Baron IV

I had to think quick if I was going to leave this place alive. My gun wasn't silenced, but I was quite sure the walls were insulated - it was the office and home of a criminal, so I just guessed that such things would be in place.

Running to the elevator, I programmed it to stop at the first floor before leaving it just as it was about to close. I grabbed a fire extinguisher, rigged it properly like I learned from years of practical jokes and suspensions in middle school, and went into the stairwell.

He predicted that the bodyguards would be the first to come out, hopefully to kilnhim quietly. Those two could have called in a lot of operatives and stormed the place, but their murder of Casper was something that had to be properly covered up to avoid repercussions.

If he could do away with the bodyguards, then he could handle the geezers in the room and he'd be gone.

Gone where? A voice asked in his head. He didn't know the answers to that yet. He didn't know which way to go, whether to the police, or to another state on the other side of the country.

"Who's to say these bastards aren't working with the police anyway?" He asked aloud, remembering the many law enforcement conspiracy movies he'd watched.

He was on the stairwell facing the first floor door now. Setting up the fire extinguisher, he aimed to get a good trajectory on the first person he saw.

His heart thumped in his chest, but he did his best to steady himself. He couldn't afford to miss now, that would definitely spell doom for him.

A rush of steps and the opening of the door of the stairwell two floors above him broke his reverie. The men were rushing down the stairs - as expected.

Not forseeing a trap, not bothering to take time or be cautious. Blinded by a mandate to carry out their employer's instructions quickly.

They all turned into the last stairwell, and for a brief moment, there was a look of pure horror on their faces as they stood eye to eye with the person they were supposed to be catching offguard coming out of the elevator.

"Sayonara," I muttered, letting the extinguisher rip. There was no.time to dodge, and the last thing the guard that shot Casper saw was red as the extinguisher smashed into his face, blood splatter ring as it knocked him to the wall behind, further bashing his skull.

The extinguisher, now emitting gas and moving like a sprite, rocketed around the area briefly, covering the stairwell in a white haze. The men rushed downstairs, in part to get me, in part to escape the choking air.

Big mistake.

It was like a shooting turkeys out of the sky.

As soon as they broke through the haze, I put bullets in their chest area. I used to bond with my dad at shooting ranges for most of my teenage years, so getting a good aim was no problem.

The men dropped one by one, leaving only the man who was hit by the extinguisher sitting with his back to the wall.

He mumbled incoherently and reached for his gun, but I shot him in the head before he could do that.

I could hear the static of a radio and I reached for the mic connected to his ear.

Kawasaki's voice boomed from the other end. "Stanley? SITUATION REPORT, NOW! STANLEY?!"

"Stanley will not be joining us anytime soon. Anytime at all, in fact. They're all dead. You know you can't invoice anyone else, you want to keep this on the low and execute me. It's just me, you guys, and this big ass condo. What's your move?"

Chantelle howled. "You bastard! Wait till we get our hands on..."

"You talk too much, old woman!" I screamed back. "You didn't expect me to be proficient in shooting, or in stuff like this, did you? You praised me for this intellect, so I'll have you know that it's not just for business models. I intend to leave here alive, my question is, are you really going to risk your life to stop me?"

The line went dead, like I knew it would.

And now I was pretty much stuck. I didn't know what their next line of action would be, but I was sure as hell that the wily Kawasaki had a lot of tricks up his sleeve. I was going to have to be careful. Extremely careful.

Which is why I remembered the floor plan of this place. It was on one of the papers that Samantha was holding as we came here. I gave it a brief cursory glance, but my photographic memory had captured a lot of detail.

The surveillance room was on this floor. I quietly snuck inside, entering to see two operatives sleeping on the job. I brought my gun down hard on their back of their heads to make sure they stayed asleep.

This place was remarkably empty - I knew Casper wanted to stay ghost as much as possible. There were no guards patrolling the halls, which was to my benefit, and I sat down in the room, turning on the audio as I monitored the halls.

Chantelle and Kawasaki sauntered out of the room, their hands on what looked like Berettas. I couldn't afford to get hit by them, but I would take anything as long as I would leave here still breathing.

"Take that wing and I'll take this one. We'll meet at the center of each floor. Divide and conquer will work best here, and keep your radio on," Kawasaki said.

Divide and conquer.

Nice plan, I thought. I was going to have to use a noiseless approach.

Turning to the side, I saw a long knife ticked in a sheath on the hip of one of the guards. About a foot long.

I smiled.

Kawasaki was going to be my first target. I saw him as the bigger threat, and I knew I had to ambush him. It would have to happen on the stairwell too, just to make sure that he wouldn't make any noises

Stripping down to my black boxer shots, I took a black vest and black cargo pants from the security dressing room, grabbed my knife and hid in the stairwell. I had already turned off the circuit in this area, so there would be no lights. I would be in the shadows, and I would take him out silently as such.

After 10 minutes, I heard the sound of footsteps descending the stairs. Kawasaki came into view, his both hands holding the gun. Whether it was due to old age, or for stability, I was unsure. But his hands looked sure, empty of nervousness. My palms were sweaty. He was an expert. I was an amateur. But now, he was my prey, and I was the predator.

As soon as he passed me, I stretched out my legs to get him. But he flicked his head immediately, firing off a shot from his silenced gun

I winced as the bullet crazed my shoulder, and then I srabbed the life sidewayd on his wrist, impaling both hands and keeping them together.

Hitting his arm, the gun dropped as I dragged out his radio and threw it to the ground before crushing under my shoes.

The abrasion on my shoulder burned, and I could feel the area getting warm and moist as blood seeped slowly from the injury.

"Game over!" I screamed, aiming a punch for his face.

But at the last moment he dodged and. planted a back kick into my back, rendering me unable to stand.

"Did you underestimate this old man, son?" He said as he forced his arms apart before dragging out the knife and holding it menacingly. "Wrong decision!"

*****

I finally decided what to do with this story 🥲 and I think it's going quite well for me. Leave a review, tell me what you think!