Cedric was relieved. He knew Tommy long enough. If Tommy gets out, he's gonna go rogue on these men in black and it won't be a good sight at all.
"I'm serious bro. Put the gun down. There's a kid in here." Tommy said, paying little to no attention to the firearm pointed at the window.
"Get out here with the canister now. Else, the first bullet will be blowing the kid's brains all over his dad's face. How about that?" The mercenary said.
Cedric shivered in his seat. The mercenary didn't sound like he was joking in the least. The gun wasn't pointing at Tommy now, but at Adrian.
"Fine. Coming out now." Tommy said ad he turned in the other direction and clutched the secure briefcase containing the serum.
But Cedric observed something. All through the time Tommy was bantering with the mercenary, amidst the noise, he used his foot to drag another similar briefcase from under the seat. And it was that briefcase he was clutching now.
Before Tommy got out, Cedric held him and gave a signal telling him he grabbed the wrong briefcase. But Tommy just turned around and gave a reassuring smile and a wink.
Cedric understood. Tommy was in a way, silently telling Cedric to trust him. He nodded and let him go.
Tommy left the vehicle and told Cedric to lock the doors and windows. He obliged. Tommy walked confidently to the mercenary, who had to retreat slowly to the midst of his men, who felt slightly oppressed on seeing Tommy's buff body size.
Tommy put the briefcase down on the ground in their midst. The mercenary looked at the case and back to Tommy. "Open it." He said.
Tommy walked forward and input the pin code for the briefcase. After the red light indicating it was locked turned green, the briefcase opened with a hiss, dispelling a small amount of a whitish gas.
The mercenary leader walked forward and opened the case fully. Inside it was a strange swirling gas. The gas was too dense that waving it away didn't do anything. The mercenary looked at Tommy, expecting an explanation.
"Oh right. The serum has to stay below room temperature. That gas is what keeps it valid. Any little change in temperature can change its composition and render it useless." Tommy explained. " The gas is real cold but since you have gloves on, you shouldn't have a problem dipping your hands inside and grabbing the cannister."
The mercenary spared Tommy one last look and dipped his hand deep into the briefcase. Tommy observed his face was twitching. He could tell the mercenary could feel the biting cold, even through his gloves.
The mercenary brought out the cannister successfully. He looked to another one of his men and nodded. The man nodded back and reached into his briefcase. He extracted a strange machine that looks like a scanner of some sort.
The cannister itself was cold to the touch. The mercenary leader opened a small outlet on the cannister and let a few drops land on the machine before closing it.
After the liquid dropped on the machine, it glowed with a yellow light for a few moments, meaning it's still trying to identify the liquid sample. Seconds later it turned green and an automated female voice read out the result.
"Sample identified - Malusdomestica extract."
Quickly, the mercenaries pointed their guns simultaneously at Tommy, who surprisingly was very calm during the whole ordeal. Tommy raised his hands up like he didn't know what he was doing.
"Whoa! What's with the guns? You dudes have the serum now don't you?" Tommy said, while keeping his arms raised.
"I don't know whatever's in there, but you lied. My client said to test this because he believes the so called serum isn't from this world. He said we should ensure to test it. And if it is being identified then it's fake." One mercenary replied.
"That might be true. But remember what I said. Any small temperature change could render it useless. I told you, didn't I?" Tommy said, baring a strange smile that made it seem like he wasn't pressured in the least. "Well, it's not entirely useless, though. You can drink it."
"What do you mean? Drink it?" The main mercenary asked.
"Yeah. Malusdomestica is just plain apple juice." Tommy said with a funny grin.
"You basta*d! You played us from the start!!" The main mercenary shouted, cocked his gun and pointed it at Tommy again.
"Yes I did. I'm even surprised you guys got confused the whole time. Damn, I should be a lawyer. I'd be f*cking rich!"
BANG!
At that moment, Tommy stopped speaking and put his head down. Cedric and Florence could clearly see the outline that the blood coming from the newly formed hole in Tommy's head traced as it dripped slowly to the ground.
A bullet from the 9mm pistol has the ability and power to blow a man's head to bits at close range. But strangely, apart from the hole in Tommy's head, he looked fine as he stood firmly on the ground like he was planted there.
The mercenary and even some of his underlings tried pushing him to see if he'll keel over, but he was like a tree that has been planted in the earth for years. Unmoving.
"What's with this guy?" The boss said, after seeing how their efforts to move the man proved abortive.
"Leave him be, boss. He won't survive. His brain's literally leaking out of his forehead. Let's get the serum to our client ASAP and get paid." One of his subordinates said.
"Right. Prepare the charges. You'll set them on my command." The boss replied.
"Yes, sir." The subordinate said.
The boss went to the armored vehicle, while his subordinate walked past Tommy and went to a hole he dug but covered with palm fronds and leaves, which housed the explosive charges.
But what they didn't know what that the wound on Tommy's head was already healing and he was gradually regaining full consciousness. He decided not to make any moves till his healing had finished.