Hold Up

The restaurant went wild in only two minutes. Customers are screaming around, hiding under tables, trying to protect their children or even escaping. The gang is shooting on tables and walls to make their hostages even more terrified than they already were. It's chaos.

Inside the cabinet, the two men were hearing all these screams and gunshots and the young man is almost dying from fear. Michael finally release him and unlock the door.

- Oh my god.. wh-what are we gonna do? You heard that?!

- Yeah I did.

- Why do you seem so calm about it?! Ca-can't you feel at least some fear to prove me you're human too?!

Michael pins him to wall aggressively and shows him a pissed off expression.

- Screaming and dying of fear won't help us. Settle down kid. They haven't noticed us, I could do something, we have advantage here.

Michael releases him again and sneaks to the door while launching his gun. He opens a little bit the toilets' door to see how many enemies he'll be facing, he analyze the scene then closes the door.

- Okay so here's what we're gonna do. You stay in here and try calling 911 while I'll gang up on them, I know these guys, not their first hold up attempt.

- But I-

- Not buts. Do you copy?

- I uh.. Yea? I mean yes okay, I understand!

- Good.

Michael walks out the toilets quietly, gun in his hands, and sneaks behind a member of the gang. Meanwhile, the young man tries to keep calm and contact 911 as he was told. In a hurry, he said all kinds of information to the operator, even useless ones. They said that two cars would be here under 20 minutes and until then, he must stay safe and hidden.

Back to Michael, he grab a random member by the neck, points his gun on his head and shouts to his captain.

- Danny! Long time no see.

- Oh, woah! If it isn't Michael Blake, my favorite cop! What a crazy coincidence to meet ya here. Always a good timing to ruin our plans. Are you sure you're not here on purpose?

- You can say that.

- You see here we're trying to do a very clean hold up, maybe kill one of those folks if their screams are annoying enough but in fact, we're not here to murder in the first place pal'!

- Yeah, an Asian contact.

- So you're already aware of that? What an incredible spy. She's workin' here, just trying to get her ass out here and go. That's how it is! Whaddya think? Are we kind enough today? Gonna let us do our thing?

He doesn't respond. Michael clicks his gun at Danny's man which makes him whimpers.

- Hey there friendo, why so aggressive?~ I'm being nice enough to tell you about our big plan yet here you are threatening my man with that weak-ass gun of yours? My gosh, chill out duuude.

Michael glares at Patland who's hidden under a table with Ally. He orders him to try to get behind Danny and knock him out. Patland nods. All of Danny's men are pointing their guns at Michael, all ready to shoot on their boss' order.

- Danny. You are going to surrender now, give us your weapons and we'll get you back to the station. I'm not asking, I'm ordering you.

- Well unfortunately, I don't take orders from anybody! I'm an untamed beast who only obeys to his own instinct. Watch me defy you, Michael the Devil!

He shoots in front of Michael's legs and runs to them in order to release his man while all the other members are screaming and shooting all over the restaurant. Too busy to dodge the bullets, he releases his hostage and run for cover behind a table.

- Well well well, looks like now you don't have anything left. Like last time.

"Damn it. How can I over take him ?" is what he thought. And then, from behind them, they hear a huge noise: police's sirens. All the gang is panicking.

- Fuck it! Cops' already here? That's no good! Mikiko get your ass here, we gotta move!

The men are trying to pack their stuff and leave quickly but one of them peeks at the front windows of the restaurant.. and see nothing. No police cars and no Mikiko.

- D, calm down, there's no one! I don't see any cars!

- What? The fuck? BUT WE HEARD SIRENS! THE HELL WAS THAT?!

Out of anger, Danny, protected by five armed men, gets to Michael and grab him by the neck.

- The fuck happened. I'm going to end your life.

Michael gasps for air. Out of nowhere, a piece of paper rolls in front of the five men to the opposite corner, without thinking, they focus and shooting on this paper. And then, Michael sees somebody running in his direction and knocking out Danny with a wooden chair really hard. When he releases his grip, Michael pins him down and handcuffs him. His men didn't have time to shoot at Michael that the policemen barged in the restaurant to arrest everyone.

- Damn, thank you Patland, it was intense.

- De rien.

Michael raises his head after finishing handcuffing Danny.

- What? It was you?

He seems shocked. Indeed. The man who helped him is not Patland at all, this one stayed under the table this whole time, the man who helped him was the one from the toilets.

- Yea, we had advantage, I took the opportunity.

Michael doesn't even have time to talk back that his partners are walking to him in order to get his testimony. After a while who felt like a hundred years to him, the hostages finally got to go home safe and the whole gang got arrested as well as their weapons.

The young was being questioned by other cops for his testimony but Michael steps in and drags him near the restaurant entrance.

- The hell was that?

- Excuse me?

- You barging in and taking down a criminal with a chair.

- I just did what was best for the hostages safety, no? I mean, we had an advantage!

- Do you even understand what you were risking here?

- If I died, at least it would have been in a cool way. So yeah, I know what I risked if everything went wrong but I had faith in me.

Michael grabs his arm and pushes him aggressively against the restaurant wall.

- Damn kid. Can you hear yourself? There's no damn "cool way" to die. What if your attempt led to a full massacre?! Are you aware that it's not only your safety we're talking about but everybody's?! Danny's a crazy man. Only because of that, he could've killed this whole restaurant. This was reckless and stupid! Don't you dare risk your life ever again like that. Leave it to us, cops.

- Y-you say that but when you thought it was your partner who saved you, you felt relieved no?

- Don't get me wrong. This act was reckless regardless of who did it. Even if it was my friend who would have done it, I would still think it wasn't a great move. Dumbass.

He releases him with anger and clicks his tongue while rolling eyes.

- Stupid.

Michael starts to walk away.

-... I'm not a kid anyway.

- What?

Michael turns around and glares at him.

- That's also what you said earlier. Just so you know I'm not a kid. What's with you cops treating everyone as kids? We're not, I'm twenty-three, dickhead. We're just different from you. Damn Americans, all the same.. acting as fucking Vietnam's veterans when what you guys do all day is being racist, sexist and lazy at work. That's why I don't do business with American cops. If I wanted help, I would rather ask it from an elderly than you.

Michael sighs deeply.

- You whine and trashtalk cops like a child and I'm supposed to look up to you and treat you like a man? You're no different than us, "just so you know".

- My god, screw you!

The young man walks away to another restaurant on the same street. Michael rolls eyes. Patland approaches him from behind and put his hand on his shoulder.

- Damn, that was somethin'! Ally is sooo fond of you. How brave of you to barge in and handcuff the bad guy. What a good turn on..

- What now? You didn't move a finger when I ordered you to take him down. What's with that?

- Maaan, I saw that boy on the other side, he made signs to me. I knew he was up to something so I let him do as he please, in the end, we got it under control right?

Michael doesn't respond.

- What's the deal with that guy anyway?

- What do you mean?

- I saw you two shouting just now. Is he an acquaintance of yours?..

- He's..-

All of a sudden, Ally appears and hugs Michael tightly.

- OH MY GOD, my hero is here! Thank you for saving usssss, you surely protected our ass when we needed you. Thank youuuu!

- That was..-

- INDEED amazing, yes! My god, here I thought we were done but you appear from nowhere and save ME, what a craaaazy date right?

"Saved you? I wouldn't have mind if those guys would have taken you away though.." is what he thought.

- You know whaaat, as he reward for saving my life, my WHOLE body is yours tonight, what do you think ?

- Uh.. I'm sorry I-

- Michael would be glad to spend the night with you Ally, don't worry! Right pal?

"Damn. I gotta find an excuse.." is what he thought. He looks at everything around him, searching for a way out then he stares at something. A crazy idea but it could work. He points somebody in the crowd.

- I'm sorry but I promised this young man that he'd stay over for the night. I'm concerned about his safety.

- Oh my gosh, such a good caretaker, will be a perfect dad for my children! I got that. Then, shall we exchange numbers to keep in touch?

Michael sighs deeply. After exchanging numbers, Ally walks away to her home.

- Damn, what was that? She almost offered you to have sex right now with her and you denied?! The hell is wrong with you, man.

- Patland, don't. This date was your idea, I didn't intend to spend the night with some stranger so stop.

- But why? Wasn't it the whole point of this operation? Get you laid with a random lady?

Michael ignores him and walks to the young man followed by Patland. He grabs his wrist and get close to his ear.

He whispers,

- What's your name?

- W-wha ? You agai-..

- Your name!

- R-roméo, why?!

Patland puts his hand on Michael shoulder.

- So you really do know this guy?

- Yes. Roméo and I are friends, I'm about to take him home now.

Roméo looks at him, confused and quite angry. Michael gets to his ear.

He whispers,

- Don't ask, obey. I'll tell you afterwards, follow us and put on an act.

Roméo nods.

- Yea, w-we are friends. Didn't he tell you..?

- Oh yknow, Michael's not a very talkative guy so I wouldn't know. Let's head back, shall we?

Against his will, Roméo follows them to Michael's apartment. When they arrive the building, Patland waves and leave them to go to his own house, not far away from this building.

- He's gone. Are you gonna tell me why the hell did I have to follow you? Are you going to kill me or something?

- No such thing. How about you actually come in my home, we'll talk.

- Err..

Even if he doesn't want to, Roméo ends up following him in the end. They climbs the stairs to the fourth floor and then, Michael opens the left door. His home is mundane; America's flag, subdued atmosphere, a bit messy in the living room but a very clean kitchen, two guns exposed in his room and a lot of empty beer cans almost everywhere. Quite uncomfortable, Roméo sits on the brown couch and waits for Michael's explanation.

Michael goes to the kitchen and brings a glass of water to Roméo then sits on the table in front of him. Roméo takes the glass and takes a sip.

- I'm sorry for that. You weren't supposed to get mixed up in all that.

- And what is it about? The date you mentioned before?

- You were the perfect excuse.

- Yeah, I guessed so..

Roméo looks around the living room.

- Aaaand I guess you live alone?

- Yeah.

- Well, I noticed you're not a very talkative guy so for you to live with people...

He whispers,

- And you're not very friendly too..

Michael sighs deeply and rolls eyes.

- It's late, you should sleep here and leave in the morning, I don't want a random kid to wander in the streets at night..

- .. You're not even asking for my identity?

- I don't care. But if you're willing to, well, it's not like I have something better to do at the moment than listening to you.

- Yeah right. Anyway, I'm Roméo Grriatz, a french law student. I'm just here to spend holidays.. and visit my brother-in-law too.

- I see. I must say, for a foreigner, your English is not too bad. I heard worse accent.

- What kind of dumbass would come to the USA without even speaking English? That's just common sense.

- You got a point.

Roméo stares at Michael for a long time.

- What?

- Y'know, usually when someone reveal their identity, they expect their interlocutor would do the same.

- What else do you want to know? I'm Michael Blake, a cop from Boston P.D and that's it. I don't even see the point in telling you that anyway..

- Being nice maybe? Or just human? How long has it been since the last time you introduced to someone? You don't look at ease.

Michael walks to Roméo and pats his head softly.

- Nevermind that, just go to sleep kid, I'll bring you some blankets, try not to mess up my living room though.

Michael walks away to his room to take a few blankets and bring them to Roméo.

He whispers,

- It's not like this room was clean to begin with.

Michael throws a pillow at his face.

- I heard that, now go to sleep for real.

- Yeah yeah..

Annoyed, Roméo picks up the pillow, places it on the couch and just lay. Michael turns off every lights of the apartment then goes in his room and close the door. There, Roméo is alone. Still lying down, he raise his hand in front of him. The light from the Moon illuminates his finger and the warmth of the room calms him down.

- Seriously..

What is wrong with me?

Next Chapter : Debt