Chapter 3-Group 451
Vince and Orwell sat at a table in the far corner of the Palm City Municipal Library. Orwell was rooting through several books and Vince was pretending to be buried in a Tom Clancy novel. In truth he was watching his son Tripp, a few rows away doing his homework. He remembered when he used to help him. A man with short cut dark hair and glasses sat down at the table and Tripp smiled. Vince's heart broke.
"Aha!" Orwell exclaimed. Someone at the far side of the room shushed her. "I knew I'd find it". Orwell lay a thick book down in front of Vince. It was titled The Nazi Occult: Subversion, Conspiracy and Cover-Ups.
"Sounds just like your kind of book" Vince joked.
"Look at this" she pointed to a list of known international agencies with occult agendas. One of the groups on the list was titled Group 451, then a dash to a small description. It read.
Though little is known about Group 451, the bits of information known is that it has its roots in Nazi Germany. Operatives captured by the Allies stated that it had ties to global agencies all around the world including the Illuminati and Knights Templar. The Group was rumored to have emigrated from Germany to South America after the War. Many believe that its core members assimilated into the United States in the late 20th Century.
"So what does that mean?" Vince said. Orwell silently flipped to another page. The page was titled Weapons of the Conspiracy. She stabbed her thumb at a row of six perfectly silver bullets.
"According to legend, there is a magic bullet" Orwell said. "According to the legend it was forged by Illuminati mystics to hold all of their secrets. Not only is it powerful but each bullet casing also has coding burnt into it. It says here that it was made to hold all of their secrets in case of their organization being discovered by the public. It also made it possible for them to erase the evidence of their global involvement, what gets rid of something better than a gun. Kill your enemies and hide your secrets". Orwell stood back with a victorious look. Vince moved his hands as if to tell her to continue.
"I think this is what my brother was after, or at least his employers" Orwell said.
"Why's that?"
"Because he's always had a penchant for conspiracy theories" Orwell said chuckling at an inside joke.
"Come on" Vince said with a smile. "You don't honestly believe in all of this Illuminati malarkey do you?"
"Vince, ask yourself" Orwell said placing both hands on his shoulders, getting closer and looking straight into his eyes. "Three months ago would you have believed any of this could happen?" Vince sighed.
"Well I guess you got me beat" Vince said. "Where do we start?"
"That's easy" Orwell said. "Focus on the Lich first, he was at that gunfight. He might have seen something". Vince nodded and exited the library with Orwell following him. Vince waited at his hide out until dark when he ditched his civilian clothes and downed the mask and cape. He dodged several ARK Patrols before finally getting to the warehouse district. Following Orwell's instructions via the wireless headset. He found the warehouse in the video, easy considering it was the only one with bullet holes in it. Vince ducked under ARK police tape and entered the warehouse. A body was sitting under a white sheet in the middle of the warehouse. He drew it back and covered his nose. The body was fresh, that was good. Vince knew enough about crime scenes to know that no cop would search the victim's pockets until they moved it. ARK or no ARK. He reached into the pockets of Francis O'Reilly and found his wallet.
"I was right" Vince said into the wireless headset. "It was Francis O'Reilly".
"Duh" Orwell shot back. The hairs on the back of Vince's neck stood up. He turned around as a punch hit him square in the jaw.
"Mister Cape" voice of Conrad Chandler aka the Lich growled. "So good to see you after my brief stint in Owl Island". Vince stood up and delivered a kick that got the Lich caught up in his long cloak. Vince pulled a small taser from his belt and pulled the trigger. The taser penetrated his long robe and finally found ground underneath it. Conrad writhed wildly before holding up his hands.
"What the hell do you want?" he asked. Vince holstered his taser.
"The metal box" Vince barked grabbing the Lich and holding him against a crate. "What was it?"
"I don't know" the Lich said catching his breath. "But whatever it was, Lee Zhu was fine with letting his friend die over it".
"So Lee Zhu is behind this" Vince exclaimed. "Did he want the box?"
"No, we were told that was a stash of counterfeit bills being moved through here" Chandler said. "I recovered the killer's phone card".
"Where's the card now?" Vince asked throwing the Lich against the wall. Conrad screamed.
"I gave it to Lee Zhu" the Lich whispered, coughing some blood. Vince approached and fired the taser. The Lich screamed and finally fell still. Vince turned and left the warehouse.
"Did you get that?" he said into the mic.
"Got all of it" Orwell replied.
Outside of the Emerald Dragon, Vince scaled the façade of the grey building with red trimmings. He moved across the roof until he got to a fire escape. Vince climbed down it until he got to a small side window. The window appeared to look into a marble bathroom. Vince tucked the cape around his body and opened the window. He placed his hands on the windowsill and kicked his feet through it.
"Hello?" a deep voice said from one of the stalls. Vince held his breath and waited behind a large, fake potted plant. A few seconds later the man in the stall emerged looking around. Vince wasted no time after realizing who he was. He dived from the plant and grabbed the shirt of the man known as Lee Zhu Hon.
"What's going on!" Lee screamed. Vince pulled a bandana from his belt and stuffed it into Lee's mouth.
"The card, where's the SIM card?" Vince hissed. He pulled the bandana out of Lee's mouth.
"I don't know what you're talking about!" Lee said spitting on Vince's face.
"Your friend the Lich talked, he had no qualms about giving up all your secrets" Vince said pushing the man against the wall forcibly.
"It's in my office" he whispered. "But they'll kill you before you even get close". Vince stood up and looked around. On the far wall by a coat rack sat a trench coat. Vince grabbed the coat, and put it over his body.
"What're you doing?" Orwell asked over his earpiece.
"You're going to walk me in there" Vince said addressing both Lee and Orwell. "As the Lich". Orwell was shocked. Lee cleaned himself up and they both walked out, towards the office. They passed two men holding Uzi's as Lee nodded to them. They parted as Vince, disguised as the Lich neared. Lee closed the door behind them. Vince dropped the trench coat and Lee fished into a drawer pulling out a small baggy. Inside was a small blue SIM card. Vince picked up the card and dropped it into one of the pockets on his belt. A click appeared and Lee was holding a pistol.
"You'll never get out of here alive" Lee barked. Vince grabbed a hand full of smoke pellets. He drew the cape around and threw the pellets down. As the smoke passed Vince had disappeared.