Whoever was leaking the lord's itinerary had made my life almost effortless. It wiped all my hard-earned savings, but swimming with sharks was ultimately lucrative, too. I was never particularly strapped for cash.
The summer has ran its course; winter threatened an early onset. I got used to the misbehaving limb and my vendetta was starting to run out of steam.
I couldn't tell whether the boy plagued by absurd misfortune was still grinding his war axe, either. I had not been cornered again, nor even remotely threatened. Perhaps the lordling has learned his lesson.
I doubted Raktkalis would ever disregard the slights. After all, that man's servants dropped dead from merely breathing too loud. However, personally – I was ready to move on. This vendetta took good part of the year, and I had nothing to show for it. It was a massive waste of time.
An attained timetable allowed me to comfortably avoid being anywhere close to my unfortunate adversary. I could be free.
Today, however, it's brought me back on Raktkalis's path.
Unenthusiastically – out of pure habit – I watched the motorcade move down an unmaintained road. It wasn't an essential part of infrastructure, so it was allowed to fall apart. Nobody even owned a personal vehicle anymore, bar a select few. These plots were far better off producing food.
This made preying on the privileged so easy.
I damaged a lot of suspensions in that wheeled procession. The potholes were bound to set a few off. Any time now. Surprising it hadn't happened already. I knew they didn't change the cars, nor fixed them. There was no time to, due to another carefully staged incident.
This gave me neither joy nor thrill anymore. I was simply seeing the mayhem I've planned for a long time come to fruition.
Raktkalis will be late to represent his family in the assembly. Reputation of both will take a hit. Already things weren't as rosy. A brother took over several duties that had customarily been his.
I hoped junior was ready to see reason about now, before things got really ugly. For both of us.
Two of motorcade's components abandoned their place. One more up front swerved, causing rest of the cars to hit the brakes. A few more pops, followed by the sound of metal bending and breaking.
After a ridiculous moment of stunned standstill, armoured soldiers spilled out of the cars to secure the perimeter. Drivers got out to pool their brainpowers and deliberate. I finally felt some sort of emotion witnessing the comical disaster unfold.
Time constraints likely dictated that a single transport would have to do. Raktkalis's more intricate battle suit popped out of the armoured vehicle.
Immediately, an unmistakable fractured crack echoed throughout the high-rises. Then another.
Two successive gunshots pierced a flashy figure. One in the neck. I watched him bleed profusely. Another sank into a quick-acting, self-sacrificing meat shield – and through. Raktkalis was quickly packed up into a working car and they were no longer heading towards the Upper Hall.
Shit.
Oh shit.
I'm the principal suspect in this.
I'm at least an accomplice. I made them all stop.
Fuck. Coincidence or not, I'll get torched for this. There's no way all of the government won't take an interest in this.
I need to get out. Right now.
Casting a last thoughtful glance outside, I ran for the underground passages. I skipped several streets that way, then passed through the inner yards. Physically distancing myself from the location was easy. Rapid-reaction forces will still need a few minutes to mobilise; most forces weren't rapid.
Damn. How could anyone have guessed a breakdown was set up there? Unless, I wasn't the only one with this bright idea. There could have been other traps. High profile people had real enemies. People who might not have wanted their political opponents to make it to the meeting place in a little more permanent manner.
Fuck. Playing this dangerous game, sooner or later I had to have gotten an extremely nasty curveball. That's what I get for swinging way over my head!
Speed walking away, I neurotically refreshed the news site while scanning the radio stations. Nothing.
Likely would not be anything, until the government approved some sort of narrative. Yet, I burned to know whether the lordling survived. If he had, things might not be as terrible as they currently appeared.
Dumb assumption. The vicious lordling already wanted to subject me to fates worse than death.
There was a lot of blood.
Too much to survive. I knew it was.
Yet I restlessly itched to deliver an explanation. I didn't want him dead. Not really. He'd know that much. I was groundlessly sure of it.
I had no way to contact the irritating bastard for some reason. The old number has been long since disconnected.
Fuck. I should have kept a line of communication open. For a ceasefire negotiation, if nothing else. Why did I put that off for so long?
I needed the leverage by making him truly miserable. That's why.
Striding further and further from the glass visages of city centre, I navigated the passages leading to the worst part of slums. It was physically impossible to find anybody in there, even going door by door and lining everyone up outside. There simply was no room for that.
I didn't need to go to the extremes to hide. I was simply panicking, and it was as good destination as any. My old hideout. A safe place.
Perhaps I did have a way of contacting the bloody bastard after all. Unlikely, but perhaps someone will alert him to the school's message board.
Please, let him be alive. It was the only chance for me to survive this. I could not hide from a General.
Grit my teeth and resisted sprinting to my destination. I was so close, I could feel the ants of anticipation crawling inside my stomach and chewing on the lining. Final stretch had to be walked in complete leisure. People had tendency to recall runners. It was more alarming, suspicious. Could not take the chance on the day like this. Had already discarded a cardigan to shed a speed-walker's persona.
I ducked into the cellar and traversed underground again. Crawled into an unexceptional, forgotten cubby. Uncovered a bag.
Booted up an elegant device.
After few moments of suspense, I found everything working as it should have. It was still charged, the secure connection – undisturbed. The school's website loaded without a hitch. Raktkalis's old account was still hooked up. I wouldn't even need to look up my old profiles to write that awfully guilty-looking message.
It had several status updates since I've last seen this.
"Run farther," oldest line said.
"You're not ever safe." That's after the massacre at a mall. Threat meant to spring me into a retrieval of non-existent recording, I bet.
"Entertaining." Months ago. One word to summarise all that effort. Infuriating! I wished him dead all over again.
"Comply and I'll grant forgiveness," newest one promised. An hour ago.
All of this was addressed to me. No two ways about it.