, this was her usual line and still Ronnie would love to test her on this

‘Uh well, gotta try isn’t it?’ Ronnie said in a bored tone

‘Yeah’ Katie laughed, shaking her head

‘So what’s up kiddo, why you calling? Is Lucy ok?’ Ronnie asked, going all serious now

‘Oh um…we don’t know, she ain’t back yet. So wanted to know if she is on the till tonight’ Katie asked, hopefully

‘Um nope, she called in this afternoon that she had some date with some guy so no she isn’t working for me tonight’ Ronnie affirmed

‘Oh…date?; Katie asked, taken aback

‘Yeah...well let me know if there is a problem by morning okay?’ Ronnie said, her voice sounding worried

‘Yes Ronnie, thanks’ Katie answered sighing

Katie dropped the call and feeling something was off, she dialed Lucy and the number was switched off. Then she began to pace her room, extremely worried for her sister, checking her phone time and time again if a message would appear

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Jerry had called his back up-back up team and within minutes they arrived. He pulled off his shirt and the bullet proof vest he was wearing that protected him from the bullet

He greeted his guys and then got in the car, taking off in pursuit of the men that took his crush, to the tavern nearby to halt Big Joe and his plans

‘What happened Boss’ Diesel asked, he was head of this back up squad and was only activated in moments of dire emergency, he sensed that Jerry was not his usual calm self tonight

‘Someone messed with my woman Dee and we will show him just what happens when you do’ Jerry snickered

A call came in and he answered hurriedly when he saw the caller ID ‘Yes Julian’

‘We have the merchandise’ Julian said

‘Good, round them up, I am close by’ Jerry replied, snorting

‘Yes sir’ Julian replied and cut the call

The car arrived at the tavern in seven minutes and the men hopped off the vehicle even before Diesel brought it to a stop

Jerry rushed into the building and snickered as he laid his eyes on the prisoners Julian had captured

Slaps were heard in the building as Jerry doubled up Marx and the men that had taken Lucy from him

‘Never ever double cross me again’ Jerry spat at him

‘He offered me millions man…needed the money…told them not to hurt you man’ Marx pleaded

‘Hurt me?’ Jerry sneered ‘deal with them boys’ he ordered Diesel and his guys and left the room, hearing grunts, blows and gun shots as he left

He snorted as he walked into the tavern with where Big Joe and his guile friends were already being tortured by Julian and his team that he had called ahead, Lucy unconscious at the corner, with the hand chains untied

Jerry instructed one of his men to carry her to safety and place her in his jeep. Big Joe’s men had made her unconscious when she struggled with them

‘Well well Big Joe, I guess your time is up then’ Jerry sneered, punching him hard on his face

Big Joe winced in pain, turning to look around his messed up tavern ‘You better finish me up boy otherwise you will live to regret it’ he spat out, his face bleeding from the blows received

‘Sure….but not today…I smell Petrol though…leakage anywhere?’ Jerry laughed, knowing very well he had instructed Julian to soak up the place.

Jerry looked around one more time and strutted out, asking his men to release Joe and they leave him and his friends there to nurse their wounds and look for the source of the petrol leak

The men began frantically getting their things together, this spot contained most of their warehouse shipment of all kinds of illegal goods and he ruled his empire from here. He could not afford any of it to be destroyed. He dashed upstairs to try and get his documents, safe, cheque books, anything because he knew that leaking petrol would mean only one thing in a matter of minutes

‘Big Joe we have to go now’ Dan one of his friends and business partner yelled, his other friends already diving for their cars, but big Joe had all his investments here, he refused to yield to them

While this was going on, Jerry and his men had already driven to the far end of the street and parked, observing the tavern. On their way out, his men had lit up a car with fireworks at the entrance of the tavern as Big Joe, tried to gather his things to escape but he couldn’t get out in time. The car exploded, fire got into the building…there was chaos everywhere

Lucy stirred and sat up, her eyes on the burning tavern and eliminated foes. She quivered and drew close to Jerry, who wrapped his arm around her

‘You did this all for me?’ she murmured, eyes misty as she looked up at her dark knight, her defender

‘Yes my queen’ Jerry bent down and placed a kiss on her temple

‘Thank you my knight’ she whispered and he hugged her tight and they drove out of there, to their new beginning