E L E C T R A|COMPLETED|

Chapter Seventeen~ A Quick Way Out

A/N: Thanks to everyone who is reading and an extra thank you to those who are voting. When you guys comment and vote it motivates me to update sooner. Remember that for next time and thank you again for reading :)

~Braden~

    "We've got eyes on her. She's walking in through the front and is flanked by four of her men," Madden informs from the headpiece in my ear.
    "How many men do you think are runnin' with her in here?" I asked and looked around the club at the partiers.
    "Hard to tell, but I'm hoping it's just the four. 'Doubt it though," Madden said gruffly.
    "Yeah, me too. How the hell are you guys going to get all of these people out of here," I asked.
    "Fire alarm. All the exits will be blocked except the main entrance. The bitch ain't gettin' out unless she's in cuffs or a body bag," Madden explains. Body bag. Not many people were expecting to take her out of here alive. I hoped to prove them wrong. Maybe if I talked to her she would listen and come with me.
    "Sounds like there are some loop-holes in Darby's plan," I say and take a swig from my beer.
    "I'm not gonna lie to you Braden, I've got a bad feelin' that a lot of people are gonna get hurt tonight," Madden confesses.
    "That's because they are," I state.
    "Braden, this is Darby. We got a little over ten minutes before showtime. The alarm goes off, the civilians get flushed out, you go after Electra, and we come in to take out her men and capture her. There are only two ways she's coming out of here tonight," Darby's voice rang through my ear.
    An ominous feeling hung in my gut and I felt like I was almost to the point of being sick when I saw her. She was walking gracefully along the crowd in a thigh-length gold and silver shimmering dress. Her hair bounced down her shoulders and she moved with purpose to a reserved section shut off from the rest of the club.
    Four men dressed in black walked in front and behind her with looks of stone on their face. They all looked determined. She disappeared behind a red curtain along with her men for whatever business they came for.
    I was fighting to stay still from the amount of energy my adrenaline was giving off. Electra was either going to come willingly or she was going to end up dead. Darby and the SWAT team outside wouldn't let her leave unless she was in handcuffs.
    I knew she wouldn't give up without a fight, she was stubborn like that. The odds weren't in her favor, but maybe, just maybe I could get through to her.
     "Braden, it's time," Darby said and seconds later a shrill alarm went off and then, and then Hell broke loose.
    People were screaming and running for the front entrance when water sprinklers went off over head. The alarm and water had people on a frenzy for everyone to get out. People were pushing and shoving to get out and some even fell and were stepped on. This was going horribly wrong quickly.
    I pulled out my gun when the SWAT team came in from the back way and that had the people screaming even more. I ran with my gun poised to where Electra was hidden and heard gunshots from somewhere in the club.
    I looked up to see a line of ten or maybe twelve men opening fire upon the SWAT team from the upstairs area. The team returned heavy fire as I made it to the curtain and tugged it back.
    I sent rounds into Electra's men who went to pull out their guns and felt a bullet fly into my shoulder. A burning sensation erupted from my shoulder and I dove behind a leather chair when some other men opened fire on me.
    The room grew heavy with the smell of gunfire and a light smoke filled the room from the rain of bullets. I shot wildly at the men hearing them grunt and fall to the floor. I stayed hid behind the chair until I was sure they were all dead.
    The sound of gunfire and yelling outside of the room was increasing. Electra had more of her men here then we thought. That was the first mistake made. The second was when I stood up.
    There stood Electra in front of a black leather couch with a look of shock on her face. A gun was planted firmly in her hands and aimed at me.
    "Braden?" She questioned in a low voice that I could barely hear over the sound of gunfire. She didn't even say Agent Cross like she normally did, she called me Braden. Strangely enough it made something in me warm, it made me feel good for some reason.
    The look that swept across her face burned holes into that good feeling. Disgust, betrayal, and bitterness burned in her eyes and her face darkened dangerously. The bullet flew from her gun in slow motion and barreled towards me tretcherously slow before it slammed into my chest.
    I fell backwards into the chair I had been hiding behind and felt warm blood ooze from the wound on my chest. The blood poured out of the gaping wound in rhythm with every beat my heart took.
    My gun slipped from my fingers and clattered to the floor while my eyes held hers. Not a word was spoken between the two of us. I knew she felt betrayed and I also knew that we had underestimated her...again. She had won.
    She lowered the gun and a man rushed in wearing a long black coat with a bullseye tattoo on his head. "We need to leave Electra. The boys set the explosives in the storage room and the place is about to be a mass of fire," he said out of breath and I saw a little over a dozen men rush into the room as well. She knew, somehow she knew. She could have killed me earlier, but she wanted to see if I would change my mind. She wanted to see if she could trust and rely on me and I let her down. I failed her test and let her down and she killed me for it.
    Electra gave me one last pitiful look then turned around and walked out of another curtain in the room. Of course, she had a secret passage out of here. She was a smart girl. Too smart for the likes of me or Darby.
    "Shit," I groaned in pain when I went to stand and only ended up collapsing back onto the blood splattered chair from my head growing light. An explosion went off in the distance and loud screaming could be heard.
    My god, they were burning alive out there. I gripped tightly onto my gushing chest and felt the blood pump through the cracks in between my fingers. Maybe I'd die before the flames reached me. Life wouldn't be so cruel to me to let me burn alive.
    Flames licked the red curtain smothering my hope of not feeling the flames eat me alive. "F*CK!" I roared. I did some stupid shit in my life, but I didn't think I deserved this. No one deserved to burn alive.
    The flames crept up the walls and along the ceiling making it unbearably hot in the room. Sweat poured from my face and soaked what parts of my shirt that wasn't already drenched in my own blood.
    Something glinted from the fire and I looked down to see my gun on the floor. It was a quick way out. It was quicker than bleeding out or burning to death. I reached out for the gun and fell chest down onto the tile floor.
    I yelled in pain from my chest feeling like it was being pulled apart and felt the blood seep even more quickly from my chest wound. My bloody arm reached for the gun and my hand tightly wrapped around it.
    I slowly rolled onto my back and saw the ceiling of flame above me. My breathing was fast and laboured from being shot and from the lack of oxygen in the room. I raised the gun to the side of my head and pulled the trigger.