Chapter 246 - 246 Going to Saudi Arabia

246 Going to Saudi Arabia

Now was the day we went to Saudi Arabia, to stop Matthew Lock from making the deal, or at least trick him into making a deal with us.

This could go bust, in fact it will most likely go bust, however, this could also be the last pin in stopping the MSTO’s plans.

I’m ready for this. But it’s mostly Malachi to worry about. He needs to pretend like the leader of the TSA, which is quite a big role. No one even knows who he is, so he’s going to need to act with this sense of power and authority.

He must be scared to heavens, or something like that.

But after today, was tomorrow, and that was something I needed to worry about. I was going to steal from my own agency, so stop a conspiracy that Mr. Drails could possibly be doing.

Everything felt so weird, but one problem at a time–one problem at a time.

I arrived into the briefing room, where I was met with a hug by Nikki. She was the only one there for now, before the others began to enter.

Malachi eventually entered, and now–I’m not no expert at personalities–but I can tell you that Malachi was acting way, way different.

He was acting like some sort of cunning king, or clever kingpin or something along those lines.

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He had this look that sensed danger and he had this sort of act of clever personality, always knowing the next plan, or the next move.

In fact, both.

“Alright…” Mr. Drails said, his face wrapped with concern after looking at Malachi. “I’ll have one of my friends deliver you guys your TSA vests. Remember, you’ll be acting like the TSA, and we’ll arrive thirty minutes before the actual deal–best case scenario–and then Malachi will make the deal, then we rush outta there with the virus.”

“Easy as cake,” September said with a confident, and quite supporting nod. It was as if no one was worried at all about this.

Am I just weird or something?

“In twenty minutes, we’re soon to start, so set up your weapons, and make sure you’re ready by the time we start,” Mr. Drails said, looking at all of us with a keen eye.

We exited the room, and immediately went to the barracks room. Usually we set up at the briefing room, but they recently constructed a new barracks room for people to get their weapons, and to set up for a mission, like what we’re doing now.

We entered the barracks room, which looked more like a boys’ locker room in a gym. There were many doors stacked on top of each other, and there were different stations through the room. There were three hallways that led to bathroom stalls, a place to shower, and more bathroom stalls.

There were other spies inside of that room, and once they opened their lockers, there were weapons in their own sections.

Guns, knives, grenades, and a taser for good measure. But the thing on top of them was the utility belts, which hold all those weapons, including our wands.

We were assigned a locker door number when class first started, and we chose our own codes.

“Alright…where is locker 43?” I muttered, walking through the barracks. I went around the 40’s section and looked for 43, which was right at the corner.

I opened it, and laid eyes upon my new, friendly weapons. Footsteps were behind me, and I looked back to see Malachi in my same area.

Seems like he also has a locker in the 40’s section.

But I felt nervous for him every time I took any sort of look at him. He had such a big role, and stress must be destroying him right now.

I had to calm him down by some sort of chance.

I walked over to him, slowly just in case he wasn’t in the mood, and I tapped his shoulder.

He turned his head to look at me, and he gave a quick smile. That at least lowered a bit of some tension.

“Hey look, I know it’s hard for you right now, but this is going to work–trust me,” I said. “It’s going to work, and you’re going to do great.”

He said nothing.

He nodded, but said nothing.

He didn’t even want to make eye contact with me, and it made me feel guilty that I couldn’t help him. I’m his friend, and I should be able to help him in times of need. But then, his mouth opened, but yet no words escaped from his tongue.

He sighed, and then shook his head.

“I’m sorry, I’m just…I’m not used to this.”

I was taken aback.

“You’re not used to what?” I asked, taking a step back.

“This,” he said, pointing to himself.

“What do you mean, ‘this’?” I said, a bit confused.

“This mission,” he said, pointing to himself. “I haven’t done this in years, and it’s a big deal.”

“But you’re the best at this sort of stuff,” I said. “I know you are.”

“I was,” he said. “I’ve been away for a while, and I’m rusty, I guess. I was always a good conman, but this is kind of mind-blowing and stressful. I’m usually a guy who is never afraid. Loves action, danger, and risk. This isn’t really me.”

“It’s a big deal,” I said, trying to console him. “But you’ll do fine. You can do this. I would never be able to do something like this, because if I could— trust me—I would. But I’m not good, or at least as good as you. So you’ll do fine.”

I grabbed his hand, and he looked at me. His eyes were filled with the desperation of someone who has lost all hope. His face was trembling with fear, fear that took control over his body, fear that whispered into his ears, fear that spoke nothing but discouragement.

And I didn’t want that to happen to him.

But I knew that this was what he needed to do.

I pulled him close, and we hugged each other. I was still wearing my jacket, but he wore his TSA vest over a shirt and pants.

He was sweating, and I could feel it.

“I love you,” I said.

“I love you, too,” he said, a little more relaxed than before.

“I’m sorry for being so dumb, and for making you worry,” I said.

“Don’t apologize,” he said. “I just have a lot of pressure on me right now. And it’s making me anxious.”

I let go of him, and he wiped his sweat off his forehead. He looked around, before he equipped his belt, and then looked back at me. “After all, I do like danger. Might as well keep it that way.” He smiled, and that cockiness was starting to shine again. I smiled with him, before he put on his red jacket, and then patted me on the shoulder. “Thanks for that,” he said. “I need it.”

“No problem,” I said, giving a chuckle. “You got this, man. You got this. I believe in you.”

“Thanks, Connor,” he said, and that was the only time I could remember him saying my name.

He left the room, and I just began to expand my arsenal.

I was wearing my TSA vest, with my knife, gun, and wand. I put my wand in my belt and I took out a knife and a gun. The knife was sharp, and I mean really sharp, and the gun had a silencer on it, which just made it even more sick.

I loaded the gun, and checked my pockets to make sure everything was in its place.

The gun, knife, and wand were placed in their respective areas, but the utility belt was still empty.

I looked at my watch, and it read 5:30 PM.

It was about time to go.

I walked out of the barracks, and I saw Malachi, Nikki, and September walking towards me. Tisiah eventually revealed himself after the other three approached me. “Alright, are we ready?” September asked, looking at each and every one of us in this small circle. “You know we need to do, so let’s do it. Malachi, are you ready?”

That last question had a lot more stakes bottled up with it. But Malachi nodded. “Alright, let’s go to Mr. Drails and he’ll portal us over there,” she said, as she clapped her hands. We made our way out of the barracks and into the briefing room, where Mr. Drails was still located.

Mr. Drails had his hand in the air, waiting for us to appear. I stepped in, followed by Malachi, Nikki, and September and Tisiah. “Are you guys ready?” he asked, his eyes staring right into our souls.

“We’re ready,” I said with a firm nod. He nodded, and then right then, a portal shot from under our feet. We were sucked in, and I hit the ground—or in this case, the road—hard, as pain shot through my body. “He does that every single time,” Malachi groaned.

“Well, you gotta be careful, I guess,” I said, rubbing my arm. “Now, we just need to get there in time. Where’s all the YMPA vehicles, didn’t they say—” I was disturbed the sight of the city, where the sun glowed behind this one building, giving the city its glorious look. But when I looked up, I realized that I wasn’t on the streets of the city.

We were in the middle of the street, and the buildings were tall and there were cars, but mostly other people walking around. “Let’s get on the sidewalk,” September suggested. “Yeah, good idea,” I muttered.

We walked along the sidewalk until we reached an alley, where a group of people were walking. One of them was a tall guy, with dark hair and a mustache. He passed by me, and I could smell this stench of sweat that whiffed into my nose. I tried not to cough but it was very challenging not to, and it was getting worse. I noticed that this guy was a few inches taller than me, and he had a scar on his cheek, and a tattoo on his neck.

I looked ahead, not thinking about the man. I saw a large white truck, and the back doors were open, revealing a large cargo space. It was parked in the middle of the street, and it was wide enough for four cars to fit.

“This place is very different,” Malachi said, looking at the written messages on the buildings beside us. “Very different.”

“What’s this?” I asked, looking at a billboard with a picture of a woman wearing a dress. She had a red ribbon tied around her wrist, and she was smiling.

“Oh, that’s a promotion for some local radio station,” Nikki said, reading the sign. “It’s promoting their new music video.”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“They look like they’re having a lot of fun here,” I said, looking at a young couple walking down the road.

“I wouldn’t know, I’ve never been to this city before,” Malachi said. “Now, Mr. Drails said we would see a row of YMPA vehicles pretending to be TSA transports, so…where is it?”

“I don’t know, but I can’t wait to get out of here,” Nikki said.

“Me neither,” I said, looking at the back of a truck. “I’m just hoping we get in without a hitch.”

“I know what you mean,” Malachi said. “I’m just wondering what kind of trouble we’re going to find over here.”

But all of a sudden, a loud growl of a multitude of cars roared over the corner of the alleyway. Soon enough, five black cars arrived in front of us abruptly. They were all the same make and model, but they were all slightly different colors, and the windows were tinted, so it was hard to see who was inside.

One of them rolled down their windows, which was a man with sunglasses and rough dirty-brown hair. He moved his head, gesturing for us to get inside of the car. I nodded, and made the first move. I walked forward, and the door opened. I got inside of the car, and Malachi came in right after me.

“You okay, man?” I asked, seeing his face pale. He nodded, and he sat in the seat, looking at the man in sunglasses.

September entered, in which Nikki and Tisiah entered afterwards. “So we’ve got our transport,” I said, turning to the driver.

The man nodded. “I’ve got your ride,” he said with a voice that sounded like gravel. “We’re going to be going to the skyscraper where the deal is being held: the V&V Corporation. We need to be there in thirty minutes.”

“Got it,” I said.

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