Don't Stand By Me (COMPLETE) - Chapter 36: Chapter 36

VIOLET
August 6th: 21:59
"Guys, as adorable as this is, we need to get a move on. We only have a half an hour." I smiled softly, standing close to Fitz's side.
I looked over at Cassie to see her smiling, but it was shaky as she shot glances up towards the top of the cliff, where dim lights were shining. Elvis and Dixon pulled apart, blushing lightly. Dixon stayed close to Elvis' side, wrapping an arm lightly around his waist, as if afraid to let him go.
"Why did they leave you down here?" Fitz asked.
"I was bait." Dixon said, shrugging, "They figured me being threatened with a gun would be a way to lead you up the Canyon and into their trap."
"It's hardly a trap." Elvis snorted, "We know damn well what we're getting ourselves into. Bunch of goons with guns."
"What's our plan?" I asked, folding my arms to ward off the chill that was spreading through the air, "We can't run up there blind."
"Our best bet is stalling." Fitz chimed in, "My team is on the way, they'll be here within an hour. At least thirty men."
"We need to keep him talking. Our best bet is Kiara. She'll be able to wind him up enough without getting herself killed." Dixon chimed in.
"She's probably already doing it." Elvis snorted fondly.
"Then let's go up this mountain and save our friends." Cassie nodded firmly.
"Even Brent?" Dixon asked.
"Even Brent." I sighed.
We walked briskly up the Canyon towards the dim lights.
"No one is to make any sudden moves, don't do anything stupid and for the love of God, Cassie do not fire that gun." Fitz chided.
Cassie pouted but nodded.
He continued, "If one gun goes off, they all go off and those two will be dead in seconds. We need to keep them docile, let them think that they have the upper hand, then swoop in and take it from them."
"You're hot when you go all agent." I murmured, bumping his hip with mine and earning myself a low chuckle.
"You know when all this is done, you owe me a date." He mentioned.
"After this? I will take you anywhere in the world, sweetheart." I grinned, "I don't know what we would have done without you."
"Well for one you'd all be in prison." He joked, "And maybe dead."
"Thank you again for that, I know we need to sort out the major details but-"
"Don't worry about it, darlin'." He reassured me, "It will be done, I promise."
The relief at that moment outweighed any fear. I had done what I promised my friends I would do. I had ensured none of them would be going to prison. It didn't fix the damage I had caused but it was at least a start.
"Okay." Fitz said quietly, "We're here. Violet, give me the phone."
"What?" I gasped, "No!"
"We don't all need to rush in there and get caught. Only one person needs to go and that should be me."
"Not a fucking chance!" Cassie exclaimed, "I am not abandoning Kiara."
"Neither am I." Elvis folded his arms as Dixon nodded in agreement.
Fitz glanced at me and I glared at him, shaking my head firmly.
Fitz sighed, swiftly realising he would get nowhere with any of us, "Everyone sticks together and stays calm. No rash movements and please don't do anything stupid."
"Are you sure you shouldn't stay behind?" I asked, "To guide your team?"
"They know exactly where they are. And I don't feel comfortable letting you all go up there without someone experienced. I wish you wouldn't go at all but short of tying you all up I'm assuming there's nothin' keeping you all here."
"Affirmative, sir." I smirked, poking his side.
He rolled his eyes, gesturing ahead, "Everyone stay behind me." He pulled his shirt over his holster, loosely covering it.
We walked into the distance, close behind Fitz who walked with slow, calculating steps. We finally reached the cliff face and I resisted the urge to gasp at the sight before me. Nine men stood by the cliff side, two of which being Marcus and Richard Price himself. Three men were holding Brent back, who had been forced onto his knees with his head bowed. Pearl stood beside her father, who was clutching her arm tightly while she openly wailed, thrashing in his grip but to no avail. Four more men with large guns stood behind them, staring at us as we approached. And finally Kiara stood at the cliff's edge, Richard holding her tightly with a gun pressed into her side. I gnawed on my lip to hold back the scream I was dying to let out at the sight of my best friend, bloodied and bruised on the edge of the Grand Canyon.
Her face was battered, a large purpling mark blooming around her right eye and smears of blood marring her cheeks. Her legs were shaking as her knees, slightly buckled, knocked together as she was hunched over, body leaning towards Richard and his gun.
"About time!" Richard boomed as we finally reached the clearing, "You were really cutting it close. This lovely lady was about to go right off the cliff." He moved backwards slightly, wavering Kiara's feet towards the edge.
To her credit, she didn't even flinch, keeping her gaze stoney as she stared straight ahead. She looked like she had fought back - hard.
"We're here." Fitz said, "Now how do we do this?"
"Well, you give me my son's phone or I throw this tart off the cliff here?"
"Your mom's a tart." Kiara muttered.
"I was this close to throwing her off before you arrived. She is quite the...conversationalist."
"Yeah she's a bitch." Elvis chimed in, causing us all to turn our heads and glare at him, "What? She says it herself."
"It's true." She shrugged, wincing at the motion, but showing no other signs of distress.
"Are you okay?" I asked, trying to catch her eye.
"I mean..." She glanced down at herself and back up, still refusing to make eye contact with everyone, "I'm alive."
"Excuse me?" Richard chimed in, "Phone?"
"What's to stop you from throwing her off anyway?"
"Very little to be fair." Richard shrugged, "But I'm tired of this. I have spent a week having to deal with all of your childish bullshit and I have had enough. Boys!"
The four men moved forward, going to grab us all. One man with a disgustingly blonde moustache grabbed my arms, holding them firmly behind my back while I wriggled to escape his grip, but he held tight. A similar looking man grabbed Elvis, hissing as he stamped on his toe in his attempts to escape. Surprisingly, Cassie and Fitz' reflexes were much quicker than our own, managing to pull out their guns and point them at the men who were walking towards them. The two goons let out matching yells and pointed their own guns back at them.
"Well, I guess that's a stalemate." Richard shrugged, "The phone, please?"
My eyes widened and I glanced at Fitz, who seemed to be having the same realisation as me. I never gave him Charles' phone.
"Well, who has it?"
We stayed silent.
"Well, how about this? You have one minute to get me the phone or one of you dies."
"I die then he's going with me." Cassie snarled, gaze locked with the man in front of her who looked slightly perturbed.
"They're middle men." Richard shrugged, "It's no skin off my back if they die. Goons are easy to come by."
"Sucks for Jeffrey, doesn't it?"
"What the fuck did you do to Jeffrey?" He snarled.
Cassie smirked and I resisted the urge to tell her to not do anything stupid. Provoking this man would only lead to something really bad happening...
"Jeffrey died." Cassie pouted, "Sad affair really. He cried like a little bitch."
Marcus let go of Pearl's arm, stepping forward, eyes blazing as he spoke for the first time, "You fucking didn't."
"I did." Cassie tutted, "Shame, isn't it?"
"I cannot fucking believe this!" Richard bellowed, "How dare you kill him? You fucking idiots, you have no idea what you've done!"
"I'd do it again." Cassie smirked in a demeanour that was extremely weird to witness.
Marcus lunged towards Cassie but was stopped by Pearl, who between them, gun pointed to his chest. I gasped, wishing I could slap a hand over my mouth but they were restrained by one of the goons who was holding me far too tightly.
"Pearl..." Marcus chuckled, "Sweetheart, give me that." He reached for it but she jerked away from him, holding the gun with shaky hands.
"Back away, dad." She trembled, "Don't make me do this."
"You'd shoot me? Your own father? For these mongrels?"
"These mongrels are my friends." She hissed, "They're more family than you have ever been."
"You're no child of mine." He growled, "You're pathetic. Weak. All about love and family instead of what matters."
"Everyone!" Richard roared, causing everyone to glance at him, "How many times must I say it? Give me the phone. I won't ask again."
"Give him the phone, Vi." Kiara croaked, shaking in Richard's grip. With her head still lowered she mouthed Trust me.
So I did. Without hesitation I glanced back at the man holding me, gesturing for him to reach into my pocket. He grabbed the phone, tossing it to Richard who caught it with one hand, letting out a booming laugh once he did.
"Lovely!" He grinned, slipping it into his pocket, "I guess there's no more use for you!" He looked down at Kiara, turning her and dangling her off of the cliff, keeping her up with one hand.
Everyone exploded, screaming and lunging towards the pair as Kiara clung to the cliff's edge. Kiara didn't scream, she didn't flail. She was oddly resigned to what was happening and it took all of my concentration to hold back the tears that were begging to break free.
"You drop her, I kill my father." Pearl said, her voice cutting through all the noise.
Richard froze, "You wouldn't."
Pearl cocked the gun, keeping her gaze trained on her father, "I'm crazy, aren't I? Why wouldn't I take this opportunity to be free of him. But what does it matter? Goons are everywhere...unless..."
Richard hauled Kiara up from the cliff's edge, holding her tightly around the waist and jamming his gun back into her side as she flinched, the only sign she was affected by what was going on. He snarled at Pearl, but his eyes were wild, wide and uncertain.
"I feel like Wendy Williams right now." Kiara said in a strange tone, still staring straight ahead.
Richard gave her a strange look, then shook his head and refocused on Pearl, "What do you know?" He growled.
"What? You mean that only my father knows where the massive drug haul is coming in next week? The one that you need to stop you from going completely bankrupt? Would be horrible for you if he just happened to drop dead, wouldn't it?"
"You conniving little bitch!" Richard yelled.
"So what does this mean?" Elvis broke the tense silence, "It feels like we're kind of stuck here."
"It means...what the fuck happened to him?"
I craned my head to the side to see Brent completely collapsed on the ground, unconscious. The men holding him down shrugged, holding their palms out in an innocent gesture.
"Whatever." Richard snarled, "Alright, what do you want?"
"The seven of them." Pearl said firmly, "Unharmed."
"Can't be done, I'm afraid." Richard said, giving a pointed look, "You all know too much, you've seen too much. You aren't leaving here."
In the resulting chaos, two of the men that previously had been holding Brent down lunged forward, tackling Pearl to the floor and attempting to wrestle the gun off of her.
"Get the fuck off me! Do you know who I am?" Pearl squealed, holding onto the gun for dear life as they attempted to yank it off of her, rolling around on the ground.
Marcus took a few cautious steps back.
"Fucking idiots." Brent snarled, tackling the one man left guarding him.
And now the Wendy Williams comment made sense. Of course that's the signal they managed to come up with in such a short time. The fact that they hadn't just killed each other filled me with hope, maybe they really did have a plan to get us out of this. We watched in silence as the entire group went to shit. Between Pearl and the two men and Brent trying to wrestle the gun from the guy holding him, it was impossible to know where to look.
And then the gun went off.