Saved

by Joseph H. Ficor

Stotter stood shocked. Shouhei’s shot came close, but missed. Stotter fired his own weapon. He hit Fiko in the left shoulder. His sudden surprise at the Governor’s prize puppy suddenly turning aggressive ruined his aim.

Shouhei had collapsed on the ground. He was holding his bleeding shoulder.

An eternity passed before Stotter heard the thud behind him.

Stotter turned to see who had been Shouhei’s true target.

There was not much left of the face, but the slim body and the curved, saw toothed knife in the corpse’s right hand was enough to identify him. Jing Laforsé. Even more wanted than the smuggler. He was a professional hitman who favored stealth and his knife to any sort of firearm. He sometimes traveled with Rawlings on runs.

Stotter’s hard exterior returned. He kicked at Shouhei. He held his pistol at the young Enforcer’s head. But he could not bring himself to pull the trigger. He lowered his weapon.

“Get up Fiko!”

Shouhei obeyed and the two walked past the corpses to the elevator.

The only speech in the elevator was Stotter using his communicator to request a clean-up crew to come and collect the bodies.