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Chapter 13: Jack

Blackie's tough for such a little guy...the chop he lays on me numbs my arm, but I try to hang onto the gun...

Somehow he wiggles away from me, wrenching my shoulder in the process and I look up to fiind myself looking up the very big barrel of a very big Berretta....

On the periphery of my vision, I can see Daniel getting to his feet, but in my direct line of sight I see Blackie's finger tightening on the trigger...

Daniel won't make it...

And the only comfort I can find is that he won't live long enough to beat himself up over this, too...

A driving rain begins to fall as I keep watching Blackie's trigger finger and my only absurd thought is, 'God, why now?'

Like a cosmic 'Why not now?' a huge bolt of lightning strikes the rocks nearby; the crackling explosion is more than enough to distract Blackie...

Quicker than I would have given odds on given his physical condition, Daniel kicks at Blackie's hand using one of the hand-to-hand moves I never thought he'd get and moves in to land a healthy uppercut under Blackie's chin that rocks the guy on his heels...

With a strangled cry, Daniel moves in closer, hitting Blackie repeatedly. Blackie lands a few, but Daniel is...

Daniel is lost in it....

Beyond seeing, beyond hearing....just beyond....

All the anger I thought he'd expressed last night was only the tip of the emotional iceberg...this is blind fury....

Daniel's face is a mask of rigid grief, tears flowing unnoticed, and it seems to me that he doesn't even know what or who he's striking out at anymore...

My head's a little fuzzy as I climb to my feet; as much as Blackie deserves it, I have to stop Daniel...

"Daniel!"

He can't hear me...

I move in to grab his hands, earning a pretty solid swipe across my cheek for my efforts, but finally I wrestle his arms around and wind up holding him against me, his fists locked gainst his chest.

Blackie hits the ground as soon as I get Daniel off of him and it's obvious he won't be gettiing up for a long while...

"C'mon, Daniel...I've got you..."

Daniel's chest is heaving and his breath is coming in shuddering gasps. His head is moving in little negative shakes like he's trying to deny...something.....

The rain is driving down harder on us now, and I know I've got to reach him...

"Daniel....Come on, kid...It's me. It's Jack..."

I just keep repeating it over and over, and gradually his breathing slows and the tension in his body seems to drain away....

"Jack...?" His voice is barely there...and so uncertain that I realize he thought....

"Yeah, Danny....I'm here. I'm okay. You stopped him..."

I let go of his hands then and he turns to look at me in such total confusion, that I know I'm right....He thought Blackie had killed me....one more loss on top of so many others....

Daniel sinks down; his hands, bloody and bruised, move to cover his face.

"God...Jack...what...?"

He stares up at me again, his eyes full of...stuff...I can't even begin to fathom....

What I do know is that we need to get in out of this rain and get somebody out here to pick up Blackie. I know I'm going to be lucky to get me and Daniel back to the house, so I take off my belt and one set of bootlaces, using them to tie up the unconscio us bad guy. I stuff him up under a rock...appropriate place for him...and turn back to Daniel.

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