"Hands up, everyone drop your weapons," said the cops, "Your timing sucks."
"Hand in the air," the cop insisted, "drop your weapon," he dropped his gun on the ground, and Jack turned around to look at the cop. The distressed cop insisted, "put down your gun. We won't ask again."
Swat surrounded the building; Jack looked around; he knew he was in deep trouble because it was an illegal firearm, "fine, relax, I am putting the gun down to the ground." He placed the gun on the floor; the cops ran up to him, and the gun handcuffed the armed men and Jack.
Claire snuck out, pretending to be a customer, "Marcus, we have a problem?"
"Claire, I told you not to call me when you are around him or anyone; you are drawing unwanted attention."
"Marcus, just shut up and listen; something happened here at the restaurant. They wanted to take Tania hostage, but Jack interfered, and the cops now surround this place.
"Who are those guys? Who wanted to take her hostage? Do you think they are from our guys?"
"Our guys wouldn't take a cheap skank hostage, so no." Marcus laughed on the other end of the receiver.
"What is so funny?"
"Nothing, but we would probably have to bail him out."
"One more thing we need to get rid of is the evidence. Jack doesn't know the same gun we had someone sold to him was a murder weapon."
"Why are you only telling me this now? They would trial him for murder. Why would you have a murder weapon sold to him?"
"In case he found anything out, I figured we could use it against him, and in a situation like this, we are screwed. Do you realize what this means? If that gun goes to forensics, we are as good as dead."
"What are you talking about, Marcus? That gun was only used in one murder."
"No, Claire, the boss gave me that gun, saying we should destroy it. I gave it to you and clearly said destroy it."
"That gun belongs to our boss?"
"Yes, Claire, you will have to do damage control. Try and sneak that gun out and get rid of it."
"I can't, Marcus. They have bagged it."
"Claire, get far away from here as possible. If that gun comes back to the boss, he is going to kill us, and not just a bullet in the head kill. He will torture the shit out of us."
Claire stood against the wall in the alley, biting her nails, "I am so screwed." until she saw a homeless guy and then looked at the cop. If she dressed in those clothes, she could switch her gun it would come back clean, "Marcus, I will call you back."
"Where are you going? We got this shit to sort out. I'm done covering for you and cleaning up your mess."
"Marcus, you have done nothing for me, so please, if you want to help, don't mention anything because, as per my understanding, they told you to dispose of the gun, not me."
"Keep it up, Claire; one day, you will get on the bad side of me, and it's going to turn out ugly?"
"More ugly than you being a hypocrite to Jack? I know you like me, but you never had the balls, and now that I am paying more attention to Jack, you are trying to sabotage me."
Claire hung up the phone; she walked over to the homeless man and whispered in his ear, then gave him a large amount of cash.
"This has to work, especially with the money I have just paid him and the extra gun I planted on him."
At first, the homeless man, who had a grey beard and a brown blanket over his back, pushed a cart with empty paint drums and cardboard inside. He seemed hesitant, but when Claire gave him seven thousand dollars. He smiled and threw the blanket off his back, his worn-out broken shoes; he removed and thanked her. Claire had luckily covered her face when approaching him, or else he would recognize her. Claire was street smart; her upbringing forced her to be the person she was; with her parents always absent in her life, Claire taught herself to be smarter than most adults her age.
The man pushed his cart into the wall making a loud banging sound; as the cops and swat got distracted, he ran up the alley, pulling out a gun and firing shots in the air as fast as he could.
Everyone around got distracted; as the cops and the swat team turned their attention to the man. Claire sneaked back into the restaurant, removing the gun from the evidence box without anyone noticing except Jack. Jack looked at her like why would she have put another gun there.
Jack was in handcuffs. The cops could take down the homeless man without harming him and escorted Jack to the police van in handcuffs.
Claire called Marcus, "we will be fine."
"What did you do?"
"Doesn't matter evidence removed thats all that you need to know."
"Get rid of that gun, Claire; we can't?"
"Claire, are you there?"
"Dammit, she hung up."
Jack refused to give a statement without a lawyer present.
His dad was dead; Claire took pity on him and rushed to the police station, where they detained him. The firearm Claire had replaced, is a licensed firearm belonging to her friend. Claire then received a call from a number she had not recognized.
"Hello? Who is this?" she asked hesitantly.
A deep voice on the other end answered, "Job well done, you have been promoted to a soldier rank, and you will answer to Mr. B from now on."
"Who is this?" the call got dropped, and an officer approached her. He looked like an ordinary mid-aged cop holding a register. "He stopped in front of her, wearing a police hat, giving her a paper to sign. It had her name signature and an envelope. "Claire was confused. Who is Mr. B, and what is she signing for?"
Claire looked around. The cop lifts his head, looking at her in her eyes, "you promoted to secondary level. Job well done; a little token of appreciation is in this envelope. Please do not open it until you are alone. Understood?"
Claire was still confused as she nodded, "understood."
"Take the package and the phone for further instructions, don't worry about Jack; Mr. B already had him released."
"Released without a statement or lawyer."
"You asking too many questions, lady."
The officer turned around and walked away. A guy walks past her, bumping against her, "watch where you are walking, man." She looked down and noticed a piece of paper on the floor. When she picked it up, she opened the paper; the message was addressed to her, "With your ranking, your initiation test will start tonight; this is to test your loyalty."
Her phone received an anonymous message from an unknown number with coordinates.
Claire called Marcus and explained that Jack had been released, and she was now answering to a Mr. B, whom she had no clue about.
"Why did they approach you?" He was furious. He knew who they were by name but never got to meet them. All he knew was that when you reach the soldier level, you become untouchable to any authorities or gang and well looked after. Your alias is changed, and you get a limited edition card with $2000 monthly to spend on yourself.
Claire dropped the call and opened the envelope, finding the card inside, its chip had a unique diamond shape design, and her initials were embedded into the chip with her new alias.
"Angela and Nicole sat in her car for a moment, looking at Nicole's houses, "are you sure you ready? You were missing for months."
Nicole turned to Angela, "After months of torture, thanks to you, I can finally go home." Nicole leaned in and hugged her. "I am lucky you came to rescue me." Claire smiled, "nothing makes me happier. Let's get you home."
They climbed out of the car, and Nicole nervously walked to the house; as she was walking, a car came speeding. They could hear from far, "get behind the tree." They stood behind the tree as the car stopped next to the vehicle they had taken from the guys.
"This is not good now. They will know where I stay if it is them."
"You will be fine, Nicole. I will protect you." Nicole looked at Angela, "I know you and your brother are the same."
Angela hadn't told her Jack was her stepbrother.
They looked around the tree and saw one of the men from the gas station climbing out of the car with other guys; the three guys ran to the boot and opened it, each one taking to what seemed like rifles.
Nicole started to panic, "no one is going to take me back." She started crying, "please don't let them take me."
"You will be fine." Angela knew the worst was to come. Those three guys are going to kill whoever is in Nicole's house, and she wouldn't be able to stop them.