Chapter 881: Beckon call
The wealthy residential area was considered the most peaceful place in New Texas. Those who lived there had decided they did not like skyscrapers at all and would buy their share of sunlight by keeping a large zone clear of any tall buildings. This provided them not only with a couple more daylight hours per day, but also kept the population of that area at a minimum which made it the only place that was not crowded.
"Wealth does buy privilege." Uriel said as he sat right outside Soulfire's house waiting for the help he called.
"That's something most people do not realize. They often dream of becoming rich and buying the most expensive stuff they could think of, but actual rich people don't buy things with their money. They buy time." Soulfire said.
"Time?" Uriel echoed.
"Sure, by living here I don't get stuck in traffic unless I want to go downtown. But it doesn't end like that, they also buy health which also translate into time. Luxury and comfort, employees, it could be said all of those things are just a means to save time." Soulfire reflected.
The peaceful conversation and the uneventful day ended suddenly as the sound of helicopters was heard. Contrary to zeppelins that could remain airborne for an indefinite period of time without spending much fuel, helicopters had a limited fuel tank capacity which meant they had about half an hour of flight before being forced to return to refuel. But that did not mean they were useless as most helicopters were heavily armed and could be loaded with soldiers.
While Uriel tried to spot the ships in the sky, the sound of engines roaring joined the distant chorus of the hasps turning it into a symphony for the ears of those who were close. From one side of the street came the all terrain vehicles owned by the Cryptid hunting agency and from the other, luxurious unmarked black vehicles that evidently belonged to the mafia.
"Where's the enemy!?" Mayhem asked first thing after jumping off an helicopter, then Sharp appeared also in a hurry though she stopped in her tracks when she saw the woman hoping off of a luxurious black car and saw it was no other than Chiara Dolminico, the current mob boss.
"I was really hoping to meet in different circumstances," Said Chiara, then continued after scanning her surroundings. "and with much less company."
"Shut your ass up or I'll do it for you." Said Sharp to Chiara emboldened by the presence of a Colonel of the army, though Mayhem paid no mind to them and insisted.
"Is he the enemy?" Mayhem's eyes lit up in a way that could not be described as anything but psychopathic.
"There's no enemy." Uriel shook his head.
"Then what the fuck are we doing here!? Huh!?" Sharp demanded.
"We're waiting for someone." Uriel replied prompting everyone to look around, though nothing happened then or in the following hour which gave Soulfire some time to bake cookies for everyone. Not just the heads of their respective institutions, but also for the soldiers, employees and henchmen alike.
"These are so good, you have to share your recipe with my cook." Said Chiara.
"I'd eat them all day." Added Sharp in a much less prickly tone and even Mayhem nodded in agreement as she ate cookie after cookie.
"I don't know... they're kind of bland." Uriel pondered unaware that Soulfire went through with his punishment and added only half the amount of chocolate chips.
After quite some time finally a car appeared and the rangers representative showed up. She tipped her cowboy hat towards those present and proceeded to walk towards them in the most seductive way a woman wearing a leathery bikini and not much else could. It would have been quite the entrance if not for her taxi driver asking her to pay, which caused her to be embarrassed in front of everyone.
"Talk about cheapskates." Sharp laughed.
"It's not my fault rangers move on foot, Okay?" Charlie sighed.
"Now that we're all here I'll ask each concerned party to enter the house in turns and examine it, then come back with your findings. But please, do not disturb the scene." Uriel highlighted the last part with his voice making it clear it was not optional.
Mayhem entered and exited the building in a rush, declaring it was clear and no enemies showed up. Sharp went on and returned stating there was a dead body inside and the place was likely robbed. When it was Chiara's turn, she took her time and returned with Soulfire's cookbook on her hand.
"I managed to save this, I'll borrow it... for safekeeping," Chiara said, then continued after Soulfire nodded. "this was an inside job. Whoever entered this place knew exactly where the alarm was and how to deactivate it."
It was then Charlie's turn, though she did not need to enter the place to know who the culprit was. Her keen sense of smell amounted to the information she was provided by those who entered first was all she needed to know precisely who did it.
"Mark." Was all she said. Soulfire was about to rebuke, but words died in his mouth when he realized it wasn't below his brother's morals to steal from him, even if he had to kill someone.
"Great, now I'll need you guys to find him and bring him to me. I'll make him return all the artifacts he stole and then give him some much deserved payback." Uriel declared.
"You know, when I first arrived I thought you were wasting our time with something menial which was actually great because I could use some time out of the office. Fuck, I was happy when I saw there were no enemies and you still cashed in a favor, but it turns out you're asking us something impossible."
"What? Why? Finding that rat should be the most difficult part, dealing with him is pretty easy." Uriel shrugged.
"Have you been living under a fucking rock?" Sharp glared at Uriel with her one eye.
"Don't speak to him like that, you don't know the first thing about the lieutenant!" Mayhem exploded and Chiara followed with a cold glare.
"You don't get to talk like that to Mister Sage."
"It's actually Captain now...," Uriel muttered hoping he went unheard. "So, what's the deal here? What is it about Mark that makes it so difficult to make him pay for his actions?"
"For starters, he's the governor's husband." Said Charlie.
"He's also the head of the Jacobs company, which... you know... kind of rebuilt this city."
"He is?" Uriel asked to Soulfire who nodded in reply then spoke softly.
"With me gone for so long, it must have been easy for him to take control of the company. In fact, I was supposed to meet him before falling into a comma and with me not showing he probably had it even easier."
"Not to mention one slight detail you all skipped, he's considered a hero from here to Hollywood city. He's not just famous, he's Allegro level famous. If you watch TV for an hour you'll see his face half the time." Chiara said.
"Well, then... that does make things easier than I thought, because that means finding it will also be easy." Uriel's eyes glimmered in blue as he summoned his jaguar in front of everyone and went straight to the governor's place.
"He's not going to do something crazy, is he?" Soulfire awkwardly asked after a few seconds of silence went on, which prompted everyone to suddenly realize that he was indeed going to do something stupid.
The helicopters were turned on immediately upon Mayhem's command and lifting a breeze that seemingly scattered all the people around them as they made their way to their vehicles. Chiara and Sharp both entered their respective cars and the chorus of engines resounded leaving only Charlie and Soulfire behind.
"Miss, what are you doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing!? I'm calling a taxi!" Charlie screamed.
"This should be faster," Soulfire pointed at the motorbike Uriel left behind and a smile was drawn on Charlie's face as she stood in front of the vehicle waiting for Soulfire to hop in. "I don't have a license." The stupidly handsome man apologized.
"I'll drive then, hold on to anything you like, honey." She winked at him and was left disappointed when Soulfire decided he did not need to hold on to anything.
Very few things scared Soulfire as much as women did, especially after becoming a hunter.Usually, when a man sexually harassed a woman he would immediately face consequences or at least have the popular opinion against them, but he was helpless as whenever women threw themselves at him people laughed. Men felt envy and women did not see anything wrong. Thanks to that, Soulfire had learned his lesson and was very careful not to lead on women, especially hunters who seemed to be powerful enough to hurt him which was precisely Charlie's case.