“So, I hear you’ve been asking around about me. I don’t think we’ve had the pleasure of meeting before. I’m Sasha. What is your name?”aChapter 459: I Hear You’ve Been Asking About Me
[I don’t pay before hearing anything. You say it’s worthwhile, but I don’t even know if the information is worth the money you’re asking for. Tell me what you found first, and if it’s useful, then you’ll get the wire.]
Mark’s tone was hard and a little threatening, and A bit her bottom lip in frustration as she heard this. A had seen a lot of deals where one party would double-cross another after getting the information, and sometimes they might even try to kill the second party just so that they don’t have to pay them. If she told Mark about what she found now, then she might get double-crossed as well, and there would be nothing she could do about it.
But A also knew that Mark was someone she could trust. What sort of crook would go out of their way to risk their lives and protect people without bothering to reveal their identity? A’s criminal instincts told her that she had to get some payment before giving the information, but in the end, her belief in GHOST won out, and she decided that she would try to put her trust in him this one time. If she turned out to be wrong, then it would be a lesson learned.
A spoke up after agreeing to GHOST’s demands.
“There was a sighting of the SOVEREIGN Sasha in Lucifer’s Watering Hole, a bar in the slums of City B. They said that she first came around about a week ago and she has been showing up at random intervals. I don’t know what she is doing there or why she’s even in the city. I just thought this might be useful to you in finding Gunter.”
[Did she come with anyone else?]
“No one. The informant only told me that she was meeting with a man he didn’t recognize and…”
A trailed off as she debated whether or not to tell Mark about the test subject that Richard spoke about. In truth, A knew that telling Mark about that would likely make this information worth the money she asked for, but she also knew that once she told Mark about it, he would want her to dig deeper into it and find out what exactly that experiment was.
A did not want any part in the fight between these SOVEREIGNS. She saw the news recently, as well as the entire controversy that was currently surrounding the NSA. The NSA carried out experiments on people and turned them into Anima. If those experiments have anything to do with these ones, then A didn’t even want to touch it with a hundred-foot pole.
[‘And’ what? You were saying something. Don’t keep me waiting.]
Mark sounded a little irritated by A’s sudden silence, and A just shook her head as she decided that she wouldn’t tell Mark about the experiment. Let it become someone else’s problem.
“Nothing. I thought there was something else he said, but it wasn’t about this. Just random nonsense. This is all I got for now.”
On the other side of the phone, Mark frowned as he heard A say this. Mark knew there was something A was hiding from him, but he couldn’t force her to say it if she really didn’t want to. The relationship between them was too fresh, so there was nothing Mark could use against her to force her to talk. Mark just shook his head and forgot about it for now.
A wondered what he was thinking about when he went silent. A small part of her expected Mark to just cut the call right then and forget about her immediately. A wouldn’t be surprised at all. She would be angry, yes, but not surprised. A had learned the hard way that those who had no money were at the mercy of those with money. Right now, she was at Mark’s mercy.
Finally, Mark spoke up.
[I’m going to need you to find out more for me. I’ll look into the bar in City B, but I need to know where Gunter and Fiona are. Those two are more important than Sasha. For now, I’ll send you two hundred thousand. If you bring me more information about Gunter and Fiona, I’ll send three hundred thousand on top of the initial million dollars we agreed on.]
A was already disappointed when Mark said that she needed to find out more information. She thought that she wasn’t going to get paid. But once Mark said that he would give her two hundred thousand and an extra three hundred thousand for finding out about Gunter or Fiona, her eyes widened in shock as her heart rate increased! That kind of money could change her fucking life!
A tried her best to keep her emotions in check as she gratefully accepted the offer. The two hundred thousand was only a fifth of what Mark was meant to pay for the information she was supposed to get for him, but since this information wasn’t about Gunter or Fiona, A could understand. A was even more motivated now since she could get an extra five hundred thousand on top of the initial one million for getting information on Gunter and Fiona.
Some part of A felt bad about not telling Mark that experiments were being carried out in the slums of City B, but A squashed that part of her brutally. She was only getting paid to find information, not to risk her life. If Mark looked into the information about Sasha, A was sure he would find out more on his own.
A gratefully accepted the deal from Mark, and Mark told her to send a secure account for him to wire the money to later before cutting the phone. A was extremely giddy as she put her phone back in her pocket and walked down the alleyway while thinking about all the things that she could do with the money. She could get herself that motorbike she had been wanting for a while now. And she could even buy a safe house somewhere. Maybe in City S where there were hardly any underworld members who knew her. She could lay low for a while and enjoy a good vacation like she has always wanted. A smile bloomed on A’s face as she thought that things were finally looking up for her.
Suddenly, A stopped in her tracks as she looked around the alleyway. She listened intently for something, and when she didn’t hear anything, she felt her hands tighten into fists.
‘It’s too quiet.’
The alleyway that A was standing in was only wide enough for her to stretch her hands to touch the sides. It was long, wet, and dark with barely any light coming from the moonlight above. A turned to the side cautiously and looked down the alleyway behind her while keeping her blessing prepared for anything. For a while, there was nothing, but then, a magic circle suddenly appeared on the wall a few meters behind A, and a woman walked out from it like it was a pathway.
Woosh!
A’s eyes widened in shock as the woman spoke.
“So, I hear you’ve been asking around about me. I don’t think we’ve had the pleasure of meeting before. I’m Sasha. What is your name?”