Jace cracked his neck as Vana drove along a bridge. "Where did they stop?" He asked as he stretched his limbs. He had gone back to the mansion and slept with Vana again while they waited.

    Apparently Devan spent the day visiting several front businesses. Arranging meetings and moving goods around. Ellis and Patrick showed off their professionalism. They had discretely checked out all of the locations that were visited.

    They were front businesses of Devan''s or some other smugglers that were moving generic goods off of the planet. It ranged from hand made string to wooden gears. Just about anything someone would register as useless.

    But this latest stop was at sunset. They were going to a remote defunct factory. It was in an area unused by the Woltar since the Grand Hexarian Empire fell. But since the factory was built out of durable materials it was seen as too expensive to teardown. So instead they were left alone.

    "They parked near the central manufacturing structure. We hid our car on the outskirts out of sight of the bridge coming onto the island." Tako explained. He and Patrick were the ones on duty that followed Devan here. They were no longer following Arthur Sanders, but he kept the tracking on his communication device.

    "Okay, we will be there in a few minutes. We brought our box of equipment. While they are meeting with whoever, we will hit them." Jace glanced back at Ulin and Ellis who were groggily waking up in the backseats of the black SUV. "Your people also dropped off some gear for you to use."

    "Understood." The channel ended as Tako disconnected.

    "As soon as we get near the bridge, turn off the headlights." Jace told her.

    He began double checking the gear he had on him. The belt of throwing knives. His sheathed combat knife. His silenced pyre on a leg holster with three extra mags. The only item of his equipment that he did not have on him was his bullet proof armor. It was just a generic piece of kevlar that would be able to stop most laser weaponry.

    Vana grunted in acknowledgement and turned them off as soon as they arrived near the bridge. But as they went on the bridge he flinched and frowned, looking around in confusion.

    "What''s wrong?" Vana asked when she noticed his strange movement.

    "I do not know, I think we missed something." Jace told her as he kept looking around. Once they were halfway across the bridge he had to shrug it off. Jace pointed to a dirt roadway coming off the bridge. "That is the area that Tako was talking about. We are going to want to go around to the side of the factory out of view of the bridge."

    "Got it," Vana nodded and drove onto the dirt road.

    The jostling of the sudden off road driving caused both Ulin and Ellis in the backseats to wake up startled. "Are we there?" Ellis asked in surprise.

    "Just about," Vana leaned forward as she focused on where she was driving. She noticed a person peeking around a corner. "Is that them?" Vana asked as she slowed down.

    Jace quickly pulled up the location of Tako and Patrick. "Sure is. Pull into that alcove." Jace directed Vana.

    They pulled in behind the parked vehicle that Tako and Patrick arrived in. The car was turned off and Jace jumped out of the door. Visually confirming that it was indeed Tako and Patrick despite the dark.

    Jace walked to the back of the SUV and opened the trunk revealing the box inside along with several pieces of equipment on top of it. The others made their way over and began grabbing some of the equipment preparing themselves.

    Tako has a silenced sniper rifle that was prepared for him along with reflective stealth cloak that would help hide him. Ulin was already armed with several knives but she retrieved her kevlar vest and bow and quiver from the box. Ellis, Patrick, and Vana were all given the same equipment: a laser pistol and a kevlar vest.

    Vana was staring at Ulin in confusion, "isn''t that a bit too old school?"

    Ulin shrugged, "it''s quiet and I can fire it quickly." Then they started quietly joking about their equipment amongst themselves as Jace pulled up a hologram of the facilities layout. Coming up with a plan of attack.

    Jace chuckled as he heard a joke that made Ulin frown, "enough banter. Ulin and Vana, you will be sneaking in from this side. Quietly make your way up the fire escape that is over here and make your way in." Jace explained as he pointed at the holographic map that was projected from his watch.

    "What are we doing with the guards?" Vana asked.

    "Kill them, same with the people that Devan is meeting. Devan is the only one we need to take alive. I will send the signal when to strike the meeting spot. Until then, clear out your side quietly." Jace explained to Vana.

    "What are we doing?" Patrick asked. sea??h thё N??elFirё.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    "Patrick, you are with me. We will be going in through this basement entrance and making our way over here." Jace flipped the hologram around to show Patrick about the route he was talking about.

    "That means Ellis and I are together." Tako pointed out. "Where do you want us?"

    Jace smiled and zoomed out on the image. "I want you two on this guard tower near the entrance of the factory. Ellis will be protecting you in case anything goes wrong." Jace walked over to the trunk and pulled out a scope, tossing it to Tako.

    He caught it and frowned.

    "Tako, I want you on overwatch. Use the thermal scope to tell us the locations of enemies near us. You can switch to the night vision scope if someone gets past us and tries to make a run for it." Jace told him.

    "What about intruders and unknowns?" Tako sighed as he asked. He never got to be in the center of the action.

    "Kneecap them, make sure to also disable any form of communication." Jace declared then thought of something. "Be careful because something is wrong. I think we missed something on our way here."

    Tako frowned and nodded, "understood."

    "Good, now we will take position near our entrance locations but hold off until the group they are meeting with arrives. That will be the best time to strike so that they blame the other group if something starts going wrong." Jace told them. Getting several nods and grunts in acknowledgement. Jace pulled out a small black box out of the back of the SUV and opened it. Popping one of the earbuds into his ear and then handing it around.

    Once they all had one they split up. Jace and Patrick quietly moved to their entrance location. It was a guarded basement access. They had a view of the garage door so Jace would know when to signal for them to begin.

    They quietly waited for half an hour until a pair of vehicles drove in. The one in front is a white van with a laundry company''s logo on the side. The one behind it is a black town car. Jace frowned as he noticed the plates were diplomatic plates. He looked over and noticed Patrick glancing at him as well, silently asking him what they were going to do about that.

    Jace just shrugged and watched as the vehicle pulled into a garage that opened for them. With a few of the guards looking in the windows of the vehicles. Probably to make sure that there were not a bunch of people waiting to burst out and attack. The garage began closing on one of Devan''s guard''s orders.

    As soon as it was closed Jace began quietly moving. His silenced Pyre drawn along with his combat knife. He moved toward one of the guards near the entrance to the basement. There was another on the other side of the gap where the door was located below ground level.

    Jace moved past the first guard leaving him to Patrick and jumped the small gap. He made a very quiet crackling as he stepped on some loose rocks. The guards both looked at Jace in surprise.

    Jace''s knife moved quickly, slicing through the man''s neck like it was butter. The guard did not even get a chance to pull his sidearm. While Jace could hear the bloody gurgling of the guard behind him as Patrick''s knife protruded from the man''s throat for a moment. Jace caught the body and decapitated head laying them both on the ground quietly. He looked over at Patrick in time to see him pull out the knife and stuck it through the guards brain. Killing him and ending his short suffering.

    They exchanged a look and nodded. But before they could move Tako came in with a warning. "Jace and Patrick you have a target coming through the door." Tako quietly told them and not a moment later the door between them was opening and a man was coming out stretching his arms above his head as he yawned.

    The man noticed them less than a second later and gasped like he was about to shout.