So, this took a while. For a reason that will remain private, I had to spend two weeks in the hospital. Afterwards, I got a respiratory infection that led to me having a chronic cough (still have it), but since the cough is still productive, my doctor tells me to just bear it and use expectorant.
It still sucks, because I get really bad fits when I lie down in bed, so falling asleep is difficult.
Otherwise, enjoy :)
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters that appeared in the show.
"Alright, this is busier than I expected." Penny chuckled when they reached Alfred's property, seeing several vans and two trucks parked outside.
"This looks like some big time construction." Leonard agreed and parked his car a few feet away from all the other vehicles.
They walked into the property, the dogs tensing when they felt Leonard's discomfort at all the people moving around, a lot of them wearing hard hats, others wearing black suits and looking like bodyguards. They weaved around all the building materials and equipment and walked towards the house, having to wait while a worker rolled out a wheelbarrow full of dirt.
"Dad?" Leonard shouted over the din. "Are you in here?"
"Your father is upstairs in his office." a man in a suit told him.
Leonard and Penny walked towards the stairs and to Leonard's surprise, he saw the workers even in the basement and the secret basement as well, making him wonder what was going on. He led Penny and the dogs upstairs and the two canines ran forward to the office, having smelled Alfred over all the smells of construction materials. Before Leonard followed them, he saw more workers in his dad's bedroom.
"Hey you two." Alfred's voice said when the dogs ran into the office.
"Hey dad." Leonard said when he joined them.
"Leonard, Penny." Alfred smiled at them.
"How are you feeling?" Penny asked him.
"Well, I have two broken and three cracked ribs, my nose is cracked as well, lots of bruises from the beatings but other than that, I'm fine." Alfred told them.
"What's going on out there?" Leonard pointed to the construction.
"Well, the attack showed me the limitation of my security when an attacker is determined and comes at an inopportune time." Alfred shrugged. "So, I decided to build a hidden elevator from my bedroom into my secret basement."
"So, these people here..." Penny wondered.
"The construction company is civilian but they have contracts with the organization." Alfred confirmed. "For obvious reasons, I can't use a regular contractor. Every worker is vetted and accredited to work for us. They're also redoing the gate, since they're here already."
"Good, I think." Penny chuckled.
"I can see in your facial expressions that your hunt for Patrick wasn't successful." Alfred said.
"Unfortunately." Leonard nodded. "Sie must have used coded language because they were waiting for us. We used some of Roland Fischer's inventions to scout out the warehouse and found it full of mercenaries."
"The Peruvians you messaged me about." Alfred nodded. "Were you responsible for the explosion I saw on TV?"
"Well, somewhat." Leonard shrugged. "They had placed mines in the building to incapacitate us, but Penny bumped into one with her remote controlled car and when we tried to get it off the mine, we pulled out a cable, setting off all the mines."
"And Patrick?"
"I used the flying drone to follow the two guys that left the warehouse before it blew up. Unfortunately, they noticed the drone and before we could get to the cabin, they had fled." Leonard told him.
"We did however got quite a sum of money." Penny giggled.
"Leonard?" Alfred looked at his son.
"Well, Patrick had almost a hundred million dollars stashed in that cabin." Leonard shrugged. "We helped ourselves to twenty million of that for charity."
"Princeton?" Alfred smiled.
"Yeah, we went straight there, gave them half of the money." Leonard nodded. "Did you know that Doctor Edelstein retired?"
"Oh, I did not know that." Alfred said. "I owe her your life. What about the rest of the money?"
"Half of that for the Los Angeles children's hospital, and the rest to two more charities." Leonard told him.
"Good." Alfred smiled. "Will you continue your hunt?"
"As soon as he rears his face again." Leonard nodded. "I doubt he'll forget that I killed his son."
"Not to mention that I think Yorinobu will never stop hunting him." Penny threw in. "Maybe we should coordinate with him."
"Yeah, if I had any way of contacting him." Leonard chuckled.
"Maybe we just need to watch for news reports about corpses found in warehouses." Alfred chuckled, the action causing him to wince in pain.
"That would only tell us where he was." Leonard countered. "From what I've learned about his targets already, he seems to hit Patrick's organization in an almost haphazard way."
"Probably to avoid them just waiting at his next target if he went in a straight line, right?" Penny asked.
"Very likely." Alfred nodded. "Yorinobu is too professional to make that mistake."
"What if he has you attacked again?" Penny asked.
"If it happens again, I can hide in my secret basement." Alfred shrugged. "It's hard to find the door if you don't know what to look for and it's designed to withstand hours of dedicated assault. The elevator door in the bedroom will also be disguised."
"Not to mention that he can escape through the water tunnel that we used to get here." Leonard added.
"Wouldn't they find the doors to it easily?" Penny wondered. "Yours were pretty recognizable."
"Mine are a little more disguised." Alfred told her. "It's not perfect but they would have to bring breathing masks to follow me. I can also exit the tunnel through either wells and just run and hide in the forest."
"Lets hope it never comes to that." Penny said.
"Don't worry. If it came to that, by that point, I would have called the organization and they'd send their own security to help me."
"They do that?" Penny was surprised.
"Penny, you have no idea what the status as honored elder provides." Alfred grinned.
"I only learned that this was a thing at the hotel." Leonard shrugged when Penny looked at him.
"How many honored elders are there?" she asked.
"Between ten or twenty." Alfred told him. "A lot of us don't reach old age."
"That's reassuring about my career path." Penny rolled her eyes.
"To be fair, not that many of us get killed, only the ones that think they can go through life like a bull in a china shop." Alfred continued. "Most die early, and by that I mean their fifties or early sixties, due to the toll that this job can take on us. If you're one of those that can't get to the higher tiers with the high paying jobs, you run yourself to the ground doing lots of jobs for small pay. Plus any injuries you get if you become complacent and that adds to the trouble."
"So, I guess Leonard will have no problem reaching honored elder status." Penny mused.
"If I don't get killed on a job, then it's likely." Leonard nodded. "Financially, I'm pretty much set."
"So, I should hope that I get a few more well paying jobs." Penny smiled.
"Depending on how you live, the money you already earned and what Leonard gave you should be enough for that." Albert said. "Not to mention that you have no expenses for a house."
"Makes me sound like a gold digger." Penny made a face.
"I don't see you as one." Leonard shrugged. "You're making your own money."
"Speaking of which, do I need to do something to get my money?" she asked. "I haven't received any of the payment yet."
"You should call Howard if he has implemented your cover job yet." Leonard told her.
She walked out of the office and even the house, Tyson obediently following her without being told to do so. Finding a secluded spot was impossible due to the construction workers milling around, so she exited the house and moved around it, seeing the dip in the grass where the large mercenary she had fought had landed. She took out her phone and dialed Howard's number.
"Hey Penny." Howard's voice greeted her. "Everything okay? We saw the news about Aberdeen."
"It's fine, we're back in Newport." Penny said. "Listen, I'm calling to ask if you have implemented my money transfer scheme, since I haven't gotten any of my money yet."
"It's active, though you won't get any money before the end of the month." Howard explained. "Your company just got formed, so it's more logical that it took a bit for your first money to arrive."
"I see, since few contractors like this get immediate orders." Penny nodded.
"Precisely." Howard confirmed. "I also randomized the payments. You'll sometimes see a payment arriving in your account after a week, then two weeks nothing and then you might get two payments in three days."
"Why?" she wondered.
"Because not all companies pay on time, or they have their own payment schedules for outside contracts." Howard told her. "However, that's only for the chance that your accounts will ever get checked, your tax returns will only contain your total income."
"But what about the paperwork?" she asked. "I normally would get written contracts, right?"
"That's correct." Howard said. "Have you checked your emails since you left?"
"Um, no." she admitted. "Why?"
"I've sent you the complete overview of how this works." he told her. "You will receive fake contracts that you can print out and sign."
"Isn't that document forgery?" she chuckled.
"Asks the woman who kills people for money and hides her payments for that in a fake company." Howard retorted sarcastically.
"Point taken." Penny laughed. "Alright, I check, thanks Howard."
"No problem." she could hear Howard smile. "Give our best to Leonard."
"Will do." she said and ended the call.
"... stop doing that." she could hear Leonard say before entering the office, seeing Leonard's face a bit blushed.
"Come on, you know I'm right." Alfred chuckled.
"What did Howard say?" Leonard asked, visibly relieved to be changing the topic.
"He said that my money will arrive at random times to avoid it looking too artificial." she replied. "He also said that I will receive fake contracts."
"Oh, right." Leonard nodded. "I get the same. I've become so used to it that I don't even think about it anymore."
"Well, you two, you should head home, I'm sure you're still exhausted from your mission." Alfred told them. "Albert will come by later to give me a checkup."
"If you need anything, just call." Leonard said and gave Alfred a gentle hug.
"Will do." Alfred smiled and ruffled over the dogs' heads. "You two, look over my son and my daughter-in-law in all but name."
"What?" Penny gasped and looked at Leonard who just sighed and rolled his eyes. "Did I miss something? Did Leonard propose while I was outside calling Howard?"
"No, but come on, where else is this going." Alfred grinned and pointed at them. "I can see how much you love each other and who else could you be with that accepts what you do?"
"Ah well, when you put it like that." Penny chuckled. "Well, come on husband in all but name, lets go home."
"Yes, dear." Leonard winked and whistled for the dogs to follow them.
"Welcome, mon ami." Olivier greeted him as he stepped out the gate.
"Olivier." Connor nodded at him, a bit taken aback at Oliviers oddly friendly greeting. "Any problems.
"Non." Olivier shook his head and Connor wondered how much French he would be subjected to. "Per the orders of Patrick, we 'ave begun to move our operation."
"Where are you moving it to?" Connor asked.
"We are moving a lot of it to Quebec." Olivier told him. "Right after receiving the email, I 'ave put 'alf the operation onto trucks and got it out of the city. The rest we are moving to an office building that I rented two floors of with an attached small production shop."
"An office building?" Connor was confused. "With other tenants?"
"Oui." Olivier smiled as they left the airport building. "Our cover is office supply, so it makes sense. We always 'ave a cover of moving product and we can sell our legitimate product to the people in the same building."
"I see." Connor nodded, wondering why he was here, given that Olivier seemed to have things in hand. "Do you have any documents lying around that shows placements of our money?"
"Only for the stashes we created." Olivier told him. "We 'ave three 'undred and twelve million dollars stashed in various places."
"Have you moved them yet?" Connor asked.
"Not yet." Olivier shook his head while concentrating on the drive. "Finding a new place for that much money is difficult in itself but moving bales of money without law enforcement noticing is on another level."
"I see. We may have to move the money to the US." Connor accepted. "I have to ask though, why are you driving a twenty year old station wagon?"
"Because we found it easiest to move smaller amounts of drugs around the city with those." Olivier smiled. "Police tends to become suspicious if a very expensive looking car is driving through the rougher part of town but they 'ardly bat an eye if it's an old beater."
"That's actually quite brilliant." Connor had to admit, making a mental note for when he was allowed to build his own outfit.
"Tiens?" Olivier said when they arrived on the street where his operation was located.
"What's wrong?"
"There should be bustling activity 'ere." Olivier pointed to the gate.
"Keep driving, don't slow down or speed up." Connor said, a deep pit opening in his stomach. "Just pretend we're just passing along."
"Why?" Olivier asked but did as Connor said, both looking into the complex as they passed.
"Fuck!" Connor hissed when he saw a body lying on the floor, a pool of blood spreading underneath it. "Kenta is here!"
"Merde!" Olivier looked at the bloody spectacle until it was out of their field of view. "What do we do now?"
"Where is your new headquarters?" Connor wanted to know. "And did you have any documents in there that showed the address of your new place of operation?"
"No, only those that are already there know about it." Olivier said and stopped the car after he had driven two more blocks.
"Why are you stopping?"
"I need to tell my deputy to stop all transports, they can't come back 'ere." Olivier told him and furiously typed a message on his phone.
"What did you tell them?" Connor asked when Olivier began driving again.
"To lock away the drugs, and go home for the time being." Olivier said. "I'll not risk doing business as long as Kenta is in the city. The only ones working will be my deputy and some trusted workers, who will continue to furnish the factory. A regular office supply production facility is innocent enough."
"Hopefully." Connor said. "We should lay low though."
"My 'ouse is large enough for you to stay there." Olivier offered.
"No offense but Kenta is too good at finding us, so we should do what Nancy did." Connor said. "Use a fake alias and stay at a luxury hotel for a while."
"A luxury 'otel?" Olivier was surprised. "What kind of laying low is that?"
"One where we are surrounded by lots of people in a place will security cameras that we can tap." Connor explained.
"Oh, c'est géniale!" Olivier laughed. "You 'ave a fake ID with you?"
"Always." Connor nodded and produced a fake ID card.
"When we are there, leave the 'acking stuff to me." Olivier said. "I am really good with that."
"As long as we can see who comes in or out." Connor said. "You need to add facial recognition, in case Kenta finds us after all."
Olivier drove to the St. Regis hotel, parking the car in one of its designated spots and exited it. Instead of walking towards the hotel, Olivier went in the opposite direction, Connor confusedly following him with his backpack. Olivier walked into a department store and began grabbing clothes, several pairs of underwear, socks, two pairs of sweatpants and sweaters, as well as some shirts and a travel bag.
He paid for it all and stuffed the clothes into the bag, then headed back towards the hotel. They walked towards the reception and waited until the man behind the counter was done with his phone call.
"Good afternoon." came the greeting from the concierge.
"Good afternoon." Olivier greeted back. "We need rooms, for... 'ow long?"
"No idea, a week maybe." Connor shrugged. "Depending on business."
"Ten days." Olivier said and put down his fake id card. "I'll pay in advance."
"Do you want to share a room?" the concierge asked.
"Non." Olivier shook his head.
"Should the rooms be next to each other?"
"I don't care." Connor shrugged and put his fake ID on the desk as well when Olivier had received his key card.
Copying what Olivier had done, Connor paid in advance, putting down over five thousand dollars for the ten days. Checking his key card, he saw that he would be right next to Olivier. They rode up the elevator to their floor and walked into their respective rooms, where Connor put his travel bag on the bed before leaving the room again and knocking on Olivier's room.
"Come in." Olivier waved him inside, Connor seeing the laptop on the table.
"Are you contacting someone?" Connor asked.
"No, I will 'ack into the 'otel's security feed and set up facial recognition in case Kenta finds us." Olivier told him and sat down to begin typing. "Can you contact your uncle to tell 'im what 'appened?"
"Right." Connor nodded and took his burner phone, dialing one of the two numbers he had saved.
"Speak." Patrick's voice came from the speaker.
"Boss, I'm in Toronto." Connor told him. "Bad news though, Kenta attacked the warehouse right when me and Olivier were driving to it."
"Where are you now?" Patrick asked after a few seconds of silence.
"We did what Nancy did and checked into a high end hotel under fake names." Connor told him. "Olivier is hacking into the security feed to set up facial recognition in case Kenta finds us."
"Is Olivier with you?" Patrick asked.
"Yes, he's here." Connor confirmed.
"Put him on." Patrick ordered.
"You're on speaker now." Connor told him.
"Olivier?"
"Oui, boss." Olivier said loudly, Connor walking over to him so he wouldn't have to talk so loudly.
"Is Toronto lost?" Patrick asked.
"Not completely." Olivier replied. "By the time Kenta attacked, I 'ad moved three quarters of the operation and all documents out of the place already."
"Where to?"
"Half went to Quebec, the rest to a new location in the city." Olivier said. "I moved this city's operation from the warehouse to a small workshop and an office building next to it. Our cover of office supply makes it make sense."
"Kenta could find the new location." another voice came from the speaker.
"Mark, is that you?" Olivier asked with a smile.
"Yes, it's me." came the confirmation.
"'ow are you, Blackbeard." Olivier laughed.
"Don't start with that again." Mark grumbled. "It was bad enough when you invented that nickname the first time."
"Shut up, you two!" Patrick ordered. "Olivier, what about the money?"
"As I told Connor, we 'ave three 'undred million dollars stashed in various locations in the city." Olivier said. "Mark knows two of them, I don't know if Kenta has seen that map."
"He did." Mark sighed. "How much is in those two stashes?"
"Eighty-four million dollars in total." Olivier told him.
"Any chance of getting some of that out?" Patrick asked.
"Sure, we can move it, but if Kenta really knows the locations, he could just watch my people move it and from there find our new location." Olivier said.
"Okay, leave it where it is for the time being." Patrick ordered. "Only move it when either me or Mark tell you. Communication will continue with email drafts."
"Understood, boss." Olivier said.
"Uncle, how long do you want me to stay here?" Connor asked. "Should I leave after two days to go to Miami or remain in hiding for a while?"
"You're in a hotel, yes?"
"Oui." Olivier confirmed.
"For how long?"
"We booked and paid in advance for ten days." Connor said.
"Stay there." Patrick said. "You have Nancy's number, don't you?"
"Yes." Connor nodded, even though Patrick couldn't see it. "Unless she destroyed her burner."
"If you can't reach her, contact me via Olivier's email, I'll relay it to Nancy and tell her to lay low in Miami to wait for you." Patrick ordered. "If you reach her, tell her to lay low yourself."
"Got it, boss."
"One more thing, where are the money stashes located that Kenta might know about?" Patrick wanted to know.
"Fifty million are in a store of someone I'm paying off, the rest is stashed in the walls of an apartment building that is owned by an old schoolmate of mine." Olivier said.
"Isn't that risky?" Mark asked.
"Sure, but the money is untracable." Olivier shrugged. "The fifty million are in the foundation under the basement, so it would take sledge'ammers to get to it. The apartment building stash is separated into the outer walls of the 'allways and the attic. Getting to it would be difficult but 'ardly impossible."
"How would you do it?" Connor asked.
"I would call my buddy and 'e would start a renovation." Olivier told him. "Send in a few of my guys first to get the money out, then 'e can finish it with a regular company."
"As I said before, leave the money where it is for now." Patrick ordered again. "In those places, it will be difficult for Kenta to simply destroy it."
"Understood, boss." Olivier said. "One more thing, how long do you think we have to wait until we can resume operations?"
"We don't know, Kenta has a habit of getting police involved." Patrick told him. "Should that happen, can police find your new location?"
"Non." Oliver said. "I 'ave left no documentation about where we went. 'owever, our dealers will run out of product in no more than a week."
"Shit." Patrick sighed. "Well, we can't do anything about that. Run loads if you can."
"You should run some dummy loads before starting with the real product." Connor suggested. "See if they get followed or attacked."
"Good idea, Connor." Patrick approved.
"Anything else?"
"If something comes up, we do it by email draft." Patrick said and ended the call.
"I'm finished with the 'acking." Olivier said. "If Kenta shows up, it'll alert us."
"Good." Connor nodded and dialed the other number in his phone.
"Yeah?" Nancy's voice came out of the speaker.
"Hey Nancy, it's Connor." Connor said. "Listen, Kenta attacked the Toronto operation in the middle of the move, so I'm forced to stay here a bit longer."
"You okay, loverboy?" Nancy asked.
"Yeah, we're fine." Connor blushed when Olivier snickered.
"Loverboy?" Olivier grinned.
"Is that Olivier?" Nancy asked.
"Oui, mon ami." Olivier said into the phone. "And 'ow are you?"
"Well, my operation got wiped out and I'm in hiding, so pretty much the same as you."
"Touché." Olivier laughed. "So, loverboy?"
"Don't, please." Connor sighed.
"Oh, Connor and I had some fun while we were on a job for Patrick." Nancy revealed. "He was quite good."
"Nancy, listen." Connor interrupted. "I just off a call with Patrick and he told me to tell you to stay in hiding for the time being, since I can't join you in Miami for at least a week."
"He is willing to delay the Miami operation for you?" Nancy sounded surprised.
"Gee, thanks." Connor rolled his eyes. "Patrick wants me to learn and I can't really do that when I arrive after you started, can I."
"Relax, I'm just messing with you." Nancy laughed. "Another week being pampered in the hotel spa doesn't sound so bad."
"Any more communication will happen by email draft." Connor told her. "Patrick will have to relay anything though, unless you have access to Oliviers account."
"I don't." Nancy said. "But unless he tells me to get my ass to Miami, I'm staying put."
"Fine." Connor accepted. "Bye Nancy."
"Au revoir, Nancy." Olivier said loudly before Connor hung up.
"How do you know Nancy?" Connor asked and tried to clamp down on the jealousy he was somehow feeling.
"We started together in Philadelphia." Olivier shrugged. "Always knew she would go far. Do you know that she stepped on my throat to get the Mid-South territory? Not literally of course."
"Really." Connor chuckled. "And you still like her?"
"I was never more proud." Olivier grinned. "In this business, you must be cutthroat when you want to reach the top, otherwise, you will get eaten by anyone below you that wants your position."
"I would think that people would think twice before taking me on." Connor said.
"Connor, what happens if Patrick is gone and you are supposed to take over?" Olivier looked at him. "Your subordinates need to both respect and fear you, otherwise, they will destroy you."
"Why respect?"
"Because if you only rule with fear, people below will betray you to law enforcement, either if they get arrested and they want a good deal or just out of sheer spite." Olivier shrugged. "In the seven years I ran the Canada operation, I lost a total of thirteen guys, all of whom were arrested. Not a single one cooperated with the police and sold us out because they know they and their families are being taken care of."
"Interesting." Connor nodded. "If Kenta shows up, tell me."
Connor left the room and returned to his, sitting down on the bed to think about what he just learned. He knew that Patrick instilled fear in his people, going so far as to simply shoot one during a meeting but he had never realized that everybody seems to be respecting him as well since never once had anyone ratted him out to the police.
Or, he instilled such strong fear in people that they knew that if they talked, they wouldn't be safe even in prison.
Chapter ends here. Again, sorry for the wait but couldn't be helped.
Review please :)