The plot is gradually getting towards a tipping point, guys, so read carefully, and tell me if you don't understand something. Anyway, here's Chapter 19, guys. Enjoy.
Chapter 19: Escape to the Dutchman
"So, you finished the job, I presume?" Hassan asked Tsau.
Tsau nodded and paced on the rooftops under the midnight sky. "I made a visit to the Manifest. I had to wait until he came out of the building to get him."
"Good," Hassan nodded. "Our client is giving us a few more contracts involving this Manifest. He wants us to finish off the rest of these, 'servants' here."
He handed Tsau the rest of the papers. "Is the money any good?"
"The client is handsomely paying us more than our regular clients do," Hassan replied. "He seems to take a liking into your style, Reaper."
"That's me," Tsau acknowledged.
"The city watch is definitely on the look for you," his Altair said. "The poor love you, and the rich need you."
Tsau let out a scoff under his hood. "If they were looking for me, then why haven't they put up any posters, or even found me yet?"
"There's a reason why the Falcons dress the same, Tsau," Hassan said. "They only know you as a shadow. A meaning. You spill blood, and if you leave your insignia, it strikes fear into the wicked. They don't know what you really look like. They only know that you are a White Falcon, and they won't dare to touch us, because they need us. The Reaper is more than just a person, Tsau. The Reaper is a symbol. A truth."
The former protégé nodded. "Well spoken. Of course, the White Falcons will take any contracts, even from the law."
Hassan nodded. "Well, good work. Here's your cut."
He handed Tsau his money. "This is an awful lot for a hit on someone who isn't that important. I mean, the Manifest, from what I've seen, is just some crazy religious cult, anyway."
"Surprisingly," Hassan replied. "I had our client followed. He's in with a behind-the-scenes government of some sorts."
"Conspiracy?"
"I don't know. You better get on to your contract soon, Tsau," Hassan said. "Our client has entrusted his money to us completely to execute these contracts."
"I'll start tomorrow."
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Zi stood outside in the training area of Tsau's home, waiting for him to initiate their retreat back towards the ship. She examined the training gear of his, and they seemed to be quite worn out due to constant training. Tsau's way of life sure seemed a bit boring compared to that of a pirate's. The rough scratches on leather, the worn down wood on the dummy, and of course, the splintered wooden board from his shuriken and darts. Walking over to a chest-high counter, she picked up a gun similar to the one Tsau had, with three chambers in it. The gun was obviously custom-made, an odd attempt at having a faster rate of fire. In the battles of today, it would take at least 30 seconds of reloading to kill a person. 30 seconds to kill.
"And Tsau only needs 5," she guessed.
"What was that?" Tsau said from inside his room.
She noticed that the door was still open and blushed. "Um, nothing!"
He stepped out of his room and carried his bag along with him. "You like that gun?"
Zi set the weapon down. "Um, not really. It's just—"
"Odd?" he said. Tsau walked over to her and picked up the gun. "Ramadi and I designed it together."
"Really?" she smiled subtly. Zi was careful, and nervous to talk to him, after hearing the way he talked to her earlier this morning. "That's…quite a bizarre design."
"Yeah," Tsau sighed. "But it's our best attempt to make a quicker pistol. You know how to use it?"
She shrugged. "I saw you use it. I think I know."
Tsau held up the gun away from them and showed her how to use it, pulling the trigger and yanking the gun to the side, reloading it. "It's all at the jerk of your wrist. As soon as you jerk, the new chamber is ready, and the hammer cocks back, ready to fire. Here, why don't you keep that one? It might come in handy."
"I'd rather use a sword," she said in preference. "It's more graceful than a gun."
"True," Tsau said. "But a gun is surprising."
"So is a shuriken," she said. "But…as a pirate, I can't step down from such a deal. It seems quite easy."
Tsau smirked and handed the gun to her. A moment passed between them as Zi examined the gun. The barrels weren't as long as Tsau's, but were a normal pistol length. Tsau's barrels were half a gun barrel longer than a regular gun.
"You're welcome," Tsau said to her, walking back inside.
"Um, thank you," she said in delay.
Right as Tsau was about to step back into his room to pack, the door on the other side of the courtyard opened, and Ramadi ran towards them, seemingly tired from running.
"Ramadi!" Zi exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
Ramadi looked around. "Sorry, Zi. Where's Tsau?"
"What is it?" Tsau asked, stepping out again.
His colleague took a moment to gain breaths. "The Order. Everyone's dead."
Without remorse or grief, Tsau simply stood there. "How?"
"I didn't stay long," he replied. "I heard about Hassan being attacked, but I was at the brothel—I mean…I was reading…yeah…reading…the Bible."
"You're not Christian, idiot," Tsau said blatantly. "Keep going."
"Then, everyone headed towards the Fountain," Ramadi explained. "I didn't go. It seemed fishy. But, when I got there, everyone was dead."
"How?"
"I told you, I didn't stay long," Ramadi said.
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Will and Elizabeth walked down the streets, away from the Gilded Fountain, in a desperate search for Tsau. As high noon struck above them, the streets were busier than ever, but just as they thought they would never see a sign, Elizabeth spotted a group of soldiers headed towards a direction. They were British soldiers, probably part of the East India Trading Company, which still seemed to be on the rise once again. With Zhao's troops after them and Blackwell at the helm of the Trading Company, it will be hard to come out victorious, for they are almost against all odds.
"Will, there," she said calmly, trying not to attract attention. "The soldiers."
"Let's follow," Will replied.
They tailed the soldiers down the busy street, following them until they reached a church. The church was fairly large, but the two wondered what soldiers would be doing in a holy area such as this. Maybe they were following that mysterious person that Will and Elizabeth saw leaving the vicinity of the Gilded Fountain. They opened the doors and rushed inside, yelling for every churchgoer to stay low on the ground so they can inspect the area. The father willingly agreed.
"There shall be no violence in this house," he said. "Please."
"Shut up, you!" a soldier replied. "You two stay here and guard downstairs. The rest of the men, including me, are heading upstairs."
Will and Elizabeth stayed outside the church and waited to see what will happen.
The six soldiers rushed upstairs towards the bell, and noticed a secret door that must lead to the other attic in the church, for the church was long in shape.
"All I know is that Aswad is no longer safe," Ramadi explained to Tsau. "We should get going befor—"
Right as he spoke, the door was kicked open and the soldiers quickly assembled into a firing squad, straight in a line. Tsau pulled his hood over to hide his face and was quite relieved that he had already equipped his weapons. Ramadi walked over and stood next to him, in front of Zi.
"You three! You're under arrest!" the squad captain shouted from across the courtyard. "This is a home invasion! Do not resist, or we will fire!"
The troops slowly edged closer to Tsau, Ramadi, and Zi.
"On my signal," Tsau started off quietly. "I am going overboard. Zi, you should get that tied rope and head down. Don't allow them one moment to get at you. Ramadi?"
"I'll lead them somewhere," he said. "Good luck, you two."
"No, you should come with us," Zi insisted. "It's not safe here, anymore."
Ramadi smiled. "I'll be fine."
Tsau looked down and waited for them to come closer, enough for them to be knocked over.
"Frisk them for weapons."
As Zi's heart raced to see what would happen, Tsau and Ramadi, in lighting fast motions, knocked away their guns and stunned their bodies with sharp hand-to-hand attacks. At that moment, she sped towards the rope that was coiled up on the ground and tied to the ledge at the corner of the courtyard. In a quick manner, she scaled up the small wall and stood up there, ready to begin rappelling down.
Tsau broke for the ledge, as well, but noticed that the captain was about to shoot Zi. He stopped for a moment and drew his trigun, pulling the trigger after a quick aim at him. The bullet hit the captain in the chest and he fell back. Tsau gave Zi a short look before she went down. As she was rappelling, she noticed that the rope was too short, and was left hanging on the end of the rope halfway down the church.
"Tsau!" she yelled. "It's too short! I can't hang on much longer!"
Tsau quickly jumped off the ledge and back into the courtyard.
"Go," Ramadi said, headed towards the other way. "I got these guys."
Hastily, Tsau grabbed a longer coil of rope and tied it to the middle ledge, and with all of his speed, he headed towards the opposite side of Zi, leaping up the ledge and heading down. Past Zi, he could see a hay wagon tied up and unattended. With his momentum, his swing arc fell smoothly, and as Tsau was at the tip of the arc next to Zi, he let go and flew into her, taking her along with him on the way down. Miraculously, they fell into the pile of hay, on top of one another.
Zi, while on top of Tsau, was about to get up, but Tsau pulled her back down to hide. "Don't look up. Wait until they're gone."
She remained on top of them. "Well…this is…um…awkward."
"I think I'm rather comfortable here," Tsau said teasingly.
Blushing, Zi lightly slapped him on the chest. "Shh! Be quiet! They might find us!"
Ramadi sprinted towards the way the guards came in, along with a few guards following him. Downstairs, the church had no one left in it, except for the two guards, who seemed to have taken different frames. He leaped down the sets of stairs and began heading outside, until he was shot in the back by one of his pursuers. The two guards looked over.
"Is that Tsau?" Elizabeth asked in her guard disguise.
Will shrugged. "I don't know."
As the guards surrounded the fallen Falcon, Will began shouting at them to catch their attention. They immediately looked over just long enough for Ramadi to stand once again. He drew his blade wearily and hacked away at the small set of guards, killing all but one. The last one, he popped out his wristblade and finished him off.
"Tsau, are you okay?!" Elizabeth yelled from across the church.
Ramadi looked over. "I'm not Tsau."
They watched as he stumbled over and sat down on the bench. Will and Elizabeth began sprinting over to him to check up on him. Ramadi removed his hood and took off his jacket to inspect his bullet wound that looked like it went almost safely through his body. He was, however, bleeding quite a bit. He breathed for a few moments before Will and Elizabeth ran over towards him.
"Who are you?" he asked, keeping his eyes forward towards the statue of Christ.
"We're his friends," Elizabeth claimed.
Ramadi let out a smile. "Tsau doesn't have 'friends.' He'd rather call you 'colleagues' than friends."
"You don't look too good," Will stated.
He smirked. "How obvious."
When the guards disappeared, Tsau and Zi got out of the haystack and brushed themselves clean. The people around them didn't seem to mind, for they owed a lot to the White Falcons. Coughing a bit from the dust, Tsau gestured to the front of the church.
"This way," he said.
As soon as Tsau headed towards those doors, he spotted two guards helping Ramadi down the street. Instinctively, he pulled his trigun out and pointed at them.
Zi lowered his gun. "No…that's Will and Elizabeth."
Tsau reset the gun hammer and put his gun back. He started walking towards them. "Come on."
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The messenger entered Zhao's office on board his ship docked at the governor's private port in Port Royal. Zhao, reading a book of philosophy with his glasses on, set it down and looked up at his messenger.
"Is he taken care of?" Zhao asked.
The messenger looked down discouragingly. "The Atrocity and Predatory are dead. Tsau has taken both of them."
Zhao took off his glasses and set them down. "So…if he can kill both, then he has indeed been learning. Quite the experienced one, he is."
"And you know why Tsau was chosen, then," a voice said while entering the room. The rebel leader set his eyes on Drak Nesirus, who walked in the room. Nesirus ran his hands through his slicked back brownish-blonde haircut. "It's only a matter of time before he gets to us. Don't underestimate him."
"He was my weakest disciple," Zhao said. "That gives me a right to do so."
"Haven't I told you why I exist already?" Nesirus said in rebuttal. He then turned to the messenger. "Find him, and kill him. Do whatever it takes. The Executives cannot triumph over us. They're the real enemy here, not just your empire."
Zhao nodded. "Fine. No more toying around. The Psychosis will be the hardest to fight against."
"And if your last man fails?" Drak asked.
"We always have Jack to do our bidding," Zhao added.
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They hurried to the docks, for Ramadi was bleeding heavily, and he was almost completely blacked out. Tsau and Will helped him walk along the way, and started up the wood planks. Will helped Ramadi down into the ship so they could heal him up. Zi and Elizabeth followed, too, but Tsau stayed outside, watching his surroundings. He looked at Aswad as if it was the last time he'll ever see it. Has the Order really fallen? How did the White Falcons disappear so easily? If Hassan was really dead, then what does Tsau have anymore?
He stared down in silence, listening to the environment around him, the sound of seagulls, water crashing the docks, merchants, sailors, and fisherman alike going about their business. The subtle wind could be heard, as well, and the sound of young Bill playing around the ship.
"Excuse me, sir," the boy said to him. Tsau snapped out of his thought and looked down at Bill. "You spoke to me once about contracts. What is the meaning of it? Is it just a paper that you sign?"
Tsau looked down at the boy and took off his hood. "How old are you, young Turner?"
"I'm 8 years of age," Bill answered. "I'm turning 9 in a few weeks. You didn't answer my question, Mr. Tsau. Me mum tells me to stay away from you, but then again, my father is a pirate."
The Falcon had a subtle smirk. "She's right. People like me are bad."
"Please explain what a contract is," Bill requested. "What it means."
Tsau sighed and looked out towards two dockworkers in their ship. "You see those two men over there?" he said, pointing to two men who were slacking. They seemed to be messing around with a few women from the brothel.
Bill nodded. "Yes."
"They're disgusting," Tsau stated. "Just two foolish pigs that would make easy targets. Nevertheless, when I sign a contract to kill them, I am paid half of what the agreement price is. Then, when I finish, I get the other half. I will stop at nothing to take their lives for that contract. And that's all there is to it. The hard part is getting away with it."
"And how would you kill them?" Bill asked.
Tsau looked around, then at the nearby ship that docked. "You see that ship? There is a set of provisions being lifted up from a net. Some of those provisions include barrels and such."
Bill watched as the net was being lifted up.
"That net looks a bit unstable," Tsau said. "It keeps rocking back and forth due to the wind. Just watch. It rocks back and forth, just far enough to reach those two lazy dockworkers. With this shuriken, I'd hurl it at the rope holding the net up when the timing is right, and it'll crush them. Mission accomplished."
"How do you know all this?" Bill asked with interest.
"I've been doing this for 8 years," Tsau answered. "There's no reason why I shouldn't. All of it is adaptation. Be resourceful, and use what you can. The environment is your friend…at your disposal. Adapt, change, and improvise according to your surroundings. This is what's most important if you're planning to survive in battle…and in this business."
"Sounds very intriguing," the young Turner replied.
Tsau shrugged. "I don't recommend taking this path to life."
"Why is that?"
"You'll meet lots of people," Tsau said. "And clients. You can't trust anyone."
Bill kept his eyes focused on the assassin. "But you can't trust pirates either."
"Not all pirates want to kill each other," Tsau alleged. "People like Jack and your father just want to be pirates for the sake of piracy."
"And assassins kill each other?" Bill asked.
He nodded. "All the time. It's a cruel world, one that you don't want to be a part of."
"Then why do you do it?"
"I'm good at it," Tsau said simply. "And when you're good at something, you use it to your advantage. Taking lives is a burden, kid. Stay free."
Bill nodded silently. "Um, okay."
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"Second of the Third," the younger Tsau read from the pendant. "What the hell does this mean?"
Hassan looked at the pendant with his glasses on. "There're some words written in Arabic here. It says Angel of Death."
"Angel of Death?" Tsau repeated. "Hmm. Either way, I got that one done. You said there were two more contracts?"
His employer nodded. "I wonder what Second of the Third means. I thought there were four targets. Is this the second of the three?"
Tsau shook his head. "My first contract you gave me…the man had the title 'Fourth of the Third' on his pendant around his neck. Third has to mean something else."
The Altair set down the pendant. "Hmm. It's quite odd, then. Our client must be quite concerned about this small cult, then. The Manifest. Manifest of what, though? The targets and members seemed to be of all religions. Christianity, Islam, Judaism…all of the above. What are they worshipping? They are dressed in odd robes, too."
The Reaper shrugged. "As long as we're getting paid, right?"
Hassan chuckled. "It's all about money with you, huh? Anyway, our client is on to something here. I had him followed again. He's involved with a group called 'The Executives' or something."
"Executives," Tsau said. "The behind-the-scenes government you spoke of?"
Hassan nodded. "Yes."
"Well," Tsau spoke. "As long as it has nothing to do with us, then we're fine. What importance does the Manifest serve, anyway?"
Well, there's Chapter 19, guys. Hope you liked it, and please try to leave a review before leaving! I'll be back with 20 soon.