All For You

Eleven

August

"He's on the move." Warner's voice crackles through my ear, snapping me out of my thoughts, out of my insanity. Just for now. "He's going towards the stage with the girl."

I start that way, maneuvering through the people who also seem to be heading there. What's going on? Is Volodya going to do something?

I stop a few metres away from the stage Volodya is now standing on, the girl by his side, pretending to be one of the guests who knows what's about to happen.

Is he going to make a toast now or something? Tell everyone he just got sucked off by the girl clinging to him?

"Ladies, gentlemen," he yells, his voice loud enough to be heard throughout the room without a microphone, "as you all know, tonight is a very special night for all of us. The thirtieth anniversary of our business, the day it all started thirty years ago, will be here in just thirty minutes!"

"What is this guy talking about?" Nick whispers, and I spot him a few metres from me.

He spots me, too, and gives me a confused look, his eyebrows furrowed. I shake my head once and look down at my watch.

There's a half hour until midnight. I guess the thirtieth anniversary of their fucked up organ trafficking organisation is tomorrow, then.

"To celebrate such a special time, I've brought to you all a very special guest!" Volodya pushes the girl next to him forward, and she stumbles, surprised. She looks back at him, confused and embarrassed, wanting answers. He just smiles at her as somebody comes up to him and hands him a long knife. The girl takes a step back, scared now. "Don't worry, sweetheart. I'll keep this nice and short, just for you."

He grabs her arm before she can run, pulling her back to him. She screams and tries to fight him off, but all he has to do is put the knife to her throat and she's frozen in place, trembling and staring down at it in fear.

"Fucking hell," Warner mumbles, no doubt watching this whole thing play out from somewhere in the crowd.

"We have to stop this," Elijah says, his voice shaking. I look around frantically, hoping to spot and then stop him. I notice Nick doing the same, and when we can't find him, we look at each other, concerned.

"Elijah, don't. You'll just get yourself and the rest of us killed," Nick mutters quickly, trying his best not to look suspicious while whispering to himself and touching his ear.

"There's nothing we can do," I agree, looking down. This is fucking sick, and I wish as much as the rest of us that I could stop it, but we can't. We can't risk our lives for a girl we don't know, as horrible as it is having to watch her be murdered.

There's nothing we can do. Not unless we want to die in her place.

"I can't just watch them kill her," Elijah mutters, his voice cracking, and not because of the shitty earpieces.

"Then look away, Elijah," Reid says, his voice low. "Leave the room. That's an order."

"Dad," Elijah begs, probably looking around to try and find him. Hoping to plead with his eyes. His desperation that I'm sure is etched into his expression.

"Now, Elijah," Reid orders, his voice strong and stern. Elijah doesn't say anything back, so I assume he listened. That or he's ignoring us and making his way to the front right now.

But he's not that stupid, as good as his heart may be. He knows there's nothing we can do for her as well as the rest of us. It hurts, but it's just the way things are.

We're not here to be heroes for girls we don't know.

We're not here to be heroes at all.

"I've spent the last few weeks perfecting my butchering skills just for tonight, and my best time so far has been twenty-five minutes to finish the whole process," Volodya exclaims, smiling wide, pulling the girl over to a table that's been set up with chains and various torture tools. "Tonight I'm going to gift you all with a live view of my skills, using this beautiful subject as my muse! Gather round, gather round."