John Wick - Chapter 50: Their Respective Goals (I) (Patreon)

The seating area was dimmer than the bar. A single brass wall lamp hung above them, its warm glow just enough to illuminate the corner where the four were sitting. Everything beyond it faded into the shadows of the underground bar.

Winston sat in the center with one leg crossed over the other, his right hand resting on the arm of the sofa.

He didn't speak immediately.

Instead, he looked at Nate first. His gaze lingered on the young man's face for a moment, and a flicker of surprise crossed his expression.

After a while, he turned his attention to John.

“I know what you're planning to do next,” Winston said quietly. “Find Viggo and make him withdraw the bounty.”

John didn't deny it.

He sat across from Winston with his back perfectly straight. In this state, no matter what he was doing, his focus was absolute.

“Viggo isn't in New York anymore,” Henry said. “We just received the information. A little over an hour ago, he chartered a yacht bound for Minsk.”

John's fingers moved almost imperceptibly against his knee.

Minsk.

The capital of Belarus.

There was a good chance Viggo's home base was there.

“He ran,” John said.

“Temporarily,” Winston replied. “The bounty is still active. Oh, and while we're on the subject, your bounty has gone up by another million.”

The old man continued smoothly.

“I've known Viggo for more than twenty years. His business is still here. He's not the kind of man who would abandon everything just to save his own life.”

“He went back to Minsk because it's his safe zone.”

“He has property there, bank accounts, more connections, and most importantly...”

Winston paused.

“It's his territory.”

“Then I'll go to Minsk,” John said firmly.

“Of course you can.”

Winston nodded.

“But what happens once you get there? That's his territory, not yours.”

“In New York, you can tear apart an entire criminal organization in a single night. Minsk is different. There's no Continental there. You might not even be able to bring a gun in, and that's without considering what might happen to you along the way.”

John fell silent.

Nate sat beside him, listening while his thoughts raced.

Viggo had gone back to Minsk.

He wanted to stay somewhere safe while letting that bounty torment John indefinitely.

That was completely different from the movie.

In the movie, Viggo had remained in New York. Even when he eventually tried to escape after killing John's friend, John caught up with him. The two fought with knives in the rain, and John ultimately traded wound for wound to kill him.

Come to think of it, what was John's friend's name again?

Marcus?

Where was he now?

Nate realized that his presence had already created subtle butterfly effects in this world.

Perkins had died early.

Viggo had fled.

But when he thought about it, that made sense.

The only Boss-level fighter around Viggo who could seriously contend with John was dead.

The heavily guarded Red Circle had been completely wiped out by Nate and John.

Viggo had failed to save his son.

The ambush on the road had failed too.

And now John was back inside the safety of the Continental.

The next time he appeared, it would be to kill Viggo.

Who wouldn't run?

Then Nate suddenly realized something.

He realized he knew more about Viggo's situation than anyone else at the table. In fact, he was certain of it.

He knew where Viggo's real assets in New York were hidden.

Not his gang's headquarters.

The place where Viggo kept the things that truly mattered.

Little Russia.

The church.

Perkins had mentioned the place in the movie, but she had been dead for a while now.

That church was the foundation of Viggo's position in New York.

Its basement contained not only huge quantities of gold coins and U.S. dollars, but also compromising information and leverage on major organizations.

If they took that place, there was no way Viggo wouldn't panic.

Viggo probably thought he'd hidden it well.

But Nate knew where it was.

No particular reason.

He simply knew.

They absolutely had to do this.

Forget the compromising information.

The crates of gold coins alone were enough to make Nate incapable of saying no.

Those were glittering piles of Resource Points!

Nate thought for a moment.

He had a way to break the deadlock.

“I've been thinking...”

All three men looked at him.

Winston's expression didn't change, though one eyebrow rose slightly.

Henry smiled, his eyes narrowing a little.

John remained expressionless, but Nate could clearly feel him leaning slightly in his direction.

“I have a way to bring Viggo back to New York,” Nate said with confidence.

“I'm listening,” Winston said.

His tone was mild, but the phrasing sounded less like a request for advice and more like a test.

Nate took a deep breath.

What he was about to say needed to make sense.

He couldn't exactly tell them he knew where Viggo kept everything because he'd seen it in a movie.

He needed to arrive at the same conclusion using the logic of this world.

“First, let's think about how Viggo operates.”

“Viggo is a gambler,” Nate said. “A gambler doesn't leave the table before the hand is over.”

“He went back to Minsk to make John's life miserable, not because he's surrendering. The bounty is still active, and his son is dead. There's no way he's simply letting this go.”

“And...”

Nate paused.

“He still has one chip left.”

“What do you mean?” John asked.

Nate looked at him.

The light struck John from the side, leaving half his face in shadow.

His eyes were fixed on Nate.

There was no suspicion in them.

“Your car,” Nate said.

John's pupils contracted.

“Viggo still has your car. Unless something unexpected happened, it's probably in Minsk with him now.”

Nate continued at an even pace, each word deliberate.

“He knows how important that car is to you.”

“He kept it because he intends to use it against you.”

“As long as he has the car, he knows you'll eventually come looking for him.”

“You'd be walking into his territory with a three-million-dollar bounty on your head. Even you couldn't guarantee you'd come back unharmed.”

Nate paused.

“It's an open trap.”

For a moment, the music in the bar seemed to grow quieter.

There was appreciation in Winston's eyes.

His fingers tapped the armrest twice.

Henry smiled faintly, lowered his head, and took a drag from his cigarette. Smoke drifted from his nostrils and slowly dissolved into the warm yellow light.

John stared at Nate for several seconds before looking away.

He said nothing.

But his jaw was clenched tightly.

“Nate,” Winston said, smoke still curling near his lips. “You seem to know Viggo very well.”

The question sounded casual.

Nate caught the meaning underneath it.

Winston was testing him.

A young man who wasn't even twenty yet shouldn't normally be this meticulous.

“I spent yesterday afternoon gathering information through every channel I could find.”

Nate spoke easily.

“If I'm going out there and risking my life at night, I'd be an idiot not to prepare first.”

He continued.

“As far as I know, Viggo's position in New York depends heavily on the compromising information and leverage he holds over other organizations.”

“Correct.”

Winston's expression became more serious.

“Very accurate.”

“So here's the question.”

Nate looked around at them.

“With how suddenly he fled, do you really think he had time to take all of that with him?”

Winston's eyes immediately sharpened.

He looked directly at Nate.

“You mean...”

“Exactly.”

Nate nodded toward the old man.

He knew Winston would probably find that information extremely useful.

“But how do we find it?” Henry asked with a smile. “Viggo isn't going to leave something like that sitting out in the open.”

“We investigate.”

Nate sounded completely certain.

“Use the Continental's intelligence network. Find out which places Viggo visited most often besides his known bases, then tear through them one by one.”

“If he's about to lose the foundation of everything he's built here, I refuse to believe he'll stay calm.”

“Set the bait and wait for him to come back?” John asked.

He understood.

Nate smiled and held out his fist.

“Yeah.”

He deliberately copied John's tone.

John bumped his fist against Nate's.

The two looked at each other and smiled.

Henry watched the two younger men across from him, clearly pleased by how naturally they had begun working together.