Unity Among Thieves

Prologue (L.R.)

Logan Roses' P.O.V

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!

My alarm goes off, breaking the silence of my room. I quickly tap the snooze button on my phone and look across the room. I notice Tony is still asleep. I never thought I'd be glad of having a brother that sleeps like a bear in the winter. I slowly get off my bed and put on my blue hoodie. I place my phone in one of my pockets, and the sound of a message come loudly out of it.

"I'll take it..." Tony mumbles out in his sleep. He moves sporadically on his bed for a few seconds, then stops and resumes his deep slumber. 

I walk back towards my bed and reach for a box under my bed. I slide it out as quietly as possible and open it. My  9mm Glock pistol with its magazine still in place. I hide the gun carefully in my hoodie and walk out of my room. I check the message that I had received.

It reads : We waiting 4 u at the alleyway. the deal gonna happen in 2 hrs.

Damn it. Something's wrong. Why would the deal be delayed? I shouldn't do this. 

I exit my house and walk around the neighborhood. Few people are outside of their homes so early in the morning. A man stands at the end of the alleyway a few blocks from my house. A tall Hispanic man leans heavily on the graffiti covered wall while smoking. A shorter, slightly overweight man stares blankly at across the street, thinking about something.

"Logan!" The tall man screams across the street. "What took you so long? Get yo' ass over here! Don't disrespect Crawley, dog."

I walk towards the men and notice a younger man leaning on a car in the middle of the alleyway. 

As soon as I get close, Crawley throws away his cigarette and puts out his fist towards me and gives me a fist bump.

"Logan, my man! What's cracking dude?" The man leaning on the car says with an energetic tone.

"Nothing new, Dave. Ready to get some cash in my pockets." I reply.

This is not only a few bucks, man." Crawley interjects, his voice now sounds annoyed. "We are getting the gang a place in this fuckin' city. We will get some respect, man."

"Yeah, sure." I reply. "But ya know what gets me going, man. Give me some paper and I'll get you to the top."

Crawley laughs. "Isn't that what gets us all going?"

Dave walks towards Brian and gives him a nudge. "Ain't you gonna say hi to Logan over here?"

Brian finally breaks his stare and looks at me. "'Sup, Logan. How's it goin'?"

"Been good, Brian." I say awkwardly. "Y'all ready for the deal?"

"We all ready." Crawley says. "In about two hours we'll be the kings of these streets."

"And... we'll get some paper?" I ask.

Crawley sighs. "Yeah, yeah. We'll get some money off of that."

Dave pulls out a box of cigarettes and offers me one. "Want one, Logan?"

I deny. "Nah, thanks."

Dave shrugs and lights up his cigarette. "And now, we wait." He says as he lets out a cloud of smoke.

Two Hours Later

We arrive at the desolate parking lot a couple streets away from our neighborhood. A feeling of dread invades me, but it's too late to turn back. I can see a yellow Sedan parked ahead, with two men standing at the back of the car, one of them holding a briefcase. We should be able to take them out in case anything goes wrong - which it will. 

Brian parks the on the opposite side of the parking lot.

"You guys go do the deal. I'll be waiting here with the engine running in case we have to get the fuck out of here fast." Brian says.

Crawley, Dave and I exit the car and walk towards the two men. A tall man with a scar on his cheek holds the briefcase. The other stands with his eyes fixed on us and his hands in his pockets. 

"Sup there, men." The man holding the briefcase says. "You got the drugs?"

"Yeah, man." Crawley says. "We got the drugs in the car."

The two men look at each other and grin. 

"Good, we'll be taking the drugs right away." The man with the briefcase says with a sinister tone.

The other man raises his hands and signals someone. A gunshot can be heard from somewhere in the street. Dave's head snaps back violently and falls to the ground. Blood quickly spills from the side of his head. Crawley and I quickly draw our guns to shoot the men in front of us, but Crawley is shot in the back. I turn around and see Brian with his gun drawn.

"Logan, don't even think about pulling that gun out." Brian says with a menacing look.

"Why?" I ask. "Why did you do this? Why did you betray us?"

Brian's face is filled with sorrow. "I had to, Logan. They threatened to kill my family. They paid me to kill you, and your brother."

My brother. "What?" My words seem to be slower.

"They paid me - us, to kill your brother. And... to kill you." The man with the briefcase says.

I quickly draw my pistol and fire repeatedly at Brian. His body shakes violently and blood spills out from the bullet holes in his head and chest. One of the men behind me knocks me down to the ground and kicks me several times. The taste of blood fills my taste buds.

"Oh, man. Why would you do that?" The man with the scar asks. "Now we'll have to clean up even more blood."

The other man grabs his gun and aims at my head. He pulls the trigger, and everything around me goes dark.

After what feels like years, I can finally see a very bright shade of white surrounding me. I stand up and look around. There's nothing. Just a solid white covering everything that the eye can see. Where am I? What happened? Where's... where's Tony?