Contractbound

"This should be tight enough." Luuk van der Meer said. He had found the rope he was using for tying the gang leader from a nearby dumpster. He turned to the man next to him and asked, "What are you going to do with him?"

"Well make use of him and his men for the mission," he said, sounding confident like he had planned ahead.

"Is this your plan all along?" Luuk asked with surprise.

"Yes," he lied convincingly. It was actually something he just thought of after seeing that the gang leader was a Contractbound. He initially came only to practice his teamwork with Luuk.

Once Luuk had finished tying the gang leader up, they both carried the muscular man away from the scene. He was really heavy, and Luuk was more agile than strong, so they couldn"t carry him too far away. They stopped at a secluded alley where Luuk had found the rope and laid him down over there. Once Valentine had made sure that the rope was tied securely, he turned over to Luuk and spoke,

"I"m going to check around. Make sure you watch him properly."

Luuk nodded, then watch Valentine"s back as he was walking away from the alley. He found somewhere safe and after making sure there was no danger, he lied down and tried to sleep. He didn"t need any sleeping pills this time because it was already late at night; he was naturally sleepy. It took him longer than usual to fall asleep because the place was very not comfortable. Soon after Valentine had fallen asleep, Graham woke up. Graham got up and spoke,

"Val, wake up. We"ve switched over."

He woke up Valentine"s consciousness who had just fallen asleep. Since they were still outside and not in a safe place, they must always be prepared. He then walked over to the alley and casually spoke to Luuk, who was watching him walk closer.

"How is he? Did he wake up?"

Luuk was slightly taken aback. The man"s way of speaking was different from the man he had spent hours with.

"No. He"s still unconscious. Do you want to wake him up?" he asked.

"Yes. We need to talk to him,"

"How? I don"t know how to wake up someone pa.s.sed out. Do we just slap him in the face?" Luuk said honestly.

"Don"t. Let"s just wait. It"s been long enough; should wake up any time soon."

The two men waited there patiently, watching the tied-up man lying unconscious under the flickering light. Not until one minute later, the gang leader woke up. Confusion was apparent in his eyes and he looked around. Seconds later, he felt the pain in his head and started grunting.

"Urgh!"

He then remembered what had happened. He and his men had been beaten up badly by the two people in front of him. His green eyes reflected hatred and fear.

"Who the f.u.c.k are you guys? Are you two f.u.c.kers going to turn me in? Leave my men alone!" he spoke while moving frantically, trying to loosen the rope tied around him, but it didn"t work. The two men in front of him were wearing facemasks, so he couldn"t see their faces, only their eyes. The taller one had brown eyes and the shorter one had glowing red eyes. He guessed it was night vision.

"No. Actually, we have a job for you and your men," said Graham matter-of-factly.

Luuk was just watching from the side. He didn"t know what the strange detective was thinking, but he trusted him.

"So f.u.c.king beating us up was part of the job?!" he asked angrily.

Graham looked at him in the eyes, his own eyes glowed red under the contact lenses. He spoke softly,

"You"ll calm down and listen to us or we"ll beat you up again."

The burly man was swayed by his words and calmed down. The expression on his face no longer showed anger and anxiety, only confusion. He still didn"t understand what was going on.

Luuk saw how the man calmed down after Graham told him to and felt amazed. He remembered how he also willingly returned Graham"s wallet after he tried to steal it.

"First, tell us your name and where we can contact you," Graham asked him, still looking at the tied up man straight in the eyes.

"Jacco. I"m here for the most part. During the day, you can find me at Moeders; a restaurant on Grotemarktstraat," he said, trying to avoid Graham"s stare. He felt somehow intimidated by it.

"So you have a job. Why are you doing this then?" Luuk interjected.

"None of your f.u.c.king business!" he refused to answer.

"Now, hold back with the swearing. What"s your last name? We need it as well," Graham said. With only his first name, it would be difficult to track him.

"I can"t f.u.c.king stop swearing; I"m uneducated," he said sarcastically. "van Wert. That"s my last name."

"Jacco van Wert. Got it. I"ll tell you the detail of the job tomorrow. I"ll come to find you at the restaurant. We will pay you and your men, so don"t worry." Graham told him in a convincing manner.

Graham gestured at Luuk and they both walked away, leaving Jacco alone all tied up in the dark alley. Jacco looked at the two men confusedly. They just came and went as they pleased. He didn"t even know their names and they didn"t even untie him. Between the two men, the one with brown eyes seemed more dangerous.

Once the two men were gone, Jacco yelled loudly, so that his men could find him and untie him. Not long after, a lot of men with leather jackets with fiery skulls came and untied him. They asked what had just happened, and Jacco only said,

"We"ve got a job."

...

In the dark night street, Graham and Luuk were walking fast, but Graham was visibly slower. He was trying his best to keep up. They arrived at Oosteindestraat after walking for a while and saw that the street was already busy. It was late at night, so people had already come. Drunkards and prost.i.tutes were a common sight there.

"I a.s.sume you"re going to try stealing from people now?" Graham asked in curiosity.

"Yes. It"s a waste if I don"t since I"m already here anyway." Luuk said nonchalantly.

"I have something I need to do here as well. I"ll come with you."

Both of them walked down Oosteindestraat still with facemasks on. People saw them but they didn"t care. A lot of people there hid their ident.i.ties for many different reasons. It was just a normal sight in that dimly lit street.

The street itself was not really wide. It was only a three-lane street, and at that hour, there were rarely any motor carriages pa.s.sing by, so people felt safe even standing in the middle of the street. Drivers also know how bad the drunkards could be, so they usually chose another route.

Luuk was looking around, finding potential targets. He had deactivated his night vision because he was almost at his limit. He didn"t need it right now because the lights coming from the various establishments were enough for him to see the people gathered there. He saw a busy restaurant and decided it would be easy to get close to people there.

Luuk gestured to Graham and the latter only nodded. He wasn"t going to enter the restaurant with Luuk because he had another goal in mind. Luuk nodded and entered the restaurant alone. It was really packed, with drunken men eating while being accompanied by escorts. They were also female customers with male escorts there, and they looked very rich. Some intimidating-looking people were standing around those rich customers; they were probably the bodyguards.

Luuk came close to a spot where there was a drunk man laughing and chatting while a woman was sitting on his lap. He pretended to be looking for someone and when he was close enough to his target, he started chanting very quietly.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Theft, declare this drunk man"s wallet mine!"

He made a swiping motion with his right hand without looking away from his target. A moment later an expensive-looking wallet appeared in his hand and he nimbly hid it under his clothes. He quickly left the restaurant in a normal manner before anyone suspected anything. Outside, he saw Graham talking to a sober-looking person. He turned to a secluded alley and after making sure everything was safe, he checked the content of the wallet.

Inside the wallet, there were nine guilder bills with a lot of penning coins. Luuk took all the guilder bills and tossed the wallet in the alley. He stuffed the money in his pocket and walked out of it. He met up with Graham who had just finished talking to the person.

"Who was that?" asked Luuk curiously.

"Just someone who will help me with something," Graham said nonchalantly.

He had convinced the person, using his power, to take the note Valentine had written to the Police station. He had also convinced the person not to tell the Police anything about the sender. He knew the Police could always use their power to interrogate the messenger, but Graham wasn"t worried. He was wearing gloves and a facemask, and the letter also had Valentine"s anti-divination.

"I"m done here. I"ll go home now," he said to Luuk.

"Me too. I just made big bucks." Luuk said proudly.

Graham and Luuk started walking back to their apartment building, but since they were done with their business, Luuk didn"t care to wait for the slow Graham. Graham arrived home much later than Luuk. He entered his room and went straight to the shower. After showering, he lied down in bed and started reviewing the day.

"So, Val, there have been two murder victims as of right now. I hope either we or the Police can catch the killer soon. It"s happening too close for comfort," he paused.

"At least now we have a clue about the bizarre image. It is somewhere in Zuideinde. We can go there tomorrow. It is kind of far from here, so we should go before noon."

"The next thing is about the mission to steal the weird artifact from Mr. de Witt. We have now another helper. A lot, actually. We can make use of them for our plan. Anyway, that Luuk is not bad."

Graham stared at the ceiling for a long time, thinking about various things. He gradually felt sleepier and sleepier, so he closed his eyes and fell asleep.