You Want A Battle, Here's A War

The earthen floor was covered with the innards of what must have been a human being moments ago. No, not a human being. Human beings.

In the top right corner of the cave hung the body of a naked man, his ribcage ripped open. His eyes wide open with shock written all over his face.

On the opposite corner was the body of another of Ivan's men, dangling from meat hooks stuck into his nipples. In the stump where his head would have been was a metallic sign stuck in. It read in Russian: "I send a message to your messenger."

Romeo let out another loud scream as he bent over to puke. Some things even he could not stomach.

His head spun. He felt dizzy. He stumbled again and leaned with his back against the grills of his cell.

Who did this? What did this? Was it Ivan sending a message to him? No, this had to be a message intended for Ivan himself. This scared Romeo even more. Was he about to be collateral damage? Was this Satoshi's handiwork?

As the questions flipped through his mind, he heard steps hurriedly coming down the staircase. He was not sure if he should be scared or relieved. Was it help coming, or the perpetrator coming to end him as well?

Moments later, Victor materialized from the darkness with two G3 semiautomatic guns in his hands.

He hastily opened the door and pushed one of the guns into Romeo's chest. He motioned for him to follow as he led him to a hidden secret door in another section deeper inside the cave.

They walked for another 100 meters in the dimly lit tunnel before coming up to the entrance of some sort of door.

Victor scanned his thumb on the opening mechanism. The door opened, revealing a lift. They hopped in, and the lift started going up—a little too fast for Romeo's liking. Seconds later, it opened to what appeared to be a private library.

Victor called out, "Boss!" as he crouched, ready to use his weapon.

A badly battered Ivan showed up from behind a row of books, clutching what appeared to be a butcher's knife in his right hand. His left hand was clutching his stomach, slightly bent over and clearly in pain. He had nothing but his boxer underwear on.

Victor quickly tore up his shirt and proceeded to tie it around Ivan's waist to stop the bleeding. He then retrieved a first aid kit from one of the bookshelves.

He took out a syringe with a needle and filled it up with what must have been a painkiller. He injected it into Ivan's left ass cheek just as the sound of a helicopter overhead started to materialize.

The chopper came down low until it was aligned with their window.

The three of them reflexively ducked behind a concrete counter as they watched a machine gun turn slowly so that its muzzle was aimed right at their general direction.

There was a crack of gunfire, followed by the splintering of wood and shattering of glass all over the room. Books were torn to shreds as the bullets tore through them like they were nothing. This went on for about three minutes before the gun fell silent.

Then an announcement came from the floating helicopter.

"You want a battle? Here's a war."

Romeo knew that voice all too well.

It was the voice of the one who had trained him just three years earlier. The reason why he could handle a machine gun the way he could. The one who made him Diablo Gato. Mobutu himself.

This cannot be good, Romeo thought.

"Give us the boy. He who goes by the name Diablo Gato. And we may let you live." came another announcement.

Victor and Ivan exchanged confused looks before both turning to Romeo with a questioning look on their faces. Their fate lay in his hands.

Romeo knew what he had to do. He just did not know if he had the strength to do it.