When the shooting had begun, Alex had gotten out of the way. Now, he switched off the lights, plunging the room into darkness.
A moment later, the lights turned on again, and a voice came from behind Luther.
"Looking for me?"
Luther realized Alex was standing behind him, holding a broken piece of a bottle against Luther's throat.
He broke out in a cold sweat. How on earth had Alex managed to avoid so many bullets? It simply wasn't possible.
"Are you planning to take revenge on me for killing those women?" Luther asked, closing his eyes.
"No," Alex said, shrugging. "Those two women were killers, and their souls were stained with the blood of many innocent people. They were probably even more evil than you. Otherwise, do you really think I would have let you kill them?"
"Mr. Ambrose, I'm sure we can work something out," Luther said, glancing down at the broken bottle. "After all, I'm the only person here that you can deal with."
He remembered Tyson's previous advice and tried to be smart about this.
One of his men, Harley Gomez, raised his gun and aimed at Luther and Alex.
"What are you doing?" Luther roared. "Are you crazy? Put the gun down!" He knew Alex was going to kill him. After all, Alex was right. Luther was not a good man, and he had killed hundreds of people. Alex seemed to take exception to that.
Luther still hoped to get out of this, so he had no intention of dropping his own gun. But if that idiot Harley didn't back down, he might get Luther killed.
Harley's gaze flickered over him, and then he gave Luther a cruel smile.
"From the moment you knelt down and begged for your life, you lost the right to lead us," Harley said. "You're a disgrace to the Blood Brothers. If we go back home with you in charge, then Tyson will kill us all."
"Don't be stupid. This is all part of the plan!" Luther screamed, horrified when he realized what was happening. "Don't you understand?"
"I'm sorry, boss," Harley said, shrugging. "You know how it works. We can no longer follow you."
Harley took aim and pulled the trigger, firing repeatedly, hitting Luther.
The rest of the gang was a little uncertain. They stood quietly, looking around and noticing that Alex was gone.
"What the hell is going on here?" Harley demanded. He couldn't believe his eyes. How did Alex keep doing that?
The silence was deafening.
A few minutes later, Alex stepped back into sight.
"I could kill you one by one, and you would never see me coming," he said, smiling at them. "But that wouldn't be very sporting, would it? So, this is your one chance. Go ahead. Shoot me." He spread his arms wide.
The gang members were a little scared, but they were also angry, so they raised their weapons and started shooting. Once again, Alex avoided being hit, but this time, instead of disappearing, he made his way straight at them. He sped through the room, taking the men's guns from them, one at a time. Then he stepped aside and looked at the men.
The gang members looked around, stunned that their guns had vanished. Nobody dared to speak. Some of them rubbed at their arms, clearly feeling some pain from being forcibly disarmed.
They all realized that they were no match for Alex, and their mission had become a fiasco.
"You win," Harley said, scowling at him. "But you've signed your own death warrant. From this day forward, you are an enemy of the Blood Brothers, and you will never know peace again. We won't stop until we've killed you."
"Is that so?" Alex asked, raising an eyebrow. "Are you threatening me? You know, I was going to spare your miserable lives, but now I've changed my mind." He smiled. These gang members were all the same. Even when they were losing, they continued to act tough.
Alex looked around at them. "Aren't you going to ask me for mercy, like Luther did?" he asked.
Everyone remained silent.
"Then you can all die together," Alex said.
"Wait!" one man yelled, raising his hands. "Please spare my life."
Alex nodded and walked over to him. Then he punched the man, sending him sprawling.
"You can be my messenger," Alex said. "Go and tell the Blood Brothers what has happened here." He dragged the man to his feet and held him still, staring into his eyes. The man gulped, clearly afraid, and Alex pushed him away. "Run. And don't ever come back here again."
The man stumbled out of the room, moving as quickly as he could.
Some of the men began to laugh as they watched him flee, while others sneered with contempt.
Alex turned to face them, his expression calm. Anyone who wanted to harm the people he cared about must be punished. Even the man he had allowed to escape was living on borrowed time. Alex had only let him live so he could report back to Tyson.
He looked around the room, and then he got to work, making every member of the gang pay. Thankfully, the room was soundproofed, so no one came to investigate the disturbance.
Once he was done, the room was eerily quiet.
"You have no one to blame but yourselves for what happened here," Alex said. "You went too far." He stepped outside and breathed in the fresh air, feeling at peace.
**
After Alex had left, Art Steadman sent someone to clean up the scene and make it look like nothing had happened.
Art had sent the two beautiful women after Luther, and he couldn't afford to have them traced back to him. He had hoped to capture Luther alive and interrogate him to discover how his son had died.
Before, Art had concluded that Chris had been killed by the Blood Brothers gang. But now he suspected that Alex and the Clifton family had murdered his son.