“That sounds pretty reasonable,” Yul muttered. “I vote we do what he says.”
Incredulous, I glared at him. I couldn’t tell if Yul was joking or not. His expression was serious.
“Shut up,” I warned him. “This ain’t no fucking democracy. Sondra’s not going anywhere. And keep quiet.”
Footsteps drew closer; hard-soled dress shoes on concrete. Whitey whistled a mournful tune that I didn’t recognize. The sound chilled me.
“Ah, what is this?” He wasn’t shouting anymore. He was close enough for us to hear without difficulty. “Perhaps you are hiding down in the dark basement? Cowering like little rats. No, probably not. Sondra doesn’t like the dark, do you my dear? Brings back bad memories, does it not?”
Sondra pressed up against me, tightening her grip on my hand. Slowly, I reached out and grabbed a jagged piece of metal strapping. It was about seven inches long and the edge was sharp and pointed. I pressed it against the ball of my thumb and winced. It left an indentation—not sharp enough to draw blood, but jagged enough to part flesh if I pushed. It would have to do. Better than nothing, at least.
Yul started mouthing the Lord’s Prayer. His eyes were shut tight, and his face was even paler than before. The color had drained away, and every freckle and pimple stood out in sharp contrast. There was a tiny scar on the tip of his nose where Webster had scratched him a year ago. The blemish had faded over time, enough that I’d completely forgotten about it, but now I saw it clearly. I let Yul pray. It certainly couldn’t hurt. If I had believed in God, maybe I would have joined in with him and we could have had a little prayer circle right there behind the boxes, all of us holding hands and singing ‘Kumbaya’ and letting the power of Christ prevent Whitey’s bullets from reaching us. Praise His name. The power of prayer and all that bullshit. But I knew better. There was no God. Life had proven that to me a long time ago. This moment—being trapped in an abandoned warehouse with a runaway stripper, my last living friend, and a murderous, invincible Russian mobster—was just confirmation of the fact. If God existed, then the motherfucker smoked crack on a regular basis.
“I am getting closer,” Whitey called. His sing-song voice echoed, bouncing off the walls. He was near. In the room with us. Squinting, I peered through the cracks between the boxes and saw a flash of movement. Sondra squeezed my hand hard enough to make me wince.
Yul’s silent prayer ceased. He opened his eyes and tears ran down his face.
“I know you are here,” Whitey said. “I can sense you, Sondra. Sense the baby. There is nowhere you can hide. Not while you are carrying my child. You know how this will end. How it must end.”
Sondra jerked her hand away from mine and put it protectively over her belly. I felt like somebody had just punched me in the gut. His baby? Whitey was the father. My first reaction was shock, but within seconds, anger overrode all of my other emotions. Anger at Sondra for lying to me when she’d said that she didn’t know who the father was, and anger at Whitey for wanting to abort his own child. Somehow, that seemed even more heinous than before. He had to be lying. Trying to get us to give away our position.
“I am sorry,” Sondra mouthed. There were tears in her eyes.
Before I could respond, Yul stood up. His knee joints popped, startling me. I grabbed his pants leg but it was too late. He yanked away from me.
“Mr. W-Whitey, sir? M-my name is Yul Lee. I don’t want any t-trouble.”
There was a brief pause, and then Whitey said, “Where are you, Mr. Yul. Behind those boxes, I suppose?”
“Y-yes sir. But like I said, I d-don’t want any trouble. I’m…I’m not p-part of this.”
“Yul!” I pinched his leg. “What the fuck are you doing?”
Without looking down, he waved me away. Then he took a hesitant step forward, pushing a box out of his way so that Whitey could see his face.
“I just want to go home, sir. My girlfriend, Kim, she’ll be waiting for me. She doesn’t know it yet, but I’ve been thinking about asking her to marry me. So, I just want to see her. I’m sorry about everything, but you’ve got to understand, I’m innocent. I wasn’t involved. These guys kidnapped me.”
“Kidnapped you? That wasn’t very nice, now was it? There’s no reason to treat a friend that way.”
“Oh, I-I’m not their f-friend…”
“Yul,” I growled, “you son of a bitch.”
“That is surprising to hear,” Whitey said. “Because Jesse talked about you as if you were a friend. You, Larry, Darryl, and he were supposedly very close. The best of friends. He referred to you as being ‘tight’.”
Yul made a clicking noise in the back of his throat.
“No matter,” the Russian continued. “This has been a costly affair so far, and I am anxious to see it finished. I have lost friends today, as well. So have you. There’s no need for anymore bloodshed. Come on out, Mr. Yul, and leave this place.”
“You…you m-mean it?”
“Of course. I’m a man of my word.”
Yul glanced down at Sondra and me.
“Don’t.” I shook my head.
“I’m sorry, Larry. I really am. But Kim…”
He turned away and pushed the box aside. Sondra and I ducked lower. As we did, I caught a glimpse of Whitey. His chest, stomach, neck, and face were covered in dried blood. His ear, the one that had been dangling off the side of his head, was completely gone now, leaving behind a red, raw stump. My bullet had ploughed a furrow in his cheek. Yul stepped out in front of the pile. His back was to us and I couldn’t see his face, but I could see Whitey’s. The Russian smiled.
“Please keep your hands where I can see them. No surprises, now.”
Yul put his hands in the air. “You promise you won’t shoot me?”
“I promised that you could leave this place. Are Gibson and Sondra hiding in that rat’s nest, as well?”
Yul shook his head, and then Whitey shot him. It happened so quickly. One second, he was standing there shaking, hands held even with his shoulders. The next, blood exploded from the back of his shirt, leaving a hole the size of a light bulb. The fabric smoked like it was on fire. The noise was deafening. My ears rang. I couldn’t hear myself screaming.
The impact forced Yul backwards. He stumbled, then fell, his head cracking against the concrete. His face was turned towards us. His eyes were open, but I couldn’t tell if he was alive or not. There was more blood now, gushing from his mouth and chest and from the gash in his head.
Then my vision was obscured by a cloud of shredded cardboard. Something whizzed by my face. I couldn’t hear it, but I could feel the heat of its passing. Sondra tugged on my arm and shouted something, but her voice sounded like it was underwater. More cardboard confetti rained down on us, and then I realized that Whitey was firing into the boxes.
“Go!”
I shoved Sondra hard, pushing her to the left. Then, still clutching the thin shard of metal, I grabbed a large refrigerator box. Holding it in front of me like a shield, I charged across the room. The box concealed everything but my feet. Whitey couldn’t see me, but I couldn’t see him either.
Sondra stared at me like I’d lost my mind, but she did as I’d told her. She jumped to the left and started running. I guess maybe I had lost my mind. Even as I charged him, a little voice in the back of my head asked me what the fuck I was doing. Whitey had a gun. A cardboard box wouldn’t stop a bullet. But my body overrode such common sense. My feet and legs rebelled, carrying me forward.
Whitey fired at Sondra, but missed. Even though my ears were still ringing, I heard the bullet hit concrete. Sondra dashed across the room, ducking behind a steel girder. Whitey paused for a split second, his attention turning to me. I couldn’t see him, but I could sense the hesitation. Maybe he thought I’d lost my mind, too. Sondra took advantage of the distraction and took off again. At the same time, I hurled the box at Whitey, shrieking with rage. He shot the box and then fired a third shot at me. The only thing that saved me was Yul. Slipping in his blood, I toppled over, landing on my ass. The metal shard slid from my grasp. My teeth clacked together and I bit the inside of my cheek. Warmth filled my mouth. The shock ran up my spine. My eyes watered from the mixture of pain and cordite.