Sidetracked by Dellani Oakes Part 60

Oliver was in a heap on the floor with Corin standing over him, fists clenched. Burl held Moe by the front of the shirt, threatening to break his face.

“You okay, brother?” Burl asked over his shoulder, not taking his eyes from Moe.

“Yeah,” Aiden gasped. “Thanks. How?” He slumped to the ground, leaning against the cool, comforting tile.

“I saw Harkness poking at you. I knew he was up to something, so I grabbed Cor and we followed. When I saw you come in here, I called Jasper. They should be here any second.”

The door burst open again and Officer Mendez slid through the opening. “Boys! You’re okay. Well, some of you, sort of…. What happened?” He stood with his hands on his hips, trying to catch his breath. He’d run across the courtyard to find them.

Aiden explained, finally realizing that Harkness was gone. “Dammit, the bastard left!”

“You go see the nurse, let me take care of this. Jesus, what a mess.” He took his radio off his shoulder and started talking rapidly on it.

Aiden, Burl and Corin started toward the main office, to see the nurse. None of them had escaped injury, though they were excited by the outcome.

“Thank you,” Aiden said. “If you hadn’t come…. I don’t know how many of them it would have taken to whip my ass, but I knew how many they were going to use.” he quoted his favorite comedian, Ron White.

“He must be okay, he’s quoting stand up,” Burl said, dabbing a split lip with the neck of his tee shirt.

They were filing into the nurse’s office when they saw Harkness in the parking lot, running toward his car. Aiden tapped his brothers.

“We can’t let him get away.”

“Jasper’s coming,” Burl protested.

“He’s not here yet! You coming?” He dashed off, hitting the emergency door from the office.

Alarms started ringing, people stood up, wondering what the hell was going on. Soon, all hell was going to cut loose, and they’d lose Harkness in the morass of people spilling from the building. Realizing he wouldn’t get to his car in time, the principal started running. Corin went after him, his brothers flanking the running man. Each step took them closer. Across the driveway, over the curb, onto the grass. They were running out of time and space. Once he got to the road, there would be no stopping him.

Burl’s fingers brushed the man’s jacket as Harkness hopped the curb. He tried to follow, but tripped. Losing his balance, he fell hard, his shin scraping the concrete. He rolled to his side, bellowing in pain, his leg bleeding.

Corin hopped the curb, trying to tackle the principal. Had he been as tall as his brothers, he’d have made it. He missed by a breath. Aiden used the distraction to barrel full tilt at the conniving bastard. His long legs, and anger, gave him speed and power. He hit Harkness from the side, crashing into his hips. They went down in a tangle of arms and legs, rolling toward the retention pond at the front of campus.

Burl lay still, trying to stop the bleeding from his shredded calf. Corin struggled to right himself and recover, but his head was spinning and he couldn’t do much more than crawl.

With a mighty splash, Aiden and Harkness hit the pond. Aiden had the misfortune to be on the bottom when they landed. Gagging and sputtering, he got a breath, but Harkness was on top of him, pushing his face under water. Aiden thrashed and kicked, using his feet to knock the other man off balance. Finally connecting with Harkess’ balls he got the advantage. Bigger and younger, he had strength on his side, but Harkness fought dirty. Grabbing Aiden’s face, he tried to drive his thumbs into the boy’s eyes. When that didn’t work, he tried to punch him in the throat.

It was all Aiden could do to stay upright. He fended off the blows, but he was weakening. Hands slippery with water, he lost his grip. That was all the principal needed. Levering himself upward, he knocked Aiden down again. Grabbing the boy’s shirt, he raised his fist to strike a blow to drive his nose into this brain. Aiden couldn’t escape, he could only struggle feebly.

Thudding feet ran passed Burl and Corin. They couldn’t tell who they both were, but one was definitely their mother. They could hear her screaming before they saw her, like an air raid siren, loud, shrill and continuous. She threw herself at Harkness. Grabbing the hand which was raised to strike her son, she wrenched his thumb and fingers apart, like Nadeya had shown her. Not stopping when she met resistance, she heard the bones crack.

Harkness dropped her son. Screaming with pain, he found himself face first in the water. Fred grabbed his injured hand, twisting it in an Aikido hold as he flipped Harkness over. His foot on the man’s shoulder kept him face down, sputtering as he struggled to keep his nose out of the water. Fred pushed him further, increasing the twist and tension on the principal’s arm. A bubbling, gurgling scream escaped Harkness’ lips.

© 2019 Dellani Oakes