Chương 6: Earthquake?

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A couple of loud bangs pulled her out of her dreamland. It was after a week that she had finally succeeded in stepping out of the real world and taking a breather. But it seemed that even the entire world didn't want her sixteen-year-old self to get some peace of mind as the bangs continued to grow louder and louder with each passing second.

"What's wrong with these people now?" She mumbled to herself as she forced her eyelids open. Using her hands she propped up the upper half of her body as she moved her tired eyes to look at the door.

She found it weird that there was no one on the other side of the door as it wasn't moving. She was expecting to be yelled at like usual as she mistook the loud bangs for the usual thudding. It was taking all of her will power to force her heavy eyelids to stay open.

"That's weird." She muttered softly under her breath to no one in particular as her eyes lingered over the still door.

'It has to be one of those dreams.' The quietness which was engulfing her surroundings made her think that the 'bangs' were only a part of her dream. Having nightmares wasn't new to her. Since the day she opened her eyes in this place, there was barely a night which wasn't marred with one.

Thinking that it was just another nightmare which had pulled her out of her slumber, she decided to lay down again. Just when she was about to allow her heavy eyelids to get more rest, another bang made its way into her ears. But this time, it was much louder and more powerful that she felt the floor shook a little.

Sitting up straight with a jolt, she scurried her way to the old wooden door. Her thoughts were all over the place as her mind refused to work. The only thing she could think of then was to get out of the room. Wrapping her frail fingers, she tried to turn the rusty door knob only to find it locked.

Despite knowing that the door was locked, she refused to give up as she kept trying to turn the knob when another bang filled her senses, and she found the floor under her feet trembling a little. She ducked her head down on instincts while her fingers continued to cling to the knob.

She took it as an earthquake at first, but earthquakes were not supposed to make sounds which could be compared to a bomb going off. If only she knew how right her speculations were, she might have cried for help.

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Outside an abandoned warehouse, a couple of jeeps were parked in a haphazard manner with a number of armed men using them as shields.

Even though they were wearing bullet proof vests over their black uniforms, they didn't want to take any risk. Moreover, it wasn't like their vests could provide them any protection against the grenades which were being thrown in their direction.

"This is not what we discussed." Jeffery yelled at the man who was leaning against one of the four wheelers which was parked at a distance. "Have you lost your mind?"

"This is what we call improvisation." The young man spoke up in a nonchalant manner. He didn't seem to be affected by the loud bangs and the sound of bullets being fired at his direction. Neither did the yelling from the elderly man seem to have any effects on him.

"But what about your men?" Jeffery yelled once again at Blake who was more focused on playing with his lighter than what was going behind him.

"They are fine, aren't they?" He briefly replied to him.

"But what are you trying to do here?" Jeffery asked him once again after seeing how relaxed his Boss was.

"Just be a little patient and you'll know." Blake replied to him while keeping his gaze fixed on the lighter as he swung it around in between his fingers.

After hearing his response, Jeff didn't know what else to say to him. He wondered how he could be so relaxed when they were in the middle of a dangerous mission which could not only risk the lives of his men, but his own too.

When he had arrived at his office to get him before leaving the base, he found him listening to a soft melody as he rested in his chair. The moment they arrived at the location of the warehouse, he ordered his men to park their cars right before the entrance instead of at a distance like they planned at first.

Not given any choice, they had to listen to him as he was their leader despite being younger than. Now they were just waiting for their Boss's order for the next move as they hid behind those jeeps.

What the other party didn't know was that they weren't some normal jeeps. They were modified to protect anyone sitting inside from a straight shot. Their bullets were just going to waste and so were their grenades.

As for Blake, he had done his own investigation about the people they were up against. He knew that besides some automated guns with a long range, they didn't have much ammunition on them. He also knew that one of his men was selling information to the enemy, and to fish the rat out, he had to change the plan on his own.

He was more than sure now after seeing how much those people were prepared for the incoming strike. If he would have stocked by the original plan, his men would have been slaughtered by now. The vests could have protected their vital organs against the straight shots, but not from the impact of the grenades.

It was a good thing that he took all things into account. But he wondered why they didn't change their locations when they already knew about it. He even was prepared to deal with them in that case.

His eyes were still glued to his lighter as he kept flickering it on and off. He was just waiting for the right time to give his men the order to strike back. The corner of his lips curled up in a sinister grin as his surroundings quieted down a little. The sound of bullets being fired was no longer lingering in the air, and neither could he hear the sound of grenades.