“Haven’t found them yet,” Viktor said, smoking a cigarette.
“No resistance inside?”
“None.” He shook his head. “I only counted two guys up there.”
“You think they’re alone?”
He shrugged and said nothing. I sent him to scout the lanes while I continued searching for the stairs leading up. I found them tucked away with the bathrooms, and kicked open the door, throwing myself forward, expecting gunfire to pin me down.
Instead, the stairwell was silent except for the sound of my breath echoing off the concrete.
Rolan came behind me. I held up a hand, making him pause. I heard the twins laughing, more gasoline splashing. I climbed the steps slowly, gun ready, and Rolan followed. We reached the top and I knelt down, listening for any sounds outside. I gestured at Rolan to wait as I leaned forward and threw the door open.
Gunfire blew it up immediately. I pulled back, cursing to myself. When the shooting stopped, I peered out around the corner and took a couple shots blindly. I saw on sniper leaning up behind a concrete smokestack halfway up the roof and the other stood behind an air conditioning unit a few feet away. Both returned fire, forcing me ack and missing by inches.
“Need a distraction,” I said.
Rolan grinned and reached into his pocket. He took out something round and long with a thick wick at the end.
“How’s this?”
“Don’t tell me that’s a smoke grenade.”
“Even better.” He brought a lighter from his pocket, flicked it own, and lit the wick. It took immediately, burning fast and bright. He moved past me and threw it onto the roof toward the two guys. Gunfire popped off, narrowly missing Rolan, and one of the snipers shouted something I couldn’t quite make out.
Rolan had the good sense to cover his ears as whatever he threw out there exploded.
I grimaced and shrank back. The building shook with a devastating rumble and smoke and debris rained down outside. I jumped out the door with my gun up and found a huge hole where Rolan’s explosive went off. Half of the sniper behind the smokestack got caught in the explosion and his blood, guts, skin, and brains were scattered all over the roof.
The other survived, though he remained crouched behind the AC unit. I fired at him from a crouch, forcing him back, until he broke and ran. I took a breath, let it out, and squeezed the trigger, hitting him with the last two bullets in my magazine.
He dropped and went still.
“Nice shot, boss.” Rolan laughed and looked around at the devastation. “Holy shit. I didn’t think that would do so much damage.”
“What the hell was that?”
“TNT.”
“You had a fucking stick of TNT in your pocket?”
He shrugged. “The guy I got it from said it was stable.”
“Jesus fuck, Rolan. Don’t do shit like that.”
He laughed and walked over to the first dead guy. He picked up a rifle off the corpse, checked it over, and slung it across his chest.
“I’ll hold up here. You go finish down there.”
I nodded and went back down the steps. The twins were out of gas and the stench of it made my eyes water. Most of the guys were destroying things, smashing signs, slamming bowling balls down as hard as they could over and over, splintering the lanes and wrecking the equipment.
Viktor approached, still smoking that fucking cigarette. I wyted to knock it from his mouth except I knew it’d make the whole place explode.
“What happened upstairs?” he asked.
“Rolan got a little wild with some TNT.”
“Sounds right.”
“Get the guys out of here and light this place up. I want to be gone in two minutes.”
He nodded and started barking order. I walked through the men, grabbing them, pushing them back to the door. Danny cackled as he smashed the glass display case in the concession stand then stole a bunch of candy bars. He stuffed his pockets full of them like a greedy toddler then followed the flow of guys heading out front. I waited for Rolan to come back down, his new rifle bouncing with every step he took, then flagged down Viktor.
I took the cigarette from his moth.
“Ready?” I asked.
“Go ahead, boss.” Viktor started walking away. “I get te picture.”
“Pussy,” Rolan said, grinning huge. “Light her up, boss.”
I tossed the cigarette into the entryway and watched the carpet flare into an intense inferno. The fire spread rapidly into the room and the heat was so intense that I had to back out there.
“Come on.” I pulled Rolan away and steered him toward where Samuel lay on the pavement.
I knelt down and checked. No pulse, empty eyes.
“We gotta go,” Rolan said. “Jackals might be here nay second. Cops won’t be far behind.”
“Fuck.” I stared down at Samuel and cursed myself for not being prepared for this. I stood, leaving my man behind on the ground, even though he didn’t deserve that, didn’t deserve it at all.
We ran back to the cars. Leigh looked wild with fright as an explosion went off in the alley and the flames spouted up through the roof. Glass scattered all over the parking lot like snow.
“What happened in there? I heard gunshots.” She stared at me and reached out.
I let her touch my shoulder. “Lost Samuel. Everyone else is fine.”
“Samuel’s dead?”
I nodded and started the engine. The twins were silent, both of them staring at the burning building, and Rolan shifted in his seat. I could feel the adrenaline still running in my veins.
“But those fuckers got it worse. Two dead and their clubhouse on fire.”
“They got what they had coming to them.” Rolan grinned viciously. “The bastards.”
Leigh took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “It’s not enough.”
Everyone stared at her. I smiled a little and looked straight ahead through the windshield.
She was right. This wasn’t enough. We might’ve killed more of their men and burned down their clubhouse, but it wasn’t enough, not even close to it. The Jackals were still out there somewhere
