Perfect Sacrifice (49 page)

"Okay," she began.  "The hospital is at that end of the park."  She pointed to where she meant, and Andy followed her index fingers position with his eyes.  "It's big, it's white, you can't miss it."

"What about you?" Andy questioned as Ray lowered her arm and smiled. 

"I'll take the long way," she told him.  "I'm going to head into the city and take tenth, then forty-ninth, alright?  Just wait for me there."

"Okay," he said as he began walking.  "I'll see you in a bit."  Ray just smiled and began walking the opposite direction.  She rubbed her hands together in anticipation.  If she went this way, she could stop by Sam's.  She was rather hungry, and this was like killing two birds with one stone.  He had said she could stop by whenever.  She was on her way for a small visit.

She walked out onto the streets of Torran, and it didn't take her long to reach Tenth Street.  Sam's restaurant was on forty-ninth.  She would head there next, but it would take a while.  The streets were pretty populated today with people running around, doing errands.  In fact, there were so many people that she couldn't tell that someone was following her.  If she were to glance behind her, everyone who was walking her way would be considered as such.

Her stalker wore a smirk on his face, his hands shoved deep into his pockets.  Hooked on his belt was a holster for a gun, and there happened to be one present in it.  He sped up a little as she began pulling away.  He was determined to follow her.  After all, that was part of his job.

Ray sighed out of frustration as she realized how long this was taking.  She had to catch up with Andy at the hospital, and he was probably already there, waiting.  She couldn't keep taking so long, so she decided to take the alleys.  They were a much faster way to Sam's, and then she could take them all the way to the hospital.  Ray turned down the first one she found and began heading through the maze of alleyways.  It didn't take her long to reach one that would lead her to the street.  She began walking that way, completely unaware of the man following her.  He slowly began pulling out his handgun.

"Rayla Cayden," he said, stopping her in her tracks.  As she slowly turned to face the man, she was met with a handgun aimed at her head.  The man smirked as he watched her eyes widen in fear.  However, they quickly narrowed out of anger or perhaps frustration.

"Who are you?" she asked, looking him over.  He was dressed in black, accenting his dark blue eyes.  He brushed his free hand through his mahogany colored hair, a smirk forming on his lips.

"My name is Nathan," he greeted.  "I'm a commander for General Ramirez."  He watched as Ray's expression went from surprised to furious.  He was enjoying himself.  He had been looking for her, after all.

"What do you want?" she asked, wondering why he hadn't shot her yet.  Ramirez wanted her dead.  Why was this man hesitating to kill her?

"You of course," he responded, taking a step towards her.  "You're even cuter in person.  You'll be so much fun to play with."  Ray tried to back up, but he tightened his hold on the trigger to his handgun.  "Don't move, or I'll fire."  Ray stood stock still, her eyes following him.  A sick smirk developed on his face, and Ray knew what he wanted from her.

"I'd rather die," she snarled angrily as she slowly began to take a step back.  Nathan only tightened his hold on the handgun, his finger slowly pulling the trigger.

* * * *

Andy stood by the reception desk in Torran's largest hospital, his eyes glued to the front doors.  He had been waiting for a while now.  If she had gone the way she had said she would, Ray should have been there.  He was getting tired of waiting, and he couldn't help but wonder if something had happened to her.  Why did he get the feeling something had?

He heard two familiar voices coming into the hospital, and he snapped his attention to them.  They were smiling and laughing about something, but when their eyes met Andy's, their laughter died and their smiles were replaced by looks of surprise.

"Andy…" whispered Abby, her green eyes filling with a foreign emotion.  This was the first time she had seen him since he left the GRC.  That had been so long ago.

"What are you doing here?" asked Brian, sharing the same look of remembrance that Abby had.

"I'm here to visit Aaron," he responded softly.  "I'm waiting for Ray to get here."  Abby and Brian both quirked an eyebrow.  They hadn't known that Ray was even in Torran today.  Perhaps she was getting her Geno fixed up.  After all, it was in pretty rough shape.

"Why are you waiting for Ray?" asked Abby.

"She said she'd take me to see him," explained Andy.  "I ran into her in the park, and she said she'd meet me here.  What about you guys?"

"Same reason," replied Brian.  "We came to see how Aaron was doing."  The doors to the hospital opened again, and another familiar face walked in.  He was currently rubbing his head, a sigh escaping his lips.

"Leon?" questioned Abby, seeming surprised to see him there.  Why was everyone suddenly coming to the hospital?

"Oh, hey Abby, Brian," Leon greeted with a small smile and a wave of his hand.  His eyes quickly met Andy's.  "Hey, you're the kid from the park."

"Leon, this is Andy," introduced Brian.  Andy just nodded to Leon, who seemed rather confused now.  Things were really getting weird, but they would only get worse.

"Have any of you seen Ray?" he asked, and they all shook their heads.

"She's supposed to be coming here," explained Andy.  "In fact, she should have been here ten minutes ago.  She said she was going to take tenth and forty-ninth."  He crossed his arms, thinking to himself.  "Someone else told me that today but who?"  He began to rack his mind for the answer, recalling what he had done this morning.  He had been with some men Ramirez had sent to Torran.  They had been walking through the city when he had said he wanted to go to the park.  That's when it hit him.  Nathan had told him that he'd be hanging around forty-ninth, looking for the knights in case they decided to come to Torran.  If he had found Ray, then Andy didn't even want to think about what might happen.

Andy bolted from the hospital, running past all three of them.  He began to head down the streets, but they were quick to catch up.

"Andy, what's the big idea?  Why'd you bolt?" asked Abby, now running along side him.

"He said he'd be there," said Andy, confusing them more.

"Who?" asked Brian.

"Nathan, Ramirez's new commander," explained Andy as he ran down the street, accompanied by the two knights and Leon.  "He said he'd be hanging around forty-ninth.  If he found Ray, then…I'd rather not think about what might happen."

"Let's split up," suggested Abby.  "We'll all take a different direction.  One of us should be able to find her."

"Sounds good," said Brian.  "I'll go this way."  With that said, he turned the corner and began exploring down that street.  Forty-ninth was a huge area.  They had a lot of ground to cover.

"I'm going this way," said Andy as he ran a different direction.  Abby and Leon stopped, and Abby reached to the belt at her side.  She had two guns there, one that she was currently removing.

"Here," she said, handing the gun to Leon.  "If you encounter any of Ramirez's men, you'll need this."  Leon only nodded and clutched the gun tightly in his hand.   "I'm taking this way.  You go that way."

"Alright," he said as he spun around and began running.  He had to find Ray, and he was going to search harder now than he had been before.  Things were different now.  Her life was on the line.  He knew for a fact that this was one of the few days where she had left her weapons at home.  If she was attacked, she had no means of defense.

Leon stopped dead in his tracks as a gun shot echoed in the area.  The people on the streets stopped and looked around, but in the end they didn't care.  They just went about their routine.  However, Leon just stood there, a bewildered expression on his face.  A gun shot wasn't a normal hearing in a city.  The fact that he was in section forty-nine didn't help.  He began to fear the worst for Ray.

Leon broke off into a sprint, determined to find his fellow Geno warrior.  He quickly found that he was becoming overwhelmed by anger.  He gripped the gun tightly, his finger now over the trigger.  If anyone had hurt Ray, he was going to make sure that they paid. 
No
one
would ever hurt his friends. 
No one
would ever hurt Ray again.  He would make sure of it.

* * * *

Ray stumbled back into one of the alley walls, her right hand covering a part of her left arm that had just been graced with a bullet wound.  Blood began to leak through her fingers, running down her arm in rivulets.  Why did everyone always go for the left side of her body?  Hadn't her left arm endured enough injuries already?

Nathan quickly went over to her, grabbing her right wrist and pulling it away from her bleeding arm.  He pinned it near her head, pressing it into the rock hard alley wall.  To make sure she didn't move, he positioned his gun against her stomach, and she inhaled sharply.  It's not like she had never had a gun aimed at her before, but this one was just too close.  What was this man planning?

"Don't move," he told her, his voice rather soft, his breath brushing against her cheek.  He was standing too close.  "If you do, I won't hesitate to shoot you again."  Ray glared at him, trying to seem intimidating despite how scared she was right now.  She wasn't about to give this man the satisfaction of scaring her.  She wasn't about to let him have what he wanted either.

"Go to hell," she snarled angrily at him, and he just smirked, tightening his grip on her wrist.

"You're just as fiery as I was told," he said, stepping in closer.  "This is definitely going to be fun."  He was slowly moving closer, leaning down towards her.

"Ray!" shouted a familiar voice, drawing Nathan's attention and hers.  As Nathan turned, he raised his gun and was met with another aimed firmly at his head.  Ray's eyes were wide as they landed on the man holding the gun.  He stood in front of the alley entrance for the deserted back roads, the place she had been heading to before Nathan had stopped her.

"Leon," she whispered, shocked at seeing him there, especially with a gun in his hands.  What was he doing here?  Did he really plan to shoot Nathan?

"Let her go," Leon demanded, his face twisted in a deep scowl.  Nathan wasn't in any way affected by this new development.  In fact, this would make things all the more interesting.

Leon glanced at Ray, quickly noticing that her left arm was covered in blood.  It was coming from a hole in her arm.  He quickly became enraged.  Who did this man think he was, and what was he going to do with Ray?  By the way he had been pressing against her, there was only one thing he could have been trying to do.  Leon scowled in disgust, and he felt himself becoming angrier with this man.  He had no right to touch Ray.  No one did.  He would make sure that Nathan paid for even thinking about doing it.

"Exactly what are you doing here, Mr. Solaris?" Nathan questioned.  "Did you come to stop me?"

"Damn right I did," he answered, his finger tightening against the trigger to his gun.  He wanted so badly just to shoot this man.  Unfortunately, right before he pulled the trigger, Nathan shot the gun out of his hand.

"Leon, run!" shouted Ray as Nathan prepared to fire again.

Meanwhile, Andy was running down the streets, looking everywhere for Ray.  He eventually found his way onto the deserted back roads.  He turned a few corners and soon saw Leon standing near an alley entrance.  He began to make his way over when he heard a gun fire, and the gun Leon had been holding was flung out of his hand and into the street.  Andy picked up his pace, knowing what was probably taking place.  If he knew Nathan, then he knew that he'd fire again pretty soon.  When he heard Ray scream at Leon, he knew it was going to happen.

When Andy was close enough to Leon, he quickly jumped towards him.  With everything he had, he shoved Leon out of the way and rolled across the opening with him just as the gun was fired again.

"What?" questioned Nathan, wondering what that had been.  In his moment of distraction, Ray broke from his hold and kicked him hard in the stomach.  She then kicked the gun out of his hand.  Nathan was now bending over, clutching at his throbbing stomach.  He was at the perfect height for Ray to finish him off.  She quickly spin kicked him in the side of his head, rendering him unconscious before he even hit the ground.

By the alley entrance, Leon and Andy were starting to get back to their feet.  Andy got up first and just watched as Leon rubbed the back of his head.

"Thanks Andy," he said as he began standing up.

"No problem," he replied, turning his attention towards the alley entrance.  He watched as Ray walked out, her right hand covering the bullet wound on her arm.

"Are you guys okay?" she asked in genuine worry.  They both nodded, and she gave a sigh in relief.  She quickly turned her attention to Leon, a very sincere expression on her face.

"Leon," she said, catching his complete attention.  "Thanks for coming after me.  I…I was really scared.  He…well, he was trying to…"

"I know," Leon cut in, still disgusted by the idea.  He was going to make sure that something like that would never happen to her.  She didn't deserve it.  It was then that he remembered her wound.  It was still bleeding, dripping from her fingertips.  "Ray, your arm…"