"Just like that hum?" Nathaniel asked bitterly.
"You had your chance kid, now it's over. Can someone please kill the pretty boy over here?" He ordered aggressively, not bothering to look at Nathaniel anymore.
"I see so I should try to return the favor you gave me. Drop your weapon on the ground, get to your knees and put your hands behind your head in the next twenty seconds or you are all going to die." Nathaniel said in a placid, calm voice, like he was talking of the weather.
This time, Nathaniel managed to get the attention of Bernard and in fact even the one who was going to shoot him stopped himself from pressing the trigger. Looking at his leader for order, Bernard made a sign to tell him to wait and start laughing.
"This is where you try a bluff and tell us that the cops are on their way there? We have been monitoring the police frequencies since we got there and we didn't hear anything about this on it. You know, you are not the first genius I met and curiously you are all the same. It seems to be when you are in danger, your big intellect just froze and you become like a deer in the headlight."
"Yes, I saw the same thing on multiple occasions. In fact, many studies were published that prove your point, it seems that people with lower IQ react more quickly in case of danger. By the way, you still have six second to surrender yourself or you will die." He said casually.
"You are a delusional kid, do you know what is going to happen in six second? Nothing, absolutely nothing beside you dying, us taking the two animals and maybe looting the house for some easy money. You know what, the more I think about it, the more I think that we should take you as well for some juicy ransom money, after all, you stole my property and I need some compensation." He said greedily, looking at the house with interest.
"Why they never listen?" Nathaniel said out loud to no one in particular, scratching Andy behind his ear. ��Ethan, you have a go."
Once the signal was given, everything happened very fast. One second Bernard and his people were sneering at Nathaniel's face when the next eight mens with tactical gear came from every direction with M4 and flashlight aiming them right at Bernard and his people's faces.
"PUT YOUR WEAPON DOWN AND GET DOWN ON YOUR KNEES!" The eight start yelling.
It happened so fast that they did not have the time to defend themselves that they were put to their knees and stripped of every weapon they had. Once it was done, they all turned to Nathaniel who absentmindedly nodded his head. Understanding the movement, they knock them out using the cross of their M4 to the back of their head.
"What do you think Ethan? Why they never take me seriously?" Nathaniel asked once he was sure that they were all out.
"I believe you age and your face is the reason, sir." Ethan answers respectfully, his eyes twinkling behind his hood.
"What is wrong with my face exactly?" Nathaniel asked, frowning at him.
"Hum, I would say that you look like a pretty boy and people in our line of work don't have respect for pretty boys."
"I see, it doesn't look like there's something I can do to change that. Do you have your itinerary?"
"Yes, sir." He nodded.
"Good, take also their car, Matthew, you're driving. Follow the itinerary to the letter, it will make you pass through the city without being picked by CCTV surveillance. I'm coming with you, let me a second to put these two furballs back into their rooms."
A chorus of 'Yes, sir' echoed again across the room and they immediately picked the unconscious people on the ground and carried them out of the house.
*****
One hour later, the two cars finally arrived in front of an old ranch ten miles outside of the city. The particular ranch was foreclosed until he was recently bought anonymously by a shell company that quickly closed once the purchase was done. Even if the ranch was in an administrative limbo, the owner of this piece of land was none other than Nathaniel. He had picked it because the price was good, it was also so far away from the road that it was peaceful and the neighbors were too far away to hear anything happening here. After looking at the perimeter, Ethan came back still wearing his hood.
"Sir, the prisoners are secured inside." He said.
Nathaniel nodded appreciatively, Seals were really something else entirely and their training was nearly perfect. Since they accepted his offer to work for him late last year, they had moved to New York and had started tailing his grandfather everywhere he was going. The Lyndon security was busy protecting him while he put them in observation. Their job was simple, following and looking around his grandfather from far aways and picking if someone was tailing him or preparing an ambush on them.
Since what happened in Italy last year, Nathaniel chose to not take any risk and was willing to do everything to protect his annoying grandfather. That was why he hired them in New Orleans last december. They were only seven at that time and Ethan quickly proposed someone who was also an Ex Seals to fill the eighth place. It was also a nice thing to have some back up if his team needed more bodies for a special operation. He was also thinking of organizing a training session with them but it was still too early as their weakest members were not at that level yet. Based on what he heard, Hans and Lina were progressing nicely under Scott training.
"Good, I need two with a strong stomach inside with me, the others start patrolling around the ranch in pairs, Ethan put that in place please, I'm going in." Nathaniel ordered before walking in the ranch direction. Before passing the door, Ethan was already behind him with another that Nathaniel recognized.
"Oh, hi Keith." Nathaniel smiled.
"How can you know it's me? We are all wearing camo, we have the same build and it's too dark to see my eyes. I didn't even talk yet and you still guess that it was me."
"You have a slight nasal deviation that makes you whistle quietly when you breath by the nose. Nothing life threatening, but I guess if you were to marry, your wife to be would be annoyed by this." Nathaniel answers with amusement.
"Oh."
"I told you you were making noise when you were sleeping." Ethan laughed, they had bunked a lot together when they were in the army and in operation.
Hearing Keith cursed under his breath, Nathaniel laughed before focusing on the five people tied to the chair, gradually losing his smile.
"Let's wake them up shall we?" Nathaniel said, taking a bucket filled with cold, stalled water and throwing it at them.
Waking with a jerk, they took a few seconds to realize where they were and what was their current situation. In the meantime, with a simple hand signal made by Nathaniel, Ethan and Keith walk away from him and take position respectively on his far right and on his far left. Even if their weapons were pointed to the ground, they left no doubt that they were watching with attention and they could use them quickly in case of danger.
"So, you buy yourself a nice mercenary team heh? I should have expected it coming from a rich brat with a foul mouth like you. Tired of getting beat up by everyone?" Bernard sneer.
"Not really, I mean that was so obvious I can't believe you fell for that. No grandparents, no security, the gate and the front door open almost waiting for you. At least, I can say you are not the type of people guilty to overthink things." Nathaniel mock.
"What do you want?" He growled angrily.
"I have questions, you have answers." Nathaniel said simply.
"Let me guess, if we talked, you let us go and if we don't, these two over here are going to start torturing us?" He laughed.
"Wrong on both counts, that ship already sailed. You are all going to die here, the only question is if you want to leave this world peacefully or beg to be finished off. And no, these two are here just to observe, I will do the torturing all by myself."
This time, all five of them start laughing out loud and mocking him openly. Nathaniel just ignored it and picked a wooden axe that was embedded into a support beam and started walking in front of them. Making the axe turn between his fingers to get a feel for it, Nathaniel kept walking under the increasing cursing coming his way.
"You should drop the axe before you cut your own di** off pretty boy. Ah ah ah." The woman who was in the second chairs to the right was the first to mock.
"Yeah, just free us and we will maybe not kill you outright." The man on the chair to the far left jeered.
Nathaniel just let them talk with a little smile on his face when the man on the far right decided to take things up a notch to get a reaction.
"And when we will be done with you and the others pussies here, we are going to find you two pretty mothers en rape them until they are too broken to care and then we will kill them as well!"
That's when Nathaniel finally made a move. He turned back to the one who had just talked, his entire body spinning to the left, his left arm with the axe extended forward. The axe cut through the man's neck with enough force that it continued his way and finally took the entire man's head off from his body. The head rolled to the floor and finally stopped a few feet away from Bernard, the eyes and mouth of the dead man still open in surprise. The attack was so sudden and brutal that there was only silence now while Nathaniel kept walking a few steps.
"You know, people don't react to the same stimulus the same way. For some people, the first insult on their intelligence or appearance will suffice to get a reaction, for others, only specified attack on their family, friends or loved ones will get someone mad. Me? I'm a mommy's boy, I could go to war with the entire country if they were to harm them. Now, I have questions and you are going to give me the answers I want."