The First Wielder

Chapter three: Just A Kid

THREE

Nothing beats a challenging puzzle as an intellectual's past time. It's always nice to have something tricky to play with. Answering also adds as a bonus in the person's confidence.

Yet there are always uncrackable codes with mysterious methods to unlock, especially if you lack the adequate information.

Five growled, throwing the brown briefcase to his bedroom wall before collapsing to his bed and staring blankly at the ceiling.

The smartest sibling spent the past three days cooped up in his room and attempting to unlock the briefcase they found with their dad's letter. But no matter how many times he turned the dials in different patterns, rack his brain for any significant dates from the old man's birth, death, and other important events, and write numerous equations leading to different codes, nothing seemed to work.

It was like Five was missing something, something he couldn't put a finger to it.

And that annoyed him.

He messed his hair up in frustration, grunting at the now tedious task. Five turned his head to see the briefcase lying flat on the floor. It looked like it was taunting him, and it annoyed him to the highest degree.

"I've been lenient with you," he glared at the object. "But now I don't care anymore."

He already had an idea, something tucked at the back of his head due to how stupid it sounded. But now, he couldn't care less.

Five stood up and left his room, taking the briefcase with him. He arrived in the living room with a sour look on his face. When he reached there, he found the person he was looking for along with two others. All of them didn't seem to notice his arrival because of how invested they were in their work.

Diego was seated on the sofa, facing Abigail who opted to sit on the coffee table that had a bunch of newspapers and files littered on top of it, while Luther was standing across them. The two men were reading different paraphernalia while Abigail only skimmed through the newspaper articles.

"According to the examination, the shell casings from those armed men belong to semi-automatic rifles that aren't registered in this country. But they're also believed to be the most recent model," Diego spoke, throwing the file he was reading. "There may be a chance they're foreigners."

"So that's why we hadn't heard from them for the past days," Luther said. "They must be on a round trip."

"So it's a dead-end?" The second eldest brother raised a brow.

The brother sighed. "Unfortunately. Let's move our heads elsewhere."

"We could do that...or we could assume that the weapons are smuggled," Abigail trailed off causing her companions to look at her questionably.

She showed them a newspaper headline talking about the rise of purchased illegal goods. "There's a large chance those guns were bought illegally, hence being unregistered. People with a relationship to the black market can buy weapons ranging from the strongest and most recent model with a reasonable price, smuggle them in, and use it."

She then showed another article talking about black markets. "Our foes may be from an illegal organization or are associated with the black market following missions. We could be dealing with a bunch of money-hungry apes or a cunning group that doesn't like to get their hands dirty."

Diego couldn't help but whistle. "I like this kid."

"Thank you." Abigail gave a flattering smile and went back to reading whatever.