The Syndicate Safehouse - Overlooking the Bay
Silas Rook stood on the limestone balcony of his rented villa, the sea breeze ruffling his expensive silk robe. He peered through a high-powered, gold-rimmed telescope aimed directly across the bay at the imposing, cliff-top silhouette of St. Swithin's Academy. From this distance, the school looked like a jagged tooth biting into the sky, a fortress of secrets that mocked him.
The "Goblin" looked agitated. He chewed on the end of an unlit cigar, his heavy gold rings clicking rhythmically against the metal of the scope like a nervous tic. He wasn't looking at the architecture; he was looking for a crack in the armor.
"Report," he barked, his voice a reedy rasp that didn't match his expensive surroundings. He didn't turn around.
His lieutenant, a hulking man with a thick bandage taped over his nose where Emily Cronus had kicked him on the deck of the Leviathan, stepped forward. He held a glossy, grainy photograph with trembling fingers.
"Taken this morning, sir," the lieutenant said. "By our asset in the kitchen staff. Long-range lens."
Rook snatched the photo from the man's hand.
He brought it close to his face, squinting. It showed the main school courtyard, bathed in weak morning light. In the center, clear as day, was a boy in a heavy grey cloak. He was laughing with a girl in a red coat—the cousin, Linda.
It was Eiden Killian. The dead boy. The ghost.
Rook's hand shook, crumpling the edge of the photo. A vein began to throb violently in his temple.
"He lied," Rook whispered, the realization hitting him like a physical blow. "Akuma lied to me. He looked me in the eye and told me the Wolf was dead. He said the threat was neutralized. He said the ocean took him."
"The boy looks... healthy, sir," the lieutenant added unhelpfully, shifting his weight. "He's not hiding. And he's gathering people. The students... they follow him like he's a piper."
Rook snarled and threw the telescope off the balcony. It crashed onto the rocks below with a satisfying crunch of expensive glass.
"He's not 'gathering people.' He's building an army right under Akuma's nose," Rook hissed, pacing the balcony. "Akuma is playing a dangerous game. He's arrogant. He thinks he can keep a lit match in a powder keg because he controls the explosion. He thinks he can tame a Wolf."
Rook grabbed his satellite phone from the patio table. He dialed the number that never appeared on phone bills, the private line to the King.
The Penthouse
Akuma answered on the first ring. The background was silent. "Rook. I am busy."
"You're a liar, Akuma," Rook spat, his voice trembling with a mixture of fear and rage. "The boy is alive. He's walking around your school like he owns the bricks. I have pictures, General. He's breathing."
"He is contained," Akuma said, his voice terrifyingly calm. "He is under strict surveillance. He is a lesson for my daughter. A test of her loyalty."
"He is a Wolf!" Rook screamed into the receiver, his spit flying. "You don't keep Wolves as pets! You kill them! You skin them! If he is alive, he will go for the vault. He will go for my gold. He is going for it, Akuma!"
"The vault is sealed. The school is locked down. Nothing goes in or out without my permission."
"Permission?" Rook laughed, a high, hysterical sound. "That gold is my money, Akuma! It's the repayment for the loan you stole twenty years ago to build your little kingdom! I want it moved. I want it in my possession. Tonight."
"Impossible," Akuma said, his voice turning cold, dropping an octave. "The students are on campus. The term is active. The logistics of moving ten tons of bullion unnoticed... we wait for the term break. We wait for the cover of holiday."
"We don't have until the break!" Rook yelled. "Do you think Durai is sitting on his mountain knitting? If the Wolf finds a way to signal the Den... if the Wolves come down that mountain... we lose everything. We lose the gold, we lose the school, we lose our heads. Move the gold. Or I will."
There was a pause on the line. A heavy, breathing silence.
"Silas," Akuma's voice dropped to a lethal whisper. "If you step foot on my property without my permission, I will have the Shadows remove your skin while you are still using it."
"Shall I contact berlin?" Rook countered, his greed overcoming his fear. "You're fighting a two-front war, General. And you're losing. You're getting old. Send me 20 shadows, I will take care of it myself"
Rook hung up before Akuma could respond.
He turned to his lieutenant, his eyes burning with avarice.
"Mobilize the recovery team," Rook ordered. "The heavy lifters. The submersibles. And the breaching charges."
"Sir? We're attacking the school?"
"No," Rook smiled, his teeth yellow and sharp, the grin of a goblin who found a key. "We're not going through the front gate. We're going through the back door. The sea caves. The water lock. We drain the vault from beneath him."
He put on his coat.
"We will take out the gold."
Harry sat up so fast his heavy headphones fell off, clattering onto the desk. Linda beside him
"Eiden!"
Eiden, who was sitting on a crate in the corner, rhythmically sharpening his combat knife with a whetstone, looked up. "What is it?"
"Chatter," Harry said, his fingers flying across the dials of his jury-rigged radio, fine-tuning the frequency. "High-frequency, encrypted burst transmissions. It's coming from the bay. It's not Akuma's channel. It's an external signal."
"Can you crack it?" Hazel asked, looking up from her maps, her pencil hovering over a schematic of the ventilation system.
"I don't need to," Harry said, pressing one ear cup to his head. "I recognize the signal pattern. It's a localized coordination frequency. They use it for moving heavy cargo. Submersibles. Dredgers."
He looked at Eiden, his face pale in the glow of the vacuum tubes.
"They're moving something big. Tonight. And the signal origin... it's pointed at the base of the cliffs. Directly below the school."
Eiden stood up, sheathing his knife. He walked to the map of the school's foundation Hazel had drawn. He traced the lines of the lowest level.
"The Water Lock," Eiden realized. "There's an external release valve for the overflow. If they have a submarine or a submersible barge... they can drain the gold directly into the sea without ever entering the school. They can bypass the titanium door entirely."
"Thieves?" Margot asked from her post by the door. "Who would dare rob Akuma?"
"I don't know," Eiden said, staring at the map. "But that gold doesn't belong to Akuma. It belongs to the Crown. It's the war effort. It's the blood of a nation."
He grabbed his shoes, swinging it over his shoulders.
"We have to stop them."
"How?" Harry asked, gesturing to their meager equipment. "We can't fight a submersible team alone. We have handguns and radios. They'll have heavy weapons. And if we call the police, Akuma will just kill us for exposing the vault."
Eiden checked his pistol. He looked at the map, then up at his friends. A dangerous idea formed behind his eyes.
"We don't need the police," Eiden said. "We have the Princess."
"Emily?" Hazel asked, shocked, dropping her pencil. "She'll shoot you on sight. She hates you."
"Not if I give her a target she hates more than me," Eiden said. "Not if I give her a mission."
He turned to the door.
"She thinks she's protecting her father's legacy. She thinks she's the guardian of the fortress. If I tell her someone is breaking in the back door to steal her inheritance... to steal her father's 'hard work'..."
Eiden smiled. It wasn't a nice smile. It was the smile of the Spymaster moving a piece on the board.
"She'll lead us right to them. She'll bring the firepower."
He looked at Margot.
"Margot, find her. Tell her the sensors in the Water Lock are tripping. Tell her there's a seismic breach. Don't tell her it's me. Make her come to investigate."
"You're going to team up with her?" Margot asked, terrified. "After she shot you?"
"To save the gold. And maybe... just maybe... have time to finish my story."