Chapter 71: Assassination Of Nyx (1)
Chapter 71
By the time the clock finally struck five, the day had begun it slow descent into evening, painting the horizon with a bright layer of orange as Alex stood at the edge of the harbor with his green eyes fixed on the dark stretch of water ahead of him.
The chilly wind coming off the sea brushed lightly against his skin, but his focus didn’t waver in the very least. Everything he had planned yesterday ran through his mind in perfect sequence, each step was layered carefully over the next, leaving no room for any hesitation.
Alex took a deep breath, steadying his heart and crouched slightly before slipping into the water without making a loud splash. It was a good thing that he at least knew how to swim, if not the plan would have been a bust from the start. Even though—the icy sting of the water was still a far cry from the warm sleep he had been enjoying this morning before he forced himself to wake up.
Submerging himself fully into the cold icy depth, Alex moved through the water with graceful strokes that could put any Olympic champion to shame. He made sure to keep his head down and navigated through the labyrinth of rusted pier pilings and barnacle encrusted concrete.
Finally after a few minutes of swimming, he reached the underside of the pier. Pausing beneath the wooden structure, Alex gripped onto one of the beams as he pulled his upper body out of the water. The scent of rust filled the air mixed faintly with something like oil and old metal.
The scene was exactly as he remembered. The shipyard ahead was a dense maze of containers and towering machinery. Carefully, he climbed along the underside with his fingers finding stable hold with practiced ease until he reached a point where he could pull himself up without exposing his figure to the enemies.
After he fully got out of the water, he used the shadows and containers in front of him to hide his position from the snipers. Remembering about the bulky man’s beast-like senses, he knew for a fact that the man would be around, so not willing to take any chances this time. Alex willed his spatial storage space and pulled out a can of tuna.
This time he didn’t just dab it on his collar, he made sure to coat his forearm and the hem of his damp shirt, causing a faint fishy smell to drift out. If that bastard was anywhere near the perimeter, then he was going to find nothing but a load of stinky fish smell.
Satisfied, he moved again, heading deeper into the shipyard until he found a vantage point high enough to observe the area without being seen. From there he decided to wait.
Time soon passed slowly as the fading evening sun eventually gave way to the dim glow of late evening. The shipyard grew eerily quiet and the distant sounds of the city began growing dimmer and dimmer. Then, right on schedule, he heard the sound of multiple footsteps.
Different figures clad in black clothes emerged from various directions and blended into the environment as they took up their positions.
Alex’s eyes narrowed slightly as he counted them, making sure to note their placement. The snipers were already moving into position, climbing large structures that gave them clear line of sight across the entire area.
Zzzzzz... Zzzzz...
A low hum filled the air, signalling that the signal jammer was now active. At that exact moment, a low-key pitch black Maybach Landaulet, which was the pinnacle of luxury in 2009, rolled silently into the center of the shipyard.
The door opened and Nyx stepped out, looking as beautiful as ever. Today she was dressed in a black tailored suit that accentuated her devilish figure. Behind her followed the baby-faced bodyguard, her expression was as unreadable and innocent as a porcelain doll.
Alex gritted his teeth after seeing her appearance.
’Dammit! Even after sending this stubborn woman an anonymous message, warning her that her freaking life was in danger, she still came!’
He had spent his hours writing that text, trying to sound urgent and unrecognizable, hoping that Nyx would at least yield to his message, but it turns out the woman was just too stubborn!
"I don’t see the shipment Doris. I thought you told me that it was scheduled to arrive by this time? So why is the dock empty?"
"Sorry Nyx."
Before Nyx could respond, the sound of a slow, mocking applause echoed from the darkness behind a stack of worn out containers. A man with brunette hair stepped into the light with a smug oily grin plastered across his face.
Nyx’s eyes narrowed almost instantly the moment she saw his face.
"Vaughan," she said her voice dropping a level lower. "What is going on here? Don’t you have an important assignment to be doing in the company?"
Vaughan, the third in command of her faction and a man known more for his greed than his spine, stopped a few feet away. Flanking him were five men. Two of them radiated this kind of chilly aura that made them seem anything but normal.
One was the bulky man, Gnash, who was already sniffing the air with a confused frown, and the second was a tall man in a long coat whose ability remained a mystery. The other three looked like elite mercenaries with submachine guns leveled directly at Nyx’s face.
As Nyx turned to glance at her bodyguard, Doris didn’t form a defensive stance. Instead, she just took three calm steps backward and stood at Vaughan’s side with her head tucked down.
"You too Doris?" Nyx asked with disappointment written all over her delicate face.
"Give it up, Nyx," Vaughan sneered, his voice thick with victory. "The shipyard is already sealed. The signal is jammed. And my people have snipers positioned at every corner with no blindspot. So you’re practically as good as dead."
Vaughan then stepped forward and roamed his lecherous eyes all over Nyx with a possessive greed. He reached out his hand and used his fingers to slowly graze her soft cheek.
"You know, It’s really a shame that you have to die today. You were always so beautiful when you’re in control. I kind of wonder what you’ll look like when you’re begging with your face in between my legs."
Up in the shadows of the rafters, Alex felt a white-hot flash of rage sear through his mind. His hand gripped the iron railing so hard that it began to deform.
Just seeing that oily bastard touch his woman made every instinct in his body scream for blood. He even almost vaulted from the rafters right then and there, ready to tear Vaughan’s arm from his socket, but he forced himself to breathe.
’Calm down Alex, if you move now the snipers will turn us into swiss cheese. First things first, clear the snipers.’
While Vaughan continued to gloat, Alex used that opportunity to make his move. So, like a blur, he reached the first snipers nest atop a container in seconds. The man didn’t even hear any footsteps before Alex’s hand covered his mouth and struck him with a knife chop to the his carotid artery, knocking him unconscious.
After summoning the robes he had bought earlier, just for this occasion, he tied the man and moved on to the next, then the third, leaving a trail of slumped, unconscious bodies in his wake.
Down below, the psychological war continued.
"We’ve already signed over seventy percent of your entire property, Nyx," Vaughan laughed while pulling a stack of paper from his pocket. "By tomorrow morning, the city won’t even remember your name. You’re yesterday news."
Nyx didn’t even look at the papers or the firearm pointed in her direction. She just stared directly into Vaughan’s eyes with a look of pure profound boredom that made his laughter die in his throat.
"Is that all? If you know you’re done speaking nonsense, how about you go call the real mastermind of this operation, Vaughan."
The mercenaries shifted uncomfortably, and Gnash even stifled a laugh that was beginning to form. But Vaughan’s face flushed a deep red, like a pig’s liver and he almost raised his hands to strike Nyx.
"Who do you think you are?! Do you think that you’re in a position to make any demands?" He then took a deep breath and calmed down, before continuing. "And what makes you so certain that I am not the mastermind?"
"You are not," Nyx continued while stepping toward him despite the guns cocked at her body. "If you really were the mastermind, then I would already be dead by now. You’ve been stalling me with nonsense for the past ten minutes. So I’m a hundred percent sure that you don’t hold any real power to kill me, Vaughan. You’re just a puppet holding a script."
She paused as a faint mocking smile played on her lips.
"So before you get the order to kill me from your cowardly mastermind, won’t you at least grant this one request from a dying woman? And let me see who actually had the balls to plan all this."
Vaughan stared at her, his mouth working as he tried to find a comeback. Finally, he burst into a loud, hysterical laugh that echoed throughout the entire shipyard.
"Fine! What did I expect from the underworld queenpin, you were always too smart for your own good, Nyx. If you really want to see who’s really pulling the strings before you take your last breath, I’ll grant you that request."
He then turned back and signalled to the heavy iron gates at the far end of the shipyard. At that moment, a pitch black, inconspicuous sedan, completely devoid of any markings or license plates, rolled slowly into the light. The engine stopped and the silence that followed was thick and suffocating.
Alex, having just neutralized the final sniper on the far crane, froze as he watched the back door of the car open. A man in red suit who looked like all those old mafia boss from the movies he used to watch back in the days, stepped out.
Everything about him carried an air of quiet, absolute authority that made Vaughan’s bravado look more like a child’s tantrum.
As the man walked into the center of the shipyard, the dim light hit his face causing Nyx’s composure which had been completely unshakable throughout the entire ordeal, finally shatter. Her amber eyes even widened in a way that Alex had never seen before.
"Y-you..." She whispered, her voice trembling with a shock that bordered on grief.