Chapter 106: Chapter 59: Rescue Mission (1)
I know I’ve said this a lot lately, but life really is full of surprises. I never imagined in my life that I would see a grown man crying in front of me like this. What am I supposed to call it?... Childish? Because he’s asking me to save his lover. And not just any grown man; this is supposed to be one of the most competent members of the Night Wolves. Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? Yes, it’s extremely ridiculous. And yet this is happening right in front of me now.
How did we get to this point? Well, we have to go back a little.
I had been sitting on the wooden chair opposite Adam, my legs spread apart and both my arms resting on the edge of the table. Adam raised his head and said:
"I want you to help me save Diana."
"That’s very direct. And who is she?"
He began to explain his story with her. Honestly I didn’t have the slightest interest in this story, but I let him talk.
...
[Adam perspective a few months earlier]
It all started when I was summoned by Chief Verona. Verona was sitting behind her desk, and next to her was Quil with his usual cold face. That day I was assigned a mission to recover some stolen information and files and to catch the thief. Quil provided me with all the information he could gather.
After a few days I found myself in the Neutral Zone disguised as a simple vendor. I bought a small shop with a dull front and some cheap goods on dusty shelves to divert suspicion. I was searching everywhere for the target using my ability to hide and merge with shadows.
During a full month of exhausting surveillance I couldn’t get any information on the target until a woman working as a waitress in a modest restaurant appeared. After some research and investigation about the restaurant I discovered that behind those walls was a whole network for gathering information I had never heard of before. Every night I would merge with the shadows of the walls, watching the restaurant even after it closed. During all that time my eyes were on her, on that waitress.
Then one day I entered the restaurant as a customer for the first time. I sat at a table and ordered an ordinary meal. When the waitress approached me, it was the first time I saw her so clearly. In that moment I couldn’t look away from her face but quickly regained my composure.
You’re here to investigate, remember that.
But I came back the next day... and the day after that. Only to observe, nothing more. Each time I ordered a different meal, eating it absentmindedly, all my focus on her. After two months I knew the cook, the manager, and even the names of the regular customers. Quil kept sending messages: "Have you found the thief?" and I would always reply "Not yet" because I "was still making sure of everything".
In the third month I was monitoring her every move and recording information about the restaurant. I mingled with the customers, laughed with them, and even spoke with the cook. Gradually everyone got to know me. One day while I was eating as usual and watching that waitress, Diana, the cook sat beside me and slapped my back so hard I turned to him immediately.
He said while laughing:
"Adam, don’t you want to get a job instead of hanging around here every day?"
I raised my drink, took a sip and replied irritably:
"I already have a job."
He smiled and pointed at the waitress:
"A job other than that shop you barely open. You’ll work with her if you agree."
I set the cup down quickly when I heard what he said and answered immediately:
"Agreed."
The cook laughed loudly, patting my back so hard I felt as if it would break:
"Follow me inside."
We entered the kitchen; the heat from the steam oven hit my face immediately. Then the cook pushed a hidden door in the wall, which opened into a small room covered with maps and stacks of papers everywhere.
When we entered, he started explaining to me how they worked and how they collected information about the gangs of the Lower District. But before he began to speak, he made me place my hand on a crystal orb surrounded by engraved symbols and asked me to swear not to reveal what he would tell me. I did place my hand, but I used my ability then and let my shadow extend to create a thin barrier preventing my hand from actually touching the orb.
He told me everything until I eventually became part of their team specializing in gathering and selling information. All those details he told me reminded me of the Bloody Fang, but the Bloody Fang was far too smart to create some direct conflict with us. They were the ones who had even proposed establishing that treaty. Moreover, creating a group like this in this area was a very stupid idea, like throwing yourself into the fire. If the Public Investigation Office discovered this, they would intervene immediately and it would be the end for them. And I had no proof they were actually in contact with each other.
When he finished explaining everything to me, we left the room. But as soon as I stepped out first, I bumped into the waitress. The tray of food fell from her hands to the ground luckily it was empty. I also fell to my knees from the collision but quickly stood up, brushing the dust off my coat awkwardly, while she looked at my face which made me feel even more embarrassed.
My God, I should’ve watched where I was going!
I steadied myself and held out my hand to her. She looked at my face carefully before taking my hand and standing up. Her hands were so warm. She stood in front of me and brushed some dust off her white dress, then said with a soft smile:
"You’re that man who comes here every day?"
For some reason I felt extremely nervous, barely able to string my words together:
"No... I mean yes... I mean that’s me."
Her smile was so sweet it made me unable to take my eyes off her for a moment. Before I regained my senses the cook slapped my back hard again and laughed as he said to her:
"This is Adam, our newest member."
I quickly bent down and picked up the fallen tray, then looked up to find her extending her other hand to me with a bigger smile:
"Welcome aboard."
I stretched out my trembling hand and shook hers firmly. She took the tray from my other hand and went back into the kitchen to carry more dishes and resume her work, while I stayed staring at the hand she had just shaken without moving it.
...
In the following month I began going on information gathering missions with the team almost daily. At first the missions were very simple, but over time and with each time I proved myself trustworthy, they began sending me on harder and more important missions.
And even at night I would merge with shadows and listen to all the conversations going on between them. They spoke in coded phrases I couldn’t understand at first but over time I managed to decipher them. Yet even now I still hadn’t found anything special about their activity or the location of the documents they had stolen from us.
That’s what made me wonder how the thief had managed to infiltrate the headquarters and steal that information in the first place.
The only positive side in all of this was that I was able to spend more time with Diana after finishing the missions. Of course all of that was just to try to get any information from her without revealing my identity or my true objective, nothing more. We would eat together after the customers left the restaurant; the cook himself would prepare special meals for us late at night, and sometimes we’d go for short walks.
And despite my intense busyness I never forgot to send my monthly reports to Quil, who had become the biggest annoyance I’d ever faced in my life. He never stopped asking each time: "Have you found the target yet or not?" and each time I gave him the same answer: "I’m still gathering information."
If we ignore these little annoying details, the situation was too perfect... and unfortunately from my experience I knew nothing lasts forever.
After months of being in the Neutral Zone with that information gathering team, I noticed something extremely strange: they weren’t selling any of that information publicly. I watched the cook writing his reports on small pieces of paper, then igniting them with faint violet flames and sending them by means of those papers I knew so well I myself used them to communicate with Quil.
And one day, when the restaurant was completely empty no customers and no Diana, only the cook who, apparently, never left the restaurant he went to the storage room. I seized the opportunity and emerged from the wall’s shadow, sneaking inside toward the table he had just been writing on.
I picked up one of the papers and began to read. There were coordinates written in red ink. I immediately remembered these coordinates pointed to the Broken Glass Tavern, the place where the leader of the Bloody Fang, Iron Garrod, stayed.
The message contained detailed information about me. The cook suspected I was affiliated with one of the gangs. When I read that I decided to flee immediately and leave the place, but before I could put the message back I heard the cook’s voice behind me, colder than his usual lively tone:
"What are you doing here Adam?"