23 ~ Punishment For Failed Mission

Brinda

The past few weeks have been nothing but stressful as I and Bullet overworked and trained ourselves in order for Francesco to have a higher hand in the battle between him and Marshall. 

I have been following Francesco to his office and working as his secretary which has been tiring, coupled with the constant visits of Charlotte Kavanaugh. 

Despite the chaos and trouble, I have been adding the grinded bottle into Francesco's food and water or any other type of things that would go to his stomach. 

Bullet suddenly pulled my hands and our back hit the wall. That way we were able to hide from Marshall's men who were on the lookout. Francesco had sent us to get the crypt key again. 

“We need to succeed this time,” Bullet expressed, tapping her fingers gently on the wall. 

I nodded and we swung into action. We ran across the fence till we reached the back of the compound. As expected, a few of Marshall's men were there. We both know what to do. We found our way into their midst and took the six men down at a go. 

Bullet pushed the exit door slowly to avoid any creaking sound. We tiptoed into the compound as fast as we could and almost made our presence felt but I was fast enough to pull Bullet to the dark area. 

With our eyes fixed on the underground passage, we slowly made our way to the place. When we reached there, we gently climbed into the hole to prevent the metals from making any type of noises. 

We got in and guess what? 

There was no single man that worked as a guard for Marshall around which meant he was not in the house. We got into the building and began our search till we reached an iron door. 

“This must be Marshall's secret room.” Bullet observed. Quickly, she pulled out some two pins and fiddled with the lock while I kept watch just in case there would be any type of interference. 

She tapped me when she was done and we got in. We splitted and started searching every nook and cranny of the room. Our search remained unfruitful until my brain thought of something. 

During our recent training, my past life has begun to resurface as I tend to remember a lot from the good old days. 

I moved to the bed and spread my hands on the surface for some time. I lifted the mattress and knocked on the wooden object slowly. 

And then I came upon it, the hardest part of the wood with little noise. “What a silly old trick?” I muttered. I pressed the area down and after a few seconds, I heard the door creak open behind. 

I turned to Bullet who nodded her head in appreciation. Every step we took into the room behind the wall was precise and cautious as we did not know what lay ahead. 

Upon entering, Bullet tapped me rapidly on my shoulder. I swept my gaze around the room suspiciously and there it was — The crypt key, hung high above on the wall. 

I scampered towards it and used my skills to reach out to the key then I heard a deep male's voice from behind. “If you take it, you are dead.” 

That was Marshall. Was he home before? Was this a trap he voluntarily let us enter? 

As I swirled towards the direction where the voice came from, my face went pale when I saw a female running towards me. She seems perfectly trained and smart. She was more like a Lioness. 

Before I could move up a little to get the key, she grabbed my legs and pulled me down. Bullet joined us quickly and we all squared off but the lady was well-trained. She was as fast as lightning but not better than me. 

We continued the fight until she threw a left jab at Bullet and rolled beneath me. Before I could calculate her next move, she pulled my face mask and the piece of cloth fell on the floor. 

“Wow!!!” Marshall laughed while clapping his hands loudly against each other. “Miss Brinda and her little friend are here. Don't you think we should have a little chat?” 

“I have nothing to tell you, betrayal.” I snapped. “If there is anyone who needs an explanation or is willing to talk to you, I get to call the shots, not you.”

While I was still in a fierce argument with Marshall and the skillful lady was behind me, Bullet quickly hit Marshall with a kick on his injured leg. 

Realizing that if we wanted to live, I should follow Bullet's move. I threw a punch right at the lady's jaw and we escaped from the room using the same way we sneaked in.

Yes, this is another failed mission. 

“What do you think will be our fate this time around?” Bullet asked while she stepped more on the car's accelerator. 

“I don't know. Probably we are going to be killed, thrown into the ocean or we will be asked to do something else. Let us just look ahead hopefully.” I said then I exhaled loudly.

“That says it all. We are sure to get punished.” Bullet went low as we journeyed home and the rest was silence as I also thought of what lay ahead of us. 

Upon getting back to Dante's mansion, we reported to Francesco who not only cursed us but asked us to be punished as expected.

He sat on the plush armchair in the garden and watched how his men let the horse whip kiss our skins while he mocked us. 

“Is that how to beat a sinner?” He roared suddenly before he stood from the chair and moved to where we knelt. He collected the whip from one of his men. He also ordered them to look at how a sinner ought to be flogged. 

He tightened his hold on the horse whip and started flogging Bullet who color drained out of her face. She held her thighs and took the pain in. Shortly, she fell and vomited blood. Still, Francesco was relentless in his actions. 

I watched with a grieving heart but I knew that all these would end someday.