We Were Ambushed!

At about 5:00 a.m., Neapolis General Hospital, Greensly.

Drew, dressed in the same fitted black suit with a red dress shirt however covered in dust and dirt, was sitting on a hospital chair at the side, blankly staring at the floor. 

Tommy sat beside him with a grave expression, while Jun lay on the hospital bed with only a white vest and boxers with white bandages wrapped around his left thigh.

Right then, Boss Falco entered the hospital room, accompanied by a nurse. 

Drew, Tommy, and even Jun promptly looked up and greeted tensely, "Boss."

With a face marked with deep lines, Boss Falco observed his men and turned his head slightly to the nurse wearing a flowery uniform.

"Thank you, miss," he said sternly, albeit with a polite smile.

The nurse understood the subtext in his words. She nodded her head before turning and leaving.

Boss Falco waited for her to close the door behind her before diverting his gaze back to his three subordinates, the polite smile previously on his face nowhere to be found.

Drew and Tommy glanced at the boss briefly but ended up averting their eyes in shame.

The atmosphere was tense and riddled with patheticness, making the stylish middle-aged man's frown deepen before he voiced, "Do I have to ask before you fools start talking?"

Boss Falco's voice was grainy, and his annoyance was evident in his tone.

Drew, the dark-skinned driver from before, gritted his teeth. "Boss, I was trying to tell you that place wasn't safe. We were ambushed!"

Boss Falco scrunched his left eyebrow. He remained silent as he waited for Drew to continue.

"After you called, we immediately got out of the car and went into the place. You were right, the kid might have been trying to kill himself, but when he saw us, he ran into the abandoned hospital. Of course, we chased after him…" Drew narrated how they decided to split up to find Nick after they entered, but he emphasized just how much he protested against the idea. 

Boss Falco simply stood and listened with a deep frown.

"...After I got to the third floor, I saw someone I thought was the kid. I talked to him and tried to just get him to come with us. I told him you just wanted us to make sure he didn't hurt himself. But he never responded. He only stood there. When I got closer, I got a better look and saw that the person was a bit taller than Nick, but by then it was too late. I heard birds from behind me and turned… Boss, it was a whole fuckin' flock. Over hundred back birds, flying past me in that—"

"Hey, what the fuck is this shit?" Boss Falco cut in, walking up to Drew angrily, as though deeply insulted. "Do I look like a fuckin' joke to you? What bullshit are you telling me, huh?"

Just when Boss Falco grabbed Drew's collar and hoisted him up, the dark-skinned goon stammered, "Boss, I'm— I'm telling you what happened…"

Boss Falco didn't want to hear Drew defend himself. In fact, this made him even more offended! 

"You think I'm stupid? Huh, Drew?! You think I'm stupid?!"

"No, Boss! N— I would never think that!"

"But for you to cook this shit up for me you must think I'm 'really' fuckin' stupid, don't ya?"

"No! Boss! N—"

Bam! Boss Falco pinned Drew on the light-colored hospital wall, forcing the latter to stand uncomfortably with one foot on the floor and another on the chair he previously sat.

Drew, seeing the situation escalating out of bounds since Boss Falco felt insulted, wondered why he was acting fearful when he was only speaking the truth. He stared back into Boss Falco's eyes, voicing sternly, "Boss! I'm telling you the truth! The bastard led us there to ambush us! After the birds, there were rats, boss. Fuckin' rats! There were over a thousand of 'em and they attacked me. I fought back but they kept on climbing me. You think I'll just stay and cook up stories like this to impress you or something?!"

With a stern glare from the boss, Drew steadied his tone and added, "Boss, I'm telling you what happened. I'm not sure but it looked like that other guy in the abandoned hospital controlling the fuckin' rats and birds, somehow. You can ask Tommy, something happened to him too; that was why he couldn't help when Jun was fighting Nick."

Boss Falco glanced down at Tommy at his right, waiting for the big guy to counter Drew's words, but he didn't, meaning he was agreeing it was true.

There was silence again, and Boss Falco suddenly let go of Drew's collar. Then, he turned and walked away, briefly arranging his hair in the process by using his palm to smoothen the disheveled side. 

Boss Falco turned halfway, with his gaze on Tommy. 

"So Tommy, what else?"

Tommy seemed to snap out of his reverie a bit with that question. "We entered the abandoned building after the kid and decided to split up. Jun searched the first floor, while Drew and I went upstairs. I found the kid on the third floor, and I chased him up to the top floor, but I lost him. 

"Then, I heard the gunshots and shouts and ran back down to the third floor. Jun was already there with Drew. He was scared, talking about birds and rats, and that there was someone else in the building. He wanted to leave so I told him to go wait outside and keep watch in case the kid got past me and Jun. Then, I went down to the second floor and thought about going back to where I lost him. 

"When I got to the fourth floor, I heard when Jun and the kid were fighting. I wanted to help, but then, I… felt a hand, on my shoulder. It was weird because I never heard anyone behind me before then. But, I didn't even have time to react before I…"

Tommy froze, staring blankly ahead. "Before I…" he repeated.

Boss Falco saw this and scrunched his eyebrows.

"Before I sunk," Tommy finally uttered.

"What does that mean?" Boss Falco asked.

Tommy hesitated. "I— I don't know how best to describe it. I was there, but then I wasn't there. My body didn't move when I wanted it to. I was helpless."

Boss Falco, with a hand on his waist and the other gently stroking his goatee, nodded and turned to Jun.

"What about you?"

"I got to Drew first, after the gunshots and all. He was lying on the ground, fighting the air. Like Tommy said, he and I split after Drew went to wait outside. I went up and searched the fourth floor, but the kid ambushed me. Of course, he couldn't win against me but as I was…" Jun watched Boss Falco's expression, "giving him a chokehold, he saw the knife hidden under my trouser and stabbed my thigh with it. I took the pain and continued choking him; I just wanted him to pass out so it would be easier for us to bring him back. But then he took the knife out and stabbed it in my thigh again… then twisted it." 

Jun's voice sounded chilly at his final words, barely containing his anger and rage.

"Damn," Drew mouthed, still standing.

Boss Falco, too, looked a bit disturbed, but his expression would be best described as surprise rather than shock. He didn't expect Nick to have such savagery. It was a bit impressive.

'Interesting,' Boss Falco thought and asked Jun, "Did you see anyone else besides the kid?"

Jun shook his head. "I didn't."

"So what do you think of their stories?" Boss Falco used his chin to briefly point at the duo at the side. 

"I think they're full of shit," Jun said plainly, not mincing his words.

Hearing this, Drew stared daggers at him. He wanted to quickly retort…

However, Jun added, "But I also wasn't there with them. One thing is for sure, though, the bastard couldn't have been able to ambush Drew and then ambush me while suppressing Tommy all in a short amount of time."

Boss Falco massaged his temples. This all still sounded like a cock-and-bull story. 

With a long sigh, he turned to Drew and inquired, "Did you at least get a good look at the person you saw?"

Drew shook his head. "It was dark, boss. All I know is that he was taller than the kid and was wearing a suit."

"A suit?"

Drew nodded. "Yes. A gray suit."

Bzzz~

Boss Falco heard the ring and quickly reached into his pocket, took his phone out, and placed it on his ear.

"Sir… of course. I'm on my way."

He sighed and ended the call.

"What are we gonna do now, boss?" Tommy asked.

Boss Falco headed for the door and said to them, "Keep your eyes on the kid, watch his movements, and take note of the people he meets. If he now has some helper, we've gotta know who."

Jun frowned. "We're just gonna let him go?"

Boss Falco glanced at Jun, then his thigh, and then sa before leaving the hospital ward, "We'll pay him a visit again… soon."