Page 23 of Dreaming

She didn’t let Dennis know she was back early. She needed to see him and wanted it to be a surprise. It had been far too long since she last touched him.

In heeled boots, jeans, and a heavy sweater now that the weather was positively frigid, Nia approached the bar and knew instantly that something was wrong.

No bouncer outside.

Complete silence on a Friday night.

Frowning, Nia stayed low and quickly returned to her car. She popped the trunk, opened the safe, shrugged on one of her jackets, and put supplies in the pockets. Softly closing the trunk, she made two calls.

One of them was 9-1-1.

Approaching the corner of the building, she moved to peer through a narrow window located at one end of the bar.

There were around forty people being herded against the wall that she could see. She assumed there were others out of her line of sight and that bar staff would have been secured in one of the walk-ins in the kitchen.

In the center of the room, a man waited as Dennis was dragged to him on his knees.

Nia breathed, “No…”

Staying against the alley wall, she noted that the usually brightly lit area had been purposely darkened. A black SUV was parked close to the kitchen entrance.

A man had been left to guard it. He had a high-tech transmitter at his ear and checked in using a language she recognized.

It wasn’t a typical holdup.

Approaching the lone guard, she cracked the butt of her gun along the back of his neck. He dropped like a stone. Ripping the transmitter from his jacket, she threw it down the alley and kicked his gun under the SUV before securing him with zip ties from her jacket.

Against the wall beside the kitchen, she listened.

There was muffled banging, indistinct screaming. Someone tapped on the metal freezer door and threatened to shoot them all if they weren’t silent.

Removing a silencer, she screwed it to the barrel of her gun. Then Nia walked inside.

The man turned and she shot him in the forehead before he had a chance to raise his weapon.

Through the kitchen, low and quiet, she made her way to the swinging door that led into the main room of the club.

Glancing through the gap, she spotted three perps. Removing her second weapon, she took a deep breath and walked through the doors.

Sighting the one who had Dennis on his knees with a gun to his head, Nia shot him before he registered her presence. She blew out the base of his skull to keep him from pulling the trigger.

Lifting her second weapon, she shot perp two as the third raised an automatic rifle and prepared to spray the crowd of people on their knees. Forehead and center mass, he went down and his gun clattered to the hardwood floor.

Lowering her weapons, Nia holstered them and announced, “The police are on their way. Everyone stay where you are until help arrives.”

There was the sound of people crying, a couple of others screaming, but Nia ignored them to walk across the room and crouch in front of Dennis.

There was a bleeding gash on his temple.

“Are you alright?” He shook his head but couldn’t speak. She heard sirens in the distance. “Stay here, Dennis. Let me talk to the police.”

Out front, she identified herself, showed her credentials, and waited for them to run them while she kept her hands visible.

Multiple weapons remained pointed at her.

A man approached and signaled the officers to lower their guns. He handed her back her credentials. “This kind of clearance...I thought it was a myth.” Exhaling, he added, “Walk me through it.”

“Four perps dead inside, one in the kitchen, three in the main bar. A fifth is alive and cuffed in the alley, his weapon is under the vehicle they drove here.”