Chapter 270 - Crackdown (2)

Edward and Claire reached the hotel and were dazed when Edward was interrupted by a call.

"Turn it off," Claire said but Edward shook his head. "I can't. It's from my father."

With a sigh, Claire told Edward to quickly answer it while she surveyed the building but was also stopped when a number she hadn't seen in years called her.

They picked up their phones and received a similar set of orders from two different people.

"Change of plans," Claire said and Edward was surprised. 

"You too?"

The head maid nodded. "The Interpol is bringing in four squadrons for a full raid. This is the building where they keep most of their illegal goods until further notice. Julian is still not found, there is a high chance he is lurking inside or nearby. Our job is to follow the squadron into the building to the presidential suite. Alex and Scarlet are there. Once we secure the girls we should meet up on the roof, there will be choppers waiting for evacuation."

Edward was slightly surprised. When his father told him they were going all out, he didn't expect to be seeing helicopters. 

"Understood. I'm told that the building is heavily guarded and might be wired to go kaboom. My mission is to look for signs and alert the bomb squad to disarm it. Also, you might want to watch the windows. The area has just been found and they've combed it only ten minutes ago. There might still be snipers outside."

Claire nodded and they reached a tacit agreement. Edward was going to get Scarlet and Claire was going to get Alex. They decided to take different routes and follow different teams while keeping their communication channels open.

With Claire's knowledge about battle tactics and her superior combat skills, the head maid borrowed weapons from her temporary special squad and geared up. After wearing a bulletproof vest, carrying two spare pistols and armed with a sniper rifle with a scope of her choice, Claire listened to the leader's mission brief. It has been a long time since she was in the field but Claire felt like home again.

On the other hand, Edward followed behind the main team and dressed like one of them. His job was to get the girls to safety so he wasn't part of the suppression force. As soon as he got into the building, he would act separately. It would be best if he could find something to make himself look like one of Anastasia's men. That way, it was easier for him to gather information and pass the job to the relevant department.

According to the mission briefing, the Interpol has gathered a total of 103 hostile and armed men inside. Edward's focus was on the two guarding the presidential suite. In addition, there were several men Edward prioritised to take out before the main team sweeps in to cripple the enemy forces. intelligence was the key to warfare and it just happened to be his speciality.

"What frequency are you using?" he asked the commander who looked at the teen oddly.

"The standard for all A ranked importance missions," he said. Was this teen really a top spy? He didn't look like it and the commander decided to dismiss Edward when the spy told everyone to change the frequency they used.

"Change it to 162 MHz for this mission. I'm going to jam their systems and down their communication so until further notice, remain on this frequency. Bomb squad, be on alert and scatter to the various exit points of the building to await my signal to enter. Colonel, please carry on."

With an air of confidence, Edward grabbed a walkie-talkie from a soldier and walked away while 'borrowing' a pistol from a member of the scout team before running towards the hotel's loading bay.

Stunned and humiliated that a teen could walk all over him and give commands, the colonel barked orders to the dumbfounded soldiers.

"Hurry up and get into position!"

As Edward ran, he texted Claire about the frequency he was using. The head maid was quick to connect to his special frequency and Edward tested it at once.

"Agent Sentient checking in. What's the situation?"

Claire, who was with the special squad had already cleared stairwell E all the way till the seventeenth floor and took control of the power circuit, bringing down a good part of the hotel's left-wing so that they could run swiftly without any cameras spying on them.

"Stairwell E has been cleared to floor nineteen now, the left-wing of the hotel's power has been disabled to avoid cameras. We're heading to the upper floor to find a good place to pick off snipers lurking. You?"

Edward groaned and had to stop in the middle of his choice of entry to reply to Claire. "Making my way up with a different... route!" he groaned and Claire frowned. Where was Edward? He sounded so tired.

"Where are you?"

Edward pulled himself up to a spot that allowed him to wedge his feet nicely and replied, "Laundry chute. I'm going to get the control rooms first. If you clear the snipers, please take care of the girls for me. There should be one on the second floor, seventeenth floor and thirty-first floor so I'm getting those rooms first. I'm almost at the second floor now, will let you know when I'm done."

Claire checked the number and bashed in another skull with the butt of her gun. They were on the twenty-third floor now and it was still a long way to the thirty-fifth floor.

"Understood. Be careful," she told him. "I won't be leaving without you so if you're late, I'll come and assist you."

Edward held his breath. He was finally at the second floor, it was a long climb from below.

"Thanks, I'm cutting the signal now. Gonna call you back once I take out the guards in the control room."

Claire didn't reply and Edward took a deep breath, wiping the sweat from his brow. In order to get to the control room, he was going to need to get outside of the building and walk around a pool to get to the control room hidden away beside the gym.

He might be lucky to not meet anyone in the kitchen earlier so he was able to visit the laundry room and get to the second floor using an unconventional method. However, once he got out, there would be guards who were armed and patrolling. Edward listened carefully for another minute before leaving the narrow exit.

There shouldn't be many guards on this level. Most guards should be by the function room on the level above him guarding the goods and by the exits that the main team should take care of. Edward's job was to secure the building's safety for the main team to take care of the doc.u.menting hassle. His secondary objective was to get the girls to safety and his mission bonus was to find out news about Julian Anastasia who was still unfound.

With a track record of never failing his missions, Edward wasn't going to let this be his first. If he was going to retire, he was going to do so with pride and leave behind a legacy while he did it.