The Package (edited)

Roran was on his way home from the hardware store. He recently purchased 125 acres of land just outside a town called Festus, south of St. Louis, Missouri. He was building a house for himself on the property, living there while building it up. He had built a metal barn and added a loft for himself.

Roran had retired from the Marine Corps after three tours of duty totaling around three and a half years. Two in Iraq, and one in Afghanistan. Roran was a Marine Scout Sniper the elite of the elite. He joined the marines they day after he graduated high school. After the Marines he joined a mercenary company called Aegis. His best friend Steven owned it. Roran did contract work for Steven for about four years. Aegis took all kinds of work. Protection details, hijackings, assassinations, even fought for a few warlords, you name they did it. Roran didn't always like it, but business was business and he knew how to keep his feelings out of it. He quit after saving all the money he earned, racking up a decent sum so he never had to work again in his life if he did not want too.

Roran and Steven met in Scout Sniper School, they graduated together and as luck would have it were assigned to the same platoon. They requested to be assigned together as a two man team. Roran was the sniper and Steven was the spotter.

Roran is 6.2(189cm) and 200lbs(90kilo) he was lean but strong the Marines and his grandfather made sure of that. Roran had brown hair and blue eyes. He had the boy next door look. Roran's great grandfather Joe raised him after both Roran's parents died in a car accident. He was 11 at the time, and Joe was the only family he had left. Joe was a World War 2 vet, and always told Roran about his time in the Marines, and how he fought the Japanese. Joe passed away just before Roran graduated high school. Roran always knew he was going into Marine Corps, he believed it would help him be as good as a man his grandpa was. Roran is single and does not have any children. He is also an only child, but if you ask him he has hundreds of brothers in the Corps.

Roran was pulling onto his driveway. He got to his gate and noticed it was open. Roran was sure he locked the gate when he left. Roran pulled his sidearm out. He carried a Sig Sauer P220 Legion .45 caliber. He continued down the driveway when he noticed a large box truck near his barn. The box truck was old and beat to shit, it looked like it was from the 1970's and was on its last leg. Roran parked his truck in front of his house and walked over to the box truck no one was in or around it. The back was empty and the lift ramp was down. He then heard a noise coming from inside his barn. Roran readied his pistol and went into the barn, when he went inside he noticed a pallet jack that had a huge wooden crate on it. The crate was by the steps to his loft. Roran looked around and could not see anyone. He then heard foot steps in his loft. Roran crept to the door. Slowly opening it he saw who was in his house, sighing in relief sitting on Roran's couch was his best friend Steven.

"Hey man I come in piece don't shoot", Steven said jokingly as he noticed the pistol Roran had pointed at him.

"Give me a hug you paranoid bastard". Roran said as he holstered his weapon and gave his friend a hug.

"What are you doing here?" (Roran)

"I missed you, I haven't seen you since you left Aegis, and I wanted to see this house you're building". Steven sat down on the couch, making himself at home.

Roran just shook his head and laughed.

"What is with the truck and the box downstairs?" (Roran)

Steven stared at Roran contemplating on what to tell him.

"Honestly I don't know exactly, I brought it here for you to look at too and see if you could hold onto it for me. I took a job to hit a truck, and retrieve the cargo inside. The job was supposed to be routine. Had exact times, location and the security detail. The employer specified exactly what to take, where to drop it off, and to leave no witnesses. We were supposed to transport it to a cargo ship at the docks, in Michigan. The payday was the biggest we had ever had, but the job went to hell as soon as the truck was hit." (Steven)

"We get to the day of the job, and my crew and I are set up. We set up a road block to get the truck on a small street, that was blocked by buildings on both sides. I have a crew of ten including myself. The Truck was a black semi with a full sized trailer behind it. The route it was taking was going to pass target site at exactly 09:46. I had set one member to block the truck in with a cement truck, and another to block the back with a dump truck. We had disabled any cameras in the area earlier that day, and set up a car with a with a signal blocker so they couldn't radio or call out for help. I and four others on the take down. The getaway driver behind the dump truck. And a spotter to watch for any law or back up the transport may have had." (Steven)

"It was like clockwork, the semi was exactly on time and diverted down the two lane access road. But as soon as we blocked it in and moved in out it, the back doors opened up and a heavy machine gun opened up on us. It was like shooting fish in a barrel. The details said three armed guards with shotguns. What we encountered was hell unleashed. In the first few seconds two of my team were cut in half by machine gun fire. The semi started to ram the cement truck. I took cover off to the side, while the other two dived off somewhere. As we were trying to find cover, two men got out the back of the truck and started to close in on the dump truck. I had a M4 carbine with a M203 grenade launcher on it. I opened up on the guards in their backs. They didn't even budged. I had never seen armor like this, it covered their whole bodies. The helmets looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. I realized that I wasn't stopping them so I hit them with the 40mm grenade. That put them down. I reloaded and hit the back of the truck with another 40mm thinking even if I destroy the package at least I will live. The machine gun fire stopped. By this time the semi had started to wedge pass the cement truck. One of the guys still alive on the take down team made it to the cab and was unloading on the driver. The cab was bullet proof. He was barely putting a dent in it. I started to shoot the coupling to the trailer and got it unhitched from the cab. The driver tried to smashed past the cement truck and flipped over the semi. The window was smashed by then so we shot the driver and were done with him. By the time we got back to the trailer the third guy was already inside and had confirmed the machine gunner was dead. We checked the package and the box was burnt but fine. I had the extraction truck come and we loaded up and got the hell out of there. Afterwards we met up and switched the package into another truck and split up. The rest of the crew destroyed all the equipment and vehicles." (Steven)

"By the time we got to the docks we were glad to be rid of this thing. I haven't lost a person on a job in years. This was supposed to be an easy hit and run with a big payout. But that is where it got even stranger. When we arrived at the shipping docks. No one was there to retrieve it. I tried contacting the employer for the almost the whole night. I figured it was best to get out of there after an hour. I figured with all the noise we had made there must be a ton of heat. This is what really scares me though, there is no news nothing at all. A shootout during a hijacking four bodies left behind, and nothing there was nothing on the scanners, no news coverage, there isn't anything on the dark web either. Total silence." (Steven)

"Then why the hell did you bring it here? Someone is going to come look for it and I don't need this kind of heat." (Roran)

"Roran, I would not do this if I had a choice. My team had to go dark, and I can't take it anywhere Aegis has had any ties with. After you left we removed you from the files and we only ever used code names. I only paid you in cash. There is no record of you working for Aegis. The last anyone knows you left the Marine Corps, and drifted for a few years. Your grandpa left you a nice sum of money so that explains this place. I am just asking to keep it here for a few days a week tops, until I can figure out what to do with it. Please do this for me you're my brother and you know I would never ask if I had any other choice." (Steven)

"Fine but you owe me big time. I want this thing gone as soon as possible Steven. Are you going to stay here for the night? I can make you up a spot on the couch." (Roran)

"No I have to get this old truck out of here I stole it in Wisconsin on the way down. I am shocked it made it this far." (Steven)

"Well dump it in another state I don't anyone knowing it was here." (Roran)

Steven pulled out a prepaid phone and handed it to Roran. Here take this it only was number on it and you can reach me on it. I also have another one with that number on it. I will call you if anything comes up." (Steven)

Shortly after Steven left, Roran moved the box to side of the barn by his work bench.

"What the hell was he thinking." (Roran)

Roran looked at the time and realized that it was already 22:00 he decided to go to bed after washing up. I will figure out what that thing is he thought, as he drifted to sleep.