Declassified

Declassified Part 60 A Ways To Go

      Alex hefted the last piece of metal onto the stack, feeling the strain in his shoulders.

      Finally. He thought, pulling off his glove and wiping his forearm across his sweaty brow. Every day at the forge was challenging but worrying about Thalia all day had made things even worse. But as much as he was worried about her, knowing she was there was what had kept him going all day.

      When he looked up he caught the eye of one of the other men, so he quickly wiped the smile off his face, getting back into character.
      "The fuck you looking at?" He growled in Russian.

      The other man tossed a piece of metal onto a nearby table, ducking his head slightly as if he hadn't heard Alex. It was, Alex knew, a calculated move, because over the past three missions he'd been cultivating a character that was angry, reactive, and extremely violent. Most of the men had learned to not engage with Alex when he was angry, and he used that to his advantage.

       But now Thalia is here. Alex reminded himself. And I have to balance being a loving boyfriend with pretending to be a cruel one. 

      Alex didn't let himself wonder if he really was a cruel boyfriend, because thoughts like that always led him back to that moment in the kitchen, and the look of disgust on Dan's face. He wasn't ready to think about that, because as horrible as losing Thalia had felt, losing his brother was even worse. And he knew that even if Thalia could forgive him, Dan would never look at him the same way. Not after what he'd done.

      "You going into town?"

      Alex shook his head automatically as he and Niko, one of the metal smiths, tossed their respective protective gear into the bin. "Not tonight." He glanced at the gruff man. "There's a shipment going out early tomorrow."

      Niko shrugged, unphased, which piqued Alex's interest. As one of the warehouse workers, Alex's job usually involved loading and unloading shipments, which meant he saw what materials were coming in, and what materials were going out.

      There were a few shipments that he hadn't been privy to, however, and there appeared to be a lot of secrecy surrounding those shipments, which aroused his suspicion. Already the foundry was under suspicion because of its ties to organized crime, but the secret shipments had made the foundry a likely hub for illegal activities. Namely providing weapons for organized crime.

      Some days, when a particular shipment was either coming in or going out, only certain warehouse workers were allowed near the loading docks. Alex and most of the warehouse workers would be given time off or specific tasks away from the loading docks, leaving a select few to load of unload the suspicious trucks.

      "Suit yourself." Niko grunted, heading down the hall.
      Alex stretched his back and headed toward his cabin, wondering where Thalia was and how her day had been. 

      I hope Vera wasn't too hard on her. He thought, pushing through doors and heading down a short corridor.

      The foundry was on the Southern portion of the property, connected by a cheap, uninsulated hallway to the rest of the building, which contained the offices, the cabins, the cafeteria, and the cleaning facilities. The men spent most of their day in the South building, which made gathering intel difficult for Alex.

      But that was where Thalia came in. She would be in the North building while the majority of people were in the South, which would make it easier for her to search areas Alex had had trouble gaining access to. Especially if Alex was to create some well planned diversions.