The door opened fully and a scarred man gestured us inside. The interior was surprisingly clean. It was a tavern that's mostly empty at this hour with only a few patrons drinking quietly, yet all of them armed.

We were led to a back room.

Barlow was a thin man with sharp eyes and sharper clothes. He sat behind a desk covered in papers, a glass of wine at his elbow.

"Victoria." He smiled without much warmth. "It's been, what, ten years?"

"Ten and three."

"You haven't aged a day. Still beautiful and still terrifying as always." His eyes moved to me and Adrian. "And you've brought interesting friends. Hadeon Ravana is it? The tournament runner-up and Adrian Celestius, the tournament champion. To what do I owe the honor?"

Victoria sat without being invited and we followed her lead.

"I need information," she said flatly. "About a kidnapping that happened three hours ago, a man was taken from the Grand Hotel. Scholar type, beaten or drugged. Did your people see anything?"

Barlow sipped his wine. "Information of that nature is expensive."

"Name your price."

"Ten thousand gold."

I pulled out my pouch, started counting.....

"Plus," Barlow continued, "a favor, to be called in later."

Victoria's expression darkened. "What kind of favor?"

"The kind I'll decide when I need it. Nothing that violates your precious morals, if that helps. But something equivalent to the value of this information."

"How do I know you actually have information worth that price?"

Barlow smiled. "Because I do, I have eyes all over this place and I can tell you the number of stray cat there is in this city and which of the cats are spies. Or is it the birds? Or the rats?"

He shrugged. "Six hooded figures, one prisoner, heading toward Ladow Haven district. My people saw them. Even got a description of the prisoner and it matches your scholar."

Ladow Haven. The old industrial district on the eastern edge of the city. It's an abandoned warehouses and factories.

Perfect place for a hidden base. If I must say so myself.

"Why didn't you report it?" Adrian asked with a slight frown.

"Report what? People move through the night all the time. It's only suspicious in hindsight." Barlow leaned back. "So. Do we have a deal? Ten thousand gold plus a future favor for the location details."

I looked at Victoria.

She was frowning as she calculated, weighing her options.

"How specific can you be?" I asked Barlow.

"Very. My people followed them to a specific building. It's an old textile factory on Rust Street. It's heavily guarded, at least a dozen armed men and they're not street thugs. It gives my people bad vibes and so we don't know what's happening inside."

I sighed softly. That was exactly what we needed.

"Deal," Victoria said finally. She pulled out a small knife, cut her palm, pressed bloody handprint onto a contract Barlow quickly produced. "The debt is witnessed and binding."

I paid the gold.

Barlow produced a map, marking the exact location. "Rust Street, eastern Ladow Haven. Building 47, the old Silverthread Textile Factory. Four stories, brick construction, eastern and western entrances, roof access possible but dangerous."

"Guards?" I asked.

"Twelve visible at least, but there's likely more inside and they're all armed with military-grade weapons. Seems they're expecting trouble."

"League," Adrian muttered.

Barlow's eyes flickered. "I don't know what that means, and I don't want to. We're done here. Good luck. You'll need it."

We left quickly.

Outside, I activated the communication crystal. "Team One to Base. We have a location. Ladow Haven district, Rust Street, Building 47. Cipher is likely there and it's heavily guarded."

Damian's voice crackled back. "Confirmed. Alerting other teams. Team Two also has a lead, city guard reported suspicious activity in Ladow Haven area, it seems to matches your intelligence."

"Team Three?" I asked.

Kaeel's voice: "We detected residual magic of concealment spells. Trail leads to...same area I think..."

I raised my brows sharply. Three separate intelligence sources confirming the same location.

"It's definitely a trap," I said.

"Obviously," Victoria replied. "They want us to come. The question is whether we're smart enough to spring their trap on our terms."

Adrian looked between us. "We're going anyway, aren't we?"

"Of course," I said with a slow smile.

☆☆▪︎▪︎☆☆

All four teams reconvened at a safe house that Lucille had secured it was an abandoned warehouse three blocks from the target.

"Four independent sources confirming the same location," Kaeel said. "Either they're all correct, or this is the most elaborate misdirection in history."

"It can be both," I said. "They're really there and they really want us to know it."

Aria closed her eyes, probability magic swirling. "If we attack...the odds are changing to quickly to make full sense."

"Those odds are terrible," someone muttered.

"They're better than zero," Seraphina countered. "Which is what Cipher has if we don't try."

"We need a plan," Victoria said. "Something better than 'charge in and hope.'"

I studied the map Barlow had provided.

"Three-pronged assault," I said. "We divide their attention, create chaos and extract during confusion."

"That requires coordination under fire," Kaeel observed. "And assumes we can handle whatever they throw at us."

Lucille said. "We can handle guards."

"We don't have clean options," I said firmly. "We have dangerous options and suicide options. I'm choosing dangerous."

I outlined the plan:

Alpha Team (Frontal Assault). Seraphina, Adrian, Damian. They will hit the front entrance hard while they draw maximum attention and create massive distraction as well as to hold as long as possible

Beta Team (Stealth Infiltration) are Kael, Lucille and they will enter via roof during chaos, they are in charge of locating Cipher and xtracting him when possible, they are to avoid combat if able

Gamma Team (Heavy Reserve). Which is mostly Victoria, myself and some other members. We are Position between front and extraction point, to respond to wherever needed most and engage enemy reinforcements. As well as to cover retreat

Support Team (Artillery/Medical) are Ravenna, Marcus, Aria, Lyra and other members. They will hold the rear position and provide magical artillery support with medical station for casualties and escape route coordination.

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