Dark Shadows

It was a cold, chilly night in Belevir, a small village in Russia. This was one of the oldest villages of Russia, which was previously dominated by Americans. After an all out war around 100 years ago, the Russians dominated and captured the village. At the center of the village, there was a huge mansion.

The mansion was heavily guarded by a bunch of armed guards.

“He is here,” said one of the guards to an old man.

The old man was in his early 60s.

“Send him in, ” replied the old man.

A young man, wearing a jacket entered the room.

He bowed in front of the old man.

“You asked for me?, ” questioned the young man, keeping his head down.

“It is time, ”said the old man.

“Are you sure, sir? We have a whole army ready. I think we can do this on our own”, exclaimed the young man.

“Mikhail, we are gonna need him to pursue this. I am not gonna be alive forever, ” said the old man.

Mikhail nodded his head, bowed in front of the old man and said, “I will try my best to not disappoint you.”

The old man got up from his chair, taking support of a table near him, and slowly walked towards Mikhail.

He kept his palms on Mikhail’s cheeks and said, “You have never disappointed me.”

“How many men are you gonna need for this?,” continued the old man.

Mikhail locked his eyes with the old man and said indubitably, “None. I am gonna do this alone.”

He then hugged the old man, and left the room.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a normal morning in the city of New York. The birds were up in the sky, early in the morning.

*Six A.M, Six A.M* the alarm clock rang.

A man shut it off. He woke up and got ready for work.

He got on his bike and went to a construction site. He worked there and led a team of 20 workers.

“Hey, Theon, ” said one of the workers. “Big day today, right?”, he continued, greeting him.

Theon had been working for the construction company for almost 6 years now. He was one of their best employees. He had reached his position through a lot of hard work and determination.

“Yeah,” responded Theon. “The clients will be in soon. I hope we get this project ,” Theon added.

A man in a suit walked in.

“Theon, they are here. Are you ready to show them around”, asked the man in the suit.

“You got it, boss, ” responded Theon.

Theon went along with his boss. He met a couple of the clients and started showing them around.

His day went by in showing the clients around. He was tired at the end of the day.

“See you tomorrow,” said Theon, waving towards his colleagues.

“Yeah, see you tomorrow,” they responded.

Theon got on his bike and started riding towards his home.

He entered his house. He washed his face, made some dinner and watched T.V.

After his dinner, he washed his dishes and went to sleep.

Theon was blindfolded and tied on a chair.

“Did he talk yet?,” said one of the goons.

“No. But he soon will.,” said the other goon.

He then proceeded near Theon, and started punching him in the face.

After a few punches, Theon fell down along with the chair tied to him.

“He is of no use to us,” said the goon and proceeded to take out a gun.

He pointed it at Theon’s head, and shot him point blank, in the head.

Theon woke up, with heavy breathing and sweating profusely. It was just a nightmare.

He opened his drawer near the nightstand, and took out some medicine. He popped the pill along with some water. He got out of his bed and went to the balcony.

It was a full moon night, with the sky full of stars. There was utter silence in the whole neighborhood, with only a few crickets singing in the night.

Theon stood there at the railing, watching deep in the sky till his breathing came back to normal.

After some time, he went inside, looked at his clock and noticed that it was close to 6 AM.

He made his bed and went on to get ready for work.

He made his breakfast and went to his door to get the newspaper.

As he opened his door, there was a box lying outside, on his front lawn.

Theon looked around and found no one near the scene.

He picked up the box and saw his name written on it.

He took it inside and closed the door.

He then proceeded to open the box.

There was a band of film strips or what we call “photo negatives” in the box.

He picked up his work bag and kept those negatives in his pocket.

He then dropped the negatives at the local photo shop to get them developed.

Upon returning from work, he stopped by the photo store and picked up his developed photos.

“How much for this?,” asked Theon, at the reception of the photocopy shop.

“That will be 3$, sir, ” said the receptionist.

Theon took out a 5$ bill and handed it to the receptionist. He got the change money back along with the developed photos, and then left the store.

Theon reached his house, and out of curiosity, opened the photo envelope.

On looking at the photos, Theon got stunned and the keys fell down from his hand.

He shockingly started going through all the photos.

They were photos of Theon in a uniform from around 8-9 years ago. He was carrying a gun in his holster. In a few photos, there were other guys present with him as well. One of the pictures was of Theon shaking hands with a man in a suit, with Theon wearing the same uniform. The last picture was a group photo of 10 guys, all in the same uniform.

Theon ran to find the box the photos came in, to find a sending address. The box had nothing written on it apart from his own name, not even a stamp. Theon realized that since there is no stamp and address, this was probably hand delivered.

He took the pictures and went towards the backside of his house. He lit a fire and then put all the pictures in the fire and burned them all.

A couple of days later, Theon was walking back towards his home from work. He didn’t bring his bike to work that day. It was late at night and the weather was cold. As he reached a secluded corner, he saw someone standing far from him.

“You look good, ” said the man from the shadows.

“Who is this? ,” asked Theon in a questioning tone, trying to look in the shadows.

“How far can you run from your past? ” asked the man.

He took a couple of steps forward, out from the shadows and in the light. It was Mikhail.

“It always catches you. Right, Azrael? ” said Mikhail, with a wry smile on his face.

“How… How do you know that name?, ” asked Theon in a tense tone.

“Don't be modest, you have earned that name. The Angel of Death.” said Mikhail.

“I don’t know what you are talking about. ” said Theon, looking Mikhail directly in the eye.

“You look so different from the pictures from your past which I sent you, ” said Mikhail, shaking his head.

“It was you? Who sent those pictures? ” asked Theon.

“Where did you find those? ” Theon added further.

“That doesn’t matter. What matters is that it is you in those pictures. Or at least who you used to be, ” said Mikhail.

Theon had a surprised look on his face.

“I don’t think I am the man you’re looking for, ” Theon said, trying to finish the conversation.

Mikhail took a pause, and then quickly took a combat knife out from his jacket and threw directly at Theon.

Theon dodged the knife and caught it by its handle, showing perfect reflexes.

Mikhail smirked and said, “I think you are exactly the man I am looking for.”

“Who are you?” asked Theon.

“Who you used to be, ” replied Mikhail.

“It doesn’t matter how fast or how far you run, you will always be chased by your shadows.” added Mikhail.

“I am not that guy anymore,” said Theon.

“It is time to come back, Theon, ” said Mikhail.

“Where? ” asked Theon.

“Home ,” replied Mikhail.

“I am already home ,” said Theon.

“Not every house you can call home ,” responded Mikhail.

Mikhail paused a bit and said,“Anyways, it was nice meeting you. After hearing about you so much all these years. We will meet again soon.”

Mikhail walked in the other direction, in the shadows.

*flashback 20 years ago *

“I don’t know what to do, ” said Theon’s father.

“You should have thought that before taking money from him,” said Theon’s mother, angrily.

“I had no other option. I did all this for you and our children,” said Theon’s father in a convincing tone.

“Don’t you dare put this on me and them,” said Theon’s mother, raising her finger.

“We have to move away from them. For their safety,” said Theon’s father in a breaking voice.

“I am not gonna go away from Theon and Liam. They are my babies,” said Theon’s mother.

“Baby, we don’t have any other option,” said Theon’s father, holding his wife.

“What are we gonna say to them?” asked the wife, breaking into tears.

“They are sleeping. There’s a car right outside. We can leave now and come back after everything is sorted out,” said Theon’s father.

“You are such a coward. You are not even going to talk to them for one last time?” said his wife.

Theon’s father hung his head down, abashed.

Theon’s mother went to their children, Theon and Liam’s room, and sat beside them.

Both of the brothers were asleep.

She wanted to say so much but all she could do was cry. She kissed both of them on their foreheads and went outside the room.

Both Theon’s father and mother got into the car with a suitcase and left.

The next morning, Theon and Liam woke up to an empty house.

They waited for the whole day but none of their parents came back home. Theon tried their cell phones but it was switched off.

Theon was the older brother amongst them. He was 12. Liam was 7.

Theon was very smart and mature for his age. He had a hint about what was going on in his house, that his father borrowed a huge amount of money from a very powerful and dangerous businessman. And that, his father was deep with the sharks now and had no way to repay them.

The night passed and young Theon got a rough idea about what was going on.

*snap back to present*

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few more days passed and Theon went on with his life. But he had all of these things that were happening, running constantly through his mind.

One day, Theon got back from work.

As he entered his house, his house phone rang.

“Hello?” said Theon.

“Hey, it’s Liam,” said the voice on the phone, in a very tense tone.

“Hey Liam. What’s up?”, asked Theon.

“He’s not home yet,” said Liam, breathing heavily.

“What? Who’s not home yet?” asked Theon.

Liam was weeping and not able to say anything.

“Liam? Calm down and explain to me, ” said Theon.

“George. He went to school in the morning. He should have been back 8 hours ago. But he is not home yet. I called the school and they said that he left the school on time,” said Liam.

George was Liam’s 5-year-old only son.

“Did you contact the police yet?” asked Theon.

“No. I didn’t know what to do. I went along his daily school path but I didn’t find anything. The first name that popped in my mind was yours. So I called you,” said Liam.

Theon took a pause and said, “I’ll look into it.”

He hung up the phone.

*flashback 18 years ago*

Liam and Theon were both picked up by U.S Child Care services. They have been living in an orphanage for almost 2 years. Theon was playing the role of both of their parents to Liam.

One day a couple of parents visited the orphanage. They were looking to adopt a child below 10 years of age.

Liam caught their eyes. They said that Liam looked like the child they had, who died very young.

They decided to adopt Liam. Due to financial issues, they could adopt only Liam, and not Theon.

The orphanage was fine with this as long Liam was fine with it.

“But I don’t want to live without you,” said young Liam, tearing up, to his brother.

“Hey. They are really nice people. You will get the comfort of a home as well as parents’ love. You should go with them,” said young Theon, convincing his brother.

“Will you come to visit me?” asked young Liam.

“Sure,” said young Theon , hugging his brother.

“Promise?” asked young Liam.

“Promise, ” said young Theon, exhaling deeply.

Liam went along with his new “parents” and Theon stayed back. In a way, Theon was happy that Liam will now get some better care.

*back to present*

Liam was walking around his house in a frazzled mood.

The phone rang. Liam ran to pick it up.

“Hello,” said Liam.

“We have your son,” said the voice from the other end.

“If you try to contact the police, which I assume you still have not, we will return your child in pieces,” the voice added.

“Please. I will do what you say. I will not contact the police. What do you want?,” asked Liam curiously.

“Bring a hundred thousand dollars to the address I will give you,” said the voice.

“A hundred thousand? I don’t have that much money, ” exclaimed Liam.

“If you are not there in two hours, I will start sending you your boy, piece by piece,” the voice said, and hung up the phone.

“Hello? Hello? ” Liam tried to reconnect, but it went in vain.

Liam’s doorbell rang. His wife went to answer it. There was no one at the door.

She looked around and there was no one. Only an envelope on the floor.

She picked it up and took it inside.

Liam opened it without thinking anything.

They both were shocked looking at it. Liam’s wife, Lyla started sobbing. It was a picture of George, with his head covered in blood and his eyes were closed.

Liam wiped his tears, took his bike keys from the table and ran outside. He went straight to Theon’s place.

Theon opened his door and Liam started weeping.

Theon held Liam, and Liam handed him the envelope.

Theon saw the picture and closed his eyes in pity. He clenched his fist.

He then asked Liam everything about the phone call.

“How long did the phone call last?” asked Theon.

“Around 40 seconds maybe, ” answered Liam.

“Did you recognise his accent?” asked Theon.

“Sounded like an American,” said Liam.

“Did he tell you where to get the money?” asked Theon.

Liam told him the address. Theon assured Liam that he will fix everything and told him to go home, to stay with his wife at this difficult time.

As soon as Liam left, Theon went towards his garage in the back.

He picked up a sledge hammer and went in the corner of the garage.

He then dusted off the wall and started hitting it with the sledge hammer.

After a few strokes, the wall broke down and there was a small room behind it.

Theon stood outside, gazing into the room. He looked hesitant to go inside it.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and went inside the room.

There was a trunk lying on the floor, covered in dust.

He patted the dust of the trunk and a symbol was visible on the front of the trunk.

It was a symbol of a skull.

Theon kept staring at that symbol and then closed his eyes.

*flashback 15 years ago*

Theon had developed anger issues. Quite often, he would engage in a fight with someone to stand against anything wrong. He had trouble making friends because of his antisocial behavior as well as his anger issues.

One fine day, Theon was walking around in a park. It was late evening and the park was almost empty. Theon used to like to sit in the park and watch the sunset. The sky used to give him peace.

As he was sitting inside the park, he heard someone’s cry for help. He followed the sound and reached a silent corner of the park. There were three guys, around 15 years old, bullying and beating up a single guy, who looked around 12 years old.

“Let him go,” young Theon said to the bullies.

“This is none of your business. Just keep walking,” said one of the bullies, without even looking at him.

They continued to hit the guy.

Theon stepped forward, grabbed one of the guys and pulled backwards with his whole strength.

They both fell on the ground. Theon tried to get up, but the other guy punched him in the face.

He again went to punch Theon, but Theon blocked it, and gave a reflex punch.

The other two bullies saw this and went to help their friend.

They caught hold of Theon and started hitting him. Theon tried to defend himself and attempted a few wild haymakers. He was outnumbered by the bullies.

Two of the bullies held Theon by his arms and the third bully started punching him in his stomach.

The bully then picked up a stick and charged towards Theon.

As he was about to strike him, a man blocked the blow by putting his arm between the stick and Theon’s body.

The man snatched the stick from the bully and pushed him away.

The two other bullies left Theon and charged at the man.

The man handled both of them easily. His fighting skills were professional and he easily beat all three of the bullies.

The bullies got up and ran away.

“Are you okay?” asked the man to Theon.

He was a tall, well-built, as well as, well-dressed man in his mid forties.

Theon was bleeding a little from the side of his forehead.

“I am fine, ” said young Theon, wiping the blood.

“You’re bleeding. I live nearby. Let me aid those injuries,” said the man.

“It’s late already. I will be fine on my own,” said young Theon, dusting his shirt.

“It won’t take much time. Come, let’s go,” said the man.

Theon saw the time on his watch and hesitantly went with the man.

They both entered a small house and Theon sat on a chair. The man took out the first aid from one of his bags.

“What’s your name?” asked the man, applying some sort of liquid on the wound.

“Theon,” he answered.

“I am Yakov.” said the man.

“Where do you live?,” asked Yakov.

Theon explained everything to him.

“So your parents, they never returned, huh?” said Yakov.

Theon just shook his head.

Yakov took a pause and said,“You have a lot of courage.”

“You were clearly outnumbered by those guys, yet you went to save that boy,” he added.

“Anyone would have done that,” said young Theon, blowing on his wounds.

“Not anyone I know of. Not some 15-something-year-old kid, ” said Yakov, with praise in his voice.

“I have a place for you,” said Yakov.

“A place? Where?” asked young Theon curiously.

“I have an organization, a group of people, like you…. Well not exactly like you, but older than you, who are willing to make a difference,” said Yakov.

“You can join us. We will train you to be invincible. To be the best warrior this world has ever seen. To do justice for everyone,” Yakov added.

Yakov then took out a card, and handed it to Theon.

It had “The White Skull” written on it with a picture of a skull.

“Why the skull?” asked young Theon.

“Because it is to remind us that no matter how someone looks from the outside, everyone is the same from the inside,” Yakov responded.

*back to present*

Theon opened his eyes. He hesitantly got out of the room without doing anything.

He then covered the broken wall with a curtain and then put a few boxes in front of it in order to hide it.

He picked up his jacket, wore it and went towards his bike. He then proceeded to the address which was given by the kidnappers.

It was an old, abandoned warehouse. Theon looked around, and went inside the warehouse. He could see no one inside the warehouse. He scanned the entire warehouse and found nothing.

“I knew you would come,” a voice said from the dark.

Theon looked in the direction where the voice was coming from.

He recognized the voice. It was Mikhail.

“You?,” exclaimed Theon. “You are the guy I met a couple of nights ago,” he added.

“I wanted to see what you would do. To save your nephew. Whether you still got it or not,” said Mikhail, walking slowly towards Theon.

“Where is he? Let him go, ” said Theon, warning Mikhail.

“Or what?”, asked Mikhail, chuckling.

“Come back and I will let him go,” said Mikhail. “Or I will still let him go, but in pieces,” he further added.

“Come back where?” asked Theon.

“The White Skull”, said Mikhail.

Theon stared Mikhail right in the eyes, taking deep breaths.

He said, “There was a reason I left.”

“Yeah, yeah…. We are evil, we kill innocents… blah blah,” said Mikhail imitating a blabbering mouth with his hand.

“Exactly,” said Theon, in an agreeing tone.

“We do what is needed. We are willing to cross some lines according to the situation. All your life you might have spent in believing something. But it takes one moment, just one moment, to break it all. So be careful in what you believe in,” said Mikhail.

“I am pretty adamant in what I believe in. And I am pretty sure that mine is the right path. I don’t regret leaving The White Skull,” responded Theon.

“Whatever,” said Mikhail, taking a couple of steps backward.

“It’s your choice,T. You or your nephew,” he added.

“The clock is ticking. Tick tock..tick tock,” Mikhail said further, imitating the hands of a clock.

“I don’t mind letting him bleed further,” Mikhail added.

Theon couldn’t take it further. He charged towards Mikhail and landed a hook on Mikhail’s face.

Mikhail ducked and punched Theon in his stomach. Theon, while recovering from this, attempted a left handed cross. Mikhail blocked it with his right hand and did a hip throw on Theon.

Theon grunted and spat blood. He got up slowly but Mikhail wasted no time and landed a flying back kick right on Theon’s rib cage. Theon slid a few feet backwards and crashed into empty containers.

“Seriously?” exclaimed Mikhail, with disappointment in his tone.

“I don’t know why he is so firm on getting you back. Is this really Azrael?” added Mikhail, shaking his head in disappointment.

Theon held his stomach with his left arm and took support of his right arm to get back on his feet.

“He?” asked Theon, coughing.

“Your mentor. Yakov,” responded Mikhail.

“Yakov sent you? And what part do you play in The White Skull?”, asked Theon, still grunting with pain.

“I don’t have time for chit chat,” said Mikhail, walking away in the dark.

“Tick tock….tick tock…,” Mikhail's voice faded as he walked away.

Theon took a moment and sat down to catch his breath and for the pain to subside.

He then started slowly walking towards the entrance he came from, in pain.

Theon got back home and started reflecting upon his past. All those days he spent with “The White Skull”. He knew how big of an organization this was and it would be really hard to take them. He was lying on his bed in those thoughts and went to sleep.

The alarm rang. He got up with pain in his whole body.

Theon took his keys, picked up a bag and went straight towards his bike.

He drove in a direction opposite from his workplace. After driving a few miles, he reached his destination. It was an old boxing school. Theon went inside. The place was filled with old, but conventional gym equipment. It was almost empty, with no one to be seen around.

There was a punching bag hanging from the top. Theon was walking slowly looking around the place. He reached the punching bag and punched with his whole strength. He grunted in pain from the fight earlier.

“Your punches have become weak,” said an old man from behind.

“Looks so,” said Theon.

“Diego,” added Theon, bowing in front of the old man.

“Theon,” responded the old man, bowing back.

Diego looked at Theon, who had bruises on his face.

“You don’t look good, kid,” said Diego.

“Probably better than I am feeling right now,” responded Theon.

“What brings you here, after all these years?” asked Diego.

“I need to be back, ” said Theon, with anger and determination in his eyes.

“You sure, kid? You know there’s no coming back again, right?” asked Diego, in a concerned tone.

“I am,” said Theon, putting his bag down and getting ready to train.

“Easy there,” said Diego. “Your wounds haven't healed yet,” he added.

“I don’t have much time,” responded Theon, putting his head down and exhaling deeply.

Theon started his training with Diego. Diego was Theon’s old trainer. The one who taught Theon everything about combat. He too used to be a part of “The White Skull”, but he retired a few years ago, due to old age.

Theon practiced there almost the whole day for the next couple of weeks. He even used to sleep in the gym. Since Theon knew that he is the one they want, he also knew that they wouldn't harm kidnapped George. Not until a few days.

Theon got out of the gym after almost two weeks. He got on his bike and started riding.

After driving for some time, he reached a house which was far into the woods.

He went to the door and rang the doorbell. No one answered. Theon tried to look inside through the glass on the door. He didn’t see anyone inside. He tried to unlock the door using his old tricks. The door opened and he went inside, walking slowly.

As he was looking around the house, a kunai, which is a sort of japanese knife, came flying towards his face. It missed Theon’s face by an inch. Theon looked in the direction from where the kunai was thrown.

“You missed,” said Theon.

“On purpose,” answered the man who threw the knife.

Theon took a pause, looked at the man, smiled and said, “It’s good to see you, Kiyoshi.”

“Your lurking days aren’t over yet, it seems,” said Kiyoshi.

He came closer and hugged Theon.

Kiyoshi used to be Theon’s best friend from his “The White Skull” days. He was the best sniper in the whole team.

“So how have you been?” asked Theon.

“Bored. Nothing much to do around here after we left,” said Kiyoshi.

“Yeah, I know,” said Theon.

“What brings you here, T?” asked Kiyoshi.

Theon explained everything to him.

Kiyoshi took a pause and said, “I thought these assholes were dead or something.”

“Not what I saw,” said Theon.

“They have gotten stronger and bigger,” he added.

“The man I encountered was really skilled,” he further added.

“They always had the best taste in picking up skilled people,” said Kiyoshi after listening to everything.

“He shouldn’t have brought my family into this,” Theon said, with anger in his eyes.

“So what are we gonna do?” asked Kiyoshi.

“What we do best. Hunt,” said Theon.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mikhail was sitting in his room eating an apple. The phone rang.

“What’s the status?,” the voice asked.

It was Yakov.

“Haven’t heard from him in the last 2 weeks. I couldn’t even find him in his house. We are taking good care of the boy,” answered Mikhail.

Yakov stood there silently.

“We had a moment, me and him,” said Mikhail.

“He has become so weak. I broke him easily,” he added, laughing and taking a bite from his apple.

“You know what’s more dangerous than a roaring lion? A wounded lion,” responded Yakov.

Mikhail stopped laughing, took a pause and said, “Lions are the best to hunt.”

“I am sending you a backup,” said Yakov.

“I won’t need a backup,” Mikhail answered, annoyed.

“You’re gonna need it. I will send all these men to guard the factory, you’re holding the boy in,” said Yakov.

“Yeah, whatever,” said Mikhail, apathetically..

“Mikhail, you don’t understand the seriousness of this situation. You don’t know Azrael. There’s a reason he got that name. Don’t try to find that reason, ” said Yakov, with concern in his tone.

Mikhail hung up the phone.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Theon reached his home, went towards his garage and stood in front of the wall he had broken a few days ago. He slid the boxes aside and removed the curtain. He then went inside the room.

The same trunk was lying there with the symbol of a skull on it.

Theon sat on his knees, took a deep breath and opened the trunk.

Inside the trunk, there were a couple of Glock-17 pistols and a few magazines filled with bullets.

Just besides the pistols, there was a Kershaw boot knife.

There was also a hidden compartment in the trunk below the top rack. He opened that compartment and there was a locket inside it. The locket had a half broken skull and a lot of scratches on it.

Theon picked it up, kept it in his palms and was looking at it, rubbing his thumb on the edges of the skull. He got lost looking at the locket.

*flashback 13 years ago*

“You ready?”, asked Yakov.

“I was born ready,” answered young Theon.

Yakov swirled a sword towards Theon.

Theon blocked it with his sword and counter attacked Yakov. Yakov blocked it with the vambrace, worn on his arm and pushed Theon away.

Yakov then looked towards the left of Theon, trying to distract Theon.

Theon also looked in the same direction getting distracted and Yakov landed a double handed sword towards Theon. He stopped the sword around a centimeter away from Theon’s neck.

Theon got scared and started breathing heavily.

“In life, you’ll get a lot of distractions from your goals,” said Yakov, retracting his sword.

“What matters is that you never lose sight of what you are looking for. Never,” he added.

“Even if the distraction is drawing you towards itself?,” asked young Theon.

“Especially then,” answered Yakov.

Theon nodded his head in agreement.

“I have something for you, kid,” said Yakov, taking something out from his pocket.

“What is it?,” asked young Theon.

Yakov put the thing on Theon’s palm.

“A locket?,” asked young Theon.

“Yes. In the shape of a skull,” answered Yakov.

“I’ve never got a gift in my entire life. Thank you for this,” said young Theon, happily.

*back to present*

Theon closed his fist with the locket inside it.

He then proceeded to wear the locket, and put the knife, the pistol along with a couple of magazines in his pocket.

He also took out a black colored, light-weight armored torso from the trunk and wore it.

He then went out of his house towards a car parked outside, He opened the passenger side door and got inside the car. Kiyoshi was in the driver’s seat.

“You ready?,” asked Kiyoshi.

“I was born ready,” answered Theon.

Kiyoshi had a few friends from his past who helped him find out where George was being kept. After making a few calls, he found the address of the location. It was an old factory which was no longer in use. Kiyoshi started driving towards the factory.

After driving a few miles, they reached the factory.

It was a dark night with fog covering the area near the factory. The factory had a smell of old chemicals. It was heavily guarded with around 10-15 guards, marching outside as well as inside the factory. After dropping Theon near the factory, Kiyoshi went to a higher level and took position with a sniper. Both Theon and Kiyoshi were wearing a bluetooth earbud, through which they were communicating.

“Okay, I see two guards outside the gate,” said Kiyoshi through the earbud microphone.

“You have a clear shot on them?,” asked Theon.

“Yes. I am going to take the shot,” said Kiyoshi.

Kiyoshi fired two suppressed sniper shots and both of the guards went down.

“You’re clear. You can proceed inside,” said Kiyoshi.

“Roger,” said Theon , proceeding inside the factory, with a pistol in his hand.

“I won’t be able to take many shots from here now, Theon,” said Kiyoshi.

“There are a lot of obstacles in between,” he added.

“It’s alright. Just keep giving me the locations of whoever you see,” said Theon.

Theon kept infiltrating inside the factory, step by step and taking the guards down, one at a time.

“You have almost searched each and every floor. Just the top floor remains now, Theon,” said Kiyoshi.

“How many men do you see?,” asked Theon.

“Two,” replied Kiyoshi.

“Shit. There’s one problem, though,” said Theon.

“What?,” asked Kiyoshi.

“I am all out of bullets,” said Theon. “Are they armed?,” asked Theon, further.

“Yes they are. But that would not stop you, right, Theon?,” said Kiyoshi, letting out a devilish smile.

“Certainly not,” said Theon.

Theon walked silently behind the guards and attacked one of them from behind, grabbing his neck. The other guard started shooting his MP5 gun towards Theon.

Theon blocked the bullets using the other guard’s body, bent down and took out the Kershaw knife from his boot pocket. He threw the knife with full force towards the other guard and it hit him right in his neck.

Both of the guards fell down.

Theon looked around and found a door near him. He went silently towards the door and kept his ear on it. There was no sound inside. He opened the door.

“You made it,” said Mikhail, facing in the opposite direction of Theon.

“Where’s the boy?” asked Theon.

“Which piece are you talking about?” asked Mikhail, turning towards Theon.

“The river current is strong enough to wash all the pieces away by now,” he added.

Theon stood there, stunned and in anger. He was not able to contemplate the death of George.

“You killed many of my men, Theon,” said Mikhail.

“That makes me very upset,” he added, furiously.

“You shouldn’t have killed the boy. He had nothing to do with this,” said Theon, with tears in his eyes and fuming with anger.

“I am gonna kill the rest of your family too. And then, I’m gonna rip your heart out,” responded Mikhail, walking slowly towards Theon.

“I don’t have one,” said Theon, adamantly, removing his ear piece.

Mikhail charged towards Theon and struck a jab and an uppercut. Theon dodged the blow and responded with a punch. Both of them started exchanging punches and blocking each other’s blows. Theon fought better than before and after trading a few blows, he got a combination of body blow, left arm jab and a heel kick on Mikhail’s diaphragm perfectly. Mikhail crashed a few feet backwards.

“What the hell are you made up of?,” asked Mikhail, grunting in pain and getting up slowly.

“Broken pieces, glued together with pain, perseverance and commitment, ” answered Theon, breathing heavily.

Theon didn’t wait for Mikhail to get back up completely, and started throwing punches again. Mikhail took all of the punches until he blocked one, took a combat knife out of his sock and cut on Theon’s thigh.

Theon grunted in pain, kicked Mikhail with his other leg and backed up a few steps.

He walked back limping in pain.

Mikhail got up and started swinging the combat knife furiously towards Theon. Theon kept dodging every attack and then after a few swings, he caught Mikhail’s hand bearing the knife.

Both of them locked their eyes on each other. Mikhail tried his best to push the knife towards Theon, and Theon put all his strength in blocking that.

“You wanted the animal. He’s standing in front of you,” said Theon and struck a headbutt on Mikhail’s face.

Mikhail, trying to recover from this, attempted a wild haymaker with the knife and cut a mark on Theon’s face.

He tried to hit Theon again with the knife, but Theon blocked it with his one arm and snatched the knife with his other hand.

He then put the knife with brute force in Mikhail’s chest, looking deep into his eyes.

Mikhail had his eyes wide open and was unable to contemplate that he was stabbed in his heart.

He then let out a huge roar, in pain.

Theon pushed the knife even deeper with his palm, taking heavy breaths.

He then let go of Mikhail, and after a couple of seconds, Mikhail fell on his knees.

Mikhail crawled a few steps and sat on the floor and his back on a wall, with the knife still in his chest.

Theon was bleeding profusely from his right thigh, where he was attacked with a knife by Mikhail. He took out a cloth from his pocket and tied on the wound to stop the bleeding.

“You know, Theon. Guys like us, we have two souls inside us. Angel and the Devil. Yours is still dominated by the Angel. Let the other part take over for once,” said Mikhail, with a breaking voice.

Theon just looked at him and said nothing.

Mikhail took a pause for a few seconds and then asked, “You…. You have a woman in your life, Theon?”

“No,” answered Theon.

“Good,” said Mikhail. “People like you and me, we don’t deserve love,” he added.

“I agree on that,” said Theon, applying pressure on his thigh wound.

“My dad was right. When he sent me to get you, he told me we would need you for our further actions,” said Mikhail, coughing in pain.

“Your dad? You’re Yakov’s son?,” asked Theon, with a stunned look on his face.

Mikhail nodded affirmatively.

“So…. this is what it feels like….. being at the receiving end of death….. by Azrael,” said Mikhail, with his breathing slowing down.

His breath kept slowing down, till he stopped breathing completely. His head fell on one side and his eyes closed.

A phone rang. It was inside Mikhail’s pocket. Theon went near him and picked up the phone.

It was just a number with no name on it. The phone kept ringing and Theon kept staring at it. He then answered the phone.

“Mikhail? Where are you? Did Theon come yet?,” asked the man on the phone.

It was Yakov.

Theon said nothing and kept the phone on his ear, listening keenly.

“Does he know yet? That you killed his nephew? I am worried for you, my child,” said Yakov, further.

Theon listened to everything, took a pause and said, “I am coming for you next.”

—-------------------------- The End —--------------------------