The dark ally
It was dark in the office except for the laptop screen on top of the coffee table in the corner. The watch on the wall read 01:15. They should be calling him right by now, but that's ok, the more time it takes, the more fun it'll be.
With that thought in his head, Leo walked closer to the wall-sized window and took out his coat, which was thrown carelessly on the chair. He calmly ran his hand through his hair, looking at his phone, waiting for it to ring. He had waited this night for so long, and he really needed it. He then turned to his chair and sat down, tilting his head on his left hand while he held his phone with the other.
After a few minutes, the phone finally rang.
“We are ready,” said Julian.
“I’m coming,” he replied, standing up and walking again to the window.
“Just don’t be late,” said Julian with a sigh, “you know the guys”.
Leo hung up the phone and placed it back in his jacket. he took a deep breath and smiled. He turned around and looked at his knife on top of some magazines thrown on top of his desk.
“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” He said, moving his thumb on a sculpted moth on the handle of the knife, “but it’s ok now”.
He gently placed the knife between his back and his belt and walked out of his office to the elevator.
On his way out, he looked around between the well-organized cubicles and the colorful walls of his office. No one was here but him. Of course, he’s alone; it was almost dawn. When he got to the elevator, he heard some noise behind him.
“It’s been a while since we've seen that smile,” a female voice came out of the darkness behind him.
“A beauty like you shouldn’t hide in the dark,” he said calmly and looked back when the sound of her heels got closer.
It was Lily, his office manager. When she walked closer to him, she pushed her hair back and, with her light brown eyes, curiously scanned him with a frown.
“Isn’t it kind of late for you to stay here?” He asked, smiling.
She approached him, locking her eyes with his.
“Well, if it wasn’t for my hard work, your magazine would not have stood this far in the fashion world now, would it, Mr. Marius?” she stated, crossing her arms.
“Lily,” he smiled back at her and looked back at the elevator door “I’m just worried that your husband may get upset if his beautiful wife stays this late at work”
“As long as you still pay me that huge money, you won’t hear him complain at all.”
The elevator showed up and they both got in.
“So what's with the grin?” she asked, facing him.
He looked into her eyes with the same smile he always showed her.
“I always keep forgetting how beautiful your eyes are!” he said, facing her as well.
“It’s ok,” she said, “but I hope that you didn’t forget that your charm doesn’t always work”.
“Heh... yeah, that too,” he laughed and looked at the little screen on top of the elevator door, silently begging it to go faster.
“So???” she asked again, but fortunately for him, the elevator reached the parking floor, and he practically ran out of there.
“Do you need a ride?” he asked, looking at her unique-shaped necklace, which she always played with. “A boss has to take care of his employee, right?”
“Aren’t you the best boss ever!” she laughed coldly "but no thanks I'm covered"
“Ok then, good night,” he said with a warm smile.
He walked to his car at the end of the parking floor. He could feel her eyes on him all the way. He opened the door and got inside. He turned the engine on and untied his tie a little bit loose. As he drove off, he looked at the mirror, and she was still standing looking at him. He took a deep breath and smiled, shaking his head.
After a half-hour drive, the car stopped next to a dark, almost destroyed building by the docks. Leo got out of his car and walked towards a few men standing on the side of the road.
“You’re late," said Eugene, leaning on his car with his hand in his pockets.
“I’m here now,” answered Leo, looking to the building behind him. “What’s with the shorts?” he asked, looking at Eugene’s SpongeBob-printed shorts.
“What?” said Eugene, looking to the boys, “who doesn’t like SpongeBob?” but no one bothered to even look at him. “You freaks!” he whispered, annoyed.
Another guy, Zack, approached Leo, holding a gun. And behind him stood two other men, either fixing their guns or retying their shoes. Leo looked to the side and saw an unconscious man in Eugene’s car, it was the pizza delivery guy.
Leo stood by Julian and started to check his gun when he lifted his head, his eyes met pale green eyes looking back at him eagerly, apparently, he wasn’t the only one who was excited for tonight.
“Where are they ?” asked Leo.
“Inside,” answered Zack, pointing to the building behind them, “they just got in”.
“Well, gentlemen, let’s go,” said Leo, walking through the dark alley heading to the back of the building.
One of the boys reached the box that was fixed to the side of a big metal door and pushed the button.
“Who is it?” a rough voice came through the speakers.
“Pizza guy,” said Elay, scratching his head with his gun.
“Well, about time you asshole!” yelled the man while opening the door. “And by the way, don’t expect any tip, ok”.
Once the door reached the height of the boys, Leo pointed the gun at the man’s knee and said, “I won’t,” and he pulled the trigger.
The man hit the ground screaming in pain, which brought the attention of the other men inside.
The fire started, and everyone was shooting bullets at each other while hiding under some tables and behind walls.
“Cover me!” screamed Leo, and He pulled his knife from his back.
Under the rain of fire, he run inside of the warehouse and hid behind a big wooden box, he took a look at the place and quickly jumped at some man and shoved the knife on his chest stabbing him 5 times in a row, then he looked back to one of the boys that shot someone on the eye which made him fall twirling from the pain.
While the rain of bullets continued, half of the men inside the warehouse were dead, except one man who was hiding in the back behind a car.
“Who the hell are you?” screamed the man terrified.
He kept screaming towards them, but no one bothered to answer, so he got angrier and ran out of his hiding, shooting bullets everywhere in his sight until he emptied it in the air. He stood in the middle of the place with blood all over his white shirt, shaking and out of breath. When the boys noticed that he had emptied his gun and run out of ammo, they got out of the shadows into the light. 6 men stood in the middle of the room with guns and blood on their hands and clothes. The man kept looking at them with both fear and confusion written all over his greasy, fat face. He backed down two steps while muttering some words that were barely understood.
“Who the hell are you and what the hell do you want?” he asked while still shaking, but Zachery walked towards him with a smirk on his face.
“If I were you, I would be careful with my next words,” he said while heading to a table full of money and packs of drugs. “Who knows... it could be your last,” and he winked at him.
“D... d... don’t you know who this belongs to?” the man asked again, trying his best not to let them see how scared he was.
Leo stepped closer to him and took a long, deep breath, then he looked at him with his cold gray eyes and said, “I don’t care,” and blew the man’s head with a bullet that got through his skull and hit the wall behind them.
“Zackary!” said Leo, kneeling over the guy’s body.
“I wasn’t going to take anything!” said Zackary, lifting his hand in the air.
“Elay if you don’t mind, please...” said Leo while whiping his knife.
The blond boy ran to where Zackary’s standing and shoved his hand in Zack’s pockets, pulling out a bag of cocaine and throwing it back on the table.
“You suck at this,” laughed Elay, pushing him away from the table.
“And you just sucks, you know that, right?” Said Zackary with an angry look on his face.
“But you love me still,” answered Elay, pushing Zackary even further from the table while another man from behind pulls a paint spry and starts painting something on the wall.
“I’ve always wanted to ask you about this,” said Julian, crossing his hands against his chest, watching Maylo paint on the wall. “I mean, what’s the point of this?”.
“So they know that we were here,” answered Maylo while he kept painting "and so no one would claim the credit for what we do"
“I got blood on my shorts!” whined Eujine, looking to Julian, who walked past him to the table with a smile on his face like a boy who had found his hidden Christmas gift.
“At least we won’t leave empty-handed” he said while reaching for the bag full of money.
“What about the cocaine?” Zackary complained.
“You stay away from that,” said Leo, “let’s go, I smell cops”.
“Ouch! That’s kind of offensive,” said Julian, putting his hand on his chest. “Do we smell??”
“No, not you,” said Elay, throwing his arm around Julian’s shoulders, taking the bag from his hand, and throwing it back on the table, “you smell like fresh-baked cookies, which is weird ”.
While heading outside after cleaning their traces, Maylo turns to the warehouse and pulls his gun out. He points it at the light in the middle of the ceiling and pulls the trigger, bringing darkness to the place. With one hand, he closed the door like nothing had happened.
