Balance Of Darkness

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 2:

THE STRANGER AND THE AGENT

One day, a big jewelry store had been robbed: four men with guns and masks were yelling at the clients and the employees not to move, and to get down on the floor. They tied up the hands of the two security guards with duct tape, and two of them started breaking the glass jewelry boxes, while the other two were watching the people. Then, the front door got suddenly opened, the robbers turned around and saw... a man who walked in. He was about 6'2 feet tall, looked 30-35 years old, with brown hair, black clothes and a baseball hat – average looking. Now he was looking at the armed men who pointed their guns at him, but he did not seem scared – he was showing no emotions.

“Who the hell are you?!” said the first man.

“Please, put down your guns and surrender.” said the strange man with a calm voice.

“Don't move! Get over here!” said the second man.

“Are you some kinda nut?” said the third man.

“You should have locked the door, even thought it would not help you.” he answered, as he raised his hands.

“Shut up and get down!” said the second man again.

“I will not ask you again. You have five seconds. Don't make me use force.”

“I think this guy’s a comedian, but we got no time for---” said the fourth man, as he approached the mysterious one pointing his g*n at him… but then he grabbed his wrist and threw him down with one hand, and a single move. The g*n fell on the floor, a moment later the visitor kicked the third man, who was within his reach, and he fell through a glass jewelry box. He took the g*n of the floor, but the last two men shot him seven times in the chest… and he did not even flinch. Instead, he just pointed the g*n and shot one of them in the shoulder, and the other one in the leg. They fell groaning, and all this indeed took 5-6 seconds. The one next to him tried to get up, but the man just pushed him back down knocking him out. The people on the floor were watching him wondering, mostly because of the seven bullet holes in his shirt, where he was shot. He looked at the scared people around and said:

“A bulletproof vest!”

Then he got out when he heard the police coming. He was a weird... stranger.

* * *

А Lincoln Navigator SUV was travelling on a boulevard in LA, followed by another one. They reached a big estate, the front gate opened and they entered the yard. Two men with suits got out of the first SUV, one of them was about to open the back door on his side… when he and his friend were shot with an automatic g*n. Four men got out of the other truck with guns and started to look around frantically, since the shots came from the dark outside the front gate. A man was walking slowly towards them, and soon he stepped next to a nearby street light – he was about 6 feet tall, maybe 30-35 years old, with a black suit, sunglasses and an automatic g*n. He looked like… an agent. The four men, standing across him about 70 feet way, started to shoot, but he stood his ground, raised the g*n and shot them. His face and actions were stone-cold, and he did not appear to be shot or hurt at all. An old man with a suit stepped out slowly from the first SUV, but the shooter was gone. He was scared to death when he saw his dead bodyguards, and in a few seconds their killer appeared right behind the only survivor. He turned around, saw his face… and nothing more after that.

The news reports about these stories were:

“Another killing of an underground man is a fact. Last night James Barone, a gambling boss, was shot dead in front of his house, along with six of his bodyguards. Barone was allegedly involved in extortion, money-laundering and racketeering…”

“Two days ago, four people tried to rob this jewelry store, but the robbery was foiled by one man, who, according to eye-witnesses, just came and gone. Nobody saw him after that…” said the reporter standing in front of the jewelry store.

“A human trafficking group was crushed three days ago, its members were beat and shot, but not killed. And since they were not arrested, the suspicions are that the so-called Crime Killers were involved once again…”

“Still there are no leads or clues to the identities of the mysterious vigilantes, not even security footage from the jewelry store or any other place, nor any description from the people who saw the man…”

The newspaper titles were:

“Another Hit In The Heart Of The Crime”

“The Criminals In Panic”

“The Real Law Enforcement?”

The police were finding crime scenes like that all over Los Angeles. Some criminals were wounded or out cold, some were murdered... and no leads or clues.