Persona - Chapter 10

 

Chapter 10 – Building Rapport

 

I could have it all now.  There was almost nothing that was off-limits to me.  Being a member of Invictus Persona gave me access to the dream life.  I couldn’t even fathom why someone would want to give this up, even after having to behead someone.  Knowing that those girls were safe and that one less monster existed in the world was reward enough.  This was just the dream cherry on top.  I could keep doing this stuff for a fraction of the money I was given.  But now that I had it, I was set for life.  I just needed to keep going with this until I couldn’t anymore.  They trusted me enough to give me my cut, and I needed to be able to return the favor.  It wasn’t about gaining their favorability anymore.  It was about upholding myself to honor and to my own code. 

I received a message on the secure line from 1.  This time, it came through on my phone. 

Greetings,

We have your first mission!  We need you to meet us at this location so that we can board a plane and head out to California.  An associate of ours has informed us of a similar case to that of Joe McKinley and it is in our best interests to help as we did before.  Make sure to bring your duffle bag and come prepared.  You should have already found the uniform that we want you to wear inside of your duffle bag.  Suit up and meet us at these coordinates.  As always, be prepared to fight and come alone.

~1

I needed to be there for 1, 3, and 27.  They had already been through so much with me and if anyone was going to make a difference on this mission.  There wouldn’t be any other reason for them to bring on a new member for a mission like this.  The only thing left to do was to make sure that Uncle Freddy was made aware that I would be leaving the house for a bit.  I came up with an excuse and sent him a text message that told him I would be visiting some online friends out of state and would be staying over there for a few days.  Within the time it took me to get suited up and get my new mask on, he had replied, letting me know that he saw my message.  I sent a similar message to my mom to let her know that I would be traveling to meet up with some friends.  She seemed to be happier and gave me a call to let me know that I would be in her prayers and to stay safe.  I didn’t tell either of them exactly where I would be going, as I figured that neither of them would ask and knew that I would be better off if neither of them knew where I was heading to.  The less that they knew overall, the better.

I packed up my bag and readied myself to head to the coordinates.  It appeared that this was in a remote area close to where I hunted down the bear.  We were going to want to keep the cover of night and if there was any way for us to ensure that we were going to be able to steer clear of the air traffic authorities, it was going to be by using a private plane.  After seeing what they could do to provide me, I could only imagine the level of resources that Invictus Persona had, especially after that last trial.  Considering they were able to send me 10 million dollars’ worth of liquid assets from McKinley’s house, I knew that they had to have resources for this sort of occasion.  They had been giving me toys to play with.  Now was going to come the real work.  I would need to be as prepared as I could be, and I would need to be ready for anything. 

I geared up with my pistol on my body and packed all my necessary supplies into my duffle bag.  While having the money was nice, it wouldn’t mean anything if I ended up dead.  It appeared that the suit that they gave me had armor plating.  It was light, but it seemed to be capable of catching a small-caliber bullet or two.  It must have been made of Kevlar or something even lighter.  Whatever they had in mind for me, I knew that it was going to be of high value, considering that I would be going for someone like Joe McKinley.  It would also mean that we would be tasked with rescuing someone, likely multiple people.  As soon as I had my bag packed, I made my way out of the front door.  I had everything needed inside of the duffle bag.  I knew that Uncle Freddy could likely still see me if he was on break at work and would be able to see me through the camera at his front door.  I needed to be able to go without being detected as part of Invictus Persona.  My mask was placed into the duffle bag, to avoid raising suspicion and to make sure that this mask of mine wasn’t recorded.  If I wanted to keep my new life a secret, I would have to be fully committed to it.  There was no room for error.  Everything had to be done with precision and accuracy and I had to make every moment count. 

I hopped into my car and went to go and fuel it up with fuel to make sure that I would have enough fuel to head back out to east Texas.  While I was there, I noticed the same lady I had seen a couple of times before, only this time, I could tell that our encounter was about to be very different.

“It seems as if God’s blessings have found you, young man!  How wonderful!  It seems like those burdens that you were carrying before have become much lighter since we last met.  I hope that God’s hand continues to guide you in the direction of his goodwill and his love.”

I nodded my head.  “I think that your prayers may have had an impact on that, ma’am.  I hope that life has found you well.”

She lowered her head.  “Well, the Lord has provided me blessings before, but after the loss of my husband recently, I worry about not being able to live in my own house soon.”

I felt a great amount of sympathy for her at that moment.  While I couldn’t stay for long, I wanted more than anything at that moment to ensure that this woman would be able to live in her home and not end up homeless.  “I’m very sorry to hear that, ma’am.  I hope that God’s hand blesses you soon.”  I handed her the cash that I had in my pocket.  It was $50 worth.  It wouldn’t amount to much if she was about to be evicted, but it would at least allow for her to afford a nice meal for the evening. 

“Oh, thank you so much, young man!  You truly are a blessing!”  She gave me a big hug.  “Maybe things will be better for both of us when we meet again.”

We both laughed at the thought of running into each other again and started to head our separate ways.  I drove off then to find the airstrip that 1 had alluded to.  Getting there early would make things go by a lot smoother.  Fortunately, enough for me though, it always seemed like they were there earlier than me.  Before I made my way up to the airstrip.  I went ahead and started to switch out of my clothes and put on the suit.  I didn’t want them to see me at all while I worked with them, or at least for as long as I could so that I would earn enough trust to not be shot on sight.  Maintaining my anonymity was an absolute necessity and keeping them from knowing my true identity was what meant life for me and death for those who would cross us.  That seemed to be how things would go, given the opportunity to get into a fight with someone who might cross our path.  And it seemed like someone had just crossed ours if a mission were to arise from this. 

I made my way over to the airstrip, readying myself to load my belongings onto the plane when I saw 1 wave to me from the steps outside of the plane.  ‘Come on, 13!  27 and 3 are waiting for us inside!  We’ll explain everything on the way.”

We loaded up onto the plane and began our journey out into the air.  Each of us had our masks on, to remain anonymous, even while on the plane in close quarters.  However, this time, I saw each of them begin to remove their mask.  I began to panic, wondering how I would be able to maintain the secrecy of my identity without a mask on.  First was 27, revealing his face.  Then came 3.  Both were very good-looking people, with 27 bearing a scar to his face that almost looked like it belonged on there, while 3 bore a tattoo on her face that resembled the lines and tracing of some flowers.  Lastly came 1 who removed his mask and revealed a face that seemed so fitting for his character that I would have mistaken him for a celebrity.  He almost seemed like one to me, but I couldn’t quite place where I would have ever seen him before.  He had the face of a celebrity and the mind and tact of a killer, same with 27 and 3.  I was closer than I had ever been before to these people and had my life hanging in the balance above 10,000 feet in the air.  If they wanted me gone, all they would have to do is send me straight out the emergency exit.  There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.  All that stood between myself being revealed to them and maintaining my secret was a bit of cloth that I had beneath the decorated mask that they had bestowed upon me.  We were mere feet away from one another on this plane.  The pressure in that cabin felt like it increased a hundred-fold when they looked to me. 

3 spoke up first.  “Well?  Aren’t you going to take off your mask?”

I shook my head.  “I’d rather keep the mask on.”

3 wasn’t having any of it.  “Come on, 13!  You can trust us at this point!  You know you can by now.  We’ve shown you our ways, given you your cut of McKinley’s assets, and even supplied you with what you’ll need for future missions.  Besides, you’re among a team now, your team.  You’ll have to show your face sooner or later, so why not do it now?”

I reluctantly started to pull off the white mask, hoping, praying that they wouldn’t recognize me.  Once my mask was off, I revealed my eyes and hair.  Everything else remained below a half mask.  3 was disappointed.  “Oh, come on, man!  You’ve got to show your full face!  We’ve only seen half of it. 

I stood firm at this point.  “And that’s all I will show until I can fully trust all of you.  I may be a part of the team, but I don’t consider you close enough to show my face, yet.”

27 chimed in.  “Look, 13.  We’re going to need to know each other a bit closer than this if we’re going to be able to rely on each other to make split-second decisions.  If we can’t fully trust you, one of us might end up hurt, or worse.”

1 was in agreement.  “I agree with 27.  The more that we know each other, the stronger we grow as a team and the more we can rely on each other.  I hope that you understand how important it is for us to be able to trust one another, 13.  27 and 3 are my most loyal members and help me with whatever missions I have for them.  The rest of our organization is either recruiting or fighting missions of their own.  We operate loosely, with updates from each of the members on our secure lines.  We have operatives everywhere and they all work under the same banner…” 1 lifted a glass of wine that he had on a table up.  “Invictus Persona!  We are many and we are unconquerable!”

3 and 27 each lifted up their glass and clinked their glasses together.  They turned to me.  1 motioned for me to grab the glass.  “One last thing, 13.  Before we cheer, please take off your mask.”

There was no avoiding it now.  I needed to take the other mask off.  I couldn’t stay hidden forever.  This would be the true test to see whether I had earned their trust.  If those prayers that lady prayed over me were ever going to bring God’s hand in my favor, it would have to be now.  I slowly started removing the mask, pulling it slowly above my head until it was completely off my face.  My heart was racing.  All three of them had their eyes trained on me after having pulled the mask over my eyes to remove it.  I started to calm down as I saw a smile and laugh come out of 3.  Then 27 laughed.  And lastly, 1 and I joined in on laughing.  I was relieved.  It seemed like they didn’t recognize me. 

I picked up the glass and spoke.  “Cheers, to Invictus Persona!”

27, 3, and 1 all joined me in clinking our glasses together.  “To Invictus Persona!”

I grew a bit nervous as 3 began to study me a bit further and commented on my appearance.  “You look familiar.  Do I know you from somewhere?”

I shook my head.  “Probably not, 3.  Probably not.”

3 was insistent on her assumption.  “No, no!  I DO think I recognize you!  I just don’t know from where.”

1 waved off 3, to throw the pressure off me.  “Don’t worry about it, 3.  The kid is one of ours, now.  It doesn’t matter where you’ve seen him from.  What matters now is that he’s a member of Invictus Persona and he’s going to help us take down our next target, Robert Bellfort.”  1 pulled out a device that showed a map of the estate that we were going to target.  There was a full overlay of the area.  Everything was mapped out, complete with a full schematic of many of the rooms.  I was able to see it all.  It looked like we were going to take out a lot more than just Robert Bellfort.  There was a full map of everything on the property, including predicted spots where armed guards would be.   These guys had thought of everything.  They had people for everything and were an efficient organization, known only by those in the know and targeted by those who knew too much. 

We made our plans and were ready to make our landing.  We needed to move quickly and be silent once we landed on the ground, so we got masked up and prepared ourselves to take on the mission.  If everything went right, it would go exactly the way 1 planned it.  It would be quick; take out the guards, get in, kill Bellfort, retrieve those who were imprisoned and Bellfort’s asset information, and get out.  The only thing that I didn’t expect when we arrived was that we would have more company than expected.  1 briefly glossed over it for the sake of time, but I had a feeling that these people that we were targeting were all connected, and they weren’t going to take our actions lying down.  They were going to put up a fight, and this time, it looked like they had brought in extra company to make sure that we had a fiery welcome.

This concludes the first half of "Persona"  If you would like to finish reading this book, please consider purchasing a copy of it over on Amazon through here.