The hope was that when Giovanni realized the blueprints were missing he’d lose his shit and it would be known that he didn’t have them anymore. The fucking problem now was Balthazar knowing how I felt about Jia.
Balthazar knew I loved her. It switched up my worry entirely because it wouldn’t take a genius to work out that if Giovanni didn’t have the prints then I’d taken them. Nothing would stop him from using her to blackmail me into giving him the blueprints then I’d be once again torn between my heart and duty.
Providing I got them.
I had to factor that in first.
“Wes…” I had to give the extra warning. “If you don’t hear from me assume the worse.”
He went quiet. I almost thought he’d gone but I heard him blow out a breath.
“Shit. Xander don’t talk like that.”
“I don’t like talking like this but gotta say it. You know what to do if that happens.”
“I do, and I will.”
I left him with two instructions in the event that I’d failed. The first was to tell Ethan straight away what had happened and arrange back up because my failure could mean the prints got moved.
The next thing I asked Wes to do was tell Jia I loved her. That was it. two things. My two last requests I’d left in the charge of my best friend.
Fuck… I had to focus.
Focus and get this shit done. Work out the rest later. That was what I had to do and see success instead of failure.
“Thanks buddy. Gotta go,” I stated straightening up.
“See you on the other side bro. Xander, be careful.”
Be careful…
Yeah.
“I will. You too. You be careful too and get the hell out if there’s trouble. Don’t worry about anybody else, just get yourself out.” That was me thinking of the other variables at work here, the gray area neither of us knew about.
“I will.”
On that note he hung up.
Time to make this move.
I looked ahead at the drain entrance.
I was dressed in my usual black get up. I looked ready for this black op mission in every sense of the word.
I made sure no one followed me, but there was only so much I could do in that respect.
It had just gone eight.
I’d parked up in the park itself near an abandoned greenhouse behind the church. It looked like the caretaker or someone like that might have used it at some point. The whole area was covered with unruly trees and weed. It was a great hiding spot and different to what anyone might have seen if we’d been followed previously by Balthazar’s men.
I proceeded to the drain entrance, my backpack on my back with all that I needed.
I entered, turned on my headlight and made my way to the chamber.
In the darkness of the tunnel, my thoughts of Balthazar and this morning returned.
I hated feeling fear.
