Pre-Encounter

Nikolai's face was ashen. He knew there and then that his end was close and not even the Second Coming of Jesus Christ could prevent it.

At that moment, he could sense hostility coming from everyone just by the stares coming from the multitude of eyes staring at him.

FZIP!!

The silence was cut by a barely audible sound that came from the far end of the bunker. Before Nikolai even heard the sound, a bullet coming at the speed of sound from a sniper gun barrel at the far end of the bunker passed through his head and also put a shallow hole in the door.

Nikolai knelt down, then slowly fell on his face, deceased, while a bloody puddle began forming from the blood coming from the new hole on his forehead.

BZZZ!! BZZZ!!!

There was a sudden repetitive buzzing coming from somewhere on Nikolai's corpse. Tamara tapped around his pants and extracted his phone. There was an incoming call without any caller ID or phone number displayed. She needed no soothsayer to know that it was Boris Dentine calling. Quickly, she phoned Tommy to know what to do next.

Meanwhile, in Tommy's vehicle, his phone rang. Tamara's name was displayed as the caller ID.

"Tamara. What's up?" Tommy asked on answering the call.

"Sir, Nikolai had been executed. And the thing is Boris just called Nikolai's phone and it's been ringing without any response. What do I do?" Tamara asked.

"Answer it and put me on speaker." Tommy said.

"Alright sir. I'll do just that." Tamara said.

"You're on, sir." Tamara said after a few moments.

Tamara found a way to connect Nikolai's phone to Tommy's so the call was direct to Tommy but some feedback went to the bunker's speakers.

"Nikolai. Where are you now?" Boris' voice came through the speakers and into Tommy's phone.

"Hello, Boris. Nice to finally meet you. The name's Tommy. Tommy Lee." Tommy replied jovially.

"Where is Nikolai? That's all I asked. Your name is of no importance to me." Boris replied after a moment of silence.

"Oh, Nikolai? I put an end to the snake when I found out he was snooping around my mall like he owns the place. Is he your guy?" Tommy replied.

"Who are you? I swear I will feed your skin to the birds when I find you." Boris replied, anger showing in his voice.

"Of course. You don't have to worry about that. Oh, lest I forget, I'm a friend of a friend. You're currently setting traps to trap my best friend. Just make sure you're there when we arrive. Then I'll know how you plan to feed me to the birds." Tommy answered.

"Is that so? Tell Cedric to be ready for a big surprise when he gets in my sights. And tell him to get my serum ready for collection." Boris said.

"Nah, Dentine. You won't be collecting any serum today. Tamara, smash it."

Tamara ended the call and smashed the phone to bits with her boot.

"Seiichi, Denji. Punch it. We gotta pick up speed. That psycho will be dealt with, but first things first, we gotta get the Alexander family to safety."

"Yes, Tommy-san." Seiichi and Denji chorused in Japanese.

Seiichi increased his speed and in no time was going at 81km/hr. Other cars behind noticed the increase in speed and followed suit, including Denji, who was the driver of the armored vehicle carrying the Alexander family.

They passed the bridge after some minutes. Going forward, Tommy stuck his head out of the window and looked forward with his special sight. Using that, he could make out the silhouettes of several men hiding among the trees and holding weapons.

Coming closer, he noticed fallen trees about 800 meters from their position.

"Blockade ahead, people. Get ready to fire." Tommy said into his radio and the team responded positively. Everyone on the team made sure they were either holding their weapons or they had them close.

"Seiichi. Stop your vehicle before the blockade. That'll draw his men out." Tommy said and Seiichi did as he was told as soon as he was close.

On getting close enough, some men dressed in all black outfits and black masks jumped out of the nearby bushes around Denji's vehicle, which they deduced contained the Alexander family due to its size.

One of them came close to the window and tapped it twice. Tommy confidently brought down the glass and looked straight at the eye of the blacked out guy who knocked.

"How may I help you, man?" Tommy confidently asked.

The man didn't reply. Instead he looked past Tommy into the vehicle and saw Cedric and Florence staring back while little Adrian was dozed off on his mother's lap. Beside them was a briefcase big enough to carry a big cannister.

The man brought out a communication radio and turned it on.

"They're all here, boss. Cannister and all." The man said into the radio and for about a millisecond there was static.

"Good. Make sure they're stationed there when I arrive. And secure the cannister. I don't want to waste any time bantering when I get there." A gruff voice with a Russian accent filtered through the speaker to the hearing of everyone in the vehicle.

The voice made Cedric shiver a bit. Tommy noticed this and signalled him to calm down that he has a plan underway.

"Yes, boss. I'm out." The blacked out guy said and pocketed his radio. Then he grabbed his pistol and pointed it at Tommy.

"Hey put that down now. There's a kid in here."

The guy paid no attention, instead he cocked the weapon. "Get the cannister out here now." He said.

"Dude. Seriously you gotta put the gun down. The safety's off on that thing. Too much pressure on the trigger can kill someone." Tommy said.

Cedric was relieved. He knew Tommy long enough. If Tommy gets out, he's gonna go rogue on these men in black and it won't be a good sight at all.