by Newbiel
"You realize that we are treating a sixteen year old like he is our senior officer?"
"His age is not what matters but his skills, and you know as well as I how skilled he is." Amal finally answered, keeping his eyes on the lookout.
"Yeah I know. I'm really curious about how he became that good. That was not thanks to us and we both know it."
"That's not our place to ask soldier." Amal responded.
"Bah. At least I'm glad to see that he can still be wrong. We have been here for more than three hours and nothing is happening."
The words just left his mouth when the secure phone of Amal vibrated, a sign that he just received a text. Looking at Jean, his eyes were telling him something very clearly. 'You had to say something didn't you?' Picking his phone up, he had configured it to barely light up the screen as to not being spotted because of it in case someone contacted him.
"What did it say?" Jean asked in a dreading voice.
"They are here." Amal read in a voice that Jean could barely hear.
"Who is there?" Jean asked puzzled.
His words did not exit his mouth for a second when the two security guys that were manning the back door suddenly crumbled to the ground with a knife embedded in their throats. Immediately after that, six guys wearing black attire appeared in the light and passed the back door. Two of them gathering back their knives from the now dead guys on the ground.
"Fu**! They are here!" Exclaimed Jean, fishing out his shotgun which was sitting between his legs.
The two of them were wearing their usual suit but today they had put kevlar vests beneath them. They had taken the warning of Nathaniel very seriously considering the threat they were facing. Jean had chosen to take a M4 tactical shotgun in addition to his usually glock 19 handgun. Amal on the other hand chose an MP5 in addition to his Sig Sauer P320 handgun. They had also brought much more ammunition than what they had usually and so the two cartridge clips turned into five.
"Wait, remember our instructions." Amal stopped Jean from coming out of the car.
Stopping what he was doing he remembered that Nathaniel had already sent them instructions when the attack was going to happen. On it, he had formerly forbidden them to engage in 1v1 fights with any of the attackers and to always move together when confronting them. The second point was to have Jean call 911 at the first moment to get back up as soon as possible. Dialing 911 something that he saw suddenly struck him.
"Wait, did I dream or did these guys had a fuck**g sword coming out of their back?" He asked Amal while waiting for the line to connect.
Amal did not respond. One of his instructions was to call Nathaniel to give him a situation report of the number of attackers who had entered the building. But despite trying to contact him on both of his phones the call was going to the voicemail right away each time. Taking his machine gun in hand and taking off the safety, he had only one thought in mind.
They needed to move fast.
*****
Looking at his phone Nathaniel was frowning. Both of his phones did not have a signal anymore which was worrisome. Turning to his friend, he asked.
"Na-Yung, do you have a signal on your phone?"
"This is weird, no I don't." She said after fishing up her own phone.
The next moment, they heard her father say something in the living room. Curious, they both left her room to know what was going on. They find him in front of his computer grumbling in Korean.
"What is he saying?" Nathaniel asked. The words were hard to decrypt when they were grumbled like that and he could not make out their meaning.
"The internet just crashed." She summarized with a frown on her beautiful face.
Nathaniel could see that she was starting to understand what was going on and what was going to happen. Her expression was getting paler by the second when suddenly the power died out and the living room plunged into total obscurity. A few moments later, the three bodyguards who were monitoring the outside corridor entered their suite with flashlights turned on, illuminating the room.
"Sir, we are under attack. We need to move you, right now!"
The head of security began yelling in Korean, pushing them to the entrance of the suite. They had all their guns drawn and were at the ready. Na-Yung was going to leave the hotel room when she saw that someone was missing.
"Wait! Where is Nathaniel?"
Chapter 66: :
"Nathaniel!" Na-Yung called, wanting to go back to the living room to find him when she was abruptly stopped by the head of security.
"Leave him here, we don't have time, we need to leave now madam!"
"No, they are going to kill him!" She answered in korean, trashing in the powerful arms of the bodyguard.
"He's a stranger, he does not matter! Now stop what you are doing and come with us, we need to go!" Her mother cut her off abruptly.
"Their target is us not him, he will be safer away from us, Na-Yung." In-Su added in a calm, placating tone.
Stopping her trashing, she realized that her father was right. The assassins were here to kill them and as much as she hated leaving her friend to his own device, it was better that way. Maybe by separating with her, he would survive. Looking a last time into the dark living room, she could only hope that he would be alright and that he would be able to forgive her.
"Okay, let's go then." She said in a cold voice, not resisting anymore.
They left the suite not long after that. Little did they know that Nathaniel was not present anymore as they believed him to be.
*****
Nathaniel had chosen to not stay with Na-Yung and her family, slinking out using the obscurity and the fact that they were not paying attention to him. He needed to be free in his movements and so was better for him to be alone. It was paramount that no one would figure out the extent of his skill otherwise questions would arise. Questions he did not want to answer at this time. He was not doing this for him but for his entire family. They had already suffered enough, he could not cause them more problems.
Taking off his white sweater, as luck would have it, he was wearing a black shirt underneath it. It would become useful for what he was planning to do. He was also wearing black trousers and black city shoes, it was not the most ideal attire to fight in but he would manage. It could be worse after all. He did not have any weapons whatsoever in the moment and taking something out of the kitchen was not practical. He could not leave any evidence that could link him to what he was going to do. Quickly going to Na-Yungs room he took out a pair of gloves and a black cap from his backpack. It would be useful for his plan.
One of the reasons that he needed to leave the group was because he had heard the sound of people descending from the rooftop with ropes. Closing his eyes and focusing on his hearing, he determined that they were six people and based on their speed, they will be here very soon.
He left the hotel room of the Kim family and quickly hissed himself onto the balcony of the suite a floor above him. He was suddenly glad that he chose to practice in parkour because he could not have made that jump otherwise. Once on the balcony, he observed for a second the suite in question and was happy to see that it was empty.
In fact, with his heightened senses, he could hear that a huge number of people had left their room and were busy leaving the hotel. With the fact that there was no power and cell reception, it was understandable that people were panicking and trying to find out what was going on.
Hiding in the corner of the balcony, he could now see the six people in question descending quickly. They were all wearing tactical black clothes which were hiding them perfectly with the night sky. Unluckily for them they were in a city that never slept, with lights everywhere that illuminated their descending figures.
He could see that they had a gun and a knife in their belt even if he could not make out the exact type. What surprised him was the hilt of a sword poking out of their shoulder blades. Even if they had a redoubtable appearance, Nathaniel could not help but sneer i
n his mind.
'Are they for real with that sword? They need to stop reading ninja stories for f**ks sake.'
Looking at them passing by his floor without spotting him Nathaniel realized that they were separating. They split into two teams of three people. The first team stopped at the balcony of the suite of Na-Yungs parents and entered the hotel room with guns at the ready while the second team stopped three floors below and did the same thing.
Nathaniel understood right away what was going on. They wanted to use a pincer move and corner them in a crossfire. It was ruthless but smart, these guys were evidently experienced.
It was at that moment that he could hear gunshots coming from the lobby of the hotel. The sound was muffled but clearly recognizable. He could even hear a shotgun starting to fire based on the sound. Proof that the six guys here were not the only intruders in the building tonight. He did not expect that many people and he hoped Jean and Amal would be alright. He had given them strict instructions and in addition to their experience and skill, he hoped it would be enough to protect them.
That's when he heard the first siren blaring in the background which made him smile. These guys had obviously come prepared tonight, bringing a device which was jamming frequencies to prevent people calling for help, but they did not take into account Jean and Amal who were outside of the building and thus were not in the effect radius of that machine.
Looking at the last three guys disappearing on the balcony below, Nathaniel began smiling ruefully. These guys were pretty good at hiding in the shadows but it was time for someone else to enter the fray.
It was time for them to meet the Ghost.
Chapter 67: :
Using one of the ropes that they had used to make their descent from the rooftop, Nathaniel could descend to the floor below him without making any sounds. Arriving at the floor, he stealthily entered the suite behind them. Looking at the beam of light coming from their flashlights, Nathaniel could see that he was right to have exited before they arrived. He would have had a hard time to hide from them as they were moving quickly and efficiently between each room.
They took only a minute to inspect meticulously the entire suite which was impressive considering the size of it. Gathering up by the entrance they began talking in korean, Nathaniel stalked them from behind stealthily, wanting to hear what they were saying.
"They already left." One of the masked assassins said.
"We are giving chase, they should not be that far. Our brothers will obstruct them for us."
The one in charge said before quickly being interrupted by the sound of gunfire. Their gun had suppressors on it so it was likely to be the security guard of their target. The one in charge opened the door, thankfully the emergency light in the hallway illuminated the entrance. Exiting the room running, his men quickly followed him.
It was at that moment that Nathaniel chose to act. Picking up speed he rapidly neared the last one who wanted to leave. Hearing a sound behind him, the assassin was in the process of turning around when a brutal chop crushed his windpipe. The killer crumbled to the ground where Nathaniel promptly took hold of him and broke his neck.
All of it took barely a second and thanks to the sound of gunfire, the other assassin did not even hear the sound of the neck breaking. Picking up the gun of the guy he just killed, he could see that it was a SA 1911. It was not his favorite weapon but it would do all the same. Arming the gun and verifying it was loaded and good to go, he swiftly exited the room. Looking both ways in the corridor and made sure it was clear except for the two killers.
The lack of movement behind him seemed to alert the second guy who turned around to know where his brother was when he heard three muffled sounds. The first bullet hit him square in the skull and he died instantly. The other two bullets sailed right past him and hit the assassin in front in the back and the head, also killing him instantly.
In a breath of time Nathaniel had already disposed of the three highly skilled assassins that were sent tonight. It was not that they were inadequate, it was just that Marc was that good. It was one of the reasons that he was chosen by the CIA to carry out elimination missions of highly valuable targets around the globe. He was an amazingly sharp shooter and had training in basically every firearm of the world.
Nathaniel was glad that he could dispose of these guys so quickly but he knew it was far from over. They still had mens in the building and he needed to help his friend and bodyguards. Moving the first guy that he had killed to the center of the corridor, he turned him to the side to give the impression that he was attacked from his left. It was imperative to temper with the evidence for them to not pinpoint his direction.
Once done, he swiftly ran back to Na-Yungs apartment and to the balcony. Jumping to one of the ropes that were used to descend three floors down, he used it to follow the three others killers. Arriving in the suite three floors down the door was opened and he could see with the emergency light coming from the corridor that the occupant of the room had been killed. It was not a clean kill either, the guy had multiple wounds on his body. Nathaniel could feel anger coursing through his veins. That guy was innocent and they still butchered him. He would show them the same ruthlessness that they had shown tonight. He took a lot of precautions to not step in any blood stains on the ground to not leave any evidence of his passing.
Still hearing the gun shots there was nobody left in the corridor or stairway. Anyone still in the hotel was hiding in their suits in fear at that point. Picking up the pace and opening the door leading to the stairways, he had the unpleasant surprise of finding himself welcomed by a sword thrust directed to his heart. Quickly dodging to the side he brought his gun up but it was stopped by a chop to his hands which disarmed him. Spinning to the side, he swiftly dodged another strike which wanted to cut his head off.
Seizing the hand that held the sword, he twisted it and followed up with a kick to the assassins chest, projecting him down the stairs. The killer quickly took out his knife while Nathaniel still had the sword in his hands. It was good thinking from the assassin to take out his knife and not his gun. In close quarter combat guns were very inefficient, the proof of which was the fact that he managed to disarm Nathaniels gun.
Looking at him attentively the assassin could see that Nathaniel was quite young and above all, not korean.
"Who are you foreigners?"
"Does it matter?" Nathaniel answered simply, twirling the sword in his hands.
"You will die for this." He threatened.
"You will die first." Nathaniel countered in Korean.
The assassin was clearly surprised to see him speak Korean and Nathaniel was waiting for this exact moment. He used that second to throw the sword that he held in his hand to the assassins head. His opponent reacted swiftly, parring the sword with his knife. That reaction gave exactly what he wanted as he closed the distance with his opponent to disarm him and punch him in the stomach. Following that a hard battle began with punches, chops and kicks between the two adversaries.
Even if Nathaniel was very good in hand to hand combat his opponent was experienced and swift, making it hard to deal with him. He got hit a couple of times in the chest and side making him wince a little, this guy packed a lot of power behind each of his strikes. Not to say that Nathaniel was not the same. He scored a few hits himself on his head and stomach. The battle kept increasing in intensity when Nathaniel managed to outfast his opponent and dislocate his shoulder.
To his credit, the guy did not even cry out when his shoulder was dislocated, proof that he was a hard SOB. No matter how much of a badass he was the next blow which broke his knee made him grunt in pain. Descending the stairs, Nathaniel picked his gun up and as if it was normal and put a bullet to the downed assassin's head. Taking a second to calm his breath, the fight was intense and he needed a second to rest.
The reason that he had thrown the sword instead of using it was simple. He did not have any idea of how to use it. It was 2012 not 500 after JC
. He never knew how to use a sword and truthfully, he did not need to or want to. That was the first time that he even saw assassins using these weapons. He had encountered a couple of machete wielding people in Africa but that was it. The sound of gunshots coming from the floor above him were getting few and far between. That was not a good sign at all as only the bodyguards of Na-Yung family were using guns without suppressors.
'Well, no rest for the wicked it seems." He thought.
Running up the stairways, the gunshots suddenly stopped. He knew that time was short now. There was only one explanation to explain why there was no more sound and it was if one of the two sides had won. He did not think that the three bodyguards were enough to stop the assassins so that left only one solution.
Opening the door, he could now see into the corridor and what was happening in it. In the middle of the hallway was one of the bodyguards who had been shot in the chest and was now dead. Nathaniel could already deduce that he was killed by surprise. A little further behind, around the entrance of a suite, he could spot the two other bodyguards. One was dead and the head of security was on the ground bleeding but Nathaniel could still see his chest heave up and down.
What stopped him dead in his tracks was the two remaining assassins pointing their guns to someone in the suite. He reacted instantly, firing two bullets in quick succession. Their leader was in the middle of saying something when his head suddenly exploded in blood, quickly followed by his brother.
Hearing exclamations of surprise inside the room, Nathaniel immediately felt at ease. He wanted to see how they were doing but he could not for obvious reasons. Looking down the window, he could now see at least ten patrol cars in front of the hotel and he noticed that there were no more shooting sounds inside the hotel. Everything was deadly silent.