The Red Nights

After Jamal finished explaining his plan, people spread to run into their vehicles and for the signal to leave for their ending battle in Short-river . In all this agitation he had some difficulties to find Don and his team [ where are they? I have seen them a moment ago during my speech, though ] , he took a look one more time again and he finally found them.

They were at a distant place, where their pickups were parked, loading their stuffs in them. When he was walking toward them Daphne was the first one to see him, she quickly pretended to look away and Jamal got it [ she knew about his deal with Bart , she looks innocent in the appearance but she might be as guilty as Brad ] he thought. He reached them and they came to greet him but the woman still stayed in her corner and he did not comment about that.

" Hello Mr. Jamal " Don said with enjoyment underlined by a large smile on his face , he seemed to be particularly enthusiastic whether because upcoming end of the war or maybe he was acting like that to try to forget the shame that the traitor was one of his team members . Whatever it was Jamal could understand and he would not go on commenting about it either , he just responded to his salutation and greeted the rest of them. " So what is it? You came to take some news about your favorite group before we go ? "

" Yeah somehow " he gazed at them all " you won't be on the frontline, your reduced number won't affect your efficacy " he let them know and they all nodded emotionlessly without adding any comment [ looks like they want to avoid, the most possible, talking about Brad , to provoke such a reaction in them he must have been a very dear friend of them ] he supposed silently. " Well if you understand that I would want to not bring Daphne with you " he said without turning his sight away from Don's eyes.

They all gazed at him surprised and while they were waiting for some more explanations Daphne moved from her spot to come to him irritated, " why should I not come? Why want you to remove me from this mission? " she yelled at him. Jamal did not answer and just stared at her what led Daphne to figure out, just gazing at his eyes, that he already knew the history about Brad and her . She suddenly calmed down and stopped showing any resistance after she understood that he could tell all the truth to the others but instead he chose to not reveal anything .

The others viewed the scene but, of course, they couldn't understand the silent dialogue they both exchanged so they couldn't get what was going on. They glanced at him confused and asked " why can't she come with us ? "

" She knows why ? " Jamal responded without getting his sight off her face " you can just ask her directly "

Sania gazed at her then at Jamal to turn back again her attention to Daphne, " why can't you join us for our last war ? Even Alex come with while she would want to stay here to watch after her beloved Morice " the latter blushed slightly " so what is your excuse? "

She remained her head down and said while she was stroking her bandaged arm " it hurt me a lot, so it's better if I stayed as I will not be able to hold a gun even if I come with you . I will be just a hindrance ".

" And I suppose you still won't tell us what hurt your arm to cause it be like this since all this time, will you ? " Carl asked what looked like this question had been asked for many times.

Jamal gazed at her, seeing that she was remaining silent and was not resolved to talk he sighed and said " well anyway I let you finish what you were doing, Daphne you can stay here to help them if you want. Sorry if I wasted your time but you should do it quickly, we will leave within 10 min " then he left them to go get on his motorbike and getting ready too .

Then it came the moment to go. Jamal, who was ahead, started on his motorbike , rolled slowly few meters forward while he raised his hand to indicate the others behind him to follow him by proceeding to the formation he had told them . The cars were rolling two by two in alignment what made looked like two chains parallel to each other and Jamal was ahead it leading the cortege .

According to Brad , Bart the actual leader of the outlaws had always got the dream to be a burgess, " and I think it's actually this dream which has led his d.e.s.i.r.e to become the ruler of this town " Brad said during the interrogatory " so at the middle of the war, far before all the people were evacuated from here , he had already moved from his ghetto to live in the luxurious quarter for rich people. I went there only once and I know that he was occupying a huge blue and white mansion which was owned until 2 years ago by the ric.h.e.s.t family of Short-river and his guys took the other houses around it "

" And how was the situation there? " Jamal asked " how they were doing? " . The man sighed " I'm sure you already got an image of a city ruled by the anarchy " he paused " it's a total chaos . Cars and barrels are burned, everywhere I went it smells weed, rottenness and alcohol and I found many bodies of drunk people and dead people scattered along the streets, but it didn't end up there. You may think that I'm a monster because I've caused the death of many of my mates and you're 100% right but I couldn't let Daphne be like the women and young girls I have seen there in his territory. They were left n.a.k.e.d, dressed with only a dog leash around their necks as if they were just some mere animals with no any value, they were being walked along the mansion and whenever they wanted his men could take them, use them to satisfy their s.e.x.u.a.l d.e.s.i.r.es and left them after they finished " he paused again and his voice became scratchy because of the emotion " I'm truly sorry for what I have done but I couldn't let her finish like that, being one those women, being one of Bart's puppets ".

Jamal would have wanted to comfort him, he still didn't forget him though but he could understand that he was desperate and trapped by the situation Bart had set up. If he was at the same place, it would have been another scenario, he would have killed all the members of the gang but Brad couldn't do as he was not enough strong, so it was a little bit justifiable. However Jamal knew that he couldn't waste his time in sentimentalism, he needed the more informations he could give and as quickly as possible, so he didn't have other choice but to move on, " so as long as they are actually more focused on smoking, drinking and rapping some miserable women it should be easy to throw a surprise attack in their and kill them all before they realized it right? "

Brad shook his head sceptical " you should not take them easy, if it was so simple I should have betrayed them and we should have achieved to kill them all long before. But I said before Bart is smart , he told his soldiers to always have their weapons on them, I recall that when I went to see him before I penetrated the quarter there was a sentinel posted on the roof of building and I needed to identify myself before I go any further otherwise I would have been killed ".

" How did you manage to evacuate the people who were living there then ? " Jamal asked as he was convinced that he could find a helpful element, " Oh yeah , it was during the period we tried to isolate them, most of people didn't knew that he was living there and still now no one knows, and there were not many people who lived there though. We told people in secret to move to another place we indicated them in order to isolate the outlaws " he lowered his voice, shameful " but as you know the plan failed because... I spoiled everything , he told his soldiers to spread and to not let us gather them at a same place however despite not being able to protect people we managed to gather them at a same zone what made easy to evacuate them, the one thing which was difficult was to concentrate the attention of the outlaws away while the citizens were getting in the cars to leave " .

Jamal nodded nodded slightly, he learned something, " and why didn't you put Daphne into those cars to keep her safe and away from Bart ? " .

He bowed his head " I tried and I thought I did, I convinced here to go with them, to wait for me in your hometown and I left her thinking that she did what I said but when we came back from the battle I found that she didn't left , she said that she couldn't just go after she put me in a such situation " . Jamal nodded again, they discussed a little more before he left him .

With that he already set up a plan to penetrate into the quarter . Brad told him that there were some men who were watching the area from the roof of buildings, however Jamal knew that from the place the most high they can't see everything. So he took a map and, with the help of Howard the mayor who gave the informations about the city he needed, managed to localize the positions of the guards and then to draw on it the different ways they could use to go in Bart's territory.

They were rolling until they reached the point of separation. Correspondingly to the plan they divided into many groups and a part of them headed for the ways Jamal had previously attributed to each of them, through them they would enter into the quarter and there they would wait for Jamal's signal before they go for the next step. While the rest of them, a little group with only two cars, Don's team and another team followed him .

He led them behind building and near it was another with a man on its top, where they stopped. They all came out from their vehicles and approached Jamal who was leaning his back on the wall of the building to hide himself from the sentinel . While they were imitating he pulled his head to take a look his field glasses, the guy was walking around the roof with his weapon laying on his hand and at the same, through a belt , hung around his neck and in his other hand, a bottle of alcohol almost emptied.

" Alright we do as we have planned " he said when he turned to his mates behind him " I go up to take this guy down and then I will go for the rest of them inside the building while you ... "

" ... we will stay on the soil to support you " said Volga, the captain of the other team, " there are only two exits each team will cover one " she turned to Donald and analyze his team one by one " Don it seems like you're lacking hands do you want me to lend you one or two of my men? "

He got a smile embarrassed " no need, we will be alright, thank you " .

Jamal glanced again, seeing that he turned away, he got ready and said to the guys behind with a smile " so , see you later " then he came out from the hideout and ran toward the building, in very few times he covered the distance and without resting he put a step on the wall , took it as backing to jump higher and reached the balcony of the first floor. From there he began to climb floor after floor like a jump man until he landed his hands on the soil of the roof . While the others stayed there staring at him amazed , Volga turned to Donald and took her time to articulate her question " what is he exactly? " , the man chuckled, he made a sign and they all moved to take their position before the two issues of the building .

Jamal stayed in standby, watching for the sentinel's movements by hanging on the soil of the roof. He waited for him to stand in place he couldn't see him coming and when he did so Jamal went up , sneaked until he got closer enough and then he made an arm wrench until he lost his breath and collapsed. Then he drawn his knife from its case on his back and stabbed the guy laying on the ground on his heart. After Jamal examined his body and uttered an exclamation while he was pulling something from the dead man.

" Exactly as I have thought " he said while he was staring at the walkie-talkie in his hand. he put in a pocket of his jacket, took the kalash of dead guy and moved to enter in the building. He did the same thing he did some hours earlier during the attack of the morning , going by level after level , visiting apartment after apartment and killing every single person he found there .

Quickly the whole tenement got caught by the panic, everywhere people were screaming that they were being attacked, they all took their weapons and ran through the hallways without knowing were to go while Jamal continued his purge. He were already done with the half of the tenement when he heard what the message he was waiting. Through the walkie-talkie he had stolen to the sentinel, he heard someone sending a SOS request explaining to the correspondent that they were going through a raid and that the assailants were already in the tenement, the latter told him to bring as many men as he could and go outside to wait for the reinforcements he would send.

Jamal took the other walkie-talkie to contact the teams he left in standby, " here's Jamal, the plan worked they are coming out of the building to wait for some help, get ready to greet them well. I repeat, they are coming out it will be your turn to play " then he cut the discussion and he returned back to his task.

Outdoors, the both teams received the message and took their positions, guns in their hands waiting to see someone coming out from the issues they were watching. Few moments later, people started to emerge but the first ones didn't get the time to step any further outside that they were shot off . The rest of them who remained back tried to respond to the fire exchanges but they didn't know that their opponents wanted just to win some time . Jamal appeared behind the outlaws who were fighting against Don's team, he shot on them and in few seconds they were all dead, he moved to Volga's side and repeated the same scene.

They gathered in the initial hideout to have a summary of the actual situation. Once they were all there Jamal " for the moment all is working out as we have expected, they have requested reinforcements which may be there within twenty minutes so let's set up the trap and wait for them to come " , they nodded and separated again to go prepare the pitfall as they didn't have time to waste in discussions.

Minutes after , the engines of the vehicles started to be heard followed by the screams of the people who were driving them and in no time the building were surrounded by a many cars and motorbikes. Men and women came out from them , a part of them borrowed guns while the other part had some different weapons like flappers, coshes, golf clubs and even sticks. They approached to the entrances of the tenement where they found the bodies of their colleagues . As the entire zone was calm and quiet they ended up to conclud that they came too late when the battle was already over, they discussed together about what they should do and were even about to decide to withdraw when one of them saw someone inside .

" Hey !!! " the guy shouted then everyone turned " while Jamal was already going up the floors " they are still here in the building! " shouted someone .

They turned their head and could see only the shape of a guy going up the stairs " All guys with fire weapons follow me and the others stay here in case there are some of them hidden somewhere around " another dude ordered.

" Find them and kill them! " then they rushed inside , in the other side of the building criminals heard about what happened, so they did the same thing and entered into the tenement while the rest of them without guns stayed.

An instant later Sania got out from her hideaway near the first group of outlaws, approached them, made a gesture to provoke them and once she was sure she caught their attention she immediately ran away before they started to chase her. While she was fleeing she made a round of the building and passed by the other side where the second group of outlaws remained. They glanced at her running but they reacted only once they saw that their mates were going after her .

Before the tragedy of 2 years ago, Sania used to be an professional athlete who even won one decathlon championship and many other races. So she was sure that there was no one able to catch her. She maybe got a manner of s.l.u.t sometimes but her intentions were noble as she didn't want to let any man imposing his law to others and oppressing them, that was why she was fighting.

She ran through the alleys until she stopped in front of a high wall and some seconds the outlaws started to arrive behind. She turned and saw them approaching slowly while chuckling victorious like lions who surrounded a prey , " you're done " one dude said " oh ho I didn't expect her to be such a beauty " , " I propose to not kill her now. We should get some fun with her first " , " Yeah I agree and then we will bring her as a trophy to the boss " . She stayed quiet listening to them while they were plotting, thinking that they already won, then she sighed " you know you're very annoying and more than that you are very ugly. You're just like monkeys " while she was talking a rope was dropping along the wall near her, she grabbed it and before they figured out what she was doing she pulled on the rope, climbed the wall and in no time she already escaped .

Some of them ran, trying desperately to catch her but it was already too late she was no more there . On their back 3 people appeared, they held their guns toward the outlaws and fired them , they didn't even get the time to react or to understand that it's a trap which was set against them. And at the end they just died in their confusion.

Volga sighed while pushing back her hair after they finished shooting. She turned to the men beside her " go call the others, we have to quickly evacuate this zone before Jamal do what he has planned to do, and he said that it will make much noise " she thought a little bit " no only one of go , the other one will come with me, we will do something before we join you at the gathering point " . They nodded and they separated.

On his side Jamal was making his assailants running along the floors of the building. They were shooting at him in vain as he was too fast to reach him . They continued running after him without figuring out the plot . In the whole tenement all the issues and windows were clogged and while he was occupying the attention of the outlaws, the gas, of the first and second level he had opened some times earlier before he started to be chased, was spreading until it covered the whole both levels . Jamal had made an estimation of the time it would need and when he felt that it was about time he rushed to the floor. There he grabbed the pulley of the zip line he had installed before when they were setting up the trap, he jumped on. While he was sliding down and approaching rapidly he pulled his glock off from his case and started shooting at the windows of the first floor, the sparkles combined with the gas inside caused the base of the building exploding starting by the first floor followed by second .

Once his feet touched the ground he started running away , to be as far as possible from the tenement while it was collapsing carrying away the lives of the outlaws who were there.

Later he reached the gathering point where his teammates were waiting for him. He firstly saw Volga and a guy driving two convertibles they surely stole from the outlaws, then he glanced at the rest of her team near their pickup and he finally saw Don's group leaning on their car except Sania who was leaning on his motorbike. He never minded and approached them with a smile " I hope you enjoyed the fireworks " , they all started laughing loudly, when the laughs stopped and " ready to go take Bart's head ? " . They screamed that yes and they got into their vehicles to take the road for Bart's house.