The Mafia Boss and His Lost Princess ***Completed and Free**

Chapter 9: Assessment*

There was a feeling of apprehension in the group when they went to breakfast. Alannah ate as much as she could and wrapped some bread rolls in a napkin discreetly.

“What are you doing?” Bruce whispered.

“Preparing. We have no idea what we are coming up against!” Alannah whispered back.

“Ahh fail to prepare,” Bruce said doing the same.

“Prepare to fail!” Alannah said and Bruce winked as they put the bread rolls in their waistband hiding them from sight. 

“See you out the front!” Bruce said with a wink.

They all went back to their rooms, doing their best to prepare for the day. Alannah made sure she went to the loo and drank her fill of water. She checked her locket was safely in her bra and took a deep sigh trying to quiet her mind. She then went to open her room door, like she had done thousand times over. This time, however, it was locked. 

Alannah tried it again and banged on the door repeatedly. She shouted to try and get someone’s attention, but no one came. Suddenly, she heard a hissing sound in the room and turned her head. Alannah saw clouds of white was being pumped into the room. Alannah tried not to panic as she tried to break down the door and then the window. In the end, she had to breathe in the gas in and she fell her slip into darkness.

Alannah had no idea how long she was out for, but when she woke up it was on a white tile floor with a thumping headache. 

“Ahh, Sleeping Beauty is awake! Luckily old Bruce was here to protect you, otherwise, we would have some fun!” Ben leered. Alannah looked at Bruce who had a black eye forming and a cut lip.

“You an absolute cunt!” Alannah spat angrily as she sat up to look around the room.

 It was like a hospital ward, with bright lights and a massive mirror at one end. There was also comfortable looking hospital beds on wheels, some small bedside tables and a side room with some toilets. 

“Where the f**k are we?” Alannah said.

“We don’t know, you are supposed to be the clever one!” A man called Mark snapped. 

A voice suddenly boomed over the tannoy system: 

“Welcome to your accommodation for the night. The assessment task will start at 6.00 tomorrow sharp. In the meantime please relax and have a good nights sleep. Lights out in 10 mins.”

“Well I suppose, all we can do is sleep!” One of the men.

“Yeah, but there are only six beds. I give you two guesses who is sleeping on the floor?” Ben said with a sneer.

“Fine!” Snapped Alannah as she laid down on the floor near the mirror, with Bruce doing the same near her.

 Alannah quickly took a mental map of the room, including the position of the beds, side tables and the location of the toilets. The lights were suddenly turned off and they were all in complete darkness.

“I am sorry that you got lumped with me and thanks,” Alannah said quietly.

“No worries. What do you think?” Bruce whispered.

“Something is not right, but I don’t know what. Be ready” Alannah murmured.

“Will shut the f**k up, you bloody idiots!” Ben snapped and threw an army boot at them. 

It missed by a mile and Alannah rolled her eyes. She tried to get to sleep, but there was a thought that kept popping up. It was a quote from the Art of War: “When the enemy is relaxed, make them toil. When full, starve them. When settled, make them move.” She kept pondering this quote until she eventually fell asleep.

Alannah did not know which sensation hit her first, the lights (which were flickering), the cold water which was quickly filling the room or the shouts of men.

“We are trapped!” One man shouted panicked.

“They want to f*****g kill us all!” Another shouted.

“Bruce? How long do you think we got?” Alannah said quickly.

“I think about 4 mins before this room fills up,” Bruce said seemingly unconcerned.

“That want I thought. I need your help” Alannah said as she began to Wade in the water to the bed stand. It was difficult as the water was already at her thighs. The rest of the men were desperately trying to ram the door down. They were using everything from the beds to their bodies.

“They are never going to break down that door, it is three-inch-thick steel!” Bruce said exasperated.

“Spotted that to hey? Help me unscrew this table leg and hurry!” Alannah said as she felt the water at her waist. Bruce and Alannah worked quickly and managed to unscrew a leg. Alannah quickly unscrewed the screw from the tabletop and jammed it into the small hole at the end of the table leg. She had made herself a rudimentary spear.

“Alannah, what’s the plan here?” Bruce said.

“See the copper piping up there? Well, we need to tread water until we can reach it. We have to wait till then!” Alannah said as the water reached her neck. Bruce helped her to the corner near the copper piping.

“Look at the f*****g cowards in the corner! They deserve to die!” One man sneered, as the others still trying to pry the door open. They were all treading water and the lights suddenly went out plunging them in darkness. 

“Bruce?” Alannah said

“I am still here!” Bruce said as Alannah felt the pipeline. 

“Just a few more seconds,” she said as there was only a couple of inches of air left. 

Some of the other men were praying, whilst others were calling out for their Mother. Alannah took a deep breath and dived down to the mirror. She then stabbed the top right corner repeatedly. 

“Please God, let me be right!” She prayed as the screw started to crack the mirror. 

Alannah stabbed it a couple more times before she felt her lungs scream for air.

“No, it is not going to end like this! I won’t let it!" Alannah mentally screamed as she stabbed the corner of the mirror one more time with the last of her strength. 

Little cracks started to form and then with the weight of the water, large cracks appeared. 

Suddenly, the mirror gave way and the water rushed out into the area behind it. Alannah and the other men were hurtled onto a stone floor.

Alannah coughed up water and searched for Bruce. She found him on his back and not breathing.

“Oh, no you f*****g don’t!” Alannah said as she started to do CPR on him.

 After some compressions and a couple of breaths, Bruce coughed and spewed up water from his lungs.

“Bloody hellfire!” Bruce moaned when he could speak, “You cut that fine!”

“Sorry, I needed maximum weight of the water to break the glass and to reach the weak spot, which is normally the top right corner,” Alannah explained.

“How did you know?” Bruce asked.

“I didn’t know for certain, but as Sun Tzu said: Build your opponent a golden bridge to retreat across. There had to be a way out and we knew the door was not it. The only logical thing would be the mirror was two way with a room behind it!” Alannah said simply.

“You knew something was going to happen!” Bruce said accusingly as he sat up.

“The best time to test us is when we are relaxed!” Alannah said with a shrug.

"When the enemy is relaxed make them toil!" Alannah thought.

“Mark? Mark?” A man shouted. Alannah looked over and saw a lifeless body, it was only then she realised that Mark had drowned.

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“Well Maya and Tao, congratulations they passed the first task,” Hun said looking at the screens.

“Not all of them, it was pretty pathetic, to be honest!” A 17 year old boy with black hair and dark brown eyes complained.

“Nonsense Xan! 90 per cent of the groups don’t even make it out of that room. Even with the good tuition from Maya and Tao!” Hun said

“Yeah right, Uncle! It was only that red-haired girl that saved them. I don’t agree with this, you know that!” Xan said in a huff.

Hun sighed since his eldest brother died, Xan had been in his care. It had been a challenge, to say the very least!

“You are right Xan, the red-haired girl has started to improve in my estimation. Though Maya and Xan, I want one thing explaining” Hun said staring at the screens.

“Certainly Boss, let me explain,” Tao said.