This was his last operation.
He knew it when he heard a clipped voice utter that word.
It was a word. One, single, solitary word. But the instant Ake heard it, he knew it was over.
Freeze!
Ake became a rock. He couldn't move even if he wanted to. Fear kept him rooted to the spot.
Unlike Ake, everyone else did not have a sudden attack of rigor mortis. Someone moved.
Stop! I say.
A shot tore through the night sky for emphasis.
Seconds later, from somewhere, came a retort.
And then gunshots filled the air.
And with dead certainty, Ake knew this was it for him. He felt in his guts that he would not survive it. Perchance he did, he was definitely never trying this again.
Three out of the six members of the gang were arrested that night. One escaped. One caught a bullet in the neck and bled out. The last took bullets in the lower torso. It would take a miracle for him to walk again.
The last guy wished he was dead. Being caught alive was the worst thing ever. But for the cops, it was the best piece of news from a night that had claimed three of them. To apprehend the leader of the notorious X-Chaos was a great deal. Promotions were a done deal.
Ignoring the pain eating him up, he glared at the newest member of his gang.
The idiot.
The ineffectual, newbie-idiot.
He remembered what his own boss used to tell them, back in the day. "You don't take a novice to a shindig. He should cut his teeth on small gigs."
It was his fault. He was the one who agreed to this being the idiot's first mission. Now it was a mess.
But he could still fix that.
He pulled out the dagger strapped to his thigh, aimed for Ake's heart and let fly.
A shot rang out at the same time.
Then silence.
*image from placng.org
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