City

City (Prologue)

The Baxtor Bank building rose up majestically beside the group. A woman and three men were standing in a dark alley that was a surprising contrast to the building beside them. The woman and one of the men were smoking while the other had his arms crossed and his eyes trained on the side entrance to the building, waiting for someone to emerge.

"Daniel, you're going to tire yourself out like this. Just relax. He can't possibly beat all four of us." The last man said. He was sitting on the floor on his phone.

"Shut up. We're on duty, Tim. Act like it." Daniel scowled. "Besides, we won't be alone with him long before his back up comes."

"Just calm down, guys." The woman said dropping her cigarette and putting it out with her foot. "We've done this a million times before. We'll just get the money and go, simple as that."

A noise came from the door and the group was instantly ready. Tim had stood up and pocketed his phone leaving his hand near his pocket, Daniel had jumped off the wall and had moved behind the door, the woman pulled out a sleek black gun and the last man tensed up without moving.

The door swung open and a skinny man stepped out. Before he realised there was an ambush waiting for him Daniel had shut the door and pushed the man to the ground. The man's eyes widened and he scrambled onto his feet and into the corner of the alley. He produced a gun from his jacket and held it in front of him, his hands trembling with fear.

"Hey, Quentin. How's it going?" Daniel said taking a step towards the cornered man. 

Quentin gulped audibly and a drop of perspiration ran down his face. He had thought that he would be able to avoid the group for a while longer, or at least until he had the money to pay them back. "What are you doing here?"

"We're here to get our money. It's long overdue." The woman's eyes were concentrated and fierce. "You didn't think we'd forget did you?"

"I'll pay you back, I promise. I just don't have the money yet." Quentin was stressing. He knew what would happen to him if he couldn't get this situation under control.

"Look here, we want our money, and we want it now. So either you give it to us, or we take it." Daniel took another step towards the man.

"One shot!" Quentin called out. He was moving the aim of his gun to each person's head in turn. His final defence would be an offence. "One shot and the cops'll come. Then all of you scum bags will be in jail 'cept one of you. One of you will get their brains blasted out."

The woman kept her gun trained carefully on the man's chest. Given any sort of warning she could take him out before he caused any one any harm.

"Just give us the money and no one gets hurt, and you don't get caught by the cops. Eh?" Tim tried to negotiate with the man who was clearly not coping well under the stress of the situation.

"My back up will be here soon. The only thing the cops will find is your dead bodies." Quentin quickly moved his weapon to face Tim but before he was able to pull the trigger a bullet ripped through his chest and he fell onto the floor, slouched awkwardly against the wall.

Daniel swore loudly and Tim rushed over to pick up the gun. The door burst open and two men rushed into the alley way. "Quentin's back up? You're a little late." Daniel smirked as they looked at Quentin's body. "Let's go." 

Running out of the alley way with his team in tow, Daniel climbed into the waiting escape vehicle. He started the engine as the rest of the group piled in. Quentin's back up were racing towards the car yelling incoherently. Daniel drove of around the corner as fast as he could go leaving the scene behind him.

"What the hell was that?" The fourth and biggest member of the group yelled, his annoyance aimed at the woman. 

"What the hell was what?" She asked sounding very agitated. 

"You killed him. All we were after was money." The man leered at the woman.

"Yeah, and I am friggen happy that she did." Tim broke in sounding equally annoyed. "One more second and I would have taken a bullet!"

"He couldn't have hit you if he was holding the gun to your head. But this bitch thought that she'd call the cops on us and loose us our money in a single bound." 

"Shut up. All of you." Daniel silenced the passengers in his car but did nothing to sooth their anger. "The gun shot will cost us but it was the right action. I don't want any of my men getting hurt. Except maybe your sorry ass Ryder." 

"Just because you're in charge of this job doesn't mean you're the boss of me. Alright?" Ryder was resuming his angry stance.

"Get over yourself and stop acting like this. If we'd let you have a gun Quentin wouldn't have been able to open his mouth before you shot him." The woman snapped.

"Quiet!" Daniel roared. He had enough to deal with without his people fighting. He pulled over the car. "No one follow me. Go report back." He left the car and slammed the door behind him stalking off along the pavement.

It wasn't long before Daniel heard footsteps behind him. He turned and saw that Tim had gotten out of the car and was trying to catch up. Daniel started running, pushing past any people that got in his way and trying to out run Tim which he knew he could.

Daniel turned a corner and seeing that Tim hadn't come around yet ducked into the first door he saw and ended up in a small cafe with booths. The front of the shop was glassed and not wanting to be spotted by Tim, Daniel dove into a booth and away from his prying eyes.

After arranging himself slightly Daniel peered around the corner of the seat and saw Tim run past without glancing at the restaurant. Pleased with himself, Daniel relaxed. It had been a long day.