Fight for Palet ( part I )

" Alright, it's settled. Tomorrow we will go for the outlaws and will proceed as we have decided, " Jamal said to conclude the strategic meeting while he already started to fold the map and collect the other materials they were using. He walked toward a shelf and stocked them there in order, " however, for the time being, I ask you to go find your beds and have some rest to replenish as much of your energy as you can before we go on this mission. So hurry up and go to sleep ".

Everyone agreed and the noisy crowd started slowly leaving the room, some of them were discussing the mission, explaining and commenting about some steps of the plan while the others were rather sharing some stories of their previous missions with the members of Palet's group. They were cheering them up as some of them were still very worried. [ What is completely normal. Tomorrow will be their first real battle ] Jamal said to himself while he was gazing at the crowd on their way.

" It also valuable for you," he said to the four people remaining in the hall with him, " we have no more thing to discuss, so go take some rest too ".

The three of them put a step forward but then stopped when they saw that Volga didn't move and was staring at him. They gazed at them, puzzled while trying to figure out what was going on between them both.

" What is the problem? " Jamal finally asked her.

" Nothing " she shrugged while playing the innocent, " you have said that we should go sleep, so I'm just waiting for you to go up together ".

He looked at her, confused " it's not like we're husband and wife and that we sleep in the same bed, since when so do we have to go together? "

" Since you have decided all by yourself to sacrifice your time of sleep to guard this house. So either you come to sleep, like all of us, or I will stay along with you to play the knights protecting the castle during this night, " she replied while she crossed her arms on her breasts like if she was challenging him.

Jamal glanced at the three other people besides her and it seemed that they didn't understand the situation so they couldn't stand on his side, but it didn't make any difference since Volga, only by herself, was as stubborn as the women who were part of his life. [ I wonder how it would be when the three of them meet ] he thought for a moment before he focused back on the actual matter.

" It may be true that no one will dare to attack us in the middle of the night but... you already know that I'm an over cautious guy... " he started to explain, even though he knew that such argument would never work against her.

" So in that case I will come with you to watch over our army. It also my duty, as their chief, to protect them, " she immediately replied without letting him the time to prepare a supporting argument.

" Yeah... but you have to regain energy to be fully operational for tomorrow's mission, so it necessary for you... for all of you to get plenty of time to sleep, " he responded difficultly.

" And it is also valuable for you, don't forget that you are our main weapon against our enemies, we can't afford to have you even with only 50% of your capacity " she countered.

" Yeah but that's won't happen because, on contrary to you all, I'm well trained to spend even two weeks without sleeping at night and still have full control of my body and my mind without any signs of tiredness. So don't worry, it will go well for me, just go " he said with a smile thinking that he finally win the argument with this strong statement. But he underestimated the woman before him too much.

She walked toward him, grabbed tightly his arm, and without letting him the time to escape she pulled him toward the door. " I have enough of this comedy, the debate is over, there's no more discussion. You come to sleep like all of us and that's all, " she told him while they were leaving the room to go take the stairs. The other three didn't react immediately, they firstly glanced at each other to be sure that they were all in the same state of confusion before they left to go follow the two friends.

As Jamal stopped resisting she let go of his hand and they went up the stairs calmly. At a moment, he glanced at her, he thought about something and a smile appeared on his face.

" What's wrong ? " she asked him a little bit suspicious while she getting closer to prevent him to escape.

" Nothing wrong, I'm just looking forward to introducing you to my frie... no I mean my family. I'm sure you will like each other, three stubborn women like you, " he replied while staring in front of him and imagining the scene of when they would meet.

Volga turned her sight to look ahead of her too before sighed happily, " I'm looking forward to it too ".

They reached their room and everyone walked toward their respective beds and they jumped on them and started to fall slowly into a deep sleep.

Many hours later, Jamal opened his eyes after catching the smell of the dawn, he sat up on the bed and glanced aside at the window. He could see a beam of light coming in through the window, passing between the little spaces the curtain couldn't cover before crashing on the parquet, reflecting on it and diffusing its red lights in the room and weakly illuminating it.

He sighed at the thought that once again he woke up at the exact moment the sun was rising, " I guess I just can't miss it . Well, here we go again " he repeated.

He was already wearing his uniform when his comrades and roommates started to wake up. He saluted them and then left the room while telling them " I'm going ahead to wake up our soldiers, I'll be waiting for you at the parking ".

He had passed by all the rooms already and was about to go for the last one when Glenn ran into him on the way while he was coming from his bedroom. " You are circulating to wake people up, right? " he asked Jamal while glancing back discreetly times to times at his door but not discreetly enough for Jamal to not notice it.

The latter acted like he didn't see anything and he replied with a smile, " exactly, I was even about to come for you but I see that you didn't need me after all, " but when Glenn glanced back again at the inside of his, Jamal added, " it seems like she doesn't want me to see her, that's why she refuses to come out, I suppose ".

The man startled a little bit and stared at him surprised as if he unmasked him and discovered a big secret he was hiding for a long. He pointed Jamal with his forefinger and muttered " You... how...? "

Jamal quickly raised his hand to stop him, " oh sorry, I didn't want to embarrass you, well as you can see I'm pretty good at observing people and I'm sorry to tell you that but you both are not very good actors, especially you. But don't worry, if you want I can keep it secret. Anyway finish your business and hurry up to come downstairs, I know you won't fight but you have to give a speech to your men before we go. Motivation is very important in a battle. See you, " Jamal, then, turned around and quickly disappeared from Glenn's sight and leaving him in a state of embarrassment and confusion.

Moments later, everyone was gathered in the parking, they were all facing the little stage where the chiefs of each army would stand to give their words to motivate their troops.

The mayor of Palet was the first one to go up on the stage where he gave them a wonderful and passionate discourse which had moved everyone, he talked about all the pain they went through during the last 2 years, how many scars both the red night and the war had left in their hearts and finished by telling them to remember there is still a promising future waiting for them whenever they would face a desperate situation that in the battlefield so that they would not give up and would continue moving forward.

However, despite all those emotions he made them feel and the handclaps he received when he was leaving the stage, Jamal was thinking that it was not a suitable speech before a battle, instead of a lot of emotions the army needed something which might give them some fighting spirit, some energy. That's why he was happier when he saw Nelson going up to give his speech, as he knew that it would be more dynamic.

" Keep your tears for after the battle! " Jamal first heard him shout. " We are about to go kill people, it is not a role play, you have to borrow only your determination and your furor. The priority is to exterminate those bastards but you have to think about your lives, don't take useless risks, don't try to play heroes. Today is a glory day because we will end this war so we all have to come back alive to celebrate it! " He put his right arm up high in the air and tight his fist, " raised your fists and screamed to express the rage hidden within your hearts, today is a day victory! " They seemed to have been taken by a wave of excitement as they all screamed in the same voice so loud that Jamal was wondering if the outlaws heard them.

As expected Nelson successfully motivated them in a good way, [ they are ready to fight ] Jamal thought.

" His speech was very inspiring, it seems like I don't even need to talk, " Volga told him, " Yeah I think too, but that's great for you, you don't like to speak to people anyway, do you? " he replied.

She smiled, " you're right, I didn't even know what I would be going to say ".

Jamal looked at Nelson who was gazing back at him, he nodded to him and he directly understood what to do. Then, he turned to the crowd and said " time has come soldiers, get in your vehicles, and let's go finish this! " They screamed one last time before they began to rush to their cars.

Glenn approached Jamal to wish him good luck, he was smiling at him but Jamal could see his uneasiness behind.

" We will be back soon," he told him, but it was not enough to shut his fear. Glenn was holding himself to not look at a certain person and Jamal noticed that too, he put a hand on the man's shoulder, " you don't have to worry, I swear I will bring her to you alive and in one piece ". Glenn raised his head to look at him, and within his eyes, only his gratitude could be seen. " Thank you very much " he simply said.

A huge number of cars started to come out from the residence before entering the road. Once they reached a certain point, they divided into four groups, three big groups lead by Nelson, Volga, and Sania and a small one lead by Jamal.

When they were plotting they had suggested that each group should be commanded by three captains of each city's army however it didn't work because Palet's army didn't have any captain experienced enough since they had never engaged in a real battle against the outlaws. So Nelson proposed Sania take this role as she seemed to be the most qualified of the rest of the soldiers, and even though it was a bit weird for him to suggest her instead of one of his men no one opposed the idea.

Each group headed to its assigned position. Thanks to his excellent knowledge of the city and his townspeople, Glenn indicated to them the exact location of the three groups of criminals and he even gave them some pieces of information concerning the guys who were leading them. He also told them which one was supposed to attack the HQ that day so that they could intercept them.

•••

The last night, Jamal explained to them the short plan Lina had imagined to deal with the case of Palet, it was not complete though as its situation was complicated furthermore they didn't have enough information about it. " We will have to complete it ourselves with the information you will give us now " he had said to Glenn. And so they managed to elaborate one.

The first group, Nelson's team, well arrived at the location where, as they had been thinking, their fight against the first group of outlaws would be. Lina had the hunch that a surprise raid into their quarter, like the one they did in Short-river, would not work and Glenn confirmed it. " Their chief, Finn an ex-policeman, is too well informed, he has eyes everywhere and once we penetrate his territory, he will immediately know it " he had revealed to them.

" Moreover there is another problem. In this case, if he has placed men here and there, we risk to be attacked at any time and we will be too vulnerable in their territories " Nelson had reminded, which unconsciously lowered the morale of his troop.

" Not specifically, " Jamal refuted while bringing a glow of hope. Everyone looked at him while he was developing his argument, " if he has put so many efforts into their security while Glenn never tried to attack means that whether he is an over-cautious guy or maybe he is in conflict with another clan, " then he turned to Glenn to seek answers.

The latter thought a little bit and before he responded, " I think it's both. He is, in fact, a very cautious man especially when he's battling with someone but I recall that he has always been on bad terms with Brett, the chief of the other clan, he's a gangster and they both have a long old story in common. Anyway, if he is actually fighting someone else it must be Brett, " he finished by pointing his location on the map.

" Sania, this guy will be your target, " Jamal decided. " It will be impossible for your group to win a direct confrontation, so I want you to make them come out from their basement and to lead them into Finn's territory where you will join with Nelson's team to take advantage of their fight and exterminate them ".

" How am I suppose to do that? " she complained, " it's almost impossible. They are not rats. I cannot lure them out from their burrow into another zone with just a piece of cheese ".

" You can and you will, " Nelson said to make her stop complaining. " They are just a bunch of cheap thugs obeying only to their instincts. Try to think about a way to do it from now on ".

She looked for a short moment before crossing her arms below her chest without adding any comment. Jamal thought that maybe she was working on a plan as Nelson advised her but wasn't sure since she looked particularly pissed.

Jamal carried on by telling Nelson, " you must decide for a place where you will stay to fight Finn, once they would engage the combat against you, while at the same time you will wait for her to arrive. Noting that those watchmen must be only one or two by location, they won't take the risk to attack when you will be on your way, instead, their chief will call them back to join forces and fight you, so don't worry about them ".

Nelson nodded and leaned to carefully observe the map and he took his time to think before he chose. He put his forefinger on the map and declared, " this place here it will be fine.

Jamal stared at it and said, " OK, perfect choice ".

•••

As a result, Nelson and his men were now at the location he had chosen while facing Finn's army.

The fight was hard but Nelson's army had been fighting like that for many months now, they were used. " Come on! Come on! Come on! Kill them all! Show them we're not some mere weaklings, " he was shouting to his men to motivate them as his habit.

They had been there for quite a moment when they finally received Sania's call. One of his men brought to him the walkie-talkie and told him that it was her.

" Yeah, it's me how is the situation there? Didn't you find any idea yet ? " he asked.

" Hum... to say the truth we are already in our way, Brett and his men are chasing us, that's why I called you, " her voice was coming out from the walkie-talkie but he found it difficult to hear her well since the sound of the wind was beating behind her, what meant that she was in her car and they were rolling very fast.

" What? So quickly? How did you do that? " he started to ask as he was very surprised.

" Hum... it's a long story but it seems like those guys can resist a sexy naked woman sitting on the roof of a pickup with a banner in what is written 'my master Finn wishes a good morning to you all dirty rats', they all came down at once to take their vehicles. They are now following us like a group of butterflies after a torch and I think Brett is with them ".

" Wait! What?! You're naked on the roof of your pickup?! " he shouted more shocked than before.

" What were you all expecting with a such mission. I'm not a genius strategist. Running fast and using my body to attract men are the only things I'm good at. But don't worry I'm not completely naked I'm still wearing my underwear. I'll be there within 20 minutes so prepare the area to welcome me, see you. " Then she hung up.

" That woman is helpless " Nelson sighed.

He turned to his men and shouted " Sania's team will be there in few minutes, prepare yourselves to execute the evasion plan ".

They were fighting against Finn in the middle of the street hidden behind the barricades they had made and surrounded by shops and buildings. Two men walked toward the right side of the street, they pushed away from the barricades they had placed before to block the way and made a sign to Nelson to tell that's it's OK.

" Alright guys, time to get out from here " they slowly fled then to the two other men and left the battlefield.

Finn's army didn't understand why the gunshots suddenly ceased, they investigated and found out that the enemies fled by using a shortcut. When they pursued them they later ran into Brett's clan in the other street. They didn't even try to understand what was going on but they directly opened the fire.

Since they were in an open and thus totally uncovered, the fight was quick and very bloody. They killed each other until they remained only a small portion of both groups. When the frequency of the shootings consequently diminished, Nelson and Sania's teams came out to finish them off.

" Good job, " Nelson came from behind Sana to congratulate her while covering her naked body by wrapping her with his long black cloak.

" Thank you " she responded hesitantly, still confused by his sudden change of behavior toward her. " Can I ask you why are you so nice to me all of sudden? " she said as she couldn't keep that for her anymore.

" Later. We have to know first how the other groups are doing well, whether they need help or not. Let's go, " he simply said, ignoring her question.

" I have my own car " she replied while pointing in the other direction.

" No you're coming with me, hurry up, " he ordered. When he walked toward his car without looking behind him, Sania thought that she could simply ignore him and walk away but she surprised herself by choosing to follow him, instead.