I shove the paper in my pocket, Michael letting out a scoff of disgust. Will stands up as the little girl gives him a small smile and skips away, this time with a little less bounce in her step.

“What did you say to her?” Michael asks, once again scanning the crowd for our target.

Will shrugs, crossing his arms and frowning. “I asked her if she knew Ferrari, and if so where he was. She told me that he wasn’t here tonight, that he was “getting more friends for her to play with” whatever the hell that meant.”

I shake my head. “He’s probably getting more kids like her to sell. Did you get anything else out of her?” The thought of that small child anywhere near that monster made me want to vomit, but I managed to look around the room for any signs of Ferrari’s men.

“I tried to get her to tell me where she had been kept before being taken here, but she kept saying “the boy knows where it is”. Maybe a riddle or something? She’ll probably get punished for giving away their location…”

“Yeah, I’m sure. Let’s ask a couple more kids, see if their responses are the same.” Michael says, heading over to an even younger boy.

We talked to several more children as the hour ticked by, each of them saying the same thing. “The boy knows where it is.”

None of us knew what that meant, but we figured we could decipher its meaning later; we were starting to get a few questioning glances, as the only people we’ve talked to are children. Most every guest there knew at least one other person in attendance. The fact that we obviously didn’t was starting to draw attention.

We didn’t dare talk to any of the guests; we would be found out immediately that we didn’t belong.

A middle aged man in a brown suit started walking our way, a perturbed look on his face, as if he knew one of us from somewhere but couldn’t place the location.

Mike tugged on my sleeve, placing a hand on Will’s shoulder to pull him back as well. “Guys, I think it’s time we left… people are starting to notice us.” We nod in agreement, making our way through the crowd as discreetly as we could, looking for a back entrance. We finally found an unguarded door, and quickly snuck through it into the back parking lot.

“Shit.” Mike says.

Shit is right. Waiting for us in the empty lot is seven heavily armed men. They laugh and jeer at our surprised faces, but before they can make a move I spring into action, firing my pistol at the man closest to me and chuck three of my throwing knives at the man furthest from me. They both immediately collapse, and at this Mike and Will follow suit and attack the remaining men.

Gunfire fills the quiet air, and I dodge bullet after bullet as I rush the man firing at me. I glance to my left and right, noting that Will is taking on two men with insanely long swords with a gun in one hand an axe in the other, and Michael is slashing his dual broadswords wildly, thankfully holding his ground against the man with the pickaxe. (fighting isn’t his strong suit, so I worry sometimes.) I have no clue why Mike decided to bring dual broadswords, and I also have no clue how he managed to hide that in a tux, but if it works for him, it works for me.

As I fire my gun at the man in front of me, I look around wildly for the seventh man. The man collapses, and I throw my remaining knife at his chest to finish him off, my attention still focused on the other man’s whereabouts. I whip my body around as I hear a gun being fired, just barely managing to dodge the bullet the seventh man fires at me. He rushes at me, and I pull the dagger strapped to my arm out of its sheath, throwing it at his chest, then firing two more bullets at his head for good measure.