We Have All the Time in The World -Chapter Three

Lyric froze when she noticed two Asians rush out from the hallway. Both of them were well dressed and immediately rushed past her. She assumed that they were either the Triads or Yakuza.  She tried her best to make out Li, but all she could see was one figure standing up while two others were moving. She could hear the sounds of fighting coming from the other end of the room. One of the screams was definitely Li’s and she hoped that he was winning. Suddenly, the sounds of fighting had stopped and there was no way to make out who had won until she saw a familiar figure walking out of the battle. It was Li, his clothing was somewhat tattered and his brown skin was covered with cuts and some blood. He continued to walk over towards Lyric and smiled to assure her that he was all right.
 
            “I told you I could handle this.” Li gasped trying to catch his breath before reaching for Lyric’s hand once more before he guided her back out of the apartment towards his escape plan.
 
            The two of them continued out of the apartments through the giant maze of buildings. Li mustered what energy he had left in him and gave Lyric one more smile before he guided her through the streets until he noticed the gunmetal color of the canal. He smiled to himself feeling that there might be a moment he could rest before they reached the station. It took him another 30 seconds before he motioned to a nearby gondolier to get him to take them. Li guided Lyric into the gondola and made sure she was secure before turning to the gondolier and telling him something in Italian and nodding to the comment.
 
            “Where are you going?” Lyric asked.
 
“Just stay in there and don’t worry!” screamed Li finding himself surrounded by a couple of more men waiting for him.
 
Usually in this situation, Li would be the one who would decide to fight no matter the odds. This time, however, he knew that he had to buy Lyric some time. That was when he plowed through the men and continued through the city and making sure that he has an eye on the gondola.   He figured that he might have some sort of chance if he could get them some place where there were no innocents around. He forced his way through the door into the main concourse, which was empty of human life and noticed the elevator in front of him. His first reaction was to go in there and have a brief rest before he had to continue fighting, but he decided against it and ran up the flight of stairs through an array of scattered items ranging from construction equipment and other things to keep the building from sinking.
 
Stopping only for a second, Li managed to catch a breath before he heard the sound of the men coming in and continued towards the top, until he reached the roof. He took a look around and saw the mainland and the Grand Canal in front of him and the group of hired guns behind him. The first man was Japanese; his appearance was clean cut and dressed in a black suit. Apparently he was a yakuza hired to come after him personally. Behind him were two other men, also yakuza; he wondered what were they doing here in Venice coming after him. But given the fact that the Triads were after him earlier, tells him that whatever is going on has most of the major cartels ready to come after him.
 
“There is nowhere for you to go, Xiao Li.” The first man said in perfect English, “Just hand us over the woman and we will spare your life.”
 
“Why is she so important to you?” Li asked looking at the man, “Especially for some kokojin like Omasa.”
 
“That is none of your concern.” The head yakuza said to him.
 
“I don’t buy that one bit.” Li spat back, “She must be worth something if you, the Italians, the Russians and the Triads are willing to help him.”
 
“Like I said, it is none of your concern, but I know who you really are Xiao Li, and I also know that you have some connections with the families in Tokyo, but they cannot help you here.”
 
“So you also know I am someone you should not cross.” Li said.
 
“You know that I will have to stop you.” The yakuza said looking at him.
 
“You will do you what you will have to, and so will I.” Li said as he took a step back and jumped off of the building into the Grand Canal, where the gondola was waiting for him not too far away.
 
The Yakuza looked down at Li swimming towards the gondola and watched him get in. All he could do was smile when he watched the foreigner ride off with the woman that he was protecting. He knew that this was a challenge he could not back down from, not when the opponent was very formidable.