Chronical Wounds

Chapter 8: The playground

"Good morning," I greeted my grandfather as I walked towards him. The day dawned crisp and clear. Bilal acknowledged my presence by simply nodding. There were a handful of other men present as well, and I recognized the faces as those of my men. We were standing on a harbor. Behind and across from us were stacked containers. To our right was the ocean, and the only way to get here by car was on our left side.

"They will be here any minute now, Zain. Remember, we are here to trade firearms with money. Nothing new." Bilal explained as if it was my first time. While actually, Bilal had to remind himself of the 'usuals'. It had been a while since he went along on a mission, but he had to show his men that he was still perfectly able to handle his own trades. "Do you want me to handle this one?" I asked. "Don't ask stupid questions. I'll be handling this" Bilal snapped. I just nodded and walked towards the other men. "Get yourself ready, guys. We have a history with this family. You know the drill. This is going to be a quick one." I explained. I looked at every man standing in front of me, and they nodded in agreement.

Right then, the sound of roaring engines slowly filled the air. Every man straightened and became cautious. I walked over to my grandfather and stood tall on his left side. Five black SUVs halted across the Cain family. The doors opened in sync, and out of every door appeared one man. At last, the door of the third car opened. A woman appeared. She was young, like me. As soon as she met my eyes, a small grin formed on her face. She was a beautiful blonde, with a flawless face. She wore a white dress and black glasses. Her heels were loud on the concrete floor. I had thought highly of her once, but things had changed. "Good morning, Mr. Cain. I hope you haven't been waiting for long." the woman cheered. Bilal stepped forward to shake her hand.

I was already feeling tense at the sight of the opposite party, but something seemed off. I scanned the men standing behind the woman. They all put on their poker face for this meeting but so did I. "So, Miss Cecilia, long time not seen. I was expecting your grandfather to come. I hope your grandfather is doing okay." Bilal started. "My grandfather is too old, Mr. Cain. It was time for him to take a step back. It honestly surprises me you didn't already." Cecilia replied with a mischievous grin. The tension only grew. Bilal and Cecilia's grandfather were the same age, so the insult couldn't be missed. The two families had been doing business for a long time. Bilal thought of a way to respond to her disrespectful words but found that not saying anything is better than words since that's an answer too. He looked at the young woman and waited. When he noticed her smirk twisted, he acted unfazed and asked, "Do you have the money?". Cecilia signaled with two fingers to her men to bring it forward. I nodded to two of my men. Cecilia moved her glasses to her hair and stared at me, the two parties brought the products upfront. The man on Cecilia's side opened a suitcase full of money, and the man on Bilal's side opened the boxes neatly stacked with different firearms. Bilal ordered another man to check the money, and Cecilia personally checked out the weapons. She picked up a SIG Sauer, a rifle often used by the military.

After completely dismounting and placing everything back, she suddenly pointed the rifle at me. My reflex was quick, and in a second, I had pointed my gun at her too. The rest of the party followed quickly after. "What are you doing?! Tell your men to stand down!" Bilal yelled at Cecilia. He was the only person that wasn't pointing a gun at someone.

Cecilia laughed at Bilal, but she was still focused on me. She put the rifle down in the basket and elegantly walked towards me. I lowered my gun and stared her down. Even though I only looked at Cecilia, I could notice the smallest movement of her men. The two families had been in business for ages, but never once did Cecilia come instead of her grandfather. Cecilia slowly stroked my arm. Bilal watched angrily at the scene taking place in front of him. "Baby boy, you have changed so much. Too bad you're not keeping up with me though. See, the thing is, you could've already taken over your dear poppa's business. Ugh, what a team we could've been. But of course, you had to ruin it by-" "Shut your fucking mouth." I interrupted her. Cecilia laughed "I like you more when you're so feisty." "Cecilia, stop this nonsense." I commanded her angrily. "Ohh baby, but I'm just here for business, right? I haven't started any of this. I'm just the one to finish it. But don't you worry, boy, you'll be safe for now." And suddenly, she stopped smiling and turned around. "We're done here, boys." she said.

The weapons and money were placed in the vehicles. "Cecilia!" Bilal called, and she turned to look at him. "This is no bloody playground. Don't fuck around like that." he stated angrily. Cecilia smirked and said, "Dear uncle, you couldn't be more wrong. You're playing my game already." Cecilia and her men entered their cars. In the same order they drove in, they drove out, until suddenly the last car's doors swung open and a bullet rain overcame me and my men. I jerked towards my grandfather and pushed him behind one of the cars. My men fired back, and I did the same exact thing. I was able to shoot the rear window and one of the men inside the car. The wheels squeaked, and the car was gone as quick as it came. "FUCK!" I roared and punched the container next to me. A silence fell over the group. Bilal cursed to himself, while the men looked at each other. "Everyone okay?" I watched my men, but no one seemed to be wounded. "This was a damn warning, boys." I continued. All the men gathered. With my gun still in my hand, I put my fists on my head. Bilal looked furious but didn't say anything. "We need to get out of here. We'll meet in 3 hours at the mansion. Not a fucking second later!" I ordered.

"Sir?" I looked at the man who said that, and the man nodded at my arm. When I looked down, I saw blood and my hand was trembling. "Go ahead!" I yelled, and the man hurried to their cars. "Sir!" I called and before closing his door, Bilal looked up. "Are you good?" I asked, but Bilal just gave me a disgusted look and slammed his door shut before his driver drove away. "Do you want me to drive you home?" Another man asked. I turned around "No, Luca. I have somewhere to be. Thanks, mi amigo." Luca nodded once before he jumped in the back of the other car. I was the last one to enter my car. I looked at my arm again, "Shit" I whispered.