The Transport

Chapter 3

As they walk towards their tent, Zy is still having second thoughts about whether she should tell him and ask for his help or wait for her to come home and let her father handle the situation. As they are about to arrive at the tent, they see a person in a black suit. She wonders why a person would wear a suit and tie in the desert. They were approached by a person in a suit,

"Mr. Romero, I'm agent Banks. United States Department of Ah who cares? I'm and I need to talk to you about the package."

Rome replied,

"Do you have my payment? You can have the package as soon as I get my payment."

Zy gets into the middle of Rome and the agent and says,

"Okay, Can you please stop referring to me as the "PACKAGE"? I'm right here and I can hear you."

Everyone in the team laughs slightly and Rome looks at Zy and says,

"Let's talk inside."

Zy looks at them in disbelief and says

"Are you ignoring me?"

Yoko grabs her to go inside the tent and says

"It's okay, let's go inside and talk."

Rome and his team get inside the tent and sit down, look at the Agent and say

"So, where's my payment?"

The agent replied,

"We need you to bring her to Washington."

Rome replied in disbelief and disappointment.

"Whoa, Whoa, we did not agree about transport. The contract says "Extraction" and "Extermination" of the insurgents. It doesn't say anything about transport."

The agent pulls out a binder from his bag and says,

"I have a contract here. The original one says here "Extract the package and get it to safety." and in sub-context 8 dash B, "For any changes in the requested mission, a high ranking officer from the United States government will inform the party to wait for further instructions at any point during the mission", and in this case it's Colonel Hughes. I believe he informed you to wait for further orders, right?"

Rome looks at Lia and she just nods in disappointment,

"Don't worry Mr. Romero. Since these changes have been requested, you will be compensated, of course. It will be twice the amount that you and my boss have agreed on. Assuming you will be able to escort Miss Tan to Washington 7 days from now."

Rome was stunned by what he said,

"7 days? What's gonna happen in 7 days? Earlier today, when we were landing on this camp, someone hacked our helicopter's transmission and told us to deliver her to Russia also in 7 days. Do you know anything about it?"

The agent just shrugs in denial and says,

"Coincidence maybe? Did ms. Tan forgot to mention that she's a daughter of a billionaire? And she has always been at the risk of getting kidn*pped for ransom since she was little? So maybe that person was just a simple kidnaper trying to scare you into giving her to him."

Rome just agrees in silence. The agent added,

"I guess we both agree that this request has not ended yet? Will I see you in Washington next week?"

Rome replied

"Why can't you take her now? You have a plane with you, right?"

The agent puts the binder back into his bag and stands up and says,

"Well, my boss has always been a fan of your work and he wants to see you in person and give you a bag full of cash. If you decide to just leave her here, we can arrange for the special forces or the CIA to pick her up and bring her to the US, but the contract will be considered as void and you will not get your payment. Again, you have 7 days. Oh, and by the way? I totally agree with what you did with that racist asshole, Rittenhouse. I got it on video and I'm posting it on TikTok."

The agent walks away laughing while Rome is sitting still.

Rome walks to the front of his whole team and says

"Okay, we need to discuss how we will proceed with this mission. Do any of you have any thoughts-"

Rome was interrupted by Snail, who was in a wheelchair that was being pushed by Tanya.

"You're not gonna start this huddle without me, will you boss?"

Rome asked Snail,

"Good to see you kid. How's the wound?"

Snail replied,

"No organ was damaged, so just a flesh wound."

Rome just smiled and said,

"You know I will still beat you up for what happened, right?"

Snail just smiled and Rome added,

"I have already contacted Hannah. She will pick you up tomorrow morning. You need to rest and heal fast so that you can get back to us."

Snail replied,

"Yes, boss".

Rome starts talking to his team again and asks,

"I was saying, any of you have any thoughts on how we should proceed?"

Lia responds,

"Boss? Don't you think we need to address this "7 days" issue first?"

Rome answers

"That's why I'm asking you how we should proceed. If we decide to turn down the contract, we can just forget this whole 7-day bullshit and we can go home. But, if we decide to go through with this, we will get to the bottom of this whole "7days" bullshit."

Rome looks at Zy but Zy looks away scared.

"It's obvious that something's up. I told you all when we were on the plane that something felt off. But I'm not gonna risk our safety just to know the truth and get some cash for it. That's why I'm asking you about how we should proceed, because I'm voting on dropping this whole mission."

Wade tells Rome

"Rome, that also means we are not getting paid. Are you sure?"

Rome answers,

"I have some cash on me, I can cover the 4 million that was agreed. I can't risk losing any of you in this shady deal."

Yoko speaks loudly,

"I vote we keep on going. Finish what we started. It's obvious she needs our help and I have a feeling that something good will come out of this."

Lia asks,

"Are you sure your not just saying that because you bonded with her? She's not even talking or giving us anything that might help and your voting for all of us to risk our lives for her?"

Yoko responds,

"Are you questioning my instincts? How many times have you been saved by it again?"

Rome interrupts them immediately because they are about to start a fight by saying,

"Okay, that's enough. We have to respect our decision on this. We can't afford to fight among ourselves."

Yoko and Lia respond.

"Sorry, Boss."

Yoko calmly asks Zy,

"Are you sure you don't have anything to say?"

Zy looks at Rome who's at the front and loudly says,

"Actually, I have something to tell you."

Miggy interrupted her by saying,

"Boss, I got something here. Someone's calling our private line."

Everyone was shocked because this private line is especially made by Miggy, who's a super hacker and they only use it for contacting each other or contacting their clients. No one should be able to reach this line.

"Miggy, secure the line. Make sure no one is listening. Wade, Nick, Tony and Wardo check the area. Make sure no one is eavesdropping."

Everyone who was mentioned replied "Yes, Boss". After a few minutes, someone was still calling. The ones who checked the perimeter came back and told Rome that everything was clear.

"Be on guard. Make sure no one is listening and no one is here other than us."

Rome grabs the laptop and answers the call. On the laptop an old, maybe 60 or 65-year-old Chinese man appeared. Zy immediately stands up as she sees the person on the laptop and says "Dad?" The person on the laptop replies,

"I can see that your fine. Thank god. I need to talk to Augustus Romero. Is he there?"

Rome answers as he is facing towards the laptop and says,

"That will be me."

Zy's father replied,

"Thank you for saving my daughter, Mr. Romero. My name is Tan Yuanchun or you can call me Tony. I have a favor to ask of you."

Rome replied,

"You can just call me Rome, Mr. Tan. and I don't think you're in any position to ask for any favors."

Zy interrupts Rome by shouting,

"Hey!"

Zy's father tells his daughter

"It's fine dear. Just let me talk to him. Rome, you're right. I don't have any right to ask anything from you or your team, but please just listen to me first."

Rome looks at his team and Yoko tells him,

"Well, we've been waiting for some answers from her, right? Now we can get it. Just from her father instead."

Everyone agreed in silence and Zy's father started talking.

"Zy is my only child. She is my joy and my hope. Unfortunately, my daughter is too special even for me. His own father. Mr. Romero, are you familiar with the legend of "God's Blessings?"

The whole team was shocked and obviously happy when they heard the words "God's Blessings". Zy's father continues to talk.

"They said that these blessings were given by god to the people of the world to bring peace, love and hope. I'm proud that my daughter was given this blessing from god but it only gives hope to people who surround my daughter. This blessing has only given my daughter sufferings, pain and misery. It started when my daughter was 6 years old. Our house was ransacked by thieves. I was shot in my abdomen, hitting my liver, my lungs and some of my organs in my stomach. I was about to die. But, when my daughter saw me lying on the ground drowning in my own pool of blood, my daughter came to me and hugged me while crying. I woke up in the morning in the same spot where I was shot, with my daughter sleeping on my chest, sleeping by herself crying the whole night. Without any wounds, my dried blood was still on the floor but I was fine. I had myself checked by the best doctors in China and they said I was fine. It seemed nothing happened and I thought I was just lucky. I did my own research to keep this in my family and I learned that my daughter has Mary's hands. They said that she can heal any wounds, disease and even curses in the world. So I made sure that no one knew about this. I used my fortune to make sure that everyone in my house that night would not speak any of it. I even paid the ones who robbed my house to forget that they robbed my house. But 23 years later, my worst fear has come. Some people will take my daughter and use her for their own gain. That's why I ask you a favor to, please, bring my daughter to me so that I can protect her. I cannot pick her up myself because an organization has threatened to kill her as soon as I leave my house here in China and I cannot take that risk."

The whole team listens to him and is very intrigued by what they hear while Zy is crying, listening to her also crying father as he speaks. Rome asks Zy's father, "

You said that you kept this secret for 23 years by paying off all those people in your house when the first healing started 23 years ago. That means it worked. Who are these people? And why are they interested in your daughter now if they don't have any idea of what she can do? And what's these 7 days that the other parties are interested in?"

Zy's father answered,

"My daughter is a natural kind person. She will help anyone who needs it. These people thought that her hands would be able to heal someone in 7 days, but they did not know that the healing would only happen if Zy really wanted to heal or help the sick person. The healing will not appear if Zy thinks the person doesn't deserve it."

Rome sighs and tells Zy's father.

"Mr. Tan, you're missing the point of my question. I don't give a s**t about you or about what your daughter can do. I'm asking what kind of people we are dealing with here? Because I am not risking people's lives just to bring home a rich girl back to her daddy."

Zy slaps Rome in the face but Rome was not affected by it. The whole team was quiet. Zy said

"You asshole! I don't need your help. I can take care of myself."

Zy grabs the laptop and went to the corner of the tent. The whole team is trying to look away so that they cannot see her crying while talking to her father. Wade looks at Rome and says,

"That's kind of a d**k-move dude."

Rome replied,

"I don't care. I mean what I said. I'm still voting on dropping this."

Rome replied while smiling.

"Well, I think the whole thing has already been decided. You already know what is happening next, right?"

Rome just shakes his head while watching Zy cry while talking to her father.

"Dad, it's okay. I can do this. We don't need them. I can go home on my own."

Zy explains to her father while crying. Her father aggressively said,

"No, Let me talk to the man again. Whether we like it or not, we need his help. Give him the laptop and let me talk to him. Do not fight me about this."

Zy was just quiet because she didn't want to upset her father more. She couldn't handle seeing her father cry so she just gave the laptop to Rome without talking. Rome starts talking as soon as the laptop was given to him,

"Mr. Tan, Our orders were to bring her to Washington. They said that once we escort her there, their boss will personally make the arrangements to bring her to you because they said their boss owes you something big. And also, we actually don't do any transport missions. It's too risky and dangerous."

Zy's father replied.

"Please, do not bring her to Washington. It would be more dangerous for her if you took her there. They discovered what my daughter could do. That's why they wanted her to be brought there. They will either give my daughter to those people or they will use my daughter for their own self-gain. Whatever the case, do not bring my daughter to Washington. Please."

Rome replied,

"Well Mr. Tan, we are actually voting right now on whether we should bring her to the US or not. Me personally, I am voting on dropping this whole thing because I think it's too dangerous for my men."

Zy's father replied.

"I know that you have a contract with the US. If you make a new contract with me, I'm giving you 300 million US dollars."

The whole team was shocked but Rome replied,

"I'm sorry Mr. Tan, but like I said we don-"

Rome was interrupted by Yoko grabbing the laptop from him. Yoko tells Zy's father

"Hi, I'm Yoko one Rome's subordinates. We will talk about it and we will call you back. Don't worry about Zy, she's with us so she's safe."

Yoko then closes the laptop so hard that Miggy reacts.

"Hey! Be careful with that."

Yoko looks at Rome and says

"Boss, I'm sorry for doing that and it won't happen again. But we need to talk about this."

Zy was looking at Yoko and she was a little disappointed. She thought that Yoko wanted to help her because she had become her friend. She thought Yoko was concerned about her but she realized that when she heard the 300 million involved she got excited and wanted to help. Also, Yoko never looked at her after talking to her dad and just started talking to her team.

Yoko leads the meeting while Rome is just sitting still. Yoko starts by saying,

"Okay, I vote to take this job. Raise anyone who agrees."

Rome interrupts by saying,

"Wait, wait, wait! We cannot just decide right away to take this job without knowing what's gonna happen. This 300 million is not worth it if some of us die along the way. Plus, our original client is the US government. If we take her away, we can get Red Notices on our asses. (A Red Notice is a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action.)

Lia responds (Lia knows this because she is the lawyer of the team),

"They can't enforce any red notice against us, their boss is only an acquaintance of their family. If her father or even she makes a request for us to bring her to somewhere she thinks is much more safe for her, as long as we accept the request, we can do it. And Rome, you know full well, we are not doing this for the money."

Yoko added by saying

"Yeah! We have been waiting for this. She's the one we've been waiting for and she's right here right now."

Yoko was smiling with happiness and obviously excited while looking at Zy, but Zy was confused as to what was happening. In her mind,

"What does she mean by "I can help"? and they said that they are not doing this for money, are they planning on using me in one of their schemes?"

Zy can hear Wade talking by saying,

"I told you the team had already made a decision. I guess it's an 9 to 1 vote."

Everyone agrees by nodding in silence. Rome just sighs and says,

"Call him."

Everyone cheered upon hearing what Rome said, but he also said,

"If I see any risk in this, I'm shutting it down immediately. And we need to get more info on who's after her."

But everyone just ignored him and Miggy started calling Zy's father using his laptop. Yoko immediately walks towards Zy and hugs her and kisses her on the cheeks. Yoko tells her,

"Thank you!! I will explain everything later. I will always keep you safe, okay?"

Miggy called Zy's father to talk about the new contract for transporting her directly to China. As he picked up the call, Rome was the first one to talk and say,

"We will take the contract, but we need all the information that you have from whoever is trying to take her."

Zy's father was pleased to hear what Rome said and said,

"I will tell you everything that I know. But first, I have certain conditions on how you will bring her to me. Can we negotiate on the contract?"

Rome looks at his team and they nod in agreement.

"Okay, let's hear it."

Zy's father replied,

"You can take her to the US, but not to Washington. Take her to Montana. She needs to meet someone."

Zy interrupts upon hearing this and says,

"Dad no, It's too dangerous. I need to go directly to China."

Rome interrupts them from talking by saying,

"Whoa, whoa! You said earlier that we can't take her to the US because there's a threat to her life there. Now you want us to bring her there, meet someone and then bring her to China. That's cross-globe transport and much more dangerous."

Rome was grabbed by Yoko in the arms and says

"If she can help us, that's the least that we can do for her. Let's do it."

Rome replied,

"I told you, if I see any danger towards any of us in this mission I'm shutting it down immediately."

Yoko replied,

"Boss, let's do this. We can handle it. I can contact Em right now. She can start scouting the area. She's in the US."

Everyone agrees with Yoko. Rome looks at Zy's father and says,

"Why do we need to go there and who is she meeting?"

Zy's father replied,

"She needs to meet her grandmother. She also had the blessing before."

Rome asks,

"Before? Why meet her then? I'm asking these questions because I wanna make sure that there are no surprises that may harm me or my team while doing this job."

Zy's father starts to explain,

"Her grandmother, on her mother's side, had the blessing 70 years ago. Her blessing was what they call "Noah's Voice". That means she can understand and speak to all living creatures in this world. She was just like my daughter, she had a lot of people who wanted to use her for their self-gain. She suffered from it. But, she found a way to remove it. She told me that she would give it to my daughter but she can't leave her home or the country. A lot of people know who she is and she's scared that if she left her home, those people will try to harm her and her granddaughter. Just like me."

Rome replied,

"Well, if your daughter went there, don't you think it would be dangerous also knowing that these people know that they're related?"

Zy' father confidently replies,

"Yes, but now I have you. If you agree with my terms, I know that you will keep my daughter and my mother-in-law safe. I know that I am asking for too much, but this is my only chance to give my daughter a normal life. I don't care what you say about my character. I'm also prepared to give you my entire fortune just to give my daughter the life that she deserves."

Zy was crying her eyes out upon hearing what her father said. Yoko, Tanya and Miggy also got teary eyed because of what they heard. But Rome was unaffected and continued to ask questions, which irritated Zy. Rome asks,

"How about the people who are trying to get her? Do you know anything?"

Zy's father looks at Rome straight in the eyes and says,

"Rome, I promised you that I would tell you everything that I know. But, to tell you the truth. I know only a little bit of information. There's a group called The HAND. They're called the hand because they have in their palm a number of organizations around the world, from government sectors in a number of countries, private businesses to crime organizations. They are everywhere. And from what I heard, one of their soldiers is the one people call The REAPER."

When the team heard Zy's father, they got quiet and everyone was looking at Rome and it was obvious that they were worried. Rome was also quiet. He was looking at the ground but he saw nothing. His mind turns so dark that he can't see or hear anything. After a few seconds, he hears something, a voice saying the words again and again and again. "Kill him". That's all he hears in his mind when he hears the words "The REAPER". Yoko called him "Boss?" but he never responded. He was quiet for a second. Yoko approached him and grabbed his shoulder and said,

"Boss? Rome?"

But Rome was still not answering, so Yoko gets in front of him and lifts his head. When she saw Rome's face, she quickly turned to Zy and yelled,

"Give me water!"

Zy quickly grabs the bottled water and gives it to Yoko. Zy's father, who was still on the laptop, was confused and got worried, so he asked,

"Is everything okay?"

But everyone ignored him because they were worried about Rome. When Zy saw Rome's face, she was shocked. His eyes.... His eyes were dead. Rome was not dead literally, but his eyes were like the eyes of a dead person. There's nothing in it. She wondered what was going on. Yoko poured the water on her hands and grabbed Rome's face while yelling,

"Boss? Boss? Can you hear me? Rome? Augustus! Come back to us! We're not done yet! Rome!!!"

Zy can see that the whole team is worried and they try to approach Rome but Yoko immediately stops them.

"Do not get near here! He needs air. Stay where you are. Rome?"

She continues to shake Romes' head. Yoko turns to Zy and tells her,

"Grab his face and call his name."

Zy was shocked and said,

"What?"

Yoko says,

"You have the blessing. Just please, grab him and call his name."

Zy was confused and a little scared. She grabbed Rome by the shoulder and said,

"Rome? Rome? Rome?"

She did not get any response and she was worried because the person she grabbed by the shoulder was strangely cold. She kept calling his name but she did not get any answer. She then shouted,

"Wake up! You still need to take me home you d**k!!!"

Rome started to regain consciousness because someone kept on calling his name. When he starts to see something, the first thing he sees is a person. In his mind, he sees a beautiful lady in front of him. A beautiful lady with a porcelain complexion. A lady with an obvious Asian heritage but has blue eyes. He then realizes that this is the annoying rich kid that he needs to take home to China. He then said,

"Can you let go of me? I'm talking to your father."

Zy was embarrassed and quickly let go of his shoulder and said,

"You dozed off you i***t! You're not responding and Yoko told me to check on you."

Yoko immediately hugs Rome while crying and says,

"What the f**k is wrong with you? Don't you disappear from us like that again."

Rome immediately apologizes while rubbing the back of the head of Yoko and says,

"I'm sorry. I don't know what happened."

Zy's father can see that Rome is talking now and says,

"Rome? Are you okay? Is everything okay?"

Yoko lets go of Rome and Rome starts talking to Zy's father and says

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just realized that your daughter is lucky to have you as her father. Don't worry, we will take her home. I will have one of my men draft the contract and send it to you right away."

Everyone cheers and Zy immediately goes to Yoko and starts crying and says,

"Thank you!"

Yoko hugs her back and says

"No, I need to thank you in advance."

Yoko also yells at everyone and says,

"I told you something good would come out of this!"

Yoko then looks at Zy and tells her.

"Okay, you can stop crying. After this meeting, I will tell you everything. I will also explain why I said earlier that we need your help. Okay?"

Zy just nods while crying.

Everyone gathers around Rome to finalize their plan for the mission. Rome says,

"Okay, the mission is to take her to the US and let her meet her grandmother. We will take both of them to China."

Lia says,

"So you agree on bringing her along with us?"

Rome replied,

"Yes, we cannot leave her there on her own. Her father said that she was also in danger. We need to secure anyone that we can."

When Zy hears this, she cries again and gets in front of the whole team and says,

"Thank you!"

She did this while making the Chinese gesture of thank you. Yoko grabs her to her chair and tells her,

"It's okay"

Rome continued and said,

"So here's the plan. Tomorrow we will fly directly to the US using their military plane. We land in Texas and from there we travel to the destination by land. We cannot take a commercial plane since we have a company looking for us there and they're maybe there already. So we use cars. Someone needs to contact Em about the equipment."

Yoko says,

"I have already contacted her. She is on her way to start scouting."

Rome replied,

"Good. all equipment we use is ours. We don't accept or use equipment issued by the US government. We use stop overs if really necessary. We don't interact with civilians. We don't hesitate to take down any pursuers or anyone that hinders the mission. And lastly, always have each others backs. Understand?"

Everyone replied,

"Yes boss!"

Rome lastly says,

"Prepare everything that's needed for tomorrow. Get some sleep. Snail, prepare for your pick up."

Snail replied.

"Yes, boss!"

As everyone was preparing for their departure in the morning, Yoko and Lia grab Zy and tell her,

"We need to talk to you. Let's go to the infirmary."

They head towards the infirmary that they used when they removed the bullets from Snail's body, since the US army gave them not just the shitty DRASH to set up camp, but also the shittiest infirmary there, since no one is there to use it or no one in their right mind will use it.

"We told you earlier that we needed your help. Actually, it's about your blessing. We need your blessing's help." Zy replied "Okay. Are you injured? Or does anyone from your family need treatment??"

Yoko replied,

"No, It's for Rome."

Zy got confused, because why would a strong and healthy soldier need treatment? She asks them,

"Is he sick?"

Yoko replied and both she and Lia were about to cry.

"I will tell you everything. But please promise me that you will help him. Okay?"

Zy got scared by what she's about to hear.