Part 31

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***

The Irishman grinned smugly, and pulled an old Browning out of his oversized sweatshirt, immediately pointing it at the dog, but Castle was not bad either and with some inhuman strength threw a knife at the enemy. A regular knife. A table knife. Having pierced through the Irishman's arm literally through and through, he without any delay pulled out a massive rifle and blew his opponent's brains out with a doublet.

Patting the dog on the head, he left the pizzeria through the back door without any haste. Soon other people of frankly marginal appearance began to break into the building and point guns at me. After breaking a couple of assholes' arms and finally getting a pizza, I used a grenade without any regret and still broke through to the street. Who the hell is Castle? Because of that soldier, I had to waste a vacuum grenade and put down so many people, and I was just going home.

After securing the pizza boxes in the back, I moved on. Noticing the flashing petrol tank that was demanding a refill, I quietly cursed and pulled into the nearest petrol station. While I was at the till, I spotted a big guy I knew.

- Reno, what the hell took you so long? - I heard a menacing voice with a Russian accent from the BMW.

- It's Schultz, he always counts the change down to the penny. Herman, hurry up. Tooms is already furious at our delay. - Reno said glumly, quickly getting into the new Ford Bronco that had a removable roof and doors.

- Shise... well, how many times Alexei. Economy should be economical, isn't that what your leaders say? - Schultz grinned.

Wait. Why does his voice sound so familiar?

- We don't have leaders anymore, and neither does the country, so you'd better just keep quiet 'engineer' or I won't look at your friends and boss and just snap your neck. - Reno said with the same scowl.

- What a vigorous speech Alexei. - Herman only grinned, putting his hands in his pockets, where a moment later he heard an electric crackle, having attracted attention, he moved Rino from his driver's seat with some unprecedented impudence and started the Ford Bronco.

What unexpected encounters there are in the evening. This city never ceases to amaze me. Filling the bike to the brim, I took a leisurely ride home. I'd had enough for today, so I'd just relax a bit in May's pleasant company.

I parked the bike and carried the pizza into the kitchen, after a breezy ride home and some upbeat music to improve my mood. After wandering around the house for a couple of minutes without finding anyone, I just grunted and went back to the kitchen, this time making myself a strong coffee.

Throwing all my clothes in the wash, I headed for the shower. After all that killing and shooting, it wouldn't hurt to freshen up a bit. Thinking about why Tooms would hire Russian brothers, I tried to figure out what made a respectable businessman do business with outright thugs, or did he decide to change his policy after the incident in the bar? Who knows? However, it's not my business, so I won't interfere, because so far our interests don't overlap? So there's no point in a new conflict, and Rino didn't recognise me, so it's better not to show off. I wonder why Mei's so late. Another 'grand' project?

Leaving the shower and wrapping myself in a towel, I headed for the kitchen. I switched on the TV after I'd taken the coffee I'd just brewed, and it had been a while since I'd watched the news, since May wasn't home and there wasn't much to do. I could look in my basement, but I'm exhausted from the day, even though I've had some busy days, but sometimes something just drains you, and you don't want to do anything. I call it autumnal apathy, even if autumn is not always outside, but it is often with you.

After sipping some coffee and quickly going through the channels, I came across a strange advert for security systems from Justin Hammer. Where the head of the corporation personally promised the best defence against any class of threat on the planet. But then there was a small note in small print that Hammer System-s representing security services had gone bankrupt and they would not take the 'goods' back. I grinned evilly and continued my run through the channels in search of something interesting.

- World-renowned scientists continue to disappear. Over fifty neogeneticists have disappeared without a trace in the last month. If you know anything about the whereabouts of these people, please call this number. Ozcorp will generously reward anyone for reliable information about its employees and all other missing specialists. - After the announcer finished speaking, he returned to the main news. - For the first time in a long time there is peace and quiet on the streets of our city. Is it the fault of the punishers you know? Who knows? But with the arrival of the vigilantes everything has become calmer, even if the city administration will not approve of my words, but it is so. - the anchorman chuckled. - While the police department is wasting our tax dollars, honest 'volunteers' stand guard over law and order in this city. Yes, they can be over the top and overly violent, but since when did we become so soft on criminals? The death penalty is still on the books, so let's not be saints. But why should the issue of crime be solved by 'ordinary' people and not by specialists, doesn't it mean that our entire state institution and bureaucratic machine is completely broken? - On this intriguing note, a sign about 'technical works' abruptly appeared on the channel and the live broadcast was suddenly cut off.

It seems that here came the defenders of all those punishers and vigilantes. Has the situation in the society become so heated? However, remembering the recent events in the city it is not surprising. Pogroms, vandalism, endless gang wars and who knows what else.

This town really does know no peace.

Or am I just in a typical noir mood? I don't know, but if there's a craving for cheap cigars, whiskey and hats, it's bad. Maybe I'll do a sweep when I'm done assembling the armour. Even without the enhanced defences, I can do that, but what's in it for me? Doing something for free? Please, I'm not a hero, so I don't do charity, but is it worth it to live in this city at all?

Every day something happens in New York and it doesn't make the city any better. I mean, what are the vigilantes alone? How disappointed must people have been in the city government that such 'heroes' came? And many people support them, which is the most curious thing. However, just a couple of days ago I was a vigilante myself and with a clear conscience shot all this 'green chase', does that make me a hero? Probably not. A villain? Perhaps, but it's not certain, because no one has caught me yet, so I can continue to play the role of a good citizen. And through the same cute Gwen I can get to the police, and such leverage on the captain is very useful, so peacefully or not so peacefully, but I can get some support.

Remembering the cute blonde, I immediately pulled out my phone and wrote a couple of neutral messages, even though we didn't have much communication without Connors, but what's to stop us from just texting? After all, we know each other a little, and that's enough to keep us in touch, and we can talk about reptiles for hours, and even more about neogenetics. So maybe this contact should be developed a little bit better, because 'daddy' will do everything or almost everything for his favourite daughter?

I smirked, I also contacted Carrot-top and Lisa. I'm not a fan of harems, but I'm not averse to communication, and I've always liked to communicate with such beautiful creatures, not only as a connoisseur of beauty and grace. It's not like I'm hanging out with Flash Thompson, and maybe he's a curious person, but I'm more of a girl person than a guy person, that's how I was raised. With mates we only drink and have extremely philosophical conversations when we are not drinking, but already slightly or even not slightly drunk, this is such a simple philosophy, and it pays off, doesn't it?

Even though I'm a supporter of the fact that mates are above beautiful ladies, but sometimes I can't help it, that's the share of the connoisseur of dangerous flowers of life that we call girls, because they are so charming and at the same time harmful to us. It's like the best drug that you can't get off, and do you want to? Love is beautiful, horrible and painful, sometimes it goes hand in hand, and then it's as bad as it gets. That's why I decided to give up something so wounding, exciting and destructive to a person.

And where is the golden mean when you're ready to give her everything without asking for anything in return and a reasonable pragmatism? Where is the line that separates passion from indifference, because in our case it is either one or the other, because we love extremes and excesses. How to find that perfect middle, to love and be loved without torment, suffering, pain and self-destructive doubts. Where is the balance I so desire? And is all this hunger for the soul, for the peace of my heart worth it? I want to love and get something in return, but is it better than cold calculation to give yourself to passion, obsession of love and lose yourself becoming only a faded shadow of what you once were?

I'm not ready to give up the freedom I love so much. Can't we try to love without love? And even if all this is just like playing a game with myself, but how is it worse than the games that others organise? I just will not open up to the end and keep the intrigue until the final, and will just enjoy life and communication with the fair sex without expecting anything in return. Yes, for this I will have to be as honest as possible and many people will be scared off, but I have not promised anything to anyone, have I? And if there are no promises, there are no future problems. Or is that not how it works? We'll have to check it out. Let's consider it another project to control hormones, the body and the 'animal' urges that are so characteristic of man. Or do not bring it to that and just go to a brothel once a month when the 'project' goes on hold? But then the data wouldn't be completely correct, so no relaxation, and yet I think it would be very interesting. Throwing a thoughtful glance at my smartphone, I sipped my coffee, which had already cooled down a bit, and wrote a couple of messages to Miss Hardy to see how her journalism 'project' was going, but then I heard footsteps.

- I'm home. What smells so good? Peter, did you order our favourite pizza? - came May's voice, clearly pleased with the surprise.