Tweet. Tweet. Maya birds perched atop the fence surrounding the Berkeley's slightly big house. Sean Berkeley awoke to a knocking on the door. '6am. Who the bloody hell?' he thought to himself, pissed off. He got off the soft bed, where his sleeping wife lightly snored. DINGDONG DINGDONG It's a good thing everyone in the family was such a heavy sleeper.
A man in black was at the door, looking professional in a suit. Sean felt embarrassed- he'd answered the door in pajamas. "Uh... Who are you?" "It doesn't matter what my name is. But I've got something to discuss with you, Sean Berkeley." As the tall guy stepped into the hallway. "Hey, hey! Who said you were welcome?" He asked, rightfully suspicious. "If you will not cooperate, Mr.Berkeley, we will be forced to act... Which in turn may cause unwanted results..." Sean saw something near the stranger's belt glint under the sunlight. The guy was bloody armed. Brilliant. Just brilliant.
It wasn't as if he were scared, but he wasn't stupid. There was no need for violence. But did it mean having to let in this suspicious character into their home?

Then suddenly, something clicked at the back of Sean's mind. He'd been found out. An ex Secret Service agent, he'd been discovered. And this guy was blackmailing him to cooperate.
A shrill scream came from upstairs. There were more of them. "LIZ! ARGH." He tried to attack the person in front of him. But too late,  and he faced a Beretta 9mm handgun. Sean wanted to rush upstairs. But he couldn't, with the gun trained on him. He remembered the old days. He could have taken the man down in 4 seconds flat, pinning and disarming him. Sheesh. 'I'm getting old..'
Liz screamed his name, and he tried to make a run for the staircase. BANG He'd felt a burning pain across his arm. "DANG IT!" He stopped in his tracks and stumbled, hitting his head on something. "LIZ! LIZ..."  "HELP, SEAN, HE-" were the last words he heard before he blacked out...

He woke up in a room with dreary gray walls. He'd been beaten, and finally forced to agree to collaborate. They had Liz and the 3 kids. He couldn't NOT do whatever the hell they wanted him to do, if it meant seeing them again...
-
He saw Eddie Blanco through the window of the white Volkswagen. He'd seen that face countless times. His short black hair, brown skin and eyes, always on pictures attached to files of this young guy named Edward Blanco. He was 25 years old, 5 feet 9, had 4 sisters still in school. Their parents were gone, but that was long ago. He couldn't bear to think about what would happen next. He'd killed alot of people before. But never an innocent. He was assigned to execute deadly criminals, terrorists, and the like. But never a civilian. This wasn't what he wanted. 'But I've got no choice.' He thought as he fingered the cold metal of the semi automatic rifle laid beside him on the car seat.

Eddie Blanco knew what he was getting himself into. A whole lotta trouble. But he didn't care. The nation needed to know the truth. Raffy didn't understand what it meant to him. Of course, he was nervous. He would get imprisoned, sooner or later. But he really really wanted this done. After all, who else would have enough courage? Eddie couldn't wait around. Maybe he was stupid. Maybe he was crazy. But it's what he believed in.

The subject had exited from the building. Sean knew they needed to act fast. He adjusted his dark sunglasses on his face and nodded to his companions in the car. They had stone-like expressions, but he knew these ex-military men like him felt differently inside. But they had no time left to think. "Now!" shouted the big American named Matthew in the driver's seat. All four men got out of the vehicle and steeled themselves for the excruciating moment. Sean saw Eddie's face. First shock, then understanding. The assassins hesitated. The reporter brought his face into a sad smile. Like he'd been expecting his untimely death. It all happened in the longest 5 seconds of the lives of everyone present.
BANG. The guy to Sean's right, Gilbert, he remembered, had fired. Eddie's face twisted in pain as a red liquid stained his shirt. Sean closed his eyes. He wanted this nightmare to end. But he had no choice. CLICK. He opened his eyes. BANG BANG. An excellent marksman, he had no trouble with the bullets finding vital points. He'd shot two and quickly got back into the car. He'd looked up at the window where a girl had screamed the victim's name. The girl had long dark brown hair, and even from a far, he could tell she was a beautiful. 'God. Elizabeth.' For a split second, he'd seen the woman he'd loved. He wondered if she were safe, as the engine started. The American sped up and dashed through the empty street. Sean was still breathing heavily from all the emotion and adrenaline he had felt.

Elizabeth. The Filipina, who was the love of his life. Her soft, flowing brown hair, and the clear honey brown of her eyes. How he missed them. He sighed at his own helplessness. How could he have been that stupid?
-----

He looked at his watch. 11:59 pm. He was in front of a Marikina warehouse, where he was to be paid for his "service". Approaching the entrance, Sean saw Gilbert, the guy whose girlfriend, Audrey? Or Kristine? Had been taken a way from The other guy, Nick, they had his son Don and his daughter Margaret. The other guy. he barely knew, but his name had started with an M. Matthew? They had his daughter too.Sean tried to smile, but no one could get the grim expression off his own face. They all had hope they might find their loved ones here. They entered the warehouse and proceeded to the darkness that seemed darker than the New moon night outside.

A lit-up part of the dark place was where they headed. They soon saw 5 men, uniformed complete with shades, standing around a table. The guy in the middle had welcomed them, and told them to sit down. There were four Monobloc chairs. Each was handed a metal briefcase with a coded lock, and were instructed that they were to receive the code later that day. Sean fidgeted. He wanted to see Elizabeth and the kids safe... "Where is she? My girlfriend?!?" Gilbert had demanded, finally saying what they all had in their minds since they arrived. "Where is Audrey??" He reiterated. The man with the shades smirked. A door to their left had opened. A young girl- 25, perhaps? came into view, with a teenage boy and two little girls in hand. Behind them was a woman in her late 30's, carrying a toddler in her arms and flanked by two more children.
"Elizabeth!" Sean had shouted, breaking into a run. Gilbert had been faster, and hugged the lady named Audrey. "Sean!" Elizabeth had whispered. She looked bad. They'd been held somewhere for 4 weeks, of course they'd look tired. All four men had teary reunions with their families or, in one case, his girlfriend. They didn't mind who the hell saw. They broke down and cried, every single one. When they calmed down, the man in the shades had said he and his company would take their leave. As the group walked out the door, Sean saw the mysterious man take something small out of his pocket, and had a sudden case of deja vu. Shoot. The scene was coming back to him. The guy leaving, pulling something out of his pocket... God, it was a detonator! Sean ran to the wide metal doors, now closed, forgetting everything that moment. "Sean?" Liz had called, puzzled.
As Sean reached the doors, he tried the knobs. Locked. God, they'd locked them in! No way would they leave people like them- who had been blackmailed to save the administration from bloodying their hands- free to go back and live like they used to. "Sh--." He'd started banging his shoulder against the hard metal, to no avail. The other guys had come and asked what the hell he'd been trying to do. "They'd locked us in! Quick, how can we open this?!?" The panicked voice of Sean filled the big space. "Huh? Why??" Nick asked, worried. "I saw... the stupid guy... with a detonator! The briefcases- they're going to explode!" "WHAT?!? How are you so sure?!?" And Matthew tried the door knob. Which didn't budge. "And they're... set to go off... anytime now." Sean banged even harder, as the other men followed suit, barely making a dent into the thick metal doors. No windows either, and the ceiling was too high up to reach, even to find a way out.

"There's... No hope anymore, Sean. It's not going to open..." Liz said shakily. Tears were streaming down her face as she clutched the little boy in her arms... "I just wish... We could've saved the kids... They're too young to..." "Shoot. Lizzy!" Sean had tears too, and in his frustration, had screamed out into the closed space. But his cry had been silenced by an even more deafening BOOM.

The place was in flames, but it was no where near a residential area. Besides, it was curfew, and no one would have been able to witness the scene. The building had burned down to the ground, sparing nothing.

A newspaper after the incident had headlined: "No casualties, say authorities." For an article by news reporters Tony Santos and Nikki San Pedro about a Marikina warehouse burning down the other night.

And so the authorities were pleased.