The Mystery Fighter III

The Mystery Fighter III (16)

~Julian~

I didn't get a chance to speak up before the sound of Brock's gang approaching Pete's crew snapped me back to reality.

Still stunned, Zayden stared unmoving at Cassie's figure. Brock's voice calling out to Pete's group didn't seem to faze him.

I bit my tongue, suddenly unsure of how to handle the conversation.

I had consciously left out the fact that Cassie was currently being used as a mole in this whole operation in the car ride to Range.

Though some of the texts Brock had sent Zayden had included the whole explanation behind Cassie infiltrating Pete's crew, I had excluded that part when I had passed on the information to Zayden. The reason for it was that I knew Zayden would disapprove, and in turn, be a pain in the ass the rest of the way over here. I figured there was no way would Zayden follow Brock's instructions on staying put in the outskirts had he known that Cassie was here as well, running around with the enemy crew. I decided to wait until we got called into action.

Though I originally thought I had made a calculated decision a couple of hours ago, I had failed to actually bring the topic up once we finally made it here.

Thinking back on it, the time when we first met up with Brock would have been the best time to bring it up to Zayden. At least then he could have directed his anger towards Brock instead of me.

Now, I was sure to get all the heat. Plus the heat for not telling him in advance.

I clenched my hands inside my jacket pocket as I frantically tried to figure out how to break the news to him. Hopefully, he wouldn't hate me for this.

From where we were sitting on the balcony, I couldn't make out what Brock was saying to the group. Only from their postures and body language could I gauge what was going on. Still, I could tell that for someone being told that they're being surrounded by the biggest gang in town, Pete appeared surprisingly calm as he stared back at Brock's approaching figure. Behind RL's new leader followed nearly a dozen members, effectively dominating Pete's five men, not including Cassie, in terms of numbers.

Next to me, Zayden continued to curse under his breath as pulled out his phone. When realizing the battery was dead, he slammed the new phone against the railing.

A deep clang echoed across the alley, making a few members of the gangs look in our direction. Zayden's action earned him a kick in the leg from Jesper.

Zayden ignored his warning and pushed off the railing.

«I don't know what the hell is happening here, but I'm going down there. Both of you, stay here.»

A loud whistle from below made Zayden stop in his tracks. My eyes found Pete removing his fingers from his mouth and making a gesture to the rest of his crew. He then turned, and together with the members, headed down the alley in the opposite direction of RL. I had missed much of the interaction between the two gangs because of Zayden's restlessness, but it seemed no further conflict would develop tonight. Whatever Brock had told them was enough to make Pete retreat right away.