Chapter 1690
[ 580 words ]
Furthermore, she used to be from Solenia. She still held a sliver of sympathy for her homeland. If the price was right, she’d absolutely sell.
When Stephen James heard Claire’s idea and got the full rundown of their predicament from Barrett, he didn’t shoot it down.
Though, he wasn’t thrilled about handing cash over to someone like Flora.
“Having the money is one thing, but what if she realizes how rich you are and decides to extort you?”
“Never underestimate human greed.”
Stephen had worked countless cases. People murdered over loose change every day.
If Flora got a taste of Claire’s wealth, what was stopping her from locking Claire in a room to print money for her?
Claire hadn’t factored in the broader risks. Throwing money at the problem rarely solved everything cleanly.
“We’re extremely close to the border. Once we physically get our hands on Silas, we just make a break for it.”
Stephen didn’t want to go in guns blazing, but if it was their only option, he could call in his tactical squad to wait at the border line.
It was only a few dozen miles. They could just ram their way through.
“That won’t work,” Barrett interjected, shutting down Stephen’s plan.
“The syndicate won’t let Captain Carl leave alive.”
“They have scouts everywhere, sweeping the area daily.”
“If I hadn’t been forced into… this line of work, they probably would have snatched me off the street by now.”
He had been wearing a mask, told that his face was strictly for paying clients, which was how he’d evaded syndicate spotters.
“Are the local authorities in bed with the syndicate?” It was the only logical conclusion Stephen could draw.
Getting into the Zen Marches was easy; getting out was the nightmare.
Every checkpoint ran meticulous searches, making smuggling Silas and Barrett out nearly impossible.
Furthermore, Silas had been slapped with a local arrest warrant for allegedly assaulting a high-ranking official.
The legal routes were entirely sealed off.
As for the illegal routes, that depended entirely on Flora.
Claire still believed her strategy was the best play.
“Flora already thinks we’re a pair of wild, unhinged sisters. If we
the parrative and act a litt smet
more
twisted, she’ll buy it.” .net>
“I’m a doctor. Requesting a half-dead cripple to use for experimental drug testing makes perfect sense, right?”
“My family is supposedly here to buy rare botanical extracts for a coagulant we’re developing.”
“Think about it: I’m mixing
compounds daily, adjusting
formulas. I slice open a test sunet
apply the powder, and observe the healing rate. It’s perfectly logical!”
Claire laid out her alibi with such conviction that everyone else in the room fell completely silent.
They had no idea if Flora would buy it, but Claire had just willingly painted herself as
a borderline psychopath.
“I think it works,” Rory agreed enthusiastically.
They turned to Tandy for his verdict. He looked deeply conflicted.
“Are you two girls really this fearless?”
“Well, since you’ve thought it through so thoroughly, we might as well try it.”
With Tandy’s green light, no one else objected.
Steele and Finnian, however, felt entirely useless.
They had assumed they would be the heavily armed cavalry kicking down doors.
Instead, Miss James was just aggressively throwing money at the problem!
Rich people were terrifyingly pragmatic.
Time was of the essence. The longer they delayed, the closer Silas drifted toward the point of no return.
Exactly an hour later, Rory dialed Flora and told her to come collect her boy.
“What’s wrong, sweetheart? Were you not satisfied?”
Flora checked her watch. Usually,
satisfied clients dragged things out
sat two hours someti
for at
going straight till dawn.
But these two sisters were done in an hour? Was the kid really all show and no go?
How disappointing!
If you find any errors (non-standard content, ads redirect, broken links, etc..), Please let us know so we can fix it as soon as possible.