The Story of Blood and Roses

"It's extremely risky to involve civilians in such plans. As a matter of fact, I don't think King would involve them either. We need an alternative method."

"The plan stands null and void and the very root of it; we don't have that much time in our hands. We need to act as fast as we can. The locations must be known. It is common knowledge that these things take time. A house to house search would take months to achieve and it would give the troops time to relocate the stock before we can even reach it. They will have their eyes everywhere and we can't risk losing this chance. They won't make the same mistake twice. The next time they shift the goods, they won't leave any traces behind." Anthony's logic could not be refuted. He had made an extremely good point. And even though the plan stood canceled, we were at a loss.

"We could check government records about properties." Alec. Everyone turned to give him looks. Of course, if one thought about it, that was what we should have done, but it was common knowledge that we could under no circumstances raid the office of the mayor or accosting him into giving us access to the records.

"We could hack into their system." The small voice came from behind us. We all looked around to see Sean standing at the end of the Hall. His fidgeted with his hands, nervously. It was probably because he was eavesdropping.

"Excellent idea, but I don't think that they have such a recording system," Anthony didn't seem angry as he spoke to the boy. Sean thought about it for a moment.

"Maybe, we can hack into the records of local real estate agencies," he suggested. The room fell silent.

"That would take days to finish!" Ethan shouted out.

"I think the plan will fall apart," voiced Eric. "We need some field-work, as well." Anthony nodded at the suggestion.

"How long do you think it will take to get a list of names of property owners?" he asked in a thoughtful voice.

"A week, maybe. It could take more."

"What if he brought in the whole team to finish the work?" Anthony prompted.

"The estimate took into account our full capacity. It will take a week to get the information." Sean spoke confidently.

"Call in Leo and ask him to bring his boys to the mansion, tomorrow. I want them to meet me at ten in the morning. Is that clear?" Sean nodded and headed towards the direction of the kitchen.

"Anthony, don't you think that is a lot of time, too?" Alec's voice was pleading. "Give me a chance... I'll find out the location in no time." Anthony's head snapped towards his direction.

"You couldn't even find out how they slipped the shipments from under your noses and you think you can find where it is at, now?" His eyes burned with rage and his lips pulled back over his teeth into a snarl. Alec cowered back, clearly afraid of him and with a small jerk of his head that I believed was a nod of acceptance, went silent.

"Boss, it is a good point. After the list is made, we will have to check the backgrounds of those people and see if they are connected to Darcy in any way. That will take us an additional week in the least." Anthony nodded at that. Eric had made an excellent point. The hacking and receiving information wouldn't be enough. We would also have to precisely know where the raid was going to happen. If something went wrong, everyone would be screwed over.

"We don't have any other alternative plan. The time period is long, but this method will prevent Darcy or the troops from knowing what we are up to. They won't move the shipments in fear and we'll be able to work slowly and know exactly where to hit." No one really seemed convinced, and to be honest, neither did Anthony. "This is the only feasible plan. Until we can come up with a better idea... this is the plan that we'll follow."

No one had anything to say. Each one of them realized that it was better to do something than to sit idle and waste time. And a little research never did anyone harm. Who knew, maybe something huge would be found that we could hold over Darcy in desperate times.

After coming to the conclusion that all further plans would be plotted out the next day, everyone disbanded. Ethan followed me into up the stairs and we found ourselves lodged in neighboring rooms. It turned out that Ethan lived in the mansion to ensure Anthony's safety and be at his disposal at any time. I had picked out the room I had slipped into the night I crashed at the mansion, knowing that no one would tell me to relocate.

I wondered where Cienna was. It seemed that she didn't (surprisingly) live with Anthony. I asked Ethan as much and he let me know with a smug grin that she stayed at Poseidon's Realm most nights and would occasionally come over when Anthony needed to soothe an 'itch.' Of course, I cracked a joke about sexually transmitted diseases at that which made him laugh loudly.

He then turned extremely silent and serious. "I wanted to speak to you," he said. His tone worried me.

"I know that I was forthcoming about all that information the other night, but I hope you realize that I only came over because it was okay with Anthony. I know you aren't comfortable with Anthony, but I think it best if you ask him the questions. I can only tell you as much as he permits me to tell you. I can't help you any further." I nodded. He seemed to be too serious for something that wasn't that important. His grave face told me otherwise.

"Did he reprimand you for answering me?" He shook his head.

"He knew that you were going to ask me questions when you called me. It was he who told me to go over to your place and answer your questions," he admitted in a whisper. I realized that it was some sort of a secret—him going over to my place to talk.

"Then?"

"You should hash it out with him. You can talk to me any time you want, but you might want to bring in the professional, mob-based questions in front of Anthony. That is how I would prefer it. He will not be biased, I suppose. He is the one with the ultimate knowledge; he knows the faults and is free to share such things with people around him." He looked behind him as if to check if anybody was there. "See, you are now a part of the inner ring of the mob. It's a huge position and responsibility. You must tread carefully, okay?" With that, he opened the door to his room and lithely went inside and slammed the door behind him.

'Okay, that was cryptic,' I thought to myself. Shrugging, and somewhat understanding what he meant, I went inside my room and decided to shut my eyes and relieve myself from the onslaught of the headache that I knew was fast approaching.

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