I DARE YOU

Andre drove over to Sky Hills with his best friend and most trusted underling. They sat in his car, waiting.

After a while, he looked at his time and then his best friend, Drew, and asked, "Are you certain that Bull will be here?"

"Of course, I would never lie to you," Drew replied. "He has bitten off more than he can chew, and this is the best opportunity. He should know that he doesn't stand a chance against the leader of the Black Scorpions. He is nothing before you."

Andre nodded. "Yeah, today is the day he gets to say goodbye to this world. But what about backup?"

"They were waiting at the agreed location but they will be arriving very soon."

While Andre and Drew were still waiting in the car, Andre noticed other men arriving in different cars with the Black Scorpion logo on their number plates. He smiled, "Good, backup is here."

The words had barely left his mouth when they all began to shoot at his car.

"What is going on?" he exclaimed, looking at Drew. "Why are our men shooting at us?"

"Hold your fire!" Drew screamed. However, they kept shooting.

Andre opened the door and began to shoot back at them, killing most of them. But right at that moment, the enemy he was waiting for arrived and began to shoot at him as well.

He got out of the car, and Drew followed suit. Andre looked at Drew and asked, "What is going on?"

"Our men turned on us," Drew replied. "We have to abort the mission."

"No, no, this might be the only chance I have to get Bull. I will not let him slip through my fingers," Andre insisted.

"Come on, we need to go," Drew pleaded. However, Andre refused.

He kept shooting until he saw more men arriving, and he realized there was no way he was going to defeat them all.

"Let's go," Drew said.

They took off into the bushes and began to run, with the men chasing after them. They kept running until they reached a cliff with thorns below, but there was a main road nearby.

Andre knew that if they could make it down the cliff, he could easily find a car and escape. He stared at Drew and said, "We need to jump."

Drew hesitated, "Scorpion.....I think we lost them back there. We should take another route."

"No, let's jump. This is much safer," Andre insisted.

Just as he was about to jump, he heard the sound of a gun being cocked. He turned and looked at Drew, who was pointing a gun at him.

Andre stared at him in shock, "Drew?"

"Yes," Drew replied.

"You set me up?"Andre smiled bitterly. "My father, Ace is still alive, Drew. Even if I die, he will come back to reclaim what is his."

"But I will make sure that doesn't happen," Drew replied. "How do you think your most trusted underlings turned against you? Why do you think there are so many people here to kill you? We have had enough of you, Andre.

What do you think of yourself? You look down on everyone, and you kill without respect for the lives of others. Well, your time has come. Say your final prayers."

"Will you really shoot me, Drew? We have been best friends since our childhood," Andre said.

"Yes, and that is what annoys the shit out of me. I should be the leader, not you," Drew replied.

"Alright, go ahead and pull the trigger. I dare you, Drew," Andre challenged.

"Well, be my guest," Drew said as he cocked his gun and shot Andre in the chest. At that moment, they heard other men approaching and shooting as well.

Andre seized the opportunity and jumped off the cliff, while Drew continued shooting at him. Andre managed to evade Drew's line of sight and kept running, despite his bleeding wound.

More shots were fired at him, but he refused to stop. He ran until he reached a section of the road where he spotted a man who had just come out of his car, attempting to find a signal. Andre pointed his gun at the man, took his keys, and got into the car. He started driving, aware that they were chasing after him.

He was still in shock at what had happened. He and Drew had been friends since childhood, attending the same high school and college and even studying the same course.

Drew's family had no ties to the Mafia originally, but Andre had taken a liking to Drew when they were in preschool. Drew had done everything to be his friend, and ever since then, they did everything together and became brothers.

They went for training in Japan together, learning how to fight and engaging in many shared experiences. Although Andre turned out to be a much better fighter than Drew, he never held it against him. After all, it was in his genes—his dad was the infamous Ace, the former leader of the Black Scorpions.

Currently, his parents were on tour as they had passed down their responsibilities to him. Andre believed that he had trustworthy men around him, but the person he trusted the most betrayed him.

Drew must have been plotting for years until he was able to buy his most loyal men. Andre realized that he had been too blind and too soft. Perhaps it was his fault—if he hadn't trusted Drew with all his heart and had treated him as the underling he was, Drew would not have had the opportunity or audacity to do what he did.

He looked at his chest; he was bleeding profusely. He was lucky that the bullet had not struck his left breast, but his right one. Otherwise, his heart would have been hit, and he would not have survived.

Now, he needed medical attention as soon as possible. Feeling dizzy and weak, he realized he had lost his phone and couldn't call anyone. The only option left was to make it to his safe house. Fortunately, nobody except his father knew about its location, and he trusted his father to keep it a secret.

His father had advised him to have a safe house, warning that someday he might need to hide from even the people he trusted the most. Back then, he had doubted that such a day would come, as he believed he could rely on Drew completely.

But his father insisted, and he had gone ahead and built the safe house, ensuring it was packed with everything he would need, including medical supplies and food for the next five years. If he managed to survive, he vowed to never spare Drew.

Drew had lured him into Sky Hills, leading him to believe they were going after their biggest enemy, Black Bull.

Black Bull had killed many of his men, disrupted his businesses, and stolen his clients. He had been searching for him for a long time, but every time he got close, Bull somehow managed to escape. Now he understood that Drew was working with Bull, which explained his constant failures.

Drew had informed him that they had finally caught Bull in a trap. He was going to think he was meeting with some new clients but they were going to kill him.

However, Drew and his underlings had turned on him after choosing a remote location on the outskirts of the city, confident that no one would find him.

Andre knew he had to survive but even if he reached his safe house, he wouldn't be able to help himself. Time was running out; he was losing blood and growing weaker. He needed a nurse urgently, but he couldn't call anyone since he didn't have his phone.

As he drove, he spotted a hospital that was about an hour away from his safe house. He recognized the hospital because it was the biggest and best hospital in Chicago.

He checked his fuel tank and was relieved to find it full. The driver had wisely filled it up, anticipating a long journey. However, he knew he couldn't hold on for much longer. He considered running into the hospital for treatment, but he was aware that they would require a police report.

Going through that process would reveal his location, and in his current state, he couldn't trust anyone. If he let his guard down, he would surely die, and he couldn't bear to let his father down.

Parking his car outside the hospital, an idea struck him. If he could find a doctor willing to treat him discreetly, he would take them to his safe house. After receiving treatment, he would pay them handsomely and allow them to leave.