Chapter 6 - The Deadly Alliance
The crack of the sniper rifle echoed through the apartment like a clap of thunder. I screamed in pure terror and dove onto the floor beside David's motionless body. Rachel crawled frantically toward the hallway, begging me to follow her before the sniper fired again. I grabbed the silver handgun I had taken from Rachel and crawled on my stomach. We made it to the narrow hallway just as a second bullet destroyed the television screen. I asked Rachel how Mark could possibly have afforded a professional hitman. She wiped tears from her face and revealed the darkest secret of all. Mark was not acting alone in this massive, deadly conspiracy. He was heavily in debt to a violent loan shark named Carter, who ran a dangerous criminal syndicate. Carter was the one who provided the poison, the burner phones, and the snipers. Mark had promised to pay off his massive gambling debts using my life insurance payout. When Emma accidentally drank the poison instead, Carter decided to take matters into his own hands. The syndicate was now actively hunting all of us to eliminate any loose ends. Suddenly, we heard heavy footsteps slowly marching up the wooden stairs outside the apartment door. Someone began kicking the reinforced front door with tremendous, terrifying force. The door frame splintered and cracked as the attackers prepared to breach the room. Rachel grabbed my arm and dragged me toward the fire escape window in the back bedroom. We pushed the rusty window open and climbed out into the freezing night air. I looked down at the dark alleyway and saw three armed men waiting by a black SUV. We were completely surrounded with absolutely nowhere left to run. The bedroom door burst open, and Mark stepped into the room holding a tactical assault rifle. He walked over to the fire escape window and looked out at us with a cold, dead smile. He raised the heavy rifle and aimed it directly at my sister's chest. He said, "I always clean up my own messes," and pulled the trigger without hesitation. Rachel gasped in pain as the bullet struck her shoulder, sending her tumbling off the metal platform.
