[ WP ] You must tell your partner to run and never contact you or come back ever again .

Dave ran down the alley, slowly at first but then quickly, in the way a blind animal might. 
 
 So it was in Dark City, I had gotten myself in over my head. A dame, a corrupt politician, the cops. But this time it was different. There was a company. Libitina Inc. had been called in. I did n't know quite who they were, but they were good. Their *modus operandi* appeared to be halfway between extremely well trained P.I.'s and freelance terrorists. Word on the street had it they orchestrated the L.A. bombings a month back. 
 
 This was all too much for a young P.I like Dave. He was my partner at this schtick but he was inexperienced, wanted to go in there guns blazing. We walked from our office into the alley. I socked him in the jaw. `` You're fired!'' I had sneered at him. `` Get outta here and if ya wan na see ya family again, bub, then do n't contact me or anyone associated w' me a again. It's fah ya own good. Nah scram!'' 
 
 It had hurt, destroying him like that, abusing him. But he was clingy. What can I say? That's why I liked him. But on a case like this, he was collateral damage. 
 
 I turned away and walked back down the filthy alley, Dark City's skyscrapers looming over me like vast birds of prey. I lit a cigarette. The lighter dying in the soft rain. through the haze of secondhand smoke and darkness. I saw a figure facing me, near where the alley met the street. 
 
 It was Ingram. The bullet left the barrel before I even saw his pistol.
