Page 14 of Fight

Rome’s reply is actually full of amusement, “This is the staff's area, my father felt that they didn’t deserve to have the splendor of the décor that’s in the rest of the house, down here. I think in all honesty that they were more relieved than anything else, and when I could escape unnoticed, I used to come down here just to take in the plainness of the place compared to everywhere else that’s so damn busy.”

“Yeah, I can see why you’d need to do that,” I reply honestly.

“I think it’s fucking hilarious that your father thought he was punishing the staff, and actually, it's probably the nicest thing that he ever did for them,” Mason laughs.

“It always amused me as well,” Rome agrees and then, getting us back on track, adds, “Hopefully, Thomas should be down here somewhere since he’s not exactly needed in the house. The grandparents seem to be taking care of everything themselves.”

“Did you need something, Master Rome?” Thomas asks, appearing from a door halfway down the hallway and making me jump slightly, which has me rolling my eyes at myself.

Guns going off, and I won’t even flinch, but the sudden appearance of a mild-mannered man and that’s apparently enough to make me jump.

Ace is the only one that saw me jump and looks at me questioningly; when I shrug and roll my eyes, he just smirks, reaching his hand out and threading his fingers through mine.

“Actually, we were looking for you,” Rome replies, and when Thomas starts to look slightly nervous, he quickly adds, “nothing to be worried about, at least not for you.”

Thomas relaxes and smiles slightly as he asks, “Of course. What can I help you with?”

“The town is far too cautious for there not to be something else going on here, and I know for a fact that my father has something to do with it, so I was wondering what else he’s been doing and if you know anything about it.”

Thomas’s face falls as he becomes grave and answers, “Yes, he’s been getting shipments into the harbor every two weeks like clockwork. I have no idea what he has in those shipments, but there are always two days where the town is overrun by heavily armed people, and then whatever is in those boxes disappears over the town border, and they disappear again.”

“Well fuck,” Mal replies.

“He’s definitely smuggling something in,” I mutter thoughtfully.

It’s the perfect location for it. The town is small, the locals are used to keeping their mouths shut and not getting involved, and the town is run by families that have been in control for generations and pose a serious threat that works in their favor. Not only that, but it’s on the coast. The problem is that they could be smuggling anything in, and that’s a fairly big operation that we’ll need to take down. We’re going to need help.

“When is the next shipment due in?” Rome asks Thomas.

“In ten days. I’m sorry, but that’s everything that I know. If you want more information, I’d suggest that you check your father's office.”

“We will, thank you Thomas. We’ll leave you to it now,” Rome replies with a smile.

“I was actually just coming to see if your grandparents would like more drinks,” Thomas smiles as he follows us down the hallway and back out into the central part of the house.

“Good idea,” Rome replies.

We head in different directions as Thomas goes to check on the grandparents, and we follow Rome into an entirely different part of the house. As soon as I’m sure we’re alone, I bring up my idea.

“Depending on what we find in Silas’s office, I think we should probably call the Ravens in to help with this one,” I start.

Rip nods, “I agree completely. A smuggling operation is not small, and we need to ensure that the boats no longer dock here and that the people who are being sold, whatever the fuck he’s selling, don’t expect to still pick shit up from this town.”

“Exactly, we want this place to be completely safe for the people that live here and actually become a nice place to live,” I reply.

Rome nods as we turn down an even more elaborately decorated hallway, “We can take care of part of it, most likely the boats, and have Sawyer and his team deal with the buyer?”

“Yeah, that makes sense to me. Once we know more about what we’re dealing with, I’ll give him a call and fill him in. We’re not going to need him for ten days anyway since that’s when the next shipment comes in.” I explain.

“Not necessarily. We could find out who the buyer is and track them down before the next drop.” Mason suggests.

“We could, but then we run the risk of the buyer tipping the smuggler off to our presence in the town,” Rip points out.

“Shit, yeah, I hadn’t thought of that,” Mason replies with a frown.

“So the best thing for us to do would be to find out where the buyer usually meets the seller, which will no doubt be on the edge of town somewhere, which we have cameras for that I can access, and then have Sawyer’s team lying in wait for them. We send a bloody and violent message that this town is no longer on the smuggling route and that they won't be bringing things into town either.” Ace suggests as we get to the end of the wide hallway.

I reply distractedly, “Alright, that works. We can go over it properly when we get to it; we’ve got to take down Daniel first.” Still staring at the monstrosity before me, I add, “I’m sorry. I know you said that a painting of your father dressed as royalty existed, but I don’t think I quite believed you. I mean, how utterly delusional do you have to be to pose like that if I were a royal, I’d be so fucking offended none of it looks right and it’s a mixture of different royalty traditions from around the world.”

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