Episode 135

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“Dear lord, be with our guests and prepare them for the butt whoppin’ they are about to receive.”

            Jeff Foxworthy, Games Rednecks Play

 

 

            The door to the manager’s office opened and Alan stepped outside, an appalled look on his face.  He wiped the cold sweat from his chin, staring at nothing.  The darkness in the hall seemed to pale to the darkness he had just left behind.

            Towards the right stairwell, Dante and Ryoko were talking.  Their conversation ended by his arrival into the hall, they looked to him, both instantly able to tell something was wrong.  “What happened?” Dante said, standing from the wall he leaned against.

            Alan looked back at Eliot who stood in the doorway.  “Eliot has…cemented our path,” he said coldly.  “We’re committed now and we’ve got to press on.”

            “What happened?” Dante half-demanded.

            Again, Alan had to look back at Eliot as if to make sure he truly existed.  “Eliot has set Morgan Brandywyne against the Blue Knights.  While they war amongst themselves, we need to move and we need to move fast.”

            Recovering some of his resolve, he stood up straight, taking a deep breath.  “Where’s Matt?”

            “He still hasn’t left for the satellite team’s base,” Ryoko answered, her arms crossed.  “He should still be downstairs.”

            “Get him,” Alan said.  “No, wait.  We’ll all go.  We don’t have anymore time.  We leave now.  We leave now and if we can’t get ahold of anyone, that’s their problem.”

            Alan led the four down the steps to the door.  Pushing it out, they stepped into the darkly lit, musically overloaded club.  He pointed to the left and the right, Ryoko and Dante immediately taking off through the crowd.  Alan turned back to Eliot, staring the shorter knight in the eyes.  “You’ve crossed a line we would never have crossed.  And you’ve escalated this beyond what we were never willing to accept.  If the consequences of your actions come back on us, you and you alone will answer for them.”  Eliot simply smiled.

            At the entrance to one of the specialty rooms, Ryoko opened a candleholder.  With a match, she lit the candle and returned it to the holder.  Immediately, all the knights in the area took notice.  They saw the lit candle and started to look around for Alan.  On the far side of the club, Dante did the same, lighting the candle with a flip top lighter.  The two knights moved down the wall, lighting all the candles.

            Alan headed towards the bar, stepping up on it, standing over the crowd.  Without incident or comment, the people at the bar moved away from him, forming a clearing for all the knights to gather before him.

            Alan watched as nine men and women in black and red gathered.  He marveled at the number and shook his head.  “This is it?” he said to himself.  He steeled himself and smiled.  “It’ll do.  It’ll have to.”  He held up his hands.  “We’re about to begin our mission,” he said over the music.  “Dante, Matt, and Ryoko are getting in touch with the satellite teams as we speak.”  He glanced to the three knights, noting them redialing their phones.  He glanced around nervously, then his smile returned.  “When contact has been made, when we are ready to…”

            Light

            Flooding in through the main doors, the bright light from the outside fell down onto the crowd with the intensity of the morning sun rising in the east.  Alan had to avert his eyes, the light shining at him.  As his vision adjusted, he looked through the pain as eight figures stepped into the club.

            Everett was at the lead, his knights and Marilyn behind him.  “Alan Vick!” he yelled, his powerful commanding through the music.  “The law I know can afford me no greater insult than this…”
            “We’re outnumbered Everett,” Edgar said quietly.  “Just so you know.”

            “You are a villain,” he completed.

            Alan smirked with disdain.  “Here to arrest me, traitor?”

            “No,” Everett said.  “To kill you.”

 
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