The most messed up thing was that I recognized some of the faces. Some of them were my colleagues.
I snatched the phone back from Igor's hand to see the photo again. As messed up as it sounds, I quickly browsed through every face by zooming in to see whether I could see Carlos or Mr. Kim. I didn't see them. So, they still have them.
F*ck. Some of these agents have families. Why is this happening?
"What do they want from me? I don't understand" I shook my head cluelessly. I kept looking at the picture to see if something new pops up. Then I noticed something in one of the head's mouth.
"What's that?" I showed Zeke the part that I zoomed in on.
"No idea" Zeke shook his head. He grabbed the phone from my hand and called the one who called him previously.
He explained to the man about what I found and ordered to send him a picture of the content. No longer than 2 minutes later, he received another picture. He opened it and saw what was on his phone.
"It's an address" said Zeke.
He showed me the photo and it was literally a rolled up paper with an address written on it. The organization's symbol was in the upper right corner.
It's an invitation.
"I know this place. It's an old power station in the middle of f*cking nowhere. I saw it online somewhere when I was doing some business" I answered honestly.
"Do you think that's where they are?" I heard Mattia ask behind me.
"…I don't know. It might be a trap" Zeke said.
"I don't think it's a trap. Especially with that kind of message with my name" I said to Zeke. They'd have to be really sick in the head to do that for fun.
"You have a point. So, what's the plan?" Giuseppe asked to no one in particular.
"We go to that address and we hunt them down strategically…" Igor commented. Everyone looked at him.
"Дорогая, ты можешь сделать карту этого места? (Sweetheart, can you make a map of this place?)" He asked Tatiana. Tatiana grabbed my laptop and started to work on it.
"We'll go as a team of four and enter the building from each side. If there are guards there, we'll take them out with a sniper or silent gun. Are your men trained?" Igor asked Zeke.
"They're trained enough" Zeke answered seriously.
"…We'll go with masks in the case they gas up the place. We have to be prepared for every scenario" Zeke added and Igor laid back in thought and gave a nod.
"I'm done" Tatiana commented.
She turned the laptop around for us to see and showed us a 3D blueprint of the entire building, including the landscape of the territory.
She knows what she's doing.
"There are five entrances. So instead of four teams, we have to go as five teams. There are seven floors, three of which are underground. There's a bunker at the lowest floor. That's probably where your guys are. This is an old power station, they may have revamped the place from the inside. I could only figure out its overall design based on the satellite connection and common architectural sense" Tatiana finished, shrugging.
Igor looked at her.
"Вот почему я люблю тебя (this is why I love you)" Igor said and kissed her forehead. Tatiana chuckled and blushed.
"Это единственная причина? (Is that the only reason?)" She looked at him in the eyes and Igor raised an eyebrow, looking at her up and down.
"Okay guys, that's enough. Let's get back to the plan. Good work, Tatiana" Zeke interrupted them, not knowing what they were saying but he understood their vibe. Zeke brought the laptop closer to him.
"We'll enter as teams of ten for each entrances. We'll enter armed and protected. There should be two leading groups, Team A and B, which should take care of the three floors underground. The other three teams will take care of the floors above. Take out every-f*cking-body. Leave no one alive. They've done enough" Zeke finished with fuming eyes. Everyone agreed.
"…Do you think we need a hand from the other groups?" I asked Igor.
The term 'Groups' means gangs in the underground language. These people don't like to call themselves gangs, since they're 'much more than that' according to them.
"I'm not on the same page with the Triads (Taiwanese) and Yakuzas (Japanese). My old man left a big dent in their business. That f*cking pig" Igor scowled. "I'm not familiar with the other groups, so we'll have to go as planned"
"Got it" I nodded at him.
"Now that everything's settled, we'll go out in two hours" Zeke ordered everyone. They all dispersed outside somewhere. I looked around and didn't see some familiar faces.
"Where are your parents?" I asked Zeke. I didn't see them here. Zeke looked at his watch.
"They're on their way. I texted them on my way here. They should be here in a few minutes" He answered as he was standing up. I nodded in understanding.
Zeke and Igor walked to the kitchen to go over the plan. Tatiana and the guys followed after. I sighed.
This will be the first time I'll be on the field with no information about the other side. I closed my laptop and laid back on the chair, closing my eyes. I played out the plan in my head for what felt like hours. It was a good plan. But I still felt uneasy. I played out the plan again, again, and again. There weren't any loopholes.
*ping*
My thoughts got interrupted by a notification from my phone. I grabbed my phone and saw that it was an unknown sender. I walked to the kitchen to tell the guys, just in case it's something important.
"I got a text" I told Zeke. I handed him my phone.
"From who?" Zeke asked me seriously and grabbed the phone.
"Don't know. Didn't open it" I looked at the screen as Zeke opened. It was a text and a video.
-The clock is ticking, Nova. Here's a fun little surprise just for you. xoxo-
"…" Zeke clenched his saw and played the video. It was now a man in a red mask that covered his face, which had the symbol on the forehead area.
"*clears throat* Well here we are again, Nova. Did you get my message? I made sure that they wrote your name all prettily" The man chuckled eerily and wiggled his fingers.
"When are you coming? I'm waiting for you, Nova. After I took your little friend and your boss, you're still not picking up the pace?!" He raised his voice.
"Well…let's see if this little surprise will get you to come" He moved out of frame and opened his arms.
"Tada!" He sang.
My heart dropped and I immediately looked at Zeke. Zeke stood still in shock. The man laughed manically. There were three people all bruised and bloodied, tied up on a chair next to each other. Their mouths were covered with duct tape. And there were three buckets hovering above them.
"Guess who it issss?" The man continued singing. My heart was racing. I balled my hands into a fist as I watched the video. I looked back at Zeke as he was seething. The three people were Donatello, Evelina, and Flavio.
"Do I have your attention now?" He laughed. "Now, listen to the fun part. Those three buckets up there are filled with, guess what, sulfuric acid!" He added joyfully.
"So if you don't get here in the next two hours, your little friends will turn into a puddle of melted guts" He finished menacingly.
"So! You know…come here…or they die" He finished with a nonchalant shrug.
Then the video ended.
Everyone was silent. Zeke was trembling in anger. He gripped my phone and threw it at a wall, breaking it. I didn't comment on it.
"F*CK!!" he yelled. He put his hands on the kitchen island and tried to calm down as he was trembling from anger.
This is my fault.
If I didn't come back to the States this wouldn't have happened. I looked at Zeke with guilt. We all looked at Zeke to see what he was going to do next.
"I'm sorry-" I attempted to apologize.
"We get out in 5" Zeke ordered and walked away.
I looked at the others as they were looking at me. I'm angry at myself. I'm angry at the situation. And I'm angry at that f*cking organization. I clenched my jaw and told the others to get ready.
"Go set up" I said to them and I walked towards the weapon room. Some men were walking to the front door as they were already set up. I entered the room and saw Zeke quietly adjusting his vest in a corner. I silently walked to the armory area and grabbed two hand guns and a collection of throwing knives. After putting them in my harness, I grabbed a vest and wore it.
I looked to my side to see how Zeke was doing. His face was expressionless. My eyes remained on him as I was finishing with the vest. I didn't want to bother him since it was not the time. I looked down and saw that he was balling his fist with his back towards me. I finished setting up and stood where I was. He turned around and looked me in the eyes.
"Let's go" He said to me and walked passed me. I sighed and walked after him, thinking about what's to come and wondering if everything was my fault.