The Red Nights

Konny stayed silent a few moment, then she opened her mouth to reply while pronouncing each of her words, " if I understand clearly, you're proposing to send only one team to deal with Phil's entire army? ", she then completed without anyone had the time to respond, " That's completely insane. "

" It's not exactly what I have said " Jamal shook her head and corrected her, " my plan is to send a team to confirm or clarify our doubts about their number, their location and the power of their army ".

She clapped her tongue in opposition, " that's almost what I have said, you're asking me to send our best warriors, alone, for some pieces of information. They would be doomed. It's as if you're telling me to sacrifice them. What kind of leader are you? "

Behind him, people started to whisper their indignation at each others and the complaints were becoming more and more louder, his colleagues sitting next to him started to worry as they, too, could hear those complaints but Jamal still stay calm, he understood exactly what she was trying to do and he didn't plan to let this situation persist.

" That is not the case at all, I think you have misheard some parts of the plan, those people are asked to come back safe so that they will lead the army in the final raid which will by the way, get a higher probability of success " Jamal responded while staring at Konny, the latter didn't get intimidated and supported his sight, " with such a short number, not a single member of that team would be able to make it alive, you have said it yourself, their number is not to be underestimated and Phil's must know this city more than anyone, once they would get in Phil's territory that would be finished " she said back to him.

The corner of his lips spread to reveal a nice little smile, Jamal replied, " I don't know about the members of your army" he spread his arms at both sides, " but among us I already know people who can such mission ". At that moment she was out of argument and Jamal could feel that, she tightened her fist of irritation while staring at him with anger for a while and then suddenly something changed in her eyes, she sighed and said " alright if you say you can handle that let's proceed as you say, but for my part I don't have any soldiers who can do a mission like that, even I, I'm not sure I can make it myself ".

" So it's settled, I will my team to go inspect that " Jamal concluded, he continued by making another suggestion " and how about carrying away that mission today so that tomorrow morning we can throw our attack and finish them in one blow? "

The atmosphere was quiet in the hall, everyone was staring at Konny, usually Jamal liked that kind of decision being settled in a vote but there the decision of Konny was so awaited that it gave him the impression that she was the only one to decide and only her opinion counted. He didn't like that and it seemed like she was prolonging the wait in order to irritate him, but he let any of his emotions leaked out on his face, he remained serene until she finally spoke.

[ She got sick of waiting pointlessly, seems like I have more patience than her ] Jamal smiled in his inside.

" For such mission I would have liked to do some more preparation and we have already started the other half of the day, I'm sure that mission will take time to be done and it may be problematic if the night catches you on the way " she said and even though it was not an exact " yes " or a " no " it seemed she was more reluctant to let them go that day.

" I don't think there would be any problems, if it's my team which will go, there is no need of preparation and concerning the timing it will be perfect ", as everyone started to glance at him curious, he went on explaining everything " for this mission to be a success, the people who would carry it out must be quick, skillful and very good at observing and analyzing. According to my estimations, it will be done more or less before the sunset, what will be perfect because after that our enemies will be unable to change their positions, our informations will be more precise and our attack of the next day will get more chances to succeed ".

Everyone started nodding in agreement, even Konny had to admit that it was a good plan.

" Alright, you seem pretty confident so I will give you this chance " she said after a moment, she raised a finger " one more thing I want to know who will those brave 6 people who will go for this mission ".

The four of them volunteered themselves before Jamal responded. Volga, Carla and Nelson had their hands raised in the air looking straight at Konny, full of determination, she turned her head and was surprised to see that even Sania, standing next to her, had put her hand in the air too. With a smile Jamal added " and naturally I will be the fifth one, I think the five of us will be enough ".

He stood up " alright let's go get ready, we should not waste any more time ". Slowly, one by one, people started to move from their places, as the reunion was over everyone would return to their assigned residence enjoying their free.

Nelson didn't directly leave the hall like most of people but instead walked toward Sania, he grabbed her arm and said " we need to talk " while looking straight at her eyes. Sania turned her sight away and and released her arm, " I don't think so, as I have said I have nothing to tell you " she took few steps back, " who do you think you are? My dad? My husband? My owner? I'm free to do whatever I want, just leave me alone ".

Nelson clenched his teeth, he opened but no sound came out, [ she's right, who I am to tell her how she should act ] he started thinking, [ for her I'm nothing, just a stranger ] he couldn't help but tightening his fists, angry at the fact that he couldn't do anything for her.

Konny stepped between them firstly spoke to Sania " well well well, I think it's enough, he may have understood no need to be rude ", she turned around to face Nelson and with a kind smile she said " you may excuse her, I think only I can support her bad bitch attitude, just kidding " but that didn't make him smile at all, " don't act as if you know her for decades " he replied coldly.

" Well, at least I can say I know her better than you " she replied with a provocative smile. Sania pulled her by her sleeve, leaned toward her to whisper something, " alright let's go " she responded to her.

" Wait, where are you going? We have to go to our mission right now " Nelson tried to stop them.

" I know, but all my stuffs are at her place, we have to pass by there first " Sania responded lazily as if she was talking to a child. Konny chuckled " don't worry I will bring her back very soon, let's meet at the gate ". Then they held their hands and headed out of the hall, leaving Nelson there speechless.

Jamal approached him slowly and landed a hand on his shoulder, " hey, are you alright? " he asked with a calm voice.

Nelson pushed and stared at him angrily, " why didn't you do or even say anything? You just stayed there silent looking at me pitifully as if I was crazy and now you are trying to act nicely, you're just an hypocrite all of you. "

" Didn't you hear her, she doesn't want to talk to us " Carla tried to help Jamal.

" She's not in her normal state " he responded to her still facing him, " and I'm sure he knows that very well, am I wrong? "

" So what? What should I have done? Pulling her by her arm and ordering her to give us explanations like you did? Or maybe you wanted me to bring her back by force, huh? To knock her down and tie her down in a cave, that's what you wanted me to do? " Jamal said without losing his calmness. " Did you even think clearly about that? Without figuring out why is she acting like that or what put her in her in that state we can't do anything. That's why I'm asking you to stay calm and... "

" To stay calm? " Nelson repeated in disbelief, without letting him finish what he had to say, he put a hand on his forehead, " how can you ask me to stay in a situation like this? Are you not worried about what could happen to her? " he said while considering him then Volga " what am I saying? Of course you're not, you don't give a damn about your friend because you have never seen her as your friend anyway. She's just a pawn for you, as long as she continues doing a good job you doesn't care more, am I wrong? "

Contrary to Jamal, Volga had difficulties to stay cool before such a scene, she stepped forward to directly face Nelson " you are starting to be rude, you better stop there before... "

" Before what, huh? " he cut her, " What will you do? Letting me down as you have done with Sania? ", Volga reached her limits, she knew perfectly that she was about to do something she would regret all life but she couldn't help tightening her fist, at that moment it was too much for her, she couldn't contain herself any more. Hopefully Jamal held her arm in time before she could throw her punch.

" I think it's enough, we have a mission to complete so let's avoid creating useless confrontations which may cause us to fail it " he said, trying his to calm the atmosphere down.

He pushed him, " you are not my boss. I will do whatever I want " he said before walking away. Jamal sighed while shaking his head " just, what is going on? "

" What do we do now? " Carla asked. Volga patted her head " let's head back, we have to get ready for our mission ".

After returning to their residence, they took less than 10min to prepare themselves. Nelson who was ahead of everyone, left the house for the rendezvous point without waiting for his comrades, seemed like he was still angry about what happened earlier. The three remaining followed him a minute later. The vehicles were waiting for them at the outside, they got on and accelerated toward the main gate.

Though they left the house while rolling close to each other, as they made the half of the way Jamal asked Carla to go ahead as he had something to talk to Volga. She didn't complain and executed herself fighting her urge to spy them and listen to what they were discussing about. At a moment she peeked behind her as she was very curious, she couldn't hear them but just looking at Volga's face she could guess that it was something important as she seemed very pale and worried.

After a short time they reached the gate and were surprised to see that Sania and Konny had arrived before them. What more surprising was that they were with Nelson. Leaning over a big black paint jeep, he was staring at the ground while Konny was telling him something while pointing to Sania act time to time. When the group reached their position, she suspiciously stopped her speech and just finished by telling " think again about I told, I'm sure when time comes you will take the right decision ".

Jamal and Volga glanced at each other when they were getting off their vehicles, Jamal didn't try to interrogate him but instead he said " well if everyone is already present let's go for our mission " he got in and sat at the chair of the driver while Volga took the seat next to him, he waited for Carla, Sania and Nelson to take the place at the before starting on the jeep. " We're off, see you in few hours " he said to Konny who was saluting them by waving her hand at them, " good luck to you " she said before the car started rolling and slowly disappearing in the horizon.