Reborn Heart of Steel

For the next few hours, we kept ourselves busy making the list of possible target warehouses and plotting out how best we could observe the target warehouses. Before I knew it, the first beams of morning light started peeping through the curtains and, with obvious reluctance, Chase pulled himself out of bed. “Perhaps, it is better to take a rest now,” he added, obviously wanting to yawn. “I think that now that the writers have been initiated, we have lots of work to do. ” I just smiled and agreed with him as I led him to the window. Looking at me before climbing out, he spoke to me in a stern voice. “Bri, we have to be careful now. You know that Agent Harris would not let this go if he knew that we were doing this?” “I know,” I murmured. “But we don’t have any other option. We cannot allow The Raven to triumph. ” Chase merely nodded his head and then proceeded to kiss me softly on the lips. “It will not be the end of the world: we will find the solution to this, or we will do it in tandem. ”

From his back I saw a figure walking into the thick fog that was rising from the earth as the day began; fear mixed with determination welled up inside of me. We were treading on thin ice, but that was the best strategy that we could employ in order to resist. Chase and I could not stand idle during the following days, so we began working on our clandestine investigation. In the afternoons, we went through ”attendance’, eating candies while gazing at maps and property deeds in the library. In the evenings, we spent our time observing the warehouse district where the house of The Raven was located, keeping our distance and being as vigilant as possible for any proof of criminal activity. They were extremely patient and so was I; it was on the fourth night of the stake out that something occurred. We were in the car watching the warehouse district from afar, glasses focused on one of the buildings that could be considered a threat. “Look,” Chase said, suddenly getting up and pointing out towards a black SUV approaching the nearby warehouse. “That is the third car in the last hour nearby. I’m sure that there is something going on in that house. ” I took out the binoculars and aimed them. I could feel the adrenaline pumping. Black-clad males were now off-loading huge crates from an SUV, briskly and like a well rehearsed mechanical rig. “Let’s go to them,” I stated, and we were already heading towards the door of the car. Chase caught my arm. “Bri, stop, we must remember what we had agreed on. Let’s not get our hands dirty, shall we?” I deliberated for a moment before me on one hand, it was dangerous and, on the other, it was fascinating to get The Raven exposed once and for all. “Well, maybe that’s all we’re going to get if only we can have a picture of what they have inside those crates. ” Chase was also silent for what felt like several minutes, with his face twisted in the primary of the same struggle. Finally, he nodded. “Alright. But we do it tactfully. The first sign of something bad is going to happen, then we are gone. ” We had to be very cautious when moving nearer to the warehouse; we moved around in the blind. It was dark and there was no movement all around them as the sound of the men below offloading their merchandise reached their ears. The further we got, the louder the noise was and as we approached I could occasionally overhear certain phrases. “…shipment has to be out by early morning…. ”

“…it should be understood that the end of it means the boss wants no traces left…”

“… The FBI’s been sniffing around…”

My pulse quickened. This was it. A veritable and tangible proof of the business activities of The Raven. We moved closer to the warehouse and saw that there were some crates where we could hide and still see the loading zone . Taking photos, Chase took his phone out of his pocket. As one of the men started to open a crate looking inside it, someone suddenly grabbed my shoulder tightly. I spun around, my breath hitching in my chest and froze when Agent Harris stood right in front of me. He looked at me as if he wanted to hate me, but he also looked disappointed. Who do you think I am?” he growled, “I thought I told you two to stay out of this. ” We could barely react to it when a shout rang in the direction of the warehouse. “Hey! Who’s over there?” Apparently, to greet us, there arrived flashlights’ rays directed towards us. I turned around to see Agent Harris protecting us with his life by pulling out his weapon. “Run,” he hissed. “You get to your car and go home now!” I briefly considered jumping out of the car and running away, barely being able to open the door, and probably did not want to leave Agent Harris by himself. But when the shouts were increasing and the first shot was heard, there was no other way. My own heart thudded while, in the distance lay the growing sounds of the guns firing. We got to Chase’s car and exited that place, spinning the tires on the ground. Soon enough, once we were out of the warehouse district and really on the road, the impact of what had just taken place began to set in. Technically, we had failed in our word we gave to Agent Harris. We’d expose ourselves to threats. And now, Agent Harris was back there, alone, staring at who knows how many of The Raven’s men, if any. Then I looked at him and said, “What have we done?” The shame and regret filled up the empty pit of my stomach. This drew a growling look from Chase, who had a death grip on the wheel. “You know we have to get reinforcements, we cannot just abandon him there. ” As I spoke, Chase nodded slowly, his face pale; I grabbed my phone with a somewhat tremulous hand. But before I could dial, it suddenly beeped showing that there was a message on the device. The number was unknown to me, but soon I was clear that who was actually on the other side of the call. Feeling like a villain from a horror thriller, I clicked on the message and opened it. The words on the screen made my blood run cold. The words on the screen made my blood run cold: “Evil, evil! I told you that you will have to pay the price if you don’t follow the rules. Now, it is time for you to make a decision. You have an hour to choose between your FBI friend and the sick one. The decision lies with you, baby girl. ” Slowly, I turned my head to look up at Chase ‘I’m confused, I said in a shocked voice. “Chase,” I said as lightly as I could with tears in my eyes. “The Raven has Agent Harris. This guy is going to either kill Harris or Alessandro. It is our choice. ” When the contents of the message began to filter into my understanding, I found myself becoming increasingly horrified at what we had started and maybe unable to control it. Things had evolved when it came to the actual playing of the game and now the issues at hand were in high jeopardy. How could we ever possibly make this choice? And even if we did, how could one stand the pain of losing a loved one and the many other social costs that follow such behaviors?