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“The Chronicles of the Eclipses”

**~“What do we have to fear but fear itself.” -Unknown

**~Executioner’s Style~**

He leans over the porcelain savior, watching the water swirl and flush down the toilet bowl as he sits back, taking in a deep breath.

“Hey Alex, you ok?” Kevin steps into the small room, gazing at the tattooed man worriedly.

“Yeah sure, fine. Just peachy. Killing is something I’m fond of.” A.J. growls out sarcastically, beginning to feel the rumble start up in his stomach once again. He groans out, leaning over the bowl again, waiting to see if anything else will arise from his abdomen.

“I’m sorry you had to do that. But those are the rules and regulations of this group…”

A.J. hisses out angrily intercepting the older man cursing up a storm. “The hell with all this. I didn’t sign up to be apart of anything. Especially this group. You think that I had this planned in my life to go out and join some gang that is responsible for the leading drug industry…”

Kevin stops him, grabbing the man’s lips and squeezing them tightly. “Listen to me. We’re in the same boat. But if you think you could find a way out of it besides getting killed, then go ahead. But you don’t have a choice as of now. Do you hear me?” Kevin manically whispers out.

A.J. lashes out and backs away from Kevin: glaring at him. He backs up against the wall, spitting on the floor before him. “You can take this group and shove it up your…”

“Alex!” Kevin growls out, “It’s not up to me nor what you want. You lost your right the moment you set foot in this place. You don’t like it, well too bad. I can’t do anything about this myself.”

“You little bastard! You can walk away from this whole hell hole yet you stick around.” A.J. stands up to the man, gripping his hands tightly to the side.

“I can’t walk away!”

“Gee I wonder why?!” A.J. tenses up, brushing pass the man entering the small dormitory room he was given from the leader to reside in.

Each of the three men where given a room to stay and be sheltered in for the time being until their first real task be assigned to prove them worthy of a better and larger furnished room will be assigned to them.

Kevin narrows his eyes, shaking his head in disapproval. “You have a lot to learn. You think it’s a walk in the park leaving here don’t ya? Try putting the very people you care about in danger or at risk for your stupidity!”

A.J. snorts, tossing a white blanket off the bed to the tiles below him. “They wouldn’t dare!”

“Try them if you don’t believe me. I’m not here to baby sit. I have a job to do and you should get along with following orders.” He sternly states, eyeing the younger man.

A.J. flips him off and smirks, bitterly jokily out a rude comment: “Yes my lord, of course. I’ll get right to it. And you know what else I want to see happen?”

Kevin growls out, gathering a ring of keys in his hands, quickly clipping the keys to his jean belt. “No and I could care less. Now if you excuse me, I have to get some stuff prepared for your first task. It’s pathetic how much I’m doing to save your life and you do nothing but complain.”

“Go to Hell Kevin!”

“Already there.” Kevin smirks, exiting the room, the heavy door slamming close behind him leaving an upset A.J. alone to deal with what recently occurred.

Sighing, Kevin understood what A.J. and in fact what the other two men must be dealing with. They killed for the first time, their innocence brutally taken away from them when it came to murder. He could easily relate to all of them and wanted to see if somehow maybe in one way save them from being involved further in the group. But he knew that would be a challenge in itself and sighs bitterly, walking down the hallway away from the rooms that held the men.
~*~

He looks out the bay window, sniffing softly as small group of white doves took off in their flight outside the ledge. He leans his head back against the rough pillow, blinking back more tears as the rickety ceiling fan twirls lazily above him. “Why? Why did I do that? He could have lived…I killed him…” He murmurs in shock, folding his arms behind his head for support.

A tap from the door brings him out his thoughts as he jolts up in the twin bed. “Co, come in.” He whispers out, sitting up as Kevin opens the door and steps in.

“Hey Brian. I’m sorry if you napping. I just came to see you.”

“Why do you care?”

“Excuse me?” Kevin rushes out surprised.

“You heard me. Since the moment I was brought here you have done nothing to get me out of here. This place changed you Kevin. You’re not the same man I knew months before.” Brian states softly, gazing at the dirty white carpet below him.

“You don’t know the whole story so don’t you dare throw that at me, do you here?” Kevin licks his lips slowly, anger rising in his voice.

“Then what am I suppose to think?! Kevin I was told to kill a man over there! I killed a man! For God’s sake I took someone’s life away! Doesn’t that mean anything to you? I can’t do this?! I can’t…oh God, I can’t…” Brian cries out softly, sniffing as Kevin stares at him.

“I know none of this makes sense, but I can’t talk it about with you here.”

“When?! When will you talk to me about this hell hole you got yourself in? I have a family Kevin! And the last I remember so do you!”

“We’re being watched. That’s why.” Kevin grumbles quietly, gazing at the corner ceiling of the room to indict a tiny camera recording their every move.

“Ohhh how nice. They’re filming this whole thing. That’s so freakin’ nice, it really is Kev.” Brian sarcastically whispers, faking a smile at his direction.

“You just get ready. The boss is pleased with your actions today. You went through the task without the fault and you’ll be a getting your first task shortly. I just wanted to inform you of that. Try to rest ok.” Kevin whispers, gripping the door knob behind as he silently opens the door to exit the room.

“Wait…”

“What?” Kevin eyes his cousin, gulping glancing at the camera before looking back at him.

“I’m not gonna die right?”

“What? No! Where did you get that idea from?”

Brian sighs and mouths out quietly: “Cause I’m planning on leaving.”

“You know you can’t.”

“Why not? I’m screwed staying here, hell if I leave. At least if I try to bounce out of here I can die knowing I tried to get my life back.” Brian whispers out gently, standing up from the corner of the bed, heading over to the installed bathroom in the room.

Kevin sighs, exiting the room heading to check on the youngest man in the group.

Knocking on the next man’s room, he notices it was open and slowly steps inside to find the blonde fair skinned man, shivering at the edge of his bed.

“Nick? Nick, what’s wrong?” Kevin whispers, hurrying over to the man.

Nick looks up at him wearily passing a hand through his blonde spikes: “Did, did you see what happened to me?”

“What?” Kevin speaks out softly, noting the man has taken the initiation harder than the others.

“I, I have to get out of here. I can’t be here. There is no way in hell I can kill another person.” Nick cries out, his hands shaking softly as he draws in rapid breaths.

Kevin sighs, gazing at the sudden paling man: “I need you to get ready. The boss wants to see you to assign your first task. Then you can go and relax, get away from this environment at a club we attend to at times. It could do you some good.”

“How can you take this in stride as if what I did don’t matter?! I can’t go out and think it’s all good after I put bullets through three victims!”

“Nick, shhh…I know this freaks you all out. But it was an initiation that needed to be done. It’s over now though. You don’t have to kill anyone anymore. Do you understand me?”

“I wanna go home. I just wanna go home. In my own house, and get my life back.” Nick worriedly whispers out, his blue eyes glazed over in distress.

“I know. I know you do man. So do I…but we gotta deal with what we have ok?”

Nick gulps and nods. Standing up from his bed, he draws in a shallow breath. “So what now?”

“Just come with me for now. It’ll be ok soon Nick. You’ll see.”

Nick rubs his red swollen eyes and gazes at him. “Fine. Ok. So…”

“Come with me.”

Nick gulps and follows the man out of the door and sighs deeply, rubbing his temples as they make their way down the wooden plank hallway.

Kevin knew it none of this made sense but if he had some form of connection to the outside world, then maybe, maybe there is way for his escape along with the other innocent victims forced to take hold of acceptance in the gang that they were to embrace.
~*~

Howie runs a hand down his weary face as he gazes at the Rolex watch on his wrist. “This is taking too long. Where are they?” He murmurs to himself hoping to see the two women, his co-workers, emerge from the club. “What am I thinking? This won’t work. How the hell am I gonna stop a leader of the elite powerful trade on my own with no backup. Smart idea Dorough, never cease to amaze myself.” He grumbles, sliding back in the leather driver’s seat, his palms gripping the top of steering wheel. It was torture for him to sit through while the women are risking their lives. It was driving him insane not knowing what could be happening to the women inside the club. But he only hoped that they would be ready for whatever will happen.
~*~

A hip hop song blasts through the thick smoke filled dance club as Coral and Arianna slowly make their way through the mass crowd of roaring dancing, bodies crashing into one another as if one wave. Coral annoyed at the sudden closeness she was entering, pushes her way through the crowd reaching the bar counter where bar stools aligned the area. Gold and blue booths decorated the club neatly aligned on either side of the large dancing mass in center of the dance floor as Arianna gazes up to the second level balcony to find a vacant booth, bobbing her head to Fat Joe’s “Lean Back” single pricking out of the large basses in the club.

“Coral over here! We can check out the crowd from this area.” Arianna yells out, pointing to a stairwell leading up to the club balcony where another level of booths were located.

Coral quickly ushers her way over to her partner as they climb up the spiral silver metal stairwell quickly, their high heel shoes clump and echo behind them as they reach the first booth overlooking the lower dancing hall below them. Sliding into the booth, Arianna smirks, brushing back a lock of golden strand behind her ears, her light green blue eyes glitter in amusement as she leans her head over the black metal railing, sitting calmly.

Coral smirks, trailing her caramel fingers down her black seamless dress, smirking at the low neck line, her breasts carefully tucked and hidden in the dresses straps. Her pushes aside her loose cinnamon colored locks and ties them into a messy bun, gazing below to the lower level. “How do we know what the gang members look like? Its not like they’ll roll in here tagged in their colors.”

“It’ll be easy. They come to us. All we have to do is wait around. Trust me: you’ll know them when you see them.” Arianna smirks, adjusting the red fray belt on her tight short silk mini skirt. Her fingers fixing the gold necklace dangling from her neck as it hits her tight lace red halter top. “But while we’re waiting, tell me alittle about yourself. You know since we’re both stuck on this case together.” She smiles gently, calling over a waitress. “Coral what do you want to drink?”

“Oh can I get some whiskey?” Coral politely asks, her light grey eyes studying the club carefully.

The busty waitress scribbles something down on a pad and nods as Arianna places her order down. The waitress quickly exits leaving the two women on alone in their booth.

“So you gonna tell about you or do I have to make a guess?” Arianna smirks, placing her arms beneath her chin as she waits for a response.

“Well. I was transferred here from New York City precinct thirty three on the upper west side in Harlem. My boss notified me about the issue taking place here. So I joined up without thinking of anything else.”

“I see. You had tons of questions and you still do. But compared to the gangs you know, this one is one of the most dangerous ones around. And since it’s such a new group expanding quickly, it is becoming harder to track down those closely held responsible.” Arianna sits up as another hip hop song blasts from the speakers, this one a more abrasive tone to the beat of a dance hall song. The waitress comes back with two glass cups filled with their ordered drinks, placing it on the table.

“Is that all?” The waitress asks.

Arianna nods, “Yes that’s it for now.”

“Alright. Well that will be twenty two fifty in total.” The waitress yells out over the pounding music that rose volume suddenly.

Coral nods and hands her amount of the drink to the waitress as Arianna does the same, watching the waitress walking away.

Coral leans on the table across to Arianna, placing her hands on the black table: “You guys mentioned the whole drug trade, do you know where the next trading spot will be?”

Arianna smirks, “Well that’s why we’re here. To get into the gang and find out ourselves.”

“Be honest Ari. Will we get the guy?”

“Yeah...yes. Don’t doubt. Why do you ask?”

“Its, its just that well leaders of gangs in general tend to take out the entire gang before they would put themselves behind bars and if we’re to save a entire group of innocent bystanders within the group it will mean risky business.”

Arianna snorts, twirling her umbrella straw in her drink, “Well this job calls for risky business all the time, so this shouldn’t surprise you at all. If you’re worried about how we will get out, Howie has it all mapped out. We’ll be fine. We’ll become part of the gang as a background until it is time to leave and then and only then, we’ll take all the people we can with us. No one will get hurt. We’re used to stuff like this.”

“Well I never did the whole undercover thing.”

“Oh well there’s a first time for everything girl.” Arianna giggles, lifting her drink and taking a sip of it.

Coral smiles, swaying her head gently to the beat of the music. She yawns and looks around, spotting all the exits of the club and the tables that can be obstacles in the way in case if anything goes wrong. She gazes at Arianna who’s eyes shot open wide as she pulls her drink away slowly gazing across Coral’s side.

Coral slowly turns around to see a rather tall broad shoulder raven haired man leading a group of three men behind him who seemed rather terrified and unsure of their surroundings. Coral narrows her eyes and smirks, turning to Arianna. “Is that them? The gang?”

“What? Huh? Oh I don’t know. I’m just looking at them cause they look nice on the eyes.” Arianna smirks, placing the glass cup to her lips to take a sip.

Coral breaks into a laugh as the four men each take a seat on a bar stool on the upper level where they all were at.

“Ok. Well I’ll give you credit, they’re real attractive. All of them, especially that tattooed guy.” Coral smiles, indicting to A.J. who seemed slumped on the stool lost in thought.

Giggling, Arianna pokes Coral on the shoulder and points to the men: “Well girl don’t just sit there. Go over there and introduce yourself.”

Laughing, Coral smirks and shakes her head, “No, I mean I don’t know what to say.”

Arianna breaks into laughter, “You’re a detective who’s captured New York’s finest kingpins and yet here you are without a word to say to some hot men. Now that’s just interesting.”

Coral gazes at the woman in shock as she laughs, “You’re probably right. Fine, fine. Then come with me.”

Arianna shakes her fingers and smirks, “You don’t need me.”

“Aren’t you interested in getting to know these guys yourself?”

“Na. I’m kinda setting my eyes on someone else. Speaking of which, I have to find the ladies room, so I’ll be right back. And good luck on the talking, I’m sure they don’t bite girl. You have nothing to worry about.” Arianna teases, giggling as she exits the second level and exits the club, heading to Howie’s parked car.

Howie looks from the wheel, nibbling on his thumb as he sits up and glances to see Arianna reaching the side window. “What are you doing? Get back inside girl!”

Arianna smirks, “What? I can’t see you or something. Besides Coral was gonna talk to some hot men and I thought of you. I mean when is it gonna be the next time I’ll see you once I get taken away by those fine hot men?” She teases him, causing him to laugh out as he open the driver’s side door stepping out.

“Well…” He wraps his arms around her waist, pulling her in as he layers her soft lips with his kisses.

She giggles and runs her hands down his unruly hair, “I’m gonna miss this, touching you and talking to you. And kissing you.”

“Same here love. This is gonna suck. I mean we won’t be able to do it either.” He smirks, joking around as Arianna burst out laughing.

“Maybe we should make up for that right now.” She giggles, pushing him to the hood of his car.

Howie smirks, leaning on the edge of the car as he pulls Arianna next to him. “So…” He kisses her softly, “Did you see anyone suspicious yet?”

“Nope.” Arianna kisses him back gently as Howie pushes her so she was lying on her back on the hood.

“Yeah well I’m sure they’re on their way heading to the club. We just gotta keep a look out for them that’s all.” Howie whispers standing in front of her as he wraps her legs around his waist as he climbs the hood so he was over her, kissing her neckline as she giggles.

“You know, if we weren’t on a case at this point, it wouldn’t seem so kinky.”

Howie chuckles, “Shhh…so I take it you like it kinky then.” He trails his fingers over her heaving chest as she shivers under his touch lifting up her halter top revealing her bare breasts.

“Maybe, depends on the occasion boy.” She purrs out.

Howie smiles, “I’m gonna take that as a yes and if you really want to do this, it has to be a quickie.”

“Fine. I’m down for it then.” Arianna giggles, unzipping his jeans.

“Calm down woman.” Howie snickers as he lifts up her skirt, pulling down her panties.

Arianna laughs and glances at her watch, “You better hurry boy, you got five minutes before Coral starts looking for me.”

Howie laughs as he straddles her and begins to kiss her, their actions quickly picking them up, enrapturing them as they flowed together in their lust.
~*~

Coral sighs and slowly walks over to the four men sitting at the bar stools each quiet and contempt in their thoughts. Stepping over to the tan golden haired man: she smiles and waves gently at him before taking a seat on a vacant stool besides A.J.

The bartender crosses to her as Coral shakes her head telling him she already had a drink. A.J. glances over at her as Coral feels odd being stared at by the four men. “Well hello boys. Nice evening right?”

A.J. smirks at the small talk the woman was attempting and rolls his eyes. “Yeah, it sure is.”

“So, well I’m Connie, what’s your name?” Coral smiles, tapping her fingernails on the bar counter, the music pulsating through the atmosphere.

A.J. takes a sip of his drink, placing the glass cup down, his dark eyes locking with hers. “Alex, why? You interested in something?” He smirks, his hands resting on the counter before him.

“Well depends on what that interest is.” Coral asks, gazing around at the other three men. “Are they your friends?”

A.J. nods, “I have a lot of interests. And yeah somewhat about the friend thing.”

“Oh ok.”

Nick yawns and turns to see Coral sitting besides A.J. as he smirks, “Hey pretty lady, whatcha doing around here all alone?”

“I was talking.” Coral states gently catching A.J. snicker at her comment.

“Yeah well Alex here don’t do much talking. But maybe I can help out.” Nick smiles, his gorgeous profile catching her view.

“Oh really? Well go right ahead then man. Knock yourself out.” A.J. smirks, gazing at Nick before returning back to Coral. “Oh Connie this here is Nick. I hope you don’t mind me switching seats with him, he seems to want to talk more tonight than I can at the moment. I hope you don’t take that as an offense.”

Coral shrugs her shoulders, “It’s alright.”

“Ok.” A.J. smiles gently, his tan handsome face seemed downcast even through all the smiles he attempted giving at her direction. Coral watches the men switch bar stools, Nick quickly plopping onto the stool next to her and smiles.

“So you by yourself?” Nick asks, taking a sip of his drink.

“Na, with a friend of mines. She should be around here somewhere.”

“Ah ok. Well as Alex said, I’m Nick, the sandy haired guy sitting next to Alex is Brian and the dark haired one is Kevin.”

Coral smiles and waves at the other two men: “Hi Brian and Kevin.”

Brian sniffs, rubbing his tired eyes as he waves gently, whispering out a hello as Kevin gazes at her strongly, taking her in with his gaze. Coral smiles, feeling a faint blush cross her cheeks at the man’s gaze.

“Hi.” Kevin whispers out, stirring his dark brandy in a glass cup with a straw.

“They’re not up for talking but that’s ok I guess.” Nick states, focusing back on Coral.

“The silent strong men. That’s ok, I kinda find that appealing about some men.”

A.J. snorts, taking a sip of his drink as he excuses himself to the bathroom.

Coral watches A.J. leave, curiosity egging her on to follow the man, but she restrained herself and decided to continue her conversation with Nick.

“Silent they’re not. As for strong, Well I’m not sure about that one.” Nick smiles friendly, tapping his half empty cup on the table.

Coral giggles softly, gazing over at the three men remaining. “So you guys from around here?”

“Yeah. You?” Brian finally speaks up, taking interest in her as he leans his arms on the bar counter, looking over Nick’s shoulder to see Coral.

Coral smirks, “Cool. Well me I’m just visiting friends.”

“Oh ok. I was gonna say, I never seen you around this area.” Nick smiles, taking a long sip of his liquored drink, a small trail of liquor dripped down his chin as Coral smirks and looks down at her hands on the counter. She was uncomfortable sitting here with these handsome men watching her every move when suddenly an idea clicked into her head. She gulps and scans over each man, noting every detail from them. She noted how highly attractive they were compared to the men in the club and she takes a deep breath fearing these could be the gang members, but she needed to make sure before she could pull the plan through.

Brian watches her concerned, reaching over the counter to touch her hand lightly: “Hey Connie you ok?”

Coral looks up and nods, smiling. “Ummm, yeah sure. I’ll, I’ll be right back.” She whispers, quickly sliding off the stool and rushing over to the ladies room hoping to find Arianna in there.
~*~

Arianna giggles, adjusting her halter top as Howie opens his car door, zipping his jeans up. “You’re such a freak.”

“Look who’s talking.” Howie chuckles: sliding into the driver’s seat, closing the door next to him.

“Hehe. Bad boy. You finished good by the way. I hope none of the party goers heard my screams.”

Howie smirks, “They might have. You had a mouth there for a minute.”

“Well I can’t help it. You do your job well, so that’s a compliment.” Arianna giggles out, fixing her flaxen locks into a smooth straight ponytail. Sighing, she leans into the driver’s window, gently kissing him slowly and passionately before running a hand down his cheek. “God I’m gonna miss you.”

“Same here. You be careful ok. We have a case to work on and lives depend on it.” Howie smiles sadly, cradling Arianna’s chin as he leans to kiss her one last time.

Arianna gulps and rubs her wet eyes as she inches back slowly, her eyes locked on Howie. “Take care baby.” She whispers out, heading back to the club as Howie watches her disappear back into the club entrance.

“You’ll be ok baby girl. You always are.” Howie whispers out, knowing she couldn’t have heard him.
~*~

A.J. heads down the bathroom hallway bumping into a fair headed woman who was rushing pass him. “Oh, sorry girl.”

“That’s ok. Sorry, I should have slowed down.” The woman breaths out, gathering herself as she gazes at him.

“It’s aight. We’re both still alive and well so that’s all that matters.” A.J. smiles, his eyes taking in the woman’s long smooth lightly tan legs wrapped in a tight black silky mini skirt. “I’m sorry you look familiar. Do I know you?”

Arianna narrows her eyes, shaking her head. “Doubt it. I never seen you before you.”

“Oh ok. Never mind then.” A.J. smirks, noticing the woman’s red halter top was cut low on the sides baring the sides of her breasts.

Arianna follows his gaze and blushes, fixing her top as she clears her throat. “That’s ok. Though know that I think of it. I’ve seen you around this club before.”

A.J. straightens up, “Yeah probably. Like I said you look familiar. Maybe we’ve seen each other around or something.”

“That has to be it.” She checks her gold watch and takes a deep breath. “Oh I have to go find my friend, she’ll kill me keeping her waiting too long.”

A.J. smirks, “Your friend? I thought you came here alone.”

“Na, I don’t do clubbing on my own. I gotta have backup cause one doesn’t want too seem desperate if you know what I mean.” Arianna smiles, brushing back a moist blonde strand stuck from her cheek.

“Yeah I hear ya. Why don’t I walk ya back to your friend? You know places like this always have some creeps hitting on fine ladies.” A.J. smiles causing Arianna to laugh.

“So you’re saying you’re not a creep then correct?”

A.J. snickers out, “I’m a lousy creep then cause I haven’t hit on you yet.”

“Yet? So there’s a possibility then?”

“Well…”A.J. smiles and teases: “If you want that then I’ll gladly provide.” He scans over her to see her gentle face with sparkling green blue eyes glittering beneath the soft club florescent lights.

Arianna grins and nods, “Well if you put it that way, I guess a girl like me could use the protection and company.”

“Good. Then I’m glad to help out.” A.J. places his shades on the collar of his shirt, guiding the woman along down the hallway. Arianna leads him to back to the booth on the second level as he glances over to see Coral talking with Nick still. “I hope your friend didn’t ditch you. This booth looks empty.”

Arianna smirks, glancing over to Coral at the bar counter: “Nope, she’s right over there.” She indicts to A.J. as he whispers out surprised.

“Oh you know Connie then.”

Arianna smirks at the name and nods, “Yup, Sure did. Hey Connie!” She calls out to Coral who turns and smiles at her, waving her over.

A.J. glances over at Arianna and smiles, “I’m Alex by the way. You?”

Arianna smirks and purrs out: “You can call me Ana.”

A.J. smiles, “Ok Ana. Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise.” She gazes over at him, heading to the bar and slides into a vacant barstool besides Coral. Whispering in her ear, she smirks:

“Looks like they caught the bait girl.”

Coral looks up at her confused, “What? No. They…you think?”

Arianna rolls her eyes and smiles, nodding her head: “It’s obvious don’t ya think? They’re too good looking to be around here and fit in. And you know it as well as I do.”

Coral whispers back into Arianna’s ear, “So what do we do now?”

“Hope they take us with them. We have to flirt and do it good. Cause we can’t miss out on this.” Arianna whispers back, hearing A.J.’s voice call her out.

“Ana, hey girl, you and Connie gonna hang around here for while. Cause I’m about to head out with my friends.” A.J. languidly leans on the bar counter as the other men stand up and look around.

“This is it. We have to go with them.” Coral whispers out to Arianna who smiles and gazes over at A.J.

“You’re leaving already? Wow. That’s sucks, we were just getting to know each other.” Arianna bats her eyes at him, hoping he would fall for it.

A.J. grins and gazes over at Kevin, “Kevin, you said we could take a lady with us if we wanted right?”

Kevin smirks, “Yeah, if you want to do that.”

A.J. grins, “Sweet. Aight hold on.”

Nick gazes at Kevin excitedly: “So I’m guessing I can invite Connie then right?”

Kevin chuckles, “Yeah, they can stay the night with you guys if you want them too.”

Brian snorts, rolling his eyes. “Kev you gonna allow those poor women to be treated like slaves to them?”

“Hey they have their own minds. Those girls are free to decide what they want to do. We don’t hold them or anything. If the guys want them, so be it.” Kevin calmly answers watching Nick and A.J. approach the women.

“Umm… hey Connie.”

“Hey Nick. You heading out now right?” Coral whispers out.

“Yeah, but I was thinking, ummm…if you’re interested we can hang out a little more with me and my friends.” He states, his eyes tracing the low neckline the black dress provided on her.

Coral smirks, “Ok, I guess. That’s sounds cool.”

Nick sighs out of relief, smirking: “Aight cool then. Ready to go?”

Coral nods, “Sure.” And takes his hand as they join the other two men waiting.

A.J. strolls over to Arianna and nudges over to his friends, “I’m thinking if you’re up for it, you can roll with us since your friend is chilling with us.”

“You don’t need to ask me twice. I’m already there.” Arianna smirks, following the men as they all exit and board a black tinted expedition.

Howie looks up from searching through a manila folder on his lap to see a group of four men leading what looked like Arianna and Coral to their vehicle.

Quickly finding a pair of binoculars, he places them on his eyes and smiles, focusing to see that indeed it was the two women. “Yes! You guys made it! They sure look like the Eclipses too. Too pretty boy looking.” He smirks, placing the binoculars back on the dash board as he turns the ignition on, shutting off the headlights so he can follow behind the expedition.

He watches the expedition speed off as he quickly pushes down on the pedal, pushing away from the club to follow behind. He gulps and hopes that the women will be safe as he turns and takes a highway wondering where exactly the Eclipses where staying at the moment. Gulping, he drives down a narrow dark alleyway, hearing the scuttles and squeaking of some rats running around as he watches the Expedition pull to a stop and park behind a large vacant glamorous metal silver building. Raising his eyebrows, Howie parks in the shadows, meters away from the expedition to see the group of four men and two women make their way inside the back of the building. Howie sighs and pulls out his badge, tucking it away in a small compartment hidden above him in case his car gets searched. He hides his pistol, manila folder with random facts and hand cuffs in the same place with the badge and gulps, waiting around as he slowly exits the car, locking the door behind him. Walking slowly towards the building, he tugs his keys away hearing a soft rustling around him. Gulping, he reaches the back of the building and scans the area hearing a cock of a pistol behind him.

Gulping, he raises his hands up, turning around to see a dark haired man with bright green eyes glare at him.

“Stay put! How did you get here?” The man growls out remaining in the dark shadow so only his light eyes glimmer in the silver moon light.

“I don’t know. I took a wrong turn and ended up here, it’s a dead end, I’m just about to head back to my car.” Howie smoothly whispers out, hoping the man bought it.

Kevin eyes Howie, his hands on his own pistol, aiming it at Howie. Smiling, Kevin eyes him and smirks. “You’re not heading back to your car.”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me. You’re coming with me.”

Howie gulps and shakes his head, backing away: “Uhhhh, look, I have to get somewhere if you want money or something I’m only carrying a twenty on me.”

Kevin laughs, “I’m not robbing you. You’re coming with me.”

Smiling, Howie remembers the voice and nods: “Ok Kevin.”

Kevin steps out of the shadows and lowers his pistol, his eyes tearing up. “Why? Why did you come here?”

“To save you.”

“You can’t…” Kevin chokes out. “It’s too late for me.”

“Why can’t you just leave now with me?” Howie whispers out, looking at his old partner from the precinct.

“It’s…too complicated.” Kevin mumbles out, sniffing as he tucks his pistol away.

Howie gulps, “You’re just doing your job. I understand you.” He fixes his white dress shirt, tucking his hands into his dark jeans.

“You have to come with me…” Kevin chokes out, sniffing, tucking the pistol away, gently touching Howie’s arm.

“I thought you were dead.” Howie quietly states, watching Kevin throw his arms around him suddenly embracing the man in a friendly matter.

“I did die.” Kevin gulps, pushing away from Howie as he leads him inside the building. “I was just hoping you wouldn’t join me. I thought that with you out in the world, that maybe you could stop this group.”

“I am…”

“You don’t know what you got yourself into.” Kevin states, leading Howie down a hidden trail of silver stairwells as Howie rubs his eyes knowing that at least now, he could begin to investigate and finally solve if not end this puzzle once and for all.
~**~

**~To Be Continued…~**