As Angel made after Eisuke, she saw him leave alone through a door in the back of the room. She followed him silently, weaving her way through the thick crowd. A long, deserted hallway stretched out behind the door which he had disappeared into. Angel paused for a second, unsure of which of the many rooms that lined the hall, he had disappeared into. The door of the farthest room was slightly ajar and she made her way closer, listening keenly to the faint voices floating out of the room. She peered inside and to her astonishment saw many briefcases filled with guns and rifles.
"Is that a Ruger MK series .22lr pistol in that suitcase," she wondered longingly, "I've always wanted one of those!"
Even more bags, filled with money, lay around the room. "Finally some action!" She thought, excited by the prospect of an incredibly valuable arms deal that she would soon be able to bust. She strained to listen to what the men were saying. They were speaking mandarin but that was no problem for Angel, who was fluent in over 10 languages including Japanese, Mandarin, Russian and Spanish, to name but a few.
"Today, I think there are enough prospective buyers to get a good value for the goods" Came a deep voice.
"Of course, today must also be the start of the auctions." She thought. There had to be at least $3.4 million worth of weapons in there- and that was just based on a mere cursory glance. However, before she could hear anything useful, like where or when the auctions would be held, she was roughly yanked back and forced against the wall.
Fear spiked through Angel. What could she do- fight? Even if she could overpower the heavily muscled man pinning her against the wall, it would almost immediately attract the attention of the others. Not to mention, she was completely unarmed. How could she be so stupid?
"What are you doing here?" The man asked angrily.
Dumbfounded by fear, Angel looked back into the man's cool, grey eyes. Despite the anger and coldness in them, Angel was surprised to see a certain warmth, hidden underneath, which she hadn't expected. Angel prided herself in being an excellent judge of character- that's what had made her one of the best- and she quickly decided to use that kindness she discerned to her advantage. After all, he had no idea who she was: to him she'd appear to be a mere hotel maid that had stumbled into the wrong place at the wrong time.
"I-I…"
"You have 5 seconds to disappear and forget everything you just saw." He commands threateningly "Otherwise, you will be wiped off the face of this earth."
Angel managed to nod and he relinquished his tight grip on her. He threw her a cold glare and she began to run, wanting to get the hell out of there before the others came to investigate and decided to be less kind.
By the time Angel had reached the storage room in the basement downstairs, her heart had stopped racing but the same could not be said for her mind. Should she tell her boss about the arms dealing she'd seen going on? But she didn't have any substantial information on who the sellers or bidders were, or where and when the auction would be held. Moreover, if that man recognized her snooping around he wouldn't be so forgiving a second time. She'd have to be much more careful now. Preoccupied by her thoughts, Angel absently grabbed the giftboxes for the guests and backed out of the tiny storage room. However, she hadn't noticed that she wasn't alone and accidentally bumped into two men carrying a box with something heavy in it. They dropped the box and cried out as they realised the contents within were damaged.
"AAAAHHH!" cried the bulkier of the two men, turning red with rage. "The statue of Venus is broken."
The name registered in Angel's mind, as she recalled that a few days ago a very valuable statue of Venus (it had been a gift to Japan from the President of France) had been stolen from a museum.
"This was a very important piece that was going to be auctioned off!" One of them cried out angrily.
"How are you going to pay for it?" The other growled.
The two men approached her menacingly and Angel realised that she had nowhere to go. Trapped in the closet of a room, there wasn't much space to fight or run. Nevertheless, she'd go do down swinging. As the bigger man reached out for her, she brought up her leg, landing a hard kick on his abdomen. He staggered back, shocked by the strength and audacity of this young, light-looking woman. Angel lunged out, decking the second man in an attempt to push past him but the bigger goon grabbed her leg, knocking her off the floor. The two men seized her and pulled her up, while Angel still struggled violently in their arms. Enraged by the few punches and kicks she had managed to land, the goons decided to make things easier for themselves:
"Knock the bitch out; if she won't come quietly then we'll take her forcibly."
Before she could react, Angel felt a hard blow of something that felt suspiciously like the butt of a gun, and she was knocked out cold.
