"You've got to be kidding me!" Justin Han hollered at Michael Miller, bashing his fist against his desk. "Your snipers failed to kill Trevor Shen? Not only that, one of them got captured by the military?! What are we supposed to do now?!"
"There's nothing we can do now…except pull back. I'll need your help." Miller sounded frustrated. The mission was falling apart. Now that Kevin Kan had been captured by the Hua Xia army, it was only a matter of time before they traced him back to Country A's Central Intelligence. Miller knew Kevin wouldn't break under torture when being interrogated, but any fool would be able to find out that he was a citizen from Country A through miscellaneous means, even if Kevin kept his mouth shut throughout the entire session.
DNA testing, dental implants and records, etc. It was only a matter of time before they crack his identity.
"My help?!" Justin Han shouted. "I've been helping you since day one, and you have shown nothing for it! You've done nothing but fail, fail and fail! Why should I help you further?!"
"Because if you don't, you'll be going down with us," Miller replied flatly. "You think you'll be able to wash away all traces of your involvement in this?"
"You…!" Justin Han growled, but he knew that Miller was right. He was in too deep to deny any sort of involvement. If the military found out, he would be arrested and sentenced not just for attempted murder but also treason of the highest order. He had been working with foreign agents to undermine the assets of his own country, after all.
Forcing himself to calm down, Justin Han glared at Miller. "So what sort of help do you need?"
"I need to leave this country," Miller replied instantly. "Before your country's government can arrest me. I'll have to make a full report to my government in person, and then I'll return with the appropriate reinforcements."
"Appropriate reinforcements?" Justin Han scoffed. "Are you trying to land an army in here or something?"
"No, not exactly. But a more…high level and well equipped team of assassins."
"What use are assassins? Your assassins failed so many times!"
"That's why we need a higher level one. I need to persuade my government that the target's level of security and competence require more resources to be invested into this endeavor, and I must make my case in person." Miller rolled his eyes. Shaking his head, he returned to the topic at hand. "Whatever the case, right now I need your help to return to Country A. Do you have a private jet?"
Justin Han did, but he knew he would be playing a dangerous game. If the government noticed that one of his private jets was leaving for Country A, he would be in trouble.
No, he was being stupid. His jet could just land in a neutral country, and then Miller could just take another plane back to Country A from there. That would solve the problem altogether.
"Fine, I'll make the arrangements…"
He never got to finish his sentence. His secretary raced into the room, screaming.
"Who do you think you are, Susan?!" Justin Han growled, but Susan Song didn't flinch. Instead, she gestured outside.
"Boss! There's a massive group of people outside the building right now! And they are all armed! Equipped with war walkers!"
"What?!" Justin Han gaped at Susan Song, not believing what he had just heard. "What do you mean war walkers?! How is that possible?!"
His secretary didn't have the chance to reply. An explosion drowned out whatever words they might have exchanged. The building trembled violently as shockwaves ran through it.
Justin Han raced toward his window, flipping the remote switch on to raise the barriers so that he could peer down below. To his shock, he saw an entire platoon of war walkers marching in formation toward his skyscraper, unleashing missiles, plasma blasts and lasers.
*
When Bu Fan contacted me, I had no idea what to expect. However, I couldn't help but laugh when I heard his plan.
"This is your plan?!"
"Yeah, we're going to storm Justin Han's building," Bu Fan replied in an almost flippant manner. "Don't worry, we'll make it look like a raid from an underground triad. Which it is, to be honest. There's plenty of secret societies who have beef with that bastard."
From what I knew, Justin Han had employed malicious strategies to buy the properties of secret societies and forcibly deprive them of their territory so that he could expand his businesses. Obviously, that didn't ingratiate him with the overlords of the underground. And now they were rising up at Bu Fan's command, eager to inflict as much damage as they could upon Han Industries as revenge.
I didn't blame them. I would want to kill him too after all he had done to me. Justin Han was a ruthless entrepreneur who had no qualms destroying the livelihoods of other people just so he could get richer. The fact that he tried to assassinate me several times just because I was supposedly threatening his profits was proof of his terrible personality.
"All right…so how do we storm his building, precisely?" I asked warily. Bu Fan chuckled.
"You do realize that my factories produce your war walkers, right? We are well stocked with weapons."
"Uh, you do realize that we will be in trouble if…"
"Don't worry about it. The gangs are going to 'borrow' your war walkers for a moment. I'll make sure to return them once everything is done…otherwise we'll track them down and accuse them of stealing. That could be a great cover-up in itself, though. Either way, you won't be blamed for anything. Just like how Justin Han is supposedly blameless despite hiring assassins to kill you. We'll distance it. And if anyone asks, show them that the war walkers are still inside my factories, which will leave people scratching their heads and wondering where they came from."
Oh, I understood what he was trying to say. Basically, if someone asked me why my war walkers running about in the city and wrecking a Han Industries building, I would point toward my factories and feign ignorance. Like "what are you guys talking about? My war walkers are still here. None of them left the assembly lines? Are you sure they are mine?"
That sort of thing.
And now I watching one of my Titans, the pilot aiming its heavy plasma cannon at the building. The charged particle cannon glowed before unleashing a powerful stream of ions that disintegrated a huge portion of the building.
The whole thing began to collapse.
There were about fifteen Hunters and five Titans. The immense firepower they poured out demolished the skyscraper instantly and the whole thing came crashing down. The war walkers then departed while armed gangsters from various secret societies moved in, moving through the rubble and executing everyone in there.
"Is this really necessary?" I asked. I was pretty sure there were plenty of innocent civilians working inside the Han Industries skyscraper, and they had lost their lives in the feud between Justin Han and me. This was…murder. There was no other way to put it.
I felt disturbed. I couldn't countenance this sort of attack. But I was trapped inside Bu Fan's office, unable to do a single thing as his men kept me under guard. Evidently Bu Fan had thought I would oppose this because this involved the deaths of so many innocents, and he had ordered a few of his subordinates to keep me under watch.
"You're too soft," Bu Fan replied with a laugh. "Your rival doesn't care about innocent lives. You realized that Justin Han ordered his assassins to bomb an entire mall that you were inside? It was only thanks to the military intervention that they failed."
I didn't know that. Apparently the military had been protecting me from the shadows when I didn't notice it, thwarting more assassination attempts.
"But Justin Han was the one who tried to kill me. His employees…"
"You think his employees didn't know? Of course they are all working with him. Don't be naïve. If you want to survive, you have to be more ruthless than that."
I glanced at the guards that Bu Fa had assigned. They were armed with laser carbines and looked really fierce. Of course, I could fight them. I had fended off assassins before. These guys were nothing to me. If I needed to fight for my life, I could easily vaporize them with my plasma pistol and cut them apart with my laser sword.
"Even so…"
Bu Fan switched off his communication device, obviously beginning to tire of my arguments. I shook my head and felt sorry for the innocent employees. I could very well had been one of them.
Just imagine this. In order to survive in society, you found a job in a corporation and earned enough wages to make a decent living. Then one day the whole building collapsed upon you and you got killed without knowing anything – all because your asshole of a boss (who you hated, by the way) invited vengeance upon himself by trying to assassinate a rival.
Even though you knew nothing about this, weren't involved at all, you got caught in the crossfire and died. For no reason other than you found a job there. Granted, Han Industries had a reputation for being a cutthroat company, but even so…you just wanted a decent salary, which was hard to get in the current economy.
I grimaced and shook my head in disapproval. Then suddenly, the screen came on as Bu Fan contacted me once more.
"I have good news."
The camera panned around and I caught sight of the broken body of Justin Han, blood from his corpse having splattered across the debris. Beside him was a Caucasian man with blond hair, but his body was also mangled beyond recognition. I didn't recognize the guy, but Bu Fan apparently did. He chuckled triumphantly.
"That's Michael Miller. He was a notorious Central Intelligence agent, known for assassinating many top scientists and researchers all over the world, so that Country A can maintain their technological advantage." Bu Fan laughed. "This is evidence that Justin Han was working with foreign agents to undermine our country's security! There's no escaping for him this time!"
"Uh, right." I wasn't sure how to respond. I noticed Susan Song's corpse nearby, spread across the rubble. I doubted she was involved in the assassination attempts, but she was unlucky enough to get caught in the crossfire. That sucked.
"Why so sad? You don't have to worry about getting assassinated again." Bu Fan grinned. "From now on, you'll be safe!"