Ramifications: Day 14

Word Count: 84,004

Summary of Events:

Lachlan managed to decipher two of the stolen papers from the man he'd shot — who had died of his wounds from the shooting and the crash — before Harrison found him and told him to go track the drugs down he'd lost. Dom and the Board's meeting was interrupted by Bethany announcing Mr. Arnold had called and was willing to give them free groceries whenever they needed them. Lachlan decided to infiltrate one of the rival gang's clubs to get information, and got a little from their prisoners — although the prisoners mocked him before he left them . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"Turning around to head back up the stairs, Lachlan found himself face to face with a man about his heigh, but broader and bulkier.

"And just who are you?" the man asked.

"That's for me to know and you to find out," Lachlan replied.

"Oh really?" the man asked. "Well I think I can find out pretty easily."

He reached for Lachlan's neck.

Lachlan ducked down into a squat and thrust himself between the man's legs.

"Slippery little eel," the man said, turning around.

Rolling onto his back, Lachlan raised his upper body with his ams before pulling his legs off the floor and throwing his feet at the man's abdomen.

He made connection, but the man grabbed his ankle.

Lachlan struggled against the vice-grip of the man's hand while the man laughed and drew his gun.

Grabbing hold below his own knee, Lachlan pulled himself close to the man and seized his gun hand in one hand while drawing out his knife with the other.

"Gun wins," the man said, training the barrel at Lachlan's head.

Lachlan reared up his knife and brought it down hard on the man's wrist, prompting him to let go of Lachlan's ankle and his gun as he bellowed in pain.

Quickly Lachlan took up the gun and scrambled toward the stairs.

He heard the door above him slam open and looked up the stairs to see another gangster, even bulkier than the first.

Pulling the trigger, Lachlan sent the man at the top of the stairs tumbling down them to reveal another man behind him.

Lachlan charged up the stairs, firing as he went, and took out another five men before driving his knife deep into the abdomen of the man at the top of the stairs and then giving it a hard twist.

He drew it out and ran down the hallway to the only door to his left now that he was going down the hallway in the opposite direction.

Sheathing his knife and stuffing the gun into his backpack with his own, Lachlan grabbed a large plastic jug of petrol and opened it before pouring its contents over the long line of motorcycles as he made his way to the exit door.

The door that he'd left behind opened as Lachlan pulled out his matchbook. He tore off a match, struck it, and tossed it into the petrol on the floor, instantly setting the whole room ablaze while the man at the other end shouted in alarm.

Lachlan, meanwhile, bolted out the door and back down the alley toward where he'd parked his bike, confident no one would be pursuing him.

When he reached where his bike had been parked he stopped short. It wasn't there.

He stared at the empty stall completely baffled. But he'd parked it right there. Where had it gone?"

Ramifications: Day 13

Word Count: 78,022

Summary of Events:

Dom got a call from Samuel, which he took outside because the dishwasher was running; once the call was done he was accosted by a biker, as was one of the other regular volunteers at the Shelter. Lachlan tracked the attacker — a rival gangster, whom he'd shot to protect Dom — who'd fled the scene and crashed near Liam's nightclub; Liam had the crash cleaned up before the cops got there and Lachlan stole some papers from the gangster's motorcycle. Dom called Lois to make an inquiry about the party on Samuel's behalf, only to have her call it off and rescind all her support of the Shelter — which was the money they used to buy food every day; after telling everyone else about Lois' action Dom then got called by a grocery store owner who'd been invited to the party wanting to know why the party had been cancelled . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

""Well," Dom replied. "There's six daily volunteers here at the Shelter, myself, my wife, and four others, and she wanted all of us to attend the banquet, which, unfortunately, takes place at the same time as one of our regularly scheduled meals. I told her my wife and I could attend, as well as some other representatives of the Shelter, but not all of us daily volunteers could abandon the dinner service, especially because the volunteer group we have coming in on that day is a first-time group, not to mention there's liability involved too."

"Really," Mr. Arnold said. "That sounds awfully unreasonable of her."

"Yes," Dom said. "It is. I think she's mostly become unreasonable because of the fact that my parents, Walter O'Shea and Marina Herczeg, gave the Shelter a million dollars, and I think she's jealous because of how much they gave all in one shot, even though, over the years, she's given pretty close to twice that or more."

"Is she a generous giver to the Shelter?" Mr. Arnold asked.

"She gives us five hundred dollars a day, which buys our food," Dom replied. "Because we refused to abdicate our responsibilities here entirely she not only called off the party, but rescinded all her support, effective immediately."

"I'd presume that has a profound effect, based on what I heard on that interview of you the other day on the news," Mr. Arnold said.

"Yes," Dom replied. "But God has always provided for us before, so I'm fully confident we'll be able to get on well."

"That's good to hear," Mr. Arnold said. "The Shelter's been open for some time hasn't it? I mean, Lois has been supporting it for years."

"I think it's nearly thirty years the Shelter's been running," Dom replied. "I don't know exactly, I wasn't here when it started."

"That really is a testament to how much God has blessed your work," Mr. Arnold said. "My wife and I are Lutherans, but we've heard about your work, and our church has had a couple fundraisers."

"Which church is it?" Dom asked.

"St. Peter's," Mr. Arnold replied.

"Must've been awhile ago," Dom said.

"Yes, Margaret was still in charge," Mr. Arnold replied. "And she was murdered, wasn't she?"

"Two years ago," Dom replied.

"Terrible shame," Mr. Arnold said. "I'm sorry to hear that Lois would do such a thing to such a wonderful work. If you don't mind, I'd like to call you back later."

"Just to warn you, if you call after two we'll be having a meeting of the Executive Board to discuss Lois' actions and what, if any, damage-control we might need to do," Dom said. "So you may have to leave a message."

"That's fine," Mr. Arnold said. "I will talk to you later.""

Ramifications: Day 12

Word Count: 72,062

Summary of Events:

Lachlan got three new grunts to help him by being on the lookout for transfers before chatting with Harrison's daughter a bit — only to be told off by Harrison for doing so. Dom called Lois about the fact that she'd invited all the Shelter's full-time volunteers to a banquet that was to happen at one of the Shelter's regularly scheduled mealtimes; troubled by their disagreeable conversation, Dom summoned Elijah to talk with him about it . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

""You, and the whole Shelter, have nothing to worry about, I promise you," Elijah said, reaching forward and placing a hand on Dom's shoulder. "This is going to be bad publicity for Lois and Lois alone, and, although it's unfortunate that she's liable to look bad because of this, we can't really do much about it."

"I must admit, I don't really understand Lois' behaviour," Dom said.

"I can't say that I'm all that terribly surprised, though," Elijah said. "I think Mags saw this coming a long time ago, and I have a feeling she might be glad — if she's even conscious of what's going on down here — that she's not here to be a part of it."

"Why?" Dom asked.

"She and Lois were like sisters who never got to be sisters," Elijah replied. "And in recent years Lois had been trying to use their closeness to manipulate her into making changes here at the shelter that Lois wants to see."

"You mean she wasn't kidding about the chandeliers and silverware?" Dom asked.

"No," Elijah replied.

"As much as I feel like it might give these people even more dignity to think they're being treated like royalty, it's not really the point," Dom said.

"No," Elijah agreed. "Lois also wanted to see some of the volunteer groups we bring in be rejected because they worked for or were associated with business rivals of her husband."

"Oh good heavens," Dom said.

"Exactly," Elijah said. "Mags was resisting her quite well, but it was really destroying her to see what Lois was becoming. I think that's actually one of the reasons Mags started leaving you in charge here and hunting down the drug dealers so as to witness to them, so that she didn't have to deal with Lois."

Dom shifted his jaw, that sounded awfully selfish.

"And, I must admit, I feel like that was a good thing because Lois wouldn't listen to her," Elijah said. "Not to mention it gave you the training you'd need to be where you're at now, although I know Mags prayed regularly for forgiveness if she was being selfish by doing what she was doing in avoiding Lois."

"Lois hasn't brought up the chandeliers or anything like that since either," Dom said.

"No," Elijah agreed. "And I think that's because she knows she doesn't have as much to manipulate you with. Right now, though, I think she's trying to find more and better ways to manipulate you, starting with this banquet."

"So do you think that means there will be a set of terms and conditions accompanying the money she gives?" Dom asked. "Like, that it'll have to be spent on chandeliers and velvet and silverware?"

Elijah shifted his jaw. "I never really thought of that, but I wouldn't put it beneath her to do something like that.""

Ramifications: Day 11

Word Count: 66,205

Summary of Events:

Lachlan showed the ring to Harrison, who informed him it was an icon from an old rival gang that had been destroyed decades ago, but apparently not entirely. Dom received an e-mail from his mom that annoyed him before being informed there was a TV news crew outside, whom he spoke to mostly about the Shelter's operations without their realising who was talking to them. Lachlan, having not heard from Justin in awhile, decided to see what was up and found that Justin seemed to be just ignoring him, which he was quite displeased about . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"Instantly Lachlan dropped to his knees on Justin's back, which elicited a cry before Lachlan wrenched and jerked at Justin's shoulder and upper arm until he heard the pop of the upper arm bone coming out of its socket, which prompted another cry.

"You're not dead and you're not in lockup," Lachlan said, lowering his head close beside Justin's ear. "What gives?"

"Get off me you whelp," Justin swore through his teeth.

"I called Angelo," Lachlan said. "He told me I could do whatever I want."

"You're bluffing," Justin swore.

"You wish," Lachlan said.

He straightened up, drew out one of Justin's knives, and drew its broad side across the back of Justin's neck.

"You don't have the balls to kill me," Justin swore.

Lachlan put the knife back and dislocated Justin's other shoulder.

He then hauled Justin to his feet, pinned him against the wall with his right hand, and sent a hail of hard lefts at Justin's face, chest, and abdomen, finishing off with a hard knee to the fly of Justin's swimmers.

Promptly, Lachlan pulled the swimmers down to Justin's ankles, took one of Justin's knives, and made cuts into the inside of Justin's thighs close to the top before drawing out the other knife.

With calm and steady hands Lachlan drew the narrow, sharp edges of both blades down Justin's chest, flanking his breastbone.

Reaching the bottom of it, Lachlan paused and looked Justin in the eyes.

Justin's face was pale.

"You said something about balls?" Lachlan asked casually.

Justin shook his head.

"I didn't think so," Lachlan said, smiling.

Instantly he turned the knives so their points were toward Justin's abdomen and shoved them in until they hit bone; he then lifted Justin off the floor, jammed his knee up between Justin's legs, pulled the knives back halfway, shifted them, and drove them through Justin into the wall behind.

Taking out his own knife, Lachlan made a quick, deft cut and looked at Justin's pain-contorted face.

"You're the one who doesn't have any balls," Lachlan said.

"Siri," Justin managed to croak. "Call for help."

Lachlan turned to the mobile on the table. Its screen was illuminated, informing him that it was, indeed, dialling 000.*

He tossed the mobile to the floor and stomped his heel into the screen.

"They come even if you hang up on them," Justin wheezed.

"I know," Lachlan replied offhand, striding toward the kitchenette. "They'll need to come anyways."

Rummaging around, he found a glass pitcher, which he filled with water, and a jar of used cooking oil standing beside the stove.

He pulled out a frying pan, dumped the oil into it, and lit the burner, which he cranked to high.

It didn't take long for the oil to heat up and catch fire. Lachlan stepped back beyond the dining table and tossed the pitcher. It shattered onto the stove and the water hitting the fire caused flames to go everywhere."

*000 is the Australian equivalent of 911.

Ramifications: Day 10

Word Count: 60,012

Summary of Events:

Lachlan was hanging out at the Black Widow when a sudden sound startled him; it turned out to be the night's band in their sound check, but Harrison was unimpressed and threatened them. Dom was confronted by Lois, who seemed to be angry for reasons that Dom honestly couldn't begin to figure out. Lachlan revisited the dumpster, which was now a crime scene, and found a ring in the ashes of the greater part of the contents that he surmised belonged to the corpse he'd been unable to see . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"Hoping the ring would be enough in both quantity and significance for Harrison to possibly figure out whether the lower corpse had been one of theirs or not — as he was pretty sure the upper corpse had been completely cremated, having been on top of the whole thing — and who it might've been, Lachlan pocketed the ring and hopped out the other side of the dumpster, where he dusted what ashes he could off of himself before hopping over the police tape and heading round the block to return to his bike.

When he got back to his bike he noticed a police vehicle that must've pulled up while he'd been taking the long way back to his bike.

He did his best to look nonchalant, but when he saw two police officers talking to each other and one of them pointing at him, he hurried to start up his bike. The officer who'd pointed at him signalled for him to wait, but Lachlan peeled off as fast as he could.

Sooner than he appreciated the wail of a police siren reached his ears. Lachlan picked up his speed to be more than ten kilometres over the speed limit, although he wished he had a more aerodynamic bike for what was probably the first time since he'd owned one.

He flew through a red light, causing there to be squealing of brakes and honking of horns.

Another red light was ahead, this one with a fair bit of traffic gathered along the stop line, waiting for the signal to change.

Lachlan hopped up onto the footpath and took the left hand turn; several cars pulled round the corner and off to the side to allow the police car to fly past them.

Squeezing the accelerator, Lachlan maxed his bike out as fast as it could possibly go while his stomach somewhat recoiled inside of him. He felt like this was insane, but the last thing he wanted was to be found by the police.

He took a hard right and nearly lost himself into a skid, but thankfully didn't, only to see a police car appear in front of him and pull to a stop. The other one's lights still flashed in his rearview mirror.

Seeing a gap between two buildings that looked barely wide enough to fit him on foot, Lachlan took it, grimacing at the sparks that flew off his bike as it grazed the walls if he ever wavered off-balance in the slightest.

In the alley Lachlan headed back the way he'd come and then took a right to keep heading the way he'd been going before he'd turned right the first time.

After a few intersections he turned left and drove by a familiar façade that wasn't the Black Widow; it was the Queenie B Club, Liam's club.

Lachlan kept going past it, turned right at the intersection, and then turned right again down the alley until he spied a crown in the shape of that St. Edward's crown or whatever it was called that was the coronation headpiece of the British Monarchy."

Ramifications: Day 9

Word Count: 54,211

Summary of Events:

A roofing contractor came to assess the Shelter roof and he and Dom discovered it was in some severe disrepair to the point that the contractor recommended Dom get the whole roof rebuilt before it caved in, as opposed to merely putting new shingles or metal on it. Lachlan went back to the dumpster where he got stabbed to see if another transfer was happening, but found nothing, until a corpse was tossed into the dumpster, whose wallet and mobile phone he took . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"He also found some small packages of various things. He wondered if Harrison would appreciate receiving them, considering that they were all done up in the Enterprise style: black plastic wrapping around the inner clear plastic. He wondered if maybe they were what he was looking for, but he didn't have time to check their labels.

Wetness suddenly splashed on him and he startled before his nostrils filled with the heady scent of octane petrol. He'd just been sloshed with petrol!

Over his shoulder he couldn't see any heads, but suddenly another bucketful of the clear, strong-scented fuel was pitched over the edge of the bin and onto the garbage therein, this time ahead of him a bit.

Lachlan brushed a trickle of petrol off his forehead. He didn't want to know what it would do if it got into contact with his eyes.

A third bucketful was tossed behind him and then, after a few moments, plumes of slightly bluish-white smoke curled up into the air. Lachlan needed to get out of the bin, but he either needed to take them both down while he did it, or somehow do it stealthily.

It would probably be better to go for taking them out, but he'd have to do it gunless, just incase the gun going off ignited the petrol fumes — which would send him up in flames — and because civilians would immediately call the police at that sound, considering how restricted guns were in Australia. He didn't even technically have legal permits for his, and he doubted few of the people he knew did either.

Based on the positions of the plumes, Lachlan could tell the two men were close together, which was important, because he needed to take them out simultaneously, otherwise one of them could ignite him.

He moved closer to the edge of the bin and saw the two men standing in front of the bin, casually smoking. He wasn't sure that he'd be able to jump on both of them. He might have to stab one in the back as he jumped the other and hope they both dropped their smokes.

Unsheathing his knife, Lachlan raised it up and held it ready for stabbing in his left hand while he positioned himself more directly behind the man to the right.

Carefully he got himself up onto the front edge of the dumpster and balanced himself there on the balls of his feet, with his right hand holding the bin between his legs, almost like an over-crouched snowboarder.

"D'you hear something?" the man Lachlan was about to jump asked.

"Not anything unusual," the other man replied.

Lachlan threw all the force he could into pushing off the leading edge of the dumpster and made contact with the shoulders of the man in front of him just before thrusting his knife into the back of the other man, bringing them both down to the ground with him."

Ramifications: Day 8

Word Count: 48,037

Summary of Events:

Dom met with the Executive Board of the Shelter and discussed his parentage and the million-dollar donation from his parents; funds from which they all agreed should first be directed at the roof. Lachlan, due to a tip from Justin, found another drug transfer being undertaken by Club Brisbane and attempted to get some drugs from it, which he managed to do in spite of being stabbed. Dom and Bethany were woken by Lachlan running into a wall and Dom worked to stop the bleeding while Bethany called an ambulance — news of the summons causing Lachlan to get agitated . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"The more Dom tried to get Lachlan to lay down the more Lachlan resisted, becoming increasingly violent in his struggles until suddenly Dom saw Lachlan had a knife in his left hand.

Dom struggled to grab a hold of Lachlan's wrist to get the knife out of his hand. He was impressed by the quickness of Lachlan's reflexes to the point that he became more than sure that Lachlan was anticipating his every move somehow.

"Dom!"

He didn't glance up at his wife's cry, lest Lachlan take advantage of the distraction and get the knife into him. He needed to get his hands on Lachlan's hand, or even find some way to pin his arm down.

Lachlan continued to be faster than Dom, even in Dom's efforts to grab elsewhere on Lachlan's arm until finally Dom was able to seize hold right about the middle of Lachlan's upper arm.

The next thing Dom felt was a searing pain in his ribcage, while Bethany uttered a practically ear-splitting shriek.

Dom reeled for a moment before clutching for the handle of the knife, which was still embedded into his flesh.

He pried at Lachlan's hand, but Lachlan's narrow fingers had a fast grasp around the handle and, despite the lack of mass about his bones, Lachlan managed to throw another jab at Dom that punctured, but not half as far as the first one, mostly because Dom exerted opposing force on the blow before he successfully slammed Lachlan's hand to the floor, pried the blade free, and threw it toward the back door.

Pain throbbed in Dom's ribcage, and he felt like blackness was clawing at his brain, trying to tear his consciousness from him. Every breath was blinding pain.

The first thought that came to his mind was one of Jesus' many statements from the cross: that God would forgive His crucifiers because they didn't know what they were doing.

Dom turned his gaze to Lachlan's face, where he saw cold rage.

"I forgive you," Dom whispered. "You don't know what you're doing."

"I know well what I'm doing," Lachlan swore. "I'm getting out of here."

"No," Dom replied. "Not unless you're going peaceably in an ambulance. I won't let you die."

Lachlan's expression changed suddenly to one of cold fear. "I don't want to die."

"Then lay still," Dom said. "You're going to the hospital to get your wounds tended and that's all."

As if desperately trying to locate something, suddenly Lachlan clutched at his chest before swearing. His body relaxed and he stared at the ceiling.

"What?" Dom asked.

"I lost something," Lachlan replied.

"Important?" Dom asked.

"It's none of your business," Lachlan replied through his teeth.

Dom looked up at the sound of the door opening and watched as the paramedics bustled in.

Slowly releasing Lachlan, Dom straightened. "Take him first."

The paramedics looked somewhat confused.

"He's been bleeding longer," Dom said."