Chapter 74: The Old Shadow

An old man, his face shadowed by a gray fedora hat, is shown to be inside a rather quaint and simple office.

Despite the cover upon his face, one could see the frown that is seen being graced on lips, the expression being magnified even further as he reads a paper that contains some sort of report.

While the old man is grimacing from behind his desk, a knock was heard from the door.

"You may enter." The old man's menacing yet calm voice echoes throughout the interiors, signifying an extreme aptitude of authority that one can't just simply challenge.

As the door was open, it is revealed to be a woman with brown pony-tailed hair. If anyone would be seeing her, all can agree that her beauty definitely is undeniable.

Marching inside the office, she exhibits subtle grace on the way she acts, closing the door softly as she faced the old man in a professional manner.

It's you, Hawk." The old man's demeanor did not even change in the slightest, his presence as daunting as ever as he stared at his trusted secretary. "Since you are here, I presume that you have the results of the drug test?"

"Yes, sir." The woman now being known as Hawk nodded with the utmost respect as she handed a set of documents with regards to the subject matter. "The portion of the drug substance that Agent Chameleon has sent has yielded some… uninspiring results if I could define such a thing."

"Uninspiring?" The old man sounded curious as he also started reading the contents of the documents given to him. "Elaborate."

"You see sir…" Hawk said as she stood up straight with a firm posture. "The drug, Love-me-maybe is just actually cocaine dyed in blue as what the laboratory test says. This actually means that the drugs of what those criminal syndicates have been selling are not exactly new and special since it is something that is quite common in what those criminal brutes have been dealing with."

As Hawk finishes her statement, a chuckle suddenly is heard from the old man, much to the woman's confusion.

"Haha Hawk." The old man is now seen to be smiling, intrigued in fact. "Despite the code name being assigned to you, it seems that you still have a lot to learn before refining your sharp eyes to perfection."

"What do you mean sir?" Hawk asks.

"I presumed that you also read the mission report that Chameleon has provided and know about the Revolution, the syndicate group that our dear Dragon has been investigating, am I correct?" The old man leans on his desk.

Hawk simply nodded.

The old man then began explaining

.

"That drug, Love-me-maybe is packaged inside a plastic wrap and weighs around half a kilo. It also costs around a million Reis per half a kilo as what the Mission report dictates since 5 of those costs 5 million Reis."

The old man pauses as he stood up from his chair.

"This means that it is approximately the same price as one kilo of cocaine here in our country, effectively having the price doubled the value if you make its weight akin to a single kilo of cocaine. What I find intriguing though is that the buyer of the drug is very willing to part their cash with it despite the absurd price being bargained, meaning that the drug is somewhat special and reputable in the Underworld known by many or only by a few most likely since we should have heard about it in the past. To sum it up, I believe that what Chameleon has given to us, is perhaps… a decoy drug."

"A decoy drug sir?" Hawk's eyes widen in surprise. "How is that possible?"

"Chameleon also mentions in her report that the seller of the drugs, the Revolution are also rather adamant in retrieving the same drug shortly after they have broken the deal by starting a war. But I believe that it's all an act."

"An act," Hawk muttered under her breath. "You mean what they did is all a ploy? I find it hard to believe that criminals like them are capable of coming up with such an elaborate scheme of their own."

"Oh trust me, Hawk." The old man retains his intrigued smirk. "I have encountered deviant individuals who are a lot cunning than I initially give them credit for. As a matter of fact, the Leader of the Storm Menace is notably one of them, being my greatest challenge that almost cost my life. If it weren't for the efforts of Lion, Tiger, and Bear then I most likely won't be standing here today. Anyways, I'm going off-topic. Think about it, the drug trade seems to be going rather well with no issues whatsoever but instead, the Revolution instigated a shootout that caused the other side's utter demise. Add to the fact that both Chameleon and a Police Captain are also there as witnesses, meaning the Revolution might have deduced that the police are also around the scene, thus thinking that they could also utilize the police force to their advantage. Their objective if I'm not mistaken hopefully is not the money itself but the elimination of the buyer's syndicate faction as how Chameleon noted their reactions in her report. You could say that the police have indirectly helped our mysterious group of mischiefs in achieving their goal."

"But what does it have to do anything with the drug itself sir?" Hawk asks in genuine uncertainty.

"Actually, it does not really matter to the Revolution if the police get to take the drug off from their hands. Of course, still being a very expensive drug, common sense dictates that they should retrieve it nonetheless." The old man said. "Being merely cocaine, they would care less of the usual drug, only using it as a means to an end. But in the event that if the police actually did manage to retrieve the drug, then they already had measures for such situations, opting for a commonly known illegal drug rather than taking the risk of bringing the real drug, which might result to anyone, especially the police finding out of the special properties within. After all, if their objective is really to just kill off the other side, then it would make sense that they would bring a decoy drug just for the purpose of enticing the buyers before eventually killing them. If you are going to come up with the trouble of just ending the lives of the other side, then why would they go through all the trouble and bring the real drug itself and risking its exposure?"

Hawk's eyes widen in realization. "So what you are saying sir, is that the real Love-me-maybe is still out there in the Underworld and most probably being held by the Revolution?"

"Maybe." The old man shrugs his shoulders in response. "Who knows. Perhaps there really is no Love-me-maybe in existence, but I highly doubt that since the buyer seem to have known about it prior to the deal, or maybe the drug is held by another syndicate group other than them, with the Revolution merely weaving lies that they possess such special drug in order to fool the buyers."

"Wow, sir." Hawk expresses with deep awe. "You really thought this through huh."

The old man simply chuckled heartily in response. "Don't take my word for it though. I'm just merely coming up with my very own crazy scenarios in my deranged attempt to make everything sense in this maddening situation haha."

Hawk smiled in response, knowing that despite how intimidating this man of the highest authority is, he is also capable of stooping down at levels of humility to put his subordinates at ease.

"Of course, Shadow, sir."