Wednesday, December 07, 2011

Flash Fiction Interlude: Bad Trip

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This Three Word Wednesday story features Vince Mott, a character from Diana's Diary, which is part of my Will and Diana series. You can read more about Vince by following the tag at the bottom of the post.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It started with shouting, but Vince was used to the members of his gang getting into arguments. He ignored it and returned to his inventory. Gitana would want the jewelry; that much was a given, but its value so exceeded that of the other goods they had stolen that he couldn't gratify her wish without annoying everyone else. Besides, Peru might like those gold earrings for his girlfriend...

He looked up at the sound of booming and crashing against the warehouse wall. "What the hell?" He went to the door of his office, nearly running into Ozone who was bursting with news.

"It's Speedball. He got into the stash, and that white powder wasn't what we thought it was."

"Damn him." Vince was as annoyed with Speedball for stealing as he was with himself for leaving the cache from their recent heist in range of an addict. "Where is he now?"

The sharp report of a gun offered a clue. They ran into the warehouse and found Speedball in a corner, screaming and shooting the walls.

"He's not hurting anything," Ozone pointed out. "Might want to just let him have at it."

Vince assessed. It was true that whatever Speedball was on would wear off in time, if his energy for destruction didn't flag from sheer exhaustion first. Nevertheless, it wasn't good to appear passive in front of his team. He had to get Speedball under control. He hurried back to his office and got something from a rusty desk drawer. Then he returned to the scene of destruction and waved away his curious gang members. "Go away, for your own safety. I'll let you know when things are under control."

The men looked at each other doubtfully, but obeyed.

"What do you think he's going to do?" Fausto asked.

"Who cares?" Peru said. "They're both crazy."

Ozone cast a worried glance into the depths of the warehouse, where Speedball was still screaming about something. "I'm sure he has a plan."

Twenty minutes later, Vince walked toward them out of the depths of the warehouse. "All clear. Leave him where he is and go about your business."

Fausto shook his head. "But what did you...?"

Vince gave a wicked grin. "I waited until he was out of ammo."

"But—"

He held up an empty syringe. "Helps to have a sister who's a nurse."

While the men chuckled and headed back into the warehouse, Vince went toward his office. There was more than one reason he was the leader of this gang.

4 comments:

Old Egg said...

Yes, Vince certainly showed his leadership skills here. It was no time for heroes and his calm wait and see approach was clearly correct, without the others making it worse with their inexperience. Beautifully written as always.

Jae Rose said...

Yes, another faultless piece..I think your use of names is so adept..they seem integral to the world you have created and the stories you weave..Jae

Alice Audrey said...

We're both featuring drugs this week, but our takes are so different. Makes for an interesting contrast.

I love Vince.

Sheilagh Lee said...

Now we know why Vince is in charge.