Russian Roulette

Chapter Fifty-Nine: Trojan Mule

---Isador---

Isador's attention bounced to each person who spoke, calmly taking everything in and keeping a watch on how everyone was interacting. *You're too good at your job, Aleksei? What about me?* Isador shifted a bit on his feet, trying to not react at all. *Is that really what you want to complain about right now Isa? The fact that you somehow have not been caught on his radar?* What mattered know was putting an end to Jerome. One way or another Jerome's heart needed to stop beating, he needed to take his last breath and leave this world for good. That was one thing everyone here could probably unanimously agree on.

"That's fair, Ghost it is..." Aodhan gave a nod to Aleksei then. "A Trojan mule... Should make things interestin'." He slid his hands into his pockets. "Of course ya can use the tanks, not like they do much good sittin' in there. And like I said earlier, ya can use whatever ya'd like from the building. I have other stores of items out of state I can still get profit outta." Aodhan seemed pleased to be of aid in this seemingly endless chaos. His own business was shafted with all this chaotic war nonsense. He was ready to aid in whatever way he possibly could---even if it meant giving away items he had money sunk into. "I can show ya the way to the armory, and get the keys to the tanks. How many would ya like? I think I have... five of the buggers." Aodhan motioned towards the building as he begin to turn and walk towards it.

Isador's attention snapped back to Aleksei when he heard his name be said. His heart dropped slightly when he was tasked with caring for the animals and prepping bunks. His job was certainly the least important out of them, and the easiest. *Don't show how much that bothers you, Isa... just do it.* "Alright... I'll... see to that then..." He did not argue, he gave Aleksei a small smile after Aleksei kissed him on the cheek, and headed towards the liger and pig. Even being a cat person, he wasn't excited to settle in a liger. He glanced at Aleksei for a moment before looking at the liger. "You ready to go in miss?" He scooped up the pig and watched the liger a moment before leading her in. Aodhan had some kennels set up in the back corner next to the rather intimidating row of five tanks. "Still don't know how the hell you hid these..." He muttered as he got the kennels spruced up, closing the pig in one and the liger in the other. He had no idea how he'd feed them. *Maybe you can feed the bald menace to her?* He laughed a little at the thought. *Probably give her indigestion...*

Prepping the bunks did not take him long. They were already set up and ready to go. Aodhan had most likely prepped them when Isador asked him for a place to stay. With that knowledge, Isador went and sat by the cages, silently watching the pig and liger. Aodhan checked in with him a few times, but didn't engage in actual conversation. The third time he checked in it was mainly to say he was placing the keys to the tanks inside of them, so they could just grab and go. This was about the time Isador realized that he hadn't seen Aleksei for quite some time. He wandered around the building for a bit, which he didn't really realize was so damn large. It was also mainly full of weapons, luxury and exotic cars, and some other more random items like statues and such. Then he heard a child cry out.. *Someone help Aleksei!* It echoed in his mind and had him sprinting towards the origin point of the voice.

Sliding to a stop he looked at the little girl. "What happened?" He was starting to breathe heavy, his lungs complaining about his lack of quality air. He moved closer Aleksei, panicking slightly as he checked his vitals. He knew Aleksei had been through a lot recently, and it worried Isador about how it all would effect him in the end.

---Aleksei---

Eko smiled at Aodhan and nodded, no more tension in the air now, this guy was clearly on the losing team, no doubt about it...I mean winning team, Aodhan was on the winning team, "Okay, we are going to need four of those beautiful darlings."

~

Aurora looked up at Aleksei and she was taken aback, she stared at him for a good moment and squinted her eyes, taking her time as she looked him up and down, "You.." she quickly stopped herself and shook her head out, "He was getting food and now he's not getting food. He just fell." She said as she also looked at Aleksei, "He should be fine though, he just needs to stop straining himself." Aurora said as she slowly backed away from them. Well, now she sees the seriousness of what was happening, usually Aleksei couldn't care to even lift a finger when it comes to mafia work and now this.

"What are you guys doing here?" she asked but instead of Isador having the chance to answer, the bald assassin did. "We are here to do work, grown up work, who's the kid?" he asked, and Aurora glared, "Grown up work? Ha, I know who you are, I know who every single one of you are!" She took a glance at Isador again before looking at bald assassin as she marched up to him, "You are Kyle Drone. Your parents died in a car crash that left you as an orphan at the age of six. Cole's wife adopted you because she could not have another child after Ramona's birth but then she died only a year later due to complications, Cole then separated you and Ramona and began to train you as an assassin." Aurora aired out his entire backstory and he seemed taken aback. He winced before looking away with a chuckle.

"Ha, fine, you are a smart kid. So what?" Kyle now asked and she crossed her arms, "I'm such a genius that Aleksei wanted my help with whatever you were planning." She smirked and he nodded, "well, Aleksei isn't...useful...right now so go talk to Ghost and Eko about it." Kyle shooed her off and she seemed hesitant. Should she leave Aleksei? He would probably prefer for them to handle the situation, plus he would be able to rest after it's done. Aurora nodded before snatching up her bag of goodies and going to find the ghost man. She knew who that was immediately. Eko was annoying Aodhan about the tanks. Both him and Ghost were already dressed and ready to go.

"Have you ever shot one?" "Have you ever had intrusive thoughts about going doomsday on the city? Just something?" he questioned before he noticed the kid confidently walking up to them. "Who are you?" he asked, and Aurora dogged the question.

"No time for that, we have business to settle. What did Aleksei want you guys to do?" she now questioned back as she pulled out a tablet, a laptop and tablet.

"He wanted us to pretend to be national guard, give the trucks to Jerome, they have explosives in them." Ghost gave a very vague and lazy answer. Aurora nodded and with the information she had she began to set up everything. After 30 minutes of her working, she clicked a single button, dusted off her hands and leaned back.

"Three...two...one..." she counted down and as she did, air raid sirens began to blast throughout the city.

Eko and Ghost looked between each other and nodded before nodding and getting their team. "Let's go, Let's go, Let's go!" Ghost called out as two other men joined in. They got into their own separate tanks and began to drive them out, while someone from Kyle's team drove out the semi-trucks. A radioactive logo was painted on all sides of the truck. The group led the armory towards the main street. It was abandoned, fires were everywhere, and some looters were taking advantage, this looked like a scene from the purge movies. Eko and his guys began to slow down the vehicles, keeping time for Jerome to track them.

Aurora pulled up some surveillance tapes from traffic cameras, keeping an eye on the surroundings for Eko and Ghost. "You're also a hacker, right?" Aurora asked Aodhan without bothering to look at him, instead she kept her eyes focused on the task.

Eko drove around for a few more minutes before finally hearing some vehicles approach, no doubt Jerome's guys, though Jerome clearly wasn't with them. "Put up a fight but remember, this truck is not worth dying for." Ghost reminded his men and just as he did bullets began to go off as the aggressors attacked the tanks. "Ghost, can I shoot the tank?" Eko asked and Ghost rolled his eyes, "No Eko. What part of highly explosive don't you understand." Ghost replied before opening his door and he got out of his own vehicle; he used the tank as cover as he shot back at the aggressors. They didn't keep the fight going for long, after some more bullets were wasted, they finally pulled back into the tanks and abandoned the semi-truck. They were not pursued by Jerome's men. "Let's double back." Ghost ordered as they took the backroads to get back to Aodhan's place. Eko parked the tank and took out his mask, "That was fun." He laughed as he returned to them, but Aurora stayed focused on her computer, "They are taking the truck back but the traffic cameras over there have been destroyed. We won't be able to properly time the detonation. Just have to hope to time it right." Aurora said and Eko nodded, "It should take about 30 minutes for them to get back there, give them 40 just to be safe." Ghost said before going to get dressed back into his own clothes.

Aurora nodded and she closed her laptop as she went to go find Isador and Aleksei again.