A Side Mission

A man in all black was walking down the quiet street cautiously, but briskly. He was wearing a wool hat and a facemask. His slender body moved with nimbleness in the dark night. He was both careful and observant. Whenever he saw another human being, he would observe them before deciding to move along.

It was Luuk van der Meer. He had gone out to do his usual night activity and was heading to Oosteindestraat, where a lot of drunk people were gathering. With his fast pace, it didn't take really long for him to reach his destination.

Oosteindestraat was packed with people that night. Luuk went into a Favaran restaurant called 'La Padella' and was approached by someone.

"I'm looking for Mastro Gianni," Luuk said shortly to the man.

The brawny man in front of him didn't budge. He just sized Luuk up and finally asked, "Who is asking?"

"A thief."

Just with those two words, the brawny man understood. He went through the back door and disappeared from sight. Luuk stood there patiently. He knew that the man had to ask for permission first before allowing someone to enter the back of this restaurant. This, after all, was only the front of a hidden organization.

The brawny man walked intimidatingly towards Luuk. He shot a glance at him and then nodded. He gestured for Luuk to follow him inside. Luuk walked calmly behind the brawny man through the back door. He walked through it and entered the kitchen that didn't have many cooks at that time. The brawny man walked through a door in the kitchen and Luuk followed.

Behind the door, it was not that different from the restaurant, except for the many men in black coats and fedoras staring at him. Even though it was late at night, the place was busy. Because the place was dimly lit, it was somewhat difficult to see. But it was not a problem for Luuk and his night vision. His eyes that were glowing in the dark enabled him to see things clearly as if they were illuminated by a red light. However, it made him attract too much attention as well. He needed to master his power better because he believed he would be able to prevent the glow then.

They walked down a similarly dimly lit corridor with a lot of closed doors on both sides. There were various different noises coming from some of the doors. Luuk wasn't bothered by any of that, because he had his goal in mind. They arrived at the end of the corridor in front of a double door. The brawny man knocked on the door and a voice from inside told them to come in.

"You come in. I'll wait here. This is the only exit, don't try anything funny." the brawny man warned Luuk.

Luuk didn't respond and opened the door. Inside, it was a classic looking office with an older man sitting leisurely behind the desk. The office was spacious and well decorated. There was a grand piano in one of the corners and a shelf with countless books. The carpet on the floor looked exquisite. The office room made the guests feel that the owner was someone with good taste, but no hint of arrogance was felt since there were no weapons being displayed, nor were there trophies hung on the wall.

Luuk was on guard the whole time. He knew that the person sitting behind the desk was someone dangerous. That person didn't need to display his power because he knew nothing could threaten him. That was the feeling that look was getting from the man with grey hair sitting across from him. The man was wearing a neat suit and a tie. He was exuding a gentlemanly aura with cold-bloodiness mixed in. He looked at the tense Luuk and flashed him an approving smile. He gestured Luuk to take a seat.

Luuk sat down and waited until the man spoke. Something about the man made him nervous.

"You must be the thief," he said. His voice was charismatic and assertive.

"Yes. Are you Mastro Gianni?" he asked; his nervousness had slightly decreased because of the man's voice and smile.

"Yes. Do you want anything to drink? Coffee? Tea?" he offered Luuk still smiling all the way. His manner of sitting was very relaxed.

"No, thank you," Luuk answered shortly, gesturing with his hand.

"You look very tense, young man. Relax. You are still young." he said strangely soothingly.

Luuk calmed down a little for some reason after hearing his words. He then asked, "So, what job do you need a thief for?"

"Young people nowadays always go straight to the point," he complained jokingly, "There is something I want you to steal."

"Why don't you send your many men to just take it by force?"

Mastro Gianni chuckled. He seemed to have expected such a question.

"I can't just take it by force. This must be done discreetly. I cannot tell you the reason, however."

"Don't you have Contractbounds working under you?"

"I do, but they are on another mission. And besides, Contractbounds are rare," he said still with his assertive voice. His eyes seemed to be judging Luuk's reaction.

Luuk understood what he implied by that utterance. Even though he had Contractbounds working under him, it didn't mean it was guaranteed that they had the necessary abilities. They were, after all, rare, so he got whatever he could.

"Alright. So what should I steal?"

"The details are inside this envelope." Mastro Gianni slid a big envelope across the desk towards Luuk. "You can bring a helper, and I don't care whatever method you use. You only need to make sure that it won't be traced back to us," he said, suddenly with a domineering voice.

Luuk nodded. He grabbed the envelope but didn't open it. He only tried to feel the content from outside.

"You will be paid fifty guilders in advance. It is inside the envelope. The remaining will be paid based on the results. Any question?"

"No. Nothing. I'll get it done as soon as possible," he said with intentness.

"That's the spirit." Mastro Gianno smiled wide, "You can find me here once the job is done."

Luuk nodded.

"Beppe!" shouted Mastro Gianno. The brawny man, hearing his name being called, opened the door from outside and politely entered the room. "If you have no more questions, Beppe will accompany you to the exit," he said with a friendly tone. He then shot a glance at the burly man.

"I'll take my leave then." Luuk gave a nod and got up from his chair. He followed Beppe outside and waited while the latter closed the door slowly. They walked back down the corridor and out to the restaurant front.

"Don't even think about just running away with money," Beppe looked straight at Luuk's eyes once they arrived back at the restaurant. "Fratello Maggiore is watching," he said threateningly.

Luuk shrugged it off and walked out of the restaurant.

...

Graham Hymes woke up late on Tuesday. He had used up all of his divination power so he felt exhausted. The clock on the wall showed ten-twelve. He stretched his body and got up from the bed. He continued stretching again while standing up and went to the bathroom to wash his face. He looked at himself in the mirror; his stubble had grown a lot. It wouldn't be long until it turned into a full beard. He took a shaving knife and trimmed it. His strong jawlines looked even more defined afterward.

Just as soon as he was finished, someone rang the doorbell to his office. He quickly got changed and answered the door after turning on the light. It was Luuk with his sleep-deprived face. He was actually not bad-looking, but the constant dark circles around his eyes made him look scummy. He was carrying a big envelope that caught Graham's attention, but he didn't ask about it.

"Morning, Luuk. Need anything?" he said while opening the door for his guest. Both men came into the office and sat opposite each other.

"I have something I need to have done and I need your help to do it," he said seriously while yawning at the same time.

"What is it? I'm in the middle of an investigation right now."

Luuk looked at Graham's outfit and looked around sarcastically.

"Not right now, right now. You get what I mean, I know." Graham shrugged.

"I know I know. I was only kidding. This job pays a lot, and it should be simple enough. I need your secrecy power." he said. He remembered that the person in front of him had used that kind of power while they were fighting.

"In that case, I want fifty percent of the payment," Graham said after thinking for a while. He needed to investigate the murder, but aside from the bizarre picture that Valentine found, he had only the mysterious company that the dead man had worked at. He needed to divine the picture or the company first before proceeding with the investigation.

Luuk didn't seem surprised by Graham's demand. "Sure," he said instantly. He then put the envelope on the desk and moved it closer to Graham. "Everything is inside this envelope."

Graham took the envelope and opened it. Inside, there were two photos and a lot of money. There was also a document. Graham took out the photos first and studied them. One was that of a black and white image of a strange-looking artifact with intricate patterns carved on it. There was a single open eye in the middle of the cube-shaped artifact. The second photo was that of a man with dangerous-looking eyes. Even though it was a photo, Graham felt like the man was staring directly into his eyes.

"So we are to steal this artifact from this man?" Graham deduced.

"Yes. There is intel on this man inside the envelope too. But there is only the exact information that we need— nothing else."

"It's a job for you, Val," Graham muttered. He then turned back to Luuk and asked, "Who commissioned you to do this job?"

"It's a hidden organization that goes by the name Fratello Maggiore," said Luuk, studying Graham's reaction.

Graham was only slightly surprised. "So you're working for the mafia now?"

"I'm not working for them," Luuk denied, "I was introduced by someone. I want the money and the chance to steal something great to please my Deity."

"I thought your Deity only wanted money."

"Yes, but I got this intuition at a spiritual level that stealing this item would appease Him," Luuk explained vaguely.

Graham didn't ask further. He read the document inside. There was the address of the man in the photo. His name was also on it. The target's name was Zeger de Witt and he lived on Paleisstraat. It was the street where high-ranking government officials lived! Graham didn't expect his target to be someone important.

Luuk saw the change of expression on Graham's face and seemed to understand the reason. "I was also surprised when I saw his address."

Graham didn't respond and continued reading. The intel said he would always carry the artifact with him, so trying to steal it from his house while he was away was out of the question. He kept reading the document and it said that the target would be attending a dinner party in three night's time at the house of the minister of finance on Koningsstraat.

The next part of the document was the observed abilities of the target. So he was a Contractbound as well. He had been observed to be able to shape-shift and spread illnesses, as well as instigate infighting between teammates. Graham went into thinking. His target seemed to have made contracts with several Deities. He would not be an easy target.

"So, our chance of stealing is either when he is sleeping or when he is on his way back from the dinner party," Graham finally spoke.

"I think so too," Luuk said. "But he has several abilities. Those would be difficult to deal with."

"Our goal is only to steal, right? As long as we do it covertly, we don't need to engage in a fight at all."

Luuk nodded. "Yes, I agree. I also would like to avoid a fight at any cost. This commission is not worth my life."

"We have three days to prepare. Can you observe the target to see if the intel was correct? I'll come up with a plan." Graham suggested.

"I think I can do it." he agreed after thinking for a while.

"Meanwhile, I need to carry on with my investigation and also the preparations," he said, indirectly asking Luuk to leave.

Luuk understood the hidden meaning and got up from the chair, "I'll take my leave then." he left the office and closed the door behind him.

Graham, who was now alone in his office, took out candles and pieces of paper. He needed to do a lot of divination today. He turned off the light and came back to sit in his chair.

First, he set the nine votive candles in the usual formation, following the pattern on the sigil of his Deity. He then lit the candles one by one starting from the top left all the way down to the middle, forming a spiral, or an inverted six. Once all the candles were lit, he concentrated and repeated the question he wanted to ask in his mind.

'What does the picture with four interlocking rings with numerous eyes mean?'

After he repeated the question enough times, the room suddenly grew darker and darker. Graham waited for an image to form in the flames, but suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his head. The flames all went out at the same time.

"Argh!" he shouted. His head hurt really bad and he felt blood running down his nose. He touched it and saw blood on his finger. He then wiped it with a tissue and came sitting down again.

His first divination had failed, but he still had to do several others. He relit the candles in the same procedure. Once it was done, he repeated the question.

'Where did Étienne Dechant work when he was alive?'

The room grew darker and darker. After a while, a blurry image gradually formed in the flames. It was a company building, but he couldn't read the name because of the blur. The image then zoomed out and showed the street where the building was. Graham recognized the street. It was Bloemstraat, a street south of Grotemarktstraat. There were a lot of entertainment places there.

Graham noted down the information and got ready for his next divination. He didn't need to lit the candles because they didn't go out. He only needed to concentrate on a question.

'What secret was Étienne Dechant hiding?'

The same thing happened to Graham again. The flames went out and he got a stabbing headache. Someone had done anti-divination on some matters regarding the dead man. It meant the secret was worth guarding.

"Val, I wonder what secret Mr. Dead Man was hiding. We need to find out somehow."

Next, he would try to divine about Luuk's commission. He lit the candles again and repeated the question.

'What is the best way to steal the artifact from Zeger de Witt?'

He waited for an image to appear but instead, he got a throbbing pain in his head. He had failed for the third time.

"Val, I think we're involved in matters higher than our current level," he concluded.

He then took a piece of paper and wrote on it while massaging his temples and the back of his head.

'The commission to steal the artifact will kill us.'

He burned the paper and watch the flame consume it slowly. It then stopped midway, indicating a negative response.

"At last, something good, Val." Graham smiled.