******
As Rick spoke, Kaylee and Malcolm moved through the unoccupied back door of the club, where Malcolm had originally entered. Kaylee winced at his earlier handiwork, a fallen body with a smear of blood on the brick. They sidled along the alleyway. Kaylee squinted out, towards the square, noting Victor's presence among that of Rick and two other men she didn't recognize. She assumed they were leaders embroiled in some discussion.
She also decided that, being the last person known to have been with Miguel, she would be in danger when they found him. That, and the fledgling alliance would suffer greatly if they could connect her to Elijah.
I'm just glad to be alive, she thought.
"I'll check in with them after they separate," she whispered. "Let's move along this way and get behind them."
Malcolm grunted an affirmation and followed her. No one appeared to notice them as they darted across the street and into the alleyways. They walked a twisted pathway, trying to get around behind and mingle with Elijah's soldiers.
They had reached a side street, parallel to the one they were aiming for, when they heard, "Stop right there!"
Shit, she thought, whirling around. She saw the black uniform; something seemed familiar. The patrolman lowered his weapon and said, "Kaylee?"
At the same time, Malcolm let out a low growl and launched himself at the man, who panicked and raised his weapon. Malcolm gripped the submachine gun and tore it out of his hands and, with his other arm, lifted the man by his throat. He kicked and struggled but couldn't hope to break free of the hold.
Kaylee ran forward. "Malcolm! Malcolm, stop! I know him!" She tugged at his arm. Malcolm looked over at her, then back up at the man, whose eyes rolled back in his head while his face faded to an ashen blue.
He released the man, who collapsed to the ground, gasping and rolling around. He clutched at his neck. "Sssoorry," Malcolm whispered. The man coughed weakly in response.
Kaylee knelt next to him, "Sorry," she murmured, "He's a little jumpy. Are you okay?"
The man looked up at her, still wheezing, and nodded. "Good," she said, "we should get moving, I gotta talk to Rick." The man nodded once more and waved them on.
The pair stood and jogged on, this time they were able to skirt around the prying eyes of anyone, ending up behind Elijah's men. They waited in the shadows.
After a time passed, the group negotiating in the center dispersed, and Rick came jogging back over to his men, already on the radio calling the rest together. Victor went along with Sergei, and Isaac walked back to his people.
Once off his radio, Kaylee stepped out of the shadows and gave a little wave. He did a quick double take and brushed past his soldiers to get over to her. "Kaylee, my God. You're okay!"
She smirked. "Yeah, no thanks to you."
Rick opened his mouth in a retort, then thought better of it, saying, "Yeah, uh… sorry about that…"
"What, that's it? Sorry?" She shook her head, chiding him before jumping forward. She flung her arms around his neck, and he gave a surprised grunt. "What the-?"
"It's good to see you, Rick," she said as she pulled back.
"Well, uh, it's, uh, good to see you too, I guess," he stuttered, surprised at the sudden burst of affection.
Kaylee scowled at him. "You guess?" She made a fist and punched him in the chest. "What do you mean, you guess?"
"Hey, ow!" he yelled, wincing and rubbing the spot.
Several of Rick's troops had gathered to watch the reunion. Most of them were either smirking or poorly concealing laughter at their commander. "She too tough for you, boss?" one of them asked.
Rick gave a little cough and composed himself. He stood up straight and said, "Well, uh yes, Miss Kaylee. It is good to see that you are alive and have accomplished your… um, mission?" His attempt at posturing in front of his troops, who were still laughing at him, fell flat as he trailed off. He had no idea whether or not she succeeded in her endeavor.
Kaylee smiled and dropped her voice to a whisper. Everyone leaned in to hear her say, "The bastard's dead. I killed him myself."
Relief washed over Rick, and an admiring smile crossed his lips, "Very well done. Excellent job, Kaylee."
The other soldiers were nodding in agreement, and the same one piped up, "Shit. She is too tough for you boss. She's too tough for anyone." This garnered several murmurs of affirmation.
Rick grabbed Kaylee's shoulders. "Do you think that some of his people would recognize you?"
She thought about it. "Probably. He paraded me around for a while."
"Then you should get out of here; it's not safe," Rick said. "They still haven't found him, but if they connect you to either us or his death, there's going to be a lot of trouble."
Kaylee nodded. "Yeah, you're probably right. I'm going to head out of here and hide out for the rest of the night," she let out a wide yawn, suddenly realizing how tired she felt, "and probably some of the morning," she added.
Rick replied, "Well, you've earned the rest," he signaled to one of his men, "let me send someone with to make sure you stay safe." The soldier stepped forward.
Kaylee held up a hand. "That won't be necessary, Rick."
He waved a finger at her. "No, no, no. I insist. It's still dangerous out there; we don't know how many stragglers are going to be around, not to mention the huge pile of soldiers we're going to try and finish off."
She grabbed his hand. "I'm telling you that it won't be necessary because I already have someone protecting me." Over her shoulder, she turned and said, "You can come out, Malcolm."
Gasps were heard from various soldiers who twitched nervously and gripped their weapons tightly as the large figure stepped out of the shadows. Kaylee could hear them whispering to each other, and she heard, "Look at his eyes!" more than once.
In the light once more, the swirling glow of Malcolm's eyes solidified to the dense, milky white. "This is Malcolm," Kaylee announced, "and he's helped me more than once. I'll be just fine with him."
Rick ran his fingers through his hair while he stared at the… whatever it was. "Wh-what… what are you?" he asked.
The eyes narrowed in what was a clear sign of irritation, and a chill passed up Rick's spine. He hoped he hadn't made the big guy upset. The expression mellowed, and Malcolm spoke in his harsh, gravelly tones. "Donn't knnoww," eliciting a wince from every person there save Kaylee.
Rick looked back at her. "Are you sure about this?"
She nodded, seeming to be perfectly at ease, "Yes. Believe me: we can trust him." She turned and smiled at Malcolm.
Rick slowly shook his head. "All right, if you're sure about it. Here," he grabbed one soldier's small radio and handed it to her. "Hang on to this, and I'll give you the all-clear signal when everything's been taken care of."
"What are you going to do now?" Kaylee asked, stuffing the device into her pocket.
Rick grinned. "Counter-attack. We're going to take care of every single son-of-a-bitch Citizen left down here."
It was Kaylee's turn to slowly shake her head. "All right, good luck, I guess. I'll see you soon. Be careful."
Rick nodded and patted her on the shoulder before she turned and left, Malcolm trailing just behind. He watched her until they turned a corner and moved out of sight. He let out a sigh and turned to his men, all of whom were now gathered behind him.
"All right guys," he said, "Let's go deal with those hedonistic pricks," eliciting shouts of enthusiasm and affirmation from his men. They picked up all of their gear, shouldered packs, and started getting ready for the next phase of the battle.