Chapter-9 Next Move

Sunday, November 12th

Luc Dubois' safehouse

Paris, France.

3:00 pm

After the car chase by an unknown group of assassins and meeting with the Paris Judiciary Police, Luc Dubois took the team to an abandoned underground parking lot which served as a safehouse for events like the one they just esperienced. Jack and Luc were the first to get out of the car.

"Are you sure no one knows of this place?" Jack asked.

"Yeah" Luc answered.

The safe house had endless rows of crates full of weapons and on one end were all sorts of computer equipment.

"Now that we are here... I just want to know what do you want" Luc said as he flipped a switch to supply power to the entire place. Declan got out of his car while Izumi walked towards Jack and Luc while holding the cat she found back where she was standing watch.

"Time to talk, mate" Declan had a smirk on his face as he cracked his knuckles.

"You first" Luc replied.

"We saved your arse back there!" Declan said.

"A street racer, a guy in MI6 custody and a detective... not the typical tourists" Luc said.

"We're here to find who are these guys" Jack handed two pictures of Jae Kwan and Hassan Sayeed respectebly.

"I know the Middle Eastern guy, he's associated with those guys from earlier" Luc said.

"You know Hassan Sayeed then" Declan said.

"I don't know his name... that was part of the deal but I'll tell you a month ago he came to see me and requested for me to custom built assault vehicles and to supply weapons" Luc explained.

"Did he say what he wanted to do with these vehicles?" Jack asked.

"If he didn't give me his name, what makes you think he would tell me his plans... for all I know he might think about blowing up a train full of civilians or a boat full of soldiers" Luc replied.

"You arm dealers think you're so smart... " Izumi looked at Luc with disdain.

"However, I know the guy who commanded the guys that were shooting at us" Luc continued explaining.

"Who is he?" Jack asked.

Luc turned to his computer and started searching for information "Anton Drenznev... age 37... former Serbian army lieutenant... he was invovled in the Kosovo war of the late 90's and shortly afterwards he became the leader of a mercenary group"

"I was just a lad learning to shoot back in the old country" Declan chuckled.

"Since you know this guy, do you happen to know where we can find him?" Izumi asked.

"Yes... I've heard there's this night club on the south of Paris where he meets with a contact... something big is going down" Luc said.

"Something big?" Jack asked.

"I knew Drenznev was here but I never thought he was here to kill me... all I knew from several contacts he was here to meet with someone very important" Luc responded.

"You knew they've targeted you" Declan said.

"I thought this Hassan guy would come... I've recieved warnings that he wanted to silence me" Luc explained.

"Who is this Drenznev going to meet at this club?" Izumi asked.

Luc leaned back "That's anyone's guess, the club where they're meet is called Hade's Gate... they play this Euro-techno-rock type of music... a real shithole if you ask me"

Jack turned around and walked away from the group.

"Where you going, mate?" Declan asked.

"I need some air" Jack replied.

Izumi ran behind jack and the two exited the parking lot.

Declan pulled a chair and sat down, facing Luc.

"Some characters you got paired up... a street racer and a cop... they have no idea about what's going on... But you do" Luc said.

Declan pulled a pack of cigarretes "Rookies... that Izumi girl can be annoying... Jack ain't so bad"

Luc took a cigarrete and lit it up.

"There's something you must know... in that club you'll find the connection... the missing piece" Luc said.

"Missing piece?" Declan asked.

"The break you've been looking for... to be more precise, a female... she may know what's going on... she may be with the CIA" Luc replied.

Meanwhile, outside the parking lot...

Jack was leaning against the wall after throwing up...

"I should've stayed in New York... why did I have to listen to that asshole!" Jack said to himself.

"Jack, are you ok?" Izumi placed her hand on Jack's shoulder.

"Why do you care? You people are insane!" Jack replied as he turned around.

Izumi was quiet.

"You kill people without remorse" Jack continued to protest.

"It's because what Declan said? You taking those guys down?" Izumi asked.

"I've done stupid things and even broken the law but I've never killed anyone..." Jack said with anger.

"Taking a live is never easy... someone told me that it becomes as easy as breathing when you're pushed to the edge but I discovered there are two kinds of people... the ones who have no problem doing it and the ones who find it very difficult to do so no matter the circumstances" Izumi explained with a compassionate tone.

"So in what category do you fit in?" Jack asked.

"I don't enjoy it one bit... in fact I question myself... I feel sometimes as if I'm not better than the people I go after... now you got guys like Declan or Amanda who have been to so many conflicts that it doesn't matter anymore... they're dead inside" Izumi continued.

"So how?" Jack asked.

"You mean, how it happened?" Izumi asked.

Jack nodded.

Izumi sat down by the steps leading to the building on top of the parking garage.

"I was working on a case almost two years ago, I was undercover and my job was to bring down an arms dealer. My cover was blown and I got caught... after I was interrogated by them, I started to lose hope... it felt like my end was near until a mercenary who was after the same organization came and got me out of there but not before I shot the guy who almost tortured me to death... I'm not going to lie to you and say I had remorse at the beginning... I felt sick and at the same time I felt like he had it coming but sometime later I regreted what I did and had nightmares for a while... It's hard and but sometimes you have to think about how many people they've hurt in the past" Izumi continued explaining.

"I wish I could find that thought conforting" Jack said.

"It's not easy, Jack... but trust me... it's ok" Izumi looked at Jack and smiled at him.

Jack took a deep breathe "For a cop you're very understanding"

Izumi got up "I'm a racer too... if it weren't for my badge, I would've joined The Run... a cross country race sounds fun"

"It would be fun to see you from my rearview mirror" Jack chuckled.

The Junkie's Notes: Sorry for taking so long... I had to deal with a lot of personal problems but it also gave me some more inspiration to continue with this story. As you probably already read Jack killed someone in the previous chapter so here's him having to deal with that issue. In real life cops and soldiers have a psycological break down when they take a life for the first time and I thought of Jack dealing with that and I felt since back in Undercover Chronicles, Izumi dealt with the same stress so I thought she'd be the perfect person to serve as therapist since she's already been through that. Thank you for your patience and I hope to release the next chapter in the following days.