Reborn Heart of Steel

We exited, Alessandro leaving for the area in front of the club and Chase and I went to the back side of the club, to the rear yard. It was evident that the music was louder and getting closer; the bass as if resonated with the pounding of my heart.

Chase worked the lock on the back door and we entered the building in a rush. The hall was poorly illuminated: the smell that reigned in it was of cigarette smoke and low-quality perfume. We advanced stealthily to and fro and, in our attempt to avoid being detected by the enemy, we remained on the lookout. We got to the main social part of the club and I slowly looked around the corner. It was quite crowded, there were gyrating Americans on the dance floor and there were half-naked ladies dancing on a pole being tipped by white men with dollar bills. That provided me with a rather creepy feeling, knowing that The Raven was running all sorts of illicit business here behind the scenes. At that point, there was a row in front of the club’s entrance. Alessandro’s distraction was working security guards were running towards the entrance, which made it very easy to access the back areas. ‘Here is our moment,’ Chase breathed softly, pulling me towards a door that said ‘Private’. We managed to gain entry, and we were now in what appeared to be the reception area of a small office. I moved to put the homemade incendiary devices Chase and I had made in various strategic areas in the room and gave Chase a sharp poke on the arm so that he stood watch by the door. When I was done, I heard Chase muttering under his breath. “They are here now, we have to leave, ” We hurried back to the office only to be confronted by two muscled security officers. For a moment, none of us moved we just looked at each other in disbelief. Then the gloves went off. Chase was quicker, and he attacked one of the guards, laying him out on the floor, immediately. I bent to avoid the punch that the other guard tried to land on my face; the blow was but an inch away from me. I charged at him and instead of punching, which I had wanted to do, I kicked him on the knee. He growled in agony, making him lose balance and fall back. “Brianne, run!” Chase commanded, as the first guard he was fighting with somehow still pinned him against the wall. I still remember the moment when it took me half a second to get up and not stay with him. But I realized we would both get caught if I were to stay. By way of an apology, I quickly fled down the corridor by jogging. I could hear some shouting in my rear as I used my back to throw the door open and stepped out to the onset of the alley. The night breeze felt as if it was a punch to my face, and I was panting as I was running with my heart thumping vigorously.

By the time I was at the last house in the alley, a man emerged from the doorway. I was preparing to launch a punch at him only to find out that it was Alessandro. ‘Chase where?’ His face was full of worry. Before I could say anything, Chase ran through the hall cursing, there was blood on his lip and his shirt was half torn. ‘Start the fun,’ he shouted. We rushed, especially not slowing down until we got to the van. Alessandro backed off the curb and howled rubber as several red-faced men came out of the club. As we moved through the night, I struggled with the handle of the detonator for our gadgets. At the moment of one of the strongest petitions, I cautiously pushed the button. He stood there completely still for a second, and perhaps for a second more. After that, when I cranked my head around and looked through the driver’s side mirror and then the passenger side mirror-I saw an explosion of light, then a puff of gray smoke in the direction of the club. “We did it,” I said, falling back on the seat. Chase slid over to me and grabbed my hand and held it firmly. Though I had just escaped from such a mishap, I could note a pride in his eyes. “You were great back there, Bri,” Alessandro jumped for joy from the driver’s seat, which was audible to everyone. ‘Three strikes against The Raven! He must feel the pressure now’. I could give a small smile and the adrenaline that was pumping through my veins due to our escape was slowly receding. We’d done it. Averagely, The Raven Empire is steadily but gradually being pulled down and what better way to cripple its wealth creation than through this win? However, when the first waves of enthusiasm slowly started fading, a sort of discomfort began to take its place in my conscience. ‘It was too close this time,’ I pointed out in a critique. All of them had their automatic weapons trained on us from the moment we emerged from the tunnel, they knew we’d be coming no matter what was being said back there and what if next time Chase stopped me with a light kiss on the lips. ‘Hey, no ‘what ifs’. We made it out. That’s what matters. ‘ I couldn’t help but to look worried, so I just nodded my head in an attempt to forget all about it. Chase was right. We had known the risk when we were entering into the project and even then we had delivered. Still, I never felt completely at ease because something told me that luck was not going to last forever. Even before I could voice what I was thinking, it was Alessandro who opened his mouth. ‘For a while now, we need to keep a low profile to recharge and plan a new course of action’. I was about to nod in consensus when my cellular phone rang. A second text message from an unknown number this time, once again, from The Raven. ‘I am relieved to hear from you,’ I read out loud, although there were only two people standing near me. This time, the word ‘contemporary’ was not spelled out, there was only an image. It presented the scene of the strip club on fire, the fire rising towards the dark heavens. They were, but again, it was the foreground because it was something that made my blood run cold. In front of the burning house there was a man dressed in a black coat and his face was covered with the raven mask. “Guys,” I whispered. ‘You know what?’ ‘We’ve got a problem. ‘ I then handed the phone to Chase and I watched his face turn as white a sheet of paper. ‘He was there. He saw us. ‘ Alessandro swore, gave the wheel yet another slam, frustrating. Its aborted kinetically, its reiterates rhetorically: “How? How did he know?” I stood still for some time, stunned and frightened, my head in a whirl. Rather, I don’t know. But this alters the whole game. He is not just responding anymore; he is predicting us. We sat in the car for some time, which was rather quiet, each of us lost in our own memories. Finally, Chase spoke up. “We have to identify how he got the information. There has to be a source of leak. ” Alessandro nodded grimly. ‘I will begin to dig; try to find out more about that number, learn how he can outwit us every time”. As we got to the parking lot of yet again some run-down motel which had served as a base for the past few days, the reality of the situation came down on me. We would have thought that we were a group full of ingenuity, full of courage. But we never noticed this; no, The Raven had been toying with us the entire time, manipulating us like pawns on a chessboard. We went into our room, something different from the schedule we had been abiding to since all of this started. Yet, as I settled gingerly onto the uncomfortable bed surface, as the weariness embraced me as all the consequences of the day’s operations, then I realized something had happened. This was in the works for a long while, according to the raven; the game had thus been elevated to a new level of risk. He plugged in his laptop and, without any delay, he started his surfing to get information. Chase walked through the small room with a serious look in his face. I shut my eyes tight, to try and make a sane attempt at proceeding to make some sense out of all the occurrences.

Yes, just as I began to fade off, the phone rang a second time. I sat up suddenly, my thoughts frantic as I tried to find it. Here is the second letter from The Raven. This time, the words sent a chill through my entire body: Signing out, she added, “I see you, Brianne”. “Sweet dreams. ” I took the message to Chase and Alessandro, which we read and had the same look on our faces, a look of pure terror. “He knows where we are,” Chase said with barely contained rage and anxiety. Alessandro was already dismantling his equipment when I arrived. ‘We have to shift. Now!’ At that moment, we were frantically picking up our belongings, when I realized something. “Guys,” I blurted out hastily. ‘This is exactly what he wants’ ‘He is trying to keep us off balance all the time running, he’s always running’ Chase blinked, staring at me as if he couldn’t quite comprehend, at the same time looked at me with respect. And leaned forward, brushing her hair so that she looked at him questioningly and asked: “What are you thinking, Bri?” Well, almost hesitatingly, I said, ‘Can I ask what we’re doing here?’ ‘We paused to regroup. We set our heels on the ground. And we go straight after The Raven. ‘ For a few seconds, Chase and Alessandro were clearly shocked by what I had said, and we did not speak. Then gradually I noticed that I could detect realization and resolve sparkling in their eyes. “It is insane,” was Alessandro’s response, smirking at me.

Chase wrapped me in strict arms and hugged tightly. ‘You are something else! You know that? Scary, but amazing!’ Letting my head rest against him, I pulled my strength from him. ‘Well yes, that’s the plan I guess, we are actually planning to go head-to-head with The Raven?’ They both agreed, and I felt a warm feeling of affection towards these two boys who, kept with me in all the trouble.

OK then,” I said,. I had no idea how my voice wasn’t shaking, but it wasn’t, there was fear and excitement, but it wasn’t showing at all. ‘Let’s show The Raven. This is what Westbrook High does to people who dare cross it. ‘ ” When we took our positions to strategize on what we were going to do next, I realized that we were into the most lethal stage of the struggle yet. Furthermore, The Raven had started improving his security measures and had since tripled his security measures on his other properties. And the most important of all things that he did not anticipate was that we were actually prepared, and more significantly, we surprised him. He assumed he had gotten to know his opponents and, meanwhile, things were about to get completely turned upside down for them. Now the major question that was on my mind was “What will be my next move? I needed to bring this to an end for me, for Lucy and for everyone that has made their hopes dead because of The Phoenix Organization.Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.