As the smoke cleared and the debris settled, I quickly looked around to see if anyone was acting suspiciously. It was a difficult thing to do. My eyes we're blinded by the flash, and only after a few moments was I able to focus back on what was occurring around me. The explosion didn't help either, as all I heard in my ears was a dizzying beep that couldn't be quelled.
A quick check under the booth proved that Tessa was fine, just reeling from the side effects as I was. I could tell from the look in her eyes that she knew that blast was meant for us. I told her to find a hotel and call me when she gets there. I made sure she knew to check in under an alias, and lock all of the doors. Someone knew she had information and they didn't want anyone finding out about it.
By the time I managed to hurdle the broken booths and other items, the streets were filling, fire engines blared in the distance, and there was hysteria everywhere.
"Damn," I thought, "I'll never be able to spot anyone in this crowd."
With that, I took off to make it to the cusp of where the people were gathering. With a more open view of things, I could take in my surroundings, anticipate a next move, if it was coming. It didn't look like anything was going on.
Once I got to the corner of the street, past where people were gathering, I had a clearer view of the whole scene. Looking across the street, I saw a bus stop with a few people waiting for it. Seattle buses were always on time. Strange I thought, there was always a lot of traffic on the freeways, but busses were always on time. I then shifted my gaze to the building behind the bus stop. It was a three story brick building, standing across the street and diagonal to the Starbucks that just did its last few moments of business. Realizing that would provide a perfect vantage point for either the detonation of a bomb remotely or just making sure his fireworks display went on without a hitch, I quickly scanned the windows.
By the time I had finished scanning the windows, I realized I hadn't looked at the roof. Sure enough, there was a tall, lanky man with a black coat and blue jeans on, skirting down the fire escape. I checked my pocket. I had my 9mm Berretta with me. Knowing the clip was loaded, I took off after the very shady onlooker.
As soon as his feet hit the ground, he was off like a shot. This guy was fast. It didn't help that I had a hell of a time crossing the street. Messy traffic, cars everywhere, more people checking out the commotion- this wasn't going to be an easy chase.
Finally, I made it across the street and in to open space. I knew my quarry had seen me struggling through the crowds, and he took off even more quickly. I charged forward, shouting at people to make way. Lanky continued to gain ground on me though, pumping his arms like pistons. Then, out of nowhere he took a quick right, down an alley way. By the time I was able to turn the corner, he was out of sight.
It was time for me to tread lightly. I slowly took my gun from my pocket and inched my way down the alley. The alley however, opened up in the middle, into a loading dock area for the merchants to load their wares and ship them off. As I made my way to the corner, I took a quick look into the area. There were two trucks backed into loading docks to the left of me. Straight ahead, the alley continued through to the other street, north of where we were. To the right, nothing but closed, empty loading stations. Other than the trucks, the area was deserted. Lanky was no where to be found. I advanced forward, checking all of my corners, only nothing was there. Making my way towards the trucks, I slowly looked into the one closest to me. There was nothing. That's when my vision went blurry.
I heard nothing, felt nothing, until it was too late. As I lay on my back fading into black, I was able to get a look at the man who assaulted me. It was indeed Lanky, only his face was very familiar. Everything went black.
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