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Chapter 9 - Surprise Visitors

Early in the morning right at the break of dawn, an alone delivery man dressed in an all-white uniform was driving a refrigerator truck through a fancy neighborhood that was quieter than usual at this time. The delivery man paid no mind to the odd silence because the roar of his truck's engine was making enough noise to liven up the street by itself. He tapped his steering wheel fervently in synchronization with the motion of the truck. Besides making customers that didn't like waiting for their milk delivery wait even longer than normal jamming to the beat of the street was his favorite pastime. As the delivery man was grooving to his own music his eyes drifted to the side locking onto the top of a building. There he saw a man dressed in an all black raid suit holding a modified black compression rifle. That person was the first of many strange men he saw because one after another they started making themselves known. They came from different streets and emerged from the bushes all to converge onto the lawn of one house.

These people weren't the local Pugs the delivery man could tell just by looking that the people he was watching had some kind of military background. Without another second wasted the delivery driver pushed his foot on the breaks stopping the truck dead in its tracks. After he did a black van pulled up next to a house. The delivery driver was begging to whoever would answer his prayer that all those people weren't going to the house he was thinking of.

While sweating profusely and having his hands clenched tightly to the wheel the driver mumble, "don't go there, please don't go there, why are you all going there, he's going to kill me if you do". The driver seeing god not listening to his plea watched as the back of a black van flew open and out poured more agents. After all the agents left the van the last person to step out made the driver's complexion pale a little in fright. Zephyr's presence has that effect on people more so for the delivery driver who had Zephyr's gaze locked on him for what seemed like an eternity before Zephyr decided to turn away and head towards Nathaniel's front door.

The swarm of agents on scene had a small steel battering ram ready to break down Nathaniel's door. Zephyr having no time for such things kicked the door down himself. With one strike the door burst off its hinges and crashed onto the floor on the other side of the room. Zephyr entered the house through the mess he created flanked by the agents who immediately took over securing and searching the house. One after another they shouted out as they moved in formation.

"Living room clear".

"Dining room clear".

"Kitchen clear".

"Fridge clear".

"Hallway clear".

"Guest bedroom clear".

"Master bedroom clear".

Zephyr followed the agents who went up the staircase and pushed them out of the way once they reached the master bedroom. Nathaniel's room was just as he left it a complete mess with books, paper rolls of complete and half drawn maps laid about, with a dry stain from a bottle of spilled ink on the floor directly below a punching bag that hung next to an unmade bed.

Zephyr took overlooking through the bedroom while the agents searched other places. Before long Zephyr had one of Nathaniel's maps in his hand. Each one was masterfully crafted and went into great detail. The calligraphy used was enchanting in a way it made reading a seemingly boring map an adventure for the sense.

On the desk was a photo of a much younger Nathaniel Hawkins he was smashed between two people a man Zephyr recognized as Douglas Brewer from Nathaniel's case file. Douglas was a dark skin man with unique yellow eyes that had a tint of green to them. There was no physical trait that made him stand out except his height which was 5' 8". Douglas also seemed to have worn glass and had short wavy hair. From what zephyr knew Douglas was the Dean of Umbra Academy a school that used to only accept the most wealthy and elite as students. The same school that Nathaniel graduated from years ago as valedictorian. What Zephyr didn't know was who the redhead woman next to the two was.

Moving on from this Zephyr walked towards Nathaniel's bed. He lifted it from the ground with one hand expecting to find a pile of dirty secrets only to discover that the bed was supported by piles of geology books tucked away out of sight like Nathaniel was ashamed to have them let alone read them. Zephyr continued to search Nathaniel's room only to find trash and copies of old manuscripts that were so boring to read zephyr only skimmed through it. After Zephyr was done Nathaniel's room looked the same as before a complete mess. A low grumble was made from Zephyr as he exited the room.

Downstairs agents could be seen cutting furniture, pulling up floorboards breaking into walls, in search of anything Nathaniel may have hidden. Once Zephyr got downstairs the lead agent walked up to him. Zephyr asked him, "what did you find?".

The agent standing upright replied, "so far we found nothing out of the normal besides an abnormal amount of milk in the fridge. But it was apparently a part of some weird weight gain routine he had so nothing at all. While we found nothing yet here our people back at the palace found that Nathaniel bought a three story building near the docs over a decade ago. The building is currently owned by someone named Helen Penry. Though the building is no longer in his name Nathaniel still makes regular payments for the upkeep".

Zephyr with that information gave the order, "leave a small team to keep searching here the rest of us will go to that build".

Zephyr left the house by himself while the lead agent started gathering people put to raid Helen's house. Once Zephyr left the house the streets were clear of any vehicle that wasn't government owned. He paid no mind to it, but on a street a few dozen blocks away the milk delivery man was very distressed as he was on a phone call with his boss.

"I don't know what happened when I got there they just started ransacking the place".

"..."

"I stayed as long as I could to find out more and no for the fifth time I didn't see them drag out your brother".

"...".

"Listen to what I'm telling you whatever shit's going down is real. The nation's Black Hand personally kicked down his door. That shit doesn't just happen to anybody their coming and you're not paying me enough to get involved with this mess. Now-".

" *BEEP*, *BEEP* ".

"Hello, hello ... bitch hang up on me. If he wasn't so fucking terrifying I'd, *Ugh* and snap his neck". After looking around to see if he was followed the milkman said to himself, " you know what fuck this I'm taking the week off this shit is beyond me".

...

At Helen's bakery half an hour later a similar situation took place all over again. Agents rushed in, apprehend the cooks, and forced the customers to leave. Zephyr had all the employees lined up in front of him to look at a photo of a redhead he brought out of Nathaniel's home. As he walked in front of the employees Zephyr asked them all if the woman in the photo was Helen Penry. After getting a unanimous yes from the scared group he asked about her location only to discover Helen left out the back five minutes before their team got there.

Bursting into action Zephyr commanded, "put out a notice for Helen Penry for suspected collusion with a spy. I want all Pugs in the area looking for her any misdemeanor crimes should be ignored this is a top priority. Lockdown this district especially the docs, then begin searching within a 30 block radius around this house. She should be on foot and couldn't have gone far in 10 only minutes". The other agents began acting as a manhunt for Helen Penry began.