There were four gangsters total, each from the ruined Vipers gang. Freddie G and his three underlings were brought into the hospital covered in blood. However, it had all been a ruse to sneak in without the police catching on. Once inside, they regrouped and forced everyone into the largest room in the hospital. Each gangster was armed. Freddie G had a handgun while the three underlings had automatic weapons, and each of them were simply itching to use it.

“I’m glad to hear it,” Freddie G said. “You see, this little traitor murdered my friends. My family. We don’t have much in this city, anyone can see that, but we had each other. Until, this little shit went and hired a mercenary to kill us, destroy our home, and drive us away. The only reason my boys and I are alive is because we ran into the sewer and had to crawl to safety. Now, I don’t have a problem with any of you. You’ve done nothing wrong by me, and I don’t want to do wrong by you. All we want is to find this traitor and set things right. Make them fair.” He knelt down and softly cupped a trembling nurse’s cheek. “You like things being fair, don’t you?”

The nurse, still shaking, moved her head slowly in a nod.

Freddie G just smiled and gently released her. “That’s right! Fair is good. We all like being fair. So, as soon as we find this little traitor, you’ll all be free to go. You can keep saving lives and doing what you do best. I don’t want to stop that.”

The speech was entirely sociopathic and narcissistic. However, most everyone present was too afraid of dying to notice. Chloe Hall just stuck to her section of wall, hugging her knees to her chest, trying to protect herself. As long as no one did anything reckless, they might have a chance of getting out alive. All she had to do was wait for Richard to arrive and save everyone. She knew he could do it.

“Hey boss!” one thug called out, dragging a trembling man into the room. “Lookit who I found!”

The thug tossed his victim into the middle of the floor. The cowering young man just looked up in terror at his former boss.

“Hello Clarence!” Freddie G greeted happily. “I haven’t seen you in so long! I was worried about you!” Freddie G knelt down and grabbed Clarence by the cheeks, showing him off to the crowd. “Look everyone! We found our man!”

“Boss, I’m sorry!” Clarence quickly apologized. “I led him to the warehouse like you said, but he killed everyone else! And he was gonna kill me too, but he—”

“Shh, shush now,” Freddie G said, clamping him hand over Clarence’s mouth. Clarence’s protests and begging could only come out as a muffled cry. “You see Clarence, the problem is not just that you left the gang. You instead hired your mercenary friend to hunt the rest of us down to save your sorry ass.”