Operation Leap of Faith

Chapter 12

Present day - Italy

The scenery around him was picturesque, as if Glaz had stepped into the painting of an idealized version of Tuscany's countryside. The villa in front of him was impressive and decadent, almost something out of a movie. Surrounding the house, there were endless fields of green pastures, sheep and cows grazing contentedly. Further away, an olive orchard partially obscured the outline of a small village, the church's tower being the tallest structure on the skyline. And yet, despite all the beauty surrounding him, Glaz wasn't itching to paint it. In fact, he was barely paying attention to where he was going, he just followed Damien blindly.

Being shipped to the other side of the Atlantic in this short period of time spoke of immense resources, and while his mission was only to investigate and gather as much information as he could, Glaz wasn't at ease in the slightest. He was alone amongst terrorists and Templars, and nobody knew who was on his side knew he was in Italy of all places. He hadn't been able to get in touch with Kapkan; if something went wrong, nobody would ever know what happened to him. Speaking of the hunter, there was a flash of anger in his gut when Glaz thought about him.

He had gone to Kapkan's apartment, to return the phone. The hunter didn't come to open the door, no matter how much Glaz knocked on it or used the doorbell. The sniper even loudly explained he had Kapkan's phone, and still no answer. Really mature of him, ignoring Glaz just because he regretted sleeping together. What was he, a huffy teenager? Glaz knew the blooming anger was just a cover for how hurt he was by Kapkan's reaction, but honestly, it wouldn't kill the hunter to act like a real adult and open the damn door.

For a moment, he considered that maybe Kapkan wasn't even at home, but then his own phone rang. It was Damien, telling him about this new mission and how he needed to be ready to leave for Italy in less than an hour. There had been no time, not for going to hunt down the hunter, not for breaking down the door to enter the apartment, not for anything. He started to feel like an idiot, but he wanted to return the damn thing. He even thought about sliding the phone under the door, but he knew it wouldn't fit. Glaz had to make a decision, and between keeping the phone or leaving it in Kapkan's mailbox, he decided it was best to keep it. The phone was locked, and he wasn't the spying type anyway, but he knew Kapkan probably hadn't checked his supposed mailbox since they arrived. Besides, keeping the phone from him gave Glaz a small amount of petty satisfaction, and since apparently Kapkan didn't want to talk to him at all, it seemed like the perfect irony.

However, once he was on board of that private jet, Glaz regretted not having been able to leave any message for Kapkan. Would the hunter worry about his sudden disappearance or wouldn't he even notice? Glaz sighed and looked ahead vacantly. All he had wanted was to come back to his bed and spoon his teammate-turned-lover-turned-idiot, and yet here he was. This was shaping up to be a fucking awful day and it wasn't even midday. Curiously enough, Damien seemed as nervous as Glaz was feeling, although he liked to think he masked better his restlessness. He had barely made an attempt to talk, neither with Glaz nor anyone else, and that was definitely odd. When Glaz asked him, Damien said he was just tired from not sleeping, and while that could have been true, Glaz also had the hunch there was something else Damien wasn't telling him.

Once they landed, the tension in the air thickened until it felt suffocating. Shrike kept throwing strange looks at him, and Glaz didn't know what to make of it. Perhaps Glaz was just on edge for personal reasons, but he could have sworn everyone was acting slightly off. Nothing big, but enough to be noticeable.

"Damien, bring everyone to the basement and get ready," Shrike said, her left hand inside her jacket's pocket as it had been through all the flight. She did the same back that day, before the assault, when she had used the Apple for the first time. Good grief, was she carrying that thing in her pocket? "Except you, Jacob. Stay and help me with the cargo."