The drinks had continued to flow one after the next, and the bar had grown busier and busier with each passing hour. Upon closer inspection the bar was bigger than it first appeared, with the shadows being pushed to the edges as my eyes got accustomed to the gloom.

  The place could hold three hundred people easy, with another two floors above the one I was in. The second floor acted as a dance floor and they had converted the top into a rooftop terrace for the sightseers among us.

  As the drinks flowed I tried my best to sip what I could and spill the rest.

  This was my chance for freedom.

  I eyed the crew every so often as they drank more and more, keeping my options open as to what I would do. It was easier to get lost in the crowd that surrounded us, but whenever I wandered too far, one of them would always appear next to my shoulder in deep conversation with someone next to me. After trying to mingle a few times I grew fed up and returned to the bar.

  I would allow the night to drag on before I attempted my escape. The way the drinks kept coming and how they put them away, it wouldn’t be long before most of them would be seeing two of me anyway.

  Then, I would try to make my escape and look for an outbound ship to get the fuck out of here.

  If I couldn’t find a ship, I would call Xcorp and inform them of my location and hide out in the city till help arrived.

  “Poppy for your thoughts,” said a voice next to me.

  I looked over into Poppy’s smiling face and mustered up a half-hearted smile. Her cheeks were flushed and red and her hair had come undone out of her bun to cascade over her shoulders.

  “How is this the only bar in the borough?” I asked Poppy.

  She let out a sigh and passed her fingers through her hair before answering, “This is the only bar in this section of the borough.”

  “What do you mean?”

  She pulled a napkin from the bartop and placed it in front of us, then drew a circle and wrote Safe Haven above it. “The planet Safe Haven is divided into four sections or boroughs if you like; each borough is controlled by a criminal organisation that runs their borough with an iron fist. Smaller crime organisations or gangs can also operate in any of the four boroughs, but they will get taxed on anything they make or earn.

  “Think of it as an agent’s cut off the top,” Poppy said with a wink. “Now,, any of the four major organisations who control their borough can get toppled any time and someone new can take over; when that happens it’s best to lie low and get out of town because things turn into a bloodbath—it’s not happened for a few years but like dormant volcano I can feel tensions brewing.”

  “Who controls the borough we are in now?”

  “The Hammer and Sickle, run by Lady Isabella Ivanov. She’s… a fearsome woman but like everyone, she has her fair share of enemies.”

  I nodded my head while I looked at the drawing. “This doesn’t explain why this is the only bar in this part of town.”

  “Oh, that’s simple. Jerry torched the rest,” Poppy said, knocking back her drink.

  I looked at her in shock, which made her laugh.

  “Jerry is being overdramatic, there are other places to drink, but I wouldn’t call them bars and I wouldn’t venture in there alone, not if you wanted to live.”

  The night continued on and the drinks kept on coming. The crew, now dispersed amongst the heaving crowd, had left me alone at the bar with Poppy, whose head was resting on the bar top, one hand gripping her drink like an eagle keeping hold of its catch.

  “Poppy, you want another?” I asked, but all I received back was a grunt.

  This was my chance. Getting up slowly from my seat I scanned the area around me and found the coast was clear. If I headed straight for the front door now I would be caught; the only option I had was to head to the toilets and try to make an escape from there. I laughed at how stupid the plan was, but I had seen it work in movies hundreds of times and some part of that had to be true.

  Working my way through the crowd I tried to keep my movements as natural as possible until I got to a door and made my way through.

  I made my way up a flight of rickety wooden stairs until I came to a landing. The male toilets were to my right. The coast was empty, so I decided to move while I had the chance. As I entered the toilets an overpowering aroma of piss and shit hit the back of my throat causing me to gag.

  The smell stung my eyes as I used a hand to cover my mouth.

  I checked the stalls and nearly threw up at what I saw. Toilets without seats occupied all the stalls, with shit smeared along the back walls of more than one.

  “Fucking animals,” I muttered as I found the last one empty.

  I made my way to the only window in the room and worked it back and forth; dirt and grime had sealed it shut over the years but I could feel it coming loose under my onslaught.

  The door to the toilet opened and I let go of the handle of the window and moved to the sinks, keeping my gaze on my hand as I opened the taps.

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  Brown rusty water splashed over my hands as the guy behind me took a piss. I grimaced as the water touched my hands but kept the act up.

  Footsteps echoed through the room as he stood next to me and turned on a tap.

  “Are we supposed to clean our hands in this?” he said.

  “Yeah, I know, right?” I said with a shrug.

  He was a man of Chinese descent, who wore a black suit and had golden beads around his wrist.

  He caught me looking and sent a smile my way. Two golden canines flashed in the gloomy light.

  “I saw you hanging with the JYD crew, you a new member or something?”

  I stared at him in puzzlement, not fully understanding the question.

  “José Battle’s crew, the Junk Yard Dogs.”

  “Oh, sorry, I must have had too much to drink. Yeah, I joined their crew not long ago; I’m still very much the new guy.”

  He turned his tap off and dried his hands on his trousers. “So what is it you do for them?”

  “This and that, you know,” I said with a shrug, trying to end this conversation as quickly as possible.

  “I see, I see,” he said, still drying his hands on his legs.

  An unwelcome silence stretched out before us while we locked eyes. I didn’t know what he wanted but he was making me feel unwelcome.

  “How about I get you a drink,” he said, nodding towards the door.

  “Nah I’m all good. Thing is, I’ve got this stain on my hand that won’t come off,” I said, turning back to the sink. “Maybe I’ll catch you downstairs.”

  “No problem,” he said.

  I heard the door open and close behind me and breathed a sigh of relief as I lifted my head up, only to see him staring at me in the mirror.

  What the—

  He rushed towards me and locked his arms around my neck from behind, getting me in a rear naked choke. The squeeze and pressure was unbearable as my hands clawed at his face. I heard him hiss in pain as one of my fingernails raked across his eyeball, but he refused to release his grip, only squeezing tighter.

  Black spots were forming in my vision, the darkness in my peripheral vision was slowly closing in; I had to do something. Forcing my head back violently, I felt my skull connect with his nose.

  He grunted in pain and released his hold slightly, which allowed me to lift his arm up from my neck to in front of my mouth, where I bit him with everything I had.

  The grunt turned into a scream and he pushed me away.

  I spun on my heel and faced him, spitting out hair and blood onto the filthy toilet floor.

  “What do you want?” I demanded in shock.

  “Just what’s on your person, Mr Blake.”

  I stared at him in shock allowing his words to sink in. “What do you mean?”

  “Let’s not piss about here, I know full well who you are and why you were taken by JYD. The word on the street is The Lady will give them a huge payout for the information you have, but here’s the thing, The Lady is a cold ruthless bitch who will pay anyone as long as she gets what she wants.

  “Plus, if I take less than the price she’s willing to pay the Junk Yard Dogs, then I’ll be in her favour.”

  Who was this lady and why was she so interested in the information I had on my data-stick? Was she going to use it to manipulate the stock markets? Or was there something deeper going on here I was missing?

  The Lady.

  Realisation slapped me in the face as I added two and two together—Lady Isabella Ivanov.

  She controlled this borough; she was to be feared; and she was the one that wanted what I had. To survive I would need to make it out of this borough and into the next, before my face became too recognisable.

  He came at me again and I threw my best punch his way, which slapped against his cheek, sound ringing out through the toilet. He stopped in his tracks and looked at me in confusion.

  “What, what, what was that?” he said in disbelief.

  “A punch!”

  He looked at me again then threw his head back in laughter. The sound wounded my pride more than any punch or kick thrown ever could. Holding his stomach he rested one hand on his knee while the sound poured from his mouth.

  “You,” he said, pointing towards me, between bouts of laughter, “are so fucked. If that’s your best line of defence then shit, dude, you aren’t gonna last long in this city, even if I didn’t come along. Everyone here is a killer, bounty hunter, hired gun, gang member, crook, thief, pimp or worse.

  “Shit, growing up here I saw my grandmother knife a man through the throat. Life here is tough, salaryman. But I’ll tell you what, you hand me the information you have and I’ll let you—”

  I didn’t wait for him to finish as my leg sprung up and kicked him square in the balls. His eyes bulged and I threw another punch, this one catching him in the side of the ear. He toppled forward and I threw a knee his way that caught his chin by luck more than anything else. I turned on my heel and ran for the door but something grabbed my leg causing me to trip and fall.

  My face hit the wet floor with a thud, and it was all I could do not to be sick as the smell of urine invaded my nostrils. My hand pressed into something soft and squidgy as I tried to get up, but my leg was caught. Looking back I saw my attacker had gripped one leg; kicking back with the other I caught him in the face but he refused to let go. I kicked again and again until he grabbed my other foot with his free hand and dragged me towards him.

  He got on top of me and hammer-fisted me in the nose. The pain was unlike anything I had ever felt before. My eyes watered and I tried to squirm out from underneath him, but I received another blow for my trouble.

  If this was what being hit felt like you could keep it.

  Never being in a fight in my life, much less being hit in the face, my body panicked, not knowing what to do. I tried to breathe but his weight crushed the oxygen out of my lungs; every time I shifted he shifted his weight. Another blow clipped me in the side of my ear causing a ringing sound to occur.

  His fist crashed into my eye socket forcing me to scream out in pain.

  I felt his weight shift off me but it didn’t matter.

  Vision blurry, ears ringing, I curled up upon myself trying to fight the pain that swept through my body.

  “How pathetic can you be, dude?” said a voice above me. “I must admit the kick hurt, but if that’s all you got then I’m doing you a favour by killing you now.”

  His boot connected with my ribs forcing another cry of pain out of my lungs.

  “Where’s the information?”

  I said nothing but still grunted for air.

  “Where’s the information?” he asked, following it up with another kick.

  My ribs were on fire, it was hard for me to breathe, and I saw nothing but blurred shapes when I looked up. To say I was taking an ass whipping was an understatement. I tried to roll to my knees but a kick up the ass landed me back on my face.

  I didn’t deserve this!

  I had done nothing wrong. I just wanted to work, pay off my bills and maybe take a holiday once in a while. If my wife and kids said thank you in the process, then it was a bonus, but apart from that I didn’t ask for much.

  So why was the universe taking a giant dump all over me?

  “Look, you’re going to tell me what I want to know sooner or later because you’re not used to this. This life, what you’re feeling, it must feel foreign to you, alien, I get it. But let me help you. Just tell me what I want to know, then this all stops, what do you say?”

  My vision cleared and I looked into his eyes, and I could tell he was lying. I didn’t know how I knew, but I just did. As soon as I gave him what he wanted, then he would leave me to die on this floor.

  “Fuck you!”

  I didn’t know where it came from; I didn’t know why I said it but it felt like the right thing to do. Even though it was probably the last thing I would ever do.

  “Fine,” he said, pulling out a flick knife from his back pocket. “It looks like I’m going to have to start getting creative.”

  I saw my reflection briefly in the metal of the blade as it descended towards me, and I did the only thing that came to mind.

  I screamed.