Chapter 261 - Who Will Outthink Who?

Parker Green's Office - Shadow's Base

When Chris left, Parker paged someone who arrived several minutes later.

"You called me, Sir?" A man in his late thirties stood ramrod straight in front of Parker's table.

"Ah, yes. Agent Gus… just the man that I need to see. How are you, son?" Parker got up from his desk and walked around to greet the man, tapping him by his shoulder.

"I'm doing great, Sir. Always ready to be of service. Do I have a mission?"

Parker's sly chuckle caused Gus to be alert. "This is why you're one of my favorites. You truly uphold your name 'The Gazelle'. Fast… straightforward… and also deadly," he winked, turning around to sit back on his chair.

"Thank you, Sir. I only do my assignments to the best of my ability."

"Good good good. Yes, I do have a special mission for you. Confidential. Can I trust you to keep it between us?"

"Of course. My loyalty is always with Shadow, Sir. You know that."

"Excellent. So, keeping this a secret from your supervisor won't be a problem then?"

"My… supervisor? You mean, I can't tell Chris about this mission?"

"Will that be a problem?" Parker's stern gaze was fixed on the agent, studying him—analyzing and threatening at the same time.

Agent Gus composed himself. "No, Sir. It's not. It won't be a problem. I will treat this mission as an S-Rank level. But may I ask why?" S-Rank is a classification that is higher than Rank A. Anything beyond 'A' is treated with utmost seriousness and confidentiality—more than Rank 'As', and definitely more than 'Bs' and 'Cs'. 

The corners of Parker's mouth curled up but his smile wasn't the kind where it meant he was happy. "Because he is your mission."

Confused, Agent Gus paused to understand what Parker was saying. Chris had been his supervisor for a long time. He had always respected the man and saw him as his role model. "I'm sorry, Sir. But I don't understand… Is this a…" He couldn't say it, but he was wondering if it was a cancelation mission.

"Oh no. I'm not ordering you to cancel Agent Hawk. He hasn't done anything… yet. And I just want to make sure that it stays that way. Can you do that?"

"Do you want me to tail him?"

"Do whatever you need to do to know if he's doing his job as he is expected to. Report straight to me if you find anything. You can be objective, right, Agent Gus?" Parker's fake smile was still on as he waited for the agent's response.

Agent Gus gave Parker a salute. "Yes, Sir. Of course, you can trust me with this. I will remain objective and follow your order."

Once he left, Parker looked at the screen on his computer and read the article about Katherine again. There was just an itch that he couldn't scratch when he read through the write-up. 

It was said that Katherine Young was found by her grandfather and got reunited only to find out that she had no recollection of her life before five years ago because of an accident. There were even medical records of her stay in the hospital and doctor's findings too.

It was also mentioned in the article that because Katherine Young still could not remember her past life, she was going to try getting her life together with the help of her grandfather slowly until her memories come back.

There was still a bunch of other stuff mentioned but Parker was carefully assessing the situation. He asked questions and sent Chris on an assignment to test his loyalty while assigning Gus to watch Chris from now on. He favored Chris a lot but he could never look past any betrayal.

The article that Katherine and the others revealed wasn't exactly meant to stop Parker from going after her. Because no matter what will be announced, they knew he was going to take some action. However, they needed to buy as much time as they could and faking her memory loss would be helpful. 

They were treading through eggshells but it was the only thing that they could do at the moment. The article wasn't meant for anyone around them but it was solely intended for Parker to see.

Which was why she didn't have to fake remembering some people in her life — after all, the only ones whom she really knew were her family and Matthew and no one else. And she didn't think these people would cause her problems. But just in case, she would still have to lie about some things to them.

The article wouldn't totally get the target off her back but at least it would slow down their pace as Parker would definitely keep considering his actions. Everyone's attention was now focused on Katherine, so if something happened to her, it would cause chaos.

And though Parker had his doubts, he wouldn't blindly attack someone who has information about Shadow, thinking that there could be a trap somewhere. 

Ordering a cancelation for Katherine aka Agent Queen wasn't the top priority. To know whether she has something against them was. Because if there was and it falls into the wrong hands, having Katherine roam around the earth freely would be the least of his priority.

Parker Green's current state was exactly what Katherine, Amelia, and Styles were hoping for. Just the right amount of doubt. They expected that he would probably send some men to order a kill right away, but they knew that nothing scared Parker more than having Shadow revealed.

This war was not going to be a bloodshed battle. It would start off as a battle of wits. Who will outthink who? 

So while Katherine had her own mission to uncover her parents' death, the team also needed to find an important factor that they could use to hold Parker by the neck. But they couldn't do that while they were all in hiding – the initial reason why they had to announce Katherine so that she could at least freely move about in the open instead of in hiding.

Killing Parker was not their goal because killing him didn't mean Shadow will cease to exist. Shadow does not equal Parker so stopping him won't stop Shadow's operations. There were people behind Parker whom they knew nothing about. And even if he is gone in the equation, whoever those people were that were running Shadow would just appoint another leader to man this dark organization.

There were only three of them on the team and facing an organization this huge was definitely not going to be easy. But one thing was for sure, as long as Katherine breathes, she wouldn't stop until she gets what she wants.

For all the horrible things she did for Shadow before without knowing the truth behind them, this was her way of repenting. 

With a fragile heart but strong will, what would stop Katherine?