Bloodbath of the Fallen Crown

18

"We still have nine hours until we are supposed to be here," Nicolas checked his clock. "What do you want to do?"

We were in a cheap and disgusting motel a few miles away from the center of Seoul. The jet dropped us off about an hour ago. We took as many precautions as we could so that they wouldn't know we were here, but there is now way of knowing if they do or don't. Every major gang and mafia-affiliate knew what I looked like and Nicolas lived here long enough to leave a big impression, so hiding had a low chance of really helping us.

"How far is your hideout from here?"

He raised an eyebrow, "you want to go there? For all we know they could have taken them from there. Is it really safe?"

I sighed, completely beat. "No, but what other choice do we have? They are the biggest organization in this country, we can't really hide from them. Doesn't really sound like they appreciate you all that much here, so it's not like we can ask someone for help. Best we can do is go to the scene where it happened and try and figure out how it all went down. Make sure that information hasn't been stolen."

He stood up and opened the weapons bag that Mateo prepared for us. "It's about an hour from here in car. We can go now. It doesn't have any keys to it. It's password protected."

I stood up and went to fill up a glass of water. "Let's go then."

After taking a cab to a mile away from the house and walking the rest of the way, we came to a stop in front of his safe house. It was more of a cabin. It had a small porch and a lamp at the front. It looked to be made completely out of wood from the outside. I get why he used this, it looked completely inconspicuous. 

Nicolas walked up to the entrance and punched in the code. I scoffed upon seeing it. "Really?"

He shrugged, "haven't been discovered, have I?"

When he opened the door, I laughed nervously. "I actually think you did."

Everything was a mess. Things were scattered across the ground, glass on the floor and broken pieces of wood. A mirror on the wall was shattered to pieces. One of the men Gabriel took with him was on the floor, his chest bleeding. He was dead.

Still, Nicolas went over and checked for pulse. He looked at me and shook his head. I took out my handgun and began looking around. "Check on your information, I'll take a look around."

He nodded, walking to the door that seemed to lead to a basement. It wasn't until he groaned that I remembered he was injured. 

I made my way around the cabin. I checked the bathroom, which looked intact. I checked the back of the cabin through the window and stepped out for a moment, checking for tracks. There were none. Daylight was ending soon, was all I could think when I looked up.

I'd never been to Korea. Hell, I never wanted to come either. When I thought about places I wanted to travel, this never really came to mind. But, now, being here made it different. Standing here in the middle of the trees felt refreshing. It felt... liberating.

What the hell am I saying? 

Maybe it's because I'm so tense and stressed. I've been feeling ready to burst, lately. Maybe being here in the middle of the quiet forest makes me feel like I'm in the air. Like I'm floating through the atmosphere. Weightless and completely free of worries. 

The air here felt nice. It felt different. It was different than the suffocation in Sicily or the poisonous atmosphere of Germany. Despite the leader of the mafia here potentially trying to kill me, the air here felt nice.

But that meant little when I had so much to worry about. I allowed myself one more deep breath before I went back inside the cabin and kept looking around. I went to the far right of the cabin, where a closed room was. I opened the door and saw a bed. This was his bedroom. I bit my lip, feeling silly at the fact that I was questioning whether I should go in or not. I had to, to make sure nothing looked to be tampered with. Still, the queasy feeling in my stomach didn't go away.