John Wick - Chapter 104: Please Kill Me (Patreon)

“I noticed something was off, so I used The Continental’s intelligence network to trace his financial activity. Every transaction involved a substantial amount of money. Every two weeks, the funds were transferred in batches to different anonymous accounts before ultimately ending up in a Swiss bank.”

“Think about it. This is an unofficial assassin organization. If they aren’t making money from killing people, how are they supposed to keep the organization running? On love?”

The assassin lowered his head.

His entire worldview had collapsed.

He had genuinely believed that he was ridding society of evil and making the world a better place, but Nate had ruthlessly torn away the comforting lie surrounding it.

Despite how harshly he spoke, Nate could actually understand how the man had ended up this way.

Most people followed the crowd. If someone remained part of a group long enough, they would gradually be influenced and assimilated by it without even realizing it.

And if that organization rallied around some kind of belief or slogan, those who had already been indoctrinated would pull newcomers in with them, quickly turning them into equally fanatical supporters.

Like a snowball rolling downhill, it only grew larger and more dangerous.

Julius, who had been silent for quite some time, finally spoke.

“Mr. Lin, I need to confirm something. Was everything you just said true?”

His voice grew serious.

“Does an organization like that really exist?”

“Just look at his reaction. Do you really need me to say anything else?”

The assassin stared blankly ahead.

Blood continued dripping from his suspended hand, soaking into the front of his clothes, while he muttered something under his breath.

Of course, Nate had never actually investigated any of this.

Everything he had said came from a movie he had watched in his previous life.

But if he told the story convincingly enough and acted like it was true, who was going to say otherwise?

The leader of the Fraternity really was that kind of sanctimonious bastard, exploiting a supposedly noble cause for his own benefit.

The male lead had it pretty rough too.

He started out as a miserable corporate drone. His life was a wreck, and his girlfriend was even sleeping with his best friend.

Then several million dollars suddenly appeared in his bank account.

With money behind him, he finally found the courage to stand up to his boss, smashed a keyboard into his buddy, dramatically quit his job, went through training, became stronger, and developed feelings for the beautiful female lead while carrying out missions.

He probably thought he had finally reached the peak of his life.

Then, thanks to someone else’s schemes, he personally killed his own biological father.

After a satisfying revenge spree, the female lead killed herself, the organization collapsed, the money in his account was taken back, and he ended up right where he started. Penniless and alone.

Tragic. Absolutely tragic.

Helping him was one reason Nate cared about all this.

But more importantly...

These Pokémon were definitely worth collecting!

The people the female lead killed with that bullet curving around the entire room were all elites.

Even if Nate couldn’t collect every single one of them, getting the male and female leads alone would be a massive win.

And that ability to curve bullets was insanely cool.

He wanted it badly.

The only question was whether the male lead had joined the Fraternity yet.

Wait a second.

There was also a guy among those people killed in that circle who looked almost exactly like Cassian.

If the two of them ever met, that would be hilarious.

While Nate’s thoughts continued racing, the assassin let out a long sigh.

“Kill me.”

Nate looked at him.

“So, you’ve figured things out?”

“Yes.”

The assassin nodded.

“I’ve done unforgivable things. I deserve to die.”

“All right.”

Nate raised his pistol, then asked, “Does your organization have any other bases besides the textile mill?”

“No... The address is 3133 West Fulton Street, Chicago, Illinois.”

That part was clearly meant for Julius to hear.

Nate sent the address to Winston and asked him to send a few capable operatives to investigate the place.

Bob turned toward Julius.

“I’m sorry. I killed people who didn’t deserve to die. I deserve this, but I have one request.”

After sending the message, Nate looked up.

Bob turned his head and stared directly into Nate’s eyes.

“Please kill our leader. But I hope you can spare...”

He stopped.

“Forget it... Do whatever you want.”

Bob lowered his head.

“There’s one more thing I need to ask you,” Nate said.

Bob didn’t look up.

“Ask. I’ll tell you anything I know.”

“Do you know Wesley?”

Nate gave him the name of the movie’s protagonist.

Bob paused for a moment.

“No. I don’t. There’s no one by that name in the organization.”

That was good.

It meant the plot hadn’t started yet.

Nate raised his pistol.

His finger rested on the trigger, but he didn’t pull it.

He hesitated.

“I don’t have to kill you, Bob.”

Bob looked up and smiled, completely at peace.

“Thank you, Nate... but I don’t want to live anymore.”

Nate pressed his lips together and remained silent for a moment.

“All right.”

He pulled the trigger.

The gunshot echoed through the room.

Bob’s head snapped backward. His eyes remained open, and the faint smile was still there on his lips.

Nate stepped forward and gently closed his eyes.

“What a shame,” Julius said. “He committed crimes, and he was punished for them. But I can’t bring myself to call him a bad man. He spent the first half of his life believing he was doing good.”

Nate nodded and looked at Bob’s body.

He didn’t know what to say either.

“Let’s go,” Nate said. “We still have a lot to arrange tonight.”

The two left the hidden room and returned to the lobby, where they sat down on one of the sofas.

“Gianna’s coronation is in five days. She’ll probably remain at the hotel for another three days or so. The hotel may have its rules, but offer enough money and someone will always be reckless enough to try something. I need you to strengthen the hotel’s security.”

Julius nodded.

“No problem. What do you have in mind, Mr. Lin?”

“Lock down the fifth floor. Move every guest except us to other rooms. Disable the fifth floor button in the elevator. Gianna’s people will guard the other two exits. Can you do that?”

“No problem. You were already the only guests staying on the fifth floor. The rest won’t be difficult.”

“That takes care of security for now. Next is food. I need enough ingredients to feed ten people for a week, and I want everything stocked in the refrigerators. As for making sure the food itself is safe, I need you to handle that personally. Any problem?”

“Not at all. I can arrange it.”

The manager thought of something.

“We can provide the ingredients, but who will prepare them? Would you like me to arrange a chef?”

“I was a chef before I became an assassin. You don’t need to worry about that.”

“All right. I’ll get to work. Contact me anytime if you need anything.”

They exchanged contact information.

Julius immediately quickened his pace and headed for the front desk to start assigning personnel.

By the time Nate reached the fifth floor, Gianna’s own security detail had already arrived.

There were eight of them in total. Every one of them looked capable and professional, dressed in light gray suits.

Cassian was nearby, assigning them their duties.

Aside from the elevator, the fifth floor had two other exits.

With eight people, they could guard the exits in pairs while rotating shifts.

Nate walked over.

“Where’s John?”

Cassian didn’t even look at him as he answered expressionlessly.

“Inside, protecting Gianna.”

“How are things? Everyone settled in?”

Cassian finally turned around.

His face rarely showed much emotion. In that regard, he was a lot like John.

“These men were personally trained by Gianna to die for her. Their loyalty isn’t something we need to worry about. Having them here will make things easier for us, but we still can’t let our guard down.”

“A shipment of food will be brought up shortly. When it arrives, I need you to inspect everything personally,” Nate told him.

Cassian nodded, then went back to briefing the security team on what they needed to watch for.

John and Gianna were alone together in the room.

Even if Nate went inside, there probably wasn’t anything worth seeing.

Better not disturb them.

After thinking for a moment, Nate walked over to Elena’s room and knocked on the door.

A little while later, the door opened, and Elena poked her head out from behind it.

“What’s up?”