The Deadly Exchange

Deadly silence fills the air of the entire woodland hills when two opposing car fleets come to a halt in front of each other on the woodland highway with screeches of tires filling the atmosphere.

Slowly the doors of one of the fleets swung open and several men dressed in black stepped out. Their faces were concealed with masks and their hands were filled with weapons.

A man stately dressed in black, but, his face dressed with a deadly cold expression steps out of one of the cars from the other fleet. He fixes a terrifying gaze, a look so terrifying that it sends shivers down the spines, at the group of people facing him.

"So who sent you this time?", with chilliness in his tone he questions them.

But the other party answers with their action of weapons pointing at him. In a flash, the doors of the cars behind that man open, and swiftly a group of men dressed in black themselves step out and defensively point their weapons at their enemy protecting their leader.

The man smirks, "Interesting, so you would like to talk through weapons."

He swiftly takes out his weapon and the next second the silence ends. The atmosphere fills with the sounds of intense gunfire. Just a few minutes pass by and the gunfire ends with the air filled with smoke of gunpowder.

The man with his weapon in hand, stood among the dead bodies of the masked men. Like a cautious wolf, he surveys his surroundings.

Some of his men approach him. "Sir, the area has been cleared out", one of the men informs him.

Another one laughs, "It was a piece of cake, clearing out these minions."

The others laugh alongside him. But then their gaze shifts to their leader who is still busy surveying the surroundings.

"Sir, is something wrong?", a curious one asks.

The man shifts his gaze to them, "Doesn't it feel suspicious?"

Unable to understand their leader's words they look at each other.

He again starts observing his surroundings, "I mean it's suspicious that someone would send such weak people to assassinate me. If it was the Tudors, then they would obviously use their triumph card to defeat me because that's their only option. As for someone else, that's kind of impossible and no one would be foolish enough to challenge me like this..."

Another man opened his mouth to speak but before he could have said something their leader swiftly turned around and gave them an intense look, "Turn around and leave..."

"But sir...", one of the men tries to object.

He interrupts him and with a commanding demeanor looks at them, "No buts, just leave. In case, it is a trap then there must be trouble at headquarters. I will stay here and you all leave for headquarters as soon as possible."

Without further discussion, the group obeys their leader and departs.

"Simon, you leave as well...", he commands the only man left by his side.

"Big brother, there are more than enough people for the headquarters and there must be someone with you", Simon protests.

Not giving up on Simon's protest, he puts his hand on his shoulder, "There might be millions of them there but that doesn't compare to your presence. It is another mission for you. Go there and keep me updated, I will be back after confirming something. "

Simon keeps up with his protest and stands there. The man sighs, "Do you remember my name?"

He nods, "Of course, how can I forget the name of my big brother, the great Liam Martin."

"Then if you know my name then you should also know that you don't need to worry about me. Little buddy, now leave... "

Simon gives up with a sigh and departs as well.

Now on the entire highway, only the man named Liam Martin stood among the dead bodies. Once the car of Simon disappears into the distance, Liam takes out a device from his pocket.

A red light keeps beeping on the small mobile-like device that could be easily hidden in one's hand. Liam observes the beeping red light and then starts walking towards the cars of the dead ones.

He stops near a car and cautiously approaches it...

Out of the blue, a thunderous and ear-splitting boom tears up through the air. An explosive light is seen and the air fills with dust and smoke. The highway turns into debris. Some of the car engines were on fire.

...

In a while, the highway fills with sirens and engine sounds as rescue teams arrive. With the timely arrival of the firefighters, the spread of the fire to the forest was prevented. A huge commotion of reporters, police, and other emergency departments could be seen on the highway.

A car abruptly comes to a halt near the scene with sharp screeches and Simon jumps out of it. Desperately, he searches through the debris and the dead bodies.

"Big brother...", with these words coming out of his mouth he keeps searching through the area. His eyes filled with tears, he went from person to person whether dead or alive to see if he could find his big brother.

After a desperate search for his big brother Simon goes back to his other subordinates, "Everyone attention please!"

All the men gather around him. He continues, "We must search this entire area, even if you have to dig up the ground then do so but no matter what happens you all have to aid me in finding Big Brother. Search each and every bit of the area."

They all listened to him attentively and agreed with him. He divides them into groups and assigns them to different areas.

Simon takes a deep breath, trying hard not to cry, and looks up at the sky, "Big Brother, wherever you are just stay alive..."

Soon, the news of the disappearance of the powerful, Liam Martin, spread like wildfire.

..,...

"Huff, huff, huff..." Liam breathes heavily as he slightly opens his eyes. Blood dripping from his forehead.

He tries to move but finds himself stuck in a tall tree. "Ugh...", he struggles to move his hands towards another branch but to no avail. His arms were penetrated by several pieces of glass, branches, and some metal.

After struggling for a while, the branch of the tree breaks, and he falls into the deep valley.