@ castiel's vessel @ EmzyStilinski
Yeah, sometimes it is easy to get carried away with the planning, and sometimes I just need a chill pill. But yes, it is important to contribute because that is when what you have in mind will be taken into consideration and incorporation.
BTW, I just finished the first chapter and I freaking love the way it turned out. But I need you guys to check for any dialect errors regarding the Welsh dialect okay?
----- Chapter Start ------
I checked the settings on the autopilot system and ignored the roaring sound of the rotor blade. The helicopter is wandering above the city lights of Atlantic City, refusing to make a landing just yet. It is my job to make sure that we don’t land until it is safe to do so.
My fingers roamed to the center console of the helicopter as I adjusted the panels. Eyes dilating, I turned to glance at my partner, AK. The blonde is pulling at wires inside a bomb that is timed to explode in about five minutes. For once, I feared for my life, as I’ve never had before. We have about five minutes to detonate the bomb and land on top of the Sands casino before Flintson gets away with the blueprint. It all seems impossible at this point.
“Come on, AK, we’re about two-hundred feet from the building.” I yelled, exasperated.
AK pulled out tweezers from a nearby duffel bag and squinted his eyes at the tangled mess of wires that fell out of the black box. I shook my head profusely and turned to focus on the whereabouts of the helicopter.
“Hold on, mate, I got this.” AK replied, his Welsh accent drowned out by the running blades above the helicopter.
I know better than anyone that AK is more than capable of detonating a bomb. We’ve had missions where his skills and understanding of the workings behind bombs saved our ass from blowing up into pieces. However, I am worried this time around. For one, the helicopter is close enough to the ground that if the bomb blew up, civilian casualties would not be spared. Second, Flintson is smarter than we all thought. He sent this helicopter as a decoy with a running time bomb, knowing we’ll fall for his trap.
He is getting away with the actual copy of the blueprint as we speak; and I am wondering if AK could detonate the bomb in time under all of this pressure. I already feel the pressure and sense of responsibility clouding my judgment.
“We do not have enough time, one hundred and fifty feet!”
I decided to stay leveled on this altitude even though it would buy Flintson more time to escape; if we get blown up into bits and pieces, the least we can do is prevent that from happening to civilians. But we are already close enough to the ground that vacationing gamblers are pointing up at us as they exited the casino with their winnings.
So much for a covert mission, I thought bitterly to myself.
“Just give me three more minutes!” AK shouted.
My eyes widened.
“AK!” I exclaimed.
“I’m kidding!” AK laughed lightly, dropping the tweezers as he got up from his position on the floor.
My eyebrows furrowed in question. It is alike him to keep the mood light during tense moments like these. Honestly, it is how we keep sane under these circumstances. Since I tend to get a bit uptight at times, it is AK’s responsibility to make sure that jokes or mere humor are being thrown around.
“Did you detonate it?” I asked.
“Yes, start landing, Drew!”
I sighed in relief as I started lowering the helicopter, mouthing off mental measurements to make sure I land directly on top of the casino building. As I was doing that, I pictured AK giving me looks for muttering to myself.
“Dude, Flintson and his men are waiting for us at the roof!” AK exclaimed as I placed my hand on the throttle.
My eyes widened while I looked out on the right side of the windows. To my absolute surprise, a group of men in nice-fitted suits stood on the rooftop with their guns pointed at us. We expected Flintson and his men to run, not attack. I made note of a man holding the brown colored briefcase before releasing the pedals with my foot.
“Do you have enough ammo?” I turned to AK as the helicopter pulled to a stop.
“Ya, what about you, mate?”
I made a sound of affirmative as I pulled my glock out from my belt. The men outside already started shooting at the side of the helicopter, but none of the bullets went through. From the corner of my eyes, I see AK pull out his gun as well.
“Go for the dude with the briefcase, okay? The blueprints are in there. I’ll distract the rest.”
AK glanced at me hesitantly as I pointed for him to exit through the left doors. He eyed the well-dressed gunmen from the right side window and then looked at me.
“Drew…”
“I’ll be fine, get the blueprints.” I reassured.
We stared at each other for a few seconds before he finally nodded in agreement.
“Be safe, bro!” I called out to him as he quietly exited out from the left door.
Holding my breath, I kicked open the right side door with my glock firmly in hand. As soon as the doors opened, I was met with flying bullets.
“Here we go.”
“So what do you think about that one over there?” I gestured toward an auburn haired woman who walked by the bar.
AK rolled his eyes at me, shaking his head in disappointment. He pushed another shot glass toward me and stared me down expectantly until I downed it.
“You want to settle down with
one woman?”
Now it is my turn to roll my eyes at him. AK is a charming guy with a Welsh accent and electric blue eyes, making it easy for him to attract good-looking women. It seems to me like he will never settle down with anybody. There are too many women out there flocking at him for him to pick just one.
“I need to ask you something, AK. Just answer me honestly and don’t you dare laugh, alright?” I pointed my index finger at him.
He scoffed.
“Aw-righ’ I promise.”
I picked up another shot glass and stared at it in thought.
“Do you believe in true love?”
Knowing him, he would laugh at me for being such a hopeless romantic. It has always been this way. I’ve known AK since he moved from Cardiff during our middle school years, and if there is someone who knows me better than I know myself, it is definitely AK. We have been best friends since middle school, and we are now partners and CIA agents working in the same headquarters in LA.
He always carried the reputation of courting girls with some golden one-liners, while I’m always seen wearing my heart out on my sleeves—but only for the right one. Now, the right one hasn’t shown up in my life yet.
“I thought true love might be real until you filed for divorce with Cora.” AK replied, a bit more genuinely than I’d expected.
I wrinkled my nose in distaste of the subject. Despite the divorce, I don’t and will never hate Coralline. The problem with our marriage was that we married young and moved along with our relationship too quickly. We have a six-year-old daughter together, which is the reason why we remained such good friends.
“Okay, that does not count! I married her because she was pregnant with my child, not for love!”
It is true. Cora and I dated for most of high school, and during senior year, unprotected sex and miscalculations regarding pills changed both of our lives forever. I thought maybe she would turn into my true love now that we have a child on the way, but a few years into the marriage, I realized how wrong I had been. We didn’t work out the way I had wanted us to.
“You still did marry her, did you not?”
“I did, but…”
“No Drew, no excuses!”
I stared at AK, trying to think of a better way to convince him that true love
does exist. In truth, I am trying to convince him so I can convince myself that there is, indeed, another chance for me.
It is hard for a CIA agent to find love. Not only that, I spend a lot of my downtime doing historical research since it is my undercover occupation. Apparently, women prefer men like AK over geeky historians like me.
If I weren’t a CIA agent, I would have been an actual historian, working researches for various museums. I majored in history at university and got an actual degree before joining the CIA. So I assume that it is inevitable for someone like me to have a hard time finding a woman who finds me appealing. Being an agent does not change the fact that I do not attract the opposite gender.
The silence between us was disrupted by the ringtones of both of our cell phones. We eyed each other knowingly, aware of the fact that simultaneous phone calls meant only one thing.
Another mission.We both picked up at the same time.
“Radetzsky.”
“Gentry.”
“Agents, we need you down here at the headquarters in ten, can you guys do that?” The head of our department, Wilson, replied.
I glanced at the clock behind the bartender and nodded at AK.
“Yes sir, we can.” AK said.
“Very good, Agent Gentry. And I am assuming you are with Agent Radetzsky, am I right?”
“Yes sir.” He repeated.
We both shared a look as we ended the phone conversation.
“Let’s go.”
“So a group of five French men killed two American tourists at the
Musée D'Orsay before snatching the original model of the Guillotine.”
My eyes glistened in excitement while AK tilted his head at Wilson in confusion.
“The 1870 Guillotine model?”
“The Musée Dee what?”
I glared at AK for knowing nothing about the historical artifact before turning my gaze back to Wilson. The department head pursed his lips, waiting for us to give him our attention before continuing.
“The
Musée D'Orsay is in…”
“Paris.” I interrupted, earning a glare from Wilson.
Wilson gestured toward the diagram on the high-tech screen, showing both the 1792 and 1870 models of the Guillotine. I raised an eyebrow in confusion, wondering why they even bothered pulling up the image of the 1792 model. The one at the museum, or at least it was, is the 1870 model.
“Drew, I can feel your erection from here.” AK muttered as we stared upon at the diagrams.
“You do not understand, the Guillotine has over two hundred years of history and I can give you an explicit description of when it was first used during the French Revolution. And no, it did not end after the revolution, mind you, people were still executed in the 20th century, how unbelievable is that?” I exclaimed.
“Radetzsky?” Wilson cleared his throat.
“Yes sir?”
“Shut up, will you?”
“Yes sir!”
I stopped talking, glaring at AK when he silently laughed at me.
“So this model on the right…”
I opened my mouth only to be stopped by Wilson’s glare.
“… the 1870 model was taken during a security breach at the museum and it was replaced with the model on the left, which is an older model.”
“The one used during the French Revolution.” AK finished, shooting me a satisfied look as he said this.
“Yes, that is right. How they got possession of the oldest model, I have no idea, but that is what we need to find out. That, and recover the artifact back to Paris, and catch them on account of manslaughter.”
I nodded slowly, letting a grin take over my face.
“What now, Radetzsky?” Wilson asked.
“Well, the thing is, the 1792 model was later destroyed in favor of a new updated version. You see, the mouton and blade from the old one wasn’t sharp enough to penetrate through skin and bones. They had to bring that sucker down at least five or six times before they finally decapitate someone.”
Wilson rolled his eyes but kept his patience.
“Then explain why the replacement is a 1792 model.”
“Easy, they’ve built it. You know, if you have the right materials, you can easily build an actual Guillotine.”
“Cool! Let’s build a Guillotine, mate!” AK glanced at me in excitement.
I nodded in agreement.
“That’ll be Guillotine number four for me.”
AK stared at me in disbelief.
“You’ve built
three Guillotines?”
I nodded casually, turning my attention back to the impatient Wilson.
“Sir, what do you want us to do now?” I asked sheepishly.
The department head cleared his throat once more and started explaining.
“We have reason to believe that the group of five traveled to New York City, but it is advised that we do not take action yet. We need to run a background check on all five men, trace their patterns, and collect as much information about them as we can before we find the right time to strike.”
AK and I shared nods.
“Go find the team, they have all the information about the men ready for you to divulge into.”
We both turned from Wilson, preparing to head to our tech team before we were stopped by Wilson.
“And Radetzsky?”
“Sir?”
“Please do not put the tech team to sleep with your textbook knowledge.”
I opened my mouth in protest, only to be shoved out of the room by AK.
“Shh, you’ve said enough for the two of us.” He chuckled as we finally made it out of Wilson’s office.
------ Chapter End ------
So if you have any specific changes you want me to make regarding AK's dialect, let me know plz.
In which case I'll make one now, add you guys, the layout and the summary so that it's ready to be used once the first chapter is done.