Chapter 161

161 The New Mole

Our shift of protecting Masaru was done, after what felt a bit scary but it was fine. I arrived back home, knocking on the door-just waiting for my mom to open the door. The sky was so dark, it was almost as if night had arrived a lot earlier than usual. It wasn’t that late of an hour though, so it was fine that I’d arrived back home early, before midnight.

Soon enough, Mom opened the door. “Hello,” she said, kissing me on the forehead, before closing the door behind her as I walked inside and went straight to my room, feeling tired from all of the work we did today.

As I did, I pulled out my phone-seeing a picture of me and Greg.

Good times, good times.

Greg and me were like chains that wouldn’t let go of each other, even though we weren’t related by blood or anything, it was like we were two pieces of the same puzzle, which couldn’t be separated or destroyed. We were inseparable, but now-that was starting to feel like fantasy, which made me wonder how long would it be until reality came to knock on our door and shatter the dreams we had built up together.

But that was part of life, and it would always continue to happen as long as we were alive.

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I went over to my locker, as Greg with his colony of friends walked through the hall. It wasn’t as crazy anymore, but people were still staring in the adoration of Greg, not to mention he had his colony of friends with him, which made some of the girls go into fits of jealousy. Greg seemed to having the time of his life, or something at least, and his eyes seemed to have a slight glow about them, as if he were glowing with happiness.

They stopped at the corner as Greg leaned on the wall, looking up at the ceiling while his eyes stared at something only he could see. It felt like he was seeing something very far away, as his eyes seemed to be unfocused and not seeing anything in particular at the moment.

.....

He didn’t notice me at all, and he didn’t say anything-it felt like he wasn’t in the mood to say anything at all. Maybe he was just thinking about something or something like that?

“Remember that one kid that you used to talk with?” one of the guys asked, as Greg’s face confusedly looked at him, as his eyes focused on him suddenly.

“Huh?” Greg asked, as the man shook his head, laughing softly. “No, not really,” he said as Greg shook his head and smiled softly. “I think it was Connor or something like that.”

“He must be really annoying isn’t he,” the man said, and I felt anger move through my spine. But I kept my cool, not letting any anger show in my face. “I think he’s just weird,” Greg said, shaking his head before he looked up at the ceiling. “Never like him.” The guys murmured in agreement, but I shook my head and walked past them as Greg turned his head and looked at me as his eyes narrowed up a bit in confusion.

Not sure what that was gonna do, but whatever. I just continued walking down the hall. It felt like there was something wrong about Greg right now-something seemed off about him-and it made me nervous about something. He didn’t seem to like the friends he had, but he seemed to enjoy the fame. I don’t blame him, I would too, but at least he could enjoy both aspects of himself-his personality and his popularity-and not just one or the other.

His personality was a person who was like me, or somewhat the opposite but this whole popularity has consumed him. I need to find a way to get him out of that, so he could live his life again in peace.

And if not him, then maybe me. At least I would be his best friend again, instead of his friend who he barely knows or cares about. I had a feeling though that this would be easier said than done.

But I will try my best to get him out of that mess he’s in right now. He needs to find out for himself that popularity is not everything-he needs to realize that without someone to care about him he is nothing. Because that’s how I feel like right now, but he doesn’t realize it yet.

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I arrived back at the YMPA, seeing Nikki walk towards me as I entered the building, seeing her smile as she saw me. “Hey,” she said with a smile, hugging me as she gave me a kiss on the cheek.

“Hey,” I replied.

“You ready?” she asked as I chuckled, pulling away from her as she let go of me and smiled.

“Yeah, I’m ready.” We arrived at the room, with me closing the door as Mr. Drails looked at us. “Alright, before you go on your mission, I want to share to you some news that Ortega has found for us.”

“Oh, him,” September said, giving me a look as she put her hands in her pocket. “Well what’s he found?”

“Well,” Mr. Drails started, before looking down at the floor as he spoke. “Here it is.”

It showed a picture of a man, and Mr. Drails chuckled and shook his head. “Remember this man?” he asked, as my eyes widened. It reminded me of Rocke, back in Russia, where he tried some time ago to take the Armonk for himself but instead Rocke took it.

The day Tisiah got captured.

“Marcello,” I muttered in fury, and everyone had the same look. “He has been providing information to the BMO, which is how they found out about Charlie in the first place. Maddie Cone wasn’t the mole, he was,” Mr. Drails said, glancing at us with determination in his eyes. “He was the mole.”

“Okay, so now what do we do?” Nikki asked, as we all stood there in silence.

“Now we go after him.”

“We go after him.”

“Yes, we do,” I said. “Is he in Japan by any chance?”

“No, but in fact he is having the time of his life in Hawaii right now. He developed a new organization, BANE, which stands for Brotherhood of Assassins in New England. And he’s recruiting more members, which is why we’re going after him.”

“So, he’s living his dream?” Nikki asked, as we all nodded.

“That’s right, apparently training a team of assassins in New England is his dream,” Mr. Drails said. “Never expected that to happen, but it looks like he’s doing quite well.”

“So, how do we go about finding him?” Nikki asked, as I shrugged.

“Well, I was told that he’s been recruiting new members and training them in secret, so he’ll be harder to track down,” Mr. Drails said, as I nodded. “But he’s in Hawaii, which means we can get him there easily. All we need to do is figure out a good way of getting him back here.”

“What about the rest of the BMO?” September asked, looking at Mr. Drails. “Well, right now they have something else to worry about. Their mole is about to be exposed.” September smiled at this statement, as Mr. Drails smiled and nodded. “Now we just need to make sure that happens.”

“And how do we do that?” Nikki asked.

“Well, we just need to keep an eye on the mole, and let him know that we’re onto him,” Mr. Drails said. “Then we just need to wait for the mole to make a mistake, which will we be during their next mission. Assassinating one of the board directions for a business called Explore-Mel, which are taking in billions of revenue right now. One of their buildings are in Hawaii.”

“How does this-”

“Because Marcello is going to be there,” Mr. Drails said. “He won’t be able to help himself, so they’ll most likely have a skilled team with him. And they’re good enough to see through that.”

“So how do we get him?” Nikki asked. “If they’re so skilled, we’re dead.”

“We have a plan, a good one perhaps. One of my men will pretend to be their target, they come out and you guys capture them in their act,” Mr. Drails said. “The perfect trick.”

“Well I hope it’s perfect,” Malachi said, rubbing his hands together as if he was about to enjoy a feast of some sort.

“If you succeed,” Mr. Drails said with a sigh and a smirk. “Alright, get ready ya’ll.” I nodded, checking my utility belt, seeing all of my weapons and items there. It made me feel confident that I was ready for the mission. And hopefully it’ll be over soon.

“Alright,” I said to everyone. “Everyone’s ready?”

September nodded.