Day 175 - Plans Collapse

 Plans Collapse

 Matthew Ryan Fischer

 

Something had felt wrong at the beginning of the night. Joon and some of the other girls were too happy. Vik had seen them fake it before when the party called for excitement, but this was different. There was a nervous energy in the air and the girls actually seemed eager with anticipation. He didn’t know what it was, but certainly didn’t expect what was to come. Vik had seen Rikard earlier with a man at the bar, but now were missing, lost somewhere in the chaos.

The men with the guns burst in and there was suddenly smoke everywhere. Someone had set a fire in a back room and now men and women were running for their lives. At first Vik thought about the night at Club B, but this was different. This seemed planned, but it was unclear who was behind the attack. Joon and the girls were gone. Rikard was gone. Vik got a sick feeling as he realized what was happening. His brother had stabbed him in the back and was either an idiot or a fool.

Vik needed to get out of the building alive. He could worry about the rest later. Then the thought occurred that this might not be an isolated attack. All the girls across town, the hotel, his bosses. It could be one sweeping move from a rival and Rikard had left him here to die.

Vik pushed past some of the other drivers. There were men on the floor, bleeding, dead. Others were tripping over themselves to get out. Vik punched a man in the face and threw him aside, no idea who he was.

As Vik exited a back door to the building he saw a gunman in the back alley, leading some of the prostitutes towards a waiting van. Vik got in a brawl with the masked gunman. He was a good fighter, but seemed hesitant, not wanting to engage Vik. Vik wrestled him to the ground and pulled the mask off to discover it was Rikard. Both men stated at each other.

“I’m so sorry.”

“God damn you. God damn it. Get out of here. Run.”

“Vik, I’m sorry, I’m--”

“Run!”

Rikard ran off into the night.

Vik looked towards the front of the building and saw Joon running with another gunman. He took off after them and tackled the man.

Joon began to scream and hit Vik. He threw her off and hit the man again to make sure he was down. Then he turned to see Joon running down the street. Vik chased her down and grabbed her arms. She cried and struggled and tried to get away, but Vik was stronger. He used a zip tie to bind her hands and pushed her towards his car.

“You’re an idiot.”

“Maybe. But that was my chance.”

“You’ll get all the other girls killed.”

“We were going to be free.”

Vik pushed her into the car and slammed the door shut. He leaned against the car, took a deep breath, frustrated. He still had to check on the bosses and deal with Rikard. It would be a long night.