Michael took his tea at exactly nine in the morning. It was a special tea he had gotten from his doctor, it was said to relieve stress, improving better mental health.He got out of the house at exactly nine thirty and he stood on his lawn, studying the environment.Thursdays were always very peaceful in the morning. Even the birds and dogs stopped tweeting and barking, it was as if it was their day of temporary ceasefire. Part of this peace was probably because of the lower temperatures.He wore a black cotton jacket and black jeans. He wore white sneakers to accompany him and he carried a very brown leather suitcase.A black Ferrari roared through the residential area and came to stop in front of Michael's house."James," Michael shook his head.James came out of the car, all smiles. He wore his normal accountant attire, some business suit to go over, and very expensive shoes that could buy you a house in Oregon —if you knew who to ask."Michael, I just thought I should pass by and
"Hello, Mr celebrity—oh? I am sorry, ex-celebrity," Kynes said as Michael lowered his window.Michael gritted his teeth. What kind of silly joke was it?"Old news, what are you? Who are you? Why are you stopping my car?" Michael questioned. He noticed that some men had gotten out of the other vehicles and were now standing around his car.Kynes laughed. It was obvious Michael hadn't recognized him. "It seems you have problems recognizing people we have met before?" He said to Michael.Michael frowned his face. "Look, I don't know who you are, you have got the wrong person alright? Let me just go and I will forget about all this," Michael assured them.Who were these people? Michael pondered."Weren't you, 'grizzling' a man with your friend this week?" Kynes asked.Michael remained calm for some minutes. His eyes flew widely."You are that cop, yeah, I remember you," Michael said. "Wait, are you trying to arrest me because of what I did? I didn't break any law? There wasn't a curfew an
Michael drove into Federico's house and parked his car in a corner. He glanced at his brown bag and took a deep breath.The FBI.It had really happened, they had stopped him on the road, and those rats had deceived everybody.He thought about telling James, but he remembered that somehow, he had fucked up really badly.He shouldn't have mentioned Iryna's name in the first place. Kynes had used it as a cue to get onto him."Why are you choosing me? Why not another person?" Michael had asked Kynes back on the highway."You are the only one perfect for the job, another person would refuse and kill himself on the spot," Kynes said.He was too weak, had no power to do anything, and was picked on by everyone.Besides, Kynes had threatened to reveal Federico's identity, he had also said that he would throw everyone in prison if he ever babbled.Michael was so deep in thought that he hadn't heard the knock on the window until someone flashed a torch on the window.Michael lowered the window a
Iryna stood in front of a large family picture in Fred's room. She folded her fingers behind her and a small smile formed on her face.The picture was taken probably more than twenty years ago, but she was surprised at the clear quality it had.Fred was much younger there, he still had the same charm on his face and he sported a mustache.At his side, his wife carried a beautiful girl which she assumed to be Amanda. The child was beautiful, for most of the part, she had her mother's beauty, and her father's hair color was brown.Iryna imagined if they had survived the accident, the daughter would have been the same age as her. She would have been leading a life in the world, a better life than one being burnt alive in a plane crash."That was taken shortly before we lost Mrs. Walters and young Miss Amanda," Lucien said from the door."Christ!" Iryna was startled.She looked at Lucien at the door. "Don't you mind knocking? You really scared the shit out of me," Iryna hissed."I am sorr
At exactly one a.m., early Friday morning, Michael stepped out of his home and saw James waiting for him outside, with the truck.Michael stepped inside the truck and waved an arm to James. He hated it when his sleep was disturbed at night, a small headache was developing at the back of his head but he had no choice."No kisses? You are seeing me after seven hours and you are just going to wave at me?" James teased Michael but he didn't reply to his joke.James smiled as he started the truck and drove as silently as he could through the neighborhood."So the plan is simple, you watch me lead and you learn," James said."Yeah, yeah cool," Michael said.They soon got to the port and James parked the truck inside, closer to where the ship was going to be.James stepped out of the truck and moved around to the other side expecting Michael but he was not coming down."Hey, what are you doing?" He hissed moving to the car's window."What? You said you were leading so there is no point trail
/THIRTY MINUTES AGO/Three in the morning wasn't a bad time to do shady business.It was said in the Bible that the wicked loved the night because they believed the world couldn't see them.The same thing applied to criminal organizations like the Mafia, the drug cartel, terrorists, robbers, you name them. It was something Lucien had come to understand since he also —not once but multiple times performed such shady business in the past."At least ten trucks..." Jim, the chief of police said as he passed the binoculars to Lucien who had been studying the street for an hour now.Lucien collected the binoculars.They were inside one of the run-down buildings that were near the port. This one they were located in, directly overlooked the entrance of the port.It was painful as a lot of rundown buildings were left unattended. You could keep many things inside them, like five vehicles of policemen and an additional one that carried Lucien's men.There were at least twenty to twenty-five men
"Fuck!" James screamed as the car roared through the road.He looked behind to see if the police were following them, and luckily there wasn't any blue and red siren behind them —or any suspicious-looking black car on their tail."How did the cops know we were going to pick up something?" Michael asked.He was in the passenger seat and he held onto the seat belt for dear life as James flew past traffic lights.The truck hit a road bump and lurched upward before returning to the road."Do I look like I know? Fuck!" James yelled. He focused on the road and tried to keep his mind off the multitude of questions moving in them.Michael looked at James and saw that there was blood on his side. "God damn! You are bleeding!" Michael exclaimed.He looked for tissue paper in the car to staunch the bleeding."Don't touch me!" James exclaimed. "I am driving, I need to focus. You just focus on telling me if the police are behind us until we can change vehicles," James said softly and touched his s
Lucien sat with Iryna in Jim's office.She had been listening carefully to Lucien as he narrated what had happened early that morning."So Michael was also involved. I am surprised to know how low he has fallen," Iryna said. She turned to Jim. "Chief, any attempts in tracking their vehicle?" She asked.Jim scratched the area between his brows. "Well, I should say the driver was very experienced. He avoided taking the main road and took smaller routes so that the traffic cameras didn't pick him up," he said.Iryna nodded her head. "I see," she said. "So Lucien, you are saying the goods they were expecting were too small?" She asked to confirm."Yes, for a big man like Federico, there should have been enough to load several containers," Lucien replied."He already smelled something wrong, but he wasn't too sure so he moved most of the goods somewhere else and left a little," Iryna deduced."Very accurate," Lucien said."The goods you seized, can't you pin it to Federico? Like I mean, we
The court had been swift in declaring Marcus and Michael's verdict.Michael had hired a hot-shot criminal lawyer that lied like fuck during the entire hearing. The man was so good that he had almost even convinced everyone at the hearing that his client Michael was innocent, but the evidence was just too much against him.Marcus had been sentenced to ten years in prison with light labor in a penitentiary in California.Michael was sentenced to twenty-one years in prison, with hard labor and no parole. His modeling career was over, his life was over as it stood."Mark my words, you will pay for this!" Michael had said to Iryna when he was being thrown in a van."It should get old by now, shouldn't it?" Lucien waved him away at the court.Amanda Walters was still being held by the FBI, and it looked like it would remain like that for a while.The FBI wanted to fish out all information about the Mafia network in Latin America.Tyrese's charred body was later recovered.It was discovered
The sound of helicopters got closer and panic started spreading among the gangs and Mafia lords that surrounded the empty cars."The FBI!" Someone screamed.Government-issued SUVs pulled up and FBI SWAT teams were already over the place, holding their guns at them. They were completely surrounded.Michael gritted his teeth and dropped his phone. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" He screamed. "Why does this always happen to me!"The FBI team wasted no effort in apprehending all the Mafia and gang members.The mission was possible because of two things, one, the FBI had come in massive numbers and had surrounded their enemies. Two, because of their magnificent entree, the enemy was too overwhelmed to act that they had suddenly given up their will to fight."Drop your weapons and go down on your knees, order of the bureau!" someone said on a loudspeaker."Fuck this!" Michael dragged Amanda and kicked Marcus out of his way. He ran forward to a nearby vehicle, but he was stopped by agents.Amanda tried
"Sir, the plane has landed," the intercom buzzed.Michael was seated inside a black limousine and sipped wine from his cup."Any sign of them?" He asked after he had put his glass down."Yes, they are stepping out of the plane," the intercom buzzed again."Jesus, New Orleans is so cold at this time of the year," Amanda shivered as she entered the car. "So this is the United States," Amanda looked out of the window at the high-rise buildings in the Central Business District."The target has landed, the plan is being kicked into motion," Michael said."Good, they will be heading to the mansion, and we will cut them off in that location you mentioned," Amanda held Michael's chest and began drawing circles."What are you doing?" Michael suddenly asked.Amanda came up and kissed Michael on the lips, short and fast."What was that for?" Michael asked as blushes developed on his cheek."That is just part one, I will give you the rest when we are done with them," Amanda whispered in his ears.
Iryna's eyes felt like lead when she woke up. She was in and out of sleep for the past eight hours. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. The bandages on her hands made them feel even sore.She looked out of the window and all she saw was water, from a bird's eye view. They were on their way to The United States... home."You were out for quite a long," a deep voice spoke.Iryna turned in the direction of the voice and saw Lucien sitting on a chair on the other side. IV lines were there and he wore a blanket over his legs. He looked better now, and his wounds had been tended to."Gosh," Iryna rubbed her eyes and yawned. "How are you doing, Lucien?" Iryna asked. She stretched and heard a few bones bop in her shoulders."Never been better," Lucien laughed. "The doctor said it was a miracle I was alive. My liver has been grazed, plus a lot of other internal blood vessels," he said with a smile. "Seems like I will be out for months," Lucien chuckled."Just rest up," Iryna told him. She looked o
Michael was getting irritated where he was. All of a sudden, the cops were showing up in large numbers, and Amanda was nowhere to be found."Alright boys, let's round this up!" Michael spoke out.The men all stopped and looked at him."I know, I am not your boss, but I can't seem to find Amanda anywhere and the police are coming, so we will have to ditch this place and run," Michael explained.He expected Amanda to do just fine, besides she was crazy enough to save him from the FBI that day. She would save herself."Where is Amanda?" One of the men asked. "We can't leave without her," he looked around. There was a murmuring passing among the group."For Christ's sake! It is almost morning, we have to go," Michael pointed at the sky.The sun was just On the horizon, it was just seconds away from sunrise. There was no time to wait around anymore."Michael!" Amanda suddenly appeared from behind a vehicle and she limped heavily.Her Kawasaki bike was oddly naked and there were a few crazy
Amanda stood up and stepped forward. Her left leg side roared with pain from her contact with the ground after that stunt with the van. There was a bruise on her forehead, but nothing she couldn't handle.Amanda picked up a bat that lay on the floor and smiled. She walked in the direction of the van.Iryna was the first to open her eyes. She let out a cough. Her legs hurt, but she could still feel and move them.She looked around and saw that the door at the back was missing. She felt fear develop in her and turned towards Lucien. He was still breathing, but he was knocked unconscious after the van turned over. Reynold was also unconscious, but his breathing was becoming raspy.Iryna looked at the front, and she saw Selena dangling from her seat belt upside down, the wound on her head looked very bad, and she could already tell that the driver was in an even worse state.Iryna tapped Selena's face. "Selena, Selena, wake up," there was a response, the twitching of facial muscles and so
"Shit, hold him tight!" Selena cussed as they lifted Reynold across the burning parking lot.Iryna held his legs, while Selena held his hands. He turned out to be too heavy for one person to carry."Huh," Reynold groaned. They had managed to stop the bleeding, it was a miracle he was still alive after all that blood loss."Hang in there, we will soon get you a doctor," Iryna said despite the pain in her leg, as they carried him to a waiting vehicle. A nab was waiting outside and when he saw them, he brought out a stretcher and ran to them."He needs medical treatment," Iryna said to the man."Christ! Señorita Selena! What took you so long?" The man asked. He had a very thick accent."Long story, just focus on getting us out of here," Selena said to the man.Iryna opened the door to the bus and saw Lucien sleeping on a bed. There were vials and IV lines that were still attached to him."Hey madam," Lucien's voice cracked."Lucien!" Iryna hugged him. "God, you are alright.""Last time y
Selena would never forget Iryna's scream. It rang through the night and was momentarily louder than the sound of bullets moving around them.Iryna herself could not even hear her own screams. They were silent in her skull. She couldn't even hear the sounds of gunshots. She didn't care about the bullets that ricochetted against the cars.As she watched as Reynold slowly fell to the floor, she wanted to die too."Shit!" Selena cussed as she grabbed Iryna and ran to take cover.Kynes fired several shots at them, but they had safely gone behind vehicles."What are you doing?" Iryna was hysterical. "What about Reynold? We can't leave him there!" She kicked against Selena and thrashed about.She refused to accept that Reynold was dead. He was lying on his back, a pool of blood was already forming there."What are you doing? There is nothing we could have done! There is nothing I can do to bring him back!" Selena screamed.She looked over the trunk of the car and several shots rang. She duck
Reynold rested on the bench and ran his hand gently on Iryna's shoulder. It was the first time he was finding comfort in detention. Even in their situation, Iryna still looked very appealing.Reynold tried not to wake her up as he caressed her gently. Very soon, Selena would come up with a crazy escape plan.He was worried about Iryna, he didn't want any bullets touching her, and how they would move Lucien who had just come out of surgery —everything was hard.Reynold bent down and kissed Iryna's head. She smelled of mint, she must have used the twenty-four hour mist. It had been two days since they had gotten a proper shower. But Iryna still smelled nice.He heard footsteps at the door and Reynold clenched his jaw muscles. He sure hoped as hell that it wasn't Kynes. He always spoiled the mood.There were two heavy thuds. Reynold cocked his brows and watched the door.The door flew open and Selena walked in. She looked around the room and pressed the switch. Reynold flinched from the