The GAME Part 9
This is the finale
The room was mostly an open floor plan with deep shadows from small emergency lights and the light from the stairwell that spilled in. A row of large windows lined each side of the floor—one on the left looking down on to the street that Harvey just left, the right could only be an alley way or parking area behind the building—brought in a little more. Harvey could see the occasional wall here and there that looked to be the start of an office. Left incomplete. The room wasn’t completely empty. Strewn about were garment racks most of which filled with clothing. Both male and female. Along with stand up mirrors that sat here and there. Giving off the vibe that this was some sort of fashion space.
Harvey moved deeper inside. Slow and steady. Controlled breathing. It was quiet. Too quiet. Flashing blue and red lights from the windows to the left indicated that the city’s finest boys in blue were showing up to the scene. It was just a matter of time before they figured out where the players of this game went and came to intervene. Harvey paused as he thought he caught movement to his right. But there was nothing there. He moved again, toward the first of the office’s doorways—when... yes, something definitely moved in the shadow to his right. Harvey stopped. Trying to make it seem that he hadn’t seen anything. Trying to look as if he was concentrating on the doorway. Adjusting his grip on the pistol as he did so as his heart began to race more. There wasn’t much he could do about that other than to attempt to control his emotions. Harvey made as if he was going to rush the door when he quickly turned right and let off three rounds. The deafening sounds of the gun was followed by a loud crash. Just as he realized that he shot one of the stand up mirrors a noise from behind made him turn back, throwing up his left arm in the process in a defensive/blocking maneuver. The move saved his life as a piercing stab sunk deep into his upper arm then slashed down. On reflex alone, Harvey swung his pistol like a club. The broadside of the gun connected hard against the side of his attacker’s head. Sending them crashing to the floor in opposite directions as the gun sailed away into the gloom. Before Harvey could get his bearings his attacker was on top of him. Thankfully he had lost his weapon as well. Now it was mono to mono but the attacker had the upper hand and the upper ground as all of their weight was on him. Harvey cried out as a thumb pressed deep into his wound; teeth bit into the right side of his face. As luck would have it, Harvey still had use of his right arm and threw a series of meaty punches into the side of the man on top of him. Finally there was a solid connection to the kidney and Harvey was able push the weight off him. Scrambling to his feet as he did so.
The reprieve was short lived. The two men grappled each in a dance to the death. Harvey was doing his best to counter each move his opponent made. But he was losing steam from the loss of blood from the wound in his arm. His one true hope right then was that he could last long enough for the CPD—who had to have heard the gun shots—to arrive. However, with each passing second it grew more and more unlikely.
Harvey placed his right foot between his opponent’s and with all his remaining strength swung the body he was entangled with to the left. Hoping to possibly throw the man off him to make a break for the stairwell. His attacker caught on quick, grabbed on tighter and went with the momentum when Harvey felt as if something gave way. Then they were falling. Not to the floor—through the air. Through open air.
Harvey felt his attacker release him then nothing. Darkness overtook him.
*****
Carl Jung said it best: “There is no coming to consciousness without pain.” That was all that Harvey Mann felt as the world he was in went from darkness to a growing pale light to fuzzy voices in a bucket from a long distance. Although, at each stage one thing was consistent. And that was pain.
As the world came into focus, he was unsure where he was. His last thoughts were fighting with... he didn’t even know. The killer. It was the killer of Maggie and the girl in the apartment and of... Elliot? Did Elliot make it? He couldn’t remember. But then the feeling of falling came to mind. What the fuck? What had happened? All Harvey knew now was pain. That, and the fact that he was in a bed. Where was that beeping coming from?
“Ah, you’re awake,” a voice from somewhere said. But from where? Everything was still blurry. “I’ll get th—”
The veil of darkness once again descended.
“Mr. M— ...u hea— Mr. Man— ...Hear me? Mr. Mann?”
“Huh? What?”
Light. Light hurt the eyes. Everything was blurry until it wasn’t.
“Ah, there you are. You gave us quite a fright for a little while.” The man speaking wore light blue scrubs. With slicked back hair and a million dollar smile. “But rest assured you’re going to make a full recovery.”
“Wher— Where am I?” It hurt to speak. And he sounded like he was trying to break gravel with his tongue.
“You are at Christ Hospital. You have been here a little over a wee—”
“Doc,” a familiar voice broke in. “Doc, is he good to talk?”
The doctor turned away from Harvey whose vision was primarily coming through a tunnel and mostly rested on the point of where the doctor’s face was. “Yes. Yes. Just don’t talk to him long. He needs too—”
“Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.” The doctor’s face was replaced with that of Ellis Jackson’s. “Jesus Christ, Harvey you were supposed to call me.”
“Yeah well,” Harvey coughed. “Is there any water?”
Ellis looked off and said, “Doc?”
A straw poked Harvey’s mouth and he took a deep pull. “Not too much,” a nurse said. “Just enough to make it easier to speak.”
The nurse pulled the straw away and he thanked her. “What... what happened,” Harvey asked Ellis.
“From what we pieced together you and your dance partner tossed each other out a window and took a three story swan dive to the pavement. Well, you hit the pavement. The guy got impaled on an old fence post.”
“Elliot? How’s Elliot?” Ellis gave Harvey a grim look and shook his head. “Fuck.” Harvey was quiet for a moment, then said, “Now what?”
“Now what? First off, asshole, you were supposed to keep me in the loop. Second, you hit pay dirt, Buddy. This guy was a real piece of work. We have ID’s from Milwaukee to Indianapolis to Saint Louis. That’s just the tip. We’re going to be working and closing a ton of cold cases.”
“Great.”
“They might even give a medal.”
“Hell, I’d be happy with them paying the hospital bill.”
Ellis laughed. “Yeah. Not a chance on that one. Not a chance.”
—FIN—
Author’s note: Thanks for checking the first, in I hope is a long line of Harvey Mann stories. As always I would like to extend my appreciation for you taking the time to read my work. If you enjoyed this story and would like to see more content like it, please consider supporting by making a donation. This will allow me to continue to provide free content on this page. Thank you for your time and support and I hope you have a wonderful day.