Retribution

Chapter Sixteen

As I attended to Mrs. Noble, I heard whispers and feet shuffling behind me. I knew I was stepping out of line, and if Boss caught me. . .well, the end results would not be pretty. I heard the door fling open, so I backed away from Mrs. Noble as fast as I could.

"What do you think you're doing?" Casey, one of the more recent recruits, demanded.

"I just--"

"Save it!" She shoved me out of the way and grabbed Mrs. Noble roughly. "Boss has a visitor for you."

I opened my mouth to protest, but promptly closed it. What could I do? There was nothing I could say to change her mind. I was going to follow after her, but Josh grabbed my shoulder.

"Vanessa, I don't think you should go out there," Josh murmured.

"I have to."

"This isn't your fight."

"It is now."

Casey and Mrs. Noble were already out of the room.

"Promise me one thing," Josh said, "don't. . .die."

"I don't make promises I can't keep."

With that, I went into the hallway. I heard Boss' booming laughter, along with him shouting something. It sounded like he was in the cafeteria. Along with. . .somebody else? Sounded like a woman. When I recognized the voice, I broke into a run.

Tina was here. I put two and two together pretty quick. Nate was Mrs. Noble's husband, a cop nonetheless. He, Nate, must have brought Tina here. I figured it must have been so that Tina could make sure Mrs. Noble and Reyna would be okay. My footsteps were loud, echoing throughout the whole hall. The thought of slowing down crossed my mind, just to be more discreet.

There was no time to waste.

I got to the cafeteria, my eyes scanning over the huge room and spotting four people: Boss, Tina, Casey, and Mrs. Noble.

"I've got a present for you," I heard Boss say to Tina. He snapped his fingers and Casey brought forward Mrs. Noble.

"Felicia!" Tina cried, taking a step closer to them. Boss made her stop by shooting a gunshot into the ceiling.

"Oh Tina, did you really think it'd be that easy?" Boss said with a maniacal laugh.

"What do you want?" she said quietly.

"Get down on your knees and tell me you love me."

She obeyed, slowly getting on her knees.

"I love you," she told him curtly. Boss grabbed Mrs. Noble tighter and screamed, "Like you mean it!"

"Richard, I love you!"

Boss laughed once again.

"Oh my sweet Tina, come here." Tina started to stand, so Boss shot another bullet off into the ceiling. "No standing!"

Tina proceeded to crawl towards Boss.

"I always knew you'd come crawling back to me," he said with another laugh. When Tina got close enough, Boss had Casey take Mrs. Noble so that he could grab Tina's face. He whispered something to her before pushing her away from him.

"Kill them both," I heard him say.

This time I shot off a round into the ceiling.

Everybody turned to see me, Boss' eyes locking with mine.

"You," he spat. He started to charge at me, so I acted before thinking.

I shot him in the shin.

He tumbled to the ground, screaming out in pain. Casey was by his side in a heartbeat, asking him if he was okay. Tina and Mrs. Noble made a run for it.

"Don't let them get away!" he screamed in her face. Casey nodded frantically and ran after the duo.

Don't ask me why I didn't run away. It was like I was glued to the very spot I was standing. Shakily, Boss stood.

"You betrayed me."

"I--"

"You! Of all people, it had to be you. . ."

He raised his gun at me. I still didn't move. When he saw that I wasn't going to, he laughed that laugh I hated and said, "Vanessa dear, come here." Like the dog I was, I obeyed. "See, you're a good girl. Did my daughter get into your head?" I nodded spastically. "Mh. She has a way of doing that. Now, patch me up."

Boss sat at one of the table and I used a good chunk of my jacket to patch up the wound. Just as I started to finish up, I heard somebody shout, "LAPD! Put your hands where I can see them!" Boss somehow ducked under the table and pushed me towards the voice.

I was pushed right into the officer's line of vision.

"You!" I bolted before I could hear the rest of his sentence.

And was shot down before I'd ever know what he'd say.

LAPD? Aren't we in San Fran?

---

He watched one of his favorite followers take the fall. Said nothing, but. . .but he felt something. Was it remorse? No, he refused to believe it.

He knew one thing. He needed to find his wife and daughter.

As the officer attended to Vanessa, Richard made his way to one of the many exits. A plan was forming itself in his head. And, to him, it was a damn good one.

The light from the outside made him squint his eyes. It took a minute or two to adjust.

"Tina!" he bellowed. "Felicia!"

Nobody replied. Frantically, the man looked around.

He was alone.

And he would always be alone.