Gunslinger

“I was saving this for when we got you out.”
There was a pop and Syn moved his head enough to the left that the flying cork didn’t hit him in the face before taking the bottle from Johnny and taking a long swig of champagne. Zacky pulled off his shirt and slung it on the couch, taking in the set up in the hanger as Jimmy made sure the stolen and now battered car was out of sight. As yet there was no sign of Matt and Ana but Jimmy had no doubt that they would soon show up. Their pilot happened to be an experienced car thief on the side.
“It’s not bad. Zack ?”
Zacky took the bottle and savoured the cold bubbling alcohol. There had been a little rough vodka inside the prison occasionally but nothing this good and he intended to make sure that it was the last time anyone caged him. Jimmy was already laying out maps on the coffee table that served as a desk, two battered couches and mismatched chairs making up the rest of the furniture. To one side there was a load of mattresses slung around and he could see both a bathroom and a tiny kitchen behind the stack of ordinance. The rest of the room was taken up by a plane and the stolen car.
“Enjoy it. We can lay low here for a day or so. We need to talk to a Doctor at the university to give us a better idea on location and then we get the fuck out of Moscow.”
Jimmy sat back and let Johnny explain the job, Syn and Zacky were certainly interested in the money but hearing that the government, mafia and everyone else was looking too made the thing sound a little too dangerous for their liking. Matt and Ana arrived mid story, the tall man greeted with more hugs while the girl slipped into the bathroom at the back to change. Zacky glanced down at the map again before looking at his friend.
“You think we can pull this off, c’mon Johnny we’re good but this is serious shit.”
“We are good, none better. That payday sets us up so we don’t ever have to work again.”
Matt tried not to laugh at the look on both of the twins faces before Jimmy pointed out some other places that the cache could be at. The area to cover was ridiculous even with a plane and Syn realised that it was why they were going after this doctor. He flexed and stretched, even the couch seemed like luxury compared to his bunk and he started to wonder what a real bed would feel like.
“If we don’t get shot at or locked up again. Believe me, you don’t want to be where we just came out off.”
Johnny nodded, he knew that there was little chance of that. If they got caught it would be a bullet in the back of the head. He took the rapidly emptying champagne bottle and downed a healthy shot. Jimmy had pulled out some reasonable rations and was singing tunelessly as he cooked up something that started to make Zacky realise how hungry he was. Syn glanced back at the bathroom and stood.
“Talking of, is the water here hot ?”
“Tepid.”
“Fucking luxury.”
Zacky shook his head with a smile as Syn stripped off his shirt and headed towards the bathroom. He wanted to go on this job despite the risks, it had been easy to go stir crazy while locked up and now they could exercise some violence. Didn’t really matter who was on the receiving end either.
Syn himself was hesitating outside the bathroom door. It wasn’t shut all the way and he could see Ana inside wearing nothing but her bra and a pair of jeans, her back to him as she brushed her hair in front of the mirror. He could see now that she was painfully thin, the thin scars on her back marred the elegant ink wings that ran from her shoulders down to her waist. He had kissed every line, touched every curve but it felt like a lifetime ago and he was too tired to be even angry, just sad that it had turned out the way it had. Seeing his Ana like this and not even feeling that he could touch her was a new experience and Syn found he didn’t like it.
“Hey, you ok ?”
Her head came up and Ana looked at him in the mirror, a smile passing over her face at seeing him before it turned to worry and, more surprisingly to him, concern. They stared at each other a moment more before he realised there was guilt there and he caught sight of what was balanced on the sink, One strong hand circled her wrist and she flinched away from him as Syn pulled her around.
“What the fuck ? Since when do you use ?”
“Since you left me in that brothel. How the fuck else do you think I got through it. I run drugs, I take drugs. Better get used to it.”
Ana tried harder to pull away but Syn was having none of it and virtually flung her out of the bathroom and onto the floor. Johnny heard it, Zacky and him both standing up to the sight of Ana in a heap and a very angry Gates throwing things around in the cramped space of the bathroom. Jimmy was closer, pulling the girl up as the others crowded around to see Syn flushing the coke down the toilet.
“Well it fucking stops now. Did you know about this Jimmy ? Or you Johnny ?”
Ana felt Jimmy’s arms tighten around her and thought back about just how much any of them knew and whether they would tell Syn. He had always been protective and she wondered why he still was. Johnny put a hand on Syn’s shoulder and stared at him until the rage died down a little and Syn stilled.
“We knew. She’s a big girl and she knows we don’t like it. Ana, what did we say about not scoring during a job ?”
“Fine. Whatever. You bullied me into this remember ?”
Ana pulled away from Jimmy and stumbled back into the main hanger, she wanted away from all of them. There was too much to lose here despite how badly she needed the money and how badly she needed Syn not to know where his money went. Zacky let her pass him, he too noticed the marked difference in her and was about to say so before Syn stalked back into the bathroom and slammed the door so hard it nearly came off the hinges. Johnny rubbed a hand over his eyes and looked at his friend.
“He still loves her then.”
“He’ll always love her. Does she still love him ?”
Johnny nodded, the smile that went across his face telling Zacky all he needed to know as they accepted steaming bowls of some kind of stew from Jimmy. The tall man hammered on the bathroom door until it opened, a hand coming out to take the proffered bowl before it slammed shut again. Matt appeared with beer and they all settled at the small table, running over things as Jimmy took the last bowl and headed out into the dying sunlight. He found Ana on the steps, smoking and rubbing a hand over the bruises forming on her wrist. Jimmy sat down and put the hot dish in her hand, tucking into his own food without a word until she was forced to turn and look at him.
“I’m not hungry Jimbo.”
“Don’t care. Eat. You’re too fucking skinny bitch !”
She chuckled, there was nothing like Jimmy next to you for making you forget you were angry and so they ate in a companionable silence, the trees touched by sunset fire adding a peaceful glow to the tiny airfield. It was almost possible to forget why they were here and she was reminded of the nights on the beach as kids, before things got so complicated and out of hand.
“He’s angry.”
“Of course he’s angry. You’re one score away from an overdose and don’t tell me you don’t have a problem.”
Ana shrugged, self-preservation had ceased to be a priority a while back. Jimmy felt a little hypocritical given his own fondness for the hard stuff but it had always been a recreational thing and he couldn’t stand by and watch a slow suicide. Zacky slumped down on her other side and added beer bottles to the ledge. He slipped an arm around her and for a moment thought she would pull away before her head rested against him and there was a tired sigh.
“I didn’t expect you to get life.”
He snorted, there had been enough real evidence for a ten year stretch anyway and that was before Ana had sent the prosecutor some very choice tape recordings. Syn had known they were more than a little faked but it hardly mattered. All of them took risks and while he couldn’t forget, Zacky wanted to forgive.
“We should have come and got you, didn’t expect the mob to move you so quick.”
“What a fucking mess.”
Jimmy nodded, it had been a mess. They had gone from being ready to attempt to rescue Ana to being forced to flee before the authorities caught up with them and put them in the slammer too. All of them had lost a lot of money and equipment which all the following jobs had been an attempt to replace. Again he remembered what Syn had said earlier, they were good but sometimes not good enough.
“We’re all here now. Do this job and we go home. Maybe you and Syn can work it out.”
Ana shook her head and Zacky heard Johnny calling from behind him to where Syn was now standing, shaking water from his head and dressed only in a towel. Time to go back to work. Jimmy stayed where he was, replacing Zacky so that Ana could lean against him as the others discussed the plan and it’s next phase.
Professor Baker was about to go to work.

Notes