The Enigma's Anomaly

The Penultimate Chapter

"That was fantastic," I say to Gerard, looking down at the guy he just knocked out. It's the guy who'd been sticking my head in the water, so I feel no remorse for giving him a possible concussion. Technically Gerard was the one who did the actual concussing though, and I'm proud of him.

"You're proud of my goon hitting skills?" Gerard asks, picking up the gun that the unconscious guy has clutched in his fingers. Still after all this time, he holds it like it's a bomb. Then again it isn't on safety, so I take it from him carefully.

"I'm just proud of you," I reply.

"Oh you," Gerard teases. It occurs to me that we are in a life or death situation with a bunch of big guys with guns literally only a thin layer of fabric away, with two out cold guys at our feet. It might not be necessarily the best time for flirting.

"Do you think maybe we should get outta here?" I ask, and Gerard nods.

"So how do we do this?"

"Well you're the more stable one, you should probably handle Banks," I say, and Gerard makes a face. "Get your head out of the gutter."

"I didn't say anything!" Gerard says protectively.

"But I could see you thinking something dirty."

"Well you said that dirtily," Gerard replies.

"Do you want to maybe try getting this done, because Banks is going to wake up in a matter of minutes?" I warn him, and Gerard seems to have a moment where he remembers where we are.

"Right sorry," Gerard says walking over to kneel down next to Banks. "What do I, uh... do?"

"Slap him," I say.

"What?" Gerard questions.

"Slap him, get him to wake up," I answer. "And cover his mouth. We don't want him screaming out."

"This is so weird," Gerard shakes his head, but he looks at me and asks permission with his eyes. I don't know what he's asking me for. I just point the gun at Banks and nod, because I assume Gerard can figure out what to do.

Gerard makes a whimpering sound, but he gets a hand over Banks' mouth, and then smacks the guy across the face with no mercy. He doesn't even hold back, and it makes me kind of happy to see the aggression behind it. I mean, I hate Banks, but I have no idea how it must feel in Gerard's head. I never worked for the guy. I never walked in on him cheating or found out about his massive embezzlement scheme. I'd hate the guy too, though I've got to say, trying to kill us takes the cake. I kind of want to punch the guy in the face a few times too.

Banks stirs slowly, and I see the smallest shrug in Gerard's shoulder and he hits Banks again.

"You're really getting him acquainted with your hand aren't you," I ask.

"I've wanted to do that for fucking years," Gerard answers, and I think Banks is actually starting to wake up now. He didn't take kindly to being slapped, and I hear the muffled sound of him trying to talk into Gerard's hand.

"Wakey wakey motherfucker," I say.

"I should change that to my alarm tone," Gerard says.

"I'll record it later if you want," I answer.

Banks says something that's muffled by Gerard's hand. I don't particularly care what it is he said.

"Okay, Banks. So this is how this is going to go on," I start, "we're going to walk out of here with you, and you're going to be a free pass out of this shindig."

Banks makes a noise, and Gerard grimaces, "Do not lick my hand again or I will kick you in the nards."

"No I'll kick him," I say.