The Escape!

Summing up the previous chapter, Shaun and Horus had raided the Italian safe house, the theatre. They had taken down 5 of them professionally and just when they were going to escape they were surrounded by the police lead by Mason.

"Think Shaun think!", Shaun told himself, there has to be a way to escape. He pictured the blueprint which he had memorized, he analyzed all the openings, all the strategies, nothing seemed to be working. Horus was panicking, he looked at Shaun anxiously. Shaun had an idea, not an escape one but close enough. He took his phone out and called Mason, judging from the speaker, only Mason was giving orders to surrender, no one else was speaking through the speaker. Taking a chance, that no one else would speak and let Mason know they were inside, Shaun waited for Mason to pick the call. The phone clicked and a voice came by, "Hello Jake, I'm a little busy now." Shaun spoke quickly, "Wait! I got info that you are raiding a place, I've been researching about the Italian mafia for sometime, so please let me cover the bust. I'll owe you big time!" , Mason sighed loudly, then said, "Fine, how quickly can you get here?", Shaun grinned, "I already got the address, I'm close by, I'll reach within 2min". Mason confirmed and cut the call. Shaun turned to Horus, "Okay now we have a reason to be in this area, all we gotta do is get out without being noticed and then head towards the front". Horus brightened up, "I know the way!! There's a sewage tunnel leading to the next road, but isn't far away, once we climb out and step out the alley the police will see us." Shaun smiled, "Well its fine now, let's go!".

Shaun and Horus hurried, climbed down the sewage, emerged outside the theatre. Shaun took off his gloves and hid his knives. Horus had a handheld digital camera, while Shaun took out a notebook. "It's a good thing we have these with us", said Horus as they hurried towards Mason. "Jake! That was quick, we are about to go in", exclaimed Mason. Shaun nodded and followed Mason. Mason gathered the raid team and signaled them to barge in on his command, he glanced towards Shaun, nodded and ordered to go in. The police smashed the door and all of them rushed in, Shaun and Horus stayed back for a little bit and then followed. Mason was standing dumbstruck, for all they found inside were 5 dead bodies. One of the rookie police officer ran out to puke, while Horus stepped forward to snap pictures of the scene. Mason stopped him, "Stop, this is now an active murder case, I can't allow you to take pictures", Horus nodded. Mason escorted the boys out, "Sorry Jake, I didn't expect such gruesome scene to be waiting for us, I know you wanted to cover the story but I can't do anything now", Shaun gave a faint smile, "Don't worry about it Mason, thanks for letting us join. I don't wish anyone death, but these were the same people who abducted those girls. I'm at ease that at least that's over". Mason gave a defeated smile, and then said goodbye and ran back in. Shaun and Horus left the scene, "That was really fucking close!", said Horus, "Shh! Don't speak yet, we gotta get back quickly, none of them seemed like the boss, either he had stepped out, or this was a trap to lure us."

250m away on top of a building, was a shadow, the cloudes parted to reveal a sniper rifle and a man peering through. "Quindi quelli sono quelli che ci ostacolano." ("So those are the ones who stand in our way").

Two days later, Shaun woke up with a dizzy feeling. He had been tired, for the first time in a long while. He stepped down for breakfast to find Mary and James at the table. "Morning Shaun! Come join us!! ", chirped Mary, she seemed very happy lately, but it was evident that she had been overworking herself. Shaun smiled and sat at the table and he was served with coffee and pancakes. "We haven't really gotten the chance to know each other, I'm James, nice to meet you", James extended a hand, Shaun shook it. "Well we have met before, and I see that Mary has been very happy after she met you. Take good care of her", James smiled, getting up he kissed Mary goodbye and left to office. Mary waited till he left and then just sank down to the chair, "I'm sorry Shaun but I've been working a little hard for something. I'm really tired", Shaun smiled, "Mary, I have a surprise for you, close your eyes", Mary looked confused but closed her eyes nonetheless. Shaun had actually bought the wedding dress using the money he took from the Italians. He decided it wouldn't be safe to hold onto the money for long, so he bought the wedding dress as soon as he got the time. Shaun kept the box with the wedding dress in front of Mary and asked her to open her eyes. Mary saw the dress and just stood up, shocked. She lift the dress, as if she was checking if this was a dream, then she looked at Shaun with teary eyes and widest smile every. She hugged Shaun tightly, "Thank you Shaun! But how did you know I was trying to buy this, and where did you get the money!?", Shaun smiled, "Well I'm always watching over you, you think I won't notice you overworking yourself? And about the money, you don't have to worry about it, just accept the gift". Mary hugged him again and ran to her room to try on the dress, while Shaun sat down, "You know... Moments like this aren't half bad....", saying this Shaun looked directly outside the window toward the roof of the next house. The guy with the sniper was taken aback!

~How did he know I was here!~

Just as he thought that, he looked through the scope and just froze, Shaun wasn't there.