“Hello, Luc. Don’t be so secretive, come join the party,” my father said, opening the front door to the motel room. I closed the phone and placed it back in my pocket as I walked through the door. There were four men inside the room, including my father. Everyone was armed. Vicky was tied to a chair with a gag around her mouth. My fists clenched and my blood boiled.
“Long time no see, Son,” my father drawled in French.
“Pleasure as always, Father,” I replied and my father threw his head back.
“Brother.” My younger brother Justin nodded. I couldn’t believe my father brought him here. Why?
“Justin.” I smiled. I knew he always felt prisoner to this life too, but he was too weak to disobey my father. I felt sorry for him. He looked torn in the moment.
“So what’s on your mind, Luc?” my father asked, sitting on a chair and folding his hands in his lap.
“It’s very easy…give me Vicky and we leave and you leave us alone.” I grinned.
“If only life were that easy,” he said with a smug grin. Asshole!
“Why do you need so many men around you, Father? Do you fear I would hurt you?” I asked, cocking my head to the side. I was giving off a no fear attitude, but my insides were torn up, I needed Vicky out of that gag and those ties now.
I walked over to the other side of the room and stood in front of Vicky. The two men holding guns cocked them, getting ready to make a move. Justin stood there looking defenseless, while my father still had the same devilish grin. And then I just lost it. I took the risk that my father wasn’t armed because he usually had other people doing his dirty work, and Justin was not Henri, he wasn’t going to shoot me. That meant it was me, taking down two men. It was doable. In a swift motion I grabbed both of their cocked guns by the tips and pulled them from their hands, then I took each gun and whacked the two men in the face. They both fell forward in rhythm. I pushed the two guns under Vicky’s chair and got back to beating the shit out of the two goons. I elbowed one in the face, while doing a roundhouse kick, which landed in the other guy's abdomen. With both men down, I took turns throwing strong punches and beating them to a pulp. As I predicted, Justin didn’’t move, and my father watched with the same smug look like he was proud of what he created. With both men on the ground, my father began to clap. Then he stood up from the chair with a wide smile on his face. Justin looked nervous. My father reached down and picked up one of the rifles that was under Vicky’s chair and my heart sank.
“I taught you well, Son, you see what an asset you would be back home? No one can fight like you. No one has your brains to problem solve their way out of a situation like you do. You are a mastermind and now this charade is over. Time to come home, Luc,” my father said. I knew it was an order with a threat. The gun was now pointed at Vicky and my stomach sank. As strong as I was physically, she was my weakness. She was my heart.
A moment later, Joe entered the room with a gun pointed on my father. My father still had the rifle on Vicky, and now Justin had a handgun pointed at Joe. This was a fucking mess.
“Put down the rifle, motherfucker,” Joe hissed to my father. He hadn’t given Justin a sideward glance.
“Who is this fool?” My father asked, still smiling.
I didn’t answer. My father then pulled a small revolver out of the back of his pants and pointed the rifle at me and the revolver on Vicky.
“Who should I shoot first, Luc? You or Vicky?”
I noticed Joe hadn’t flinched at all from my father’s words and kept his gun pointed on him. That’s when it happened, my father shot and I saw red. There was one shot, then another shot. Joe was shooting. Vicky was bleeding. Shit! Vicky was bleeding. Alarms went off in my head, and I felt like I was having an out of body experience. Justin shot Joe, and Joe shot Justin, my father shot me and there was only one person left to shoot.
I never thought my life would come to this. For two years I remained focused on the purpose of my life: do well and stay out of trouble. I had lots to make up for in this world. When I met my end I still wanted to choose heaven and not be destined to an eternity of hell. My father was determined for me to rot in hell beside him. Maybe now that he killed Vicky, I wanted to rot in hell. I had nothing to live for. He was right, I rejected my destiny every step of the way. Now I was going to fuck myself over once more, but I had nothing to lose.
“What’s in that head of yours, Son?” he smiled. I probably looked like a mad man as my head flicked back and forth between my father and Vicky, who was hunched over and bleeding. I needed to get to her, but now my father was pointing that damn handgun to my face. I realized I had been shot and I placed my hand over my shoulder as blood oozed out of me. Justin lay bleeding at my feet; he had been a victim in this life like I had been. He was not like Henri, who had been consumed by the evil that resonated through this life of crime.
“So do it, Luc, what are you waiting for? You’ve always been a coward, and you will die a coward, you fool,” he chuckled to himself, looking directly into my eyes like he was daring me to shoot him. With my good arm I held my gun, pointed to his face. I knew if I shoot, he would shoot too, and this would all be over, but I could hear Vicky gasping for air. I knew she needed me.
“Luc, brother, this is not the answer,” Justin cut in with a shaky voice as he held onto his stomach, bleeding out on the floor. I had been where he was. I saw death, I knew what the end looked like. I wanted to do better, to be better.
“Justin, shoot your brother,” my father ordered, without removing his eyes from my gun or me.
“Father, please,” Justin begged, looking between us with sad eyes. “Luc, please don’t do this. Let’s talk, there is a way out of this,” Justin pleaded like a lost boy. We had all been lost boys with a cruel father. Only now Justin lay helpless and bleeding on the floor.
As I held the cold metal in my hand and aimed the revolver on my mark, the blood flowing through my veins frosted over. I felt cold and empty. I had no choice but to pull the trigger. Like a hunter he had cornered me, and like a wild animal I was trapped. I tried to leave quietly. I tried to start a new life but it was never in his plans. I was never really free. The walls of my throat thickened. I had tried so hard to be good. All I wanted was a family, to be loved, and to give love, but he would never allow it. He tried to make me into something I wasn't. I lived the facade for too long.
I inhaled a sharp breath, and it felt like a knife slicing through me. Justin gasped but he didn’t make a move on his gun.
“I order you to shoot him, Justin, I am the boss, you answer and listen to me,” my father demanded. I pulled back the trigger, but a gun went off and it wasn’t mine. It hit my father in the chest and he fell backward, hitting the ground. Joe had shot him from his position on the floor. I needed to get to Vicky but before I did, I looked down to my father and pulled the trigger. I closed my eyes, knowing I’d never missed my mark, I'd been trained not to. As the bullet left the revolver, I opened my eyes, I'd hit my target spot on. I fell to my knees as the air was sucked from my body. The bullet landed in his heart. There would be no chance of survival that way.
“Luc, get Vicky,” Joe hollered from the floor, he was losing lots of blood. I stumbled over to the chair that Vicky was tied to, and using my bad hand I released the ties and removed the gag from her. It looked like she was shot in the leg. I ripped off my shirt and tied it over her wound and lifted her up on my good side. I was bleeding badly myself, and the pain was piercing through me. I felt like I could faint, but I knew I needed to get her help. I needed to call an ambulance. A moment later I heard police and ambulance sirens, and I walked out of the room with Vicky in my arms. As the ambulance pulled up two paramedics got out.