New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Chapter 769 Worries Of An Ex Assassin

Alexander might not understand this yet, but a line of big black trucks often meant dangerous people. Many regular Joes had the film mentality that if you see a line of black SUVs, you steer clear before trouble finds you.

It was all a psychological phenomenon caused by big screen showings and serialized shows that portrayed them as such. Of course, many times, that was precisely what that meant.

After all, what better vehicle to make a mobile tank out of than a suburban vehicle? Those things were already rigged to carry much more weight than they had and built with room to spare.

Bullet-proofing a vehicle like that was easy, and it would still look unassuming to the regular folk.

There was a reason politicians drove around in those, and it wasn't simply for comfort.

The line of trucks drove their way off the main island of Montreal and onto the island of Laval, making their way southwest. They would meet up with Bear and Reaper close to their home, and from there, they would drive up north.

The drive wasn't too long, considering the hard part was getting off Montreal, but the road was still annoyingly winding. The mercenary driving Alex and Kary was already nervous about carrying those two in his vehicle.

But he had a job to do, and he would complete it.

Reaching the westernmost part of Laval, another vehicle joined the convoy, and the radio hummed back to life.

"Silver one here. Bear and Reaper confirmed. Coordinates to destination synchronized to the convoy. Drive single-file, keep order, and don't stop under any circumstance."

The merc grabbed his radio and replied, "Red one, ten four."

The other vehicles chimed in, one after another, with the same reply, and the convoy rode back onto the highway, directed toward the north.

Silence took the radio channel once more, and suddenly, tension grew.

The coordinates synced into every vehicle's GPS, and they saw their destination for the first time. Every driver wondered what could be so important that they had to drive so many people there without information.

All they knew was that it was something important and secretive.

The drive was just as painful for the lot getting driven there as they were kept in the dark. Only a few knew what would happen, and they were the most nervous.

In the front car, a luxury silver sedan, Jack and Margarett were having a calm discussion with deadpan expressions, even though the tension in the car was thick.

"Are you sure we can trust these kids on a mission like this one? You know as well as I that rescue and containment missions are the hardest. They aren't trained soldiers, Jack."

Jack sighed heavily.

"I know, Margarett. But we don't have much of a choice. In this case, normal people can 't deal with the enemy. And we lack options on who to bring."

"Still, shouldn't we at least keep the mercenaries with us? At least as support troops?" she asked, her eyebrows furrowing.

"I wish it were that simple. If we keep them along, what happens when they start shooting at the monsters? When their bullets bounce off without so much as a scratch. Will they start panicking? I know they are trained soldiers, but it would be a normal reaction."

Margarett brought her hand to her chin, her eyes narrowing.

"I guess the unknown factor is a danger in itself. But what about the kids? How will they react? Jonathan is a child. So is the Bellemare girl. How will they react to monsters?"

Jack scoffed lightly.

"I'm not worried about the Bellemare kid. She's seen worse monsters, in and out of New Eden. And, although Jonathan is still a child, he's fought a demon already. We can't claim to have done the same, even though we've taken more lives than I care to count."

Margarett's eyes flashed with a tinge of sorrow for a moment before returning to their icy expression.

"And the others? I'm sure the three in the service tunnel incident will be fine. But what about the American kid? Or the personal trainer? Or that young merc, from Bellemare & Delphis? I doubt they are mentally ready for this."

Although his wife was making good points in the conversation, Jack had a feeling she was just nervous that they would have to bring home a body. She'd mostly worked alone in all her career and had never had to worry about carrying home a deceased ally.

The same couldn't be said for Jack. He had been in a more traditional service line and had to bury more friends than he wanted to remember. Bringing home the corpse of your friend was never a fun thing.

He had grown to sense the kinds of incidents before they even happened over the years, like a sixth sense of impending death.

But strangely, today, he wasn't sensing this. His mind was calm, and he felt things were still in the clear.

That's why he wasn't letting his wife's veiled worry affect him.

"Let's get there first and pass one day. We can do a risk assessment from there on out. At the moment, we need to focus on our plan of attack. These monsters are not going to react or think like troops. Getting them where we need them and hunting them will be more of that young woman's domain than mine."

Margarett's lips stretched into a thin smile.

"How rare of you to admit someone can plan an assault better than you. I can't wait to see her at work. This will be interesting."

Jack chuckled.

"This isn't an assault; it's a siege. And although I have resisted one or two of them before, I never had to deal with actual monsters. The Deveille girl has. And with brio, I might add."

Margarett's brow rose again.

"That well, huh? Well then, I guess we are in expert hands."

"I'll send you the video links to that battle. I know you like to understand the people you work with. That should give you a good clue."

Jack had watched every clip about the Bastion City siege before the update. All of them were from players assaulting the fortress and had terrible angles, but they still gave a lot of information when you knew where to look.

Phoenix's, or Kary's troop placement and flexibility, were quite entertaining for someone like him, who did this for a living a few years back. She had room to grow but was already displaying leading abilities beyond what many were capable of.

'Let's hope it also shows in this mission,' he mused.