No fire without Smoke

It was nice to know the Bianchi didn’t think Jacob was a complete screw up, he guessed he should have figured that earlier, the white family wasn’t really the sort of people who kept useless and disloyal people around just for the funsies, they still had their uses for Jacob, and that was the nice part about being a flexible employee, people always had some sort of need for his skills. He had started to think that nothing would be coming from that tiger meeting after all, perhaps they weren’t just biding their time before ‘terminating’ his contract, this mission he had received just served to show they still had at least a little bit of trust in him.

It was rather simple, find a certain man who had holed himself up in some building in a more abandoned part of downtown, and get some kind of information out of him. The information should be stored somewhere, a computer or a cellphone, maybe pen drive, probably password protected and with a bunch of firewalls, not counting the man himself who would probably put up a fight. But one man who preferred to hide than try to escape shouldn’t be too much trouble.

Honestly, Jacob was a bit disappointed with the choice location the target had chosen to hide, it was in the middle of the city, everyone could see his face if he even poked his nose outside, it was full of low lives crawling everywhere and information travelled fast for the right price, of course it would reach the ears of the ones most interested. He could see the building in the distance, as he approached it, the shadows of the tall buildings obscuring his figure as he chose to approach the situation from stealth. If he could get in, get the information and get out, that would be grand, but things never were that simple, and he expected to at least have to kill the target if he was foolish enough to fight back.

Creeping from the shadows, his hoodie concealing his features, and even if someone caught a glimpse of him, the mask would stop anyone from seeing his face, he quietly made his way through the back of the building, where he saw a side entrance, that would be easier to avoid being detected.

The wall wasn’t terribly high for Jacob to jump over as he landed on the backyard soundlessly and approached the back door. There were quite a few locks in place, and he would bet the front door was even better guarded. Nothing more paranoid than a criminal who knows there’s people after them, it reminded him a bit of Ruby’s door, except she used decent locks, not this cheap stuff a more forceful tug could break it. It wasn’t difficult to pick all the locks, but it took Jacob a few moments to do all of them. The door opened soundlessly and Jacob creeped inside.

The house was a trash palace, with leftover foods rotting away on every surface, and he couldn’t hold back the sneer of disgust. Petty criminals, always so disgusting, was it so hard to put the trash away? He wasn’t there to evaluate the apartment’s hygiene, however. He had information to find. He went from the kitchen to the living room, and an alarmed voice talked suddenly, as a ratty looking max tried to scutter away as soon as he saw Jacob’s threatening figure, but the mercenary was quicker, grabbing him by the back of his shirt and hauling the man into the couch, point a gun to his head “Don’t move.” He warned his voice very low and calm. “Heard you have some interesting information, care to share or you’d prefer a bullet in your head.” The man stuttered something, trying to talk his way out of it without revealing too much.

Jacob rolled his eyes, his patience running it was clear the man had no will to talk, and Jacob hadn’t the time to torture any information out of him, there were orders to avoid offing the man if possible, but Jacob was spiteful, and accidents happened, like right now his trigger finger slipped twice, ops, what a shame. The man fell down like a sack of potatoes, dead with frightened expression, and Jacob left him there, going to look for wherever he had stored the information. He eventually found a little station in one of the rooms, with all sorts of equipment, and most importantly, a notebook.

It was password protected and possibly encrypted, and although Jacob was sure he could crack it given enough time, he could very well do it somewhere else. It was better to first secure the target before trying anything with it. And so, Jacob put the notebook away in the bag he was carrying, before exiting the house from the same door he had entered, since it would be stupid to bother to unlock all the front door locks.

Still keeping a low profile, Jacob silently made his way around the house, figuring it would be easier to go out the front gate than climb the wall again. He thought the mission was going without a hitch, easily done and now he just had to go back with the prize. But surprise, surprise! He wasn’t alone, he was turning the corner when he saw the tall figure near the front door, seemly waiting for something, either the target or Jacob himself, and he backtracked back behind the wall, hoping the man hadn’t seen him, but the gunshots would be a dead giveaway. Maybe he should’ve jumped over the wall after all.

Of course he couldn’t go back the way he came without the other person noticing, the man practically run into Jacob. He managed to take a few steps back however, and it was enough time for him to take out his knife, the one he never went anywhere without, the weapon was quick and familiar, but he wasn’t able to do much more. The enemy wasted no time, Jacob suspected the man knew he was around, just waiting the right moment to strike. The headbutt came quick, giving him no time to block or dodge, and once again his habit of wearing masks proved useful. He stumbled back a few steps throwing his arm to try to slash the man with his knife, they were close enough that dodging that attack would be difficult.

His mask took most of the impact, thankfully, it became a bit crooked on his face, but it didn’t break or shatter, much less fell down and Jacob quickly righted it again. Who was this guy? Clearly he could only be here for a reason, and that was the information Jacob was carrying. He wasn’t given many details on what it was, or even if it would have any use for anyone but the Bianchi, he hadn’t thought it was of much importance, for all he knew it was the balance checks of the Bianchi whorehouse, but if more people was after it, it could only mean it was quite important, and he would be dammed if he would let someone else take it from him.

The two of them were too close, the enemy had an Axe, and was taller than Jacob by quite a bit. He took a step back, as if he was going to start retreating, realizing that although he was good in a knife fight, the other had the superior weapon, and Jacob was also carrying an important device, he didn’t need to stay here an waste time. In split second Jacob made his decision, and instead of backing off, he threw a kick on the man’s legs as a distraction, threw his body against him to try to make him lose balance, his knife aiming at the arm the man was holding the axe. It was more meant to surprise that to truly harm, to at least give Jacob a chance to try to back away.

This was not some run of the mill criminal like the ones that littered the streets of Chicago, they had barely started a scuffle, and Jacob could already tell he was quite experienced opponent, he had a youthful face that fooled you in a false sense of security, but Jacob knew the more innocent looking were the ones who presented true danger, the reason he didn’t let yourself to trust or underestimate anyone no matter how young or harmless they seem. If you thought they were after you, it was probably true.

The headbutt left Jacob off balance, and the man easily deflect his knife with one of him own. The tackle also didn’t go exactly as planned, the man somehow managed to duck from the full impact, and the knife teared cloth and not much else. It was enough for Jacob to feel he had a gun strapped to his side, that could be dangerous. His foot still connected with the man’s knee, and although that should have made him at least stumble, it wasn’t enough to stop a counterattack. A foot connected with Jacob’s stomach that made him back off and splutter, feeling winded.

There was click of a gun, and Jacob looked up to see the man holding a handgun. Jacob was quick to do the same, switching the knife to his offhand and taking of his own gun, pointing at the man’s chest, finger on the trigger, one wrong move and he would shoot, but he wasn’t going to make the first move. If he was going to be shot, he certainly wouldn’t be the only one. He glared through the eyeholes of his mask, feeling the strap of his bag that contained the notebook digging into his shoulder as the man threatened him.

He held the bag in front of his body, protecting his torso with the notebook that was apparently very valuable. He had no shame in using the prize both wanted to protect himself, he’d rather the thing was destroyed than let the other have it. “Funny, but no.” He answered simply, not feeling very amused at that moment. His torso hurt from the man’s attack, but the man hadn’t shot Jacob on the first chance he got, so now they could only stare at each other.

What now? They had a gun pointed at each other, one pull of a trigger and they both would have a bad time. He realized the computer wouldn’t be able to protect him very much, it would at best delay any injuries, but it would also mean the man would destroy what he was after, and at least that would be a satisfaction. Mind racing, Jacob tried to figure out the best course of action. It wasn’t necessary for him to kill the man, or even win a scuffle against him, if he managed to somehow get away, it would be enough. True, it would be less satisfying, but he wasn’t here to have fun playing with some random criminal’s blood.

They stared at each other some more, the man did nothing at first, silence ringing on his ears, as Jacob narrowed his eyes at the slight tremble he saw on the man’s hand, it was quick, a blink and you miss it, as if the man was having second thoughts about his skills, if he could really shoot. Jacob tilted his head slightly, confused by the man’s behavior, the enemy gun switching targets quickly, the man appearing to have been struck by a sudden indecisiveness. There was something that didn’t add up to the whole situation, Jacob’s first assessment of the man had given him the impression he was quite experienced, skillful enough to take Jacob by surprise like that and now…

He took a step back, if the man genuinely nervous, that would make him unpredictable, he could shoot anywhere or give up the fight (yeah, right, so not gonna happen), Jacob kept his pistol pointed firmly at the man. “What ar-” His question was cut short by bang from the man’s gun as he shot, in a split second his aim became steady, confirming the suspicious he was just acting, but was truly surprising was the bullet nailing Jacob’s gun on the barrel. The mercenary couldn’t keep a grip on his weapon, and he dropped it besides him, his eyes wide in surprise behind the mask. The thing about masks though, was that it covered Jacob’s emotions very well, and he had always being quick on his feet, he could stay and attack back, or not.

Thing is, Jacob was not stupid, he knew when he was outmatched, he didn’t came prepared to a fight against someone highly trained and well-armed, he was expecting a quick retrieval, and now he had the prize. So he turned his back and hightailed out of there, turning back on the corner he had come from, using the house as protection in case the man tried to shoot him one more time. He made for wall he had jumped over to enter the backyard, doping trash cans, wooden planks and other garbage littering the place, keeping low, fast and doing some unpredictable turns to try to avoid the man’s possible bullets, but the bag with the notebook made it a bit difficult to run freely.

Sprinting through the familiar alleys of Chicago was something Jacob did way too often. He could hear the gunshots of rapid fire gun behind him, but his knowledge of the alleys and unpredictable patterns helped him to avoid being hit so far, a few bullets still getting too close to comfort. He needed to lose this man, soon, or his luck was bound to run out at some point. Ducking and turning randomly, where he knew there were more branching alleys, Jacob did his best to keep ahead, he was fast and had good endurance, his strategy of throwing trash on the enemy’s path was always a good one when he had to run through tight alleys.

There was the more powerful shot of what Jacob identified as a shotgun. The enemy was very well armed, as he had already figured that out, but at least now he knew somewhat what to expect. He wasn’t paying attention at what he was throwing, more worried about losing the enemy. Trash cans, planks, black trash bags, a random shopping cart, at one point there was a muffled whiny sound when he threw down a pile of trash that apparently had some kind of animal hiding on it, he would keep doing it until he run out of stuff.

He made a sudden turn, and it appeared he would be trapped by the fence at the end of the alley, but Jacob knew what he was doing. He climbed over the fence, dropping down swiftly before he resumed his running with barely any pause, the computer was a minor annoyance once he got used to the weight and kept a mindful to where it was, and the incentive of running or being shot was enough to make Jacob make sure there was no mistakes. He turned away from the fence, going to the more crowded part of downtown, where people milled about going through their business. Would the stranger dare start shooting in the middle of a crowd and call police attention. He would find out soon, he supposed.

No such luck in trying to stop his pursuer by using civilians to intimidate him into stop shooting. The man was relentless, and apparently not afraid to bring attention to himself by shooting his gun in the middle of a crowded street. He had thunderous voice, Jacob heard his yell distantly, never stopping moving. People scattered out of his way, nobody wanted to be barreled by a frantically running man. But what really made the people open way and panic, was the gunshot that echoed. Just a regular day around downtown Chicago gunshots and death, still, after that, he was sure the police would be called.

Why couldn’t this man trip, bash his head and die? It would make Jacob’s life so much easier. Adrenaline kept him running, he knew if the enemy caught up to him, he would be the one at disadvantage and severely outmatched in weapons. He kept going forward, trying to blend in with the panicked civilians. It was kinda hard with his mask, but people tended to not pay attention when scared, and he doubted the other criminal was going to be so easily fooled anyway, it was more for the sake of making himself difficult to hit.

He couldn’t run for the rest of his life, but he could certainly try. But even his determination couldn’t fuel him forever. He entered another side alley, doing some twist and turns, hoping his pursuer get left behind on the crowds still trying to stay unpredictable in the hopes of losing the other. He looked behind him to see if the guy was still after him, hoping he put at least some distance, enough for him to make a pause a catch his breath for a few moments.