Midnight Rider

It was morning now, and after a night of getting shot at, both Saints had trouble not falling asleep while waiting for the phone to ring. Duffy had been gone all night. Dolly and Doc spent the knight treating to Murphy and Connor. Murphy waved them off at first seeing how Connor was much worse off. But eventually they took a break and dug the slug out of his shoulder. Connor was more alone the lines of a broken nose, a cracked eye socket, and several places that were swollen so bad they couldn’t tell what the problem was yet.

Doc had called his friend, Collins over, he had been a customer for years – and was now a retired emergency room doctor. Now morning had arrived, as well as Doc’s friend.

But still no word from Duffy.

Connor was unconscious for most of the work they did on him. But it didn’t seem like a part of him was left undamaged.

“He’s taken quite a few good hits.” Collins said. “Cracked ribs, his ankle is nearly crushed, he’ll likely walk with a limp when this is all over. Who’d he pick a fight with?”

“No one important, but he’ll be okay?” Murphy asked.

“For now, give him a lot of rest, and preferably to a practicing doctor.”

Murphy nodded as Collins left to go back down stairs. Murphy then stepped inside to see Connor, he was resting after a long week. They sure had their fun while they had the chance, but soon Murphy would get them back, he had to. Even if he went in there guns drawn, no plan, he would.

The phone rang; Murphy picked it up quickly so it wouldn’t wake Connor.

“Duffy?” he asked, hoping.

“Yeah. I lost ‘er.”

“What do you mean?” Murphy asked.

“The van disappeared somewhere here by the harbor. I’ve been circling for hours looking for it. Finally gave up at dawn. How’s Connor?”

“Breathing,” Murphy said. “Stay there, keep an eye out – I’ll look at that map, see if there are any known hideouts over there. I’ll have Dolly call you.”

“Murph- look I’m sorry.”

“Not your fault, ya tried. I’ll probably down in a little bit.” Murphy said. Connor was awake now, looking at him. “I’ve gotta go.”

He clicked the receiver off. Connor gave him a sort of greeting that he could manage with his hand.

“Who ya lookin’ fer?” he asked.

“A girl, do you… remember her? The other night she said you helped her escape.” Murphy told him. Connors face then got really sullen.

He seemed disturbed, but then he said: “I was in a little better shape then.”

“I bet they gave you hell for helping her.” Murphy added.

“It was worth it.” Connor spoke. “They… raped her Murph. Right in front of me. I couldn’t just sit there.”

Murphy remembered the night she spent at the bar. The cuts he had helped clean… he had never known, she had never even hinted to it being so bad.

“She’s a good kid.” Connor said. “You better go get her back.”

“Plannin’ on it. Woulda been nice if someone hadn’t jumped at the first chance to kill some Italians though.”

“You wanted to, you know it.” Connor said.

“Well I woulda enjoyed it better if you hadn’t led me in that stupid restaurant with a half-baked plan to kill them all.”

“It was a set up, there were no flaw in my plan, there are never flaws in my plan.” Connor said smiling.

“Yeah, well you keep telling Clint Eastwood that.” Murphy said before he left the room. Connor was always basing his plans off of his favorite movies.

Murphy unfolded the large map in the other room looking for buildings along the harbor. There were two: one nearer to the bay, the other further out. These were probably used a lot for smuggling drugs or illegals into the country, if the Italians had a port, they could do a lot of damage. Murphy made a mental note that if he could burn the buildings down then he should, of course not before he found Paige.
______________________________________________________

Somehow cold pavement felt good on Paige’s face. Blood had rushed to her head after they decided to hang her upside down, now that they had finally let her down, she enjoyed the feeling of solidarity and gravity. She was tired, that was for sure. That had hung her up and left her there, after a while she just passed out. But now there were people around her, she could see them; they were blurry, but there.

“Tell us how you know the Saints.”

“Why did you rescue him?”

They sputtered questions at her that she could barely hear while her senses returned. But even after her hearing returned, she still ignored them. She wasn’t going to give them up.

“Where do they hide?”

“Where are they now?”

She still just played stupid; she acted as if her hearing had been impaired for the amount of time she had been upside down. But they finally caught her attention when Mauricio stepped out of the crowd.

“I almost didn’t recognize you Blondie. You’re uh – not so blonde anymore then?”

Paige didn’t drop his gaze.

“Too bad, looked good on you, now you look… cheap.”

Mauricio bent down before her touching his index finger and thumb to her face, lifting her chin.

“Funny how I let you run away, only to find out you choose to fuck the other Saint, and help him in rescuing his brother. What a pity, if you wanted revenge you should’ve stopped when you killed my man in the back of that diner.”

Mauricio paced around the room, now he was pontificating to his surrounding men.

“Well I think I’ll keep you alive, until I get what I want. Caesar!” Mauricio called out. A tall, bulky man stepped up from the back. He had tattoos on his neck and knuckles.

“Find out where our Saint’s are.” Mauricio stated.

Mauricio was then ushered out with several men, while a few stayed, including Caesar.

“You can start talking now.” He began. “Or things can get messy.”

Paige kept her mouth shut, she had gone this long without saying a word, perhaps she could keep it that way.

After she spent some ‘quality time’ with Caesar, Paige could tell her jaw had dislocated a number of times. Her body hurt everywhere, and when she would cry out – Caesar would try to get her to form words, anything that would get him information.

Fortunately she knew that what they wanted was the information, and if she gave it – they’d kill her. Despite the promise of ‘letting her go’ she knew the truth, and she kept her mouth shut.

Out of the window she could see off in the distance a faint glowing and receding light. At first she thought it was a ship beginning it’s voyage off to sea. But it didn’t leave her, it stayed with her… like a beacon of hope, it was a lighthouse.