Chapter 15: Damsel In Distress

Victor's new bike was a Ducati Scrambler Nightshift, a modified model with a retro masculine appeal. It was perfect for fast conveyance and was relatively inconspicuous as a vehicle. The last thing Victor needed was attention.

Clive Baron had complained that the price of fifteen thousand dollars was too low but eventually had to give in.

Victor sent Clive back to the office and took the new bike for a drive around the city. Amidst the chaos of his grandfather's issues and trying to keep his cover secret, he had been bogged down by pettiness and mediocrity. People not worthy of being his servants had looked down on him and humiliated him.

'Everyone will get their due,' he thought. But at the moment, he had other concerns. Haley B was arriving in Springfield. She was beautiful like an angel but stubborn like a mule. If he did not appear at her concert, she'd fulfill her threat and expose him. The celebrity Haley B did not accept no for an answer.

Victor had reached the city's outskirts and smelled fresh air wafting down the river. East Springfield wasn't as crowded as the rest of the city.

Victor refilled the fuel tank and paused long enough to spot a black armored vehicle parked beside a food joint. It was a Karlmann King, painted black, with dark-tinted windows. Such vehicles were as heavy as six tonnes and were usually employed by private security agencies to transport their clients.

Ordinarily, Victor, the son-in-law, would ignore such a sighting. However, his instincts were set loose now that he was back in action. And at that moment, his instincts told him something was off.

Victor slowed down as he passed the vehicle, and his sharp eyes quickly scanned it. The Karlman King had no labels or logos of private security agencies, and the plate numbers were from outside the city. But what attracted Victor's attention the most was a sticker on the back of the van. It portrayed a white skull with wings.

While the symbol would be random for an ordinary person, Victor recognized it immediately. There was only one organization in the world with such a sigil.

'Monolith,' he told himself. Monolith was one of the most dangerous mafia groups in the world, involved in organized crime, drugs, terrorism, assassinations, and whatnot. They were employed by spy agencies, large conglomerates, and local mafias to carry out dirty work. Victor was surprised and curious about what they were doing in Springfield city.

He made a U-turn and returned, parking his bike a few feet from the Karlman King vehicle. He walked over to the car and knocked on the window.

Someone rolled down the window. "What?" an annoyed man w asked with a thick foreign accent.

Victor offered him a weak smile. "Nice car."

"Whatever! Get lost!"

"Well… I can hear a woman's gagged voice from inside your car. Care to explain?"

The man narrowed his eyes. The armored Karlman King muted the lowest decibel of noise. Moreover, the person they kidnapped was muzzled. How did this man pick up on something that wasn't audible to human ears?

"Are you crazy?" he replied stubbornly. "There is no woman. Get lost!"

Victor sighed. "I insist. Open the hatchback and let me see."

The man scowled and got out of the car. Victor was six feet three, taller than the stranger, but the latter looked like a heavy-weight lifter with bulging muscles.

"Young man," the hulk warned. "If you want to live, you better scram right now!"

Victor ignored the threat and asked, "Tell me, meathead. What is Monolith doing in Springfield city? What is your endgame?"

The hulk was taken aback. "How did you know we are Monolith?"

Victor shrugged as if the discovery was a casual incident.

"Never mind," the hulk said to him. "This makes things easy for me. Now it's clear I must kill you since you are a potential witness."

"Really? You'd commit violence out in the open?"

The man scoffed. "Look around, young man. You chose a lonely place to approach us. Bad luck for you but good luck for us. It will be easy to dispose of your dead body."

Another man appeared from behind with food packets. He was well-built and had bushy eyebrows. Apparently, they had parked under the shade near the food joint to get lunch.

On sensing the escalated situation, bushy-brows dropped his food and readied himself. Both men looked like trained fighters. They were going to attack him!