To Kill a Ghost

Approaching sirens wailed at the top of their lungs. People were staring now, wondering if they heard a gunshot, as Eli’s bleeding slowed down. Creases in his forehead could be thought of as pain, but Linox guessed them to be something else. He held the gun shakily, but his eyes stayed focused on their target.

“We both know you won’t shoot,” Eli said, a smirk returning to his features. “That knife trick was good. I admit I didn’t see it coming, but I know about you and guns, Reeves.”

“Is that so?” Linox questioned. “Tell the cops how you were stalking me when they get here then.”

“Of course. You were on your way to kill a very good friend of mine. I just happened to be in the neighborhood visiting.” Eli stepped forward, retrieving the bloody knife.

“Those are lies.” Linox growled. “You followed me to my dead beat father’s parole hearing!” The gun shook harder in his hand. He found himself wishing he listed to Dedra more now. Guns weren’t the problem, it was the people behind them.

“If you run, you still have a change of getting out unscathed by the cops.” Eli said, arching an eyebrow.

“Running means letting you go free.” Linox argued.

“And that’s a bad thing.” The soldier wrapped some sort of cloth around his hand to stop the slow bleed. “I’ve been to jail. It’s not bad. I always get out in exactly twenty minutes.” He shrugged. “You’re the idiot holding the gun in front of a courthouse that contains your father. If there’s not a motive for you to walk into that place and open fire, well, I’ll be damned.”

Linox hated that his words made so much sense. The only logical thing that would happen if he let it come down to the police verses Eli would be both their arrests. As a government asset, Eli wouldn’t be held long at all, but who was Linox? He was a nobody with a crazy father and a high lever computer degree. At best, he might be recruited by some operative team. Worst case, he was going to be locked in prison, and possibly tried for treason considering he was holding a gun on a government asset. He cursed himself before he turned and ran.

“Good decision, Research,” Eli called after him. A glance over his shoulder proved Eli was standing there waiting on the sirens to stop blaring.

The gun burned as if someone set his arm on fire. Tingling sensations move through his veins as if the arsonist doused his body in gasoline. “What are these people thinking,” Linox asked aloud as he ran to the one place he thought he might be safe.



Eli stood straight after he folded and shoved Linox’s bloody pocketknife into the back pocket of his pants, buttoning the flap around it. His back ached from stiff muscles, but he ignored the pain. All of his training told him not to feel the dull, throbbing ache, so he didn’t. Sirens stopped echoing, but the blue and red flashing lights were blinding against the dark blue, afternoon sky. He waited until an officer clad in black approached him.

“What is a soldier doing here?” The officer asked quietly.

“That’s confidential, but let’s just say there are some important people in the vicinity.” Eli never didn’t look at the man as he spoke.

“You’re handing me a line, aren’t you? Who is in the area?” The officer glanced around. Eli turned his playful eyes on the man, except they weren’t playing now.

“Why would I be here if I was lying? Who are you? No one would send a high ranking military operative to pull your leg.” His voice was low and deep as he belittled the balding officer. “I have my orders, Sir. What are yours?”

The officer in the black uniform stumbled over his words, trying to seem less stupid and failing. Eli fought the urge to roll his eyes, or worse, slap sense into the bumbling idiot. “Are you hear about something, or do you like hauling your squad around with blaring nuisances to scare your public?”

“Someone called with a disturbance report,” the bumbling office spat out. “A man was holding a gun out here. Did you see anything?”

“There was a man trying to help me. I foolishly cut my hand, and he offered this cloth to stop the bleeding.” Eli explained. “They might have thought it was carrying, but I assure you there was no weapon here.”

The officer nodded, looked at the bloody cloth over Eli’s hand, and chuckled with an embarrassed flush flooding his round cheeks. His nose scrunched as if he smelled rotten eggs while his mouth twisted into a crooked smile. Eli pushed the need to punch this man down.

Loud static erupted from hi coat pocket. Eli and the officer glanced at the place where the sound originated and waited. “Jones, you’re needed at coordinates now. Copy?” The familiar, raspy annoyance barked.

“Copy, Jennings. I will move locations as soon as I finish with the locals.” Eli smiled and the officer who lowered his head.

“Immediately, Soldier. Stop playing and move.” Sam was getting better at sounded like a drill sergeant. Eli didn’t like his tone.

“Yes,” he growled, “Sir.”

Eli wanted to joke the life out of his smirking friend. He could almost see the shorter man chuckling and pointing at the mic. Sam’s voice echoed in his mind as Eli imagined him saying, ‘Did you hear him? Sir! Can you repeat that, Mate?’ Eli loathed the man whose life he saved, but he wouldn’t be here, in this situation, if he hadn’t shoved him out of the way of that bullet.

“You heard the boss. I move now.” Eli stated as he turned away from the cop.

“We’ll clean this mess up and get to the bottom of the problem.” The officer called after him.

Eli fought the chuckle that begged to leave his throat. Luckily, the man clad in black didn’t understand local coordinates. He might have figured out Sam put him in the middle of the pacific ocean if he knew numbers. Eli moved the mic closer to his mouth as he whispered, “I know you just told me to take a long walk off a short pier, Sammy. Don’t make me get back at you.”

“How do you propose getting revenge?” Sam asked, his voice crackling. The laughter in his tone made his words sound higher pitched.

“We both know I’m more of your assassin’s type.” Eli said, that playful looking entering his vision gain. “I can, and I will take your girlfriend.”

“She’s not my…” Sam started.

“K – I – S – S – I – N – G in the tree.” Eli sang.

“Well,” Sam said, his tone lower. “She does this thing in bed…”

“The game is over now…Mate.” Eli said, smirking at a camera he imagined Linox would see later. “I don’t want to hear about your love life that badly. Just remember I can ruin it with one little smile.”