They took a slight detour on the way to the building supplies, stopping by the timber at Vai’s request. Apparently, she had a cool idea for something she could build to fight off those hunting them, but she’d need a plank of wood in order to make it.
“Hurry up,” Maphira whispered, as Vai searched for the perfect plank of wood. “We can’t stay here long or they’ll find us.”
“Chill out, my dude,” Vai said, tossing another plank to the floor. “They’re never going to search this part of the store for us. There are plenty of reasons to come to a Cheltenham hardware store selling timber, but this certainly isn’t the best time. They’ll assume we’re literally anywhere else.”
Maphira looked up to the top of the shelves, spotting a shadowy figure moving up there. “Are you sure about that?” she asked, lunging forward and pulling Vai out of the way, just as the figure leapt down, right onto the spot Vai had been. They each rolled out of the way, but Vai quickly sprung back, swinging the plank of wood she currently held in both hands.
She struck the figure with a sickening crack – Maphira wasn’t sure whether it came from the wood or the man’s bones. He collapsed, instantly knocked unconscious.
“Alright, point taken,” Vai said, tossing aside her plank of wood. She picked up another and gave it a quick look over. “This one will do. Let’s get out of here.”
“Good idea,” Maphira replied. “I have no desire to die in a hardware store in the Bayside area. We need to get to the building supplies before another one finds us.” Maphira glanced back at the figure on the ground. “Nice hit, though.”
“Thanks.” Vai grinned, although Maphira only just saw it through the flickering lights above them.
It reminded her of the good old days, taking down bad guys together, back in the force, all those years ago. The thing was, those days had ended because of Vai’s betrayal. How could she ever forgive the woman for that?
She bit her lip and continued on.