Chapter 65: Wild and Winning Card

The Toyota Sequoia SUVs droved into the Hilton Suites through a special entrance from behind, instead of the general driveway.

Stepping out of the vehicles, the visors followed behind Quinn, who walked behind the personnel acting as their chaperone. It was the guy she had initially spoken with at the airport.

He led them through a secret staircase to the second floor and guided them into one of the suites prepared for their stay. They all walked into a luxurious suite featuring a sophisticated neutral palette of beiges and creams.

The spacious room combined a plush king bed with golden accent pillows and a comfortable seating area with a sectional sofa and armchairs backing the floor-to-ceiling curved windows, and when they all entered, the man gave Quinn three key cards, each marked with room numbers. “The other two are for the suites close by,” he said, then left.

Quinn had also brought several suit bags with her, which she placed on one of the seats, then gestured with both hands for the agents to sit wherever they felt comfortable.

Now standing in their midst, Quinn began her briefing. “Tonight’s operation has a few priorities I’m going to lay out. The first priority is getting these people used for experiments out. The second is the destruction of that facility. And of course, we don’t expect to just waltz in and do that without confrontation, but that’s also another thing—we are outrightly challenging them this time.” Quinn immediately laid out the level of risk they were taking.

She raised two fingers and continued, “There are two of them from House Quillforte, stationed at the facility, very capable demigods. One is Helda and the other is Zebelon, ranks 8920 and 5240 respectively. Though not much is publicly known about how their own abilities work, but we know it’s something derived from their family’s signature: Knowledge.”

Nacht muttered, “Doesn’t matter, they all die the same way.”

Quinn simply nodded and continued, “The goal is to draw them out and lead them away from the premises. Liam, I can tell you’re able to face off against someone who’s low-ranked, and that’s where you and President Nacht come in. With both your magic levels, they won’t be able to ignore it.”

Liam nodded, understanding what must be done. Nacht’s gaze shifted slightly towards Liam and then turned away. Of course he had heard things about this Liam guy, and with what Quinn had just added, it made perfect sense how he was able to easily put Clive in his place. Inwardly, he looked forward to fighting alongside this boy.

Then Quinn turned towards Team A. “With the ranked visors drawn out, Amira and Kevin, you’re to get in and get the visors they are running experiments on out of there, including the ones in special holding cells. There are several pathways out of the facility, and when you get out, there’ll be a van driven by our friend waiting for you. Before we leave for the operation tonight, I’ll give you a tracking device to alert him to your position.” The friend, in this case, was the personnel who had dropped the keycards with them earlier.

Both Amira and Kevin nodded as their roles were perfectly understood.

“Jin,” Quinn continued, “our role is to watch over and directly stop the confrontation of the S ranks in their employ. They are not Quillfortes, but I could tell they were both pretty strong”

Jin simply nodded affirmatively, signifying he was ready.

Then Quinn said, “Once again, I understand we are walking in almost blindly here, but this is our first real direct confrontation with one of the families. In times past, it has mostly been subtle interventions, politics, thefts and diversions, with only a few of those times leading to battle. So, this is good luck to us all.” She took a slight bow and then added, “We’ll have some rest and rendezvous back here at 6 PM.”

Then she picked up the key cards and dispersed them, giving one to President Nacht and one to Team A’s leader Jin Suho, then additionally giving them each a suit bag. “This is what you all will change into,” she said.

When she was about to hand one over to Nacht, he simply raised his hand, declining the offer. “I’d like them to see the face of the one who sends them to the other side,” Nacht said.

Quinn nodded affirmatively and said to the President, “Thank you for joining us.” Nacht nodded back and left, following right behind Team A.

After they left, Quinn turned to Liam and said, “You’re supposed to be in this one,” handing him the key card. She added, “I’ll be stepping out to make sure everything else needed for this operation is in order. However, before I do that, I’d like you to know this, Liam, you’re both our wild card and our winning card.”

“What do you mean?” Liam asked, genuinely confused. “The only reason full orders for a direct confrontation were given from Lucien was because of you. The director also seems to have faith in your abilities. I know you’re strong—I can feel it—so I’m choosing to put my faith in it as well.”

She took a brief pause then finally concluded, “Completing this mission successfully is going to be the start of something great.” She tapped his shoulders and walked towards the door before leaving the room.

Liam said nothing after hearing all of it, but he understood the words she was trying to convey. It seemed the entirety of this mission was based on how well he’d perform out there tonight. However, he had unwavering conviction. If anything, this would give him the right outlet to channel all that anger and frustration he had been feeling every day he couldn’t find his sister.

With all of this in mind, it was finally time he made his own preparations. He muttered, “Houndkeeper.”

[Skill Active —> Contract Summoning]

The Houndkeeper’s form materialized in front of him with red energy momentarily surging out of its body. Then the Houndkeeper spoke in its language: “[You Called?]”

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