In the two weeks since Lizzie’s unfortunate demise, both Nigel and Lynn Horton had been busy. Because of fears that the British police would be after him for Lizzie’s murder, Nigel had travelled straight to Switzerland and spent most of his time working on reconnaissance on both the HSU bank building in the financial district of the city and out to Hsu Danmei’s compound to try and get a look at the security as well as the set up. He also poured over Google Earth images, determining which of the buildings would be the most valuable targets and easiest. It was more difficult to estimate how many men Hsu had, so Nigel studied admittedly out-of-date Watcher reports, hoping that it would at least give him a rough number. He also contacted a few former Watchers or family members of those Hsu had killed during the war that were in the area. Most turned him down, having no interest or knowledge in going against an Immortal, but some agreed and a handful of them even had some military experience. It was not enough, though, and Nigel hoped that Lynn was having better luck.
They met up at a nice little café just across from the HSU bank where they could look up at the imposing building. It was a warm, spring day and they sat outside. Nigel sipped his beer. “He has penthouse, but it hasn’t appeared to be in use since I’ve been here. And that’s only one part of the problem. I haven’t seen any clue that he’s even here or at his compound. For all we know, he could be on the other side of the world.”
“What about security?” Lynn stabbed at a cherry tomato rolling around her salad.
“State of the art at both locations. As I mentioned, there’s no real way of knowing how many men he has, but just from what I’ve seen both places are well guarded. So, the question still remains, which location do we target?”
Lynn slowly chewed her food as she thought about it. “His compound. Hit him at his home, his sanctuary. The bank is important to him, but there’s a lot of people who work there whose jobs are also important and an attack there could also hurt innocent people, and I want this to attack him and his family as he attacked ours. Also, Uncle Nigel, the authorities would probably think any attack on his bank as one on the banking industry, a terrorist attack, which again goes against the message we do want to send.”
“Okay, so it’s his compound. I do think we should create a small incident at the bank, something just enough to hopefully bring some of his mercenaries from the compound into the city to deal with it. It’ll make the chance of successfully attacking there easier.” Nigel pulled out a couple of printouts of the compound and pointed to various buildings. “It’s pretty extensive, but this appears to be Hsu’s house. These three buildings appear to be more living areas, probably for his men. There’s the gatehouse, and they check each and every vehicle coming in. There’s stables, and these buildings, I’m not sure…just outbuildings or garages I’m guessing.” He shrugged. “So, of the people I contacted, one Ernst Ziegler is really keen to help, so much that he got himself a job on the cleaning crew at the bank. He’s Brigitte’s brother.” There was no need to say any more. They both knew Brigitte had been Hsu Danmei’s Watcher until she had voluntarily blown her cover to provide him information on James Horton. In return for her help, he killed her. “If he can get access to the penthouse with a small explosive or start a fire?” Lynn nodded as Nigel continued. “And how did your recruiting go?”
“Not as well as I’d hoped, but better than I feared? Most are either happy to get on with their lives as they are now -- Hell, some are quite successful, Hsu obviously didn’t set out to ruin them as they did you -- or they’re afraid of repercussions against their families despite assuring them that this will put us in a position of strength when we do deal with him. But we have enough, and that money you managed to get your hands on?”
Nigel stayed silent. He hadn’t told Lynn just how he’d come by that money. “Yes, go on.”
“Well, I got the guns you listed and grenades, but I also managed to get drones that are weapons grade. Some can carry a small explosive device to drop, and others can turn into a bomb, so if they malfunction or get shot down they’ll ignite on contact with something solid. His whole place will hopefully be an inferno! I also got some rocket launchers and even a couple of mercenaries willing, for a price to lead the attack as they’re more trained in this than we are.”
“My money bought all that?” It had been a lot, but the black-market weapons market and mercenaries were not exactly cheap.
Lynn shrugged. “Nearly. Everything I had to pay up front for, except the mercs, who just took half now and half after to ensure their loyalty. We just have to find the rest before they want it.” She tried to smile nonchalantly, but she did not want the two mercs to turn on them when they couldn’t pay the balance. “Maybe you can find a bit more, Uncle?”
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Date: 2020-05-24 04:13 pm (UTC)In the two weeks since Lizzie’s unfortunate demise, both Nigel and Lynn Horton had been busy. Because of fears that the British police would be after him for Lizzie’s murder, Nigel had travelled straight to Switzerland and spent most of his time working on reconnaissance on both the HSU bank building in the financial district of the city and out to Hsu Danmei’s compound to try and get a look at the security as well as the set up. He also poured over Google Earth images, determining which of the buildings would be the most valuable targets and easiest. It was more difficult to estimate how many men Hsu had, so Nigel studied admittedly out-of-date Watcher reports, hoping that it would at least give him a rough number. He also contacted a few former Watchers or family members of those Hsu had killed during the war that were in the area. Most turned him down, having no interest or knowledge in going against an Immortal, but some agreed and a handful of them even had some military experience. It was not enough, though, and Nigel hoped that Lynn was having better luck.
They met up at a nice little café just across from the HSU bank where they could look up at the imposing building. It was a warm, spring day and they sat outside. Nigel sipped his beer. “He has penthouse, but it hasn’t appeared to be in use since I’ve been here. And that’s only one part of the problem. I haven’t seen any clue that he’s even here or at his compound. For all we know, he could be on the other side of the world.”
“What about security?” Lynn stabbed at a cherry tomato rolling around her salad.
“State of the art at both locations. As I mentioned, there’s no real way of knowing how many men he has, but just from what I’ve seen both places are well guarded. So, the question still remains, which location do we target?”
Lynn slowly chewed her food as she thought about it. “His compound. Hit him at his home, his sanctuary. The bank is important to him, but there’s a lot of people who work there whose jobs are also important and an attack there could also hurt innocent people, and I want this to attack him and his family as he attacked ours. Also, Uncle Nigel, the authorities would probably think any attack on his bank as one on the banking industry, a terrorist attack, which again goes against the message we do want to send.”
“Okay, so it’s his compound. I do think we should create a small incident at the bank, something just enough to hopefully bring some of his mercenaries from the compound into the city to deal with it. It’ll make the chance of successfully attacking there easier.” Nigel pulled out a couple of printouts of the compound and pointed to various buildings. “It’s pretty extensive, but this appears to be Hsu’s house. These three buildings appear to be more living areas, probably for his men. There’s the gatehouse, and they check each and every vehicle coming in. There’s stables, and these buildings, I’m not sure…just outbuildings or garages I’m guessing.” He shrugged. “So, of the people I contacted, one Ernst Ziegler is really keen to help, so much that he got himself a job on the cleaning crew at the bank. He’s Brigitte’s brother.” There was no need to say any more. They both knew Brigitte had been Hsu Danmei’s Watcher until she had voluntarily blown her cover to provide him information on James Horton. In return for her help, he killed her. “If he can get access to the penthouse with a small explosive or start a fire?” Lynn nodded as Nigel continued. “And how did your recruiting go?”
“Not as well as I’d hoped, but better than I feared? Most are either happy to get on with their lives as they are now -- Hell, some are quite successful, Hsu obviously didn’t set out to ruin them as they did you -- or they’re afraid of repercussions against their families despite assuring them that this will put us in a position of strength when we do deal with him. But we have enough, and that money you managed to get your hands on?”
Nigel stayed silent. He hadn’t told Lynn just how he’d come by that money. “Yes, go on.”
“Well, I got the guns you listed and grenades, but I also managed to get drones that are weapons grade. Some can carry a small explosive device to drop, and others can turn into a bomb, so if they malfunction or get shot down they’ll ignite on contact with something solid. His whole place will hopefully be an inferno! I also got some rocket launchers and even a couple of mercenaries willing, for a price to lead the attack as they’re more trained in this than we are.”
“My money bought all that?” It had been a lot, but the black-market weapons market and mercenaries were not exactly cheap.
Lynn shrugged. “Nearly. Everything I had to pay up front for, except the mercs, who just took half now and half after to ensure their loyalty. We just have to find the rest before they want it.” She tried to smile nonchalantly, but she did not want the two mercs to turn on them when they couldn’t pay the balance. “Maybe you can find a bit more, Uncle?”