In the Barrel of a Gun {Plot Thread, 2nd} Pt. 2

[AKREE]

Things were starting to move, slowly at first, one could still see how calm the party is despite the tension that rose like static in this particular corner of the room. The rest of the criminals here were oblivious to the presence of the bomb –if any would happen to be observant enough they’d notice how there were a few individuals clustered in a trashy corner of the room –three gentlemen accompanied by a lady. They would probably shrug it off, it was nothing to worry about even from here I could see other clusters of people in a similar arrangement. But then if someone had recognized Vincent, Viktor or myself their attention might linger the underboss and his close friend chatting about with a head? Someone obviously nosy, someone who wanted to know everything might keep a close watch then raise a brow as Miss Williams crouched low to the ground and began looking closely at something, this would’ve dragged maybe even more attention when Viktor left in a hurry while Vincent and myself stood there analyzing every corner and centimeter of the party for anything suspicious than shrugging it off.

The ear piece buzzed with the cacophony of people panicking, voices, the bodyguards explaining what they were to do, where to go. I caught faint conversations; “how could this be possible?” and “are you serious?” maybe even some “who told you that?” there was tension there –no doubt. Things were about to get hairy, some questions buzzed on the line, people wondering how to proceed. I muttered some more instructions, instructing them on a few details and what way they were to take, what exits to block. We didn’t want the possible perpetrator to get around the wrong exit –if he or she were still to be here that is. I heard more questions buzzing in the line, I heard more people barking orders. Good thing the music was loud enough inside the room or else someone would’ve been bound to hear all that noise. I managed to think of more possible problems and hastily suggested more tactics, orders, people would be only able to exit three ways, one the main exit, two the back exit and three dead. I heard affirmations at the rest of the exits were blocked, confirmation about weapons and ammunition.

I sure hoped Williams would be able to stop the bomb. I turned to look at the timer –more than enough time to disarm a bomb. Then my eyes flicked towards Vincent –as much as I cared about not having this building blown to bits, sadly, if the timer got too low I would be forced to yank Vincent away from the bomb and we’d have to get back to safety. I was not about to see if it would go off or not. I wanted to somehow let Vincent know that he’d better loosen his muscles in case we had to run for it but I still was not keen in warning Williams as well. If she thought we might leave her with the bomb alone she may suddenly feel a tad inclined to run for it. My thoughts ran around in a little pointless circle trying to guess how we would exit, visioning the position of the car then considering if it would be quicker to take it or go on foot. Certainly I wasn’t worried about loosing the thing, what I was worried about would be the traffic. The car was fast but without space all that would count for nothing.

I looked up trying to catch Vince’s eye, something about his posture was beginning to nag at me. Was something bothering him? Instinctively I looked around, searching the place but I caught sight of nothing, when I looked back at him he had seemed to regain some control over his stance, so I simply shrugged it off. He was drunk so it was probable that he just had a problem standing straight. Of course either that or he may be thinking about something quite bothersome whatever the reason right now there were bigger worries.

Security started to leak into the room, slowly pouring through the one entrance. People got startled –they started looking up stopped dancing, a profound hush fell through the crowd. Conversation was cut off abruptly, glasses of wine were set down on the tables even the DJ lowered the volume of the music moments before security had reached the stand. Now people’s head were rotating around, looking, searching, fearing. Quiet questions started to pour from their lips, women clutched their partner’s arm and yanked them towards themselves whispering “What’s going on?” only to have their companion shrug, confused. Whispers broke out through the crowd even before it was announced that the party was over –due to the presence of a bomb. The news had an immediate effect but I couldn’t help notice than even before the bomb was announced people had already started edging towards the exit. These were no fools –they knew something bad must be going on. Some had even went as far as already pushed their way through security which let them pass along after giving them a piercing glance. However, the news were told and suddenly a cacophony of voices erupted. Heels clacking on tiles, voices urging their companion on, someone even screamed. Some seemed to stand still –a dead fish gaze clear on their expression, they couldn’t believe it.

A kind of shudder seemed to run through the crowd and suddenly all at once everyone was starting to push, kick and punch their way through the exit. Nails dug on flesh, hair was yanked back, everyone seemed to want to push themselves through the limited door space at the same time. The mess didn’t last long; security was quick to raise their weapons point at whoever happened to be locked in a fist fight. If anyone disobeyed they could be shot –these people weren’t idiots. May be a tad disorganized at the moment but they knew security were just a bunch of trained assassins and they would shoot if tempted so soon the fights would lessen. They still pushed their way forward but no one turned on the other, so far no shots had rung out.

I drew out my weapon, already uneasy by the mess. What if someone decided to have a little go at dismantling the bomb themselves. Because even though most ran some stayed put and began to uneasily look around –searching for the bomb, perhaps? I was beginning to worry that Viktor wouldn’t be able to find his way through. Surely this mess would make it more difficult? But sure enough soon the crowd started to disperse as a cluster of the security guards started to push their way towards our direction. My eyes stayed fixed on the cluster of people, wary but hoping it would simply be Viktor. Surely I wouldn’t be forced to shoot anyone in such close proximity to a bomb? In my concentrated observation I had barely caught a word of Vincent’s but that couldn’t be helped. I needed to keep a close watch on these thugs. They may be wanting to save their own lives but that didn’t mean that they wouldn’t be willing to die without some alternate more violent route that may or may not provide the way out.

The bodyguards dispersed from the cluster, some dropping behind to crawl back out towards some kind of better vantage point, I thought I glimpsed Viktor between the shoulders of a particularly tall man and another wide one but I wasn’t sure. There were far too many people to judge correctly…

But Jesus, if they were trying to cause trouble I think I might just be forced to retire if I survive this.