Armed and Dangerous

Chapter 1-

Chapter 1-

Boom.

The sound of the bullet hitting its target caused the loud noise that most people would run and hide from. But I didn’t. This was the sound that filled my ears since I had learned to crawl; it was practically the soundtrack to my life. I shot the small gun again and after another deafening noise, I looked to see where it had landed. Bull’s-eye.

I put down my weapon and wiggled my fingers. They were sore from shooting for nearly an hour, only taking breaks to reload. Dad would be proud of my results, hitting the inner rings of the target nearly every time. Not that I told him about my achievements in fighting anymore; he wouldn’t have the time to listen. Not that I cared. I knew I was doing well, better than the other kids training. They were basically my brothers, but I have to admit I kicked their asses in just about anything that had to do with business.

But, business for us isn’t like a job for other people. My occupation is merciless- killing people to get what we need or to prove a point. It is a family game, as my mother calls it. My father, Vincent Donovan, started a gang when he was fourteen. It was with two of his friends, Tony Ramirez and Marco D’Angelo. They quickly grew in numbers and by the time they were eighteen, they were so large that even the cops feared them. However, unlike most gangs, they did not die out or even replace their leaders.

To this day Vincent is still the leader of the fear-inspiring gang, the Donovans. He believes that crime truly is a family business, and he wants to pass on the entire organization to his only child, Dakota. Of course, he expects them to be the most talented in training, the most ruthless in battle and the most efficient on assignments. Luckily for him, she is a complete badass and practically already leads the youth section of the gang. You guessed it, I am Dakota Donovan.

When the Donovans were at an all-time high back in the late 1980’s and my dad was twenty, he and his boys went out to sell some drugs for extra cash. They arranged to meet with their clients at a strip club downtown. When my dad walked in, he saw my mom and couldn’t take his eyes off her. She was only sixteen at the time and was working there illegally. My dad offered to pay her for a night, and she politely refused. By politely, I mean she poured her drink on him. He ended up seeing her again a few nights later and asked her to go out, and she agreed. After three and a half months of dating, they got married and have run the company together ever since.

I came along a few years later and essentially started my training before I learned to walk. As the future leader of one of the most recognizable gangs in Chicago, I had to be the best at everything. My competitive attitude made that easy. That’s all that my dad’s worried about. My mother, on the other hand, wants me to focus on boys and make sure I find a guy who will help me run the gang well. I could have just about any guy from the gang that I wanted; they all wanted a chance to be the next leader. None of them seemed to care that then they would have to spend more time with my annoying ass self; and I could be a real bitch when I wanted to.

I grabbed my iPod and plugged in my earbuds. I blared Spacebound by Eninem and put my all-time favorite artist on loop. I took off jogging and started to make my way around the neighborhood. It wasn’t a good area to run in, but I could handle myself fine. I was used to gang battles and shootouts and could spot trouble faster than I could knock someone out, which was pretty damn fast. Luckily, nothing out of the ordinary happened and I was back at the headquarters in no time.

“Koda!” I heard a voice scream behind me. I turned around to see Max Ramirez, the son of Tony Ramirez and one of his six ex-wives, and my best friend, running towards me, followed by Rob D’Angelo, my other closest companion.

I had known these two fools since I was little and we’ve basically been the three musketeers ever since. Our friendship came naturally, considering the fact that they were the only guys around my age in the whole organization that weren’t worried about making a good impression so that they could one day run the gang with me. Honestly, if it was up to me, I would never get married. The whole idea seemed stupid and almost everyone got divorced anyways. I was strong enough to work alone.