Chapter 131 - Army Without Guns

Wilmer was finally free for two weeks. The CEO almost cried when the most loved time of the year came about. Christmas was a big deal with the Wildes and every year, there would be no spare manpower when it came to preparing for the party.

It was the first time Scarlet and Elfie was introduced to the full Christmas culture from advent calendars to Christmas stockings. Alex had the time of her life knitting everyone's Christmas stockings. Wilmer and Orita were often out on errands but Jasper knew they were actually mass buying Christmas presents for everyone. Jenna spent most of her time in the study writing Christmas cards to all of Wilmer and Orita's acquaintances. Scarlet felt bad for the butler who had written so much that her hand cramped up.

Whenever the a.d.u.l.ts were too busy to bother them, the children got together to work on their secret projects. The game development was being put together and Jasper finally had time to make some progress. Elfie took this opportunity to present his improved chatroom version and Scarlet told him to make a copy of it available for the public so that they could make new online friends for fun. Alex started designing Scarlet's new book cover and there was never a dull day with so many on-going projects.

Of all the projects that were going on, the one project that the a.d.u.l.ts didn't know about was the one about Anastasia. Elfie managed to infiltrate the Interpol's records to retrieve the past cases buried away about the crime lord and the company that Alex's parents owned. Scarlet and Elife took one afternoon to look over the information found and were horrified by the discovery.

"Delete it," Scarlet told Elfie and the hacker was stunned after they finished reading the last evidence.

"Why?"

The young writer shook her head. "It's too dangerous to have it saved anywhere. Now that we know the true story, the evidence is no longer important. The case cannot be reopened. I have to find a different way to take Anastasia down."

Elfie refused and Scarlet insisted so they were stuck in a tug-of-war over deleting the evidence. Eventually, Elfie gave in and begged for mercy.

"Don't delete it! I'll tell you everything I know so please don't delete this... Danny needs the evidence!"

Scarlet paused. "Danny?"

Reluctantly, Elfie spilt the secrets to Scarlet who became pensive after hearing the full story.

"So you mean to tell me that Danny and Wilmer are working on this case without Orita knowing even though it was Orita's father and relatives who tried to sell the company to Anastasia?"

Elfie nodded uneasily. Scarlet was speechless. Even if they were two very capable men, what could they possibly do against a mob boss? Anastasia's underground connections were scary and his pockets were probably deeper than the Wilde Family's. Whichever way Scarlet tried to see it, Anastasia had the advantage over them. While Wilmer and Danny were still restricted by the laws, the mob boss had no such concerns.

"Do you know how much money Anastasia has? Or how far his connections run?" she asked.

The hacker sighed. "I can only find what exists on a connection. That information wouldn't be in the systems because not even the police know. Unless I have a way into Anastasia's private network, it's not possible for me to know anything."

Scarlet thought about it and Elfie suddenly felt afraid. The girl looked as if she was plotting murder but the truth really couldn't be further away from that. In fact, Scarlet's brain was already working on overdrive to find a possible way to bring down Anastasia for good. The mob boss who tried to ruin the business and killed so many people for his personal gains must be stopped. Of course, the young writer understood that toppling such a powerful organisation wouldn't be easy but she had to try.

"Scarlet, what are you thinking about?" the programmer asked warily.

Scarlet shook her head. "Nothing conclusive yet. However, I think I understand the scale of this operation and why Danny didn't want you meddling. Anastasia can kill people as easily as he can kidnap them and force them to work for him. We're going up against a monster."

It's not that Elfie didn't understand that Anastasia has a personal army armed with illegal firearms behind him. In fact, the hacker was more than aware of that fact. As a hacker, he was always a target for people who wanted him dead. Elfie destroyed many lives from selling the information he had on them to the government and the Interpol. Scarlet's words annoyed him greatly.

"I'm always ready to die. A hacker who hacks must be ready for consequences. I don't do this without putting my neck on the line even if I do hide in dark rooms to work alone. Don't underestimate my resolve! Ever since we decided to work on this together, we have both agreed to sign our death warrants. If you intend to ditch me here and take down Anastasia by yourself, I will tell Wilmer and Danny about your plans."

Scarlet scowled then sighed heavily. Sometimes it was too easy to forget that the hacker was a genius too. She thought that she could trick or convince Elfie to stay out of it but the boy was smarter than she gave him credit for.

"When did you learn to be so cheeky?" she asked.

Elfie played innocent. "What are you talking about?"

Then he grinned. "When you work with criminals, you learn."

Scarlet rolled her eyes. Now that they were officially an alliance, the girl had no choice but to make plans for Elfie too. Protecting one person was hard enough but now, Scarlet had an entire ship full of people she wanted to protect. The young writer wasn't sure if she could pull this off successfully but in order to fight an army, she needed either an army of her own or godly powers. It was clear what she didn't have so Scarlet sucked it up. Even if her army was smaller than Anastasia's and didn't have guns, Scarlet was still determined to win the war. After all, they had something that Anastasia lacked - they had the element of surprise and geniuses who could shift the world when they grew older.