“Bobby, the case, please.”

On the other side of the parking lot, Bobby reached into the back seat and removed a black leather briefcase, the contents still hidden inside. It was Bobby’s fourth month working for the Lombardi guys in upstate New York. Already, he had been shot at, thrown into jail, let go, and thrown back in. He expected this type of work, but it was something being thrown at him remarkably fast. Still, a fast-paced life exceeded a slower one, and with what Elena Lombardi was paying him, he didn’t have much right to complain.

The briefcase was damn heavy. He thought gold could be sitting inside, but there would have been more sound coming from bars clanking against each other. Instead, it sounded like water was sloshing about. Whatever was in the case, he didn’t care. It wasn’t his job to care. All his job consisted of was holding the gun, looking intimidating, and maybe shooting in the general area of guys shooting at him. Damn good life. Bobby handed the case over to Diego, who had set up the whole meeting. Diego was a good guy. Good being relative in their business, but he had morals. Don’t sell to kids, don’t sell to parents, only target those in the game, and if someone was to get whacked, always do it quick. Bobby admired that about Diego and wanted one day to end up like that guy.

“Thank you, Bobby. Do me a favor and close the doors and get the AC running, I’m sweating my ass off out here.”

Bobby understood that to be true. He grew up in New York. Texas was a whole other beast. The sun beamed down at them in 109-degree weather, far more than he cared to experience. Diego turned as Bobby walked away and opened the case to the three men in front of him. Those men were part of the Correa family, a group that worked with illegal immigrants moving from Mexico to the United States. They would offer these illegals work in return for expedited papers through people they had working in the government sector. This package contained exactly what one of the cartel leaders, one Mateo Castillo, was looking for down in Mexico City. It worked out like this: the Lombardi family, Diego and Bobby, would sell the goods to Mr. Castillo in Mexico City, and then Mr. Castillo would hire a courier from the Correa family to deliver it to him. Everyone got what they wanted. The Lombardi family got money for the product and didn’t even have to ship it, well, not completely. Diego and Bobby were still under the mercy of the blazing sun, and frankly, they weren’t too happy about it. So maybe not everyone.

“Are we good? Yeah? I’m trying to get back in the car. Hey, how do you guys even live out here with the sun shining so bright?” Diego joked, closing the case and extending it forward.

“We wear sunblock,” one of the three men said in a heavy accent. Diego didn’t care to even fake a laugh.

“Sunblock. Real funny. So we done here?” he asked, checking his watch as one of the men reached out and grabbed the case from him.

“Yes, we’re done. I’ll let Luis know that you fulfilled your end. You’re—”

The man paused as a gunshot forced him to snap his head down.

Bobby sat in the car, drinking his third bottle of water and wiping sweat from his brow. His glasses had fogged up, and he had been looking for his microfiber towel for three minutes now, doing his best at what felt like acrobatics just trying to reach into the back seat. Finally, he felt success at the tips of his fingers as he found the towel just under his seat. He pushed his back against the leather seat as much as he could, then jolted as he heard the sound of gunfire. His head hit the roof of the vehicle, a vehicle clearly not made for Goliaths. He shook his head and looked back out the rear window. Diego had been crouching behind a car while the three big men who had made the deal with him fired their weapons at something across the far north side of the parking lot. The lot was in the middle of nowhere, so the firing wasn’t going to stir any attention. The area once had a large mall that had since been abandoned, and the lot they sat in was the adjacent structure that had been used to house vehicles for shoppers. He knew there wasn’t any reason for anyone to be there.

If anyone was going to be firing at each other, certainly it would be Diego and those three guys. A fallout in the contract, a double cross, one of those things would have happened to bring such a reaction, but seeing the three men shooting with Diego was a problem. This meant something was happening, and he had no fucking clue what.

Bobby got out of the car, feeling the heat immediately wash over him. The dryness hurt his lungs and stung with each breath. Those breaths increased rapidly as he sprinted low but fast toward Diego, who had been reloading his 9mm pistol.

“Aye, what the fuck is going on!?” Bobby said, reaching for the pistol in his pocket.

“I don’t know. We just started hearing gunshots, then these guys started shooting. I think there’s something going on with the guards below. Has to be Correa’s guys, because there would be nobody else in the area,” Diego replied, pulling back the slide of his pistol and then blindly firing it over the car at anything north of them.

“Hey! HEY!” Bobby yelled, trying to speak over the gunfire.

“You schmucks! What the fuck are we shooting at?” Bobby yelled toward the three men, who heard him and chose not to reply.

“Great, so these guys went mute. Listen, Diego, we did our job. Let’s get the hell out of here,” Bobby said, keeping his head low.

“Can’t do that, Bob,” Diego replied, trying to see what they were firing at.

“If they die, we can’t leave the briefcase. Whatever’s in there is expensive, and Castillo already paid for it. Plus, you want to get back and be the one to tell the boss that we left in the middle of a firefight.”

“Better than dying, Diego. Now come on!” Bobby said, grabbing Diego’s arm. As he raised Diego to his feet, he felt Diego’s body jolt and heard the man exhale before his wrist twisted and fell. Bobby looked back at his partner, seeing him on the ground with what looked like a knife plunged deep in his back.

“What the fuck?” Bobby said, staring at the knife with a fine blue ribbon that fluttered in the Texan breeze.

“The Devil, they found us,” one of the three men exclaimed. Bobby hadn’t stopped staring and had been standing straight up before one of the men pulled him back down. He had been trying to mutter a question, but his tongue kept freezing on each attempt.

“Th-Th-The—Uh—The what?”

“The Devil. You,” one of the men said, pulling Bobby over and slapping the briefcase into his chest. “Take this. Go to your car. We will set up another meeting. You must leave. Now!”

The man was a Drow with dark yellow eyes, a color that was common amongst Drow. At that moment, those same eyes shone like the sun, keeping Bobby from staring directly at them. Bobby shook his head out of it.

“No, no, I can’t leave him,” he replied.

“Go! He’s dead! Go!” the Drow yelled, pushing Bobby.

Bobby scrambled and stayed low as he practically army-crawled toward his vehicle. The dark car had been parked alone, and in the trunk of the car, a knife like the one that took out Diego was lodged. Bobby ignored it, knowing that he had to move, and fast. He opened the car and looked back to see one of the three men on the ground and the Drow reloading nervously. The car door swung open, and inside, the cabin was at a near-boiling point. The leather seat burned, as did the wheel and all other mechanisms inside. He grabbed the keys from his pocket and placed them in the ignition, turned, and heard the engine roar to life. He scrambled to place the car in reverse, first putting it in neutral, then in drive before reaching his desired spot. He cursed under his breath the entire time and felt the car move for the first time as he hit the gas pedal and watched the car move in reverse.

As it did, the back right window smashed into pieces and another blade tumbled into the cabin and landed on the back seat of the car.

“I gotta get the fuck out of here,” Bobby said to himself, placing the vehicle in drive, then pushing on the gas pedal as hard as he could. The back tires squealed as the rubber burned and filled the air with its scent. He turned the wheel, ignoring the searing pain coming from the heat of it. The car moved as he wished it to, and as he descended the ramp to go to the lower level, he noticed the many men he had passed by when first arriving had all been on the ground, either dead or on their way. Bobby cursed again and turned the vehicle, making an awkward movement to avoid hitting any of the parked vehicles. One turn after the next, and finally another level was down. He traveled now along the northwest part of the lot, right below where they had been firing first. He could see the abandoned mall to his right. He hit the brake slowly, approaching a turn to descend another level. He noticed at that moment he stopped hearing gunfire entirely. He turned his head left to see if anyone was miraculously standing. One had been a woman in what looked to be Asian armor. She looked like a ninja, not like he knew what a real ninja looked like, but it was close enough. The woman extended her hand, and in a burst of force, he felt his body slam against the car as the entire vehicle toppled to the right and off the guardrail of the lot.

For three whole seconds he was in a freefall, and the landing had only been nonlethal because of how the car first struck the ground. The vehicle landed on its right side, and the seat belt had kept him well in his chair as the vehicle crumpled like a soda can hitting the ground. His gaze was blurry and his stomach felt as if it had just been hit by a truck. Darkness flooded in and out of his perception until, like a burst of life, he coughed and woke.

First his ears came back, and through them he heard the sound of the vehicle aching. Bobby turned to his left to see that the woman was standing above his door, looking down at him. His eyes came back next, and through them he could see the woman. Her face was covered in a mask like he had never seen. Demon fangs protruded from the bottom jaw, the structure of the mask was wrong, it felt horrifying to look at, and through the mask, blue eyes stared down at him. A sword was in her hand. It shone a brilliant white, and a single red dot sat at the base of the blade. Bobby reached for his pistol and turned back to where the woman was, firing a shot but seeing only the blue sky above. He scrambled to grab the case, reaching for it, then unbuckling his seat belt, which had done a good job saving his life. The case was still intact, and as he unbuckled, he fell to his side as gravity pulled him down.

Through another work of acrobatics, not done by any Goliath he knew, he managed to maneuver to his feet and climb out the driver’s side door through the shattered glass. Small cuts from the sharp material formed on his knuckles and arms.

He fell to the ground, more discombobulated than he once thought possible. He crawled to his feet and limped toward the entrance of the old mall. The woman was out of his sight, but he knew very well that she was alive and watching. He felt like a scared rabbit, being played with by a circling hawk. The doors didn’t open at first, however the perks of being a Goliath were their immeasurable strength. A strength amplified when scared shitless.

He muscled the door open and took in his surroundings in a matter of seconds. Long hallways meant for hundreds of people opened up to him in every direction. Without a sense of satisfaction toward any one in particular, he decided to travel east. Different stores had all been closed, their doors locked by overhead metal gates or bars.

Bobby paused for a moment, taking cover behind a pillar that once displayed a map of the mall. In his pocket was a cellphone, which he grabbed and opened. In the contacts was the name Elena Lombardi, and it was that one he pressed. The dial tone appeared, and he took that moment of peace to ready his pistol and check his wounds. Blood had seeped through his white shirt, and his arms were clearly cut. Small wounds, not serious.

“Hello? Bobby?” a woman said on the other end of the line.

“Elena! Elena, listen to me, we were attacked by this fucking devil. It got Diego. I need you to send me whoever you have in the area!”

“Bobby, what the fuck are you talking about? You’re in Texas. We have nobody in the area, and what do you mean a devil?”

“Some fucking ninja!”

“A what?” Elena replied, this time strict and cold.

“A ninja! What, you know what this thing is?” Bobby asked, wiping blood from his eyes that trickled down from his forehead.

“Bobby, listen to me. Run, as fast as you can. Do not stop, do not look back. That thing is not a devil, it hunts them.”

Before Bobby had been able to reply, he heard a whistle travel quickly across the air to his left. He hadn’t been able to turn in time to see the blade smash into his hand, he just felt his body jolt. Pain didn’t come immediately, his brain was still processing that. He turned and fired three rounds to where the blade could have come from, then began running toward the clothing store at the end of the hall, one with the gate slightly open.

Inside the store, all the racks and shelves had still remained, although all were clear of any product. He hobbled to the back and behind the register, where he took shelter. The knife was still in his hand and he winced as he tried to remove it. The pain was far too intense, and so leaving it had been his best and only option. His head hit the back of the shelf as sweat and blood got in his eyes. He wiped them with his off hand and looked up for guidance. There he found nothing but the sound of a shelf moving. He knew she was in the room with him, knew she had been hunting him all along. Knew he had no chance. He placed the gun to the side, knowing he still had one stuffed in his back pocket if he needed it. Then he rose to his feet and placed the briefcase on the register.

Across from him, the devil stood, motionless and staring.

“Take it. Just let me live,” Bobby said, exhausted.

The devil did nothing but tilt her head, then motioned with an open palm, one that ripped the blade out of Bobby’s main hand. His hand jerked at the force and he pulled it back to his chest, trying to feel his fingers.
She approached, still silent, and reached forward, grabbing the case by the handle. He did not intervene, but he was upset.

She pulled the case and turned away, then began walking.

Bobby knew that nothing good would come from what he was about to do, but he also knew nothing good came from standing around either. With his off hand, he reached for his pistol and fired it. His actions were like lightning. Fast and blinding. He heard the shot but felt his body recoil as a bullet struck him in the chest. He thought for a moment, recalling the actions that had just taken place. He did not hear a second gunshot. His knees buckled, but before he toppled, he needed to know. His eyes moved toward the devil, only to see a blade in her hand, one in a neutral position. The red dot along the blade was fading, and he heard the sound of the metal vibrating and coming to a still. His knees finally gave way as he saw the devil for the last time.

“Bobby! Bobby! What the hell is going on! Talk to me!” Elena Lombardi yelled through the phone. She had already motioned for her people to get going, three were already on their way to the airport. Bobby wasn’t her concern, but dragon’s blood was hard to get. The Miyamoto hadn’t been seen in Texas in over three months, so for there to be one now was odd. The correct choices were made, and the right timing was placed.

“Bobby!” she yelled one more time, hearing activity on the other side of the line. “Bobby, is that you?”

“No, ma’am,” a soft woman’s voice replied.

The reply sent a shiver down Ms. Lombardi’s spine, a feeling she hadn’t felt for a long time.

“I-I’m sorry. I apologize, I didn’t know you were watching. You can have the briefcase, consider it a gift,” Ms. Lombardi spoke, her voice quivering.

“We appreciate your donation, Ms. Lombardi. I will give my brothers the news when they see you tonight.”

“T-tonight?” she asked, looking down at her watch and hearing silence from outside her closed doors.

“Many wishes. See you soon.”