Hello everyone and welcome to the latest installment of the Weekly Contests! This week you all get to play the run and gun arcade classic NARC. I've got quite a lengthy read for you all today, so I will skip to the rules right away for those who want to jump right into the game. Here they are:
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1 player only
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Get as far in the game as possible
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Play as far into your last life as possible without getting a Game Over. If you get a Gamer Over your score will not count. You will be on your last life when you have no helmet icons remaining under your health bar.
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To make it easier to track progress, please try to make sure the blue icon in the progress bar is visible in your picture.
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If you defeat Mr. Big, take your picture when you get into his vault to collect the gold bars.
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Furthest progression wins with low score taking precedence
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Participation: Get to level 2 (drug lab)
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GENRE: Arcade
The contest ends Sunday, 6/3/18 at 11 PM NA time. Your user name MUST be written or typed on a piece of paper and be in the picture for your score to be valid. The entire TV screen, or computer monitor if you are playing on an emulator, MUST be in the picture for the score to be valid. No partial screenshots will be considered or accepted. No screenshots by hitting "print screen" on a computer will be allowed. You must take a picture of your computer monitor. There may be instances where this will be acceptable, but it will be at the discretion of myself and the contest organizers. Also, the use of turbo controllers is forbidden, as well as any cheat codes, Game Genies, slow motion functions, or save states if playing on an emulator. Also, we will only be using NTSC systems for the contests. The use of PAL systems will NOT be allowed. Good luck everyone and have fun
And now, for those of you who are up for a fun read, I present to you a story inspired by NARC, written by me. It features the game's protagonist, Max, as he sets out to take down the city's biggest drug lord, Mr. Big. There is a little bit of harsh language (hey, we're talking the drug trade, so there's bound to be some swearing), so keep that in mind if you read this at work or around the kids. Let's say this story is rated “R” and parts of it may be NSFW due to language. Enjoy!
Metro City. The twenty-first century. As the twentieth century came to a close, many predicted the new era would be a prosperous and peaceful time for the city, one in which big business would prosper, families would flourish, and safety would all be but assured. Metro City would be the model city that any metropolis would strive to become. But instead, things took a turn. A very bad turn. Crime began to escalate quickly, and soon, it wasn't even safe to walk the streets at night. Gangs ruled every corner of the city and organized crime syndicates quickly took over the skyscrapers which once housed the headquarters of profitable businesses. Homicide rates nearly tripled and it wasn't uncommon for there to be twenty murders reported per day. And no one wanted to speculate on how many murders occurred each day that went unreported. Vagrancy was extremely common and one couldn't walk a single block without running across a sleeping bum or a panhandler or someone dressed in rags pushing along all of their dirty belongings in a rusty shopping cart to some unknown destination. Theft and armed robbery had become a problem and it wasn't uncommon to see a high-speed police chase involving bank robbers or shattered storefront windows at night. Crooked cops and politicians were in every corner of the city and could be bought for the right price to look the other way or see key pieces of evidence disappear or get people elected into office that would secretly back the crime syndicates. And sometimes these cops or politicians would bribe those who would threaten to expose their illicit ways. And if you couldn't be paid off, then you would be taken out. But perhaps the worst problem in the city was drugs. The drug trade made up the majority of the wealth earned by the street gangs and crime syndicates across the city and the police force had found themselves stretched thin dealing with the problem. There were dealers on every street corner, people shooting up drugs and overdosing down every alley, in every parking garage, in every single sleazy, roach-filled hotel, on every park bench, and many times, on the front steps of large skyscrapers. The police were quickly losing the war on drugs, and it wasn't too long before a new and powerful drug hit the streets that threatened to destroy what little stability the city had left. That drug was called Rush.
Rush was said to be highly addictive, so much so that it was believed it could get someone addicted after just a few hits. It was said to put the user into an intensely and pleasurable euphoric state, something that no other drug on the street could do. And it worked fast, getting the user high in a matter of minutes. It was also an extremely dangerous drug. The majority of Rush overdose victims died of a heart attack, many of which had ruptured ventricles. The drug would cause the heart to beat rapidly and many users wouldn't notice the dangerous side effect due to their euphoric state. Hospitals were seeing record number of due to Rush and many had their staff stretched very thin due to the epidemic.
Rush could be administered in several different ways, which helped contribute to its rise as the most popular drug on the street. It could be had in pill form, which seemed to be most popular amongst teenagers who were getting hooked on the drug. It was made to look like common allergy or cold and flu pills, making it difficult to detect just by sight alone. Rush could also be injected into the body through a syringe, making the user feel its effects almost immediately. Many pharmacies suddenly found themselves in very short supply of syringes once the drug hit the street, resulting in many medical supply trucks being attacked or robbed by people or gangs looking to get a fix or sell the syringes at an inflated price. The drug could also be smoked, with the most popular method being a pipe. When smoked, it had a very distinctive, sweet smell, and the smell was said to be so inviting that people were getting hooked on it just from the scent alone. Rumors had begun to swirl that a powdered version of Rush was available, but no one could confirm it. There were even whispers that different varieties of Rush were being manufactured, but again, it was all just rumors on the streets.
Perhaps the biggest mystery surrounding Rush was the identity of the person responsible for its introduction on the streets. Known only as “Mr. Big,” no one knew his true identity or where he came from, but there were some theories. Some believed he originated from New Orleans, where he was known as Gilles “The Godfather” Gordon and ran a criminal empire that dabbled in money laundering, drug trafficking, and weapons smuggling. Many doubted the legitimacy of the claim due to the reported death of Gordon at the hands of vigilante “Bayou” Billy West, but no body ever turned up. The ones who believed the claims reported seeing a man bearing a striking resemblance to Gordon popping up in locations all over Metro City. There were others who speculated Mr. Big was a politician high up in City Hall and that's why Rush was able to spread so quickly across the city. Some thought he was a corrupt businessman out to become the top drug lord in Metro City. Regardless of the stories and theories, Mr. Big was making a name for himself across the city. And it was all in the name of Rush.
However, there was one man that vowed to bring the drug kingpin and his product down. His name was Max Formenton, an undercover police officer out of Metro City's South Precinct. He was a high profile cop who was well known for taking down high-ranking players in the drug trade, and he would do it by any means necessary, which sometimes drew the ire of his superiors. His methods weren't always conventional, but they got results and it was always enough to take down whichever drug lord the police force were looking to bust. Once Rush hit the streets and its popularity spiked, Max made it his mission to eradicate the drug from the city. But for several months, there would be many futile attempts at stopping the spread of Rush and frustration finally began to set in. However, fortune would finally smile upon Max and his mission to take the drug down would finally yield some results on one lonely, warm, summer night. It would be the beginning of the end for Rush, and lead Max to many revelations that he would never expect.
It was around midnight when Max Formenton slowly made his way down Fifth Avenue on Metro City's South Side toward his destination, a low-key drug den that doubled as a financial office for the Das Lof Gang, a group of Germans who had become big players in the Rush drug trade. They had become very adept at supplying hired muscle to Rush manufacturing warehouses across the city, and as a result, those strongholds had become very difficult to penetrate, for both gang member and police officer alike. The gang was lead by a violent drug lord named Heinrich Kruger, and Max had spent the last several weeks infiltrating Kruger's underworld under the alias Gabriel Ruel and getting to know the man himself. While most higher up police officials figured Kruger to be no more than a puppet in the Rush drug trade, Max felt that the German drug lord was a valuable source of information, and one that would lead them straight to Mr. Big. During his weeks undercover in the Das Lof drug empire, he learned that Kruger knew the true identity of Mr. Big, and Max would stop at nothing to get the information. And it would be his mission that night.
Max rounded the corner of a long abandoned building and soon found himself at the entrance to the alley that led to the drug den. He cautiously made his way though the night, unaware of what denizens might be lurking in the shadows. The only light provided to him was that from a street lamppost, which barely extended itself fifteen feet down the alley, and a dull, yellow lightbulb that hung above a metal door about fifty feet down the corridor, his destination. As he made his way down the alley, he heard a faint groaning coming from the darkness. Max tensed up and readied himself for a fight as he turned his attention to the sound, afraid it might be some sort of trap laid out for an unsuspecting traveler. As his eyes adjusted to the dark, he noticed a shirtless, emaciated, middle-aged man sitting on the ground, his head cocked to one side as he continued to moan. A horrific stench filled the air and Max covered his nose quickly, assuming the man hadn't bathed in quite some time. The man seemed to sense Max's presence and he rolled his head forward and stared at the undercover officer with some sort of uncanny ability.
“Hey, man, you got any Rush” the junky called out feebly from his place on the ground.
“Sorry, man, I got nothing” Max replied, hoping the man seated on the ground would leave him alone.
“You better not be holding out on me, asshole” the man called out loudly and angrily as he attempted to rise to his feet, only to fall back down onto the ground due to his weakened state.
“I said I got nothing, so piss off” Max answered angrily.
The man grumbled unintelligibly as Max moved forward toward his destination, sure the junky had cursed him in some way. But he didn't care. There was only one goal on that warm, neon-filled night and it was to get information on Mr. Big.
As Max reached the door of the drug den, he felt a peculiar sensation resonate throughout his body, a feeling he had not felt in quite some time. He felt nervous and he didn't like it one bit. The last time he felt that way was when he was a rookie and it resulted in one of the most disastrous missions of his entire career. It was a simple bust on a meth lab, but he felt incredibly nervous since the drug den belonged to the nefarious Death Hand Gang. They were a particularly violent street gang responsible for over fifty police officer deaths, but intel at the time showed their home base to be severely unguarded. Anyone who was assigned to raid the drug den was still ordered to proceed with caution. Max failed to clear a room completely and his partner at the time, Steven McFadden, was killed. He was punished hard for his mess up, but praised highly when he unexpectedly captured the gang leader as he attempted to escape through an air duct. If it weren't for Max's impressive arrest, he would have likely lost his job that day.
Max forced the nervousness from his body as he balled his hand into a fist and rapped loudly against the hard, steel door. He couldn't afford to let his nerves get the better of him. The dull, yellow lightbulb in the crude, yet dented light socket above him flickered wildly as he waited for someone to answer the door. After weeks of infiltrating the gang and gaining Kruger's confidence, tonight was the night in which Max would be added into the drug dealer's inner circle. Tonight would be the night where he would learn the mysterious manufacturer of Rush. And tonight would be the night Kruger would go down. A crackle from a tiny receiver in his ear snapped Max from his thoughts.
“Don't worry, Max, we're just down the street if you get into trouble” Lieutenant Cafferty's voice reassured the undercover officer. “I'll be there in seconds with the boys to save your ass.”
“Thanks, Cafferty, I feel so much safer knowing you're watching over me” Max replied sarcastically as he continued to wait for someone to answer the door. “So, what, you'll be the last one through the door like usual?”
“Well, at least we know your hidden mike is working...” Cafferty's voice grumbled angrily. “...Smartass.”
“What was that, Cafferty, I didn't quite catch that” Max retorted, knowing full well what was said to him.
“I said you're a smartass, Max” the lieutenant's voice growled over the receiver.
“Better to be a smartass than a dumbass, eh Cafferty” Max fired back calmly as he pounded on the door once again.
Max and Cafferty didn't like each other, and their rivalry went back many years to when they first joined the Metro City Police Department. Cafferty was very arrogant and brash and always thought of himself as superior to all the other police officers. He had made a lot of contacts in the Police Commissioner's and Mayor's offices and it didn't surprise Max at all when Cafferty was promoted to lieutenant. He was terrible at the position but had gotten there by kissing more ass than he did busting it. His arrest record was among the lowest in the precinct, his investigative skills were sloppy, evidence he found at crime scenes would sometimes go missing, he lashed out at authority from time to time, and what few criminals he did arrest he always roughed up. Max had long suspected Cafferty was a dirty cop, but he didn't have concrete evidence to put him away. He suspected the lieutenant was negotiating side deals with drug dealers to earn extra cash and then also paying off officials in both the Commissioner's and Mayor's offices to keep him out of trouble. Max knew one day the lieutenant would slip up and he secretly hoped he would be the one to catch him.
Max was about to knock on the steel door a third time when the rectangular eye-hole slid open and a pair of intense, dark-blue eyes stared menacingly back at him. Max recognized the eyes as belonging to Krause, one of Kruger's top lieutenants.
“What do you want” Krause growled in an intimidating manner.
“Krause, it's me, Gabriel” Max answered happily. “I'm here to see Heinrich, remember. We have a meeting scheduled tonight.”
“What's the code” Krause commanded angrily as his steely gaze remained on the undercover officer.
“What” Max sputtered in surprise. “You've got to be fucking kidding. Krause, you know who...”
“I said what's the damn code” the German interrupted angrily. “You want to see Heinrich, you tell me the fucking code. Otherwise, you can fuck off. I don't care who you are.”
Max sighed hesitantly at the Krause's demand. It was very unusual for something such as this to be happening, as he had become very well known in Kruger's inner circle. He waited a few seconds to see if Cafferty would comment on the unexpected turn of events, but the receiver remained silent.
“Mayor Mike Haggar will feel the wrath of Rush” Max replied uneasily.
The eye-hole slid shut and Max heard lots of noise on the other side of the door as Krause undid a series of locks. A crackle in Max's ear made his heart jump into his throat.
“Everything okay” Cafferty's voice asked over the receiver.
“It's all good” Max answered quickly. “I got this.”
The door swung slowly open and Krause's smiling face stared back at Max as the large German with curly blonde hair waved his hand in an inviting manner, a signal he was allowing the undercover officer to enter. Max was stupefied at the quick change in the man's demeanor over a stupid code.
“Gabriel, so good to see you again” Krause beamed happily as he clapped Max on the back, the smile still emblazoned across his face.
“What was with all that code bullshit” Max demanded angrily, not the slightest bit amused he couldn't enter the drug den right away. “You know who I am.”
“Come, this way” Krause replied as he evaded the question and extended an inviting hand down a long hallway. “Heinrich can't wait to see you. Come, this way. To his office.”
Max slowly entered the drug den as he cast an untrustworthy and angry eye at Krause, who still had a giant smile spread across his mean German face. The two men made their way down the long hallway as Max's mind began to race wildly as to why he had been asked for a code to enter the drug den. Nothing like that had ever happened before and he had always been able to get in right away without any questions asked. Now, he was starting to question as to whether or not his cover had been blown. And if it had been blown, he would need to quickly think up a plan to get himself out of the drug den alive. Despite the wire planted on him, Max didn't trust that Cafferty would come to his rescue quickly if the need arose.
A growling to his left snapped Max from his thoughts and he turned to see what was causing the commotion. In an open doorway, he noticed one of Kruger's other lieutenants, Fischer, feeding strips of raw beef to the drug lord's prized Doberman Pinschers, Brutus and Caesar. Max guessed that the room was some sort of kennel as the dogs tore at the meat with an insidious hunger. Fischer quickly turned his gaze toward the two men, an angry scowl spread across his already ugly German face. At that moment, Max realized something was not right and prepared himself inside for some sort of double-cross. He had always been good terms with Fischer, and the angry frown on the man's face indicated that something was not right in the drug den.
At the end of the long hall, the two men reached a rather plain looking, wooden door, which Krause opened quickly and ushered the undercover officer right in. As Max entered the room, he noticed Kruger sitting behind a desk, leaning back in a chair rather comfortably as he sipped at some sort of alcoholic drink. The drug lord's eyes beamed brightly as he watched Max enter the room and he leaned forward quickly and placed his drink on his desk.
“Ah, Gabriel, so glad you could make it tonight” Kruger beamed happily as he extended his arm for a handshake.
“Glad to be here” Max faked as he accepted and shook the drug dealer's hand firmly.
“Please, have a seat” Kruger motioned in an inviting manner toward the wooden chairs situated in front of his desk.
Max slowly, yet hesitantly dropped into one of the chairs as Kruger plopped back into his own. The drug dealer reached for his drink and sipped on it slowly as Krause moved to one of the side walls of the office and propped himself against it, crossing his arms in the process as he stared hard at Max.
“So, can I get you a drink” Kruger asked Max as he motioned to a liquor cabinet behind his desk. “Whiskey, bourbon, rum.”
“No, thank you” Max answered politely as he admired all the bottles of liquor placed behind the drug lord. Normally, he would accept a drink, but on such an important and vital mission, he decided it would be best not to cloud his judgment.
“I trust you had had no problem finding this place” Kruger asked as he continued to sip on his drink.
“No, not at all” Max answered professionally.
“Good” Kruger answered as he set his drink on the desk and began to rummage through it.
Worried that he was about to produce a weapon, Max began to frantically glance around the room for a means to defend himself without compromising the mission.
“So, Gabriel, tonight is the night” Kruger said as he produced a cigar and lighter from the desk, easing Max's nerves a bit. “Tonight is your initiation into the Das Lof Gang. You have shown to be a very worthy addition to our organization, from drug running to money handling to intimidation. Which is why I want you to be by my side, as one of my most loyal and trustworthy lieutenants.”
“Well, thank you, Heinrich” Max said happily, feigning the excitement. “It will be an honor to continue to work with you.”
Kruger stood from his chair without a word and turned toward the liquor cabinet, his back to Max. The undercover officer couldn't quite tell what he was doing, but he could tell the drug lord was fidgeting with something.
“I really do want you to be by my side” Kruger continued as he turned to face Max with a gun in his hand. “But I'm afraid that will be impossible, Gabriel.”
Max leaned back in his chair, anticipating the drug lord to immediately pull the trigger and kill him right where he sat. But instead, he just held the gun on the undercover officer in a threatening manner.
“Or should I say, Max Formenton” Kruger continued, the gun still pointed at Max. “Metro City Undercover Police Officer, South Precinct. Badge number 1193. Ten years on the force. Spent one year as a beat cop and then two years as a detective. Spent the next five years working as a narcotics officer and the past three years doing undercover work.”
Outside the drug den in the police van, the entire strike team snapped to alert at the revelations being rattled off by Kruger. They could scarcely believe that the drug lord had figured out Max was an undercover police officer.
“Cafferty, you hearing this” Jackson, an African American strike force member, said urgently to the lieutenant.
“Yeah, I'm getting it loud and clear” Cafferty said gravely as he stared straight ahead, thinking of the best course of action to take.
“Max is in trouble, we need to move in” Jackson called out urgently from somewhere behind the lieutenant.
“Heinrich, where did you get all that bullshit information” Max's voice responded coolly over the receiver. “My name's not Max. It's Gabriel. You know me.”
“I got this from a very reliable source” Kruger's voice answered.
“What kind of reliable source” Max's voice questioned.
“A source from downtown” Kruger's voice replied.
“Oh, come on, Heinrich, there's tons of dirty people downtown” Max's voice countered. “Those kinds of people would give you all sorts of false information just to earn a few lousy bucks. They don't care about you. They just care about getting rich.”
“Cafferty, we should move, now” Jackson's voice called out once again from the back of the van.
“Negative, Max seems to have this under control” Cafferty replied nervously as sweat beaded on his forehead and ran down his cheek. He secretly hoped deep down inside that he was right.
Back in the drug den, Kruger mulled over Max's words, a curious look on his face. He seemed to believe what the undercover officer was telling him, but he was skeptical that it was a lie.
“'Care about getting rich,' eh” the drug lord replied, the same curious look on his face.
“I'm serious” Max answered, hoping his lie was good enough to spare his life. “I hope you didn't pay big money for that info because, like I said, it's all bullshit.”
“We'll see about that” Kruger retorted skeptically. “Stand up.”
Max turned his gaze from the gun-toting Kruger to the towering Krause, who was now hovering menacingly over the chair. Max turned back to face Kruger and slowly and reluctantly rose to his feet.
“Krause, search him” Kruger demanded as he kept his gun trained on Max.
Krause roughly grabbed onto Max and forced him over to the desk. He slammed him down face first and he forced the undercover officer's hand up on the desk, placing them facedown.
“Keep your hands where we can see them” Krause growled in Max's ear.
Max grimaced uncomfortably and gazed across the desk as Krause roughly patted him down. He noticed an open notebook right in front of him that had an address scrawled across it in blue ink. Max recognized the address as that of a warehouse on the east side of the city that was in a section known for drug production and he quickly surmised that it must be a Rush manufacturing site. He quickly began to rack his brain for a way to get out of the situation. He wasn't going to let Kruger take him down, not when a potentially vital piece of evidence to take down the Rush drug trade was sitting in front of him.
“You know, Krause, you should at least buy me dinner first” Max cracked as the large German began to pat down his legs.
“Shut up” Krause bellowed as he punched Max roughly in the side.
The undercover officer coughed loudly from the blow as Krause began to pat down his back and sides a second time. He stopped quickly when he felt a wire running along Max's left side and lifted up his shirt to see what he had found. Snaking the length of Max's side and onto his back was the wire that had been planted on him by the strike team. Krause ripped the wire from Max's body and hoisted him to his feet, spinning him around in the process and shoving his back up against the desk. The large man slowly handed the wire over to Kruger, who stared at it angrily. His hate-filled eyes slowly turned from the device toward Max.
“So, all that information I got was 'bullshit,' huh” Kruger growled as he leveled his gun with Max's forehead, not the slightest bit amused he had been lied to.
“Well, not all of it” Max replied slyly as his fingers danced across the desk, looking for something to use as a weapon. His hands quickly settled on Kruger's drinking glass and he clutched it tightly, ready to spring into action. “I've actually been on the force for eleven years. I spent a year in internal affairs. Hated every minute of it. Funny story, though, about this one detective that was caught throwing water in the faces of suspects.”
“Shut up” Kruger roared as he interrupted Max.
“Okay, but I'm telling you, it's pretty damn hilarious” Max continued. “He used to bring a cup of water in with him when he would question suspects. He would get so pissed off if he knew they were lying to him that he would grab the cup and throw the water in their faces like this.”
At that moment, Max jerked his hand forward and splashed the liquor into Kruger's eyes. He groaned loudly as the liquid stung his eyes and he fired off a wild shot from his gun. The bullet whizzed inches from Max's head and struck a bottle of bourbon on the liquor cabinet, shattering it and spraying liquor through the air.
Back in the surveillance van, Cafferty yanked his headset away from his ear at the loud rapport from the gun. He tossed it on the floor of the van and reached for a gun.
“Gunshots fired” the lieutenant reported quickly as he loaded a clip into the gun. “We move in, now.”
Back in the drug den, as Kruger reeled from the attack, Krause converged on Max with outstretched arms. The undercover officer kicked the German man roughly in the stomach and he screamed loudly in pain. Without a moment of hesitation, Max punched Krause hard in the jaw, grabbed him by the front of the shirt, and slammed him down hard on one of the chairs, breaking it into pieces in the process. As Krause laid on the floor, rolling in pain, Kruger was able to wipe the liquor from his face and regain his eyesight. He aimed his gun at Max, but the officer was faster and tackled the drug lord against the wall. He grabbed Kruger's gun hand and attempted to wrestle it away from him as two shots were fired into the ceiling. Suddenly, the office door flew open and in stepped Vogel, one of Kruger's lieutenants, attracted by the commotion with a gun in his hands. He quickly glanced around the office and saw his boss in a struggle with Max and took aim with his weapon. Noticing the threat, Max forced Kruger's hand toward the man as more shots rang out from the gun. Several bullets struck Vogel in the chest before he had a chance to fire and his lifeless body quickly dropped to the ground. His gun clattered noisily to the floor and into the hallway just in front of the office door.
Kruger pushed back hard against Max and nearly freed the officer's grip on his gun hand when Max brought a knee violently up into the drug lord's stomach. Kruger coughed loudly as Max swung the man's gun hand hard against the wall. When Kruger didn't drop the gun, he slammed his hand harder and harder until the gun dropped to the floor near the edge of the desk. Max pulled the drug lord away from the wall and shoved him hard toward the desk. The back of Kruger's head hit the edge of the desk and he dropped to the floor unconscious.
Breathing heavily from the struggle, Max quickly made his way over to the desk and grabbed the notebook. He gazed down at the address for a moment before tearing the paper from the notebook, folding it up, and stuffing it in his pocket. Before he could turn around, Max felt a hard blow against his back. The force knocked him face down on the desk and he quickly spun around to see who had attacked him. Krause had recovered from the earlier attack and now stood over Max with a sharp, splintered piece of the chair. Blood running from the large man's nose, he attempted to drive the sharp end of the wood into Max's face. The officer was faster and reached up and gripped Krause's hands, pushing back mightily against the stronger man. Despite his best efforts, the piece of wood slowly descended toward Max's face as he reached with a free hand to find something to gain the upperhand. His hand finally found the lighter Kruger had pulled from the desk just moments prior and he brought it up to the side of Krause's face. Max flicked the lighter and a bright flame immediately shot up the side of the German's face near his eye. Krause howled in pain and Max was able to successfully wrestle the piece of wood away and into his own hand. Without a moment of hesitation, Max brought the sharp piece of wood up quickly and stabbed Krause in the side of the neck. Blood squirted from the man's neck as a sickening gurgle escaped his lips. As his body went limp, Max pushed him backward onto the floor and stood up from the desk.
Not knowing how many more of Kruger's men were still in the building, Max made for the office door and quickly stopped to pick up Vogel's gun from the floor. As he started to make his way down the hallway, he stopped suddenly when he noticed Fischer at the far end. In one hand he held a handgun, and in the other the leashes to both Brutus and Caesar. The dogs growled and barked viciously as the German stared ahead at Max with malevolence in his eyes. Behind him, Max heard the click of a gun and turned slightly to see Kruger had regained consciousness. He stood in front of the desk with his gun aimed at Max as a sly smile crossed his face.
“Nowhere for you to run” Kruger taunted as the sly smile grew larger. “Looks like it's the end of the line for you, you piece of shit.”
“We'll see about that” Max countered as he turned from the drug lord to his last remaining lieutenant.
“Fischer, release them” Kruger screamed loudly.
Fischer let go of the leashes and the Dobermans ran full speed toward Max, barking loudly as drool flew from their mouths. Max quickly fired a bullet behind him, striking Kruger in the elbow. The drug lord dropped his gun and reeled in pain as Max quickly fired a bullet at Fischer, striking him in the head. The man dropped to the floor quickly, but Max didn't have time to get another shot off on the dogs. As they leaped through the air, he ducked to the side at the very last moment. Kruger's face went to a look of absolute terror as the dogs crashed into his body, knocking him to the floor. Max quickly grabbed the handle of the door and swung it closed as he ducked to safety in the hallway. As the door handle clicked into place, he could hear Kruger's terrified and pained screams as the Dobermans growled viciously and tore into the man's flesh.
“I guess every dog has his day” Max chuckled as he made his way down the hallway toward the exit.
Suddenly, the exit door flew open and members of the strike team poured into the hallway with their guns drawn. Max quickly jumped into a defensive stance, not immediately knowing whether the men were friend or foe.
“Drop your weapon” one of the strike team members demanded as they aimed their guns at what they perceived as a threat and not their ally.
Max dropped the gun and put his hands in the air, rolling his eyes in the process. Several of the strike team members rushed down the hallway to intercept.
“Relax, guys, it's just me” Max called out as he lowered his hands.
The strike team members lowered their guard as they began to kick open doors in the hallway to search for threats. As police officers rushed past him, Max stopped suddenly as he watched Cafferty emerge into the hallway, the last of the team to enter the building. The undercover officer rolled his eyes in annoyance as he watched the lieutenant sweep the entrance with his weapon, which had been done just moments prior by one of the other officers.
“Cafferty, so good to see you” Max answered sarcastically. “Last through the door, like usual, I see.”
“Can it, smartass” Cafferty grumbled as he holstered his weapon, not the slightest bit amused at Max's words.
“Oh, yeah, and I'm just fine” Max retorted angrily. “Thanks for asking.”
“Where's Kruger” Cafferty questioned as he surveyed the open doors in the hallway, ignoring the undercover officer.
“He's in his office at the end of the hall” Max answered as he pointed at the closed office door.
Cafferty quickly pulled his handgun from the holster and ran down the hallway as several members of the strike team followed suit. As they got into position, Max noticed the lieutenant giving out orders to the other officers.
“I wouldn't go in there if I were you” Max called out loudly.
“And why is that” Cafferty answered rudely.
“His prized Dobermans are in there and they don't want to be disturbed” Max called out as he turned his back to the lieutenant and strike team and coolly made his way toward the exit. “They just got themselves a new chew toy.”
Yep.
