The plan is to wait in the mall parking lot until Leyton arrives. Then three soldiers will storm into the place from each door while another soldier and I wait in the car. The captain will follow the soldiers entering through the main door.
Since we are already late, we skip the first part of the plan and drive to the restaurant right away. There are already two cars with Saviors graphics on them near the front door. It looks like Leyton is already here.
The drivers slam the breaks in front of each entrance. Soldiers rush into the place from all doors. I hear people screaming inside and smoke coming out of the doors and windows.
Leyton is about to face the inevitable. It’s the day he will start paying back for his sins.
Only a few seconds after, I hear the captain’s out of breath voice in the driver’s radio. “He is not here. They said he needed to go back to the capital after church service.”
The driver turns his head to me. I lean forward to take the radio from him.
“How about his parents?” I ask.
“Both are here,” he says.
I get out of the car and run to the restaurant. I see all civilians lying face-down on the floor while soldiers are standing next to them.
“What should we do?” the captain asks. I point to Leyton’s father.
“We will take him with us,” I respond. I turn to the waitress lying on her stomach while watching us. “Tell Leyton to meet me at the cabin. Alone,” I add before heading to the door.
“Who…are you?” she asks with a shaking voice.
I turn back. “Matt Macaine,” I say.
Once we get in the SUV’s, I give the address of the cabin to the captain.
We drive toward the mountains. If Leyton turns back and heads out to the cabin as soon as he gets the note, we should have just enough time to be ready for him.
We arrive at the end of the country road. We have to walk the rest of the way to the cabin. I tell the drivers to take the cars and hide them behind the only gas station on this back road. They leave with another soldier and a lieutenant. Five soldiers, Leyton’s father, and the captain follow me inside the jungle.
I remember the feeling I had the last time I walked on this path. I was cheerful for making it to the safety of the cabin with a then-friend I mistakenly trusted.
There is no one around the cabin. Leyton probably didn’t need to put a guard to keep an eye on this place.
Soldiers tie his father on the fence of the cabin’s patio and cover his eyes with black fabric. He stays quiet and doesn’t show resistance in any way. I give him a foldable chair so he can comfortably wait. He is an innocent civilian, after all. He shouldn’t go through pain because of what their son became.
The soldiers walk away to take positions around the perimeter. I sit on the steps of the cabin in front of the father with the captain.
The captain lights up a cigarette while carefully scanning the area. “Do you think he will really come alone?”
“I wouldn’t think it of it. An army of Saviors must be approaching here right now,” I say sarcastically. He chuckles. Someone else would be probably worried about what is coming to us but he laughs at it. He is a fearless man.
“Well, I should tell the boys to check their spare magazines,” he says, still smiling.
His radio buzzes.
“Captain… Two Humvees and an M35 passed by the station. Over,” a soldier says.
If the Humvees and the military truck are all filled up with Saviors, there must be at least sixteen of them.
“Roger that. Execute the plan. Over,” the captain responds.
We stand up and go behind the parents. Minutes later, Leyton shows up with over a dozen Saviors behind him. They raise their rifles and surround the cabin.
“We changed the roles, hah?” I ask. The captain is holding his rifle against Leyton’s father.
“Leave my father out of this!” Leyton shouts out with a balled fist in the air. I haven’t seen him this angry. I can’t lie. I enjoy seeing him pissed off. It reminds me of the situation I had about a month ago. I was in his position as I tried to control my anger mounting up.
“Sure…if you come with us,” I say.
“Not gonna happen! The whole state force is on the way. We are gonna take your head—”
The captain fired a shot in the air. “Drop your weapons and step back now!” He pushes his rifle against the back of Leyton’s father. Leyton’s raging eyes go between his father, the captain, and me. After staring at us, he turns his head to the Saviors on his right side and raises his hand to indicate that they drop their weapons.
They oblige and relax their muscles in preparation of dropping their rifles. Leyton suddenly takes his hand to his hair and tilts his head back. This was the sign he and I agreed upon a long time ago to notify each other to take whatever action we had planned before the emergency. He must be signaling Saviors to fire.
“Now!” I yell before his Saviors could raise their rifles back.
The sound of a bullet pops in the air as it hits his left shoulder.
“Don’t! You are surrounded!” I yell toward the Saviors. The soldiers and the lieutenant show up right behind them as well as the other soldiers who have been hiding around the perimeter.
The Saviors look around with despair in their eyes. The lieutenant and our soldiers forcefully take their rifles and handguns while they raise their hands in the air. Then the soldiers push them on their knees and cuff them.
Three soldiers wrap Leyton’s wound
