"Well done." There was the sound of clapping. "Very well done indeed. Of course, your sophisticated systems would have scanned and detected the men hidden inside and informed you of this Trojan horse. I expect no less from our arch-nemesis. The cyber criminal empire - Black and Tan."

I shivered. The echoey effect of the storage bunker turned Jasper's voice even more insidious. 

Cognac had stood up and was looking hard at the container. After a second, he said, "They have a built-in speaker and mic. That's probably how orders were given to the men in the containers. There's also a camera filming us as we speak."

Jesús stood up and Blake's limp body fell to the floor. "Should I take the camera out, Madame?"

Madame Debicki gave a single shake of her head. "No need. Let us hear what he has to say. Even a dying man is allowed some final words."

In my ear, William was still demanding for me to come in, and it seemed like Emrys was struggling to hold back Kaylan from blowing his cover and running straight to my rescue. I pressed my earpiece.

"Sorry. I'm here, safe and alive." Quickly, I gave them a rundown of what had just happened.

Emrys whistled. "Jesus. A kid. Damian isn't ever going to live that down. Getting his phone locked and taunted by a kid? Damn."

"Oh, he looks proper pissed, alright," William reported. "Trying to control his facial expression as we speak."

"William, can you tell us anything about what's going on at Jasper's side?" I asked. "I'm guessing Damian still can't talk to us." 

I didn't like how chirpy Jasper was sounding considering that his ambush had just completely failed. 

My eyes returned to my father's dead body. Here was the man who had made me suffer all my life. There was a pang of something, empty and hollow, in my chest. I averted my eyes.

"Well, they look horrible. One of the brothers - the younger one - had to be restrained because he was screaming and threatening to rush inside Octagon. The other brother just looks ... odd."

"Odd?" I repeated. "What do you mean, odd?"

"Well, he's got this sort of a - blank look on his face. At first I thought it was just shock. But I don't think it is." There was a pause. "In fact, both he and Jasper don't look the least bit surprised at all. The rest of the team look shocked - even Damian. But not those two. It's like they fully saw this coming ..."

My brain turned furiously. Almost immediately, I realized I was the key source of information now; clearly, Jasper had plans set in motion which he told no one about. Not even Damian. Whether that was an overabundance of caution on his part or whether this meant Damian had aroused Jasper's suspicions - and was therefore in danger - remained to be seen. Either way, it meant that Damian, whom we had counted on as the main informer of Jasper's plans, was just as clueless as the rest of us. And without being given an opportunity to slip away he couldn't tell us anything that he did knew of.

Meanwhile, Emrys and Kaylan were watching Eric downstairs, waiting for a signal on our part. They were completely cut off from everyone and therefore the most clueless. William being on the outside was the safest, but even so, that didn't mean he was out of danger. The longer I looked at our situation, the worse it all become.

"Uh oh," William said. "The older brother just gave an order for everyone to strap on their weapons and get ready for break-in."

Re. Re was giving the orders now. Mi was apparently distraught over the loss of Do; understandable, given how close they were as siblings. In fact, Re should be as grief-struck as Mi, but he wasn't - why? The Do Re Mi brothers had always been an ecosystem of their own, needing no one but themselves. Their bonds were one of the strongest I had seen. Not to mention the fact that their father had also just been killed.

"What's Jasper doing?" I asked.

"He's looking at his phone and speaking into the mic. I'm guessing that's the camera feed from the inside of the bunker."

"I don't think there's much we can do now but to wait and watch them play their cards," came Emrys' quiet voice. "We can't go up against either of them. We're scavengers. Our job is to strike fast and pick up the pieces we want once the war is over. Then we need to disappear before they get their foot up our asses."

Emrys was right. Our little team of five was simply not on either side's level.

I swallowed. "Okay. Well. Then let's watch and wait."

For Emrys and Kaylan to hear what Jasper was saying, I ordered William to turn up Damian's earpiece volume and have Damian stand closer to Jasper. 

Madame Debicki put on her sunglasses and stepped forward. "I presume that I'm speaking to the head of operations here?"

"You presume correctly, madame," came Jasper's deceptively smooth reply.

"So you're the person responsible for sending your poor men straight into our ambush." 

There came a most insincere sigh on Jasper's part. "Alas, you are correct. Those are my men, and their deaths are indeed on my hands."

A slight pause. "But you made a mistake in calling it your ambush."

"Oh?" Madame Debicki made a show of looking around at the twenty-something dead bodies. "So you mean to tell me that having your men die horrifically was all part of the plan? Next you'll be telling me us having the will is also planned."

Jasper laughed. It was a genuine laugh. "You don't even have the will."

I sat up, suddenly alert. What is this? Everyone knew Black and Tan had the will. In fact, the container camera would have picked up Madame Debicki holding the cylinder case. Is Jasper trying to call their bluff? But what for? 

As if to further prove my point, Madame Debicki once again pulled out the Blackcroft cylinder case and twirled it thoughtfully. "I'm not sure how much more can I 'have' the will, considering it is literally sitting in my palm."

"The case is sitting in your palm. It doesn't mean the will is."

Madame Debicki tilted her head. "Are you being serious with me right now? If we have the case, why won't we have the will? It was stored inside, was it not? Besides" - and here Madame Debicki's tone turned that slight mocking shade - "the locks on the case are primitive. They were easy to dismantle and the will extracted."

"So you've opened the case? Read the will?"

Right now, hiding behind the box and peering out at the tense exchange taking place between the underground crime network's two largest organizations, I felt a lot like that meme

Not the least because I had absolutely no idea what Jasper was up to. Why is he asking questions we already knew the answer to? If they had the case then of course they had the will - saying otherwise was like saying that if a person was alive that doesn't mean he has a heart. The will and the case was a package deal, tightly bounded to each other. 

Was Jasper trying to play down the importance of the will? I didn't see how that would help, considering that we'd been harassing them for the past month over the theft, and just sent twenty of our best men into their stronghold to get it back.

Madame Debicki let out a short laugh. "Of course. Would you believe me if I said we also made copies?"

You could almost hear Jasper shrugging. "The copies don't matter. Blackcrofts would never accept anything less than the real deal."

Madame Debicki sighed. "Your words are - what do we call it? All foam, no beer. You and I both know how important this will is to the Blackcroft empire, and how without it, your crude, top-down hierarchy will be completely shattered."

"Maybe that's exactly what I want. Oft times, we find that chaos provides the perfect opportunity for profit. You should know that well. Considering you took advantage of the last chairman's death to instigate an internal insurrection, before usurping the leadership position."

Jasper's words seemed to zap all air out from the room and replace it with crackling electricity. Even from here I could see the bridge of Madame Debicki's nose turned white.

"Oooo burn," came Emrys gleeful whisper in my ear.

Jesús took a threatening step forward. "You shall not speak to the Madame in this way - "

"Peace, Jesús." Madame Debicki regained her composure swiftly. "I see you are well informed. I'll have you know that so are we, Mr Blackcroft. We know that that will contains information that is far more important than the name of next don. It also holds the location of the X-Files, does it not? The documents detailing all the dirty skeletons on every individual person in your empire."

Madame Debicki whipped off her sunglasses and beneath, her emerald eyes burned with wrathful intensity.

"By delivering that pitiful goading you just did, you've given me key information about you - that one, your name is not in that will. You are therefore not important nor good enough to be considered a candidate for the next don. Even I can see that from what little interaction I'm having with you."

Emrys chose this moment to whoop, "Oooo, comeback is real!"

"Secondly, that also means you need the will more than anyone else right now," Madame Debicki continued. "Why? Because you plan to seize power. And as someone who successfully leaded an insurrection, I can tell you this - you will need all those dirty little secrets the X-Files contain to get enough men on your side." Every single word was punctuated with razor-sharp emphasis. "You need the will."

Absolute silence followed that last statement. I found that I was holding my breath and slowly let it loose. Madame Debicki had pinned Jasper's motives exactly down to the bones. She had figured him out in seconds. What an incredible woman, I found myself thinking. I couldn't imagine how this standoff could go in Jasper's favor.

But when Jasper finally spoke, there was an odd note of triumph in his voice. "And by saying all that, dear Madame, you've also given me key information about you. In fact, you've just reassured me that I can destroy the entire building and still have my best interests protected."

Madame Debicki let out a short bark of laughter. "And how will you do that? Ship over more men and more weapons?"

"I don't need to. The weapon is already inside."

Madame Debicki's eyes flickered to the container, and for a fraction of a second they widened. 

"Everyone, back! To the elevator!" she snapped. "Cognac! The barrier! Now!"

"What?"

"It's a bomb! The container is a bomb!"

My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach. So the men were never the plan. Getting the container inside was. In this enclosed space, and at this distance, a bomb would leave behind massive damage.

Jasper was laughing, a maniacal, hysterical laughter that went round and round the bunker; up and down against the walls.

Jesús jabbed the up button. "Madame! The elevator isn't working!"

"Cognac!"

Cognac's kid voice wailed. "I can't! It isn't fully charged yet!"

Madame Debicki whirled around to face the camera. She raised the cylinder case high. "We have the will! You would destroy it? You would destroy your empire's precious heirloom?"

I watched Jesús tried to force the elevator door open.

Jasper chuckled. His words were a sibilant hiss. 

"Oh but Madame, you and I both know you're lying. Black and Tan does not have the will."

"Big red button!" William yelled in my ear. "Jasper just brought out a big red button!"

I pivoted desperately on my heels, looking for the nearest cover. There was a large metal waste disposal bin at the back, the kind you would find at construction sites.

I ran for it, heart pounding faster than my feet.

"Goodbye," I heard Jasper's voice from behind.

And the container exploded.

|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|

In my mind, the story ends in less than ten chapters

Writing those less than ten chapters down however, is another story T^T

ALSO ALL HAIL THE RETURN OF MEME IN THIS BOOK

what do we think of Jasper's newfound confidence? what other tricks do you think he has up his sleeve?

this one's for alisyazzz! thanks for all the love you've shown How About Seven <3