John Wick - Chapter 89: The Magician (Patreon)

Maybe it was because Nate felt Robert’s situation had been such a waste.

Maybe it was the sense of danger the explosion had driven into him.

Maybe it was both.

Either way, Nate was furious.

John looked at him and immediately noticed something was wrong.

He didn’t say anything about it, though. He simply picked up his phone and relayed Nate’s exact words to Gianna.

Her response was quiet and grave.

“I’ll deal with it as quickly as I can.”

Suddenly, an image flashed through Nate’s mind.

Two seconds from now, a bullet would punch through his forehead and send him falling backward onto the ground.

He immediately rolled to the side.

By the time he came back to his feet, an AWM was already in his hands.

The [Baba Yaga] Trait kicked in.

The threat was roughly three hundred meters directly ahead, inside an apartment building. Third floor, second window from the right.

Someone had a rifle trained on him.

The instant Nate steadied himself, he pulled the trigger.

“Bang.”

The custom round left the barrel and crossed the three hundred meters almost instantly.

Through the scope, Nate saw the assassin take the shot through the neck. The man clutched at the wound as his upper body slumped limply out of the window.

Nate worked the bolt, chambered another round, and put the second shot through his head.

The assassin dropped from the window.

Only after those two shots did Nate feel some of the anger inside him finally subside.

He drew a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

Then he turned and shoved the AWM into John’s hands. With another flick of his wrist, several magazines appeared, and he passed those over as well.

John caught everything smoothly, as if the two of them had practiced the exchange a hundred times.

“You... you just...”

Elena stood beside them with her mouth hanging open.

She had seen the whole thing.

To her, it looked like Nate had just performed actual magic.

“This is my strongest talent,” Nate said expressionlessly. “I call it The Magician.”

Then he suddenly leaned in until his face was almost touching Elena’s and spoke in a low, menacing voice.

“Keep it secret, okay? If word gets out, I might have to silence you, Ms. Elena.”

Elena immediately nodded.

“Relax. I’m kidding.”

Nate gave her a light punch on the shoulder.

“What do you prefer using? Is a Glock okay?”

“Y-yeah.”

Her voice was unusually quiet.

Apparently, he really had scared her.

“Here. Watch this.”

Nate held one hand out, palm facing upward.

He flipped it over.

Then flipped it back.

A Glock was suddenly sitting in his palm.

“That... that’s incredible.”

Elena stared at the gun in disbelief.

Then she asked, “Does real magic actually exist?”

Nate thought about it for a moment.

“With natural talent, enough speed, and enough practice... maybe it does.”

In a normal world, magic was just misdirection and sleight of hand. And with how widespread the internet had become, most new tricks were exposed almost as soon as they appeared.

But this world had Traits.

So who could say for sure?

Nate had already thought the matter through.

There was no way he could keep the System Backpack hidden forever. At the very least, the people closest to him were eventually going to notice.

Constantly worrying about whether someone might see him take something out was far too restrictive.

So he might as well stop hiding it.

He could simply give the ability a name and leave it at that.

People native to this world could have innate Traits of their own. Why couldn’t something like this exist?

Besides, there weren’t many people left in the world who were stronger than him now.

And that was Nate being modest.

“John, how long has it been?” Nate asked.

“Three minutes.”

Nate nodded.

“Elena, how long until Winston’s car gets here?”

“Any minute now.”

“Have Winston move our flight to tomorrow.”

“Got it.”

Half a minute later, a Ford Crown Victoria pulled up in front of them.

A sharply dressed Continental attendant stepped out.

“Mr. Lin, the manager sent me to...”

“Sorry.”

Nate raised a hand and cut him off.

He walked around the car and inspected it carefully.

Then he drew a throwing knife, tensed his nerves, and deliberately entered combat mode before checking the vehicle again.

Only after confirming that he sensed no threat from the car did he finally relax a little.

Nate turned around, took two gold coins from his pocket, and handed them to the attendant.

“You did your job perfectly. But I’m taking your car.”

“I’ll drive. You can get a taxi back. The second coin is your tip.”

The attendant stared at him in stunned silence.

Then all he could do was watch as Nate, John, and Elena got into his car and disappeared down the road.

“Elena, I need the location and intel on the D’Antonio family,” Nate said.

“Okay.”

Sitting in the back seat, Elena checked her phone several times before answering in a calm voice.

“The D’Antonio family is at 47 Hagel Grove Terrace on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Detached house. Three-story main building.”

“There are normally twelve guards stationed there. Another group showed up today, bringing the total to around thirty.”

“Mostly pistols and submachine guns.”

Nate turned the wheel, taking the car onto a quiet, tree-lined road.

“How many entrances?”

“One front entrance, two rear entrances. Guards patrol the rooftop and rotate every two hours.”

“Cameras?”

“Eight covering the exterior. The security system is controlled from the butler’s room on the first floor.”

Nate nodded.

He didn’t drive particularly fast.

About an hour later, he parked beneath the shadow of an old oak tree.

From there, they could see the brightly lit luxury villa sitting partway up the hill.

It looked like something out of a Christmas advertisement.

Nate shut off the engine and sat quietly for several seconds.

“John. How much time?”

“Twenty-six minutes.”

“Anything from Gianna?”

“Yes. Her people in New York identified the remaining assassin. They’re hunting him now.”

John paused.

“She’s asking you not to kill her mother. She says she’ll pay you well.”

Nate was silent for a moment.

Then he asked, “John, what do you want me to do?”

John didn’t hesitate.

“I’m with you. If you want to go in, I’ll go with you.”

“I’m not willing to just let this go, John.”

Nate looked toward the villa.

“Tell Gianna I won’t kill her mother.”

“But I’m going to make her afraid.”

“And I’m going to make sure she pays for what she did.”

“I understand,” John said.

In the back seat, John checked his gun and magazines, producing a series of faint metallic clicks.

Elena tightened her grip around the Glock and started to open the door.

“You stay with the car.”

Nate looked back at her.

“I...”

Elena started to protest, but Nate cut her off.

“If you come with us, we’ll have to worry about protecting you too.”

He opened the car door.

Cold air rushed inside.

Before stepping out, Nate handed John the Staccato 2011 XC.

“You ready, John?”

“Yeah.”

The two men got out of the car.

Within moments, their figures disappeared into the trees beside the road.