Chapter 6 - A Heist

'Angel face, evil thoughts.'

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Accepting Lucas deal meant that both Jace and Bella were now members of the Panthers: the American Mafia that was lead by the Kingston heir. And though it may seem dumb on Bella's part to accept such offer, she promise herself that she wouldn't let Lucas Kingston take advantage of the authority he held over them. They were assassins, they were supposed to be working only for themselves yet now they have themselves seemingly tied by a leash.

And as much as it hurt Bella's pride, she knew that teaming up with Kingston was not that bad of a choice. Accepting the deal he offered gained her a new ally against the Sicilian Mafia. At least, she wasn't going against a whole mafia by herself now.

Jace, on the other hand, wasn't a fan of the woman's decision. But he was coping with it nonetheless. Despite being against it, he had no plans on leaving Bella by herself. He was already on the ride, might as well finish it.

Bella was now in the Panthers' headquarters, walking down the halls with Jace as they made their way towards the conference room. They had been told a meeting was to be held.

"It's our first day and they're already giving us a big job?" Jace complained.

"Hush, would you rather be stuck with clean-up, then?" Bella retorted, pulling open the door to what she assumed was the conference room. 

"Finally, we were wondering when you two would arrive." Lucas greeted from where he sat, his arms crossed in front of his chest.

Bella raised a brow. They weren't even late yet Lucas was acting like they were. The two of them sat on the empty seats by the table before the woman nodded at Lucas to continue.

"I want you two to come assist a heist." He explained bluntly, getting straight to the point.

"A heist?" Jace asked. It had been a while since the two of them had went on a heist. For the past year Bella had been focused on her own personal matters in New York while Jace was busy with a mission in Colombia.

"Yes, against one of my rival gangs. They had stolen a certain diamond with a high price last month. Figured we would steal what they stole, along with a couple of men for intel." Lucas explained.

"Intel? What could they know that you possibly don't?" Bella inquired.

"They're affiliated with the Sicilians. I'm only looking for information that will help us against Dominic Bianchi."

"I see."

Lucas motioned for Jacob to continue with his plans, pulling out a blue print and placing it on the table for the see. The print had the layout of the place they were breaking into.

"As most of you know, we are robbing the Falcons' headquarters. Despite it being heavily secured we have Red and Shadow here to assist." Jacob starting, motioning at Bella and Jace's direction.

"Their warehouse is closed and secured from the front and the back, which leaves us two places to enter: the top and the bottom." The man explains, pointing at the blueprint. "Our only way in is the vent on the rooftop. Red is to go in first and take out the men on guard."

Bella's head perk up at her name. "Me?" She asked in curiosity.

"Yes, you are going to grant us passage inside the building." Jacob answered.

"I trust you are skilled enough to handle the guards my yourself?" Lucas added, gaining a nod from the woman.

"You." Bella pointed towards a muscular man. "You'll be coming with me to the rooftop. I want you to lower me down the vent with a rope so don't drop me."

"The vent directs to the main gate, were the dining area is. After I take out the guards, I'll be turning all the alarms off so that you guys can enter while I go ahead and find their boss." Jacob continued.

"I'll be splitting everyone in teams." Lucas starts, standing up from his seat before placing both his hands on the table.

"My team will be the one heading inside once Red has turned the securities off. Shadow you'll be with my team. Jacob's team will wait outside, scatter and be on the look out." Lucas orders gaining a nod of agreement from everyone.

♤♤♤

As usual, Bella was dressed in her black top and rugged pants. Though the leather jacket she now wore was black, a contrast to the usual red she wore. Her brown locks were secured in a ponytail, an earpiece being in her ear. Strapped on her back was her AR-15 rifle. A pistol and a set of knives placed securely in her holsters. 

"Ready?" Harriot, the man Bella had tasked to lower her down with a rope, asked.

"Yeah." She responded, as the man slowly lowered the rope. After a couple seconds, the tips of Bella's feet reached the ground. She gave the rope a tug, signaling Harriot that she had reached the floor.

She stood up after untying the ropes around her torso, observing the room she was in. The place was dark, though it was enough for her to see clearly. From her crouched position, the woman can make out the figure of a man standing by the foyer. Bella silently made her way behind the man, knocking him unconscious using the butt of her rifle. She held her gun as the guard fell to the floor with a thud.

Bella spotted two more men pacing by the entrance. She pulled out her pistol, making sure that it had it's silencer before shooting each men.

"Red, do you copy?" Lucas' voice spoke though her earpiece.

"Yes, three of their men are down. I'm about to turn the alarms off." Bella answered, walking towards the keypad by the entrance. Plugging in a device, Lucas had gave her earlier, she successfully turned off the alarms.

"Alarms are down." She told Lucas before exploring the warehouse by herself.

The warehouse was dark and was hidden amongst other buildings and it definitely did not give the impression of being a gang headquarters. It was as if they were not hiding a literal diamond inside.

Bella raised her rifle in front of her as she came across an empty hall, readying herself to shoot if anybody would appear.

She checked the first cell.

Empty.

Following the first, the second and third cells were also empty, dust laying on the cobble floors, webs scattered on its ceiling. The last cell also showed nothing but darkness, that's what the woman had assumed, at least. Her conclusion was proved wrong when a she managed to catch a glimpse of something moving from the corner of the room.

"Come out." She called out, as a scrawny and thin figure of a teen came out of the darkness. The woman met the boy's frightened gaze. Pure fear laced his features. His bottom lip trembling, his hands shaking in fear as beads of sweat trickled down his forehead.

"Pl-please." He croaked out. "Do-don't hurt m-me."

"Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you." Bella said, catching the boy release a breath of relief.

"Is there anyone else locked in these cells?" She asked while picking the lock open, managing to get it open in a matter of seconds.

"I d-don't think so." He answered. The woman nodded as she guided the boy out of the cell and towards the exit. And just as they were about to reach it, a gun cocked from behind them.

Wanting to keep the boy safe, Bella quickly turned around and placed herself in front of the boy.

"Going anywhere?" The man asked, his own gun raised towards the woman.

"Yes, so if you don't mind we'll get going." Bella hissed, slowly clenching her rifle.

"Sorry to have disturbed your trip then."

"Now who are you?" He asked.

Bella was seriously getting tired of the same question.

"Do people live under a rock?" She muttered.

"Who are you." The man repeated.

"You'll see"

Bella turned to the boy and whispered, "Here's my pistol, use it if needed." She said, before nearing the guy. 

Wanting to be more comfortable, Bella removed the strap of her rifle before throwing the gun to the ground. As convenient rifles maybe, the woman felt more ease in hand-to-hand combat; she was, after all, better in that department.

"Let's do this the rough way," She said, positioning herself into a stance.

The man started pulling his trigger, about to shoot at her. Though he was slow enough for the woman, as she had already kicked his gun out of his hold. She then kick him where the sun doesn't shine making him stumble. It was a low move on her part, but hey, it worked on her favor. Before the man was able to recover, she bent her knees and elbowed his stomach, her left harm supporting the other. Bella dropped to the ground and swept his feet, making her fall to the ground.

Out of nowhere, the man pulled out a sharp object, stabbing the woman before she had noticed.

'The damned man had a knife!'

Bella flinched, clutching her side. She was fortunate that the man had only landed a slash. At least, the blade wasn't imbedded in her.

"You're going to regret that badly." She gripped his hand, quickly rotated it and stabbing the man with his own blade. She twisted the blade inside the man, making sure that he was dead before she stood up.

She turned to the boy, blood slowly dripping down her side.

"You okay?"

"I-I should be asking you that question!" The boy exclaimed in panic as he clutched the gun Bella had given him.

"Red!" Bella heard Jace's voice. She turned towards the voice to find the man running towards her in worry. He glanced at the boy, coming to the conclusion that he was going to shoot Bella. The woman realized what he thought, quickly placing a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"You okay?" He said through gritted teeth, as he eyed the boy who slowly made his way behind Bella.

"Besides a cut, I'm fine." The brunette let out a humorless laugh, immediately stopping and gritting her teeth at the pain that greeted her.

Jace's orbs narrowed towards Bella's bleeding side.

"Did he," he pointed towards the boy. "do this?"

"No, he's a civilian. Let's go." She stepped forward, only to be stopped by Jace grabbing her arm and placing it around his shoulder.

"No way in hell I'm letting you walk while your side is bleeding."

"I told you, I'm fine!"

"Nope." Jace said, the corner of his lips tugging upwards.