Chapter 86 Chapter 86
One of Damien's men walked in, his eyes roamed over the scene casually as if it were just another day in Damien's world. My heart pounded heavily. Marcus and Damien had been close for so long; if this was how Damien turned against a traitor, then I didn't want to be one.
Damien walked away from the spectacle that was Marcus. Unfortunately, they came closer to where I was hiding, so I crouched lower sharply, and the pain in my neck exploded.
I winced and fell on my butt, gripping the spot near the wound to regulate the pain somewhere else.
"We just received a tip from a non-verifiable source. We don't know who it is, but we called out a guy on the inside to confirm the information, and he said that Alexander issued instructions to their base as well. What do we do with it, boss?" He asked.
The look on Damien's face was that of pure wrath; just mentioning Alexander's name had his face in a twist.
"We check it out, but I'll go alone. We've lost enough men today." His man looked at him skeptically but preferred not to speak and nodded obediently.
As soon as Damien was out of the torture room, he turned around halfway and stared directly at me through the stack of empty cartons I hid behind.
"Do you intend on hiding there all day?" He said in a plaid voice. I heaved a sigh and got up languidly, writhing from the pain I had triggered when I turned around sharply.
"What are you doing down here, Lisa?" He asked, standing akimbo with his hands on his waist, staring me down like I were a stubborn little girl.
"I was bored. I just wanted to see what you were doing and whether or not Marcus would actually talk." I said truthfully.
Damien looked relieved, "At least you didn't lie, but you are supposed to be resting and not prying around matters like this anymore. Lisa, this war is dangerous, and I don't know what it would take to get it into your head that I do not plan on losing you to it."
His words made me reconsider every doubt I ever had. I know he was trying to protect me, keep me safe. But what was safe about him dying and leaving me alone?
"And so do you. You need someone to watch your back out there, and I can do that. At least take me and one of the boys with you." I insisted.
"You're injured, Lisa. That is not such a good idea. Besides, I just want to scout the location for myself and find out if what the information says is true." I shook my head at him. He was more stubborn than a mule.
"Fine, I'll go with you. If it is not dangerous enough for you to go alone, then it should be safe for me to go with."
His shoulders slumped in defeat, and we both returned to the main house to prepare for the outing.
"Make sure you stay right behind me. Vittorio will be with us, and Duke will stay here, manning Marcus with the other guys."
I smiled at him teasingly, and he caught it, snobbing me like I was a silly child. "What is it?" He asked, with a smile threatening to break his cold demeanor.
"Well, I always feel safer with you anyway." I winked, and the smile he tried so hard to suppress broke out anyway.
It felt good to have that little moment between us; things lately had become tense and difficult. "Alright, let's go."
We arrived at the given location, and it was in the middle of nowhere. Actually, it was an old warehouse standing in the middle of a decade-long ruin.
The environment smelled of something strange, and somehow, something felt awfully wrong. I got down behind Damien, while Vittorio took the other exit.
"Stay behind me. Vittorio, you know what to do." Damien instructed. Vittorio paced us and scouted the environment. The way he held his gun, I was glad that he seemed like a better shot than I ever was.
If I had been the only backup, we probably wouldn't have stood a chance. "Are you okay?" Damien's question broke my thoughts.
"Yeah, I don't know, I just don't feel good...and before you say it, it is not about the pain. Something feels wrong about this place."
I said, looking around at the dirty tanks and drums scattered about like they belonged to an old military base.
"Let's check inside," Damien said, and I nodded. Once we were inside, we found it: more drums and cartons stacked in one corner of the wide, empty warehouse room. I frowned at the weirdness of it. They were covered with dirty old nets and military rags.
Damien walked ahead of me towards the stack, but in here, my stomach felt sicker. That horrid, toxic smell was much stronger inside.
"Hey, come look at this!" Damien called. I rushed over to find branded weapons of all kinds - guns, knives, grenades, dynamites, new ones stocked inside each carton and drum. It was like a whole shipment just abandoned in the middle of nowhere.
"When was he planning on coming to get all these? Their brand new." I commented, touching the well-framed designs on the weapons.
"I don't know, maybe that was the instruction he sent out to his men earlier today. But why would a seller leave all these out here?"
"Well, in the past, old military bases like this were the best places to hide weapons. Nobody looked in the ruins." Damien replied expertly, while I continued to search the cartons. They all had the same numbers on the bottom of it.
My stomach continued to churn nervously; something was definitely wrong. "This doesn't make any sense, though. Alexander always left his shipment at a dock or a personal warehouse, unless..." I muttered, and Damien turned to me.
I caught him holding a white piece of paper, but before he could look at it, we heard it, the sharp ticking of a timer.
"Oh no,"