Shade
By: Paula Crofoot
Tags: Unknown, Magic, Safe, Ford, Fiction

Shade

Just what is there to him?

Photo by Rendiansyah Nugroho on Unsplash

“I accept dollars, euros, sterling silver, broken hearts, and secrets.”

The look of confusion on the brunette’s face was crystal clear. The redhead currently guarding her turned at her lack of response. He grinned faintly; humor was evident in his blue eyes.

She finally responded, “in payment for what, exactly?”

“Anything, really. I’ve taken a large range of jobs, from guard to hitman, from destruction to restoration, and everything in between.”

“And just how do you accept broken hearts? I wouldn’t think that’d be something physical, though I can certainly see you being the cause.”

His grin brightened temporarily before disappearing altogether, “You’d be surprised.”

She looked at his hands just in time to see a flame flicker before disappearing despite there no lighters or matches in sight.

Before she could question him further, he pulled her to her feet and pulled her along, likely in response to whatever he was hearing.

Anna still didn’t know who he was. He’d simply shown up after shooters had broken into the boardroom where she’d been attending an important meeting of the company she worked at. Only she, the CEO of the company and a couple more of his advisors had survived. As it was, the only reason she and the other three had survived was due to this guy right here.

He’d only introduced himself as Shade, took out the guys still shooting at them and helped the four of them out of the building. The building had been like a ghost town as they’d carefully made their way out.

Now, the five of them were crouched behind a car in the employee parking lot while Shade was checking their surroundings.

“Are any of these cars yours?”

The two advisors mutely shook their heads, the CEO shook his head, “My car is in the parking garage.”

She spoke, “I was running late so my car’s out here but not anywhere near here. It’s on the outer edges of the parking lot.”

Shade turned to the other two advisors, “And your cars?”

The brunette spoke, “I took the bus.”

“I have a bike.”

Not something very helpful in a case such as this with more than two people.

“Alright then, you, Beauty, where’s your car.”

“Name’s Mariya, not Beauty, and it’s the green Ford Escape down five lanes from here.”

“Of course, it is. So, this isn’t going to be easy. They’re all over the place. Dude, where’s your bike?”

“It’s just down a couple of lanes.”

“Okay, here’s the plan. We make our way down to Be-Mariya’s car. When we pass your bike, you and she take it and get out of here. The three of us make our way to Mariya’s car and get out of here. You both got your keys?”

Mariya and her coworker nodded.

They moved along, keeping low, trying to stay out of sight of the people they could see pacing the parking lot.

“wait, this is my bike!”

“Go, get on the bike. Take off as soon as your engine starts. You won’t have long before they catch on and come after you. Meanwhile, the three of us need to make our way down the aisle here to get away from them.”

Mariya and her boss followed Shade while her coworkers got on the bike. As soon as the engine started, they heard wheels squealing on the pavement followed by gunshots.

The engine faded out of sound, Mariya didn’t know if both made it out of here or if the bike was shot down. Honestly, right now, it didn’t matter. All that mattered was getting out of here herself. She just hoped Shade would succeed.

After making their way halfway down the aisle, they crept between cars three more aisles until Mariya spotted her car.

“There!”

Mariya pulled her keys out of her pocket, nearly dropping them as she fumbled them. She pushed the button to unlock her car and all three scrambled in.

Mariya put her key in the lock and started the engine. She immediately jammed her car into reverse, swinging it around and, putting it back into drive, pushed her foot on the gas and took off as fast as she could. The back window shattered from a hail of bullets that just missed the three of them.

Of course, it missed the CEO as he was curled up on the floor of her backseat.

She pulled into crowded traffic, figuring they’d be safe now.

“Where now?”

“The safest place would probably be the police station.”

“Okay. By the way, boss, I want a raise.”

“Granted. Immediate promotion is in order.”

Mariya pulled into the parking lot of the police station.

She turned to the passenger seat to thank Shade only to shriek.

Her boss leaned forward to see what was going on, “Wait?? What? Where’d he go!”

“He was there, wasn’t he?”

“Yes! It’s the only way we got out of there! Did he slip out of the door as you pulled into the parking lot?”

“No. My car beeps when doors are opened while the engine’s running. I’d known even if I hadn’t seen him move.”

“Let’s just go into the station. We’ll go from there.”

“Okay.”

Mariya climbed out of her car, her boss climbing out of the other side. Her heart was racing, she knew Shade had been in her car but now, he was nowhere to be seen. She remembered the flame in his hand earlier.

Perhaps, just perhaps, there was more to Shade than they’d seen.