?273 Chapter 273 – I Trust You
"Nick, you've been silent for a while," Wyntor said.
Nick looked at Wyntor and sighed.
"I don't know," he said.
Wyntor furrowed his brows as he looked at Nick.
Trevor and Jenny also looked at Nick with uncertainty.
Nick was not a good liar.
After a while, Wyntor sighed. "Meeting adjourned. I will give new orders later," he said.
Jenny and Trevor looked at each other, conflict visible in their eyes.
They knew what Wyntor meant.
Sadly, there was nothing they could do about it.
In the end, they stood up, said their goodbyes, and exited the room.
Yet, neither Nick nor Wyntor stood up.
Nick avoided looking into Wyntor's eyes, while Wyntor was looking at Nick with a furious and penetrating gaze.
"Can you tell me now?" Wyntor asked with repressed anger.
Nick felt quite uncomfortable.
"I know who the perpetrator is," Nick said, "but I can't tell you the reason why it's them."
Wyntor slowly closed his eyes and took a very deep breath to calm his anger.
"Okay," he said after some seconds. "Then, tell me what you can tell me."
Nick also didn't feel great right now.
He felt like he should tell Wyntor, but he also knew that it would most likely end in his death.
Sure, Wyntor and Nick were great friends, but Nick didn't think that Wyntor would be willing to sacrifice his life for Nick.
"I saw the face of their leader during the battle," Nick said. "Together with the report from the guards, everything points towards one target."
"The Spartans."
Wyntor narrowed his eyes. "How certain are you?"
"Very certain," Nick answered. "The leader of the ambush was their Chief Zephyx Extractor, Kallum Sondur. Additionally, Kallum Sondur was also in the Outer City during the battle, according to the guards."
Wyntor looked at the table with furrowed brows.
Obviously, he was thinking about something.
"Do you think it's possible that they let you win and escape on purpose?" Wyntor asked.
Now, it was Nick's time to furrow his eyebrows. "Why do you think so?"
"Everything just fits too well," Wyntor said. "You escape from such a brutal ambush. You see the face of the leader. You manage to grab one of their corpses. The leader openly went to the Outer City."
"This smells like a huge setup. Everything just seems way too convenient."
"Wyntor, I killed nine people," Nick said. "Do you really think that all nine of these people joined the mission, knowing that they would give their lives?"
"Do you really think that they didn't fight for their survival?"
"And what about the leader himself? Was he also here to kill himself to keep the secret?"
Wyntor just kept looking at the table with furrowed brows.
He could see Nick's logic, but it just felt so unreal.
How could anyone survive such an ambush?
All of the attackers were at least as powerful as Nick, and there had been eleven of them.
So, while Nick's words made sense, it just felt so unreal.
It was way more likely for the enemy to have planned for Nick to escape so that he would blame the wrong target.
Maybe Solace sacrificed a couple of their Johns to make Dark Dream blame and attack the Spartans?
If everything worked out, Solace would gain a lot of Specters without angering Kugelblitz.
Was it really that simple?
Was it really just the Spartans?
"Wyntor, I killed nine people," Nick said with annoyance. "All nine of them wanted to survive. None of them wanted to die."
"This was not some kind of setup."
"They honestly tried to get me."
"Get you?" Wyntor repeated.
"Tried to kill me, whatever," Nick said with annoyance.
Wyntor looked into Nick's eyes.
The fact that Nick had said get instead of kill seemed suspicious.
Wyntor had known Nick for years, and he felt that Nick would have used kill instead of get in this circumstance.
"Were they really trying to kill you?" Wyntor asked.
Nick gritted his teeth.
"No, they tried to disable me," Nick said with annoyance, "but that is really not important."
"How is this not important?" Wyntor asked, also annoyed. "This gives way more credibility to my theory of someone setting us up!"
"Nick, do you honestly think you would have been able to survive if they really tried to kill you?"
"Yes!" Nick shouted in anger as he stood up. "I am absolutely certain I can! That would not have made any difference!"
Wyntor looked deeply into Nick's eyes.
Silence.
"Are you sure?" Wyntor asked.
"Yes, I am," Nick slowly spoke through gritted teeth, his eyes filled with anger.
Silence.
Wyntor took a deep breath and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"Do you know why they didn't want to kill you?" Wyntor asked.
Nick sat down again.
"Yes," he said two seconds later.
Wyntor nodded.
"Are you absolutely certain it is not a setup?" he asked.
Nick nodded solemnly. "I am."
Wyntor took another deep breath.
Then, he sighed.
"Fine," he said. "Then, I believe you. Even though I am dying to know what is going on here, I trust you."
"Thank you," Nick answered after sighing himself.
"So, what will they do next? Do you know that?" Wyntor asked.
Nick looked at the table.
Telling Wyntor was risky.
This was very similar to his situation with the city.
If Wyntor had known that Nick was the target, not Dark Dream, there would have been a possibility that Wyntor would have just fired Nick to get the huge target off his back.
After all, Dark Dream became a target just by being affiliated with Nick.
Right now, Wyntor was under the impression that Dark Dream was the true target, not Nick.
Nick looked at Wyntor for a bit.
Wyntor could tell that Nick knew what the Spartans would do next.
Nick thought about his next words for a while.
"Yes, I know what they are most likely going to do," Nick said.
"Their target is me, not Dark Dream, but they will most likely target Dark Dream now to get to me."