Chapter 190: Chapter 190

“Jack, I must have been late. Where are Blake and his team?” Tatum asked.

Tatum did not oscillate with his words as he spoke to Jack Foster over the phone while his eyes kept on the men advancing to Brianna’s place from the backyard’s direction. They weren’t inside her yard yet, but it won’t be long before they got there.

“How far are you from the target spot?” Jack asked in return. He was unaware that Tatum had already arrived.

“I am by the end of the forest, North-west direction from the target spot. I had to hide my bike under the biggest tree,” Tatum answered in a hushed voice.

“Good, they will arrive at the same spot. Blake will no doubt be there with you sooner. Wait! I will get back to you, okay?” Jack’s tone suddenly changed to a sound of disbelief.

“Wait! You mean Blake is still on the way, right?” Jack asked hurriedly. His eyes were still keenly watching those men wearing full combat gear, as what he saw from the night vision binoculars he had in his hand.

“Yeah, their signal seemed to have stopped five minutes distance from where you are right now,” Jack answered with distress.

“Then I will go ahead. Just let them know there is no need for them to wait for me when they get here.”

Tatum did not wait for Jack’s response. He cut the call, jumped on his feet to get his disassembled sniper rifle, and climbed up the tree to get a good vision of his target. His gun was among the latest inventions of Matthew Reese. It could take a clear shot even from a two-mile distance. And with a side of entertainment purposes, as Tatum likes to hunt for his hobby as it makes him feel the similar rush he would get on field missions, he also asked to have his rifle bullets include tranquilizer darts.

And it appeared useful for Tatum at the moment.

“I need to know who the hell they are, but the distance isn’t so good….” Tatum murmured as he tried to decide how to deal with his task.

“Let’s play it safe,” Tatum chose to use the tranquilizers to hit his targets. “Since they are not Blake and his team, we cannot be sure who they are. And killing them won’t lead us to anything about finding out who sent them,” he murmured as he aimed at the last person heading to Brianna’s backyard.

“One down,” Tatum mumbled.

Tatum Eliott aimed, fired, and never missed any of his targets. They all dropped one by one. There were only five of seven of them. And Tatum was thinking about catching the last one alive or awake to get answers.

Tatum expertly jumped down from his spot, and with night vision goggles, he did not wait for Blake to arrive despite the fact that he could hear people getting closer.

“Who knows if they are from the other party,” Tatum mumbled as he cautiously moved without making any noise on his every step.

Tatum made sure he had his eyes watching the last man he spared from a tranquilizer shot. But before he could grab the man, another person was running with his head busy watching its back as if someone was chasing him to death. The man bumped into the other man Tatum was after. The two collided, and both dropped their butts to the ground.

But the one Tatum was after pulled and pointed his gun at the other guy that ran from the backyard.

“Put your gun down, damn it! I barely survived that bitch’s trap to die in your hands instead, you asshole!”

“Who are you?” the other guy asked with annoyance.

“I am the one who asked for backup, you idiot!” he snarled again.

The guy from Brianna’s backyard wasn’t even concealing his voice as he would speak loud and clear for Tatum to hear. The latter was only a few yards away with his tummy to the ground as he hid himself out in the plains. It was dark, and not even the moon showed up to keep the surroundings as dead dark as the sprayed ink of an octopus.

“You did? I was told to kill a bitch, but I did not get the memo about being a fucking backup to whoever you are,” the guy answered. Then he looked around and noticed he was alone. “Fuck! Where are they?” he cussed as he murmured.

“You were sent to kill that bitch alone?” the guy scoffed. “Good luck with that!” he added with a sneer as he started to get up and ran away from the other guy, heading back into the forest. The other guy, on the other hand, also got up and continued his way to Brianna’s place. He seemed to be in a rush. He did not even look back when he heard the other guy curse again, thinking he just fell down to the ground in his hurry.

It was actually Tatum wrestling with the guy fleeing from the scene. Tatum did not want to shoot with his silenced gun because, according to the exchanged conversation between the two, they are not familiar with each other and the dire to know who could be behind these two was too crucial for Tatum to find out. If he was already from the backyard, he must be among the intruders that Jack Foster had seen on the security surveillance.

Tatum made sure the intruder was knocked out, tied with his shoelace with his hands behind his back along with his folded legs. Then Tatum followed the guy in a hurry. This time he was no longer cautious if the latter would notice his presence. And when Tatum got a clear shot to bury a bullet in the man’s right leg, he did not hesitate to fire his gun.

“Fuck!” Tatum groaned. He was hit somewhere fatal had he not had his ballistic vest on. The guy must have aimed for his heart. Tatum realized his opponent was not someone ordinary for a goon. It was a bad gamble to get injured when he had so many things to find out. So he shot the guy right in between his eyebrows.

The guy fell lifeless to the ground.

Tatum walked closer with a hand to his chest.

“Like always, it hurts like hell,” Tatum groaned.

He checked the dead guy with anything familiar. But as it was dark, despite his night vision goggles, Tatum did not see anything useful or distinguishing. Then he heard hurried steps coming in his direction.

“Blake, is that you?” Tatum asked in a loud voice.

“Hey, man! Sorry, we got ambushed on the way here,” Blake Gordon answered hurriedly. Then he saw the dead guy on the ground. “Who’s this?”

“I have no idea,” Tatum replied. “I tried to check his body for anything, but I saw nothing useful to tell me of his identity.”

Ramil Finn walked closer to have a look at the corpse.

“Boss Blake…?” he called. “You’ve got to see this.”

The rest of the team stood on guard as their team leader crossed the distance to get next to the dead guy with its left face facing the sky, held by Ramil Finn on its jaw to the nape.

“This asshole is from another training camp under Charles Anderson. That stretched lobe piercing in his left ear is a signature,” Blake Gordon uttered as if explaining to Tatum Eliott.

“Why would they be after your Boss B?” Tatum asked.

“That is what we have to find out. I will make a call to Jack to give him a lead on what and where to dig into to get to the bottom of this….”

Blake dialed Jack’s number and told him everything about the intruders being from a different team under Charles Anderson’s training camps.

“We are being played,” Jack replied.

What do you mean?” Blake asked.

“Whoever is behind all these bizarre occurrences knew I would send you guys to assist Brianna. While you were being ambushed earlier, another group invaded the safehouse and took Charles away.”

Jack did not spare any detail for Blake to know.

“Who?”

“I don’t know. I am still reviewing everything to see what I missed and gave Charles a chance to connect to anyone and escape,” Jack answered.