Chapter 309: Butcher Shop
Jace walked through the crowd of protestors. "Vana, Ulin, are you in position?" He asked as he closed in on the entrance to the butcher shop that seemed to be small and occupied the first floor of the four story building. The building had a rustic design. The only giveaway that it was a Whisper facility was the long range array that was hidden as an ancient designed air conditioning unit on the roof.
He was walking right toward a beefy armed man with a white apron that had splashes of blood on it. The man was standing at his door and had his black hair tied up in a man bun on the back of his head. He was focused on the protestors that were chanting and raising signs.
"This is Ulin, I am in position for overwatch and backup duties." Ulin as usual was given the task of watching their back. She was hidden on a roof a street over to help cover their escape in case they were pursued.
"This is Vana, I am in position at the alley between G and F street. I am watching the back door to cover your escape and take down any enemies that try to run out and send a warning." Vana was hidden at the corner of an alley. There were only two entrances and exits to this Whisper facility and she was covering the emergency exit that they would undoubtedly use.
While Jace was walking towards the primary entrance and exit of the facility. He smiled and waved at the fake butcher as he walked toward him. As soon as he got close the butcher nodded at him and then moved back into his shop.
When Jace entered the shop the butcher was already behind the counter. "Haven’t seen you before? What are you here for?" Jace could tell everything about the shop as soon as he entered. Like the fact that there were some rotten pieces of meat in the back. There were three cameras in this front room alone. As well as the fact that there was a hidden door leading up a stairs to his right and that there were two hidden switches in front of the butcher. One of them opened a slot above the butcher that probably contained a weapon. The other was a switch to open the hidden door.
Jace took a moment and smiled as he looked at the examples of cuts of meat. "I heard good things about this place’s raw meats and thought I might buy some to cook up for the crew while we are transferring our cargo. Do you have any recommendations for a big crew?" Jace asked as he placed his hands on his hips.
The butcher’s eyes glanced down at the Pyre hanging at his thigh. Jace blinked and looked down at it. "Ah! Yeah, we usually run into pirates so we are always armed on our ship. I kept it on just in case. Heard from the maintenance crew that there was a protest going on." Jace turned slightly and nodded out the window, "I would say they were right. I came to finish the transfer deal and had to push my way through." As he talked he also spread out his senses and was picking up the electricity that was running through the building.
"Yeah, you gotta be careful especially with that unorganized mob." The butcher grunted before he turned around and began looking through a catalog. Keeping one eye on Jace, probably as a precaution.
Jace found the power source of the building and facility. It was running on its own private power source. Just like the other places they had hit. He yanked the electricity from the building and the lights went dark. But thankfully because of the commotion outside the single building’s power going out went unnoticed.
The butcher looked upward at the ceiling. Too distracted to notice Jace pull out his Pyre and attach the silencer. "What the-" After a moment the butcher turned toward him just as he was finishing attaching the silencer. His eyes widened as Jace gave him an unnerving look, like the man was nothing.
The butcher jumped forward and pressed one of the switches under the counter to drop the weapon from the ceiling. But when nothing happened he looked up then down at the pressed switch. "Son of a-" He looked at Jace just as he lifted his Pyre and fired.
Blood splashed on the back of the wall. Looking in place in the butcher shop. The Butcher’s head snapped back with a new bloody hole in his head before he collapsed on the ground dead. "Lookout is dead. Moving into the facility now." Jace announced as he jumped over the counter and moved to the hidden door.
Jace pressed his hand to it and momentarily transferred power into the door. It popped open and he pulled it all the way open to see a set of stairs leading upwards to the second floor. He closed the door behind him and then silently walked up the stairs. It was pitch black so he could barely see.
So he focused his eyes and he could see the faint electrical impulses of the walls and the more pronounced ones of electrical lines, weapons, and people. At the top of the stairs was a room with weapons and people who were looking around in confusion. They were trying to open the door leading further into the facility but it was powered by electricity which Jace had complete control over at the moment. So they were trying to force it open. But the facility’s doors were likely designed to lock closed when the power was out.
"Damn those eggheads. Why did they have to design such annoying doors?" One of the men, probably the leader, asked sarcastically before giving an order. "Hey, a group of you go check on Charles. He had a customer when this happened."
Jace was standing at the entrance to the stairs and the only light they were using were small flames from lighters. One of them was trying to work a flashlight but it was not working. Jace could even tell why it was not working. The battery inside the flashlight was backwards.
So in this dark he could not be seen. He raised the Pyre and fired several times. Several quiet clicks filled the room along with muted flashes of light. It was followed by several of them dropping to the ground dead. He aimed for their heads where they could see the brain activity from electrical impulses occurring.
Click Click Click.
Jace frowned as he looked at his Pyre. The magazine was one round short of him being able to clear the room. The last of the enemies was the leader who had been trying to open the door. Jace could almost see the man blink in surprise before he charged right at Jace.
But Jace just lifted his foot and kicked the man as hard as he could while he switched out his magazine. He felt the enemy’s chest cave under the impact of his foot. Then the enemy flew through the door that he had been trying to get through. He was through it now but it had bent under the impact. There were shouts of surprise from the other side of the now opened door where he could see more enemies and lights flashing.