Chapter Twenty-Five

Mitchell opened the door to his house and saw Sarah and Maxine standing at the kitchen counter. Heath, Carlos, and Colton walked in behind him and an awkward silence filled the room. Mitchell was still holding his shoulder and flopped down onto the couch while Sarah walked over to him.

"What happened?" Sarah asked.

"It was after you guys got away. I'm fine." Mitchell said waving her away. She walked back over to Maxine who was sitting on a stool. She had been staring at her phone waiting for Alex to contact her but nothing had come yet.

"He shouldn't be gone this long." Maxine said.

"Did anyone bite the bullet?" Colton asked as he stared out the front window, holding a pistol in his hand. Everyone looked at him with angry or annoyed looks and he shrugged. "Don't give me those looks. We need the numbers."

"Anyone talk to Leo?" Mitchell asked.

"I haven't seen him since the apartment." Sarah answered.

"Alex and Catherine?" Carlos asked as he walked over to the two girls.

"Catherine decided to leave, and Alex took her to her apartment. But he hasn't gotten back to either of us since then." Maxine said as she slammed her phone down on the counter. Carlos looked Sarah in the eyes and raised an eyebrow.

"Good to see you're okay." Carlos said to her.

"Save the flirting until all this is over." Sarah said, smiling at him. Heath and Mitchell continued to sit on the couch, both feeling beaten up. However, Mitchell had been coming up with ideas that whole time while everyone was talking. He could hear chit chat from Heath, Carlos, and Sarah but it didn't register in his head. Instead he formulated a plan.

"Okay, you two, get the hell out." Mitchell said, standing up from the couch. He had pointed at Carlos and Sarah and both looked at each other in confusion.

"Why us?" Carlos asked.

"'Cause I don't want her involved in this, and I believe she'll only leave with you." Mitchell said. "Now both of you get out of the city."

"What about you?" Sarah asked him.

"I'll call you when it's all over. So you know I'm fine." Mitchell said. Sarah hesitated before nodding at him, grabbing her cell phone, and leaving the house with Carlos.

"What's the plan?" Heath asked, standing up now and walking over to the kitchen counter where Mitchell now was. Mitchell looked at Colton who was still staring out the window.

"Tell me everything you know about this fucker we are dealing with." Mitchell said, causing Colton to look at him.

Alex walked into a large building that had a small lobby with two long corridors extending from either side. In the middle of the lobby was a lad sitting behind a desk, typing away at a computer. Alex continued to walk as she looked up at him and began to feel worried.

Alex looked like complete shit. His brown hair had been dirty and greasy. His beard had started growing since he hadn't had the time to shave, and his clothes and blood and dirt stains dirtying them up.

He stood in the middle of the lobby looking down both corridors as the woman spoke up. "Can I help you sir?"

"No I think I have it handle." Alex said as he took a right and began to speed walk down the hall.

"Security!" the woman yelled out as two large men appeared from out of nowhere behind Alex. He turned his head and then started sprinting toward the end of the corridor and saw a large wooden door. Alex ran right into the door, shoving it open and he tumbled into the room, falling onto the ground.

"It's fine. I'll handle it." a voice said above Alex. He heard the two security guards walk away and Alex looked up to see a man nearly as disheveled as him. He had stubble growing on his face and his eyes seemed to pop out of his head. Bags hung from under his eye and his suit was unbuttoned on the first couple of buttons. His tie had been pulled loose and the man just seemed to be losing it.

He stuck his hand out for Alex to use to stand up, but he just pushed it away. Alex then lifted himself up and was standing nearly nose to nose with the man who smiled at him.

"So you're the kid who thinks he's hot shit." Mayor Paul Madden said as he looked Alex up and down. Alex stared right back at him and blew air out of his nose.

"So you're the guy who thinks he can fuck up my life." Alex said.

"What do you want kid?" Paul asked with a smirk.

"I want you to just stop there is no reason to keep pushing. We've escaped all of your murder attempts." Alex said.

"Not everyone escaped though right? Jesse died didn't he? Lil Mikey was killed. And then there's Alexander Wells. And your friend… what was his name? Chris right?" Paul asked sarcastically.

"Don't say his name you piece of shit." Alex said in a low angry tone. Paul smiled yet again and raised his hands in the air.

"Calm down their son. No need to be so hostile." Paul said. Alex looked down and didn't even realize that he had grabbed Paul's shirt with both of his hands. He let go and Paul smoothed out his shirt. "Listen to me. You can come in here and make threats all you want, but at the end of the day, I'm in charge. Now if I were you kid, I'd just give up. Because if you don't you're gonna watch all those people die while I hold you down. I won't let you die without seeing their faces before and after death."

"Fuck you." Alex said.

"Yeah act tough kid. We all know who the big bad guy is here. I'm not scared of you, in fact I think it's cute. The old drugged up kid thinks he can turn his life around and stop one of the biggest crime scandals in history." Paul said as he walked away from Alex and sat behind his desk and leaned back in his chair.

"I can't wait to see you defeated." Alex said. Paul let out a loud obnoxious laugh right after hearing that statement and shook his head.

"That's hilarious you know that?" Paul asked. "You think you can beat me? Kid, you're better off thinking that girl of yours will stick around for good. That's more likely than you beating me."

Alex stared at Paul and felt the anger build up in him as Paul smiled and looked down at his desk. Alex reached behind him and slowly began to lift up his shirt, revealing a switchblade he had kept in his back pocket.

"Yo dog you called?" Rory asked as he walked up to Tank who was leaning against the hood of his car. Tank quickly wiped his face and hid the pistol he was holding in his hand.

"Yeah man we gotta talk." Tank said as he continued to stare out at the sun. The two were on the beach and the sun was starting to set. Tank had come right here after talking with Paul and had been thinking of what to tell his best friend, but nothing came to mind.

"What about nigga?" Rory asked as he stayed in his spot. Tank sighed and turned to him, slyly hiding the pistol behind his back.

"You know you my nigga right?" Tank asked.

"Yeah of course." Rory said.

"Man, we been rollin' together for a while now. I just wanted you to know I could've never asked for a better hom… a better friend and brother than you Rory." Tank said. "You've had my back and I never really repaid the favor to you."

"Man, you soundin' mad fruity right now." Rory said with a laugh. "The fuck is goin' on?"

"I have to do something I'm not proud of. But I have to do it to survive in this world. I don't doubt you would do the same brotha." Tank said he walked up to Rory and pulled him in for a hug and Rory had a confused look wash over his face. He patted Tank's back and immediately felt a sharp pain go through his stomach as a gunshot went off.

Tank backed away, holding the pistol in his hand. Rory clutched his stomach as blood began to cover his shirt. Tank's eyes filled with tears as he shook his head.

"Sleep easy my nigga." Tank said as Rory fell to his knees. Tank got into his car and left the area as Rory stayed their down holding his stomach.

"No… no… not like this." Rory muttered to himself. He forced himself to stand up, sending shockwaves of pain through his body. He then began to slowly walk towards the cul de sac, each step bringing him more pain.

Catherine threw her key ring into a bowl and immediately walked to her room and began to pack things. She quickly started to pack whatever she could, knowing she didn't have a lot of time since no one was safe. She walked into the bathroom and began to grab things. She immediately stopped when she thought she heard someone come into her house but she waved it off.

Catherine then grabbed her bag and began to walk out of her room and towards the front door but was grabbed from behind and thrown to the ground. Her head began to throb as she looked up and saw Donny standing there, aiming a gun at her.

"You thought it would be that easy?" Donny asked.

"No." Catherine answered. She quickly grabbed Donny's leg and elbowed him in the back of the knee. He lost his balance and started to fall while Catherine picked herself up. She tried to grab the gun from Donny but he backhanded her across the face causing Catherine to hobble backwards.

"I'm not gonna regret doing this." Donny said as he ran at Catherine and tackled her into a chair, that fell over and he was on top of her. He wrapped his hands around her neck and began to squeeze as Donny stared down at her.

"At least you'll see Alexander." Donny said as he began to apply more pressure, causing Catherine to kick her feet around.