RETURN OF THE SHADOW - Chapter 211

“So, are you going to tell me?” asked D.i.c.k.

“What?”

“Your relationship with Rowley. Why do you want him alive?” asked D.i.c.k. “What do you think he knows?”

“I don’t expect him to know much, but he could have some information from the fact that there is more than one bounty for killing him. There hadn’t been an announcement from his family that he has been emancipated, but somehow three bounties appeared on the day he was kicked out. Someone wants him silenced and he says that he could provide me with some answers,” said Balthazar.

“That could all be a trick to get you close to him,” said D.i.c.k. “You did play a part in the events that led to his brother’s death.”

“I have considered it, but it is unlikely. He wouldn’t put three bounties on himself for the sake of avenging his brother. He has his own family and my investigation reveals that he cares for them dearly. Those bounties could get him killed as he could never control the ones that take it,” said Balthazar. “If he was the emotional kind, he wouldn’t have left his wife and children to attack me. If he considers it necessary for me to die for the Rowley family’s repute, business and sustenance, he wouldn’t try to kill me either as that would have worse repercussions on the Rowleys.”

“So, I am thinking that there are only two possibilities for all this. One he is being hunted and I am his only choice for sanctuary as he has information that could help him. Two he is being blackmailed to put me in danger, but I have already checked that his wife and children are safe in the Rowley family and their patriarch himself is taking responsibility for their safety,” said Balthazar.

“You have them under surveillance?” asked D.i.c.k.

“No, I had some one hired through ShadowCard to provide me information and this was what I obtained from the bounty. They had nothing about his present locale, but there were a few who investigated his family to know about him and told me that it was a dead end and I needed to increase the bounty. I paid them a bit and put in a condition that his family is out of limits. Can’t have him at odds with me and that would be hard if someone got to him through his family due to my bounty,” said Balthazar. “Those idiots will probably try to capture and bring him to me, and he wouldn’t be really willing to help if he knew that I went behind his back.”

“Then you should remove the request of wanting him alive and just request for getting information on him,” said D.i.c.k.

“Of course, I changed it.”

“See you soon, hopefully with some useful information,” said D.i.c.k leaving the room. Glen was right outside the room and he went in as soon as D.i.c.k left.

“What did he want?” asked Glen. As Balthazar’s bodyguard and observer during this time, he needed to know if there was any chance of danger to him from D.i.c.k. Though he was considered a family friend through his relationship with Bruce and Evelyn, he didn’t trust D.i.c.k completely and if there was anything fishy going on, he was sure that Balthazar would give him a hint in some way.

“It is nothing. I have recently joined ShadowCard,” said Balthazar as he took a bottle of whiskey from the mini fridge in the room and poured it in a pair of glasses.

“Good way to be anonymous, but I hope you didn’t use D.i.c.k’s help to set up your account. That is same use joining Bruce Kane’s side among the commanders and he could monitor your activity to a certain level,” said Glen.

“What?”

“You know that Bruce is one of the commander’s, right?”

“Yes, I just came to know about it today. How do you know?” asked Balthazar.

“I am a member of the table. Well almost,” said Glen. “There are some things you learn when you are being trained by them. ShadowCard is an organization used quite frequently by the major powers and all their security personnel would have a certain amount of understanding towards them. There used to be to commanders from our family about four decades ago in ShadowCard and there is one commander now,” said Glen.

“Usually all members of the ShadowCard from the family are taken in by him, but Bruce can be still considered the same. His post was given to him by a Blyth when he resigned as the commander. So, there are quite a good amount of interaction between them,” he explained.

“Who is the one from our family, Walter?”

“No. I am not allowed to tell you about his identity, but it is not Walter. I will let you know only that much,” said Glen. “Anyways, if a commander recruits you or vets your account, there seems to be a way for them to monitor your activity. It is to prevent any action from accidentally being taken against them by their own men.”

“Do I need to be concerned about it?” asked Balthazar.

“No, he is quite close to the family in ways you don’t know. No doubt of his loyalty,” said Glen smiling as if he had heard a joke. “Just considering it a foolish decision to use him as you probably wanted to use it to avoid being monitored by the family, but it is more or less the same.”

Balthazar slapped his head as he realized the folly of his actions the past few days. Probably everything he did was forward to Winston or Arthur. He hardly knew Bruce and was only introduced by Albert as someone who worked closely with Walter. He began to wonder if this was the thing that Winston wanted to talk to him about when he remembered that Winston asked Bolena to bring him to his office.

“I make a joke of myself, haven’t I?” asked Balthazar as he sat down on a chair and gulped in the glass of whisky in a single shot.

“Depends. If you did this to avoid Winston worrying for you and hide it for that purpose, it is probably fine as Bruce wouldn’t go ahead and inform him about your activities. But Arthur is probably aware of it,” said Glen.

“You sure?”

“I am. Bruce just talks with Winston casually but there are little to no deals or transactions between them and he never considered it important to inform the patriarch but the table would be advised of any actions that would be detrimental to them. Anything necessary he lets the table decide and inform the patriarch,” explained Glen. “He also stops his men in the ShadowCard from taking any actions against the table of Ouroboros. You can consider him a guest member of sorts.”

“Hmm. That’s a relief,” said Balthazar calming down. “You are a member of ShadowCard?”

“Yes. A gold level agent. Trying to go to Rhodium level, specializing as bodyguard and extraction specialist,” said Glen proudly. It could be considered very good for a youth his age. Moreover, the two things he decided to work on were considered some of the hardest things as they were specializations where he needed to not only fight and protect himself but also another target. Such missions were considered to be ones that posed the most danger and had a high chance of failure as one had to check for multiple ways of attack and often fight against multiple groups of attackers.

“Oh! So, am I your test for the bodyguard specialization?” asked Balthazar.

“Could be. If a danger arises and it is actually tough enough to be considered so. I will be recording the events in my suit once we leave the planet. I didn’t do it presently as Asklepian is comparatively a safe zone for you, especially after Max’s escape. The security had been tightened and I am only the first line of your defence,” said Glen.

“Wouldn’t it be a problem if I join under Bruce and want to become a member of the table?” asked Balthazar. This question had been troubling him ever since Glen told him about a ShadowCard commander existed in the family.

“It is not much of an issue. It could also be that Bruce is considering you an option for his successor,” said Glen. Though he sounded serious, the words felt like a joke when Balthazar heard them.

“That is ridiculous. There are D.i.c.k and Barbara. They are both already involved in security services for quite some time. They would obviously be a better choice than me,” said Balthazar dismissively as he considered it a joke.

“Not at all. Their specializations are more oriented towards technical skills and operation from a safe zone. That would make them excellent advisor for a security organization but only as long as the leader protects them. They are not suitable to be leader as they would not be able to hold command over other agents and I don’t see it happening anytime soon,” explained Glen.

“You might not think much about it, but from their point of view, you are already a competitor. Especially since Bruce is paying attention to your activities. D.i.c.k may appear all friendly and nice, but he is a schemer. You don’t think that he became what he is from nothing just through luck, do you?” mocked Glen feeling that his cousin was still quite naive sometimes.

“I will keep it in mind,” said Balthazar as he also remembered D.i.c.k telling him that he was a specialist at infiltration and has an amicable personality which makes others let down their guard. He didn’t know if D.i.c.k was actually being nice to him and genuinely wanted to befriend him or was confident enough in his own skills that he openly told Balthazar about it even though he considers Balthazar a competitor. Either way Balthazar decided that he couldn’t let down his guy guard in front of D.i.c.k.

At the same time in another planet in a bookstore, Bruce was waiting for someone while he went through a book. It was one of his usual spots that blocked him from vision of enemies and surrounded by strong walls that could only be penetrated by use of strong explosives. His contact who was usually punctual was already 15 minutes late which raised suspicions as a voice suddenly called out to him.

“Bruce Kane. Have been wanting to meet you for some time now,” said a woman in the local law enforcer uniform. He casually glanced over the book as he checked out the woman. She was dark colored with black hair and a couple of nose rings. Apart from the nose ring, he immediately noticed a few other things about her that didn’t conform to the enforcer standards. He knew that she was probably a mercenary in disguise. He needed to know why she was here and how much she knew about him. It was always important to know about his enemy’s knowledge to have an upper hand.

“I am sorry. I am the only one in the room. The person you want isn’t here,” he replied casually looking over the book he was perusing as he put out an identity card that revealed him to be a Henry Wyatt. It was common and an expected response for an innocent and respected member of the society towards any enforcer.

“You are as much Henry Wyatt as I am a cop,” said the woman nonchalantly. “I suggest you come with us quietly. You are being surrounded as we speak. Don’t put up any futile resistance which might forces us to take any unsavory measures. We have no qualms in killing any of the people here. I hear you prefer to avoid unnecessary casualties,” she said in a confident tone that indicated that she couldn’t be fooled by any story which Bruce might come up with. She was completely committed to her mission.