This is what happens when you give your friend your phone for 10 minutes. He posts an unfinished chapter 🙃 sorry to everyone who only read a part of this.
Rein's POV
"Was that picture worth a lot?" McGary asked. We were now all back to our original seats in the main conference room.
"It's easily in the millions." I replied.
My mind wandered back to the first time we had seen the painting in the gallery during our visits to the arts in Kyoto...
My mother and I had been completely infatuated by how beautiful it was. It didn't take my father a second to inquire about the piece, and purchase it for my mother and I. "You really do not have to." My mother whined, as the owner of the gallery told my father the price. He just smiled, and handed the man his card.
"It makes you happy, my love. Whatever makes you happy, makes me happy." My father replied. All my mother could do was blush as she leaned against his side. They had begun to package the painting, but my father intercepted before they could finish. "Make I have the back scribed?" He asked the older gentleman. The owner nodded to my father.
"I would like the words "For my beautiful wife, daughter, and son. May this painting leave you smiling the way it has today. May 28th, 2004. Takeshi " My father spoke as the man prepared the appropriate Japanese characters.
"Shouldn't you have used the card with a different alias?" My mother asked. I could only faintly remember this conversation since Genji and I had been playing around the gallery together.
"The funds can only travel through this card. It's okay, I'm only purchasing a painting. Besides, This is a small gallery in Kyoto. Not many people pass through." My mother hesitated, then nodded eventually. "Genji?" My father called, stopping both Genji's and I's goofing around.
"Yes, father?" Genji asked.
"There is a koi fish pond around back. Why don't you both go play while we wait for the inscription." Genji nodded, as he took my hand and lead me out through the entrance...
"What are you thinking, Rein?" Aaron asked me as I was pulled out of my thoughts.
"I'm... in not sure yet." I answered honestly. "But that routing number, the one that's essentially a front for a foreign account? I recognized it." Both McGary and Aaron were now looking at me.
"What do you mean?" Aaron asked.
"You know that job I was telling you about... the one where I was working for Shan Yuh. That was the routing number that had transferred the funds from his account to the account that was shared within my family."
"So this means that these people were hired by Shan Yu?" McGary asked.
"Either that, or they were able to transfer the funds from his account. If that was the case, I highly doubt any of them would be alive now." I replied. "If he did hire them though... the only plausible explanation was that they were hired to steal that painting."
"Why would they go through this much trouble for a painting?" Aaron asked.
"I don't think it was the painting they wanted." I replied honestly. "That painting was originally purchased through a smaller seller over a decade ago. Along with the approved stamping of the original seller, my father got a message inscribed onto the back. This message was a simple one for Genji, my mother, and I. To an average person, this inscription means nothing, but to someone who may have known the true identity of my father, this inscription can shed light to some very privated information. My father is a very public figure... back home, the Black Lotus are as much a myth as they are here." I explained.
"So the purchase for the painting... it was made through a private account?" Aaron asked. I nodded.
"I remembered my mother asking my father why he didn't use one of his electronic payment methods that was linked to one of our off shore accounts. At the time, my father had thought nothing of it seeing as it was just a painting for our home. Art has that aspect to it, art in the art community is treated as a chain of custody for the federal investigators. The origins of the painting and it's holders at the time are usually well documented."
"So essentially, what do you think Shan Yu wants with this information?" McGary asked.
"I'm not sure... but that painting directly links my father to his personal records, and his private undisclosed estate. If Shan Yu can get ahold of the record of payment from this painting, it won't take long for him to know the location of the head of the Black Lotus. That information alone can be worth a significant amount on the black market. Let's not forget that Shan Yu now has a personal vendetta with the Black Lotus from what happened half a decade ago." I reminded them. I could see Aaron's face visibly pale.
He understood the real extent of this threat.
The Black Lotus belonged in the shadows, whether he'd care to admit it or not. Any exposure could create something of equivalent to a blood bath. The U.S. government had looked the other way with their cases, just as they did with most of the black market dealings. If word got out that the Black Lotus was real above ground, there would be legitimate chaos....
...it would also put a direct target on my head.
"So what's the plan?" Aaron asked finally.
"I don't think there's going to be another attack if my hunch checks out. What your team will need to do is hunt down Sam Wilson and Derek Manning. Hopefully you'll get to them before Shan Yu's men do."
"What about you?" McGary asked.
"I need to warn my father." I replied, standing up from the conference room chair with such abruptness, it rolled back considerably. "I think I have to go home."
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She'll Bring Honor To Us All (BWWM) ✓
Romance"The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all." -Mulan ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Agent 27, otherwise known as "The...
