Lennon.
“The trust of the innocent is the liar's most useful tool.”
“Len-“
“You have got to be kidding me. Are you fucking serious?!” I balled my fists up and slammed them against his chest with enough force to make him stumble backwards. I kept hitting him repeatedly as hard as I could until he gripped around my wrists. “I trusted you!”
My lips were parted from shock and despair as I looked up at him. His grip was painfully tight around my arms but that’s not the reason why I wanted to scream. I felt Harry’s hand around my shoulder and pulled me away abruptly. I was glaring at Dom, my hands itching to strike him again. I shook my head at him, I gritted my teeth again, this time to stop the tears that wanted to fall – was there not a single person who wouldn’t fuck me up emotionally?
“All this time?” I proposed the question, waiting silently for his answer. He looked up towards the sky before meeting my gaze again. He parted his lips as if he was going to speak but silence still filled the air. He opened his mouth again, this time replying much to my dismay.
“Of course you trusted me, you were vulnerable and at risk. The thought of betrayal didn’t even cross your mind.” It was like he had rehearsed this moment several times in his head, maybe before he went to bed or when he first woke up in the morning, but he was prepared.
“I told you everything.”
“Which was highly appreciated, you really helped give us the upper hand.” He smirked, the man behind him coughing subtly to cover his laughter. I growled at him and narrowed my eyes fiercely.
“You set me up with James on purpose, why the fuck did I not see this before?!”
“Because you’re not as smart as you think you are, silly infantile little girl.”
“She’s smarter than you’ll ever be!”
The next turn of events happened so fast I barely had chance to blink. Harry shoved past me and his fist was colliding with Dom’s face in seconds. An evident crack shattered through the air followed by a whimper from Dom. His face was dripping with blood like a flowing river. My eyes widened at the sight of his face, his nose was completely crooked and indented. The strength behind Harry’s hit astounded me, he shook of his fist as he stood over Dom, who was cowering on the floor holding onto his face, the blood gushing through his hands. Zayn quickly grabbed a hold of Harry, pulling him back before he slammed him into the ground even more.
“He’s not worth your energy.” And Zayn was right, we still had Sykes to get to.
The man behind Dom had scarpered back inside, we were left in silence outside of the door which was wide open. I looked over at Zayn and Harry, flicking my head towards the door. Zayn pulled his gun from his belt and held it ready for an attack. Harry cocked the machinegun so the barrel was fully loaded and Oil spun his knife in his hand. I looked back in the distance to where we had come from. The SUV was still parked up but the driver was nowhere to be seen. I cursed under my breath, there was no sight of him.
We had no idea what was inside, how many people were inside and what was waiting for us. It was almost like walking into a death trap. I was about to walk in first but Harry slammed his arm across the front of my chest and stepped ahead of me, almost winding me. We climbed over Dom who was clearly pale and close to passing out from all the blood loss. I cringed when Harry kicked him in the head, his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he stopped whimpering. Harry looked almost satisfied with his handy work.
As soon as we walked in there was nothing unusual about the warehouse. There were no people but oddly no stock either. It was a massive empty space, very dimly lit by hanging lights from the ceiling towering over ten metres above. I looked around gripping my gun tightly in my hands, this didn’t seem right at all.
“Stand still.” Zayn’s voice was low and almost inaudible yet firm. I planted my feet to the ground and looked over my shoulder towards the side at him. The four of us were stood very still in the middle of the empty space. My heart was pumping so hard I feared it would overwork and give out completely.
Oli went to speak, to what I could assume he was wondering what was happening but Zayn hushed him immediately. I followed Zayn’s eye line and gulped when we both noticed the same thing. We were being watched and not just by one person. Our breaths emitted from each of us could be heard against the deadly silence of the room, our shudders from panic evident against the other inhalations.
I squeezed my eyes shut hoping that when I reopened them, what I was seeing would have all been my imagination. I couldn’t determine what The East wanted anymore, half the time they acted like I was some prize to be won, and other times they treated me like they wanted me skinned alive.
All four of us were targets. Each one of us had a single laser beam aimed at our hearts trailing from the rafters above. It was still dark in the warehouse, I couldn’t make out who was holding the guns, but that didn’t matter, anyone could pull the triggers and we’d still be dead.
My head snapped in front of us to the blackness at the other side of the building. I could hear several sets of footsteps coming closer. I held my breath as I waited for the culprits to appear. I shouldn’t have been surprised when Sykes, Jasper and several more of his men stepped out from the shadows. The vindictive leader had a grimacing smile on his, one that could give you nightmares for the rest of your life.
“This was almost too easily,” Sykes went on to mock us as he rubbed his hands together, the others joining in with his laughter. The rafters up above creaked loudly as more men stared down at us. “Did you think you could just come here and kill me? Are you really that stupid? There’s four of you and over fifty of us inside and even more outside.” His gaze flickered around the room, watching his men circle around us like predators.
“Are you seriously doing all this just so you can have London under your control? Is this all for power?” I asked as calmly as I could manage, my voice shook slightly but it was virtually unnoticeable.
“It’s not just about power, I already have that. I’m winning aren’t I?”
I couldn’t argue back because right now, we were surrounded and he wasn’t. He had the upper hand, he had my best friend playing for him. He had a gun pointed at my heart, and the hearts of people I cared about.
“I take it you didn’t quite find out everything when you took a little nosey into those files?” He was close enough now his chicken filled breath made me feel sick. His spit hit my face but he gripped my wrist tightly as I tried to wipe it away. I hissed as he squeezed tighter and tighter until my hand was completely white from loss of blood. He could have snapped my wrist in one quick movement if he tried.
“You dad took away the only thing that I ever truly lived for, the only person I ever loved.” He was right, I hadn’t read that part. I knew my dad had killed a lot of people, but none surrounding Sykes. “Jane, my wife. She had done nothing wrong but he was cruel and inhumane.”
“Why didn’t you just kill me when you had the chance then?” I grunted trying to break free from his painful grasp.
“Because I want you to suffer like I have done for these past twenty years. I want your life to be a complete misery, I want you to hate yourself, to go crazy thinking of all the things you could have done to stop it happening. But then I can use you for control too, it’s like a two for one deal and I’m laughing all the way home.”
“You can’t punish me for something my father did.” I yanked my arm away from him and slapped it against my side uncontrollably. I could sense Harry watching me with anticipation, I could almost tell he thought I was going to lash out, his stance was ready to pounce. But I wouldn’t, we were still in range of having a bullet through the heart, and even though Sykes wanted me alive, anything could happen in the heat of the moment.
“You’re his flesh and blood, as close as it gets.”
“That’s some fucked up logic.”
“I really don’t think you’re in a position to talk to me like that.” His voice was so patronising I had to fight my inner demons to avoid knocking him out point blank.
“You’ve got what you wanted. You have me-“
“What? Like last time? You really think I’d make the same mistake twice?” He laughed at his own words ominously. “No we can’t have pretty boy and his friends ruining the party this time.”
His eyes passed over Zayn, Oli and Harry, his eyes lingering on him even longer before his feet moved him over in front of Harry. He sized him up and down, Harry was an inch or so taller but it still felt like Sykes was looking down on him. The machine gun was still wrapped around Harry’s torso but by the time he would have got it aimed right, the rifle aimed at him would hit first.
“That’s a nice weapon you got there, in fact I think I recognise it.” Sykes mused before snatching it away from him. Harry grunted as the strap unbuckled and landed in Sykes’ grasp. Harry was gritting his teeth, his muscles so evidently tensed but he couldn’t even flinch or he’d be dead in seconds.
“Isn’t it nice how this is all going to end tonight? And so quickly too?”
I shuddered visibly at his ominous words because there was no doubt he was indicating something worse than I had imagined. Maybe we should have waited until back up had arrived, but we took the risk and we couldn’t change that now. I wanted to know why we were in a random warehouse, why was Dom wandering outside and why was all of this so odd?
“Why here?” I voiced out of the blue. Sykes had begun walking back over towards Jasper, the machine gun still in his hands when he spun around.
“Do you see anyone around? We’re in an empty part of one of the busiest cities in the world, why wouldn’t we choose here?”
“So it’s just convenient?”
“And the very spot you’re standing on is where your father died or should I say murdered.”
“Who killed him?”
“You really left her in the dark didn’t you?” He replied with a question shooting it mainly at Harry as he glanced back over. Harry didn’t answer and stayed completely still. “It was almost a team effort. The four henchmen he called us. Me, Tony, Chris and Paul. We weren’t going to sit on the side lines any longer and one shot later he was dead and here we are today. He killed my wife and expected me to be fine with it, but he didn’t know what love was. Ask your mother.”
His voice was close to sentimental as he reminisced, the memories still vivid in his mind. And I couldn’t ask my mother because she didn’t even know who I was. Sykes was a few years younger than my father who died in his fifties, he had been without his wife for over twenty years and the grudge he held was still very strong and not in my favour.
“But it wasn’t me who pulled the trigger.” He chuffed upbeat at his sentence, his eyes once again giving the once over to Harry and the others. “It was your dear friend Paul, he’s not all nice and innocent as you may think. He pulled the trigger, he killed your father.”
I think he expected me to be angry or break down in tears but I refused. The news was shocking but I knew Paul was a gang leader, he had to have done something to earn the title in the first place. And I didn’t know my dad and from the stories and nightmares I heard, he was better off dead. Paul had been nothing but a caring figure in my life, even if it had been out of sympathy. He didn’t hold a grudge and he didn’t treat me like the daughter of a fiend, he treated me like Lennon, like a person.
“You think I care who killed him? It makes no difference.” I tried to glare at him, my nose twitching too but I couldn’t focus.
“You think your little eye trick is gonna work this time?” He waved his hand in the air, waving me off like a side dish. “Come here.” I strutted forward ready to beat him senseless. “Girls can’t be heroes. You’re weak and fragile, you don’t belong on the battlefield, the only place you belong is in the kitchen or the bedroom, if you know what I mean.”
I took in a sharp breath before throwing my fist towards the man stood next to Sykes. My arm hit with force underneath his chin his jaw clamped together, the crack shattering through the room. The man stumbled back, gripping his face, blood pouring between his lips. He spat out blood, stumbling over his feet, the amount of dripping red liquid got progressively worse. Harry taught me the uppercut punch, it had to be done swiftly before it could be blocked, but the man wasn’t suspecting it. The force could shatter a jaw if there was enough power behind it, which with all the adrenaline, there was.
Seconds later the man fell to the ground, his mouth open a gape, the red river flowing from his features. He wasn’t dead, not even close but he would wake up soon with a banging headache. I couldn’t even feel the pain in my fist from the contact, the shooting pain in my legs was irrelevant too.
Sykes cracked his knuckles and narrowed his eyes at me, before a smirk reappeared. “Not so fragile then?” He spoke in a condescending tone. I remained silent and still as he stepped closer, his breath emitting itself onto my face. “Since you took out one of my men, it’s only fair we get even.”
My eyes grew twice as wide as soon as the words left his mouth. I screamed from the top of my lungs, my feet hitting the ground seconds later but the shot had been fire, the recoil echoed around the room leaving a chilling atmosphere. “NO!” I screeched and pleaded as I saw the blood ooze from him. I couldn’t see where the shot hit but it was spilling out everywhere. Harry fell to the floor, a soft grunt leaving his lips as he clutched his hands against his body.
I snatched my gun which I had hidden before we reached the middle of the room over ten minutes ago. I turned the safety off automatically, turned around to face Sykes and held the gun up to his eye level. I shook my head at him, my finger on the trigger. But if only the next words I heard were seconds earlier I would have fired the shot.
“LENNON WATCH OUT!”
The gun in my hands fell to the floor as Paul’s voice filled my ears. My head was thumping, everything was becoming a blur. I stuck my arms out to my sides to help balance me but it wasn’t helping. My body was swaying and my feet refused to remain planted in one place. I didn’t know what had hit me, who it was and how bad I was injured. I felt blood running down my face, the warm liquid trickled into my eye at a steady, unwanted pace. I felt sick and lightheaded as I tried to make out what was happening.
All I could hear was screams, gun shots and shouting as my body tumbled to the floor. My senses were pulled away from me, the sound of everything disappeared, my vision blurred completely only leaving darkness to be seen, the smell of blood had vanished, even the taste of it on my tongue had gone. And lastly the sense of anything had vanished, the floor beneath didn’t even seem real as everything just stopped.