“You two keep post, if anything looks bad, give the door a tap”

They nodded and the rest of us headed in, coming face to face with Chris. He was a middle-aged man with graying hair at the sides, stomach falling over his belt with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

“Glad you’re here on time McCutcheon, Kaye” he acknowledged us.

I stuck my hand out and he took it, making me feel the sweat from his palms, doing the same with Luca. Suppressing the urge to wipe my hands and disrespect him, I let it hang limp at my side.

“Let’s get down to business shall we?” Luca asked,

“Do lets” Chris smiled menacingly, showing us his somewhat yellow teeth.

My eyes slightly narrowed as I took a cigarette from my pack and handed one to Luca and light mine up before throwing the lighter his way.

My best mate sensed it too but I turned my head to the side to signal no, I wanted to make sure I was fully right with my assumptions before actually doing anything.

Luca scanned the area quickly with his eyes, 18 to 13. They were at a slight disadvantage.

“You, open it up” Chris barked at one of his men.

The man in his late 20’s gingerly opened the large wooden box, revealing a variety of rifles including AK-47, Colt M4A1 Carbine, H&K G3/SG-1 and more that I couldn’t think of from the top of my head.

I snapped my fingers and Luca slammed the suitcase onto one of the untouched wooden boxes and flipped it open. There was a light tap from the front door that Chris didn’t hear and my ears perked, my men stiffening. Luca heard it too but continued with his act.

“Deal?” Chris asked, grinning.

His eyes were fixed securely on the money and as he went to grab it Luca snapped the case shut onto his fingers and drove a knife up his chin. His men sprang into action, reaching for their guns when half of them were already down.

Too slow.

81.

I pulled the extra clip out form my pocket and slipped it in, as I ducked behind more boxes. I pulled one of my men with me, when the wooden stand behind him now bore 3 holes, what he would have been.