The Black Swan Behind (Beauty of Fire)

174 Hostage

That night, a black car drove sluggishly and stopped at the side of the road. Not long after, the car was turned off and a man got out of the driver’s door. A man in a long black coat walked towards a 24-hour mini-market on the side of the deserted road.

The brown-haired man was named Lune Sky. He took a few packs of cigarettes and a few bottles of cold beer before bringing them to the cashier. Lately, he had been thinking a lot because the group where he worked was in an unfavourable condition. He thought about his future which was tied to a gangster group that was on the verge of collapse. He felt like he wanted to run away from there instead of having to put himself in danger if his group would be attacked again later by the enemy, while they had lacked members. But if he just walked out, his boss would definitely find him and kill him.

“Sir, this is the total,”

Lune’s thought was broken when a girl called out to him while pointing at the small screen that displayed the numbers connected to the cashier’s computer, “Oh, sorry I was.. having some thought,” he said, pulling his wallet out of his coat pocket.

The girl behind the cashier smiled and shook her head, “No problem. Do you want a plastic bag for this?” she asked kindly.

Lune nodded, “Yes, please.”

“Okay.” She put the in-all-black man’s groceries into a plastic bag. Then she gave the groceries along with the change, “Thank you. Have a nice day.”

Lune smiled back at the friendly girl, “I hope so.” he muttered under his breath as he walked out the door of the mini-market.

When he reached his car, Lune got inside, started the engine and drove for a few meters. But soon the man realized that something was wrong with the tire of his car. He did not take the car to the middle of the road and returned it to the side. He immediately got out of the driver’s seat and checked his car’s right rear tire. Sure enough, it turned out that the tire was badly flat.

.....

Lune’s brows furrowed when he found a fairly large and neat tear there. It looked like the tire had been torn off using sharp stuff. He realized that someone was working on his car. He immediately got up from his squatting position and looked around the dark, deserted road. He got a bad feeling about this.

While taking his cell phone out of his pocket, Lune got back into the driver’s seat in a hurry. Once inside and closed the door, he quickly pressed the lock button. His heart was beating fast, realizing that he might be in danger.

The dial tone kept ringing. Lune was calling some of his subordinates to come to pick him up immediately. If it weren’t for the lack of men, perhaps Lune wouldn’t be wandering around alone. Usually, he had at least one bodyguard to keep him company if he went out base alone. But now, everyone had to stay in the base to protect their weak boss. Yes, Oscar Chopper was that weak and selfish. He would order everyone, young and old, men and women, to stand in front of him to be a shield so that he would not be hurt.

“Where are those people?” Lune muttered frantically as he looked at his cellphone screen again after realizing that the dial tone had stopped because the person he was calling didn’t pick up the phone.

“ARGH!!” Lune grimaced when he suddenly felt his neck being strangled back. His hands quickly grabbed the object that was wrapping around his neck and tried to pull it back. It was like a very thick leather belt.

The strangle was so strong that Lune couldn’t speak other than grimacing and making a strange sound as a sign that he was struggling to breathe. His hands couldn’t help to hold and tried to pull the rope that was pressing against his throat, so that it loosened up to give him space to breathe.

Lune didn’t realize that the hand of the person in the back seat who was trying to kill him had reached towards the car door and pulled the car lock button. After a few seconds, Lune’s eyes saw a man in black clothes getting into the car through the front passenger door.

The man had a small body. Not only his entire body and hands were covered by black clothes and gloves, but the strange man also wore a mask that covered his entire head tightly. In an instant, Lune could guess that the figure was Black, a man who had been a hot topic of conversation in the gangster world.

The man who had just gotten into the car was Emma. Meanwhile, the one who was strangling Luke’s neck was Rachel, who when the man was in the mini market, had already broken into the back door of the car and got into it after she tore the tire of his black car.

Emma took out a very sharp pocketknife and opened it right next to Lune’s eyes.

“W-what do you want?” Luke asked desperately. He could still speak because it seemed that the man who was strangling him was loosening the belt that was being wrapped around his neck.

“I want you to do something for us,” Emma said by sticking the tip of the knife under Lune’s side jaw, right next to the veins in his neck. “Don’t move if you love your life.” she threatened in a casual tone.

“W-what is it?” Lune asked directly. He wasn’t going to beg the men to let him go because they wouldn’t do it. That’s not how things work in the dark world. Here, there was no forgiveness or mercy. What exists was what was most beneficial and detrimental.

“Become our spy. And I want you to provoke your boss, Oscar Chopper to start a war with Lee Mu Fei.” Emma explained.

Lune’s brows furrowed instantly, “I can’t do that. Oscar would kill me if he finds out I betrayed him. Besides, what do you want from doing that? Our group is already on the verge of collapse. You don’t have to worry our men would commit any crime in the streets. So, you’ve taken me captive for nothing now.” he explained.

Emma shook her head, “You don’t have to guess what our plans are. Just tell us whether you’re willing to work for us or not. If you’re afraid Oscar would kill you, I hope you’re not afraid this knife would cut a big tear along your neck.”

Lune gulped which felt like a hand of glass slicing his desert-dry throat, “P-please don’t kill me. A-alright. I.. I’ll do it. I’ll do what you ask.”

“You think I can just take your word for it? Of course, we have to have a guarantee for this. Tell us Oscar Chopper’s and your group’s biggest secret right now. Give me the most convincing secret so I won’t kill you. Hurry up.” Emma said.

Lune gulped again. His forehead was full beaded of sweat and his body was trembling, “Oscar Chopper once molested a schoolgirl to death. He ordered two of his men to throw her body into the middle of the sea with ballast so that it didn’t float to the surface of the water. Until now, no one knows about this other than the four of us.”

That confession made the blood in Emma’s and Rachel’s heads boil instantly. Unknowingly, Rachel tightened her grip even more, causing Lune to squirm and run out of breath.

Emma immediately touched Rachel’s hand lightly and shook her head. It was indeed a disgusting fact, but they could not kill their own hostage. They must not allow temporary emotions to derail their mission.

Then Emma took out her cellphone and opened the video recorder which she pointed at Lune’s face, “Retell the information along with the name of the victim and where you dumped the body. If you make any kind of a mess, we will send the video to everyone in the dark world and the police, including Oscar Chopper. You don’t think he’d forgive you after revealing the secret that will land him in jail, do you?”

Lune’s eyes widened. He didn’t expect that Black would even think about recording him. He thought that just revealing the secret would make the two masked men let go of him. Previously, he thought that he still could deny that he was not the one who spilt the dark secret. But it turned out that Black was smarter than he imagined.

“Didn’t you hear what I said? Say it quickly before this knife severs your tendons,” Emma growled. Her hand held a knife and the other held a cell phone that kept recording. Even so, she wasn’t afraid the man would break loose because Rachel was always ready to save things.

With a heavy heart and body still shaking, Lune finally said what Black asked with a camera recording his confession.

Emma smiled as she finished recording the confession of the male assistant who worked for Oscar Chopper, “It’s clear now,” Emma said with her focus back on Lune. “Tell me your number. You’ll be our spy and tell us what’s going on with the Creeper, both the Greenvalley and Chingsu District. You’ll tell us anything you see and hear, in as much detail as you can.”

“A-Alright,” Lune replied and gave his phone number. Then Black tried to dial the number to make sure that it was indeed Lune’s number which immediately rang when being called.

“Right.. What’s your name?” Emma asked in a rather friendly tone as she tucked her cell phone into her leather jacket’s pocket.

“Lune.” The man replied.

Emma nodded, “All right, Lune. Looks like our meeting ends here for now. I hope you wouldn’t disappoint us. You should have heard who destroyed Hell Gate’s main base and beat all your men who committed crimes on the street. I hope you’re not curious how we can break your fingers one by one if you can’t work properly,”

Lune could only gulp and nodded once a little because the sharp knife was still stuck on his skin.