We sit quietly in our camouflaged truck. Except for the hum of the vehicle and occasional bumps, all of us remain silent.
Looking around, I think to myself. The tension is thicc.
After our debriefing and many disagreements, we eventually settled on a plan. It's a solid plan, but even with so much planning, things can always go wrong. Of course, Peal and Lia are the experienced masterminds so the chances of things becoming shitty is low.
"The tricky part is getting Lucian before he is transported. He will be driven and guarded by Jacob's personal team. There will be three routes that we need to prepare for. Jacob is personally tasked with watching over Lucian but we don't know which route he is taking yet. Thus, we need to proceed with caution." Pearl seems a little peeved that she can't just blow up the transport vehicles.
"Team A is in position and en route." Lia's voice comes in clearly into my earpiece.
"Team Bitches is good to go too." The twins quip. I can just picture their toothy grins as their dad Tony rolls his eyes.
"Team C is ready." Dante whoops loudly next to me. I cringe at his sudden burst of energy, but it helps break the tension.
Lia and Leo are on the route that has the highest chance that Lucian will be on. Even my dad does not know which route they are on because it's all pre-programmed into their car software. I know that my brother has barely slept the past few days in order to figure out the codes in the transport cars. He rigged all the routes for them to glitch "accidentally" at specified times.
My truck has Dante, Celeste, two family members, and me. Celeste sits in the cargo area with Dean and Kayla, fully prepared and equipped if need be. Dean and Kayla don't really talk much. They sit stoically with their weapons ready for fire. Once we reach the destination we have planned, Dean and Kayla get out and walk towards a regular Jeep Wrangler. They put some casual attire over their bulletproof clothing. The two of them look like a couple in their thirties on vacation now. That is, until you lift up their cargo pants to show hidden guns.
They nod towards us and drives off ahead of us. I watch the cloud of dirt follow them before I can faintly see their car outline. The rest of us wait several minutes before following after them. Dean and Kayla are to act as helpful bystanders at the time the trucks start accidentally malfunctioning. They will stall and scope out everything before we get there.
Checking our location screens that Rob helped set up, I watch as the two circles with Dean and Kayla's name stop in the middle of the road. We get within range and pull over on the side. Celeste and I get out of the vehicle and slowly make our way towards them on the side in case they need backup.
The facility is really in the middle of nowhere. It's located on one of the US territorial islands. The island has very few inhabitants--most of them are indigenous tribes or locals who are used to the sight of foreign soldiers. The island is fairly small and not very industrialized. It's not even located on any map and can only be flown by plane. Still, trained men track the air and ground for unwanted visitors.
Basically, it's the perfect location to lock up the worst assholes in the world.
Thus, we need to get to Lucian before he boards that plane and flies off to that facility.
We have to drive through the desert to get to their transport plane. Currently, we are all hiding in the rocks of the canyons, a lot farther than we would like. However, there is much not coverage anywhere. We spent a day camouflaging the transportation so they would blend into the rocks and sands around the area.
I wear a sand-colored robe that covers my body from head to toe. I wrap up every inch of skin and put on a sand mask to protect myself from the scorching sun and burning sand. All of us are matching to disguise ourselves and blend into the surroundings. The attire gets in my way but Pearl made sure everyone familiarized ourselves with our new clothing and weapons so not to make too much of a mistake.
The closest Celeste and I can get is twenty feet away from the convoy. Celeste and I position our snipers and wait.
I see Kayla and Dean roll very slowly with their car but refrain from getting out. There are four medium desert cargo trucks stalled. Nobody has gotten out. Then two men from the front car get out. One of them lifts the hood while the other patrols. The patrol lifts his gun and aims it at the Kayla and Dean.
"Whoa whoa whoa!" Kayla and Dean stop the car and hold their hands out in surrender. "We mean you no harm." Dean says slowly with a slight Southern drawl.
"Name and identification." I can faintly hear the man's voice through the ear piece.
"We are just a couple heading towards our vacation stop. We will hurry along the way." Dean repeats but takes his identification out.
The man looks at it and then heads back inside his trunk. I look at Celeste questioningly. She shrugs her shoulders with the same look. This isn't exactly the way we planned but so far, it's not the worst case scenario.
This time two uniformed men step out from the truck. "Do you need help with your truck? We would be happy to assist you. My dad was a mechanic and I helped him all my life. I wouldn't mind taking a look and give it a go."
"Please step out of the car." The two men lift their guns and point it directly at Kayla and Dean in a defensive manner.
Celeste and I widen our eyes. We lay on our stomach and angle the guns. I peek through the scope and zoom in on Kayla's fingers. She signals a middle finger, which basically means the gig is up.
"Well, we were just being courteous." Dean slams open his car and it slams into the two men. They go down immediately. I press the clip and watch the man at the hood goes down suddenly. Then, Kayla and Dean zoom off immediately as all the men climb out of the truck and start firing at them. The second to fourth truck all have four men climb out.
"Easy." I murmur as Celeste and I pick them off one by one in succession. It almost ends in the blink of an eye.
"Shit..." Kayla gives a low whistle as she and Dean circle back around. The two of them scope the four trucks.
"Rob did his shit. The trucks are dead...and so are the men. Lucian is not in site. Team C's mission is over." Kayla states. The two of them pour oil over everything and the entire thing soon bursts into flame. They drive back to our location.
"Well, that was kind of...easy?" Celeste states as we all gather together and head back to meet up with Team A.
"It's to be expected. They were just a decoy." Dante nods. "But let's not forget that we still took away their lives. That's still blood on our hands." He looks at us solemnly.
"We know.." I look away and out the window. I don't like to be reminded. I have long lost track of the lives I had to sacrifice and go through in order to survive until today. After Sky, it's forever haunted me.
After a half hour of driving, we get word from Team B. "Y'all we busted those motherfuckers. They were decoys too. Heading over to Princess Lia in a bit. See ya." Nicco chatters nonchalantly through the feed.
"This isn't a toy, Nicco." Lia's spotty voice comes through.
Leo's voice comes through, "The engines are still going here. We've got five trucks here. There is an additional five heavily armed motorcyclists on the side hidden from view. We need to get to the bikers once the tech failures happen. Otherwise, the bikers will go ahead and alert the others. Team C, can you intercept them?"
"Team B, hurry your asses." Lia speaks up, "We got incoming. Those trucks got some heavy machinery welded onto their hoods. We might have enough firepower to match them."
"Aye, milady." Nicco repsonds.
I look to Dante. "How illegal would it be if we borrowed some bikes along the way?" My heart starts racing at the thought of being on a bike again. There were strict doctor warnings and strict parental protectiveness that prevented me from being in or on anything remotely similar to a bike ever since I got back. I wish I had my sleek baby but any bike will do.
"As long as you don't get caught, you'll be fine." Dante grins.
"Can I-" Celeste is about to ask a question.
"Nope," Dante shakes his head. "You'll drive, while I shoot."
"Why!" Celeste gets annoyed.
"Because you never owned a motorcycle and I don't even think you've learned how to properly use one. Also, now you need to protect yourself from stray bullets and killers as you ride a bike. I wouldn't want you going out in the field without preparation."
"Aw come on, I'm equally skilled at fighting. Also, Jax is going to be able to fight. There's a chance she might get hurt too."
"If I had it my way, then the two of you would be at home with Rob right now. Y'all would be safe and away from this shitty situation. However, Jax is experienced with bikes and can shoot while biking maybe even better than I can...." Dante sighs deeply. "Please."
"Fine." Celeste huffs and turns away.
I pat her shoulder supportively. Celeste turns to me and looks at my expression. "I know..." as she thinks about it from her dad's side.
"Buckle up," Dante says before he steps on the gas and we go screeching down the street.
___
A/N
Hope your week is going great!
Another short one. There's not much more to add after I write the final battle scene. What do you guys think? Anything else you want me to try to add, any questions...opinions...thoughts??
Please let me know :)
I will be updating every other weekend. Next weekend will be Under These Stars.
Thank you for reading and I hoped you enjoy it.
Love,
Lystra