3 Hunting Shadows

THUD-THUD-THUD.

Her gun drawn, Bridget peeks through the peephole of her hotel-room door. There was an Anthroraptor in a trench coat waiting for her outside. Without skipping a beat, she stuffs her gun into her waistband and opens the door, briskly ushering Donovan before shutting the door. What was supposed to be a simple grab, kill, and go had turned into an absolute clusterfuck which resulted in the deaths of two very important individuals to the group and the potential jeopardizing of the group's mission.

While Bridget made coffee for the two of them, Donovan glanced anxiously out the window of the tiny hotel room while sat in an armchair next to the bed. It wasn't the fact that the girl was still alive that scared him, but the fact that someone knew exactly where they had been operating from. Judging by the leisurely pace of the heavily armed intruder, he probably had no idea that there were cops being held hostage, which probably meant that he had to have gotten his information from somewhere.

Briefly, the Anthroraptor glanced at his female counterpart. Could she have been a mole in their organization? No, impossible, he thought. Bridget's parents were both active members of the Peasant's Committee and she was about as loyal as they came. In fact, if it came down to it, Boberg, the late leader of their group, would be more likely a mole than Bridget. And he was a pretty hardline loyalist. It had to be one of the goons hired by Boberg! Donovan was never really a fan of hiring these lowly thugs, believing them to be nothing more than morons with guns that could do more harm than good to the operation, but Boberg insisted, believing that ties with the local underworld would keep them safe.

One of them definitely was responsible. They were the only ones apart from the cell who knew exactly where the whole operation ran from.

"Sugar?" Bridget asks.

"Two teaspoons." Donovan answers.

Bridget places two cups of coffee on the coffee table before sitting down in the second armchair.

"So, what now?" She asks "We're going to lay low?"

"We can't." He states. "The decapitation strike is crucial to the success of the Peasant's Crusade. We

must continue despite the setbacks."

"We've lost our leader and our explosives expert. Crusade or no crusade, I think we have to accept that fact."

"We still have comrades coming. The submarine comes in soon and among the arrivals is a man who also has knowledge in explosives. He is no Antonio, but he is perfectly adequate."

"But what about the explosives? We've lost everything in that incident."

"The new guys will be bringing over their own explosives. We won't have as much as before, but there is still plenty to wipe the oppressors out."

"But where? Where can we inflict the most damage?"

"The same place we planned to hit."

Donovan retrieves a blueprint and map of Wolf's Keep, which each member of the cell was given a copy of, from Bridget's suitcase and lays both out on the coffee table, with the much smaller blueprint placed atop the map. Using both in conjunction with one another, Donovan pinpoints the exact location of the Bunker, Etria's equivalent to the Situation Room located directly underneath Wolf's Keep. Designed to withstand heavy shelling and constant air-raids, and heavily guarded, the Bunker is virtually impregnable.

However, Donovan intends to fill a large officer's suitcase with enough explosives to kill everyone in the bunker during a crucial meeting and bring it in with the help of General Oskar Jynn, a high-ranking Etrian officer and member of the War Council who is secretly a Preudian-sympathizer. His plan calls for General Jynn to bring the suitcase with him into the Bunker during an important meeting, set the suitcase down, excuse himself, and, once he is a safe distance away from the Bunker, detonate the device and kill everyone inside, effectively decapitating Etrian leadership and High Command.

…

Axton buries his head behind his hands in a double-facepalm as he sat behind his desk. He couldn't believe the words he'd heard coming out of the human's mouth! There was a good reason why he asked Adrian to discreetly investigate the cell. The last thing he needed was for them to be spooked and conduct a reactionary attack that sees something terrible done to the fledgling democracy. How could it be so difficult for him keep things under wraps for so long? He kept the investigation into the Dragon-sect under wraps right up to the end and he kept his own location down low for a good two years!

How is it then that he could let slip his investigation into the cell after a mere two months?

"Listen, Axton." Adrian said, his first-name basis and close relationship with the king clearly evident. "I know it sounds dumb to pull in locals into the operation, especially a rookie police officer. But I feel Kaylanni can bring in plenty to the table. She can discreetly give me access to police files allow us to grab lower-level individuals as simple police arrests. Plus, come on, you can tell she's determined."

"It's not about whether or not she's determined, Adrian." King Fauster explains. "I'm trying to keep the operation under wraps so those bastards don't get wind of it."

"Make Kaylanni's assignment a Special Duty transfer then. I'll keep it down low."

"Yeah, until people on the streets start seeing you two together. No, Adrian. I am not assigning anyone to you."

"Is it non-negotiable?"

"I'm afraid so, kiddo."

"Fair enough."

Given what had transpired in the past, the king had expected Adrian to begrudgingly accept the terms without quarrel to maintain his still decent rapport with the Royal Family, He is shocked when Adrian instead tosses the Royal Pass given to him onto Axton's desk.

"Find a new guy then." He nonchalantly states. "I quit."

"Seriously?" The Anthrowolf exclaims. "You're going to quit over me not assigning her to you?"

"I quit because you hired me to do something, yet it seems you're trying to disrupt my operations."

"How is giving you a Royal Pass that guarantees immunity disrupting your operations?"

"You wanted it discreet, yes? I'm trying to do something to make acquiring data a lot more discreet, yet you've denied me permission to do so. She's clearly demonstrated loyalty and an eagerness to work, no?"

"I'm trying to keep this unofficial."

"How long can it stay unofficial, Axton? At least, how long can it stay that way before I am forced to bring in my own people to do your job for you?"

As much as he wanted to counter the young man's point, Axton couldn't. Adrian had a solid point; if he wanted to keep the operation unofficial, then he would have to commit to it being unofficial, which meant employing mercenaries that were loyal not to the Crown or Government, but to the one who brought them in: Adrian Kesselton. And as much as the king trusted Adrian, he wasn't about to let some kid fly in an army capable of bringing the entire kingdom to its knees within a matter of hours.

"Fine, I'll have her assigned to you." King Fauster stated. "Please do me a favor, Adrian. Don't let anyone else find out."

"No one's going to find out unless I need to bring in more people to make things more discreet." He answers.

"Adrian…"

"Listen, you asked me to take down this cell and you promised me immunity and means. You've given me immunity, now give me the means! I need to fight with both hands, not with one tied to my fucking back."

Again, the king could only relent. Sure, he could let go of Adrian and find someone else, but this human was his best ever shot at taking down the cell, and time is fast running out. Adrian might be a bull, but, as he himself put it, he gets the job done.

…

Kaylanni places the last two photographs on the tackboard and steps back to evaluate her work. For the past two hours, she'd been painstakingly putting together a tackboard to make cross-referencing a much simpler affair. On the top left was the title "safehouses" and beneath it were three photographs, each of a purported safehouse used by the Regentston-cell. The first two, which were of a house on the outskirts of Regentston and the vacant residence where she and her late-partner ended up as captives, were crossed out to indicate they had been checked-out or "raided" as she called it. The third picture was a vacant warehouse near the docks where her partner had seen several purported cell-members hang out.

To the right of "safehouse" was "suspected members" and beneath this label was a rough hierarchy of the Regentston-cell. Boberg's photo was on top and it led down to a few photographs of potential members, all of which were made from enhanced and zoomed copies of the pair of images provided to Adrian save for two. Specifically, they were the two who were identified: Bridget Timothy and Antoni "Antonio" Kresselback. Also, another blown-up image of another purported cell-member made from one of the photographs was placed next to that of Boberg's as he was believed to be Boberg's right-hand and second-in-command. Kaylanni didn't have a name yet, but she did recall hearing the name "Donovan" being mentioned several times while in captivity, and half of the time the name was mentioned, an Anthroraptor looking very similar to the one suspected of being Boberg's right-hand showed up. Thus, she assigns the name "Donovan" to this alleged right-hand man.

Finally, at the bottom were two "slightly less important" sections. The bottom left contained photographs of the crime scene while the bottom right… Well, it was Adrian's wet-dream: as much information on the Model 14 Pistol and its service with the NIO as the Anthrofox could dig up. To cap off her work, Kaylanni crosses out the pictures of Boberg and Antoni to indicate that they had been killed at the crime scene. She then steps back once more to study the now fully-updated information up on the backboard.

Before the Anthrofox could get far, however, the door to the house swung open. Her partner had returned from what she presumed was a quick chat with the king followed by lunch with the Royal Family. Her eyebrows rose in visible confusion when she noticed holding an oddly shaped briefcase in one hand and an M1733A1 submachine gun in the other.

"Gun shopping or a sketchy deal gone bad?" She asks sarcastically.

"More like making sure you don't go in undergunned again." He sneers.

Adrian sets the submachine gun down on the table along with the supposed "briefcase". He then opens the "briefcase", revealing it to be a pistol case. Inside the case were two pistols, a Walther PPK and an M1723A1 service pistol, the latter of which resembled a wartime-production M1911A1 .45 caliber.

"Magazines are underneath the foam." The human said. "Two mags plus one in the gun for the PPK and and five mags plus one in the gun for your .42 SLP service pistol."

"Right…" Kaylanni mutters, feeling slightly overwhelmed by the amount of firepower her new partner had brought home. "I… Take that I should leave one for you?"

"Both are yours, Kaylanni. Small one's for off-duty carry while the service pistol is for work… Or you can flip them around if you feel like it."

"And the submachine gun?"

"The Tommy Gun? I'll grab the mags from upstairs in a bit."

"Tommy Gun?"

"Your M1733A1; it looks exactly like a Tommy Gun except it has a rear-aperture sight instead of a standard V-notch in the back."

"Right…"

"You've been busy though…"

Adrian studies the tackboard with visible impressment. Kaylanni, for all her status as a rookie police officer, had organized everything far better than some "pros" he'd met before. It wasn't long, however, before that impressment turned into interest, specifically on the photograph labeled "Donovan". The human had remembered "Donovan" from the vacant residence, having spotted him walking towards a green Bogaard Deluxe Special, the local equivalent to a Cadillac V8 coupe from the 30s. He had wanted to take out this "Donovan", actually, but felt it would make too much noise.

"So, what's the plan?" Kaylanni asks.

"Hang on." Adrian turns his attention to the picture of the warehouse, which was the only "safehouse" not crossed out. "This place, where is it?"

"In the harbor. But it's been cordoned off; a couple of bombs detonated nearby. I don't think any of them are going to be hanging around."

"It's not "who's around it" that I'm interested in; it's what's inside that I'm after."

"Your call, Adrian."

"Leave the Tommy Gun behind; we're not expecting resistance. If need be, I have a 12-gauge pump in the car; you know how to operate one, yes?"

"Yup."

"Then strap up and let's go."

Still overwhelmed that her personal firepower was now equal to that of an army squad-leader, Kaylanni sheepishly retrieves the M1723A1 service pistol from the case and ejects the magazine so she could load it. Of course, the magazine is loaded, she thought as she rolled her eyes. How could she expect "Sir Gungeek" to provide her with an empty gun? She racks the slide to put a round in the chamber and engages the safety before slipping it into a belt-holster, which she momentarily places on Adrian's study as she retrieves the five, also loaded, magazines from the pistol case and slips them neatly into magazine pouches which she attached to her belt. Once the magazine pouches were firmly secured, she attaches the aforementioned belt-holster with gun and puts her belt back on.

The female Anthrofox glared at her partner in confusion when she saw him staring at her with a rather impatient look on his face, as if he'd waited ages for her to get ready. She had absolutely no idea that it took all of a few seconds to get his G-Code holster attached to his belt. Their pieces strapped to their hips, the two made their way into the garage and depart in Adrian's rather menacing blacked-out Cadillac CTS-V.

The journey there was relatively "average"… For Adrian at least. As for Kaylanni, it was akin to riding a spaceship for the first time. Instead of clunky buttons and a myriad of gauges that kinda sorta worked, the interior of the CTS-V was sleek and straight out of a science-fiction novel for her. Well-defined symbols indicated exactly where the controls were and no button press was required to operate them; the user simply tapped once on the strips of steel metal beneath the symbols or touched the blue screen that was clearly the focal point of the dashboard.

And how could she forget the little hidden compartment which was lifted by sliding one's finger underneath the lower section of the center console?

Adrian couldn't help but feel amused at this passenger was oogling over simple features that he'd taken for granted. Then again, Etria was roughly equal to the late 1930s early 1940s Earth and though cars like his CTS-V were available here on Zyphrus, they were only sold in Ouquain, which itself has a very Earthern influence and was way ahead of the curve technology wise. Cheekily, the human activated the motorized slider on the center console just to see what would happen. And sure enough, Kaylanni's eyes lit up like that of a kid in a toy shop.

"What?" The Anthrofox exclaimed when she noticed her partner smiling.

"You clearly don't need much to keep yourself entertained, do you?" He chuckles.

"What do you mean?"

"It's just a slider!"

"A slider that moves automatically! You don't get this in any car on the market!"

"This has it."

"Yeah, because you brought it over from, I presume, Ouquain! We don't get anything like this. My car doesn't even have air-conditioning!"

The human chuckled heartily, a response which was met with an eye-roll from an unamused Kaylanni. To be fair, she did have a point, he thought. That being said, it was still amusing, for him, at least, to watch his partner entertain herself with features that came standard on his Cadillac.

"Hey, is that it?"

Adrian gestures towards a damaged warehouse by the docks that was cordoned off.

"Yup, that's the one." His partner answers.

The CTS-V comes to a halt next to the curb just outside the locked entrance to the warehouse. For a full minute, Adrian studied the warehouse, keeping an eye out for movement as well as entrances that he and his partner could use to covertly enter once they were inside the perimeter. It was a large squarish structure with few windows that sported a triangular roof that was integrated into the structure to maximize space. Adrian was quick to note that the damage done was not exactly severe, though the presence of a bomb crater near one of the doors that led into the structure explained precisely why the government had cordoned off the area.

"What are we waiting for?" A confused Kaylanni asks.

"Know your enemy, know yourself." Her partner explains. "We might not have a map of the place, but we can still minimize the chances of getting jumped on or running into obstacles if we look before we go. Didn't they teach you that at the academy?"

"Uhm…"

"I believe the term was "analyze, assess, and analyze again"."

"If you know so much, why don't you join the academy?"

"Nah, I like being independent. Lot less red-tape that way."

"Right."

"Let's move."

The two disembark from the blacked out Cadillac and made their way towards the locked gate after Adrian made sure his car was locked. It wasn't a terribly large gate, but it was firmly locked by a set of heavy duty chains secured by a formidable padlock. On top of that, there were strands of barbed-wire up top, which made vaulting over out of the question. The logical solution was to simply cut through the meshed fence and make their way inside, but Adrian, being Adrian, had a much better idea.

PHT-TEW.

Kaylanni coiled back as the padlock was torn clean off by a single-blast of 00-buck from Adrian's suppressed KSG-12 shotgun. A bull, I'm working with a bull, she thought as she and her partner made their way back to the Cadillac and rolled into the compound like a pair of rebellious teenagers without a care in the world for rules and regulations. Adrian didn't even bother to make their arrival quiet, flooring it several times as they rolled down the road, which, surprisingly, was unscathed despite the facility taking a pair of bomb hits and several strafing runs.

Adrian pulls up next to the entrance his partner originally thought they were going to WALK to and the two disembark once more after the human had shut off the engine. Both of them stack up on the door with their sidearms drawn and breach, the two fanning out left and right respectively to cover the flanks in case anyone tried to surprise them. But there were none. Heck, there wasn't a single soul in sight, let alone goons with guns guarding some precious cargo or unlucky locals being held hostage.

That being said, however, Adrian and Kaylanni were not about to walk away empty handed today, for the warehouse had a secret to hide. Snaking their way through the maze-like walkways that resulted from the disorganized but neat placement of shipping containers, the two eventually arrived in the center of it all, where they came face-to-face with a makeshift planning station constructed out of materials in the warehouse. At the center of it all was a map-table constructed from four empty oil drums and a wooden pallet, complete with nuts painted in red, yellow, and green to mark potential targets, with red presumably meaning either the most desirable or risky, green meaning either least desirable or risky, and yellow being the in-between.

"Tell me, Kaylanni." The human said. "Does that red bolt look like it's sitting precisely where Wolf's Keep is?"

"Yeah…" His partner answers. "What do you think? They're going to kill the king?"

"I don't think they were going after the king."

"What do you mean?"

"King Fauster, despite being the de-facto leader of this nation, is a constitutional monarch. True

power to command the armies lies in War Council and Ian Cowling, which means they were planning some sort of an attack on the Bunker."

"What do you mean "were"?"

"These plans look like they're still incomplete, which means they hadn't been able to finalize their plans before the place got cordoned off. Plus, even if they did manage to finalize their plans, they aren't dumb enough to launch, not after what happened."

"Good point."

The female Anthrofox raises her eyebrow in confusion when she saw her partner shine what appears to be a flashlight that emitted a blue-colored light on the map. Imagine her surprise when she saw the light illuminate several fingerprints left on the map.

"If only we had one of those." She remarks. "What is that anyways?"

"It's called a blue-light." Adrian answers. "It illuminates things usually hidden from the naked eye, like fingerprints, organic fibers, and bodily fluid."

"Bodily fluid?"

"Jizz."

"Ahh…"

Kaylanni looked away in horror, trying to process the disgusting punchline. As for Adrian, he expedites the fingerprint identification by sending pictures he'd taken on his smartphone over to an old friend of his instead of asking his partner to dig through national records.

"I've sent the prints over to a friend of mine." He states. "Should take all of a few minutes to see who these belong to."

While Adrian waited for the results to come back, Kaylanni noticed that doors to one of the containers in front of her was slightly ajar. Her pistol held close to her chest, she pulls the door open and takes a peek inside. Her eyes widened in shock, for at the back of the container, slightly hunched over with his back towards the wall, was the lifeless corpse of an Anthroraptor.

A very familiar Anthroraptor.