Lion's Den(On Hold)

Chapter-2 First day of Duty

My sleep was broken by a scream from outside the room. A nightmare again. Diana faces the brunt of memories from the past which I buried deep down in my mind. She always called for me when she woke up. Today was unusual because she hasn't had one in a while. Stressful times brought more nightmares so I stayed close to her during those times. She was sweating profusely and heavily breathing. I held onto her, consoling until she calmed down. I wondered how many sleepless nights passed like this before.

We never spoke much about the nightmares because I wanted us to move on in our lives. Neither did I have curiosity about our lives before our adoptive parents nor did I want to know about it. Diana was hurting because of the past continuously appearing in her nightmares and by talking about it, they may deepen and tamper with our lives now. That is why I never once asked about what she saw.

So, it was treated as a regular thing and we quickly got ready to work. It was still early but we were okay with preparing slowly. Our second phones rang and we knew who the private number was. Wearing our bluetooth earphones,we answered the call.
"George Nathaniel here, are you both secure?"

Nathaniel, he got a new name again. He always gives his previous name for identification and then his new name which he will use for the current mission. Nathaniel is an undercover agent partnered with us on most missions. He changes names in a jiffy, spies on criminals and is an exceptional hacker. He watches our back and sends warnings but if it comes to a direct physical fight, we are on our own.

"Yes, we are secure. Have you acquired a good coverup for yourself?"
"Yeah, when are we meeting up?"
"Tonight at 11, how's the investigation coming?"
"Got loads of information. I am sending you the coordinates to the safehouses and watchpoints, meet me in WS1."
"Okay."
"Do you need help with the moles?"
"No, we can take care of that. Just focus on the four gangs."
"Okay. Nate out"

The ride to the station was 10 minutes from home. Nate had sent the coordinates. Watchpoints are locations we use to get evidences of criminal activities and are located near crime zones and transaction points. Whereas safehouses was where we met with Nate and exchanged information.

The north was controlled by the Terranova, east was Lansky, west was Salvatore and south is Gravano. Nate arrived here before us to collect these coordinate positions for our usage. They are the best considering previous missions where we were caught rarely. Even then, we have warnings from him to escape on time.

We had a good welcome at the station and shook hands with the officers. Not even half an hour from entering into the station, there were already three sergeants trying to offer bribes and even women for my silence. This much was expected owing to the wide spread reach of the mafia gangs. Every time new officers like us step into the city, attractive offers are made for silence. This is the first stage, I complied for money because once I begin refusing, the threats will be the next stage and finally death.
"Thank you for your understanding, captain. Keep the same attitude and you will keep receiving" the officer said smiling laced with venom.
"Of course."

Diana entered the room after the last sergeant left. I gave her a slight nod because there were surely microphones and cameras watching our every move and listening. She understood and simply spoke about random stuff. We took care of little pickpockets and thefts leaving behind the other bigger ones on purpose. This was the way of showing them that we won't interfere into the gang activities.

We had a quiet evening after work. There was a spy cam at the front porch so we had informed Nate to hack into it. There were eyes everywhere, there was no one who trusted us and in turn, we couldn't trust anyone either. We peacefully finished dinner while waiting. Once he cleared us permanently, we could freely move anytime anywhere. Our nightly errands won't be noticed by the outside world.

The phone pinged, it was Nate's message.
'clear'
Equipping ourselves with the bluetooth earphones, guns and high quality cameras, Diana and I swiftly made our way towards the meeting point,WS1. Since our house was at the center of the city, most meeting points were accessible by foot. It helped keep our heads low.

There were many safehouses across the city that we could access without restrictions. The meeting place was usually set based on who our target is or the target area. Since today was the first meeting of the mission, Nate had chosen the safehouse that was close to our home. It was an old abandoned apartment house. We had made a designated all-time code for security purposes so Diana knocked our code on the door. However, a voice came from behind us.
"It's open"