StarGaze

Convoy

"Well, this team of yours seems to be pretty dumb. Damn, you had to have balls of steel to go ahead and tell them you were going to get them." Raghav said, visibly impressed.

"Yes, that's another lesson. Be unpredictable but at the same time keep your enemy in fear. They have to acknowledge your existence and live under its shadow. And as for the team, they were pretty good. They actually managed to break free my most difficult foe till date." Thomas said and continued the story.

The van was matte black in color and was visibly a running fortress. No one could say that the community service van and the open jeep behind it were actually filled not with volunteers or rich spoiled kids but with special forces soldiers with keen instincts and years of service in the field. But that camouflage may hide you from the sight of civilians who don’t pay that much attention, but not from the eagle eye of the agents staring at it.

From the moment that Gabriel spotted the convoy, he knew they were difficult to penetrate. But how difficult exactly? To answer this question, he formulated a plan with Olivia.

It was burning bright in the afternoon, and the convoy was taking a left turn in an alley. When they least expected it, a bazooka was fired from the neighboring rooftop, landing right beside the black van. The van survived the impact, but the shockwave sent one side of the van into the air. It was almost vertical, but it regained its balance and thumped down again. The soldiers were shocked as to who would do such a thing, but they were specially trained to handle situations like these. So when the swarm of men came rushing out of the surrounding building, they were ready.

The first guy to emerge from the dilapidated building had no idea what he was doing, and it was evident by the fact that he was spraying bullets while running. His tale was tragic though, as he stumbled upon a charred brick and fell face first in front of the barrel of his AK-47. The trigger was still squeezed, so instead of a round of bullets, his brains were splattered on the black glass of the massive van.

The other guys took little notice though, as they were busy running towards the van. They expected retaliation, but they didn’t expect a shower of gunfire from all sides. The first five fell before even touching the van door. The ten people behind them fell to their knees and locked their crosshairs on the machine gun sticking out of the community service van.

But the green-colored service van didn’t supply the poor robbers with blankets to fight the cold or food to fight the hunger. Instead, the bulletproof killing machine gifted them with death and a way out of this miserable world.

As the last torrent of men emerged and took cover behind the black van, the jeep sped up and crushed them against the van. They were sandwiched and their burst bodies were stuck on the back door. There was only one survivor left, and he too had no bullets left in his magazine.

A white tourist came out of the jeep with a desert eagle in his hand. The desert eagle is often referred to as the hand cannon due to its massive size and surprisingly larger bullets for a pistol. The man strolled up to the survivor with a severed foot and kneeled in front of him.

“Why would you try to get inside that van? You were too well coordinated to be ordinary robbers.” The man said calmly in Arabic.

“We..we were hired by someone, someone who said there was gold in the van. She promised us half of the gold if we robbed the van. In return, she would save us from any police interference.” The man spits all the information he had.

“And I suppose you didn’t see her face?” the soldier in bright red shirt asked.

“No I didn’t, but Aslam did.” The man said, looking at his torn foot.

“And where is Aslam?” the soldier asked his final question.

“There he is.” The man said, pointing at the crushed body a few feet away from him.

The soldier smiled and pointed the pistol at the poor man’s head. The man wanted to plead but the shot was too quick and shut him up. The large bullet made a massive sound and left a huge hole in his head. The skin around the wound was burnt and was black.

The soldier examined the dead man’s face for a few seconds with cold eyes, and then went back to the jeep. He lifted the long-range radio and tuned in to the frequency he had memorized.

“Centre comes in, this is captain Ranza. We encountered a little inconvenience on the way, but it was taken care of. But I am pretty sure that there are some individuals taking interest in taking away our gem from us. And I am afraid that they are pretty smart. They just sent a couple of guys to test our defenses.

Centre? Are you there?” the captain spoke on the dead radio.

“Centre won’t be responding anytime soon. We have jammed every single in this block.” A voice came from behind the jeep.

The soldiers turned around in attention and looked at the girl equipped from head to toe with full body armor and an automatic rifle in her hand. The black helmet on her head covered her face and so they couldn’t identify her. But she sure as hell wasn’t friendly with her body locked and loaded. So they went for their rifles as soon as they got the chance. But…..too late.

Before they could react, the spy threw a grenade into the jeep and leaped to the side. The men tried to jump out screaming, but the nade exploded and shrapnel cut through their body like shark’s teeth, blowing off their body parts like a quashed watermelon. Olivia battered the head of the captain with the butt of her gun. He had managed to get out of the jeep barely in time, but death seemed to have really liked him.

“Missile incoming, take cover!” Gabriel’s voice shook up her laser radio.

Olivia jumped behind the burning jeep as the sleek and sharp sound filled the air. The missile fell on the community service van, ending their good work in this world. Now only the van was left, but it was a fortress of its own.

Olivia walked up to the van and tried to open the back door. But as soon as she touched it, the electric shock lit up her suit. Thankfully, the suit was specially designed to absorb electric fields and harness the force to produce shockwaves of its own, essentially giving superhuman-like powers to the person wearing the suit.

Olivia tried to open the door, but the handle just disappeared inside the door. So she had to take rather drastic measures. She walked up to the front and climbed on the bonnet, sitting right in front of the windshield. She clutched her right hand into a fist, and the black glove lit up with blue light. When the light was the brightest, Olivia stared at the black glass and smiled.

“Knock knock!” she said and slammed her hand into the glass.

The glass wasn’t broken, but the massive impact did compromise its integrity, making a dent in it. Olivia took out her gun and fired straight at the dent at a point-blank range. The bullets sprang around but finally made a hole into the glass.

Olivia heard a scream and knew the bullets had found their place. She delivered a few more kicks and the windshield was down. A man launched a few bullets in her direction, but the suit stopped them from tearing into her flesh. She delivered a quick headshot and gave him his ticket to hell.

By this time, Gabriel also came to the van. Olivia opened the back door using the button on the dashboard, and Gabriel entered. There was no one in the van, except a helpless man strapped to a chair. He was conscious and conscious at the same time, breathing slowly with his eyes moving like that of a dead man. He didn’t react when he saw Olivia and Gabriel in front of him, but they were very happy at their first success.

“Clear, he doesn't have any trackers inside him. Looks like we are good to go.” Olivia said, holding the man’s head in her palm.

The traveler was weak. His beard was partially white and was stretching to his chest. his hair was of the same color and was like a smooth fountain falling to his back. He had dripped all over his arms and vital signs reader on his chest. Olivia was about to remove them, but Gabriel held her hand with an iron grip, surprising her,

“It can’t be this easy. There must be a self-destruct sequence attached to this heartbeat monitor. As soon as we remove it, we will blow up!” Gabriel said, sweating after the close call.

“So what do we do?” Olivia asked.

“We freeze time!” Gabriel said and pressed the button on his watch.

The van blew up in an immense explosion, launching it about twenty feet high in the air before falling. The explosion looked spectacular from the roof of the building Olivia and Gabriel were standing on, along with the man lying on the floor. It looked even more spectacular from the roof of a building a few blocks away from the site, where Bagh was standing, smiling through his mask and running his fingers through his hair.

“Spectacular! Now that is something you don’t see every f*****g day. You do have to appreciate the fact that they made the red district area look actually red.” Bagh said and listened to Olivia through the earpiece.

“Hello sir, we are here to rescue you and complete the mission,” Olivia said, splashing water on the man’s face.

“I don’t believe you.” The man simply said.

“I knew you wouldn’t. That is why we have the recorded message from the director which will only open from your fingerprint.” Gabriel said and handed a tablet to the man.

“Very well, if that is what the director has instructed. My name is Azak, and I was the leader of my group. I will make sure that I finish the job I started.” Azak said and tried to get up. But his knees failed him and he fell straight on his back.

“Maybe after you get those drugs out of your system. Till then, we will plan on how to get the other three of your teammates out of captivity. The other generals will be on high alert after this incident.” Olivia said and helped Azak stand up on his feet.

“Very well, beautiful lady with gorgeous hair. I will rest, only to be at my best when the time comes to reap the fruit of my sacrifices.” Azak said and his eyes lit up.

Bagh listened closely as he heard his prey getting fatter by taking in the harmful diet of hope.

“The more the meat, the richer is the kill,” Bagh said and jumped into the balcony of his safe house.

And with the end of the conversation began the fight which would shred cities apart.