"Alright, alright, that's enough for now." Max said while looking at Leo, "We're here, we can continue that later."
"Okay."
Leo stopped recounting what happened the day before and they arrived at a large public parking lot. Max pulled in, grabbed a ticket, and parked.
"We're going to have to walk some, there's never any parking over there. Oh, and the men we're escorting, they'll be providing our equipment too."
Leo nodded in response.
Max looked at his watch and it was almost midday. The two walked over to the club and noticed a long line despite it being the middle of the day. The two didn't seem surprised by this and instead they waited for the man they were supposed to escort to arrive.
Eventually a large black SUV pulled over to the side of the road and a frail man wearing glasses got out, along with two guards wearing black suits and sunglasses. The man with glasses looked around until he saw Max, when he did, he quickly walked over with the guards.
"Y-you must be Max, correct?" His voice stuttered a bit.
"Yeah, that's me."
"A-and this is?" The man motioned towards Leo.
Max looked at Leo for a moment before looking back at the man with glasses, "He's my backup, he'll be working from the shadows. Please be mindful of him if things go south, I'd appreciate it if you don't accidently shoot him."
The two guards nodded slightly in understanding.
"And you are, sir?" Max asked.
"Ah! How rude of me," he stuck out his hand.
"Brett Rodgers. And you?" Max shook his hand and Brett looked towards Leo,
"Ah, he usually doesn't talk during jobs like this."
"I see, well, it is a pleasure to have the protection of Roderick's son. And you too, of course." He smiled.
He continued, "If you'll follow me to the car, I'll give you your equipment."
The group walked over to the car and despite the crowd, they opened the trunk revealing sleek suitcases. Brett took a smaller one out of the corner and opened it. Inside was two handguns, two knives, and four magazines containing ammo.
"Please take a gun, a knife, and two magazines each."
The two reached forward and grabbed their items. Leo looked at the back of the magazine at the witness holes.
"13 rounds…" He mumbled. He took one out and started inspecting it before placing it back in the magazine. Then he started inspecting the gun.
"Does he always do this?" Brett whispered to Max.
Max looked at Brett for a moment, then Leo. He leaned over and whispered back, "You see, he hates the people of this city. I don't know if he was born here or if he just travelled here, but all I know is that the people of this city disgust him. I'd say I'm one of the select few he tolerates enough to be considered a friend."
"Why does he hate this city?" Brett asked, his eyes narrowing in curiosity.
"Corruption." Max replied simply.
Leo started inspecting the knife next, he took it out and tried to shave the almost invisible hair on his arm. But instead of cutting, it just rubbed slightly against his arm. Leo frowned slightly and gently began pressing his finger along the blade's edge.
"Corruption? He's in this line of business and he hates corruption? Doesn't that just make him a hypocrite?"
"Yes. But until you do some of the things he's done, you won't be able to understand how deep his hatred for it is."
"And what exactly has he done?"
Leo turned towards Brett and raised the knife to his face. The guards immediately reached into their pockets as Brett took a big gulp. Brett hesitantly told his guards to stand down.
"W-what is it."
"It's completely dull."
"Oh… I see… I'm sorry about that, I'm sure there's another that you can use…" Brett said as a slight bead of sweat formed on his head. The two stared at each other. Brett involuntarily shuddered when looking deeply into Leo's eyes.
"Alright then." Leo lowered his arm and carelessly tossed the dull knife in the trunk on top of the nice suitcases.
Brett looked over at one of the guards and nodded, the guard slowly took out a folding knife. Leo grabbed it and put it into his pocket.
"You two ready?" Brett asked Max and Leo, they both nodded slightly. Brett walked to the back of the van and grabbed two of the suitcases. The guards also grabbed one each.
"We'll be heading to the upper floor of the nightclub, that's where Montague is. We'll be doing an exchange and then leaving."
The group all headed towards the entrance, skipping the line. Some people started whispering, especially once you considered the appearances of the guards protecting the scrawny man. Others started complaining, either way, they were ignored by both the Eagles running the club and by the men who are carrying out the deal.
"Hold it." A bouncer aggressively chewing on gum stopped them, he looked at each of them for a moment before pausing at Max and Leo. He scoffed slightly.
He stopped his chewing and spoke into a two-way radio on his shoulder, "They're here."
There was a brief moment of static before a voice was heard.
"Let them in."
With a slightly annoyed expression, he walked slightly away from the door and let the group in. As Max and Leo walked past the bouncer, he spit his gum into Leo's face. Leo froze for a moment and the group walked ahead. Max was the only one among them who noticed Leo watching the guard before walking in the building.
Leo casually flicked the gum off of himself and wiped away the spit. Afterwards, he motioned towards Max, urging him to come closer. As Max did so, the guards were now some distance from the two and they finally noticed how far back they were. They halted and waited for the two to catch up.
"It's a setup." Leo spoke confidently.
"Tell me more." Max spoke, instantly trusting in Leo's intuition.
"The bullets are dummy rounds, they're too light to be real. That, coupled with the knife, they're going to start a fight, I assume, to kill you. So, watch yourself and try to get a real weapon." As Leo said that he turned and walked into the crowd on the side, instantly disappearing.
Max watched the crowd for a moment before turning and heading back to the group.
"Problem?" A guard asked Max.
"No, he just wanted to tell me something about the club that he noticed."
"What's that?" Brett asked.
"There's more eyes watching us than usual for a business deal."
"Is that so?" Brett looked around but didn't notice anything, he asked instead, "So what is your friend doing? I'd prefer if he stayed with us."
"Don't worry, you were content with just me for this job. You've now got another man and he's a professional at working in the shadows. In fact, he's probably crawling around a ventilation shaft right about now." Max laughed slightly.
Brett nodded and they began walking through the crowds to reach the upper floor. The stairs to get there were dotted about, but the stairs to get to the portion where Montague was, was located towards the back.
The guard's eyes looked around the room at all of the people dancing in the crowds as loud music blared out. A drunk woman staggered towards the group and the men surrounded Brett, causing Max to roll his eyes slightly.
The woman walked towards Max and questioned, "Wha's a stud like you doing dress up in a place like this?" She leaned forward and started touching the zipper on Max's puffer jacket. Max's hand went over hers and he gently pulled it away.
"Sorry ma'am, my hearts already fallen for someone." He said gently.
As if she heard nothing, she clung to his jacket and held him. Max sighed and walked back to the guards, the random woman in tow.
"You need help?" One of the guards asked, Max nodded slightly.
The guard looked at the woman for a second and walked over to her. They talked for a moment and then walked away with her. A minute or so later, he was jogging slightly back.
The other guard stood straight and had a serious expression, he asked, "Is everything alright."
"Hmm? Oh, yes. I just said I'd buy her a drink and then left her at the bar."
Max asked, "Did you at least get her a drink?"
"Why would I do that."
"Because now she's not occupied with anything and is probably going to look for us."
"I think you're overestimating the capabilities of a drunk person."
Max and the guard stared at each other for a moment before looking away like nothing happened. Brett was silent but just shook his head, "Come, we've kept them waiting for too long."
The four men started walking through the club as Leo hopped out of a ventilation shaft. He landed in a storage room somewhere, by his estimation, on the second floor. The second floor was still accessible by normal people, you just had to pay to access it and during the day, it was always empty.
He exited the room and looked around, finding nobody. He walked into the hallway a bit before suddenly stopping and looking over, finding a single security camera.
He thought for a moment before flipping it off and taking out his knife. He got closer and jumped up, cutting some of the exposed wire underneath, then he jumped again and stabbed the lens for good measure. After a few seconds a couple of men walked out from a door at the other end of the hall and turned angrily in the direction of Leo.
"That was fast…" Leo thought with a completely perplexed expression.
The group of men kept walking forward, as did Leo, and the two groups collided at the center of the hall.
"Who're you and what are you doing up here?!"
They stood right next to Leo, and he looked at them all. There were three of them and they were around Leo's height. Without a second thought, Leo slashed his knife at a blinding speed and none of the men could react.
Leo pushed past them as they clutched their throats and fell to the floor. Blood quickly fell onto the ground as the three struggled to keep their blood from draining out. The only camera capable of witnessing the crime just committed, hung over them, completely broken.
Quick with hands, faster with blades. A common saying when discussing dealers, if a dealer approaches you with a knife or a sword, you're in danger. One must keep their distance if they want to keep their life.
Leo walked to the door they exited from and opened it. On the inside, he found a guard room with a couple of men relaxing and taking a break from work. In the corner was a camera system observing the club, the men attending it were gone.
"Who's that?" One of the men looked up from playing pool, causing everyone to look at who he was referencing.
"I've never seen him."
"Wait…" One of the men said as they scratched their chin, "I think I've seen them before… Ah! That's-"
Before he could say anything, Leo stepped inside and closed the door. He pulled out the knife from his pocket and it was still dripping some crimson blood.
"Excuse me gentlemen, I'll need to take a moment of your time." Then Leo took a step forward.
Max and the other's opened the door to Montague's club lounge and stepped inside. They looked around and quickly noted all the men staring at them. They walked in further and saw Montague sitting in a chair with an incredibly annoyed expression, holding an icepack against his forehead.
The four entered the room and sat down across from Montague. He watched them before leaning back in his chair.
"Max, I heard there was another. Where are they?" He spoke in his heavy accent, his voice seemed tired.
"Probably getting a drink or something."
"I see… Well, let us get down to business then." Montague said as he motioned towards a man standing by the wall. The man walked forward and placed a large suitcase on the desk in front of Montague.
Standing in a room that smelt of blood, with piles of dead or dying people littered around the room, Leo watched the security cameras. He seemed slightly uncaring, until his eyebrows furrowed suddenly.
He leaned closer into the camera and squinted.
"Isn't that Hayes, I thought they were a Wolf." He mumbled while looking at the camera that was outside the building, watching the surroundings. At first, there was standing a single man, but soon some more people followed him.
"Collin, Wolf. Dylan, Wolf. Shannon, Wolf…" Leo frowned slightly before mumbling, "What the hell is going on here."
The group of people kept expanding and with each person added, Leo remembered that they were, in fact, a Wolf. But they loitered outside of the headquarters of the Eagles without a care in the world. Even the Eagles near them seemed to not care, not even bothering reporting it in.
Then, Leo connected the dots.
"Oh."
The Wolves and Eagles were working together…