Lazlo crawled in defiance. Ten feet away, my guns. He refused to die like Emil, Pacho, or any of the men he-

“Gaaaaaaaah!”

Screaming pain soared through his other leg, as a bayonet penetrated the back of his knee. Rica’s blade point pierced completely through the bone and touched the hard floor on the other side before she ripped it back out.

“Aaaah!”

Lazlo stopped crawling. His screaming changed to deep inhales and exhales, preventing his mind from shock. Turning on his side he glanced up at the two, beautiful, raven-haired Valkyries who cornered him. Each wielding a bloody rifle.

They want my soul.

Scowling, Lazlo sat up as straight as his body would allow, and spit on the ground between Reyna and Rica, “Fuck you, Reyna! Fuck you and your bra-”

Rica lunged forward and cracked his chin with her rifle butt, “You ain’t fuckin nobody no more you animal.”

“Hey, watch your mouth!” Reyna growled while dialing a number on her phone.

Midtown, Manhattan

In Dan’s safe apartment a disposable phone, known as a burner, rang on the kitchen table. After three rings he answered it.

“Hello?”

“You were right, boss. Hm hm hm hm hm!” cackled a voice.

Reyna. Dan took a deep breath, “Was I?”

“Yes. You predicted he’d be broke, paranoid, and spying on Emil. Tsk tsk, he couldn’t resist stealing that million dollars.”

“He’d been stealing from Emil the whole time, why would he resist now?” said Dan.

“I guess those numbers didn’t lie,” she said.

“I didn’t think they would.” A pause on the line before he asked. “So, is it over?”

“Hmm? Well, I’d say for you it is, but not for him. You see, he tried to blow up my child and in the process, he seriously injured Bling and Ian. She’s very upset about them. And on top of all of that, he threatened to throw Tara and Kitty in a brothel. You shouldn’t have mentioned that to them, Dan. Now they want Lazlo's soul. It’s going to get real-bad for him, like pliers and blowtorches bad. Heh heh!”

Her cruel laughter sent a shiver up Dan’s spine. He couldn’t imagine what they were going to do to Lazlo Kenny.

“What about Emil?” he asked.

“Who? Oh, that guy. Sorry, he didn’t make it. Couldn’t be helped.”

Dan gritted his teeth, “I see. Well, I guess there’s nothing more we need to say about this.”

“Correct. Now you’re free to be a charitable math teacher again.”

Dan sat down closing his eyes. A rush of emotions surged through him until Reyna spoke again.

“Last thing. This guy Lazlo was impossible to find, but you found him.”

Dan shook his head, "No, I just followed the numbers and took a guess. That’s all.”

“Well, it was a smart play. I’m sorry I doubted you.” Click! She hung up.

Dan held the phone to his ear but didn’t move. He didn’t want to move. At that moment in time, he wanted nothing at all but to sit still in silence with no stress, no joy, no fear.

Nothing at all.

...

Reyna Rai  and Rica Reyes- illustrated by Rei Reverie