Chapter 400 - Homeground (2/2)

It was too late now, though. Piercings raised his weapon again and fired five shots at the window of the café across the street, leaving spiderwebs of cracks on the large gla.s.s pane. Then, with gritted teeth, he s.h.i.+elded his head with his leather jacket and rammed the gla.s.s window, sending a shower of broken gla.s.s on himself and into the coffee shop as he fell in. Ignoring cuts and bruises, he rolled off the ground and sprinted toward the back door.

Zhang Heng looked at the city map on his phone. The Isère river was only one kilometer away-Piercings should be able to make it there without a problem. As Zhang Heng looked on, someone spotted him.

Zhang Heng started running, and it wasn’t until the people chasing him were out of sight that he stopped to catch his breath. He looked around, and a subway station nearby caught his attention. Without thinking twice, he jumped off the roof of a pet shop and bought a hat from the homeless man at the entrance of the subway for ten euros. Putting it on to cover his face, he rushed into a train before its doors closed.

During the train ride, Little Boy sent him a video.

Piercings looked like a mess as he retreated and fought all the way to Isère. He was about to be captured by the enemy when the highway incident reoccurred-he had jumped into the river.

“Your cover was blown, but Waldo hacked into the bar’s system and replaced all your photos and personal information.” “Thank you,” Zhang Heng said, “I’m coming back.”

Ten seconds later, Little Boy sent him the subway map with the route back to the hotel marked out for him.

One hour later, Zhang Heng returned to the hideout.

Ponytail cautiously peeked around at the corridor to ensure that Zhang Heng wasn’t followed before closing the door behind him.

“What should we do? The surveillance cameras at the bar aren’t connected to the web, and I can’t do anything. They managed to capture you, so you can’t show your face to Black Nest’s people. How should we proceed with the next part of the mission?” he asked.

“On top of that, after two incidents, Black Nest will surely increase surveillance in places Leah frequents. They’ll be able to spot suspicious individuals right away,” said Phillip, “We have no way of getting close to her.”

“Then, we’ll make her come to us,” Zhang Heng said.

“Huh?”

“We’ll make her come to us. You guys are right. If we allow Black Nest to be always a step ahead of us, there’s no way we can win,” Zhang Heng said. “So, we need to set the operation in our own hunting grounds.”

“I get it now.” Waldo nodded. But after a while, he scratched his head and continued, “That, uhh… I understand what you mean, but could you explain it to the others?”.

Zhang Heng pulled up the map of the city on his phone and pointed at a place in the north. “There’s a ski resort here, about an hour’s drive from Gren.o.ble. After what happened, they will be sweeping the city for the guy who jumped into the river and me. We don’t have to face them head-on and avoid them by hiding out there. At the same time, we can do the right preparations—turning the ski resort into our home ground.”

“You’re right… but you’ve overlooked one problem. All of Leah’s communication devices are under Black Nest’s surveillance. They are just waiting for us to contact her. The moment we do that, the first people you’ll see here will be Black Nest’s secret task force. If we don’t contact her, though, she will never come to this ski resort. You see, it’s like a paradox.”

“It’s skiing season now, but Leah is no ski-enthusiast. You can count on both hands the number of times she went skiing,” Waldo said, “If we wait for her at the ski resort, we might not even see her after two years.”