text: [Themes: modern, drama]
  
  "Let Carla go, you've already proved your point," You plead.
  
  'This isn't a negation you idiot," Westfield says while getting impatient.
  
  You notice out of the corner of your eye you see Carla slowly reaching down to her ankle with her free arm. The man who is holding her by the other arm doesn't seem to notice this as he is currently focused on you, as are the two men behind you. Quickly it occurs to you that Carla still has the steak knife she took from your house, if you can just distract everyone for just another moment, she'll be able to reach it.
  
  "Ok fine you win, can you let Victoria go now?" You say while Carla inches her hand closer to the knife.
  
  "Smart move," Westfield says as he turns his attention to your sister. "You can go to your brother now."
  
  Victoria runs to you and the two of you hug. "Let's get out of here," Victoria strongly suggests.
  
  "Are you alright, did they hurt you?" You say with both legitimate concern and to buy Carla more time.
  
  "I'm fine, please let's get the hell out of here," Victoria begs.
  
  You begin turn around to head out of the conference room, when Carla reaches the knife under her pant leg and quickly swings it into the stomach of the guy holding her by the arm. Westfield gets up and pulls the revolver out of its holster, but Carla is able smack it out of his hand and it lands very close to you. Carla and Westfield begin to grapple with each other and the two appear to be of even strength. The two men who were once behind you begin to run to help Westfield, you have to do something before Carla gets outnumbered.
  
  > grab Westfield's revolver
  You grab Westfield's revolver that Carla knocked out of Westfield's hand. Despite your limited knowledge of using a gun, you figure it's the only chance you have. Aiming at the back of one of Westfield's thugs you pull the trigger. The bullet hits the man in the right arm and falls to the floor in pain. The kickback from the gun is more than you'd except and it causes you to lose your balance and fall backward. The second goon turns around upon hearing the gunshot and aims his gun at you, but before he can fire Victoria grabs his hand. He is easily able to knock her away from him, but your sister has bought you enough time to aim the gun at him and fire, before he can do the same to you. The shot you fire this time hits in thigh and like the first guy, he falls to the ground in pain.
  
  Westfield and Carla are still locked in a struggle, oblivious to what's going on around them as they are only focused on each other. You walk up to Westfield as he grapples with Carla, putting the gun a few inches away from his head and pull the trigger. Westfield's body and Carla both fall to the ground. The detective takes a moment to analyze the situation and when she figures out the danger has passed she picks herself up.
  
  "What the fuck were you thinking?" Carla scolds you. "I told you to wait in the car."
  
  "You took more than thirty minutes and I got worried about you and my sister," You explain yourself.
  
  "My brother just saved your life, show a little gratitude," Victoria sticks up for you.
  
  Carla takes a few moments to regain her composure. "You're right, I'm sorry, are the two of you OK?" Carla says more calmly.
  
  "I'm all right, but I'm beginning to recognize I just shot three people," You respond.
  
  "Try not to think about it, I can tell from experience that only makes it worse, just stay focused on the task at hand," Carla advises.
  
  "Right, Vic are OK?" You ask your sister.
  
  "Yeah, I'm just tired, it's been a very long day" Victoria answers.
  
  "How'd they catch you?" You ask Carla.
  
  "I managed to get into Westfield's office, I was looking for something linking him to the corrupt cops, I must have lost track of time and then this guy enters, he wasn't even aware I was in the room, just by fucking chance he walks in, I managed to shoot his head off, but then more come in, I was outnumbered, they confiscate my guns and then take me into this room, Westfield was already in here with Victoria" Carla recalls.
  
  "After they killed Steve I was brought here, I had to listen to Westfield ramble for hours about how no one was respecting him anymore, something about a tombstone in Canada and in the morning they were going to take some brothel, If you didn't find me, I...I don't want to think about it." Victoria describes.
  
  "Well we should get out of here" You suggest.
  
  "Aren't Westfield's men going to looking for us?" Victoria worries.
  
  "They're going to be too busy killing each for the leadership position to care about us, over years I've learned that Westfield's gang was way too dependent on him to keep them unified, with his death they will fall apart and the cops who were getting kickbacks will now be in hurry to prove their innocence so we won't have to worry about them". Carla answers.
  
  In another room you can hear a phone ringing. "That must be coming from Westfield's office" Carla assumes.
  
  > answer the phone
  "It'll be suspicious if no one answers that phone," You decide.
  
  "I'll take you to the office," Carla offers.
  
  Carla walks out of the conference room and you begin to follow, with Victoria following you. As you walk out of the room you look at the two henchmen you shot earlier, it's hard to tell if you've killed them or if they have simply passed out from the pain. As soon as you get out of this place it won't matter. You continue to follow Carla into corridor, she makes a right into a somewhat shorter corridor and finally stops at an office on the left hand side.
  
  "Answer it, I'll keep a lookout", Carla instructs.
  
  You head into the office trying not too hard to look at the body with half of its head blown off on the floor. Leaning against the back wall is the shotgun Carla had brought with her, it was most likely taken from her when she got caught. Next to the gun is a window that has moonlight shining through it. In the middle of the room is a desk and you answer the phone on it.
  
  "Hello?" You greet.
  
  "Is everything alright over there?" The voice on the end asks, "We heard a few shots being fired."
  
  > say "It's nothing"
  "It's nothing," You respond.
  
  "Uh, alright," The voice on the other end answers before hanging up.
  
  "Well?" Carla says as she and Victoria walk in.
  
  "I don't think they bought it, there's probably going to be quite few guys here in a moment," You predict.
  
  "Shouldn't we call the police?" Victoria recommends. You said they'd be helpful now that Westfield is dead."
  
  "We'd dead before we get here" Carla rejects, as she walks over to the window on the back wall and tries to open it, only to realize it's sealed shut.
  
  "What are you doing?" You ask.
  
  Carla doesn't respond, instead she grabs her shotgun resting against the back wall and smashes the window with the butt of the gun, destroying the glass.
  
  "We'll head out this way and make a dash for the gate," Carla orders.
  
  She leaps out the window with you and Victoria following suit. Your hand begins to bleed as you've cut yourself on the glass shards, but that is the least of your worries right now. The three of you run back towards front gate where you entered. You see men entering the administration building but they fail to notice you as the darkness provides cover. You reach the middle of the courtyard and see several men between you and the gate.
  
  "Now what?' You say defeated.
  
  "I'm going to create a distraction, you get your sister out of here," Carla commands.
  
  "What about you?" You object.
  
  "Go!"
  
  Carla runs to the opposite end of the courtyard and fires her shotgun in the air causing the men to run towards her direction and giving a chance to escape.
  
  "We can't just leave her here," Victoria protests.
  
  "There's nothing we can do," You bluntly state.
  
  You and Victoria reach the front gate and run out to your car still parked on the narrow the street. The two of you quickly get in, followed by you starting the engine, making a very sharp U-turn and flooring it out of the area.
  
  > Two weeks later
  You sit at the bar at Moira's looking at the bottle of beer you've finished drinking a while ago. Moira is working behind the counter and comes up to you when she sees you in your sad state.
  
  "What's on your mind hun?" Moira asks with concern.
  
  "Sill thinking about Detective Northcutt," You answer, "She didn't hesitate for a moment to sacrifice herself for two people she barely knew."
  
  "From what I heard about her, she was the kind of person who always did what was right and not was convenient"
  
  Your cell phone vibrates and you quickly take it out of your pocket.
  
  "Please come home now" A text from Victoria reads.
  
  "I got to get going, how much do I owe you?"
  
  "It's on the house."
  
  You get up off the bar stool and head out of the restaurant. Soon you're in your car driving, but before you head home, you make a stop at the cemetery. When you get out of your car it's pitch black, but you remember the way from the funeral a few days ago. You knew you'd found the right tombstone because it was larger and of a better quality then the others. The biggest giveaway however, was a light shining on it, all paid for by the city of course. A combination of both fresh and dry flowers lay in front it. You reach the tombstone and read the inscription:
  
  Det. Carla McGowen Northcutt
  
  March 3rd 1987- June 25th 2016
  
  Died in the line of duty, her bravery and courage will be the example all officers of the law will follow.
  
  You put your hand on the grave.
  
  "Thank you."