I leaped forward. “SLUM DOG?” I bellowed at the top of my lungs.

The beer bottle collided with his right temple and in that split second, an indistinct collage of sounds filled the air- a gunshot, shattering glass, my own voice and screaming patrons. All of which distorted my reality. It did not deter me in any way. I struck again at his face, again, again and again, until only the neck of the bottle remained.

My senses slowly returned to me, as I regained consciousness of what was happening, I released the weapon from my clutch and got to my feet. Then, without thinking I reached for the ground picking up the piece of hard, heavy metal, from beneath the corpse of the police officer. I pulled back the hammer, revealing an unfired bullet and I tightened my grasp on the bloodstain grip making a successful escape…

***

…Hand over hand, nice and rigid. And then, out of nowhere the sensation started to spread around my body again. My heartbeat became louder, as was my breathing but this time it was much different, totally different to the first time I felt this build up. This time, I was in control and I was entirely certain of my actions to come.

He is a bad man. He deserves to die. What better way is there, than from the gun of a law enforcer, in the hands of the gun master Salim.

“Money!” I ordered, without a second thought at all.

“You can have money, here. Take it and go disappear with your…friend and we’ll forget about this”

The silver coins fell to the floor, one… two… three… four… I counted inside my head.

“Maman never forgets, isn’t that right?”

“Maman can make an exception” he unconvincingly grinned.

“I can’t take that risk Maman…Sorry” I pursed my lips, shook my head…

…Five.