IAA: Agent N

Chapter 18 - Initiation

I was checking my gun as my body moved with the speeding van. The vehicle was silent. Zeke, the guys, Igor and I were in the car.

Zeke and I were sitting next to each other, and the other three were sitting in front of us facing us. Tatiana didn't join since, in her words "I can't even hold a gun correctly".

I looked to my right at Zeke and he was looking out the window while bouncing his left leg. I tried putting my hand on his leg to stop him but he blocked my hand.

"Don't touch me, please. I'm uneasy right now and I don't want to take it out on you" Zeke gently grabbed my arm and put it back on my leg. I pressed my lips together and turned my face away from him since I'm obviously to blame.

"It's not your fault. I just have a lot of things on my mind" He said and I turned my head back to look at him. He said that, but his eyes obviously showed hesitance. I gave a slight smile.

"Why aren't you more angry at me? If I didn't drag you guys in this mess, you all would have been safe" I asked him honestly. From my experience, Zeke has a short temper. And his low reaction is worrying. He sighed.

"Essere più arrabbiati non cambierà la situazione, Nova. Certo che sono arrabbiato, ma non con te (Being more angry won't change the situation, Nova. Of course I'm angry, but not at you)". He said while looking at me in the eyes. I crossed my arms and leaned my head on the head rest.

"Parlare italiano non mi fa sentire meno in colpa, Ezechiele (speaking Italian does not make me feel less guilty, Ezekiel)" I sighed. His eyes widened slightly since it was the first I called him by his full name in a while. This meant that I was completely serious.

"...Drop it. It's not" Zeke gave the final word and I kept my mouth shut. I put the gun back in my harness and I looked at Giuseppe who was looking at me. He gave me a slight smile and a reassuring nod. I returned the smile and sighed.

"Here" Mattia gave me a box and handed everyone the same type of box. I opened it and saw that it was an earplug. I picked it up with my fingers and pushed it in my right ear. I double tapped it to turn it on and heard a ping.

"This allows us to communicate with each other. Don't lose it" Mattia finished, giving me a knowing look. I playfully rolled my eyes.

"I know how it works" I smiled at him.

"You never know" He shrugged. I looked back out the window and mentally prepared myself for what's to come.

---

The ride took us 1 hour and 40 minutes.

The masked man gave us 2 hours.

We only have 20 minutes left before something happens to the Santangelos. My mind started to fill up with nervous thoughts.

"We're here" I heard the driver say as he was getting closer to the power station.

The place looked much bigger in person. It looked like it was falling apart from the outside. The van parked behind a collection of trees and bushes a few meters away from the building in order to hide vehicle.

Five other vans followed behind ours. We all collectively took out our guns and took off the safety. We got out of the car and gathered with the other teams.

Zeke was the first to break the silence.

"You all know your teams and what you have to do. Follow the plan and try not to die. I can't have more deaths on my hands. Some of you have families, so think about them" said Zeke. That was a little straightforward, but the members nodded.

"As we planned, team A and B will take care of the lower floors and the rest will spread across the other entrances. You know what to do, so I'll cut this briefing short" Zeke looked at his watch. "We have 18 minutes to get to my family, and possibly Nova's. So, Good luck. And do as we've always trained". Everyone nodded, including the Russians.

Then at that moment, we've all dispersed with our respective teams. Zeke, Igor, Mattia, Giuseppe, three other men and I jogged together behind the bushes. Zeke and I are team A, and the rest are Team B. We divided the teams in a way to limit casualties - as in, number of deaths - if we go to the lowest floor.

As we were approaching one of the entrances, one guy in a red mask stepped out and shot at us. We ducked and ran to the side. I kept my eyes on the entrance and when the man stepped out again, I shot him in the head.

"Nice" said Mattia. We all jogged inside the building and we stopped abruptly at the sight in front of us.

"M*rda (sh*t)" Zeke muttered.

In front of us stood over a dozen masked men in red, with their guns pointing at us. They stood in a triangle pattern and the ones in the front crouched down with their automatic guns pointing at us.

We were eight against twenty-something armed men. We all just stood still, waiting for who was going to shoot first.

I looked around the building and it looked nicer from the inside. The entire interior was ultra-pure white, including white-painted floors. The building was completely empty, with no way to take cover.

It was just one big white room with two hallways. We have to go to the second hallway to access the lower floors, according to Tatiana's blueprint.

The men in red perfectly contrasted the white room. My eyes roamed around the group of men in front of us and then someone in the back threw something towards us. Being a trained assassin with great vision, I saw that it was a medium-sized smoke bomb.

Before it could reach us halfway, I pointed my gun towards it and shot it.

Bright red smoke exploded all over the room.

And then, it was chaos.