Broken

||Chapter Sixteen||

The drive on the way to Dan's hideout was a quiet one; grave. Everyone seemingly caught up with their thoughts, the steady hum of Simon's car being the only sound heard; apart from the occasional horn or yell of irate drivers. As the many cars zipped by our car, I looked out the window, taking in the scenery, bit by bit; the beautiful colors that adorned the trees blew elegantly in the steady, cool wind outside. While observing the outside, I couldn't help but feel a sensation of dread, deep within my gut that something was wrong. Of course, Darcie not being here was wrong on its own but now...Now the feeling had doubled, a steady twang and tightness of anxiety filled my chest and radiated into my stomach. I turned to Simon with a grave face, "Something's wrong," I said erratically.

"What?" he said confused, glancing at me.

"Something's wrong, I just had a bad feeling and I just know something is happening to Darcie," I said, trying to maintain my composure but ultimately failing. My gut was something I always relied on in the streets, for survival. It has never once let me down; but now I hoped -prayed -that, for once, my intuition, known as my 'gut feeling' was wrong.

Celeste spoke up from the back, "Amee, maybe you're just nervous? I mean, this is a serious situation, and you're probably thinking about all the worse case scenarios in your head." She said.

She was right, I was thinking about the worst. Even though thinking the worst is what kept me alive all this time. I sat back in the car seat, trying to convince myself that I was overreacting and overthinking things. "You're right." I gave her a small pensive smile. We soon turned off-road, into some rich autumn evergreens.

"We're almost there," Simon spoke as we drove further into the forestry. "We'll have to stop a few meters before we actually get to the cabin, we don't want Dan or his goons to hear us coming."

"Right," I agreed. "Celeste will be safe back here too," I said, giving her a sideways glance.

"Hey! I'm not a child yenno." She said exclaimed exasperatedly.

"Believe me, I know," Simon interjected, "But we can't put you at risk by having you there."

After driving up a little bit further, we came to a stop and pulled over off the pathway.

"Be careful you guys," Celeste spoke in an apprehensive tenor.

Simon and I looked at each other before nodding and gripping our guns, and then stepped out of the car. "It's just a bit further down the path," he said keeping his gun closely tucked by his side, we started creeping slowly and cautiously down the path, "Be prepared at all times, we never know if their lurking or walking around."

I squeezed my gun until my knuckles got white; fear creeping up on me, but I was pushed by my will to save Darcie. I thought for a moment before speaking, "How many do you think we're up against?" I asked.

"Two, maybe three," he said without looking at me. "That's not including Dan," Simon's eyes were pensive and brooding. He was hell-bent on saving Darcie -as was I.

"That's not so bad," I chuckled nervously, "Are we just going in there without a plan?" I asked. We never talked about a tactic to get in and out of the cabin and I though now was as good a time as any to ask about it.

"You know, I never thought of that. I thought we were just gonna bust in and wing everything."

I looked at him disbelievingly and elbowed him, "Winging it will get you killed!" I whispered harshly. "Here's what we're going to do, we're going to have to find a way to enter from the back -there's a back door right?"

He nodded, "Yeah,"

"OK, we're gonna have to find a way to get in from the back, no doubt Dan's henchmen are guarding the front," I spoke authoritatively, "we're gonna need to get in unseen, and find some place to hide, then find the right time to strike." I finished.

"Sounds like a plan," he said nodding, "Um..." he started hesitantly.

"Yeah?" I urged.

"Have you ever... killed someone before?" He looked at me diffidently.

Of course, I was caught off guard by the type of question. I spaced out thinking, I don't think I've ever murdered someone before, but I've definitely almost done it quite a few times. Then again, there was one time a few years ago when I was working for Dan and had to 'shake up' one of his marks for "messing with his daughter", I was pretty soul-less back then, I don't think I showed any remorse for what I did to that guy at the time, but now that I think about it, I basically left him for dead in his apartment after beating in his face severely...with a bat. I swallowed feeling the guilt creep into my chest. I shook my head and turned back to Simon, "I don't know," was all I could say.

That seemed to be enough for him, "Have you?" I asked.

"No, came pretty close last year though, but I was outnumbered."

I shook my head and looked ahead. I saw a beaten down cabin peeking over some bushes and stopped. "We're here."

***

We had managed to maneuver ourselves through the foliage; using its thickness as a shield from one of Dan's goons out front. I kept my guard up, as did Simon for any signs of anymore men lurking around. We crept completely around the cabin through the trees and made our way to the back. It was devoid of anyone and I breathed a sigh of relief as we slowly and tentatively stepped out of the bushes, finally standing up straight. We decided wordlessly to stay quiet as we slowly walked towards the cabin. Simon was right, it was a two-story cabin, it wasn't very tall, but it was old and beaten down.

We stood by the door, our guns ready in our hand. Simon looked at me and then glanced at the closed door, a signal asking if he should open it. I nodded and he slowly and cautiously cracked open the door. Thankfully it didn't creak, despite its beaten down appearance. I let out a breath I hadn't realize I was holding in and took the first step inside; my gun pointed in front of me. Simon then entered and stood in front of me, leaving me close behind.

We suddenly heard footsteps and quickly hid behind an old cabinet. The guard from outside walked in, meeting up with another similar burly man dressed in black. We stood there waiting with baited breath, listening to as much we could hear. We needed to find where they had Darcie.

"What's he doing down there?" A rough voice asked exasperatedly.

"Just talking for now," man number two answered, with a similar gruff voice, but calmer tone.

"I don't know why he doesn't just off the b***h!" Man number one exclaimed in fiery indignation. "She's just a waste of time, and a waste of space," the man finished, with a quieter voice, but still as irate as before.

"He'll get the job done soon enough, I think he's just toying with her right now." The second man said, a twinge of humor in his voice.

I felt anger surge through me as they spoke about Darcie as if she were common trash. I gripped the gun even tighter at that, trying to control my anger; it was taking my all not to run out there guns a blazing, but I knew that would be stupid. I didn't know if this was all of them, and I wasn't sure what kind of heat they were packing. So I reserved myself, still squeezing the gun tightly, my body so tense, it felt tighter than drum skin. Simon must've noticed this and put a hand on my shoulder, reassuring me that everything was OK without saying a word; we couldn't risk whispering. At least we now know that Darcie was alive, and I thanked whatever god that existed for that.

The men footsteps receded and I sighed. Simon carefully peeked around the cabinet and returned, "they're outside by the door," he whispered.

"OK, so now we know Darcie is downstairs with Dan I'm assuming," I started, "at last we know where she is now."

He nodded and we moved off, away from the cabinet. "We have to keep hiding until we see the right moment to attack, one wrong move and this is over." I whispered gravely. "I wished these things had silencers," I complained under my breath, one errant shot and everything turns to s**t.

The men didn't close the door but it was enough for us to cross the room and make it passed the front door. There wasn't anywhere to really hide except in the corner behind a small armchair, we shuffled closely together and sat behind it.

We were waiting for about fifteen minutes now.

"This plan wasn't thought out very well," I whispered. I never anticipated for the goons to be outside that long.

"Better than no plan at all, at least you got us in," Simon smiled reassuringly.

"Yeah but will we ever get out?" I chuckled, but the question was serious. How would we get Darcie and ourselves out unscathed?

"We'll figure it out,"

Just then, the sound of the front door creaking open took my attention away from the conversation, I gripped my gun and looked at Simon. Fear washed over my body, but I certainly didn't show it. If Simon was scared, he certainly didn't show it either.

Footsteps boomed on the fallible wooden floor and it sounded as if they were getting closer to us. My heart was beating so loudly now that I swore Simon could hear it, hell, I thought whoever was coming could hear it. I made a one-sided decision that if they were to come close to me I would attack. I tucked the gun behind me in the waist of my pants and prepared myself. Simon looked at me like I was insane.

"What're you-" Simon was interrupted, one of the burly men found us out.

"Look what we have-" without thinking about it, I kicked the man in his crotch and quickly stood up while he held his 'manhood' in pain. "Argg f**k!"

I took this chance to continue my attack. I brought down my elbow in his back, making him fall to his knees. Simon was behind me now, watching the man doubling over in pain. "Well, s**t," he said tucking his gun behind him as well.

Suddenly, the next goon walked in after all the commotion, "Hey!" He yelled running over.

"I got this one, you deal with-" I was about to speak when the goon on his knees grabbed my arm harshly. He pulled me down roughly, seemingly recovered from the blow to his crotch.

Before I could react, he gave me a solid punch in my gut, leaving me flat on my back and breathless. Simon had already ran over to where the other goon was so I had to take this guy alone. "You're that next b***h Dan sent us for, oh he'll be happy about this," he said standing next to me with a sick smile on his face. He kicked me in my side, making me groan and scream in pain.

"Amelia!" Simon shouted.

That small moment of distraction caused Simon to get hit in the back of his head with an ornament lying around by the man he was facing. He staggered a bit but didn't fall, then he reached behind of him, going for his gun.

The goon standing over me had one foot on my face, pressing his steeled toed boots against it now and I couldn't really see much anymore.

"Look out Red!" Yelled the man over me.

I never heard a shot fired but I heard clearly the sound of a gun falling and skidding across the floor. I heard an "oof" from Simon and I knew that this plan had turn to s**t. The gun was pressing painfully into my back and the man's foot on the side of my face wasn't a walk in the park either.

"What the hell is- oh. What a surprise," Dan had ran into the room. I'm surprised with all this noise he didn't come up sooner.

This plan really did go to s**t.