The One That Got Away (The Bounty Hunter Trilogy)

Chapter three

Alec got off the phone with Hodge and approached his siblings at the table. They were back at their safe house - more of a small warehouse, in fact. They always rented a house in the country where they had their missions, days before, so they would have a place to back down to. Isabelle was filing her nails and Jace was watching the news. Alec sighed and Isabelle looked up "Well, what'd he say?" Alec rolled his eyes and said "Not much. There was a phrase that went something along the lines of 'well, Magnus is pretty good, so I'm not entirely surprised he got away', which made me feel even worse." Jace chuckled and turned the TV off. He turned to Alec and said with an amused expression "You did let him get away, big bro." Alec groaned and replied "For the last time, I didn't let him get away - he was just too fast for me."

Alec knew he was lying. Truth was, he didn't even know himself why he had let Magnus go. Isabelle sighed and said "We better try and get some intel on where he will be next. Did you at least get a tracker on him?" Alec nodded - when Magnus had tackled him to the ground, Alec had remembered the little tracker he was supposed to sneak on him - for cases just like this. Isabelle pulled up the tracking system on the screen. It was beeping not far from them, in a small town nearby. "Why does that name sound familiar?" Jace asked, pointing to the town. Alec scrunched up his nose. "It was where the Yakuza organized that explosion in the mines last year, remember? I think they own the town now. At least from the looks of it," he said, while looking at the images Isabelle was putting up on the screen. The town looked like a slave camp. This did not look good.

Something clicked in Alec's mind and he said "Pull up the origin of the sword, Iz." Isabelle looked at him in surprise but did it anyway. Jace whistled "So, the sword was actually in the very same town? The Samurai, whose it was, was from there?" Isabelle joined in "And the Yakuza stole it -  that we knew. But why is Magnus there?" Alec stood up and started pacing "He said he was going to return it to the people who deserve it." Isabelle looked thoughtful "The sword is worth millions..." Jace spoke up "Guys...He's a conman. A bad guy, remember?"

Alec nodded but something in his mind didn't quite believe it. "If he's there, he's probably either handing the sword over or getting payment for stealing it. So that's where we need to be. But undercover, we don't want to spook him." Isabelle smirked and replied "Yeah, like you spooked him last time, is that what you meant to say?" Alec rolled his eyes when Jace clapped his hands and chimed "Off we go!".

***

The town's market place was pretty crowded. Alec walked past a group of smaller children, homeless and begging for money or food. He slid them a few coins and kept walking, pulling his bandana to cover his face, leaving only his eyes out. The scarf he had wrapped around his head didn't pull any attention to him, since it was a very hot summer day and there were surprisingly many people using this technique to hide from the sun. Other then the large hats the people in Japan usually wore in the countryside. Alec moved closer to their target. It was a bigger building, almost looking like a temple. That's where Magnus had to be, or at least that's what the tracker said. 

"I got eyes on him," Isabelle's voice rang in his ear. He looked up at the temple, seeing Isabelle creeping up on the side of it. Alec waved at her to stop, and looked for Jace. "Well, shall we see if your crook actually has a soft heart?" Jace said, stepping next to him. Alec rolled his eyes and quickly said "He's not my anything. Whatever, let's go." They reached Isabelle, who waved them to follow her. They moved along the edge of the building, when Isabelle showed them a small window at the back that was left open. She climbed in first, and Jace said "Age before beauty." Alec scoffed and with difficulty (because he was so tall) climbed in. Jace followed and once they were all in they stopped to listen. Muffled voices came from somewhere near. They were in a great hall, which was empty, but on the sides were several doors.