Hritik was having a 'nice' experience, as far as an adolescent kid can have. The girl, his escort, clutched his arm from fright. Seems that it was her first time riding a helicopter. Her face turned parched blue although she still had the plastered smile on her face.
"Easy girl! Easy. Slowly breathe in… and exhale… slowly… "
He consoled her as he held one of his arms across her neck. He was pretty much used to this kind of ride. He has even tried skydiving and parachuting a couple of times. Still, it was understable that this girl may face some trouble with it.
"Yoro, pass the headphone." The man passed the headphone with a smirk on his face. Absolute jerk!
"Wear it. Don't be afraid."
He put it over her head and played soothing music. She calmed down a bit.
Hritik looked around his surroundings, the helicopter was moving along the coast, over the rocky cliffs and steep shores. The sun was setting down, behind the undulating forest and the sea was turning inky blue on the other side.
They approached their destination, Willboru. It was another coastal town about 50km from his town Trannor. He looked at his watch. It was nearly six in the evening. The well marked difference was that Trannor was about a dozen times larger than Willboru. Also the rocky underwater cliffs in Willboru makes it inaccessible for the cargo ships whereas his metropolitan city has two colossal docks.
Willboru has garnered the attention of the industrialists due to the construction of a new expressway connecting the east coast to the west coast and the capital city in there. They were supposed to have an auction of land deeds in his yacht.
*ping* A notification arrived.
'Team Paladin in position!'
'Team Seagull in position!'
'Team Arrow in position!'
'Team Flash in position!'
The mercenaries have taken their position for the coming showdown. It may turn out to be a lethal clash. The opponent is elusive and crooked.
'Tonight would have been fun,' Hritik looked at the girl with a worried face, 'if not for this glass princess … Curse Yoro!'
The machine slowly descended on the helipad on the deck over the stern. Everybody got down.
"Good afternoon! Young master." The head of the guard made a dash for him from the navigation room with an intercom in his hand.
"All our guests have arrived! Everyone is waiting for you." Saying so he turned off his intercom. Looking around the empty back deck with caution.
"Three informers. Brown coat checkered cap in gallery, gambling in table 2. Blue polo shirt beside the dining table, prominent slash near the left eyebrow. Red coat at the far end of the pool, ears pierced." He then turned on the intercom and quickly left them.
The three of them moved to the front deck. It was a sight to behold. The middle of the deck had a large illuminated swimming pool, although it was empty. Surrounding it was about thirty individuals wearing fancy clothes. A table was laid lavishly with global delicacies. The girl was eyeing a large lobster placed on the table. Seeing her watering mouth Hritik smiled smugly. Naive and inexperienced.
"Sir, we have informed that the meeting will take place in the gallery."
"Good. We will have some light snacks and leave." Both of them sat on their chairs.
As the girl gulped down the lobsters with some mushroom stew in not-so-gracious manner, Hritik looked around the deck. He checked his targets and pulled out his phone. He mapped their location with the help of his hacked telephone towers all around. Three dots appeared in the zoomed holographic map of the ship in his mobile. He siphoned off their call history and messages and sent them to his private servers.
The girl has stuffed her stomach as if there isn't a tomorrow. Hritik gave an inner smile. He pulled a tissue paper and gave it to her.
"There is some food on your cheek," instead of giving the tissues in her hand, he wiped her face with it, "there were some bits of sauce sticking to your cheeks!"
"Eh!?"
She turned purple. Her charm resistance was really low.
"Th-thanks!"
"Do you know what this party is for?"
"Your birthday celebration?" She said with confidence.
'What the … !??' Hritik glared at Yoro. "Explain! What are you hiding from me?"
"Sorry for not telling you before, Madam Arr has said to bring her, as her stead!"
"Madam Arr!?" Hritik felt a bulge in his throat. What is the witch planning?
Madam Arr is the most shady shareholder of their firm, owning almost 30% shares. She was also the most helpful. She helped with lots of things, acquiring money and support during the nascent days of the firm, giving precious intels, buying land, contacts of the mercenaries including the heard of the guard.
Also she has the trust of his most important employee - Yoro! Her sharp and sly tactics which always outwits Hritik left him steaming hot. She has some weird habits. For example, whenever they would meet, she would squeeze his cheeks blurting out, "How is my young nephew doing?!" How can a mere foolish woman treat him like a child, they were in fact complete strangers?
Whatever be it, it didn't take long for him to understand that the airheaded girl hasn't been sent to him just simply for monitoring him.
"Lets go to my room." They then left the deck and went inside the ship. Going down the stairs, they arrived in a sound-proof room. Sitting behind a table with Yoro at his side, he started questioning.
"Name?" He asked her in his business tone, throwing away all his softness.
"S… Sherry."
"Real name?"
"Eh… ah… "
"Nevermind. Do you know how to use a semi-automatic pistol?"
"Pi-pistol?" She asked quite frightened.
"This place isn't for some rotten teenagers, blowing up their father's money. Understood?"
"Yes."
"We can come across some life threatening situations tonight. Do you want to leave the ship?"
"No."
"Haa… do as you wish," he sighed, "if you don't leave then follow what I say. Word by word. Got it?"
"Yes, sir?"
"Enough with the charade! You will stay behind me when we have our deals. A man, our target, will throw a smoke bomb and probably pull out a gun. We will nab him and rescue our guests safely outside to our guards at the dock. Other two will try to support him, we will neutralize them before they arrive at the gallery. By the way, do you know our targets?"
"Brown checkered, blue slash, red pierced!" She quickly replied.
"Good. You will go back home with our guards. Rest of us will have some other work to do."
"But! I am supposed to follow you till the end. Aunt told me to… "
"Tch! We will see it afterward."
Checking that his plastic gun is tucked in his pockets, Hritik left with his team for the gallery.
***
When they arrived, most of the guests had already gathered in the room. The ones who were playing poker on the table, left the table. Either way, nobody really enjoyed the game, as Hritik had banned gambling in his ship. It is nothing but a headache with a bunch of snobs shouting like dogs.
Either way, the parties consented and the land deeds were being written. Those deeds belonged to an old temple by the edge of the town. Hritik's firm would pull it down and make a textile factory. The cotton would be supplied from the inland plateau through the newly constructed expressway. Seaside town is excellent for the textile industry as the year round moist climate prevents the tearing of the threads, resulting in high quality goods.
"Mind if I go to take some smoke?" The man in the checkered cap asked one of the guards.
"Yes sir! You may leave." A guard said.
As he was leaving he pulled out a lighter and a cigarette. Just as he lighted the lighter, he took out a cylindrical roll with a wick sticking out and set the wick on fire.
Before he could throw it, the guard snatched it from his hand and threw it outside the window, in the open sea. The already informed guard grabbed him and put a handcuff on his arms. A few other guards came in headed by their chief.
"The other two have been caught." He said coolly.
The whole hall was thrown into an uproar. Nevertheless Hritik signed the papers and barked, "Sorry for the trouble, Gentlemen! You all may leave now, accompanied by our guards. They would escort you all back to your homes."
The surprised mob was quickly led to their cars. The empty yacht was left under the watch of guards and only Hritik and Sherry were left behind with the guards and the police. The police had been informed beforehand.
"Yoro, lets go to the smugglers."
"What about me?" Sherry blurted.
"You will stay back" Hritik said.
"But… "
"You will do as you are told, no buts about it!"
He left for somewhere with Yoro accompanied by the cops and some guards.
They disappeared behind the sheds. Sherry was left behind the convicts and the guards.
"Where have they gone?" She asked one of the young guards beside her.
"Weren't you with Mr. Stafford?!"
"Um… yeah."
"I see," he seemed quite pleased to talk with the friend of his employer, "the Warrens Group have planned to have a gunfight in the here. They were supposed to procure the guns from a boat docked at the edge of the yard. Boss went to confiscate the guns."
"Oh! You knew about it all along?!"
"Nope! Chief just told me a few minutes back."
Just then one of the tied up culprits who tried to throw the smoke bomb spoke up.
"They are probably dead by now, they stepped right in our trap. Hehehe… Your boyfriend is dead by now." He crackled hysterically.
"What? Trap?" Sherry became mortified.
The guard tried to contact his mates. His face ashned. "Somebody is jamming the signals. This whole place has been rigged."
He ran to inform the chief.
"Hahahaha… the weasel will get squashed like an ant. Leroy will pluck his arms and feed him to the dogs."
"Who is Leroy? How can you be so sure?"
"We have got dozens of men hiding to nab the boy! Go save your boyfriend! Go! Go!"
"I… "
"Oooh! I see, you are a gold digger! Shame! Shame!"
Unable to hold herself back anymore, the girl foolishly ran toward the direction where Hritik went. As she frantically tried to dodge past the cartons, her face smashed with something hard. She looked up to find a giant standing in front of her!
"Seems like one friend of our guest! This pretty lady will make a nice bait to lure out the monkey."
Before she could see his face, a thick metal bar landed on her head blacking out her vision. Picking up the body, the giant went to the warehouse silently.