Phil stopped in his tracks on the first-floor landing and held up a hand, signaling for Leslie and Charley to wait.
"Courtyard?" Leslie asked.
Phil nodded.
"Makes sense," Charley said softly. "Construction equipment all over the place, piles of building materials, scaffolding, debris from the old walls... There's no better place for a good old-fashioned hide-and-seek shootout. Fisher knows that. And he knows Phil knows that."
"There are only two of them, though," Leslie reminded her.
"That we know of," Phil said from behind the door.
"That we know of," Leslie conceded. "And three of us - four if Gabi shows up."
the courtyard
Gabi wasn't sure what she had gotten herself into. Running interference for Phil, she had been leading the MAW agents on a wild goose chase all over the building, but quickly got lost inside the maze of maintenance corridors, elevator shafts, and blocked-off stairways. Taking a blind left down a darkened tunnel, she found herself outside in a maze of bulldozers, cranes, and piles of concrete blocks and steel I-beams.
Gabi meandered through the maze slowly and with as little noise as she could. She had no idea how to do this cloak-and-dagger stuff, and Phil wasn't around to help her.
A sharp pain lanced through her leg. Gabi gasped and fell to the ground as blood started running from the bullet wound in her right calf. She gritted her teeth and tried not to scream, but out of the corner of her eye she saw the MAW agent headed toward her, lining up his next shot.
Gabi had spent the past month and a half of her life trying to find Phil.
And the irony of the moment was that she was about to die because Phil couldn't find her.
BLAM!
Gabi flinched, waiting for the inevitable - but it never came. The MAW agent gasped and dropped his gun as his hands clutched at the red stain spreading across his chest. He toppled to his knees and gasped for breath.
Phil strode up and kicked the dying man over. "Die slow, you piece of trash." He turned to Gabi. "How bad is it, sweetheart?"
"I... I don't think I can walk," Gabi said as she fought off the throbbing pain in her leg.
Phil snapped his fingers several times, and Charley and Leslie made their way into the little clearing where Gabi lay.
Charlene gasped. "Are you alright?" she asked Gabi.
Gabi nodded. "It hurts, but I'll be okay."
"I'll stay with her," Charlene told Phil.
Phil shook his head. "I'll stay with Gabi." He turned to the others. "You guys fan out. There's two of you and most likely just Fisher out there. If you run into a MAW agent, waste him. If you find Fisher, bring him to me alive."
"Gotcha." Leslie checked the safety on her gun and turned to head back into the maze.
"Fisher's one devious bastard," Phil warned. "Be careful out there."
The bounty hunter nodded. "We've got it handled." She turned and headed off into the maze with Charley following close behind.
Gabi smiled at Phil. "When I came over here to spend some quality time with you, this wasn't exactly what I had in mind."
Phil patted her shoulder gently. "It's all right, Gabi. Those two are gonna find Fisher and any of his goons that are left out there, and when they do, we're gonna show them what happens when people push an issue too far. It'll be a wonderful educational experience, don't you think?"
