Hours had passed since Ethan left for MIT. Jason was in the courtyard, sweating slightly as he finished welding the damaged front gate, reinforcing the broken chanisms left by the SWAT raid.
Cassandra approached him quietly, holding out a glass of lemonade. "Here. You should take a break."
Jason accepted the drink gratefully but shook his head. "You don’t have to do that, Cassandra. You’re the boss’s woman."
She simply shrugged, a faint, lancholic smile on her lips. "I’m not Ethan’s woman, Jason. I’m just soone for him to have fun with. It’s fine to work a little."
Just then, they saw two massive SUVs approaching the fence: a black Escalade and a matching Suburban. Both vehicles, obviously armored and reinforced, pulled up to the gate and stopped.
Two young n, looking around twenty-six or twenty-seven, erged from the driver’s sides. Jason raised a hand in greeting, and both n returned the silent salute. Jason quickly unlocked the gate and waved them through.
The SUVs parked in front of the house, but Jason walked up to the driver’s window of the Escalade, his expression expectant. "So, you boys bring any toys?"
The driver, a young man with intense eyes, replied, "The Boss sends you gifts."
Jason grinned, the tension leaving his shoulders. "Understood. Then take both trucks inside the garage. I don’t want anyone seeing what you brought."
The two n obeyed, driving the armored vehicles into the massive garage bays. Once parked, they stepped out and nodded their greetings.
"What are your nas?" Jason asked.
The first responded imdiately: "Falcon 1."
The second followed: "Falcon 2."
Jason frowned slightly. "Yeah, but what are your real nas?"
The two rookies exchanged a quick, uncertain glance. "We... we don’t know, sir."
"I know the old man taught you that way," Jason said with a sigh. "But it’s fine. I won’t try to force it. Let’s see what the old man sent."
The two n opened the rear hatches of the SUVs. They pulled out large, olive-green tal crates, the kind used for military supplies. Inside were high-caliber automatic rifles, shotguns, 9mm pistols, fragntation grenades, and hundreds of rounds of live ammunition.
Jason let out a loud, delighted laugh. "Now that’s what I was talking about!"
Falcon 1 explained, "We bring special compartnts, sir." They demonstrated how the inner door panels hid slots for the rifles, and the center armrests contained secure compartnts for pistols and grenades, right next to the cup holders.
Jason, Cassandra, and the two recruits quickly began loading the weapons, filling the magazines and securing the arms in the hidden compartnts of both vehicles.
Jason then looked at the Suburban. "Hold on. I know the Escalade is for the Boss, but why did the old man send the Suburban with the armor and all the gear?"
Falcon 2 replied simply, "It is a gift from the Boss. He sent both trucks. He said when the others return, they will bring more trucks, so we are ready."
"Understood," Jason said, accepting the new reality. "That works." He looked at Cassandra. "It’s ti to go."
Cassandra nodded and went inside to grab the necessary paperwork for the business eting. Jason quickly showered and changed into fresh clothes. He returned and got into the passenger seat of the Escalade, with Cassandra in the rear seat. Falcon 1 and Falcon 2 took the Suburban.
As the two massive, black SUVs rolled silently down the driveway and out the newly reinforced gate, one of the neighborhood guards watched them go. He imdiately called Agent Alpha.
"Alpha, copy that. The rich kid’s people brought in new vehicles. They look dangerous. Be careful with them."
Agent Alpha’s voice ca back instantly: [Copied. I’ll keep that in mind.]
The Escalade, followed closely by the Suburban, arrived at a different area of the city, far from the usual banking district. Rossi had called them earlier, directing them to this new, discreet office building. The two armored trucks pulled up in front of the modern structure.
Falcon 1 quickly got out of the Suburban’s passenger seat, sprinted to the Escalade, and opened the door for Cassandra. He quickly scanned the periter. Jason got out, walked over to Cassandra, and handed the keys to Falcon 1, who took them and scanned the area once more before getting back into the Suburban.
As Cassandra and Jason entered the building, the two Falcon operatives drove the two SUVs away to secure them. Jason and Cassandra took an elevator up to one of the executive floors where Lena Rossi was waiting for them with a wide, predatory smile.
The mont Cassandra and Lena saw each other, the air in the immaculate office grew thick. It was a clash of two powerful won, both recently marked by the sa man, now forced into professional courtesy. They maintained smiles but the tension was palpable.
"Welco," Lena said, her voice dripping with artificial sweetness as she gestured them to the conference table.
"Thank you, Ms. Rossi," Cassandra replied, her tone equally composed, though her eyes held a challenge.
They quickly got down to business. "I’ve already begun the financial structuring for Mr. Blake," Lena announced, opening a sophisticated presentation on the room’s large screen. "Regarding the ten properties you secured for him, I imdiately sent a team of real estate evaluators."
Lena paused, her expression becoming purely professional. "We found an interesting detail about those properties. I now understand why your ex-husband—" she emphasized the word ex with pointed malice—"was so desperate to keep them and keep it as a secret."
Cassandra couldn’t help but let a small, uncomfortable smile play across her lips, annoyed that her past had been exposed and was jeopardizing her personal connection with Ethan.
"And what could be this important reason for him to want to do sothing, even behind my back?"
Jason, however, was sweating slightly. Caught between two won who both shared an intimate and volatile connection to his new, powerful boss, he knew he couldn’t intervene in their subtle, unspoken war. He simply stared down at the docunts, hoping to remain invisible.
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