DOCKS, 4 YEARS AGO
Fire and iron rained down all around Thomas Blackcroft. He crouched behind a pillar, holding his Browning, heart thudding in his chest.
What had happened? This was not how it was supposed to go.
This meet-up was supposed to clinch an advantage for Blackcroft. Thomas had spent long months faking data to persuade Black and Tan that taking up the deal would be worth it. Because that was all Black and Tan believed in - data. Crunched numbers and hard statistics.
Slowly but surely, Thomas had crafted a numerical description of Blackcroft's supposed decline - reduction in revenue, diminishing territory and gradual loss of influential supporters. He had convinced Black and Tan that this proposed deal by Blackcroft was a last, desperate attempt to clutch at straws, and that giving up a few pieces of tech for cold cash was a smart move for Black and Tan in the long run. The cyber empire had just started, and they struggled to establish a foothold in the underground network of crime. Obtaining large funds to get them off the ground was what they needed, but they had been hesitant at the idea of trading with Blackcroft.
Thomas had been the one who finally persuaded their bosses.
Right now, Thomas could feel the cold metal of his heart necklace rest against his chest. His resolve intensified. If I succeed this mission, I can go home and I can change Hayley's life. She's all I'm doing this for. His mind took him, as it always did whenever he needed encouragement, into one of his favorite daydreams where he could spend the whole day with Hayley, as two normal teens on a normal date, café-hopping or visiting a theme park. Only, Thomas smiled to himself, knowing Hayley, she would reject the idea of sitting in a café and aim straight for something like paintball or lasergun.
But then again, she does like to eat, Thomas mused. In fact, I promised her that the next thing I'll bring back for her from the outside, is McDonald's apple pie.
The relentless rattle of an AK47 brought him back to his senses. Looking carefully around the pillar, Thomas saw that Black and Tan's hired mercenaries had arrived at the scene. Just ten feet away, a dapper-looking lawyer in a three-piece silver suit was holding a document in his hands. The contract, signed and stamped by Blackcroft - right before gunfire erupted. Thomas knew he had to get his hands on the document somehow.
He stepped out from behind the pillar - and was noticed immediately by Black and Tan's military drone. Instead of identifying him as an ally, as it should have, it sent an immediate kill order and coordinates to a hidden firing station, the latest in Black and Tan technology. The automated gun swiveled around, reloaded, and launched a high-explosive round right at Thomas.
Thomas saw it at the last second and dodged, but the resulting blast from the grenade sent a shockwave that snapped Thomas back, nearly crumpling him in half. He was lifted bodily into the air in the same second that his ribcage fractured, and crashed into the sea below at a speed of 30 miles per hour.
His left shoulder took the brunt of the trauma, and it would forever be a little sore for the rest of his life. The impact knocked all the air out from his lungs, and as he slowly sank to the bottom, dazed and losing consciousness, the last thing he saw was the watery rays of sunlight glinting off his heart necklace ...
|*|
BLACK AND TAN, SICK BAY.
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How About Seven? ✔
Action[ 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘥 #44 𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 ] -- It's an oft-quoted quote, and I'm sure you guys have heard of it. Two's company and three's a crowd. But I just can't help thinking . . . How about seven then? Every family has their own dram...
