C401 The Start

Ben froze for a moment. He stared at Antonio and Steve, trying to decide what to do. He knew exactly how dangerous the two men could be. They were not people he could simply threaten or report to the police. If he involved the authorities, there was a good chance they would reveal everything they knew about him, including his connection to Jack and the things he had done in the past. Ben clenched his jaw. He had no choice. Finally, he nodded. “Fine,” he said. “But you cannot have more than thirty dollars’ worth of drinks per day.”

Antonio and Steve looked at each other before smiling. “Well, no problem,” Antonio replied. He immediately waved to the waiter. “Bring us two beers.” The waiter nodded and walked away. Ben forced a grin and said nothing. He knew exactly what they were doing. They had found a weakness, and they intended to use it. But for the moment, Ben had no way of stopping them. He turned away from them and returned to his work. Behind him, Antonio and Steve exchanged another satisfied smile. For them, the matter was settled. For Ben, however, it was only another problem added to the growing list of problems he already had. He lowered his eyes toward the documents on his desk, but he could barely concentrate. His past was catching up with him. And he was beginning to realise that money alone might not be enough to make it disappear.

At Willy’s estate, Brian knelt in front of his boss. His head was lowered, and his breathing was still heavy from the events at Lucia Goods. “Boss,” Brian said nervously, “all of them had guns. We were outnumbered.” Willy stared at him in disbelief. For several seconds, he said nothing. Then his expression hardened. “You can't even handle a simple job?” Brian remained silent. “By now, I am sure the police know about the attack,” Willy continued angrily. “And you failed our only chance.” He stood up and walked slowly toward Brian. “Tell me something. Have I made the training easy for you?” Brian shook his head. “No, Boss.” “Then since when can you not handle such a simple task?”

Brian swallowed. “Boss, I am sorry.” Willy's anger suddenly exploded. “Get out!” Brian quickly stood up. “Yes, Boss.” He turned and hurried out of the room without looking back. The moment the door closed, Willy began pacing around the room. He was furious. His men had failed to take Lucia Goods, and worse, they had now alerted the enemy. He had expected the attack to be simple. Lucia Goods was supposed to be vulnerable without Alicia. Instead, his men had walked straight into an armed group that was apparently far more prepared than he had expected. Willy stopped near the large window overlooking his estate. He stared outside, his mind racing. “There must be another way.” He shook his head. “It seems like I have to think of another way.” The attack had failed. But Willy was not the kind of man who simply accepted failure. If brute force wasn't enough, then he would find another method. And whatever that method was, it would have to work.

At the Gupta Military Base, the day had been much harder than any of us expected. After the morning run, we had returned thinking we would finally get a chance to rest. We were wrong. The moment we returned, the coaches summoned us to the fighting area. I looked at the others. Everyone looked exhausted. Our legs were already hurting from the morning run, and some of us were still struggling to adjust to the heavy military boots. But the coaches didn't seem concerned. They knew exactly what they were doing. Since not all of us had started proper combat training before, the coaches were surprisingly patient. They didn't throw us into the hardest exercises immediately. Instead, they trained us little by little. Every movement was demonstrated. Every mistake was corrected. Every weakness was noticed.

What surprised us most was that the coaches already had a plan. The eight of us were divided between the coaches, and each coach focused on a particular area. Hammer worked with some of the coaches. Nothing escaped their attention. At first, I tried to keep going. I really did. But eventually, I couldn't take it anymore. I looked toward Alicia. “Cipher, I'm tired now. Can you tell them to let us rest?” Chris immediately raised his hand. “I'm tired as well.” Alicia looked at both of us and smiled. “Come on, guys. We can hang on.” Chris grinned. “It's easy for you to say that. Look at how they're making it easy for you compared to me and my brother.”

Hammer, who had been listening, suddenly laughed. “Bighead, you should have been called Big Mouth.” Everyone burst out laughing. Even Chris couldn't help smiling. Hammer shook his head. “You don't have to worry. As I said, no one will be treated fairly. Tomorrow, we will be hard on them as well.” Sarah looked at Chris with a grin. “See, Bighead? Your big mouth is making all of us suffer now.” Hammer laughed. “All right. Enough now.” His expression became serious again. “Everyone, gather around.” We stopped what we were doing and gathered around him. Hammer looked toward Viper. “Explain the plan to them.” Viper stepped forward. His expression immediately became serious.

We all knew that meant another speech was coming. “First, we have created a schedule,” Viper began. “Every morning at five o'clock, you will take a run.” A few of us exchanged worried looks. “During that run, you will have the opportunity to shower.” I almost laughed. Apparently, running two kilometres to a river was considered an opportunity to shower. Viper continued. “When you return, you will train for two hours in fighting.” Two hours. I looked at Chris. He looked back at me. Neither of us said anything. We already knew this was going to be painful. “After that,” Viper continued, “you will have breakfast at nine.” He paused briefly. “At ten o'clock, we will be waiting for you at the shooting range.” That immediately caught my attention. “Your weapons are currently with us, so we will return them to you.”

Viper looked at each of us. “The shooting training will be extensive. We will teach you everything, step by step. We will start from the basics, including how to hold a gun properly.” Samantha nodded slowly. This was serious. “We will not simply give you weapons and tell you to shoot. You will learn everything properly.” Viper continued. “At one o'clock, you will have lunch.” He raised one finger. “Then at two o'clock, you will proceed with fighting training using weapons and blades.” Alicia's expression immediately changed slightly. I knew why. The Gold and Diamond. That was something completely different from everything the rest of us were learning. “At three-thirty,” Viper continued, “we will leave for Lucia Goods to train the employees.” He looked at all of us. “After that, it is up to you. If you want to take another run so you can shower, you may do so. Otherwise, you can rest.”

Hammer smiled. “So, basically, it is simple. You follow this schedule for your own good.” He looked around at us. “We will not chase after you to do things. You came here willingly. You asked to train. You accepted the conditions.” His smile disappeared. “So I hope you will not disappoint us.” He paused. “Or Madam.” Alicia smiled. “What about Gold and Diamond?” Hammer nodded. “For blade-fighting training in the afternoon, I will personally train you, Madam.” Alicia nodded. I looked at the coaches. “So you won't be staying here?” Sniper shook his head. “No. We will return to the family every day.” I frowned. “Why?” “To give you all some privacy,” Sniper explained. “And also to discuss the next steps with Boss.” We all nodded. It suddenly became clear that our coaches weren't going to live with us.

They would train us, leave, and return the following day. That meant the base would belong to us every night. At least we would have some privacy. Samantha suddenly raised her hand. “What about food? What are we eating?” Hammer smiled. “Please make a list of everything you will need for one month. We will buy everything tomorrow.” Samantha nodded. Amanda immediately spoke. “What about today? I'm already hungry.” Beast laughed. “Well, Miss, you can go hunting.” The laughter stopped. He continued. “Or even fishing.” Everyone froze. I stared at Beast. He was smiling. But he wasn't joking. At least, I didn't think he was. The answer was simple. If we wanted something to eat, we would have to find it ourselves.

Chris slowly looked at me. “Did he just tell us to go hunting?” I nodded. “I think so.” Amanda crossed her arms. “This is going to be the worst three months of my life.” Everyone laughed. Even the coaches smiled. Laura, however, was looking around the base. Her expression slowly became more serious. Then she asked the question that had probably been on all of our minds. “Is there no way to contact our families? We miss them.” The laughter disappeared. Reaper looked at Laura. “Miss, we can't allow you to connect directly with them.” Laura's expression fell. “However,” Reaper continued, “we can do something simple.” Laura looked at him. “You can write a letter.” Her eyes immediately brightened. “A letter?” Reaper nodded. “We can deliver it once a week.” Laura smiled. “Once a week?” “Yes.” Her smile remained. But Reaper quickly added something. “However, you must understand that there will not be a returning letter.”

Laura's smile faded slightly. “We are only sending your letters. We cannot bring responses back.” Laura nodded slowly. “At least we can send something.” Reaper nodded. “That is the best we can do.” We all nodded. It wasn't perfect. But it was something. At least our families would know that, somewhere, we were thinking about them. Hammer then looked at his watch. “It is already late.” He stood up. “We have to go to Lucia Goods.” Beast nodded. “After what happened, I am sure they are frightened.” The moment he said those words, Alicia froze. She turned toward him. “What happened to Lucia Goods?” Her voice had suddenly become serious. Sarah also looked at the coaches with concern. “Nothing happened to Wood IT Company?” The coaches exchanged looks. No one answered immediately. I looked from one coach to another. Something was wrong. Hammer's expression had changed. Viper looked at Reaper. Reaper looked at Sniper. Alicia's eyes narrowed. “What happened?” Silence filled the room.