by Adrian Popa
"His name is Alex Bourner, he's been working at the docks for quite a while now, keeping a good reputation for himself, what most people don't know is that he's also working for Ashton Huw, since he is affiliated with him he should know the company that Ashton has taken over, but the problem is getting him to give you that information"
"Yeah"
"But I'll leave that to you"
"Alright thanks I'll send the money later"
I hang up and turn to Lily. She gives me questioning look, I then tell her
"Do a background check on Alex Bourner, he's our current lead"
She turns to her laptop and begins typing . I leave her to work, while I head out to do some maintenance on my equipment. After awhile she finally knocks on my door, with a bored expression I say.
"Come in"
She opens the door and throws a few sheets of paper on my desk, she says with an accomplished tone.
"Well that's the low down on Alex, go ahead"
I put down the guns I was working on and reach for the papers she had thrown. I quickly skim the papers. Looks like this Alex guy lives in the area. His working times might be a problem and even if I assault him during his night shifts it might be quite troublesome if someone else was there as well. He's done quite a few criminal activities in the past, but he isn't the crazy kind either. If I raid his house right after he comes back from work at the docks then that might work. Says here that he's been on Ashton's side for quite a while, it might take a bit of convincing but I may be able to spill it out of him. I tell Lily
"Thanks, this will do, the mission starts tonight this will be pretty easy so there's no need for you to sneak out"
She looks away as if hiding the fact. After a while she sighs and tells me.
"Fine, I won't come"
Well it's not like we're supposed to be a hit man team, even if the difficulty isn't as high as other missions it's still dangerous.
"Yeah just hang tight around the base while I get the info"
She replies with a mischievous tone.
"But If I get bored, who knows what I'll do"
With that she leaves and heads back to her room. I being packing my things and waiting out till night, hopefully, she won't get bored.
Chapter15
As night approaches I get ready to set off. His house shouldn't be too far from here. I say once more to Lily before I leave.
"Stay here and don't do anything stupid"
"Yeah, alright"
I make my way down the stairs and leave through a back door. Using the night as a cloak I grapple my way from roof to roof until I reach Jens street. His house number is thirty four. I quietly inspect the number plates of the houses I pass by while trying to keep my cover. There it is, number thirty four. I carefully scan the surrounding area. Looks like Its only me and him. I quietly make my way to the front of his house. I then scale my way to the back of his house. Looks like there is a back door, and a balcony that leads into the second floor at the side of his house. I step back and check for lights, looks like he's at the main floor, as long as he stays there I can make my way inside through that balcony. I aim a grappling hook at the balcony and fire. I then use the reeling to make my way to the edge of the balcony and them climb my way on the platform. I listen in to see if he changed his mind about being on the first floor. Looks like nothing. I take out my "door opener" and switch it on. A nice circle is carved onto the glass as it slowly falls towards me. I catch it and gently put it down. I make my way inside, looks pretty standard. I make my way towards the door into the hallway. I stay quiet for a while. Once I'm assured that he isn't coming up I slowly open the door. The hallway is dark but I make my way to the stairs leading to the main floor. The lights are visible, and a feint sound of typing is heard. Looks like he's on his computer. I slowly make my way down the stairs trying not to make any noise. He seems pretty absorbed. I make my way to him with my gun drawn out. As I close in I stick my arm out and say.
"It's a peaceful night isn't it?"
He calmly turns to face me with his arms in the air. He gives me a slight grin and then says
"So, what do you need?"
"Well a little rat told me that you might have something I need"
"Oh, but I am just a humble dock worker, what could you possibly need from me"
"Well, ever heard of anyone by the name of Ashton Huw"
For a second a hint of defeat and anger appeared on his face. He then speaks in a more serious tone.
"So what does he want?"
"I'm afraid your under the impression that he sent me to get you"
"That's right"
"Well your mistaken, I just need a little information from you, If you can provide a satisfying answer, then you may be able to see the sun again"
"Heh, alright so what do you want to know"
"The company that Ashton has taken over, what is its name?"
"Well that is quite a piece of information"
"Yeah it is, and you're working for Ashton, so he must have told you about it at one point"
"It is true that I know which company he has under his control, but if you think you can spill it out of me, then think again"
I push my gun towards his head and with a calm voice I whisper to him.
"Well you don't have much of a choice here now do you?"
He thinks for a second and then replies.
"Heh, and if you do off me here, than you aren't getting nothing"
"Oh, but I have much more people I can go to, it's just convenient that you happen to be here. Surely you value your life, and you must know by now that I'm going after Ashton, with him out of the picture you won't have to worry about your little slip up"
I really don't want to have to make this any more difficult than it already is. The only one I'm going after is Ashton Huw, and I plan to make it stay that way. After a short while he gives off a silent "tch" and then says.
"Heh, fine I guess if that's the case then whatever, I never really liked working for that crazy asshole anyway"
He takes a cigarette from his desk and lights it. He leans back in his chair with the cigarette in his mouth, I lower my gun but remain cautious. He speaks in a relaxed tone.
"The name of the company is called Hextor, they make all kind of stuff, and Ashton is utilizing that to smuggle throughout the city"
"Thanks"
He takes a cigarette and points it to me.
"Want one?"
"Nah, I'm good"
Now that I have the name of the company I'm one step closer in taking out Ashton, all I have to do is stake out the place and finish him off. If all goes well there may be no need for pointless bullets fired. Well at least he ended up cooperating, guess that's all I need for now. I tell him.
"Well have a nice night, I came in through the second floor window, so don't mind me"
I begin walking up the stairs, before I reach the top I hear his voice call out to me, I turn around and he says with the cigarette between his fingers and a puff of smoke coming out of his mouth.
"Good luck"
Thanks, I make my way outside his house and begin heading back to my place, looks like it's a quiet night, Lily didn't follow me. I reach the old Canex building and head back to my room. Lily seems a little busy on her laptop but I drop by her room to inform her.
"Hextor, that's the company's name"
"Oh, so you actually got it?"
"Don't underestimate me here, I've been doing this for a while now"
"Alright, I'll look into it, I'm guessing you want to strike tomorrow night?"
"Good guess"
"I'll see what I can do, got any plans anyway?"
"Hey, when did you become my strategist?"
"When you took me in"
"Well of course I'll be striking in the cover of the darkness. Since he is the temporary owner of Hextor I assume that he would leave last out of everyone, so I'll use that chance to strike"
"And if he leaves early?"
"Well th
at's what a stakeout is for"
"And what if he ends up not being there at all? What if he left by day while you were waiting at night"
" I can always make a call for surveillance of that area"
"So the ideal time of attacking him is when there are no workers and when it's all nice and quiet, if all goes wrong you could always stalk him back to his place"
"You catch on fast"
"Alright I'll thin out the possibilities and tell you later"
"Heh, don't work too hard now"
"Lay off, I'm not a kid you know"
"You aren't?"
"My birthday was a while ago as well, I'm fourteen now"
"Still sounds like a kid to me"
"Ah, whatever"
Although she does do crazy things at times, when it comes down to it, I guess she isn't that bad. I can't help but have a little smile on my face. Well getting too attached could mean bad things, but for now I guess it isn't so bad to just enjoy the company. And maybe she could be useful later on. I close my eyes facing the ceiling and slowly drift off into sleep.
"Hey wake up"
I open my eyes slowly and see Lily with a sheet of paper sitting at my desk. I get up slowly and yawn. She clears her voice and says.
"It's going to be a gamble but the working hours of Hextor range from ten AM to one AM. I've looked around and it does look like Ashton leaves after one AM when everyone else has"
"You were able to get that yet his company was so hard to find?"
"The problem lies within the building of Hextor. It doesn't actively broadcast it's name and the only way to know which building it is, is to ask the manager"
"I see, so he purposely removed any means of identity and made it impossible to know otherwise"
"Yeah, but now that we're on his trail we can nab him"
"Ten to one huh, well I guess It's time to play my favorite game"
"Game?"
"The waiting game"
"Alright, so you're going at around eleven I assume"
"Don't think I'm letting you come"
"Come on, I got all this information for you"
"That's one thing, I will give you credit for, but letting you come on the field of action, is another"
"It's not like I'll get hurt if I just stay back and watch"
"That's beside the point, when you're out there in the field anything is possible"
Having to keep two tabs at a time is not only frustrating but just annoying. No matter how safe the situation is, the chances of death is still just around the corner. I can't go around risking every little opportunity, especially once John starts sending me off on his little game. I sigh and then take out a little camera from my desk. I tell her.
"Look how about I use this camera and you watch my back here in the base"
"That's not the same as actually being there"
"But with that you can manually move the camera from here and give me all kinds of feeds on the field, it could be really helpful "
"But with your skills you could already do that"
"Fine, If I do bring you, would you stop bugging me about it"
"Really?"
If this is all it takes to keep her stationed here at the base in the future, than I guess even I have to take that risk. And I guess if all goes well this mission won't really be that problematic. So if it's something like this, then maybe it'll be alright.
"Yeah, just this once, but don't ever break out of your hiding spot"
Lily's eyes light up and excitement rings through her voice.
"Thanks!"
"It's probably going to be boring anyway, if all goes well I take him out in a flash"
"But anything can happen in the field"
I give a small chuckle and with a small grin and reply.
"That, your right about".
Chapter 16
As night falls, we get ready to move out. It doesn't take us long to reach the building. We found a good spot that gives us a clear view of both entrances. It was a quiet night, with the cover this spot gives, it should be more than enough to hide her if things go wrong. We went through a few fail plans but I hate thinking about what could go wrong. After two more hours of waiting we finally count off the last worker, and the lights of the building all go off. It was just another empty building blending in with the city at this point, a perfect place to plot smuggling. After ten minutes, we still see Ashton Huw leave the building. Lily whispers.
"What if he left early?"
"Maybe, let's wait a little longer"
Just as I finished that sentence the back door opens and a figure gets out. Under the cloak of darkness, it is hard to tell who this person is. I position my sniper and look through my scope. Looks like it's our guy. I whisper to Lily.
"It's our guy"
"Alright"
I steady my aim and make sure its lined up. Just as I'm about to fire he suddenly turns and runs to the other side of the building. Looks like he knew we were here. Lily asks me.
"What just happened?"
"Looks like he knew"
He's on the other side of the building which is our blind spot, we put a tracking device on his car earlier, so if he plans to escape, than we can follow him. But he has the element of surprise so if he plans to do a counter attack, it isn't impossible that he might get us. I tell Lily.
"Keep an eye on that screen, he may know that we're here but there's no way he should know about that tracking device "
"Why do you say that?"
"If I were him, I wouldn't give myself the luxury to make sure that my getaway vehicle wasn't rigged, he may have us at a blind spot but that also means he himself is blind if he goes for his car"
Soon enough Lily picks up on a reading and says.
"He's on the move"
"Alright, let's move slowly towards it, now that he's decided to run it's only a matter of time"
We eventually make it to an apartment building. His car is parked, but that doesn't mean that he went inside. He could of did that to trick us. We slowly make our way around the building, and soon we find a figure moving about near the back of the building, it's him, he makes a run for it down the streets. I quickly follow suit and tell Lily to stay in cover. I take out my Vendetta and aim at him while running. He makes a quick turn and I miss. The chase goes on for quite a while until he finally makes cover using the walls of a store and takes out his gun to exchange fire. I quickly take cover as well and an old style shoot out breaks out. I take the lead and fire a few bullets to re take cover to a building on the same column as his. I switch the magazines of my gun and take the time to see how much bullets he's used and whether he has to reload or not. I fire a few rounds at him and then take cover. He fires a few rounds and then I hear the sound of running, I quickly peer out and fire, I miss. I begin chasing him while he fires wildly at me from behind. It's hard to get a good shot while he's swaying left and right, he soon makes another turn, while my bullet grazes his arm. I run quickly to catch up. He's not getting away. When I make the turn I see that he's playing a game of hide and seek. It's row after row of stores filled with plenty of alleys. Heh, he thinks he can win a game of cat and mouse huh. I take caution and stray to the sidewalks. I move quietly and slowly with my Vendetta out and ready to fire. Skillful or not, if it's a game of hide and seek, anyone can win. Halfway through the streets I notice that Ashton wasn't the only one here. I quickly look behind me and see a person crouching on a roof with an assault rifle. He begins firing at me. I quickly take cover. Looks like Ashton brought back up, and he brought me here to try and gain quick territory. I fire a few rounds at him and just when I thought it was over I see another person down the street firing at me. A bullet grazes my hand. Both of them were wearing ski masks to hide their faces. Ashton wasn't, so far its three on one huh. If I break my cover and exchange fire I could probably get one of them down, but the problem is the other. And I still don't know where Ashton is. This could be bad If I stay here. If I head for a roof for
a higher cover it might be a different story. I quickly aim my grappling hook on the roof and fire. I make my way to the top and begin firing at the person on the other roof with the assault rifle. He seems surprised and just when he was about to counter, a bullet hit him in the shoulder. I follow suit with another round of bullets and manage to hit his other shoulder, one down. By this time Ashton and his other friend must be aiming towards this roof. I lob a grenade over towards the middle of the street. Just as the explosion happens I grapple my way to the roof next to mines. I then peer out with my gun and quickly look for them. I draw back and take a deep breath.
It was a short wait. No one seemed to move. This has been dragging off for far too long. I peer off using the side of the roof, just as I'm about to check my surroundings a round of bullets come at me, I quickly take cover again. Looks like they still have me tied down. Aimlessly throwing grenades around could be dangerous, and they seem to switch positions after ever volley. If I get off this roof then they can easily surround me as well, and I guess running isn't an option. I have to draw one of the away, or at least figure out one of their positions without them switching. If I fire aimlessly then I'd just be wasting bullets and giving away my position. In the middle of my thought I hear a sudden burst of gun fire. Are they firing at me? In this state it would just be a waste of bullets, what are they doing? Two rounds were fired. One of them lets out a yell of pain. One of them was shot? They couldn't be firing at each other so that means, there's another person here. If one of them is down than its fair game, well at least if that mystery person did take out another person than it would be a three way death match considering they could all well be an enemy. I quickly take another peek at the streets. Looks like the reinforcement Ashton brought was hit pretty bad. Alright if that's the case all that's left are Ashton and the mystery person. He or she should be pretty close considering the damage done to him. Nothing like a sniper would do, and besides its more than one shot that got him. If he or she was close by and not shooting me, than they may well be an ally. They must of also had a little shoot down with Ashton, but by judging the situation, I can't tell where they are. I go to the other side of the roof and look down. I see Ashton making another run for it. I quickly jump down and with a small tumble I chase him down. He makes quite a few turns. I have my self facing another street filled with stores. He must be hiding behind one of them. He may have even more of his minions here, so I better be careful. I take it to the roof this time for a better view. He seems to have gone quiet far from here, I make my way from roof to roof checking the alley ways. He doesn't seem to be firing either. Finally he pops his head out and aims directly at me. He fires once, but I quickly dodge it, he drops his gun and then takes out his knife and throws it at me. I dodge it but to my surprise he quickly tugs it back to him. I fire a few rounds while he takes cover. Looks like he ran out of ammo, but he has a nice little trick going on with his little knife of his. I safely get off my roof and approach his hiding spot while firing a few rounds whenever I see him peak out. I have one more magazine and a single bullet left in my current one. Switching at this distance might give him a chance. He rushes out while I shoot the last bullet in my magazine, it misses. I aim my gun at him but he doesn't flinch and simply throws his knife at me. I see it this time, it's pretty hard to see but a little tough piece of string is connecting it to his hand so he can maneuver it however he likes from a far. Instead of dodging I use my pistol and knock it away. It stays in the air for a while but he quickly re adjusts it for a mid air swing aimed at me. I quickly duck and avoid it. I rush towards him while he has yet to finish setting up for a counter attack. He drops the piece of string and takes out another knife, and stabs towards me. I dodge and punch him directly in the face. He staggers back for a while but begins swinging wildly, I dodge each of his hits carefully and counter.