Her Russian Millionaire

Erik took a step back, his jaw clenching. These were not good odds. He took another step back, intending to make a run for upstairs to get help. There was no sign of the two men who were supposed to be with him. Hopefully, they were still alive.

“Not one more step. This plays out my way.” Stone laughed. “Here are the rules. One: you drop your gun onto the ground and kick it behind the bar. Two: you take off that ugly-ass jacket and your bulletproof vest. Those go on the floor, too. No need to kick those. Three: you and me, fists only. Winner walks out of here alive and gets to fu*k Jalisa.”

“How do I know you’ll play fair?” Erik jerked his head in the direction of the back-up Stone had called. “You’ll have three guns on your side the whole time. What if they just decide to rip me in half and call it a day?”

“They’ll get paid whether I’m alive or not. There’s a key in my pocket that opens a little lock box with their pay. If I’m alive, then I hand them the key. If I’m dead, then they can fish it out of my pants themselves.” Stone stood up and placed all the weapons on his person on the table. He turned his pockets inside out and unbuttoned his shirt to show he truly meant fists only.

“All right.” Erik set down his gun and kicked it behind the bar. He removed his lumpy jacket and his bulletproof vest next, leaving them in a heap in the entrance. He felt extremely naked as he walked out into the bar floor. The vulnerability of missing his weapon was getting to him.

The two men circled around each other, each waiting for the other to make the first move. They locked eyes like predators in the jungle. Erik could still remember his father’s advice from when he was a teenager getting into his first fights: hit first and hit hard.

Erik lunged forward, aiming for Stone’s face. With a sound that could almost be described as a giggle, Stone moved out of the way, only taking the blow on his shoulder. He returned with his own strike, hitting Erik squarely in the jaw. It was gentle compared to what Stone could have done. He wasn’t using his full strength, drawing this out for his own amusement. Erik rubbed his jaw as he backed up a bit. This would take longer than Erik thought.

“Why are you doing this? What the hell is wrong with you?” Erik snarled.

“Why? It’s a lot of fu*king fun, Erik.” Stone lashed out with an open palm, hitting Erik in the chest.

While Stone was close, Erik reached around and grabbed his hair, holding him in place while he kneed his stomach over and over. Stone dropped hard. This wasn’t a damn game, and Erik would not treat it like one.

They exchanged blows back and forth in much the same manner until Stone got angry. Erik had gotten in one too many hits and now that he was in pain, Stone was not happy. He reeled back and hit Erik in the face with all his might.

The first thing Erik felt was cold. The chilly tile floor pressed against his face. Slobber from the hit dribbled out and pooled onto the tiled. Then the pain. It blossomed like a delicate flower all across his face. Hands pressed firmly to the floor, he pushed himself up. The unmistakable sound of a gun being loaded echoed behind him. Casting a glance over his shoulder, Erik saw the hulking form of Stone wielding a gun pointed right at him.

With a cry, Erik scrambled forward on all fours. He drove towards the exit, fingers reaching out and grabbing his bulletproof vest just in time. Shielding his most vulnerable parts with it, he survived a bullet aimed at him rib cage. The vest shoved against him as the bullet drilled through the Kevlar fibers, leaving a dull pain but not an open wound.

“That wasn’t supposed to happen!” Stone roared. He turned to one of the men watching this unfold. “Give me your gun, stupid asshole.”

Erik scrambled on all fours behind the bar, desperately moving towards his own weapon. Stone shot randomly at the bar, hitting the bottles on the shelves. Glass shards and burning alcohol rained down on Erik. He twisted his eyes shut to protect his vision. More glass and alcohol showering down upon him. Boots moving toward him. The cool metal of his gun in his hand at last.

Carefully listening to the sound of Stone’s heavy boots slowly moving toward him, he aimed in his mind. All he had to do was pop up and pull the trigger. Erik wiped his eyes with his shirt, trying hard to ignore the way they burned despite his efforts to prevent that. He raised above the bar and emptied his clip into the direction Stone’s blurry form was in. The form shook for a moment before falling.

“Holy fu*k,” came the whisper from the two men watching.

“Is he dead?” Erik called, still crouched behind the bar. He had no way of knowing for sure what Stone’s instructions to these men were.

“Yeah…you got him all right,” another voice sounded. The first man retched all over the floor as Erik stood up. He walked past the men, keeping his pace quick and opportunities for cover in the forefront of his mind. Washing his face and eyes in the bathroom, he reemerged to see just how much damage he had done.

Brains were splatter in a grotesque red streak across one of the bar tables. Stone lay in a slowly expanding pool of his own blood. He lay face up so Erik could see that three bullets hit their mark: one in the arm, one in the stomach, and one right in the forehead. He wanted to celebrate his luck, but there was still the matter of finding Jalisa and his two missing men.

After ducking in every room and finding nothing, he called one of his missing men on his cellphone. He answered immediately and let Erik know that she was found hiding in the secret basement. The two men stayed with her there, confident in Erik’s way to make his way out of the fight alive. He had many cuts from the bottles exploding, and numerous bruises and aches, but he was, indeed, alive.

The secret basement was stuffy and dusty, but it was full of corners and furniture and places to hide. Jalisa was a smart girl to go there. Erik made his way to a certain crate and found it and the hatch to the basement already open. It was a quick descent down a ladder and he was already hearing Jalisa.

“Erik!” She threw her arms around him from behind before he even got off the ladder.

“It’s over now, Jalisa.” Erik turned around and held her to his chest. “It’s over now.”