November 3rd

"Alpha, everything is ready to go," somebody said hurrying up to Leo who was striding so fast that both me and this man had to run to keep up.

"Thank you, Christiano. You have my order to deploy," Leo said as we past the queues of convoy trucks, the sort with a green canvas covered backs with benches for the men which were climbing aboard them.

He nodded, waved his arm and seconds later, the sounds of engines firing up and exhaust fumes filled the air. The last soldiers got into their allocated trucks and they began rolling out.

Without warning, Leo suddenly put his hands under my arms pits and lifted me up onto the back of a truck before he brought himself up too.

The truck was packed but one soldier threw his hand up into the air and waved. Luca. He wore his usual wide smile and scooted along the bench, clearing a space. Beside him was Mateo and then Blair.

Due to the limited room, I had to sit on Leo's lap, crushed between Luca and Mateo's broad shoulders.

"This is cosy," Luca commented.

Leo then pulled out his wrist and glanced at his watch. He then reached up his arm and thudded the metal wall of where the driver's cabin was twice.

"Via the vault," he ordered and the truck began to move with the rest of the convoy.

"Ella your hair keeps getting in my mouth," Luca complained, contorting his face to remove half my ponytail without the use of his hands which were trapped else were (who knows where that where is).

"Not many men have that kind of privilege Luca. Appreciate it while you can," I said making no effort to help him.

"Choking on a fluff ball made of your hair. Boy, you're right. Very privileged," Luca said finally freeing himself.

"No need to be sarcastic," I said.

"These trucks are only designed for 15 men," Mateo said. "It's no wonder we are a bit tight."

"I guess we don't normally transport 1732 men all at one time," Leo replied.

"Well, people aren't usually stupid enough to declare war on Stella," Blair commented.

During the journey, I looked at the weapons the men in the truck were holding. I hadn't really noticed before now, but they didn't have guns, nor huge swords nor anything extravagant. Instead they all just had a small pocket knife in a holster. A noticed a few men from other trucks had bows and arrows but not many. Maybe two from each.

They also didn't have much protection. A uniform yes: a relatively tight fitted, black, round neck t-shirt tucked into a pair of black combat trousers tucked into a pair of black combat boots. They certainly weren't going for camouflage.

"Surely your uniform should be dark green, any fighting is going to be most likely in forests surely?" I asked.

"We don't hide," Leo replied in a deep tone.

Half an hour later, Leo's phone began to ring. He struggled to reach it but eventually succeeded to see Rosa calling.copy right hot novel pub