115.

  The Beth Boys' information had been spot on.I found the G15's grotty nightclub on the Alwell State easily enough. The bigger problem was that the place was heavily guarded. It was a two-story building with metal bars across the windows and two doormen who looked like they'd sooner shiv you than answer any questions. The back entrance was similarly guarded.

  They had cameras set up around their hideout, and I noticed this wasn't exactly a club open to the public. There was a whole profile of nasty sorts going in and out of the club, including addicts who seemed to be entering through the back, picking up their drugs, and leaving. Between the guards and the cameras, there weren't any visible blindspots or weaknesses. G15 were certainly a more put together outfit than the other gangs had been.

  I watched for maybe an hour, trying to figure out a plan that didn't involve me busting in all guns blazing, but I was coming up rather short. The problem was I had no idea how many people were in there or what the layout of the place was. I thought of perhaps trying to go undercover, but I doubted I'd get in. Like I said, it seemed to be members only, and I didn't think gawky Alex was the type of person they'd let in.

  As the night wore on, the club became busier. As I watched the steady stream of people going on and out or just hanging around, I saw a familiar black car pull up. As it passed under a streetlight, I caught a glimpse of the number plate and recognised it as the same car I saw pull up outside the Blood Brothers' flat. Sure enough, a bald man in a faded green bomber jacket emerged from the car. Danny walked in, his goons carrying three heavy duffel bags between them. Then they went to the boot and pulled out three more duffel bags. Judging by the size of those bags and the way the goons hefted them, there was a small militia's worth of artillery in there.

  What the hell were these guys up to? Despite how bad crime was in New London, guns weren't this readily available, and to think a common street gang would have this much hardware sent chills down my spine. How many more shootings would there be? How many more murders would they commit? How the hell were the police just letting them get away with this?

  Well, the police might be incompetent and slow to act, but I wasn't. I needed to bust up that gun deal, destroy that shipment, and take down whoever was in there that thought they had the right to run around the city wielding weapons meant for battlefields and gunning down people in the street. Anger rose in my chest as I remembered those two dead bodies and all the bullet holes in the walls around them. These people didn't care for anyone. They didn't care who else got caught up in their insanity. Other people didn't matter to them.

  I watched Danny and his goons walk straight into the club, and I saw another pair of men follow them. These two were dressed completely in black, and I guessed they were G15 members. Okay, so it looked like the time for strategy was over. Now it was time to act.

  I activated my Jet Boots and bounced towards the club. I threw up my cloaking charm, even though it wouldn't be very effective in an open space with streetlights, but it was better than nothing. I stole around the side of the building, looking for a weak spot. But there was nothing, even the toilet windows were barred.

  "Damn it," I growled under my breath.

  There really was no way into this building, and as the night drew on, more and more people would be arriving. I needed to do this quickly. As I scoped around, I thought about how long Danny had been in there. It couldn't take that long to do an exchange like this, and I couldn't risk losing him and the guns. It looked like I was going in loud.

  I made my way to the back of the building where there were two G15 members, all dressed in black with skull balaclavas over their faces. I couldn't decide whether they looked stupid or intimidating. Guess that depended on how armed they were, and I didn't plan to find out. I marched round the corner of the building, pulled out my Wrist Rocket, loaded up a Bang Rock, and fired without a word. I hit the goon closest to me in the shoulder and sent him flying. I had reloaded before the other even had a chance to figure out what happened. He looked up and caught a mouthful of Bang Rock. His head snapped back viciously, and he slumped to the floor unconscious. I then fired a third shot into the camera above the door.

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  I stepped over the unconscious goons and went to open the door, but found it locked. There was a key code on it.

  "Oh great," I muttered.

  Well, at least this was a chance to try out the boots. I took a step back, sent energy thundering through the soles of my shoes, and then launched my foot forward, heel first. The Rune activated as I made contact with the door, and it blew it off the hinges. I stood there for a second, blinking in surprise. That definitely was an effective way to knock on the door.

  I walked in and was assaulted with sound. The place was dark, with lights low, and some horrible electric trance-type music blaring through poor speakers that gave more bass than anything else. The place stank of sweat, smoke, and other foul odours I couldn't even figure out. There were strobe lights pulsing arrhythmically disorientating me. Just as I was getting my bearings, I was attacked from the side. A heavy blow landed across my ear and I stumbled into the wall. I turned and took another hard punch straight to the cheekbone, and then we were brawling.

  I fired back with the Zap Knucks but was caught so off guard I didn't even channel energy into them, so instead, there was just a dull thunk as the metal knucks cracked into bone. The man attacking me stumbled back. Then I channelled energy into the bottom of my boots again and thrust kicked him into the wall. He flew with enough force to jar the plaster. I turned as another man came flying at me with a bat. I took the blow across the forearm guard, snapped out with my Zap Knuck, and caught him in the gut. He leaped back before the full force of the Shock Rune could render him unconscious, but it still hurt enough to throw him off. I drew Grandad's bat and was on him. I swung low, hitting him across the side of the knee, the Rune activated and blew him in a complete circle in the air so he landed on his head. I stepped over his body into the mass of dancing, clearly inebriated revelers. I pushed my way through them, trying to find my bearings and figure out where the hell this deal was going down. It certainly wasn't happening down here.

  A hand grabbed me from behind. A thick forearm wrapped around my throat and pulled me off my feet. I gargled in surprise, clawed at the meaty arm, and was then thrown across the dance floor, barreling into several people. The dancers began screaming and trying to push each other to get out of the way. I looked up and saw the man who had grabbed me. He had to be six and a half feet tall, built beefy and broad. I think he was one of the doormen; he was certainly dressed like one and looked like he was absolutely down for a spot of violence.

  Good thing I was happy to acquiesce. I rolled onto my feet and swung Grandad's bat. He ducked and hooked me in the gut, his hand crunching off the carapace. He cried out and staggered back, looking at his broken knuckle. I swung the bat again, and he threw his arm up to protect himself. The Rune activated and blasted him off his feet into another group of dancers. He flattened them and then callously pushed them over as he leaped back to his feet, stepping over them to run at me. He threw a massive kick that I just managed to dodge and then followed it up with another low kick that I didn't get out of the way of. He hit me straight in the calf and threw my foot out from under me. I toppled over into more of the packed crowd. People were pushing, shoving, and screaming now as panic began to set in. But I also noticed many of them kept on dancing. Either they were too high to realise what was going on, or this was just the type of place where fights broke out regularly. Even the DJ kept playing his music, and the lights kept flashing on and off, strobing in every colour imaginable: purple, pink, green, orange, white.

  As the music built to a crescendo, the lights strobe faster and faster as the people wildly danced and screamed. Then the big goon was on me again. He tried to stamp on my chest, and I just about managed to throw Grandad's bat in the way, catching his foot as it came down. The bat creaked but held. The man was heavy and strong. I fought to try to throw his foot off me, but he kept pressing down until I felt the bat crushing against my chest. I could see his wild eyes and the froth on his lips as he bore all of his weight down on me, trying to crush my chest. Then, in a moment of panic, I activated one of my Jet Boots. My foot flew from the ground, my body twisting round, and his boot slid off the bat, half-squashing my face as it did. But I freed myself and I’d thrown him off balance.

  My body was flung backwards by the Shockwave Rune, and I landed in a roll, leaping back to my feet and swinging Grandad's bat down on him. He threw both his forearms across his face to protect himself. The Rune activated and absolutely flattened him. His arms caved under the impact and his face bounced off the floor with thunderous force. Somehow, he was still conscious, well, that was until I kicked him in the face. Finally, he fell still. There was a wide circle around us of people staring in shock, but the music kept throbbing and the lights kept strobing. I saw more people appearing from a staircase that led up. They were all dressed in black with skull masks. Well, looks like I found where the meeting was taking place. And then one of the skull-masked goons pulled a gun. There was no way he'd fire it in here, with all these people, was there? He ran towards me, pushing people out of the way, raised the gun, and fired into the crowded room.