Xia Lei leapt off the table and kicked a chair over to the front of Angelo. “Take a seat, Mister Angelo.”
“If you’re here, who’s in Valletta?” Angelo was positively perplexed, eager for clarification.
Xia Lei snickered. “Probably not me, don’t you think?”
“You tricked us!” Angelo found it difficult to suppress the rage within him.
“I could say the same to you. You took my money, my weapons and yet still wish to get rid of me. Did you not consider the consequences of your actions?”
Extending an arm, Angelo reached towards the telephone on the table.
A dangerous smirk splayed on Xia Lei’s lips. “I won’t stop you, but I’ll make sure to fracture whichever hand you use to hold the device. Do you want to try that out?”
The old man glared daggers at Xia Lei. “You dare do this to me? Have you really not weighed the consequences?”
“Oh, what consequences? Please do explain.” Xia Lei uttered a nonchalant response.
In a low voice, Angelo replied, “You will die. Everyone around you will die too. If you stop this madness now, I can consider…”
Before he even got the chance to finish his sentence, Xia Lei aimed and shot a bullet above Angelo’s eye socket.
Bang!
Angelo fell onto the ground face first. The impact fractured his brow bone, causing a stream of blood to flow out and obstruct his vision. The old man hunched over, pressing a palm onto his injured eye. He glared intensely at Xia Lei through the other eye, expression filled with resentment and wrath. It was as if a pile of flames were set ablaze in his orbs.
Steadily, Xia Lei walked over to Angelo’s side, gazing down at him from above. He mocked, “I guess figures like you are more used to looking down on us. You can do whatever you want to me and yet I mustn’t show you a single sign of disrespect, right?”
Angelo continued to glare at him sharply, not saying a word.
“I heard you found where the FA headquarters are. Where is it?” Xia Lei interrogated.
“You’re here for that?” Angelo tried to probe.
Xia Lei nodded.
“Will you leave after I answer you?”
Xia Lei gave him another nod.
“There’s an envelope in the middle drawer,” answered Angelo.
Xia Lei slowly backed off to the side of the study table and pulled the middle drawer open. There were a few documents in there while an envelope lay quietly on top of the pile. The man picked up the envelope and opened it to reveal a map. On the map, there was one thick marking drawn with a pen. On the marking were the letters ‘FA’.
The minuscule words printed on the map were Spanish. Taking a brief glance through it, Xia Lei soon realized that this was the regional map of Jalisco state, Mexico.
Jalisco was a haven to the Mexican drug lords. The place was an unruly territory which not even the Mexican government could handle.
Xia Lei stowed the map into his pocket. “The FA headquarters is in Mexico? Is this real? I’m not stupid. Jalisco is where all the drug lords gather. “
Inexplicably, a derogatory smirk appeared on Angelo’s face. “You and your men could never find out where the FA headquarters is on your own. It’s surprising that you hadn’t drawn the link that the FA was a drug syndicate, to begin with.”
Xia Lei said, “No wonder you’ve chickened out of our deal. That’s why you went for the easiest choice. Go against me instead of delivering your part of our deal, right?”
Angelo propped himself up from the floor. “You’ve already gotten what you came for, leave. Your payment and weapons should be a fair exchange with this piece of information.”
“Damn, your intel sure is expensive.”
“You’ve promised to leave, now go.” Angelo pointed to the door. “I don’t wish to see you ever again.”
Xia Lei smiled. “Sure, I can leave but what about your sacred relic? Don’t you want that back?”
Angelo looked straight into his eyes. “We’ll save the problem for later. I have no time to think about it now.”
“Later? Jeez, you guys are still planning to harm me? Am I really that easy of a target to get rid of in your eyes?”
With a cold expression, Angelo warned, “If you don’t leave now, the men I sent to hunt you will be back. Don’t complain that I hadn’t warned you about it earlier.”
Ring… Ring…
The telephone on the table began to ring.
Angelo reflectively reached over. Before he held the receptor up, the glimpse of Xia Lei’s extended gum had him halt himself. He could converse with Xia Lei rudely because Angelo was sure that the man wouldn’t dare to gravely injure him. However, if Xia Lei was dropped into a corner, he would most definitely shoot Angelo. Therefore, Angelo figured that it was best to give Xia Lei hope.
Just when he had expected Xia Lei to disconnect the phone line, Xia Lei had said something surprising. “Come on, pick up the phone. Your men must’ve noticed that I’m not in the hotel.”
“You…” Angelo couldn’t wrap his head around Xia Lei’s motive.
Xia Lei continued, “Tell them to continue their search in Valletta and to not return before capturing me.”
“Alright,” Angelo responded and grabbed the receptor. He spared Xia Lei a glance and abruptly announced, “He’s here.”
Following that, he quickly tossed the receptor away and began to back off.
In his imagination, Xia Lei would’ve already mauled him after that line. In anticipation, Angelo made the smart decision to increase the distance between them in a hurry. But Xia Lei stood there, unwavering.
“If I were you, I would take the chance to leave this place immediately,” hinted Angelo.
“One hundred Holy Knights. All of them are just nothing more than fanatics. Admittedly, engaging them in a battle would be a threat but I wasn’t suggesting that to secure my escape route. I was trying to minimize casualties. I wanted you to have them continue their search in Valletta so I could spare their lives. You, on the other hand, were extremely eager to send them to the grave,” explained Xia Lei.
Hearing that, fear began to manifest in Angelo’s heart. But Xia Lei’s blurt of information had him rather dubious.
Xia Lei uttered, “Actually if you wanted me to leave, I would. I could even spare your remaining men…”
Angelo interrupted Xia Lei. He chortled. “Who do you think you are? What right do you have to wage war against us alone? Quit your big talk. Your attempts to intimidate me are pathetic.”
“Can’t you just wait till I’m done talking? It’s simple to have me leave. All you need to do is get me to the Sacred Palace and I’ll leave after getting the armour set. I can guarantee you that as long as I get the armour, there’ll be no war between us ever again.”
“You… How did you learn about the armour?”
“No need to buy yourself time. My men are already out there getting rid of your own. The more time you waste, the more people she’ll kill,” threatened Xia Lei.
Angelo froze, feeling a surge of terror bubbling in his heart. This time, his fear was much prominent!
“Since you’ve already asked for your men to return, there’s no point waiting for their rescue. They’re bound to die tonight,” said Xia Lei.
Abruptly, Angelo roared, “Someone! Come quick!”
His loud booming voice travelled out of the windows and doors, disrupting the dead silence in the underground chamber.
Xia Lei hadn’t stopped him.
“Anyone?! Just come already!” Angelo roared again.
At this moment, a feminine figure appeared at the door. Her entire body was clad in dark fabric with two katanas stuck behind her back. Soaked in red, she looked as if she had just crawled out from a puddle of blood.
The woman was no Holy Knight serving under the Knight Hospitaller. She was Tsukino Kyoko.
The female ninja tossed over the food-grade plastic bag in one hand. It landed itself precisely before Angelo’s foot.
The force shredded the material apart, prompting the pile of human ears to slide out from the inside.
This was her way of telling Angelo that his men could no longer hear his desperate screams for she had sliced off all their ears.
Angelo’s face turned sickeningly pale at the sight of the ears. From the moment when Xia Lei made his appearance in the study, Angelo was convinced that he wasn’t in too bad of a predicament. He had faith that he would survive until the moment this woman threw a bag filled with ears to him. It was at that moment, Angelo knew he was in deep trouble!
“Boss, the coast has been cleared,” declared Tsukino Kyoko.
Xia Lei nodded.
“Along with their dogs.” The woman added.
Jeez, she hadn’t even spared their dogs!
“What did you say?” Angelo could no longer feign his calmness.
Xia Lei ignored him, opting to instruct Tsukino Kyoko. “Stick to the plan and support Anjum Khan and the rest of them. There’s not much time left.”
Tsukino Kyoko nodded obediently. “Sure, I’ll go clean out the area again. There are still some left in the houses by the cave.”
Xia Lei hesitated before replying. “There’s no need to kill targets who pose no danger.”
Tsukino Kyoko flashed him a smile. “I understand your style, no worries.” With that, she turned around and left. The smell of rust continued to linger in the air even with her departure.
Xia Lei reverted his gaze back on Angelo. “Now it’s just the two of us. What do you think about my suggestions earlier?”
“Bastard!” Angelo’s emotions were now out of check. “You think this is all the people we have? We’ve got thousands and millions of worshippers. You’ll never get rid of us all!”
“Are you referring to the regular worshippers? Honestly, I doubt they’d care enough to avenge you. They have a job, a family plus their wives and children to look after. You even had the audacity to steal from the Vatican church. How could you still have the face to talk about religion? How is that relevant to the chivalry of knights? Don’t even try to threaten me with your faith and number of worshippers. From all the history we shared together, hadn’t you learnt that I’m not one to back down?”
“You’ll regret this!”
Abruptly, Xia Lei raised his gun and shot Angelo in his knees.
“Aargh!“Angelo screeched in agony, falling to the ground while clutching his knee.
Xia Lei neared him and stomped his foot on Angelo’s injured knee. “My patience is wearing thin. I’m going to give you one minute to tell me how to get into the Sacred Palace.”
Angelo began to shiver from the excruciating pain, chest heaving frantically. “Just shoot me already! This is not the end, this is the beginning of a war!”
With another movement of his finger, another bullet found itself in Angelo’s thigh.
“Aahh!“Angelo broke down. The pain was beginning to be too much for him to handle. In the meantime, the older man could feel his rage growing exponentially. No one… No one had dared to treat him this way before! He was the most respected leading figure of the Knight Hospitaller. He was their true leader! What right had the Chinese kid possessed to tarnish his dignity and status?! Who gave him the right to point his gun at him as if he was a stray dog?!
“You’ve got thirty seconds left,” reminded Xia Lei, face voided of expression.