Three o’clock in the afternoon, a couple of hours before Operation: Saving Little Lily takes place.
“So you’re telling me that someone is after Randy’s life?”
Michael laughed as he had already guessed who was the person coming for Randy’s life.
[My informants informed me that it was his nephew. I wonder what that bastard did that even someone of his own blood is coming for his life]
Still on the island, Michael was hiding behind a large protruding rock on an isolated part of the island, to avoid prying eyes while talking to someone on the sat phone in his hands, something he brought with him to keep himself updated on what’s happening outside the island.
“I’m curious about something though, do you think he will kill him?” asked Michael.
[I…I don’t know]
“What if you were in his shoes right now. Will you be able to kill your own kin?”
Michael was laughing at Randy’s predicament at first when a distant memory suddenly struck him, causing him to raise a very crucial question regarding Randy’s situation.
As people who made a living by terminating people, will they also be able to pull that trigger with no hesitation if the one standing in front of them now is their own blood and kin?
[I think…I don’t think I would be able to do it. With your exception, everyone including me cut off our connections with important people in our lives due to the nature of our job, but at the same time, it was also a means to protect them]
Listening to her words, Michael just lightly smiled and said, “I figured you wouldn’t be able to do it no matter how cold you are, and what Randy on the other hand? I think he also doesn’t have it in him to kill his own nephew”
[Oh? You make it sound like you know his personality, because as far as I can recall, it had only been several months since we first encountered each other. I don’t think that’s enough time to know someone, so I don’t know how you came to that conclusion since Randy had once mentioned to us that he never really liked his sister’s side of the family. In my opinion, I think he actually hated them, and that bastard is merciless towards his preys, he didn’t become famous for being merciful lad]
Michael then contradicted her words by saying, “I’m not even sure how we suddenly got into that subject, but doesn’t Randy have soft spots for kids. What more for his own nephew?”
[His nephew isn’t even a kid. You know what? We’re just going circles around this subject. Just what are you trying to achieve by saying those words earlier?]
In the most chilling tone, Michael said, “Since I’m away, I want you to kill him as I have a gut feeling that Randy won’t do it”
[…]
Following his words was a short silence as the woman from the other side was clearly not expecting those from Michael, catching her off guard.
[Wow, you’re young but you sure are cold, aren’t you?]
“I don’t want to hear those words coming from someone who wouldn’t even bat an eye in regards to killing children” Michael answered with a snort.
[It looks like someone ran a background check on us]
Michael could feel how cold her words sounded even through the sat phone, but he just let out a snort and replied to her with a saying, “Talk about the pot calling the kettle black”
[Shut up, I’ll kill the kid if Randy really spares him, but what do I get in return?]
“Tying up loose ends and preventing future troubles? Don’t trick me into giving you anything, his death is also beneficial for you and the others. After all, your presence around Randy also served as a deterrence for years. You never know, if that man lives and decides to finish the job, it wouldn’t just be a simple revenge towards Randy, but it might also implicate you and the others”
What Michael said might have sounded nonsense right now, but he wasn’t kidding around, he was serious about it as he remembered how the story Randy had told him before, the events that followed that caused him to lose one of his arms.
After he had once again spared his nephew, a few years passed by.
Then one cloudy day, the ghost of his past had once again come knocking.
This time, the others weren’t spared from that event. All of them suffered a multitude of heavy injuries that almost killed them, it was already a miracle that none of them died that day.
That horrendous event was caused by Randy’s beloved nephew.
That time he didn’t come alone, he was working with others who also had a bone to pick with Randy and the others.
That memory was still very vivid in Michael’s mind, seeing how Randy trembled in anger remembering the stupid decision he made, which was mixed with an immense guilt and regret towards the civilians that died during the encounter.
Even someone like Michael that had been dancing around death was also horrified when he heard the story.
Just the thought of suddenly waking up at the sound of explosions happening around you, and seeing a tank mercilessly bombarding an innocent village filled with helpless civilians, made him so uncomfortable that he even had cold sweats back then.
Add to that a hundred or maybe even more armed people rushing towards the village and spreading chaos.
If it wasn’t for their habits of collecting weapons for a rainy day, he and others would have surely died that day, helpless, like the villagers who died not knowing the cause of their deaths.
Their survival was also thanks to timely reinforcements from fellow colleagues that took down the artillery tank that kept suppressing them with its cannon fire, which had prevented them from launching an offensive and instead forced them to defend and retreat to the mountains.
Randy really regretted his stupid decision in the past, especially when he saw the dead bodies of people around them as they escaped to the mountains. People he had made many memorable memories with, most of them he considered as his…just normal friends.
“I should have killed him, even if my late sister were to hate me for it”
Still remembering his face that was oozing with pure killing intent along with those callous words of his, it suddenly made Michael shiver on such a hot day.
‘Everyone of us had a reason to walk the path that we’re trekking’
