Briella
I’m furiously pacing the path just outside the building. What the hell could be going on? What the fuck is taking so long?
Just a short twenty minutes ago I got kicked out of the party and Colby and Sydney have been radio silent. Something must have gone horribly wrong and all I want to do is march back into that party and find them. But that sort of thinking can get me and the team killed. So, I stay put against my better judgement.
“Found them!”
“Where?” I nearly shout and head back for the building ready to attack.
“Outside. Colby just got carried out the back door and placed in a large white cargo van. We haven’t seen Syd yet but I’d bet all my money on her being in there too.”
I’m running towards the entrance and realize there’s no way they’ll let me back in. Not to mention god knows what will happen once I’m in there. They need me to rescue them, not end up shits creek like they are.
I decide to go down the side of the building because going in is not an option. “Sky, tell me there’s a side door, or hell a window, that I can sneak into. There’s a fence that’s practically as tall as the building and there’s no way I can climb it. I look down at my gown and make a quick decision. My hands grasp the side and rip it to mid-thigh. Then I take a knife that’s hiding snuggly next to my gun in a hidden holster and rip the fabric straight across. It’s still not ideal, but I don’t have time for a wardrobe change right now. It’s making me channel my inner Buffy… the movie not the show.
“There should be a door five feet before the fence.”
As she says it I can see it in the distance. I send a prayer begging for the door to be open… but I’m not that lucky. As I’m turning around ready to scream in frustration, I hear my name called.
“Bri, wait up!” When I turn around I see Calvin trying to catch up with me.
“What the hell’s going on Calvin? Why didn’t you warn us?”
“I had no idea. But I know how to get them, come with me.”
He knocks three times on the big door before a behemoth of a man opens it. Calvin runs through but I stay where I’m standing not knowing who the hell to trust at this point.
“Bri, let’s go.”
A war wages in my head. On the one hand I can fly blindly through this door and trust the man I’ve known since infancy and pray it all works out. I’m not a blind faith type of person, but I can’t forget that my friends are in serious trouble. The other option is to reconvene with what’s left of the team and make a game plan on how to get them back. But by then Syd and Colby could be long gone… forever.
That makes up my decision right there.
“Colm’s out back and if he sees you it won’t be good. He knows who you all are and he’s less than pleased.”
“Shit, are Colby and Sydney okay?”
“They’ll be fine if we hurry. We don’t have much time.”
I run in the building behind him and he leads me down a hall. I look back and don’t see the guard, he must have stayed at the door. When we reach the end there’s a heavy metal door that Calvin cracks open and peaks outside.
“The coast is clear. We only have a few minutes to get your friends out.”
I take a deep breath and pull the gun from the holster strapped to my thigh. “Let’s do it.”
We rush out the door and straight for the creepy ass van.
“I’ll cover you. Hurry up.”
I pull the door open and am met with over a dozen eyes all locked on me. My eyes immediately lock with Colby’s and thank fucking god he looks unharmed for the most part. He’s towards the back and there’s a lot of people in this small van to maneuver over.
“I’ll get you all out, just give me a minute.” I don’t know how I’m going to get them all out so fast, but I’m determined to do it.
I grab my knife and cut the rope from Colby’s legs, then do the same for Sydney who is thankfully right next to him.
“Fuck, how’d you find us.”
“There’s no time to ask questions. We have to go now. Calvin’s right outside the van.”
“That son of a bitch.” Colby growls as he dives through the mass of people and out into the night.
There’s a few grunts outside the van that have my adrenaline pumping, so I pass my knife off to Syd to start untying all the women. As she starts to work on Nadia’s restraints, I rush to see what’s going down. I find Calvin in a heap on the floor with his hands up in surrender as Colby aim’s his gun between his eyes.
“You thought you could double cross us?” Colby booms.
“What are you talking about? I didn’t betray anyone.”
“Is that the lie you’re going with? Nadia told us everything!” Calvin winces as Colby nails him with the butt of the gun.
“Fucking whore… can’t trust women.” He looks at me and smiles. “Any of them.”
“So, this was your operation all along? You just tried to pin it on Colm?” What the hell is Colby talking about? Calvin just helped me get to him, surely this can’t be true… but then why is my gut telling me to brace myself?
“Well…”
“What the hell is he talking about?” A door creaks and we all look towards the giant metal door Colm is walking through. “What the fuck Calvin?” He takes in the scene in front of him and pulls his gun from the holster. His eyes furiously shift person to person unsure of who to train it on but ultimately going with Colby. He clearly needs more confirmation his brothers a dirty scoundrel. Cue the eye roll.
“Oh dear brother,” Calvin laughs condescendingly before throwing a look of disgust at his brother. “Did you think I was your lap dog? Bending to your every whim without question?”
“What are you talking about? What the fucks going on Cal?”
I’m starting to get the impression that Colm is just as in the dark as we are. Either that or he’s a damn good actor because confusion is written all over his face and dare I say I believe him?
“I didn’t want it to come to this, I really didn’t. The family knows you’ve gone soft and it’s time for you to step down. You’ve left me no choice, it’s almost poetic I got to use your daughter against you.” Calvin laughs. “You know, just keeping it in the family.”
“My daughter?” Colm looks over at me and I quickly look away. I don’t give him the satisfaction of cowering or acknowledging him. I think what I’m the most scared of is looking into his eyes and seeing regret. Not looking is easier so I stare at Calvin who’s still on his knees in front of Colby.
My ears ring as a gun is fired and when I swing my head around I see Colm… on the ground. Lifeless.
Bullet to the head.
I’m so transfixed between the ringing in my ears and the blood that’s pooling around Colm’s lifeless body that I’m not prepared for the gun that’s digging into my temple a moment later.
“Let him go.” Nadia demands as she shoves it harder making me cry out. “Do it or I’ll shoot this pretty little thing.”
I try to look around carefully to find Syd, she should be out here by now.
“Don’t worry, she’s only knocked out temporarily. She didn’t even see it coming when I slammed her head into the side of the van.” She laughs and it sickens my stomach. Never in a million years did I think that Nadia would be in on this somehow.
Colby steps back and raises his gun in the air, bends over slowly and places it on the ground before kicking it away. Being helpless to what’s going on, he ends up on the ground with Calvin’s designer shoes landing swift kicks to his ribs.
“You wanna cross me?” Calvin spits on him. “You don’t mess with me and live to talk about it!”
I’m helpless to aid Colby and its killing me inside. Watching him take hits so hard he’s unable to catch his breath nearly brings me to my knees. Fuck, Nadia needs to slip up right fucking now.
“I’m the boss now and no way will two wannabe detectives mess with my plans. I’ve worked too hard, planned too fucking hard and sacrificed my own family to have this fall into place. I’ll take out anyone who gets in my motherfucking way.” He finally walks away from Colby and lights up a cigarette and locks his eyes on me.
“What?” My brain’s working a mile a minute trying to figure this all out. He lied to us, that’s plain to see. “Is that what this is? You used us to help get rid of Colm? We trusted you!”
“Don’t you know by now Briella? I don’t’ fucking care who you are, blood or not. You were a means to get what I wanted and Christ are you gullible believing everything I told you.” He starts chuckling and this whole situation is really starting to make my blood boil.
“Clearly, your brother’s dead a few feet away and you haven’t so much as looked at him.”
“He was nothing to me, just an obstacle to overcome.” He shakes his head and throws his cigarette to the ground. “This is what’s going to happen, Colby, be a man and get off the ground.” It takes him a minute but he manages to get to his feet while he holds his ribs.
“Grab that filth in the back of the van and follow me.” Calvin gestures towards where Syd is in the vehicle.
Colby nods his head then eyes me before leveling Nadia with a glare so full of hate I’d be trembling in fear if I were her.
“What’re you looking at Colby? Like what you see?” Christ, I’ve never wanted to punch someone so bad in my life.
“Of course he does, you’re sexy as fuck.” Calvin walks over to us, turns Nadia’s head towards him and shoves his tongue down her throat. Or so I’d assume from the slobbering sounds that make my stomach turn.
Classic mistake. I know this is my chance, it’s now or never.
As quick as can be, I duck my head and come up elbow first with a strike right into Nadia’s temple. She stumbles back catching Calvin off guard and I jump on top of him with my fists flying.
As the whore drags me off of Calvin and throws me to the ground, I look over and see Colby’s gun. I quickly snatch it, roll onto my back and aim the gun high at Nadia who’s about to come at me.
“Don’t fucking move. I’ll shoot!” I yell and she immediately puts her hands up in surrender.
Calvin steps up next to Nadia wiping the blood that’s dripping from his nose and putting him in the line of fire. “Now Bri, you don’t want to hurt the man that practically raised you.” Calvin’s shoulders shrug with arrogance. Does he really think the family card is going to work again?
“You don’t know what I want right now.” I hiss, each word dripping with venom. “Shut the hell up.”
There’s movement as I see Colby sneaking up behind Calvin. The look on Calvin’s face when Colby throws him into a headlock is priceless. “You thought you could pull a sly one on us motherfucker?” He must twist his arm hard because Calvin cries out in pain.
“Pussy.” Colby spits.
Our victory is short lived when the backdoor flies open and a swarm of guards come flying out armed with guns. Can’t anything go our freaking way?
“Don’t shoot or we’ll kill both of them!” Colby roars and I get to my feet, grab Nadia and plant the gun to her temple.
We’re at a standstill as we stare down the guards. Their guns trained on us, ours trained on Calvin and Nadia. As they jump into action we know the outcome is bleak, but we need to be smart about this and pray for the best.
I nail Nadia with my gun to daze her as we drag them to the side of the building. They won’t shoot us if we have their beloved boss… hang on, the way they’re ready to protect him makes me think they were in on the plan to get rid of Colm too. Sheisty fucking bastards. If they were in the dark, we’d be on the ground with Nadia and Calvin joining us.
“Fuck, we’re outnumbered.” Colby slams Calvin up against the brick building causing him to crumple to the ground hard.
“And don’t have extra rounds.” I mumble while peaking around the building seeing the oncoming fleet getting closer.
“I’d like to say we can take this to a ground fight… but we can’t disarm all of them. The odds of that happening are slim to none.”
We’re just two people against ten. Even with Syd by our side we wouldn’t stand a chance.
As they rush around the corner we figure our best bet is to hand the duo over. We’re quickly disarmed and thrown in the back of a different van a few moments later. I’m relieved to see Syd’s already in there, barely coherent.
“Colby, what’s the plan?” I whisper frantically. I can hear Calvin barking orders outside and know we don’t have much time to figure out our next move.
“They can’t get all the guards in here with them. I’m counting on it just being Calvin and Nadia. With the three of us, they’ll be outnumbered. We wait for an opportunity to arise and capitalize on it.”
I nod my head in agreement. “Jesus…” I look around then down at a Syd. “I’m sorry, this is all my fault.”
“No, don’t you dare do that Bri. We all trusted him.” He looks out the window then back to me. “Do anything necessary Bri. We will come out of this alive.”
I shake my head ready to argue, but the front doors open and the duo gets in. Nadia doesn’t stay in the front like I’d think. She jumps in the back and trains her gun on us.
“Watch the bumpy roads, I’d hate to shoot one of them by accident.”
“It’s not like it matters, they’ll all be dead by the end of the night anyways.” They both laugh and all I can think is how crazy they are. And how potentially fucked we are.
Then I remember our ear pieces. Hopefully when we get out of this area the team will be able to hear us and track us down. They’re not only communication devices, they double as GPS so they’ll be able to find our location as long as the reception comes back.
I look over and see Colby eyeing me. Subtly with my finger, I trace around my ear and give him a slight smile. He barely nods his head but its all the confirmation I need to know he understands.
Calvin isn’t driving, I guess that’s not a huge surprise giving his god-like outlook on himself. A juiced up guard gets in and fires up the van as we peel away from the docks. Okay, three on three isn’t horrible, we can still do this.
We need Syd to get her wits about her as soon as possible to have another person in our corner. I start wiping the blood from her forehead to try and jostle her awake and to keep her from losing anymore blood. Headwounds are such a pain in the ass.
“The bitch clocked me, didn’t she?” She asks grabbing her forehead and groaning in pain.
“This bitch still has a gun so you better watch your fucking mouth.” Nadia rasps evilly.
“Shit.” Syd sits up still holding her head. “Where are you taking us?”
“I guess there’s no harm in telling you seeing as it’ll probably be your final destination… ever.” She flashes her devilish grin. “We have a boat coming in at midnight and we’re all going to have a little meeting of the minds to figure out what we’re going to do with you. Or rather, I should say how we’re going to get rid of your bodies.”
“Give us whatever clues you have. The GPS isn’t back up yet.” Comes through my ear piece and I nearly cry out of relief. Thank fuck the communications back open.
“We’re going to the dock on the other side of the island, then what?”
She levels me with her icy stare. “You’re a nosey bitch, aren’t you? I’m bored with you, keep your mouth shut before I do it for you… permanently.” She laughs maniacally.
Syd’s hand drops onto my thigh, a clear warning to be careful. I take a deep breath and instead try to focus on the scenery flying past us. We’ve been driving for a while which is surprising. They must be taking us to the far side of the island we haven’t been to yet. Every so often I see Colby pretend to itch his foot, or itch his nose, blocking the view of his mouth. His lips move every time, barely a noise coming out. He must be telling Sky and Chantel what he’s seeing.
Once the vehicle stops, Colby catches my eye. No words need to be spoken… this is our chance. I exit the van at Nadia’s demand and make sure to act sluggish as I’m walking… biding my time, waiting for the signal. I didn’t count on Nadia making a move of her own as she pulls my hair, whirls me around and punches me at the corner of my mouth. The damage is done but she’s definitely not trained like I am. The bitch has me seeing red and I cannot wait to get a go at her.
“Know your place Bri. I hope you think twice before you decide to lay a hand on me again. But I do have a surprise for you.”
Fuck, this can’t be good. Every surprise has rocked my fucking world. Colby tries helping me off the ground but I shake him off. I will not give her the satisfaction of thinking I need help.
It’s dark and extremely difficult to see where we’re going. When we get closer, a flood light comes on and the boat comes into view. It’s huge and beat up, the rotting wood clear to see from where we stand. It looks almost like a pirate ship and there’s no way this boat has a chance of sailing away. Alarms start ringing in my head as to what this all means.
My eyes meet Sydney’s then Colby’s seeing the same uneasiness I’m feeling. I try going over all that’s happened in my head, searching for a clue to predict what’s about to go down. As recognition washes over Colby’s face, his eyes turn to slits and his jaw clenches before looking off to the side.
“Well, well, well. Look what we have here.”
“Fuck.” Colby barely gets out before the earsplitting crack of a gun goes off several times causing us to hit the deck. Colby’s body lies atop mine and Syd’s trying to protect us and a few moments later when they both start to move I breath a sigh of relief at not losing one of our own.
“You good?” Colby whispers to me and Syd.
“Just fine, if they didn’t shoot us…” I creep my head up as footsteps approach and that’s when I get a glimpse of two designer shoes in my peripherals. They stop briefly, kicking over the slumped body in its path revealing the bloody remains of Calvin with three gunshot wounds.
One to the chest.
One to the neck.
One between the eyes.
Damn, the mark of a trained killer. I’m pulled from my observations when the shoes step directly in front of me a few feet away.
“Briella, it’s so great to see you again.”
I grit my teeth and wisely bite my tongue to prevent saying something that’ll make matters worse. I practically taste blood in my mouth as I feel Colby’s hand in mine before I grab Syd’s and give them both a slight squeeze, knowing they’re with me. Knowing we’re not alone.
I look the murderer straight in the eyes not giving him the satisfaction of seeing fear in my own.
“Mayor Stephenson.”