All I Need is a Little Time

Chapter Six

I wake up around four in the morning. I'm still tired as fuck, it's dark out, and so I try to sleep more.

'BOOM!'

The thunder clap makes me jump up, heart racing. I look towards the window that is covered by curtains. I get up and stand by the window, moving the curtains back so I can see the nice patio out back. Lightning flashes and I close my eyes. I open them again and look around. It's down pouring like crazy. Definitely gonna have some big puddles out there in the morning. I look towards the big oak tree which looks like it's going to snap anytime. Then I see something... Someone. It looks like...

Stephen? I can't be sure because lightning flashes again and when it clears the person is gone. What the hell am I thinking? Stephen hates big storms. It's a secret, but he's always been a big sissy when it comes to thunder. I breathe out a little laugh at the thought.

     I get dressed *picture at top*, preparing to be ready to leave in two hours.  It takes me fifteen minutes to get ready usually, but there's no sense in staying in my pajamas if I'm not sleeping.  I pack up my duffle bag and make sure I have everything I need.  I put on a dark blue hoodie as an after thought.

The sound of a door closing gets my attention and I snap my head towards the sound. I walk towards my door and open it slightly, seeing a male figure walk down the steps. I grab my room key and close the door quietly behind me.  I shadow step behind him and follow him into the rain, pulling up my hood.

     Lightning flashes and I recognize the figure to be Stephen.  Why the hell is he out here?  Why the hell was he in my hotel?

     We walk for two blocks before he turns down an alley.  I question whether or not to follow, and while everything in me says not to, I'm really curious as to what he's doing here.  I follow him down the alley, and put my back against a brick wall on my right.  There's a stack of boxes in front of me so I peer around the corner.  I see Stephen knock on the door and and a ray of light shines into the alley.  He murmurs something to the person inside and goes in.  A bald man with a mustache peers out.  I gasp and hide behind the boxes, back against them.  I hear the door close, and peer out from behind the boxes.

     "Oi!  What the hell are you doing here!?" A voice shouts from behind me, a British male.

     I react on instinct and roundhouse kick the man, who doesn't get back up.  Now, how the hell do I get into this building?  I notice a garage-like door that is open just a small bit on the side of the building facing the street.

     I army crawl into the garage and hear distant voices talking.  I see a crow bar sticking out from under a tarp.  I grab it, and not meaning to, drag it across the cement floor.  The voices stop, then I hear footsteps running my way.  I hide under a shelf on my left that has a tarp hanging in front of it, and watch as a pair of feet stop in front of my hiding spot.  The tarp starts to lift.  Oh God, oh God, oh God.

     Before I know what I'm doing, I swing the crowbar into the man's calf, hurriedly crawl out and whack him again in the neck.  He falls back, in a coma if not dead.

     "Hey!  You shouldn't be here!"  Another man's voice says.

     I turn around and see the British man from earlier.  He runs at me and I swing the crow bar again.  I feel something warm splatter on my face. Ewwwwww blood.  The man falls down and I continue my search for Stephen.  I walk to what I assume is the front of the warehouse and find a weak wooden door.  I kick it in and am greeted with a two way hall.  I hear voices coming from the left, so I start there.  As I walk down, I see a door close.  From there I hear scared voices coming from the room and a gunshot, then screams.  I run and kick the door in and find a small child dead on the floor and a tall man standing with a gun pointed at two other people, Mexican in aesthetics, around teen years.  The man turns around to look at me and shouts something in German and aims the gun at me.  I whack him with the crowbar in the ribs, which knocks him off balance, and he shoots the gun at the ceiling as he falls into a flimsy shelf behind him, papers and cardboard boxes falling on top of him.  I use his distraction to whack him in the head.  More blood splatters on my jeans and I grab his gun.  All this time the Mexicans are crying and saying things in Spanish.

     "¡Silencio!" I shout, and they quiet down to whimpers.  I bend down to the child, take out the ribbon in my hair and untie it so it's like a blind fold.  I pick him up and carry him to the others.  I set him in their arms and cover his still-open eyes.  I then leave with my crowbar stuck through a belt loop and gun in hand.  I put my back against the wall outside the room and pop the magazine out of the gun and count how many rounds I have.  I pop it back in and put a round in the chamber.

     I walk down the hall and make my way towards another door that is halfway open.  A lantern sits on a table in the middle of the room and packs of a white substance are stacked onto it.  I see a circle of men standing around a briefcase.  I slide into the room, careful not to hit the door.  I eavesdrop on the conversation.

     "This is the five million dollars for the cocaine," a man says.

     Oh my God.  Cocaine?

     "Thank you, I will take that now," I hear Stephen say, with a German accent.  I would've never guessed.

     "Ah, ah, ah.  Not till I have what I came for," the man with the cash says, holding a briefcase arms length away from Stephen.

     Another man grabs the briefcase and kicks the other man to the floor.

     "Do you think I would honestly give you ten thousand pounds of cocaine for only five million?" Stephen says, pulling out a gun and aiming it towards the cash man's head.  He fires.

     The floor creaks under my feet and I hold my breath, quickly dodging out of the room and running down the hall.  There are foot steps behind me and I run into the room with the Mexicans again and run through another doorway inside the room.  There is a ladder at the end of this hall way and I climb up it.  I lose my gun on the way up, and I finally reach the top of the ladder and find myself in a room with more boxes.  I take out my crowbar and hide behind one of the stacks.  I hear a single set of footsteps coming closer.

     "Come on out, Cierre,"  Stephen says, still in the German accent.  His footsteps are like the second hand of a clock as he speaks.  One gunshot.  I jump.  "I will find you." Another gunshot.  His footsteps get louder.

     Fuck, fuck, fuck!  I hope I get out of this alive.  I grip the crowbar harder.

     "Cierre," he purrs, drawing my name out, "I know you're here.  Why don't you make this easy and show yourself?"  His footsteps stop on my right.

     Now or never.  I stand up and swing my crowbar at him, hitting him in the gut, causing him to lose his grip on his gun and bend over in pain.  I grab his gun and back up a few yards.

     "You little bitch!" He yells, grabbing my crowbar and running at me.  He hits me in the knee and I hear a sickening pop.  Pain shoots up my leg and I aim the gun at him as I fall, firing and landing on the floor.  Stephen lands on top of me, blood pouring out his mouth.  I push him off of me and try to get up.  I see a metal pole laying on the ground and reach for it.  I use it to gain leverage to stand up.  I hear voices coming up the ladder and look for a way to escape.  There's a window at the end of the attic.  I grab the crowbar and whack the window to pieces.  I find a fire escape a floor down.

     This is going to hurt like a bitch, but it's better than dying.

     I jump, leaving the metal pole inside.  I land on my bad leg and cry out.  Fuuuuuuuck!!!  My phone rings and I take it out.

     "Cierre!  Where are you?!"  Andy's voice yells.

     "Andy-" I start.

     "There's been gunshots down the street, are you okay?!" He yells, sounding pissed but worried.  I hear Ashley freaking out in the background.

     "Andy shut the fuck up!"  I shout, "No, I'm not okay.  I need you to come get me at..." I look at the wall of the building, where 'SILVER CLIFF HOTEL' is written in huge letters, "Silver Cliff Hotel two blocks down."  I hang up and wait for what seems like forever.  Then the tour bus shows up and Ashley comes running out.

     "Cierre!  Where are you?!?!?" He yells.

     "In the second floor fire escape!" I say, turning on my phone's flashlight and waving it around.  I hear footsteps running up the fire escape.

     "Oh my God Cierre!"  Ashley yells.

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Haha!  Cliff hanger because I'm evil!