A War Between Spies Chapter 32

Yang Yi couldn't sleep in his own bed because Kate was holding his hand in her sleep. Even while she was unconscious, the traumatized look on her face didn't seem to ease at all.

"Who is it?" he shouted after hearing a knock at the door.

"It's me, Danny."

But before Yang Yi could get up to greet him and open the door, Kate suddenly woke up. She stared at Yang Yi with widening eyes as he let go of her hand.

"Don't be scared. He's with us," Yang Yi said as he walked towards the door.

Danny pointed a finger towards a room as he stood outside the door, "Come out, we'll talk over there."

Yang Yi nodded, but before he followed Danny, he turned his head and looked at Kate, "I'll be back. Wait for me, alright?"    

It was only after Yang Yi entered the room that he realized there were already people waiting for them. There were two people, both Chinese and both very diligent-looking. They were probably Danny's subordinates.

"Captain," the two said almost simultaneously, to which Danny replied with an exhausted nod of his head. He didn't talk with the two men, instead, he headed straight for the sofa and sat down.

Danny pointed to the seat in front of him as he sat down. He then announced after Yang Yi had taken a seat as well, "We made contact with the Marthall Family. Their condition is simple, as long as you hand over the evidence, you won't need to worry about the Marthalls anymore."

"That's pretty quick."

Danny didn't seem pleased by the compliment at all. Instead, he snarled at the statement "Of course we're quick. Don't get happy just yet. The situation didn't exactly go in a way that favors us. I promised, on behalf of the Dark Knights, that you won't publicly reveal the information that was stolen. The Marthalls agreed to it, but they're not going to pay the hitmen for the bounty on your heads.

Yang Yi twitched a bit and Danny continued, "We confirmed the identity of the hitmen. They're a group who call themselves the Destroyers. They're very active in Western Europe, very easy to make contact with, but they are definitely not the best people to hire. They often leave behind evidence that can be tracked because of how unrefined their skills are, which by the way also makes them the most reckless group of hitmen. They may fail in their task to eliminate you, but they will keep trying to accomplish the task until whoever has hired them pays them."

"What about the Cicero Family? How did they react?"

"Well, we didn't contact the Ciceros, so they didn't react. We can't afford to make direct contact with them. If we do, they will know that we have proof that they aren't as clean as they claim to be. So, it would be for the best if we pretend that they had no involvement in the situation.

"Now," Danny said pointing a finger at Yang Yi, "You need to pick someone from The Singer's team and declare him the traitor. Never tell anyone who the real culprit is, though."

"Easy. We'll just tell them about Daniel," Yang Yi replied without hesitation.

"Good. There are four of the Destroyers outside right now. If you and that girl take even one step out of here, you will be killed. As a side note, besides John Jones, three of the spies from the Singer's group made a description of you. Two of them described the girl. Her name is Kate, isn't it?"

"Yes, it's Kate," Yang Yi replied.

"The only thing left to do now is let the girl leave. If we do so, I can guarantee your safety by negotiating with the Destroyers. If I tell them that you work for the Dark Knights, they should be willing to let you go."

Despite having having to not worry about his safety any further, Yang Yi didn't seem to satisfied at all. Instead, his mouth curled in disdain, "Please, don't treat her like that… I'll just take her away quietly once her wounds are healed. I beg you, don't turn a blind eye to her."

Danny looked a bit aggravated. He shook his head and continued to insist, "We're already protecting her by giving her a place to live for now. Like I said, I'm not actually obligated to protect either of you. Hey, I can do this the easy way, you know; I don't have to risk anything if I just let you both leave."

Aware of the cruelty of his words, Danny changed his tone, "I'm saving you because of your father, but that doesn't mean I have an obligation or a responsibility, to help out at all. I'll be honest with you, if the cost of protecting you is too great, I will have to avoid a direct confrontation by sacrificing you both."

We would be back to square one then.

Except this time, it would either be letting her die or them dying together. Unsatisfied with the choices he had, Yang Yi decided to ask again, "So you aren't going to protect her no matter what? There's no alternative?"

"Well, she can hire us, of course. If you can offer a reasonable price, the Dark Knights would be happy to provide protection. My brothers need to feed their families. They need a reason to help a stranger, you get what I mean? They don't have any ties to you, so you will have to convince them with money."

"Fine. How much do you want?"

"One million pounds. That's an annual payment."

"What?!" Yang Yi shouted, "A million pounds for protection? And what's this about it being a yearly fee? Can't we just give you a set amount and be done?"   

"Of course not," Danny said and shrugged his shoulders, "There needs to be a term limit if she wants to hire us. And another thing, one million is a discounted price. Usually, it costs double, triple even if you are hiring us to protect against an armed organization like the Destroyers. I'm just saying, you should at least thank me for charging you this amount.

"But I don't have that much…" Yang Yi mumbled.

"Can't help then. Sorry," Danny said as he stood up from his seat.

"Fuck, wait, wait!" Yang Yi shouted as he reached over to stop Danny from leaving, but the two guards stepped over to stop him. Yang Yi froze and raised his hands in the air.

Yang Yi spoke slowly and tried to calm down, "Maybe, maybe Kate has it. I'll go ask."

He didn't care if Kate was willing to use her money like this. Yang Yi just thought that anything was better than death at this point. But before he could run to Kate, Danny grabbed him by the wrist.

"I'm not done yet," Danny said before sighing, "The Dark Knights can offer protection, but it's only within this building. For one million pounds, I can't have guards following her around outside. She's going to be fine if she stays here, but if she leaves the building, we won't take any responsibility."

Yang Yi clenched his teeth, but agreed anyway, "Alright, I got it, fine! Wait here for a bit. I'll be back."

Chapter end