Sheltered

Chapter 54

"I'll tell you once more, sir. You can't enter a Red Zone with an expired membership."
Charlie the tuxedo man repeats impatiently.

Griffin sighs heavily.
"I drove for two hours to get here. Do you know who I am?"

Tuxedo man blinks slowly, wishing Griff would just leave. "Well, judging off the name on this expired card, you're Mr. Griffin."

"Do you know my last name?"

Charlie sighs heavily. "Are you on something, son? We don't do last names in Club Red."

"Do you know Ian? Leader of the Asesinos?"
Griffin asks with an air of power and authority.

"I've never heard of Ian, son. Last I heard of the Asesinos, Lucas was doing all the work."
He shakes his head and turns to work on his desktop.

Griffin's eyes widen. "Lucas isn't with us anymore." He scoffs, and his annoyed smirk merges into a concerned stare.

"Sir... you haven't seen Lucas here lately, have you?"

Charlie laughs. "You expect me to let some kid know who's been in and out of here? Get lost."
He gives Griff a disapproving glance.

"Fine." As Griffin steps out of the huge glass building, he raises a walkie-talkie to his lips.
"What's the latest status on Luke? Over."

A static voice echos in response.
"Last we heard of Lucas was two years ago. Last known location is Dallas. Over."

Griffin paces, rubbing his chin.
"I need all the info you can get. I think he was at the gun mall."

"With Peterson? Over."

"That's what we're gonna figure out."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Lucas." He speaks unto a small flip phone.
Savanna watches him intently, hands cupping her face.

"Griffin? Oh, the Asesino?... Oh man. ...Okay... Sure, sure... No, I've got a safe house handled. Yup. Cheers, Charlie."
He closes the phone aggressively, sighing deeply as he lowers himself into a chair.

The motel lobby air is stale, adding a surreal feeling to every movement.

"What's wrong?" Savanna asks as she walks to him, placing a hand on each of his shoulders.

"Griffin is looking for us. Or for you, at least. I don't think the Asesinos suspect that I'm with you. I hacked into their system and deleted my profile years ago."
He shakes Sav's hands off his shoulders, resting his head in his palms.

"Hey..." She mutters calmly. "They aren't gonna find us. Or maybe they could even help us, who knows?"

Luke snaps his head up to look at her, his eyes piercing into her.
"I wouldn't consider yourself an Asesino anymore, lovely." He snarls.

"I'm sorry?"

"That's how they operate, Savanna. You make a wrong move or do something without permission and they hunt you." He sighs.
"They can't stand the unknown. There's no trust."

"So just because I left without telling anyone they're gonna-" she trips over her words. "They're just gonna kick me out?"

"They're gonna do more than that." Luke groans loudly. "I don't wanna tell you this, but you need to know now that they're getting closer."

Savanna chews on her lip, pulling up a chair in front of Luke. Their legs are touching when she sits down.
"Tell me." She demands simply.

"They're gonna kill you, Sav."

She stares at him in disbelief.
Ammo walks over to them and lies next to their chairs.

"Ian won't let that happen." Savanna finally says.

A minute passes.

"You put a lot of trust into people you don't know." Luke mutters.

Savanna scoffs, taken aback.
"I know them all very well. They wouldn't do anything to hurt me."

"Oh really, they wouldn't hurt you? And when did they tell you that, Savanna?"

"I'm leaving."

Realizing she has nowhere to go, she sits at a table about ten feet away, Ammo at her heels.