Part 4 of the hotel heist!

OK so i apologize for my failure at transcribing action. I really hope i did a decent job of putting the picture in my head into words. Also i apologize for this sucking but because i said that now you guys are just going to be like "NO LYK OMG UR AWESOME" Anyways here it is.

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The sound of those words put a rush of adrenaline pumping through everybody in the room. Every movement was amplified into an enormous gesture, every tiny sound an orchestra. The tension was only growing greater with every passing moment, full of fear, uncertainty and an unmatched excitement. 

One of the men twitched just slightly too violently in the never-ending silence and broke the focus that all the tension in the room had been mounted on. The knife in Laura’s hand slipped and fell to the ground with a hollow thud. The man nearest to her, clearly the oldest of the group, supposed himself the wisest and took advantage of her momentary disarmament by grabbing her by the shoulders, gun to her head. 

The hostage taker only had a moment to be proud of what he thought was a brilliant move before Laura had palmed one of the knives hidden up her sleeve and jammed it into his gut. Not truly understanding what had happened, only understanding the sudden pain, the man released his grip on his hostage. Laura broke free but did not run. Knowing he was still fully capable of pulling the trigger of the gun that remained aimed in her direction, she slit his throat with a motion that was swift but somehow still incredibly reluctant. 

There was no time for anyone to worry about emotions or morals. There was no time to worry about anything. Suddenly chaos reigned. Guns were fired. No one ever really knew from whom. Consciousness was lost and instinct was in charge. 

A small explosion. Blood. Endless profanity. Shouts that were sure to grab the attention of other guests. More blood. And then darkness.

“Natalie, what is going on with the lights? You said this would be easy!” Jennifer was not angry or disappointed, just curious, an emotion that seemed magnificently out of place at the moment.

“This isn’t me. I have no idea what’s happening.” The room was pitch black. For the girls, moving seemed out of the question, in this strange hotel room filled with enemies and shrapnel from the momentary battle. This clearly wasn’t the case for the men, though. Scraping and scuttling from their movements revealed that they were all moving, but not very effectively. 

The noise of the window opening was distinct and quickly followed by a shot. The lights flicked on once more and the only men remaining in the room were the corpse with the slit throat and a dying man with a bullet through his head.

“Who shot? How stupid are you? You could have hit one of us!” Nichole exclaimed.

“But I didn’t hit any of you. Now there’s one less criminal in the world.” Monica glared at Nichole, knowing she had no way to counteract her argument. Nichole smiled affectionately in defeat. 

Jennifer looked around the room, formulating a plan. Before she could get very far though, she realized she was hurt, a piece of glass embedded in calf, as was another girl. She also realized they were now bonded, at least until they could escape, to these strangers whose names they didn’t even know.

“You’re hurt. What’s your name?” Jennifer asked bluntly, revealing her impatience.

“I’m Anna and it doesn’t matter. I’m fine. It’s just a graze. I’ve had worse.” She looked at her shoulder passively, examining the wound.

“I’m Jennifer. Laura. Natalie.” She said nodding toward each as she said their names.

“Nichole.”

“Monica.”

“Good. Now what do we do?” Nichole demanded.

“Check the safe.” Natalie said, grimly. She checked it without waiting for anyone else’s approval or response. The door to the safe was a jar, which saved them a lot of trouble. Natalie looked around for anything to carry the cash it contained. A laptop case on the floor of the closet seemed to be of sufficient size so she began to fill it without worrying about how much money was there or what was going to happen next. 

“We need to go. We made too much noise,” Jennifer headed towards the door as soon as Natalie seemed to be done collecting the cash. Everyone else followed, despite the fact that Nichole, Anna and Monica had no reason to trust Jennifer besides her aura of confidence.

“We can’t just wander around,” Anna said. “We’ll attract too much attention. Most of us have some kind of visible wound or bloodstains.” She was right but they had to go somewhere and no one had planned for things to get this messy.

“Natalie, you look the least suspicious. Wait for the elevator. We’ll be down the hall. Call us if it’s empty and warn us if people get off and start heading towards us,” Jennifer said calmly. 

The first time the elevator opened, a young man in a suit and an older woman stood arm in arm inside. Natalie made a quick excuse not to board and let it go. The next elevator was empty so she did as she had been instructed and called for everyone else, holding the elevator door open while they boarded.

The severity of what had just happened began to weigh down on all of them. 

Laura was shaking visibly. She leaned against the elevator wall, staring at her bloody hands. Her actions had been necessary but that didn’t make the realization that she had taken that man’s life any less painful. She knew she had to be strong though, for Jennifer’s sake, for Johnny’s sake, for everyone in this elevator whom she felt an inexplicable affection for. She did her best to, at least temporarily, block out her pain and focus on the matter at hand.

Natalie’s expression was vacant. She could hardly comprehend what she had just seen. All she thought was going to happen was that they would sneak in and take the money and leave. No hassle. She had now seen two men die. I just want to code… She thought in the silence, When did I get wrapped up in all of this and more importantly why? It seemed impossible that she was the same person she had been such a short time ago.

Like always, Jennifer was formulating a plan. The past was behind them and the future was all that mattered. They had the money, how much, she wasn’t sure but it was enough for now. Getting out without being caught was crucial. If they escaped, they would be safe. The police in this town wouldn’t investigate something a simple as a drug deal gone wrong as long as nothing suspicious accompanied it, like half a dozen young girls covered in blood being spotted fleeing the scene of the crime.

Unsure of what was truly happening, Anna simply let herself enjoy the thrill. Since she had been court-martialed and discharged from the military, nothing mattered as much. Anna simply couldn’t make herself care that they were all in terrible danger and that two men were dead because of her actions. She couldn’t focus on the pain in her shoulder either. It was there, throbbing incessantly, but it wasn’t important. Surviving was the most important thing right now, and it was frankly the most fun to think about. A thousand dramatic scenarios of their escape ran through her mind, very few were plausible but it didn’t matter anyways.

Monica, sitting on the floor, hugging her knees, was struggling with the notion that she very possibly could have hit someone besides her intended target. She had been entirely confident at the time of the shot that she knew the location of everyone in the room, but what if she had been wrong? What if instead of hitting one of the criminals trying to flee, she had accidentally hit some one else? How would she have felt if she had shot Nichole? Her friend, her human friend. The idea was too much to bear. Remembering that the bullet had hit the man in the head as she had intended reassured her that she had done the right thing and no one had been in danger, but she didn’t know how long that reassurance would last.

Nichole twitched nervously as she tried to retain her composure. So many things had gone wrong. There were so many things that still could go wrong. Worst of all, three of the men had escaped. They we’re still out there. Nothing had gone right and she could feel herself starting to give up. Knowing that they still had to escape was the only thing keeping her going, the only thing keeping her strong. Her strength was more important than anything else right now. Her strength would save her and save everyone, if need be. 

Everyone’s mind was deep in thought so no one got the momentary warning of the elevator beginning to slow before the door began to creep open. Any move they could make would be suspicious but it was too late to do anything, anyways. 

“Ladies, I would be honored if you would have a quick word with me upstairs,” He said stepping into the elevator. He slid a key card and pressed the elevator button for the top floor, the penthouse suite. No one could quite find their breath.

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More comments from me: Yes obviously that was either Mr. Lindsey or one of his lackeys coming to whisk us away to our happily ever afters. :D Someone else can write the next part. And for Laura you need to know how hard it was for me not to put "chuffed" in place of "honored" in that last bit of dialogue, I actually still might change it.