Ginny had been found and would soon be put on a plane to America. William's promise to wait one day was only to keep Claude stable.
He finished the whiskey in his glass. Considering how tense the situation was in Paris now, and with dozens of people killed by him last night, going to eliminate Murad himself would be too dangerous. It was better to call Carlos the Cross. After all, Carlos was the king of assassins.
He took out an unused phone from his storage space and called Carlos.
The call connected quickly. "Do me a favor. Secretly eliminate someone in Paris tomorrow night. I'll send you the photo in a moment."
"Understood. I'm in Switzerland; getting to Paris is easy. I should be in Paris in about 6 hours. Let's talk when we meet. William, I actually have something I need your help with."
"Okay, see you tonight." Hanging up the phone, William sat on the sofa, pondering what Carlos could possibly need his help with. It couldn't be about the Assassin Brotherhood, could it? If so, William would really have to think it over carefully. He didn't want to be targeted by the Brotherhood's boss, Sloan.
While he was contemplating the pros and cons, William received a call from Brian. He answered with a laugh, then heard Brian's excited, incoherent voice. "God bless you, William. I don't know how to thank you."
"Haha, did you get a call from Ginny?"
"Yes, Ginny is still talking to her mother. I'm so grateful, William. I can finally get some good sleep. But William, how did you do it? Why would the people at the underground auction house send Ginny to you?"
"Hehe," William chuckled. People from special ops really did suspect everything. "Brian, it's actually very simple. We both overlooked a fact: as long as there's money, there's nothing the underground auction house won't sell. To put it bluntly, Brian, you and I are both fools. We had money but didn't know how to use it. We both were poor for too long. When trouble arose, we only thought of using the methods we were best at, never realizing that money is actually the greatest superpower. So Brian, I need to meet with you. I have some ideas I want to discuss."
Brian was silent for several minutes after hearing William's words. Finally, he sighed and said, "Alright, let's meet in America to talk, William. I probably know what you want to discuss with me. Sigh, ten years ago, I would never have agreed to meet you, and I might even have killed you. But I'm retired now, and the higher-ups don't need me anymore. I should also think about Ginny. So I'll wait for you in America, William."
"Good, I'm glad you've come to your senses. Once I've tied up loose ends, I'll personally escort Ginny back to America and see her reunited with you."
"Loose ends?" Brian asked, puzzled.
"Hehe, the head of our enemy's family is coming to France. Don't you think I should pay him a visit? And if we're going to cooperate, we can't leave any trouble behind. We both need to be clean, like a blank slate."
Brian immediately understood William's meaning. "Haha, exactly. We should definitely pay him a visit. Everything needs a beginning and an end, and a family should be reunited to be perfect. Is there anything you need me to do?"
William thought for a moment, then said, "Prepare the clean-up crew. The situation in Paris is tense right now, and some professional matters still need professional personnel to avoid accidents. Also, have the clean-up crew dispose of the body in the safe house basement."
"No problem. I still have over a hundred Continental Hotel coins, enough to pay that bunch of dung beetles."
"Dung beetles? Ha, ha, I didn't know you had such a sharp tongue, Brian. Alright, help me track Claude's movements or find someone familiar to lure him to a secluded place. I need to deal with him."
"Understood. I'll call you when it's ready." Brian, having worked in special ops for decades, didn't even ask why William wanted to deal with Claude. He knew it must be related to his daughter's situation, so he readily agreed.
Two hours later, William received a reply from Brian: "I used my old contacts in France to reach Claude. The contact told Claude that he had information about the White Palace incident to sell to him. The meeting is scheduled for 9 PM tonight in an old factory on Bellot Street.
I know Claude well. For a promotion, Claude will likely go alone to meet the contact. Be careful, William."
"Don't worry, I'll be careful."
At 6 PM, William, wearing black-rimmed glasses and a fake beard, met Carlos the Cross, who had arrived, at a casual roadside cafe in Paris. They sat back-to-back a few meters apart at an outdoor table, quietly eating some food and drinking coffee.
A few minutes after Carlos paid and left, William got up and followed in the direction Carlos had gone. At a street corner, they exchanged glances. William nodded, indicating no one was following, and Carlos then led William to a roadside parking lot, tossed him a black helmet, and mounted a prepared Yamaha R6. He revved the engine and drove into a small grove.
Taking off his helmet, William excitedly patted the Yamaha R6 beneath him. In his previous life, he had loved heavy motorcycles, but even a decent-looking one would cost tens of thousands, and mid-range ones would easily be hundreds of thousands. He dared not even dream of anything better.
William, in his previous life, couldn't even afford tens of thousands of Heavenly Dynasty currency. He could only touch them at car shows and occasionally get a thrill when he was lucky enough to book a test drive.
Seeing William's fondness for the R6, Carlos laughed and said, "If you like it, just buy a better one for yourself. These two R6s are stolen bikes; basic configurations are less than 2,000 dollars. We'll have to get rid of them after use."
"Hehe, it seems you're doing well lately, Carlos. Have you gone to see your son and improved his life?"
Carlos's face quickly darkened when William mentioned his son, which made William worried. Could something have happened to Wesley? He was still waiting for Carlos to voluntarily introduce Wesley to him so he could legitimately recruit Wesley. "What's wrong? Did something happen to Wesley?"
Carlos thought for dozens of seconds, then shook his head and said, "There's something Henry might not have told you. I didn't leave the W group after Henry died, but rather, I nominally left the W group seven years before Henry's incident and secretly joined an assassin organization."
Hearing "assassin organization," William immediately understood what Carlos was referring to and was startled. Could it be that the Assassin Brotherhood's most formidable Cross was secretly sent by his maternal grandfather, Henry, to infiltrate the Brotherhood?
"People in our family, after birth, have a very high chance of awakening a superpower. The secretion of adrenaline will exceed that of ordinary people by several, even dozens of times, without dying. This allows us to possess vision and speed of action far superior to ordinary people. If combined with training, people in our family are natural-born assassins.
Twenty years ago, one winter, two men in black suits suddenly broke into my home. While escaping, in a desperate situation, I settled four-year-old Wesley in a bridge culvert. I took a bullet to lure the killers away, fled through several cities, but still couldn't escape their pursuit.
Finally, when I fled to a forest outside Oxford, the fear of death made me realize the reason my heart rate always accelerated when I was nervous. In the final confrontation with the two killers, because of the sudden superpower I gained, the two killers thought I was no longer capable of resisting and tried to take me away. In their carelessness, I, with my speed several times faster, counter-killed them with a dagger.
However, due to two days of non-stop running and the gunshot wound, I fainted in the forest and was rescued by Henry, who was looking for a Christmas tree in the woods.
Speaking of which, I really should thank you, William."
Thank me for what? Twenty years ago, before Christmas, I was only a few days old. How am I involved in this?
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