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Nick ducked out the employees’ entrance and strode across the snow-covered courtyard to the garage where he unlocked his car and drove out into the cold and dark of a January early morning. “Maybe. But if everyone thinks he’s dead, people probably won’t notice and he’s likely to be fairly confident.”
“I saw the bullet holes and he wasn’t wearing a vest since he was naked when we caught him. He’s gotta be dead, but something won’t let me rest. Just make sure for me, okay?”
The security guard at the gate nodded and pressed the button to allow Nick to leave. The streets around the palace were quiet so Nick made good time to the airport on the outskirts of the city. “I’m sure he’s dead and you have nothing to worry about other than my wrath of getting up at three in the morning on my day off.” Nick kept his voice light despite his own misgivings. “I’ll let you know.” He closed his phone with his chin and settled into his drive. A decision would have to be made today and he was determined to be the one to make it without Kyra interfering.
Despite the hour, the arrivals level of the airport was bustling with businessmen, tourists, employees and those who were picking up the travelers. At the gate, Nick dodged around a man holding a sign reading “Gustaffson”. Looking up at the television monitor he noticed the plane would arrive within the next few minutes. He used the time to wander around, looking at the people waiting, trying to figure out if one of them was picking up Jacob Eldon.
If he phoned Joe Dawson, would he tell him who this guy was and his known aliases? Background information would give him an edge. Nick considered this for a while, but dismissed it as cheating. He hadn’t seen or talked to Joe since he had stormed out of Amanda’s penthouse when he thought she had been killed by Korda’s henchwoman Crysta. Ignoring the whole immortal thing had not allowed him to wonder if there was a Watcher assigned to him. Kyra had not mentioned them in all the training she had imparted over the three years, so he suspected that not all immortals knew of their existence.
When the passengers finally started coming out of the opaque sliding doors and down the long ramp, Nick took up a position leaning against a post in the middle of those waiting. Discretely he examined every person through the door. A harried mother with a preteen daughter and twin boys of five tried to manoeuver a cart loaded with luggage while keeping her brood under control. Spying someone, one of the boys broke loose, running down the ramp yelling, “Daddy, Daddy!” As he pulled away from his mother the load on the cart shifted toppling a suitcase onto his brother’s toes.
As the mother comforted the little boy while trying to pick up the suitcase, her husband with the other little boy on his hip wading towards her against the tide of weary travelers, Nick noticed and sensed an immortal come through the doors. The man’s eyes were fixed on the young girl who was doing her best to distance herself from her embarrassing family. When he felt Nick’s presence, his eyes flicked towards the crowd without identifying him, but his look went back as if pulled like a magnet towards the girl.
Slowly Nick started to make his way towards the end of the ramp, taking a chauffeur’s cap from under his coat. The father had reached his family and Nick was glad to see him sweep his wife, daughter and both sons into his arms for a large family hug. The immortal looked regretfully at them once, then pushed past, hurrying as fast as he could down the ramp.
“Sir, the car is on the upper level.” Nick stepped in front of the man, reaching for his briefcase. Leaning in, he said so only he could hear, “I’ve got a gun and I don’t mind shooting you here and making sure your body gets shipped back to the States in an airtight container.” Louder, he said, “Right this way Sir. You’re right; it’s easier if you come with me to get the car. Very considerate of you, Sir.” Keeping one hand on the man’s elbow and the other with his gun in the immortal’s ribs, he hustled him through the arrivals area, out of the main building and across the street to a parking garage.
Earlier, Nick had been happy to discover the airport needed more parking levels. Now, the elevator let them out on the unfinished seventh floor of the parking garage, with the pillars partially constructed to hold up the eighth floor. Plastic and canvas tarps covered the work area, and heaters kept the area warm enough to harden the cement.
“What do you want with me?” Nick’s captive had been strangely acquiescent until now and his voice was oily.
“What do you think?” asked Nick, shoving him away and withdrawing his sword.
“Couldn’t we come to some sort of arrangement?” The man exhibited fear and kept his hands wide and visible. “I’m very rich.”
“Once before I found out what I was, I told an immortal I would bury him in concrete. I figured that he’d be somebody else’s problem in a hundred years. I don’t have that option anymore.”
“So, you’re a new immortal.” Eldon’s face relaxed a little, keeping perfectly still, but looking Nick in the eyes for the first time. “You’ll see in a few hundred years that you’ll start looking for more variant pleasures; pleasures that wouldn’t occur to you as a mortal. It all gets so boring after a while.”
“And this gives you the right to hurt children?”
Eldon ignored that. “You felt you had the right to stick a gun in my ribs, kidnap me and drag me up here. You’ve threatened me with the torture of being entombed in concrete for a century.” Perfectly serious, he cocked an eyebrow at Nick.
“Why don’t you take out your sword and we’ll settle this the immortal way?” Nick kept his anger in check, knowing that he needed his wits if he wanted to win. Just keeping one child safe from this monster was motivation enough.
“As I said before, I’m very rich. Are you sure we can’t settle this like gentlemen?”
Nick looked around. “I don’t see any gentlemen here; just a monster and a pissed-off guy. Now take out your sword, or I’ll behead you where you stand.”
“Oh, fine.” Eldon relented, drawing a sword from beneath his coat. It seemed too pretty for Nick’s tastes, but when Eldon held it up nonchalantly, Nick reminded himself not to underestimate anyone. If this guy was old, he could have any number of tricks available to him.
May as well get this over with. Nick was not going to wait for this man to attack, so he took the offensive and swung his heavy sword directly at the smaller man’s neck. Clumsily, Eldon raised his blade, deflecting the blow just in time to save his head. Nick attacked again, but again the other man, deflected and stepped out of the way.
Not sure if his opponent was inexpert or just toying with him, Nick executed a series of blows in rapid succession as a test of his own. The man’s blade stood up to the challenge though, and he seemed to be waiting for either Nick to make a mistake or for someone to come and rescue him.
His mind working in rapid bursts, Nick quickly assessed the situation and decided not to prolong the fight. If this guy had someone coming, he wanted to be finished with the job at hand. Stepping up the pace, he started working his opponent backwards, using his larger size to make him move towards the hole for another column.
A worried look came over the smaller man’s face. Unable to hold his ground, he aimed low for Nick’s legs, hoping to sweep him off his feet. Nick leapt up out of the way of the blow and on his way down noticed the exposed neck of his opponent.
Eldon realized his mistake and tried to get out of the way, but slipped onto his knees. Nick halted his sword at the man’s neck. He had always maintained that he wouldn’t participate in the game and hated being made to choose now. However, sending him back to Bert would raise more questions than he wanted to answer, and he knew that this slime ball would never stay in jail. The urge to finish this grew in him, not to be denied.
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