"I told you to stay put—"
"Alex, what are you doing here?"
Bay looks extremely agitated and worried seeing me here. He runs both hands through his hair in a nervous gesture and lets out a loud, disapproving huff.
"It was me, I saw your dad in that car by the road. I tried contacting you, then I called Ennio…"
"For fuckin’ crying out loud, it is a horrible idea for you to be here!" Bay growls, rubbing his temples. "Fuck, Fuck. You are not safe here, Alex. You need to leave. Anything could happen here…" He clenches his teeth.
"What can happen? Bay, I do not want anything to happen to you," I beg, pulling on his jacket, my eyes filling up with tears.
"Baby… you do not understand. I have certain obligations, I have to do… stuff."
Ennio puts a hand on his shoulder.
"Bay, there is no time for this. You can explain everything to him later. You need to go. Do you understand?"
His eyes lock with Bay’s and Bay nods.
"I do not understand anything," I mutter, but Ennio ignores it.
"You do exactly what I told you. There is no room for mistakes," Ennio growls, and Bay nods again.
In the next moment Bay pulls a balaclava out of his pocket and puts it on. Only then do I notice he is armed. He has a gunin a holster and what looks like a knife. Maybe even a vest. What the fuck.
"The hell? Bay, what is happening…"
Bay turns to me, takes hold of my shoulders, and looks straight into my eyes.
"You should not be here, Alex. You should not see this. Get into Ennio’s car and do not move. You have to promise me."
"But…"
"Promise me, Alex."
"I promise…" I whisper.
Bay turns and heads toward warehouse C35, but he does not go in from the front. He circles the building, and from a distance I see him heading for the ladder that leads to the roof.
"Ennio," I turn to him, "tell me he will be safe, please."
"If he is not safe, no one else could be," Ennio mutters. Then he grabs my arm and starts dragging me toward the car.
I struggle and resist. "I want to see what happens to Bay."
But he’s much stronger than me. He shoves me into the car and slams the door.
He walks around, gets in on the other side.
"What now? Are we just going to sit here and do nothing? There are armed men in there, they will kill him, they will shoot him…"
"Calm down. Bay knows what he’s doing. He has been doing this for ten years."
I freeze and stare at him. "What?"
Silence.
Finally, I shake off the shock and, looking at him pleadingly, blurt out, "That does not change the fact that their whole brigade is in there. Why did you send him in alone when you have soldiers who could help him?" I gesture toward the two soldiers sitting in the front of the vehicle, behind the partition.
