Having parents like that was a curse to whoever got stuck with them!
But this was no time for sympathy.
Tycho wasn't looking at Claire like she was a girl; he was looking at her like a pile of
solid gold.
Capturing this target alive was going to make him incredibly rich.
It was no wonder everyone in the Syndicate had fought tooth and nail for this
assignment.
Even a thrill-seeking psychopath like Felicity hadn't wanted to pass up an opportunity like this.
And certainly not Tycho.
Tycho was notoriously greedy.
He had been born in Solenia but raised and trained in Sundara. He needed money desperately.
His younger sister suffered from a rare, astronomically expensive disease. A single injection cost millions of dollars.
She needed that injection every two months.
That was millions upon millions of dollars just for the medication.
Factoring in the exorbitant specialized care she required, he had to clear well over ten million a year just to keep her breathing.
Ever since he completed his training, Tycho was either executing a mission or traveling to the next one.
He never showed mercy to his targets.
He did it for the money, and he did it for his sister.
Her life was held hostage by the Syndicate. He didn't have the luxury of saying no.
Because the Syndicate held that absolute leverage over him, Felicity trusted him entirely.
"Tycho, take her and go. We split the bounty fifty-fifty!"
Initially, Felicity had planned to claim the glory for herself.
But given the current mess, cooperating seemed like the smarter play.
"I'll give you half, assuming you survive this!"
Tycho sneered.
They were partners, but they were also vicious competitors.
The Syndicate's hierarchy demanded constant mission completion to rank up. Higher ranks meant better payouts.
The more money they made, the higher the tier of missions they could access.
While this bred toxic infighting, there was no denying its effectiveness. The Syndicate boasted the highest mission completion rate in the underworld. t FindNovel.net
There wasn't a single contract they wouldn't take.
If someone ordered a hit on a head of state, they'd at least give it a shot.
Whether they actually succeeded was another matter entirely.
Claire hadn't expected these two to be so wildly arrogant. Did they have any idea how much security the government had deployed in the shadows?
Just the two of them thought they
could abduct her from a universitet
campus while casually discussing how to split the foot right in front of her?
Did they think Solenia's special divisions were a joke?
Claire was half-tempted to file a formal complaint to the director just to teach these two a lesson.
Did they really think they were untouchable? Not only infiltrating Solenia but brazenly striking at a major university?
Did they realize how many embedded sleeper agents were going to be aggressively purged because of their little stunt?
Did they think Solenia would just roll over?
Thinking of her country's absolute power, Claire felt zero fear.
The calmer she felt inside, the more terrified she acted on the outside.
"Who are you people?"
Claire knew she couldn't play completely innocent either.
But if she didn't speak up, Howard looked like he was about to pass out from pure terror.
Even if he didn't faint from fear, the amount of blood he was losing from his neck would put him into shock soon enough!
"Who we are doesn't matter. You
need to cooperate with us, Ms. James Otherwise, not only will you suffer, but your little classmate here is going to bleed out."
Felicity genuinely couldn't care less if Howard lived or died at this point.
Seeing Felicity switch personalities so drastically finally snapped Howard out of his daze.
He had managed to get into The Cabinda University, after all. He wasn't stupid.
He finally realized she had only gotten close to him for a reason, even if he couldn't quite process that the ultimate target was Claire.
He knew he wasn't a genius, but he didn't think he was a complete moron either. Why had this woman targeted him?
But Howard didn't have the luxury of deep thought. He could feel his body rapidly turning cold.