Octagon Project 3: Zachary McHall

~-14-~

The broad, muscular, Samoan man wearing a thick grey hoodie looked shocked as he watched Zack step out of the car and tiredly run his hands over his face like he didn't care where he was.

"Foxx," Rocker acknowledged as the man crossed his arms and leaned his back against the slick black four door jeep behind him.

"This the newbie you were mentioning?" He asked, eyeing Zack observantly.

"Shadow, this is Foxx. Best tradesman in the underground."

"Bah, you flatter me Rocker," Foxx waved an arm in the air before shaking Zack's hand with a fiercely tight grip that just about shook Zack into wakefulness. "I'm not the best, I'm just the most compliant." He told Zack with dry humor.

"Well that's good to know." Zack released a withheld breath. Eyeing Zack one more time, Foxx reached through the open passenger window and handed Mel a thick envelope.

"It's all the legal stuff you need for the car and a new license plate. You'll wanna swap out the original one since the police probably have it on file by now. All that in your hands should be enough to pass through a trade dealership."

"Thanks so much." Mel gave a sigh of relief and handed it to Rocker who went over to the car to replace the plate. Foxx walked around his jeep, opened the trunk, and pulled back a cover slip- revealing perfectly organized levels of weapons.

"Take your pick. Only a hundred for the handguns."

"And the 3inch blade?" Mel asked, pointing to a shiny, well crafted, double edged blade with a leather grip.

"Seventy five."

"Perfect." Mel counted her cash and handed it to him and took her selected weapons before walking over to check on Rocker.

"I didn't think you'd get this deep." Foxx grumbled as he watched Zack look over the weapon selection.

"You know me better than that." Zack muttered as he picked up a side arm and admired it before putting it back in it's place.

"You shouldn't have come here Zack." He straightened himself as he crossed his arms. "You're only putting everyone else around you in danger."

"It's interesting that you think I don't know that." Zack observed one of the smaller knives in the bunch and slowly set it down as another car came down from the opposite side they had parked. Mel and Rocker shared a glance as they slowly began to make they're way back over; Rocker clutching the mini screwdriver he had in hand.

"I wouldn't come any closer if I were you!" A voice called out as a tall man in a black suit with a light blue tie stepped out of the passenger's seat and took off his dark shades. Zack glanced back at where Mel and Rocker froze in their spots warily. "Things might get messy." The man said more quietly as he let a cruel smile cross his face. Zack hastily reached for one of the guns but was immediately restricted as two burly men in black yanked his arms back forcefully and knocked him to his knees.

"What do you want?" Zack growled darkly.

"It doesn't matter what I want." He replied. "He wants the information."

"I don't have it." Zack spat.

"We both know that's not true." The man crouched to Zack's level to look him in the eyes.

"Shadow!" Mel screamed from behind him where Rocker was holding her back with large eyes. They needed to be very careful on how they dealt with this situation.

"Get in the car and go!" Zack barked bitterly, turning his head as far as he could to look at them out of the corner of his eye.

"Wha-"