Chapter 23

Barbon's Nightclub is a popular bar and strip club in a rough part of Central District owned by the syndicate. It is managed and run by Barbon, a syndicate thug who has been with them since the beginning with Electra Davies who provides the girls and oversees the financial aspects of the club. Most of the regulars in there are syndicate drug dealers and fighters who prefer to stay clear of the posh Mercury Room uptown.

Blaze reaches the back entrance of the club, her car parked on the main road outside 20m away. She walks towards the door confidently and smiles at the bouncer on arrival. "I start in 20 minutes do you mind showing me around?"

He replies: "You must be one of the new girls but you're late! The auditions have already finished".

Blaze smiles: "apologies, I'm always late but I'm worth the wait".

He can't help but grin back at her, looking into her mixed blue-green eyes and checking out her profile. "Look I'll tell you what, if I show you through to backstage where you can get ready, maybe you can do me a favour later on my break at 12". She cheekily smiles and nods as he lets her into the club. He comments to the other bouncer "Damn that chick is hot".

Blaze is dressed in high black heals, short blue hot pants, blue bikini top hair out in messy curls finished with smoky eye makeup, red lipstick and gold hoops. She is also wearing her short black leather jacket and carrying a black bag similar to a gym bag. Once Blaze is in, the first place she goes to is the bathroom where she plants a small explosive device behind a water tank setting it to 30 minutes. She is careful that no one sees her and is cautious in passing through the tables with punters admiring the girls at the podium through the smoked up club. In the time she has, she quietly makes her way up to Barbon's office and discretely picks the lock. As she enters she searches the office for any drugs but there is no sign of the stash she is looking for. She quickly leaves the office and walks downstairs before a man dressed in a black jacket with piercings over his face stops her in his tracks.

Jack: "You should be downstairs, get back to work now bitch!"

She puts her head down and quickly leaves his sight for the downstairs dressing room while wondering where else the drugs could be. The bar is buzzing at the moment with three strippers on the poles and money being thrown everywhere- maybe they have sold the stash already.

As Blaze enters the dressing room, five of the other dancers observe her with evil stares knowing that she is the new girl. The threat of another dancer better than them could cost them their job and tips.

"Bitch please, that's my dressing area. Put your shit elsewhere". One of them, Nora pushes Blaze out of the way. As Blaze falls to the ground, she can see that underneath the makeup desk there is a panel on the floor. A couple of minutes pass by and the dancers swap and go out onto the stage, leaving Blaze alone for a moment. She pulls opens the panel- bingo, at least 20kg of coke is stashed there. From her bag she quickly opens and places a petrol container inside the panel then closes it. She now has five minutes until her device detonates and causes a fire in the building so she plans on getting out fast.

An excited voice enters the room "fuck my life, the stage is lit out there! I just got $400 in tips". Blaze instantly recognises the voice behind her as one of the strippers enters the dressing room after her performance. Blaze gets up off the floor slowly and turns around to face the woman talking to her.

Blaze: "Jess?"

There is a shocked pause between the two of women as another stripper enters the room and comments "Jessica who the fuck is this?"

Jess points at Blaze: "Kill her now!"

As Blaze tries to escape from the room, the two women pull out a set of whips from their draws and strike them towards her. Blaze is quick to dodge their efforts, jumping up onto the desks and running across them to the end. As she jumps down, Nora enters the room and Blaze delivers a kick to her face. Jess and the other woman are moving fast and trying to strike Blaze with their whips. Out of nowhere another stripper enters the door behind Blaze and tries to grab her. In a split second Jess projects the whip towards Blaze's face but she is quick to react and backbends low so that the whip passes over her head and strikes the stripper behind her in the face. In doing so, it electrocutes the stripper and she passes out on the ground.

Blaze gets back up "shit!" she can't believe that simple whip is electric.

Jess: "Fuck you Fielding, I never liked you".

Blaze: "That's something we can agree on, how's the crack these days and your new career?" Blaze sweeps the other stripper holding a whip off the floor and knocking it out of her hand. The stripper ends up falling with her back on the electric part.

Jess tries over and over again to strike Blaze, this time narrowly missing her face. The whip ends up getting caught on one of the radiators on the wall, forcing Jess to let it go. Blaze is quick to take advantage and the pair of them throw punches at each other as Jess tries to grab Blaze by the hair. All the commotion has attracted attention and Barbon and another man enter the dressing room. All Blaze can do now is fight them off and get out of there. She spends the next minute blocking their efforts as Jess, Barbon and his bouncer try to grab her. Barbon also delivers a fast roundhouse kick which ends up going wrong when Blaze ducks, knocking out Jess.

Blaze knows that she has less than two minutes to get out before the whole place explodes.

Barbon: "This bitch won't give up".

Blaze quickly rolls over to grab one of the whips and immediately strikes the bouncer next to her, electrocuting him.

Blaze: "Stay back or I'll kill you!" Barbon ignores her order and pulls out a knife from his pocket to attack Blaze. Just in time, she ducks and he misses. She decides to project the whip which catches him around the neck.

Barbon: "No! Don't, I'll let you go". He struggles to break free.

Blaze: "Sorry it's too late for that". She tugs the whip which ends up electrocuting Barbon. It's a painful death which takes longer than 20 seconds where blood pours from his neck and eyes.

Blaze grabs her bag and runs as fast as she can out of the club past the strip poles, past the bar and past the front entrance.

The bouncer she met on the door shouts: "wait! Where are you going?"

She reaches 10m away from the club when there is a massive explosion inside the building followed by several mini explosions from burst pipes and electric lighting. Anyone in that building will be lucky to survive and as for the coke- over 2 million dollars' worth up in flames.

Blaze catches her breath and gets into the car before any police sirens get closer as she speeds off in the other direction away from the scene. She reaches for her phone "Wood Oak Central DEA, I'm reporting a drug den. 35 Wilson Avenue, Barbon's Bar"

#Hangs up#

She throws the cell phone out of the window and continues to drive away from the scene.

Adam's email pings with images of the burnt club- the bodies, the collapsed buildings and the burnt remains of the coke stash. "Damn the syndicate used Barbon's to stash the supply we were looking for earlier today. Something must have gone badly wrong for them not to notice a bomb in their club or they must have some serious enemies." He displays a photo of Barbon lying burnt and dead on the floor with a whip still around his neck "not the way I would want to die" Adam comments.

He continues: "Hey Ax, do you think Max eventually found them and the 20 kilos of coke?"

Axel: "No, they would have told us. If anything, Barbon knows Max's face and the guests at that club are all members… I know who destroyed their supply" he smiles.

Adam: "Who?"

Axel: "She's smarter than you think. The only non- members they would have allowed in were any dancers auditioning or working there."

Adam laughs: "I'll be damned. So Blaze decided to continue by herself meaning she is still somewhere in Wood Oak City".

Axel: "Send a message out to the others, we need to hit them again while they are weak".

They are interrupted by Nadine knocking on the door.

Adam: "What is it Lieutenant Bilson?"

Nadine: "There is a politician downstairs demanding to speak with Chief Clark".

Axel: "He's out at Red District today, who is it?"

Nadine: "Electra Davies, the owner of the club that burnt down".

Axel: "Shit, okay give me a minute".

Axel goes downstairs to meet her "Mrs Davies what can I do for you?"

Electra gives him a stern reply: "I need to speak with Chief Clark, I understand that he has taken over DC O'Neil's duties including the safety and security of my club".

Axel: "I'm sorry but Chief Clark is elsewhere and has left myself and my co-Captain in charge". He escorts her into one of the offices on the first floor.

Electra removes her shades and jacket, revealing a tight cream dress.

Axel: "Please take a seat".

Electra: "As you are aware, my husband Minister Goldberg is a very powerful man and someone who is behind the funding of this department. Now that O'Neil rest his soul is dead, I feel as if our security measures have been slipping. We had an arrangement with our licensing, protection and security from your department. Tonight it took over 20 minutes for the police to arrive at my club and they have refused to explain why there are reports of drugs in my club. Furthermore they will not even grant me access into my own building."

Axel: "I think that whatever arrangement you had with O'Neil regarding your licensing is not our concern. There were drugs found stashed inside your club so any licensing or insurance you feel you have is void. I understand your husband is a powerful man and although he has powers over funding, he has no control over our operations and the cases we prioritise. I would suggest that you let us do our job, dealing with whoever caused the fire and whoever planted the drugs."

He opens the door to show her out "I'm sorry to hear about your business".

Electra: "You haven't seen the end of me Axel Stone. I assure you, whoever is responsible for this whether it be you, the DEA here, the Red district, any of them, I will hold them accountable and my husband won't hesitate to hold back their funding. Have a nice evening".

Electra leaves the building and walks a couple of blocks down towards a parked Mercedes, reaching for her phone as she gets in.

Electra: "I honestly don't know if they are behind this. They fell for the decoy earlier but our supply was delivered to Barbon's whilst that operation went ahead….. Possibly the problem may have come from Red District. I want to know exactly who got out alive, who was dancing and any rescued surveillance in the area. We have another few million down the drain, Tiger is not going to be happy with this so get down to the bottom of the shit we are in fast".

#Hangs up#

The car makes its way to Tiger's safe house so that she can deliver an update on the situation directly to him.

12am and Max, Adam, Axel, Sammy, Zan and Luca have met back at the warehouse to discuss the day's events and where their next target is while the syndicate are weak.

Max: "Ultimately the next step is to get to Tiger. We do that by taking out Jack, his main distributor and Electra".

Adam: "According to the tracker we had on Jack's car he was at Barbon's earlier tonight but his body hasn't been recovered at the scene. Also Electra is a bit more difficult to kill, she is well protected not just by the syndicate but she is in bed with the politicians and her husband will react to the feds with consequences if we hold her ransom or kill her".

Max: "The next place we need to track down is where Tiger, Electra and Jack clean their money. We will monitor the tracker and will take it from there. Mr X must already be getting impatient with all of this bad luck they are having so we might just get lucky if he does the job in killing them first."

Axel: "He knows he needs his loyalties around to protect him no matter how much they fuck up. Tomorrow we find Tiger's stash house, we locate all of their businesses including the brothel, the casino and their garages where they hide the drugs. We'll take out as many of their fighters as we can".

Sammy: "Shit, did you hear that?" They hear a car pulling up outside the warehouse.

Adam: "Wait here Sammy!" Adam, Max and Axel take out their handguns and walk towards the front locked up entrance while the intruder outside is trying to open the shutters. The men decide to quietly wait in the dark by the edge until they are open so that they can get a good range on whoever is trying to brake in.

As the shutters go up the three of them point their guns to whoever is breaking in until they realise its Blaze.

Blaze: "What the fuck? It's me!" She spots the three of them pointing guns at her before they lower their weapons.

Max: "What are you doing here? I thought you quit".

Blaze turns to Adam "aren't you gonna let me in?"

She walks with them into the other large room where Zan, Sammy and Luca are sat around the meeting table. Blaze is carrying three large gym bags over her shoulders which Adam and Axel offer to take off of her. She smiles at them "no thanks!"

Sammy looks up happily when he sees her: "Blaze!"

Blaze: "Hey Skate, good to see you!" she smiles. She is dressed in a black hooded jumper under her jacket with jeans. The clothes she was wearing earlier at the club are now burnt. As soon as she left, she ditched the car shortly after and burnt the clothes she was in as well as tying her hair back and removing the make up from her face in case the feds were on her case.

Adam, pissed off turns towards her: "you can't just come and go as you please. You don't show up at work, at our meetings, we hear nothing from you."

Zan responds: "He's right. It is really irresponsible of you Blaze, I've been worried and have wondered time and time again what if they captured you and used your power. You also have a lot of focussing to do on yourself".

Max smirks: "It doesn't surprise me to be honest".

She looks up and smiles at the group, proud of herself before throwing the three heavy bags onto the table.

Axel: "I thought you burnt all of the drugs back at Barbon's".

Blaze: "I did. In two of these bags you will find $8 million belonging to Tiger that I stole from his stash house on the outskirts of Wood Oak yesterday along with an ammo delivery he was expecting in the third bag".

Luca and Sammy open the bags, surprised that she has managed to get hold of all of this by herself.

Blaze turns to Max: "Now do you believe me?"

Max: "How the hell did you…"

Blaze laughs. "In two days I got all of this shit by myself, taking full advantage of their vulnerabilities. You guys on the other hand, as well as the DEA tried all your efforts to track down their coke delivery but you couldn't do it!"

Axel: "What are you trying to prove here? You said you were not part of this anymore".

Blaze: "I still want them dead but I refuse to work under you or anyone else here who questions my motive. I'm not returning to the police department but I need the feds to cover my tracks".

Adam: "let me get this straight, your planning by yourself to take down the syndicate, killing their associates and robbing them one by one then seeking police protection in case your caught?"

Blaze: "precisely. My name stays clear in all of this. I have spent the last three days tracking down the location of their warehouses, their suppliers, some of their hideouts all of it I have. I can give you this information in exchange for backing me up when I kill Wood Oak's number one prospective senator. The only things I don't have are all the aspects of the syndicate that separate them from the old cartels such as the trafficking centre, brothels and labs."

Zan: "Luca and I have spent months trying to track down this information to do with their drugs. How did you find it?"

Blaze: "I went back to the source. When the syndicate established their organisation, they wiped out every major cartel who had territory in Wood Oak, including my family. In doing so, they took all of their suppliers in Columbia, the politicians in their pockets and their real estate. My uncle kept a record of all of this information as well as the names and locations of rival cartels twenty years ago. My father once had someone hide that information at the cemetery where they are buried. After all these years I never attended my parents and siblings funerals or their gravestones until now. The man who works there knew my father and knew that one day I would come back. He has held on to that information all this time and when he saw the flowers I bought with me to their graves, he knew I was the child they'd left back in London".

She pulls out an album from her bag containing family photos from when she was a child.

Adam: "What's this?"

Blaze: "He gave me this at the cemetery".

Adam opens the album to find lots of old photos of Blaze and her brother and sister when they were kids. Axel pulls out one of the photos and turns it around to find messages written on the back containing names and locations.

Axel: "These are the names of warehouse locations that the five cartels who owned Wood Oak's territory used to operate in".

Blaze: "All of these photos contain contacts and locations. I've spent the last three days following the suppliers, tracking down these sites and the syndicate are using each one as a base to store their money, drugs and ammo".

Adam gives her a hug, lifting her off the ground "Blaze you're a fucking genius, I'll be damned!"

Blaze: "I know we have had our disagreements" she glances at Max and Axel "but I'm on your side".

The group spend the rest of the hour scanning through the locations listed and suppliers at the back of the photos.

3am already and Blaze has stepped outside to get some air, not wanting to look at anymore old photographs. Max follows her outside, offering her a cigarette.

Blaze: "No thanks, I don't smoke".

Max: "I owe you an apology, I was wrong about you Fielding".

Blaze: "Thank you, I'm sorry you had to find out about Raven that way. I know what it's like to be betrayed by those closest to you".

Max: "I was out of line with all those things I said about you and your family. And I'm sorry that Raven put you through all that shit. Just know I would never have condoned him hitting you like that at my gym if I knew the extent of what he did".

Blaze smiles and gives him a hug.

Max: "I know you want to work off the team now but know that if there is anything you need I am happy to help".

Blaze smiles: "Thanks Thunder" referring to his fighting name.

Axel interrupts the pair "glad to see you two have finally called a truce".

Max leaves to go back inside the warehouse to give them a minute to talk.

Blaze: "I want 50% of the cut we make from the syndicate's money".

Axel: "You know what we do with their supplies and their money, 50% is way overboard there's 7 of us here".

Blaze: "No, there's six of you on your team and one on mine, 50% plus police protection. I plan to take down the syndicate and get to the Yamato with their own funds".

Axel: "It's impressive what you did I admit that but we got all the information you've taken now."

Blaze: "And I will find more".

Axel: "I'll tell you what, I'll cut you 25% plus police protection if you come back to Wood Oak Central Department. We have the surveillance footage that Electra Davies desperately wants from outside her club and I can easily destroy it."

Blaze: "So you would really trade me in to the feds to stop me leaving? That's not going to work".

Axel: "I didn't say that. It looks like I got more to offer you than you have to offer us right now."

Blaze: "Fine. I will come back if you hand over your control of Red District to me as Captain."

Axel: "It's all yours as long as you stay and cooperate".

After a long pause, she reaches out and shakes his hand.

Blaze: "Hope I didn't manage to create another spark there. By the way you'll know from the outside surveillance who entered that club and who got out. I know that everyone who saw my face and tried to kill me is dead- I made sure of that. Including Lieutenant Hart who failed."

Axel: "I know, she's always been on their side just like Raven".

Blaze smiles: "At least I had the balls to finish both of them for good, you should never have underestimated me. Sorry for your loss".

Blaze walks away content with their deal knowing that in the end she got the upper hand, leaving a bitter sweet Axel who knows he has been outsmarted. Whatever their differences are, they need to put them aside so that the team can be successful in breaking down the syndicate.

The next morning Axel destroyed the footage and Blaze returned to the police force. The couple of days that followed consist of raids on vulnerable syndicate areas including their drug hideouts and money laundering centres. The team also see to it that there is an end to Mr X's drug suppliers in South America. As far as Mr X and his associates are concerned, this was all a war between their Columbian suppliers and themselves for not selling the large amount of coke that has been stolen over the last month. The feds do not have the capability or intelligence to know the locations of their hideouts and only the suppliers have this information. Mr X arranges the murder Don Nicholas in Columbia as revenge knowing that they will eventually find new product elsewhere.

The three cops know there is still more work to do but they have successfully broken down a large part of the syndicate organisation. They stand with honour as Chief Inspector Clark addresses the entire cities' police force from a podium outside their headquarters.

Clark: "Every day we get closer and closer to making our city a safer place. We continue to increase our efforts in eradicating corruption and drugs from Wood Oak City and I am pleased to say we have now reached records in the arrest of syndicate operatives. In doing so, we have shut down many of the cities' drug operations. Although we still have more to achieve, none of this could have been done without the help and dedication of our officers and our restructured senior team. My own Deputy Chief Thomas Bailey will oversee all of the three districts alongside myself from now on. We also commend our new team of district Captains who will be in charge of each of Wood Oak's territories. Captain Adam Hunter, now in charge of Wood Oak Green District, Captain Axel Stone of Wood Oak Central District and Captain Blaze Fielding of Wood Oak Red District. God bless us and our city".

The rest of the police force below salute as the three most powerful officers in the city stand side by side in their special ceremonial uniform, restoring order and creating a new era in Wood Oak Police Department.

To Be Continued.