The Street Rat 208

Eddie spent the next three nights on the streets looking for people to talk to about the sweeps. Maria voiced her annoyance with him not taking advantage of his nights off patrol to rest or earn extra money, but this was more important. 

Between having moved into the motel and spending his patrol shifts bouncing from one rooftop to the next, Eddie hadn’t spent much time on the streets in over half a year. It was a strange feeling after living day and night on them for most of his life. 

One thing he immediately noticed was how few of the other homeless people he recognized just a few blocks away from Sal’s. The homeless population had a lot of turnover, but this was something else. 

Eddie ran into few familiar faces, which made it harder for him to gather useful information about what had been happening with the sweeps. He kicked himself for not staying in consistent contact with the community, one he was so set on protecting that he had been willing to put himself and his family in danger time and time again.

By the time he and Archer met at their designated rooftop on Friday, he hadn’t made any progress in his search. No matter how many people he talked to or stones he turned over, it seemed no one knew where people were disappearing to.

“You’ve been busy,” Archer said as Eddie walked across the rooftop to where he waited. 

“You keeping tabs on me?”

“I wouldn’t be good at what I do if I didn’t. What’s so important that you gave up your two nights off and completely ignored your patrol on your night on?”

“The sweeps,” Eddie answered, scrunching his face. 

“What about them?”

“People are disappearing off the streets! I’m trying to figure out why!”

“I thought you said it was because of the sweeps?”

“It is!”

“Then, what is there to figure out?”

“You don’t get it.” Eddie let out a long sigh. “They aren’t arresting homeless people. You know as well as anyone that they have no interest in locking people up; they have other uses for that money. They’re certainly not moving them to other parts of the city or the suburbs, so where are they taking them?”

“Let’s find out.” Archer walked away and headed for the fire escape.

“Oh, like right now? We’re not going to talk about a plan or anything before-hand? Just gonna—and there he goes.” 

Eddie shook his head and jogged to the fire escape after Archer fired an arrow that allowed him to swing off the rooftop attached to a wire. 

“Him and his stupid rope arrows.”

Eddie caught up to Archer, who was walking through the alley one road over, interrogating people on the streets. Eddie grabbed his arm and pulled him away from an old man cowering below him. 

“Okay, so that’s a good way to not get any information. I’m so sorry about that, sir,” Eddie said, turning to the old man. “My associate doesn’t have the best manners.” 

Eddie jogged to catch up with Archer, who had walked away. 

“We’re not going to get information without pressing people,” Archer grumbled as Eddie caught up to him and walked beside him. 

“Well, we’re also not going to get it by terrorizing people, and that also goes against the whole making-the-people-feel-safer agenda we have going on.”

“My agenda is to make them safe, not to make them feel safe.”

“Not mutually exclusive things, my dude,” Eddie responded before Archer tackled him into a wall. 

Pieces of brownstone fell around them as a stray bullet showered debris after striking the wall above them. 

“We’re not asking again,” a voice shouted. “Give us the money.”

Archer and Eddie peeked around the trash can they had landed behind to see seven people standing in front of Sal’s, none looking at them. Sal was posted in front of the store with his arms crossed. All seven had weapons drawn and pointed at the man. 

“And I’m not telling you again. You and your playmates here need to turn around and go home before this goes any further,” Sal answered, arms still crossed. “You’re out of your depth and out of your mind if you think a stunt like this is going to go your way. I’ve run this diner for twenty-eight years and have never seen a group of delinquents as stupid as you lot.”

The lead man pistol-whipped Sal across the face, causing him to stagger back. Another bullet was fired, narrowly missing Sal and shattering the storefront window. Screams came from inside the diner and on the streets as people dropped to the ground or ran. Sal’s arms had fallen to his side, his cool demeanor shaken. 

Eddie was halfway to the diner in the time it took for the quickest bystander to hit the floor. Three arrows flew past his head in quick succession, each finding a shoulder of a different gunman. Eddie threw his body into the legs of the man in the back, and his momentum allowed him to knock over two more.

Sal decked the lead gunman across the face with a blow, eliciting a string of curses as the man yanked his gun up, inches from Sal’s face, and pulled the trigger. 

The bullet ricocheted off an alley wall after an arrow hit the gun shaft as the trigger was being pulled. 

Eddie wrestled with the three men on the ground, kicking one gun away and then another as he engaged them all at once. Sirens in the distance grew closer as they scrapped on the street. Archer had joined the fray of the fight and made short work of the gunmen still on their feet. 

A scream ripped from Eddie’s lungs as another gunshot went off, this one striking him in the shoulder. Eddie doubled over, grasping at his arm. Archer loosed an arrow at the man responsible and struck him in the shoulder as he was scrambling to his feet. 

“You better watch yourself!” the man confronting Sal yelled at Eddie and Archer as the gang fled from the approaching police, dragging three of their unconscious away. “We will find you, and you won’t be this lucky next time!”

Archer helped Eddie to his feet and raced him away as cop lights filled the alleyway. Sal grabbed a broom and swept up broken glass as officers pulled to a stop in front of the building. Eddie was holding onto Archer as the two of them flew through the sky, attached to one of Archer’s wired arrows. 

“I know I’m not welcomed here, but it’s an emergency,” Archer said as soon as Maria answered the motel room door. Eddie was slumped against his shoulder, barely standing under his own strength. 

“Come in, come in,” she answered, stepping out of his way and waving him in. 

“What happened?” she asked as Archer laid Eddie on his mat on the floor. 

Maria shooed Tomas and Alex away, and they retreated to watch from the bed. Eddie’s face was pale and damp with sweat.

“Shots fired at Sal’s. Some sort of gang was holding him up. Eddie rushed in after a shot was fired at Sal. We kept Sal safe until cops arrived, but as they were leaving, they fired a shot and hit Eddie in the shoulder. What kind of first aid do you have around here?”

“Uh,” Maria looked around the room and back to Archer. “We might have a couple bandages.” 

Archer stared blankly at her while Eddie chuckled weakly.

“Get me some hot water, a towel, and a pillowcase or T-shirt or something to use as a wrap,” Archer said.

Maria hopped up and ran to the bathroom to turn the water on. 

“It’ll take a minute to heat up,” she told Archer as she returned and headed for the exterior door. “I’m going to go find a bowl and an extra wrap. You two behave,” she told Tomas and Alex as she opened the door. 

“See if you can get a first aid kit or pain meds or anything for him,” Archer called out to her as she left. 

“How can I help?” Tomas asked, standing up from the bed. 

“You can stay on the bed,” Archer answered without turning his head. 

Tomas crossed his arms but eventually sat with a huff after Alex tugged on his shirt a few times. 

Archer kept his hands pressed against Eddie’s wound in silence while he waited for Maria to return. Eddie made noises a couple times but never opened his eyes. 

The door flew open as Maria came back in with her arms full. Extra towels, a couple pillowcases, three bowls of different sizes, and a first aid kit all fell on the bed as she dropped everything. 

“Which bowl?”

“Medium.”

Without another second, Maria took the middle bowl into the bathroom to fill with hot water. She walked back in, careful to keep the water from sloshing after burning her hand checking the temperature. She sat it next to Archer and handed him the rags. 

“Fill the small bowl with cold water and then dab his head with a cool towel. He’s getting a bit warm.”

“Got it.”

Maria returned to the bathroom while Archer doctored Eddie’s wound. From his pocket, Archer pulled out a knife and cut off the cloth of the T-shirt surrounding the bullet hole. With another knife, Archer put the head against the wound area as Eddie groaned. 

“You’ll thank me later,” Archer grumbled as he changed positions, placing a knee on Eddie’s chest and his left hand on Eddie’s collarbone to keep his shoulder still. He pushed the knife into the wound and pried out the bullet. 

Eddie screamed, his eyes opening wide for the four seconds it took Archer to retrieve the bullet. 

“What’s going on?” Maria asked, rushing out of the bathroom. 

“He’s hurting Eddie!” Tomas yelled, pointing at Archer as Alex tugged on his shirt again. 

Archer dropped the bullet onto one of the towels Maria had brought to him. 

“Step one was getting that out,” Archer answered flatly. “Now, I can clean it and get him healing.”

Archer dabbed the wound with the warm rag as Maria retrieved the cool water to wipe Eddie’s brow. 

“He’s breathing really softly,” Maria said as Archer worked. 

“He passed out from the pain. He’s okay. It’s probably better for him to be unconscious for this part. Kid, toss me that first aid kit.”

Alex looked from Archer to Tomas, who had his arms crossed and wasn’t moving, then back to Archer before crawling over and picking up the kit and walking it to him. 

“Thanks” was all Archer said before opening up the kit. He cleaned the wound and wrapped it in gauze after making a tourniquet from the pillowcase. 

“And now we wait,” he sighed as he leaned back against the wall. 

The Street Rat continues with episode 209.

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