𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐊𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒 | 𝟏𝟖+

24

I distantly hear a 'wake up' as the fog in my mind slowly clears. Opening my eyes, the first thing I see is leaves swaying above me. I sit up straight and see that we've parked under a tree near a house. The area is surrounded by trees and in the middle is a small house. I realise that I had fallen asleep on our way to here.

"We're here" I turn to see Lorenzo busy in taking out the weapons and tosses me my gun. "Come on let's go" he tilts his head towards the house. The house itself is small but the whole property is big with garden and trees surrounding the property. There is a small pathway which leads towards the house. We come to a stop in front of the door and Lorenzo knocks twice. 

I take a look around the area and notice the several cameras around the house and a few hidden ones in the trees pointing at all the angles around the house. When no one opens the door I take a few steps back and go to take a look around the property. There are no windows at all that could help us get a look in. 

I hear Lorenzo call my name and go back to the front. He has pushed the door open with one hand on the gun and the other on the door. I raise an eyebrow and he shrugs, "It was unlocked." But why would it be unlocked? Something's clearly wrong. His face tells me that he senses it too. I shut the door behind me and lock it from the inside. There are only two rooms and a kitchen on the ground floor and Lorenzo heads upstairs while I look down here. There are cameras inside too. But no one is in the house. 

I'm looking in the bedroom when Lorenzo comes back down after checking upstairs and finds it empty. The cupboard sitting in the corner is the last thing left. I open it expecting to find nothing but halt when I see that it is not a cupboard at all. It is a hidden staircase going downwards. A basement. 

I go to step in first but am stalled with a hand on my wrist. "I'll go first," he whispers. I open my mouth to argue but stop when we hear a small shuffle from downstairs. His eyes harden telling me not to fight and I begrudgingly let him lead, rolling my eyes at him when he's not seeing and mutter an unintelligible insult which I know he heard but ignores. 

We reach the landing but it's too dark to make out anything in here. The only light in here is from upstairs but that's too very low considering how deep down the staircase took us. I squint my eyes, trying to adjust to the darkness and understand where we are when I hear a slight shuffle of footsteps behind me. They are very light but still noticeable. I can tell that Lorenzo heard it too by the way his body stills. We have no idea how many people there could be in here, whatever we do, we need to be very careful. 

There's a slight shift in the air and I instantly duck when I see a hand shoot out from my peripheral vision. The person grunts and attempts to make a hit at Lorenzo but he catches his wrist and twists it, making the knife fall out of his hand. I twist behind him and press the barrel of my gun to his head and he stops moving. 

"Who are you? Speak or I'll blow your brains off right this moment." I press my gun to his head harder to emphasise my point. Lorenzo takes a step back but keeps his gun in his hand at his side. 

He starts explaining, anger and frustration evident in his voice, "You step into my house and have the audacity to threaten me. If I end up dead it will not be good for you-" but Lorenzo interrupts him before he is finished asking the exact question I had in mind, "Your house? You're the man Kai sent us for?"

"I'm Roman, yes. Kai told me his friends wanted help. I'll assume you two are the ones he told me about then." I keep my gun pointed at his head and come to stand in front of him with Lorenzo. "Why did you try to attack us then?" I question and his eyes settle on me before he answers, "Someone came here a few minutes ago and killed a guy who worked for me. I guess he wanted to kill me but got the wrong person. I thought that it was him again, I didn't know it was you two. My cameras are hacked and are not working that's why I couldn't see who it was."