School of the Crown Assassins

10

"You dare point your guns at the Crown Heirs?" Arielle asked. If they didn't know they were facing the Crowns before, they certainly did now. The workers and guards slowly dropped their arms, but I noticed that their fingers remained pressed against the triggers. Apparently, so did Arielle.

"Why so tense?" Arielle asked in a smooth voice. "We just want to talk."

Her words were silky and soothing but the taunting expression in her eyes made it seem like the slow movements of a cat before it pounced. The man in the middle hesitated for a moment before making a sweeping gesture with his arm. The workers holstered their guns and continued running to and fro, though they cast uneasy glances the Royals. Only the guards left their guns out, staring straight at the Crowns.

The man in the middle motioned them towards a few chairs in the middle of the operation, positioned around a large table. None of them sat. Noise levels of the ground operation decreased significantly and I could hear every word of their conversation.

"I'm sorry about the mess, Your Supermacies," he said, referring to the papers scrawled across the table. "I was not expecting visitors."

His words were kind enough, but the underlying tone was not.

"I wasn't expecting to be here either," she replied.

"Nice operation," Damien said, looking around. "Very big but still on the DL, exporting from the back to avoid any unwanted attention, buying out most of the buildings around here, specifically in the back, to keep people away."

"I thought we were permitted to run drugs as much as we wish," the man said.

"You are."

"Then why the visit?"

"Like I said, Oswald, we just want to talk," Arielle answered.

"Why me? There millions of other operations around Concorde."

"Your operation is very peculiar," Damien replied.

Oswald tensed before easing up and trying to look as if nothing happened, but I knew no one missed it. Nydia confirmed this when she looked up at me. I met her eyes and she jerked her head towards the guards. The message was clear. Take out the guards. She poked one of the fingers on her arrow upward and pressed it to her lips, indicating that it was to be done stealthily.

I didn't want to kill the guards. They were most likely just trying to make a living in the repressive, fractured system the assassins had set up for them. But I was an Alpha and I needed to act like one if I wanted my revenge.

I crawled across the pipe, trying my best to be silent. Unlike before, every small noise would be caught. The conversations below continued.

"How so?" Oswald asked.

I had reached the end of the pipe right when the man closest to me looked up. He opened his mouth to shout but an arrow pierced through his heart before any sound escaped. I jumped down and caught the gun that slipped from his fingers before catching his body. I lowered both of them to the ground, making as little noise as possible. The other guards continued to watch the scene below, all of them too entranced to notice me or Nydia. I crept across the metal passageway, keeping to the shadows.

"You've managed to keep this operation hidden for quite some time. How'd you do it?"

"Hid the drugs in cars and other products. And the warehouse is believed to be old but we bought all the houses in the back entrance and pay them a fee to keep quiet."

Slipping behind two guards, I unsheathed my daggers and slashed their necks. I caught their guns first and then pulled them back, preventing them from falling forward into the warehouse below.