The Last Embrace 158 The Gathering & The Planning

It's early evening.

Aston and his men gathered inside the warehouse.

He already had a solid plan in place and they will be split into three groups, the main venue will take place in this warehouse, it's an hour drive from the city which was situated a few miles away from the busy neighborhood, this warehouse was specially rented for this one time purpose.

The warehouse has two entrances...both at the back and front.

The inside was filled with used tires of all sizes piled up as high as 5 feet.

Three of his men will guard the girl in another safe house thirty minutes from the warehouse. Once the ransom bearer arrived with the money, they will be blindfolded and their hands will be tied with a rope. The ransom bearer along with his three escorts will be brought into the safe house where the girl was kept, they will check the money for its authenticity and if everything is okay then they will release the girl along with the ransom bearer.

Outside the warehouse one of his men will drive the ransom bearers car away from the warehouse just to test if there will be people trailing the vehicle...if there is...then the operation was compromised, his men will call him and alert him that the parents of the girl hired people to disrupt the ransom, it will give him enough time to decide what steps he will do next, as much as possible he doesn't want any fighting and killing happening tonight, he just wants the ransom money and a long rest afterward...hopefully...if that is possible.

Aston was hoping that the ransom will go as planned tonight with no bloodshed.

But if things will go wrong then his and his men's life will probably end tonight.

He will send the location of the warehouse to the girl's father exactly at 10:00 tonight.

He will know by then if the father of the girl hired men to sabotage the ransom, the father might send men to surveillance the warehouse, unknown to them he already planted his men strategically in the different areas outside the warehouse to monitor any outside interference.

He had the advantage because he was the one who calls the shot when it comes to the meeting place, it allows him to be prepared just in case the father of the girl won't follow his rules.

Aston and his men will eat together inside the warehouse it could be their last meal together. In every operation, they undertook they were always anticipating the worst that's why they're already prepared mentally for anything to happen.

Their previous operation went well, the ransom was given and the captives were freed accordingly. Nobody was harmed between two parties, hopefully, the same thing will happen tonight.

He released a deep sigh.

After thirty minutes....the food finally arrived.

The men gathered around the food and began eating their dinner. But there are no alcoholic drinks tonight, he wants everyone to be alert and perform their jobs in sound mind, his men can drink anything they like after the successful operation as for tonight everyone must have a sharp mind to be ready for any surprises that may come their way.

After eating their meals, Aston gave each of his men two thousand dollars each, the men grinned at each other very much thankful for the advance bonus.

Tonight is their biggest payout to date, they must succeed!

~~~o0o~~~

Captain Mercado and his team gathered in the military camp. They have been waiting for the text message from the girl's father's informing them of the venue of the next meeting, yesterday the text did not come, they hope it will come tonight so that they can finally wrap up the operation.

It will be the same set up as the previous, he and his two men will bring the attache case filled with money to meet the leader of the kidnappers and then they will bring the girl back to safety while his men will trail the kidnappers wherever they will go and make them surrender, if they won't surrender they will all die as per Colonel's Brown's order.

But deep inside he knew that the kidnappers won't give up the money easily so he's expecting there will be bloodshed tonight.

The only downside...being the ransom bearer he and his men can not bring any weapon with them because the kidnappers will check their body for any weapon, so it's kind of suicide mission, though he can appoint any men to take his position so that he will be the one directing the orders and not the one to be the sacrificial lamb, but his conscience can't allow him, he'd rather be the one to face the danger than have one of his men takes his place and end up dead tonight. He feels that if he is in the area he can plan better and analyzed the situation accordingly, beside the girl's safety is entrusted to her by the Colonel he can't just hand it to anybody else because he was afraid of death.

He must take responsibility in spite of the risk involved, and carry on with this dangerous job with bravery and pride on his shoulder.

Captain Mercado was facing Arnold the second in command who will lead the rest of the team as their back up.

"What do you think the kidnappers will do, Arnold?" he asked.

"I think they will secure the place first, Sir. They are the ones who call the shot, they're the ones choosing the place for the meeting, therefore, they know the in's and out's of that place, it's all to their advantage and it does not look good at our end, to be honest, Sir," Arnold replied.

"So...you mean to say they will try to put a trap for us?"

"Yes. If I am the leader of the kidnappers that will be my plan. They will make sure we can't follow them and they will be able to get away with the money without anyone following them. As for the meeting place, I am sure they will post their men all around the warehouse and once we arrived in that place they will know, so it's kind of dangerous on your part and your escorts because you are not carrying any weapons with you, they might kill you and the girl on the spot...took the money and flee," Arnold said.

Chapter end