Chapter 4

The assailants didn’t stop shooting and the patrons didn’t stop screaming. People were trampling over themselves in a fiercely determined effort to get out of Club Indigo. Cassie was sure that she saw the club’s most recent dancer, a redhead whose name she never caught, dive out of the window the second the gunshots started. The club’s music had since come to an abrupt end when the DJ had taken a shot to the head. He lay slumped over his spin table, his sticky blood slowly dripping from the gaping hole in his head to mix with the confetti to form a messy pool on the floor.

Ever curious, Isabel strained to see what was going on to try to deduce the cause of the commotion. From her hiding spot behind a black leather couch, Cassie yanked her friend back down to a crouching position.

“What the actual fuck is wrong with you?!” Cassie hissed amid the chaos. “Are you trying to get yourself killed? Do you not value your life?!”

“Hey.” Isabel started as she tried to avoid the broken glass and martini mixture on the ground that had formed as a result of Cassie abandoning her serving tray of drinks to take cover once the gunshots started. “Of course, I don’t want to get myself killed. I’m not stupid. I just want to know who the people doing the shooting were.” She defended.

Cassie was about to come up with a retort when she realized that the shooting had abruptly stopped. Had the gunmen left? What is safe to come out?

But life wasn’t that kind.

“Okay listen up everyone!” A booming masculine voice ordered. Against Cassie’s hushed disapproval, Isabel raised her head to get a view of the speaker from behind the safety of the leather couch. He was dressed in all black with a skull mask to protect his identity. With one hand, he gripped an assault rifle and with another hand, he gripped a heavy-looking black duffel bag. “I don’t want to spill any more blood tonight so if you all just listen to my instructions and do as you’re told when you’re told, everything is going to be fine.”

For fear of being heard over the pin-drop silence, Isabel had to stop herself from scoffing and contended herself by rolling her eyes in disbelief. When a big scary man with a skull mask carrying an assault rifle said everything was going to be fine, everything was going to be the opposite of fine. She only saw the night ending in chaos but hoped that she and her friend would make it out alive.

“Dude.” A different voice called. He had chosen a kabuki mask to protect his identity. The speaker was also male but his voice had a more raspy texture to it. He sounded like someone that smoked at any given opportunity. He was leaner and had less muscle than his colleague. “The cops are going to be here soon. We can’t stay hidden here forever. Let’s just get a hostage and get the fuck out of here.” He advised as his eyes trailed along the room looking for anyone to take hostage.

His gaze traveled across the room until it landed on Isabel’s head peeking out from behind the couch. In a flash, she ducked behind the couch again startling Cassie. Cassie opened her mouth to ask what the problem was but Isabel held a finger to her lips and pleaded with her eyes from her friend to be quiet. It was difficult to tell on account of the mask that the man wore but he hoped that he hadn’t seen her. Her hopes were completely dashed when she heard the heavy thud of footsteps start to make their way toward their hiding position. Before either of them could react, Isabel felt a rough gloved hand grip her hair and pull her from behind the couch. She saw other patrons and her fellow worker sprawled on the ground, most of them clearly alive but the gunman hadn’t picked any of them because none of them exhibited her foolish curiosity by trying to get a view of the assailants. Even the club’s owner Big Daddy was cowering on the ground with his head bowed down. He had already peed himself. If he weren’t such a terrible person and if she didn’t have a gun to her head, Isabel would have felt bad for him.

“Congratulations.” The man with the kabuki mask said with mock enthusiasm. “Since you’re so much of a busybody, you get to be our captive. And would you look at that, you also come with an extra cash bonus?” He gripped Isabel’s arm so firmly, she knew it would leave a mark. Then he began to pluck out the dollar bills from the cutouts in her outfit and stick them into his trouser pockets. When he was done, he nodded to his colleague as he shoved Isabel forward toward the waiting hands of his colleague. “We have our hostage. Let’s leave.”

“Wait!” A desperate voice called out.

To Isabel’s absolute horror, she watched as Cassie wiggled out from behind the couch. “Please don’t take her. Take me instead.” Cassie offered. “She has diabetes and is not supposed to be put in stressful situations.”

The man in the skull mask observed the two women, as he struggled to decide whether to listen to Cassie or not. The telltale flashing red and blue lights of the police cars arriving helped him to make his decision. “Grab the other bitch.” He ordered as he held firmly to Isabel. “One hostage for me and one hostage for you.” He said with a cynical chuckle.

Cassie and Isabel were dragged through the front doors of the establishment and were immediately blinded by the flashing red and blue lights of the police cars parked in front of the club.

“Lower your weapons!” Cassie’s captor yelled as he pressed a gun to her temple. “If anyone attempts to come any closer or follow us as we make our exit, I will blow this bitch’s head off.” Seeing that the men had hostages, the policemen present were forced to lower their weapons and watched as two innocent women were dragged toward a nondescript black van whose number plates had been removed.

“Get in!” The skinny man with the kabuki mask ordered as he pushed the two friends towards the van all the while still eyeing the cops behind him.

With shaky hands, Cassie opened the van’s doors and entered inside. Immediately, she was hit with the stench of mold, cigarettes, spoiled food, and severe body odor. Gagging, she pressed her nose into the crook of her elbow to prevent herself from throwing up. Then she turned to her shaking friend and helped her into the back of the van. Without another word, the door was shut behind them.

Immediately, Isabel burst into a fit of sobs which were almost drowned out by the loud rumbling of the van’s engine and the obnoxious loud punk music that filled the car.

The bulky man in the skull mask rapped on the net partition that separated the drivers from the women. “Get her to stop crying or else she’s going to get a bullet in her mouth!” He threatened as he continued to drive.

Cassie pulled her friend closer to her. “Hey, Isabel. It’s okay. Stop crying. Everything is going to be fine.”