Chapter 440: Want to See Her Again

Chapter 440: Chapter 440: Want to See Her Again

On the other side, Felix Kendall walked Tanya Sinclair to the door of where she was staying. She had no intention of inviting him in, and stood at the entrance saying, "Thank you for coming to see me. I hope your assignment goes smoothly."

Felix was tall. Hands in his pockets, he lowered his head to look at her, the corners of his mouth barely lifting. That gaze could see right through her.

He’d always known she didn’t have him in her heart.

But what could he do?

He was unwilling to accept it.

Just as Tanya was starting to feel a little uneasy under Felix’s stare, he finally spoke.

"Then I’m off. Call me if anything comes up."

"Mm. Be careful."

Felix noticed the small, obvious movement of her letting out a breath of relief, and felt both helpless and amused. He lifted a hand in farewell and turned to leave.

The car had been sent over earlier and parked nearby. Felix got in; from the rearview mirror he could see Tanya’s back as she went inside.

Felix sat in the car and smoked a cigarette before driving away.

He hadn’t lied—he really did have a mission here. But the mission was low-level; normally someone of his rank wouldn’t need to show up. He’d more or less insisted on coming.

It wasn’t a big case. A fraud ring they’d taken down wholesale still had a few small fry from the bottom rung who slipped through and fled to the area nearby.

The place was close to the border. They’d planned to escape through here. Felix had his men deploy along the border line; after staking it out for several hours, they caught them all.

It just happened to be dark by then; the case was wrapped. Two trucks were assigned to transport the prisoners. The rest of the team could still make it to the station at this hour, catch a high-speed train straight back to Aris to report in.

Felix didn’t go with them.

"Mr. Kendalls, you’re not coming with us?" someone from the same unit couldn’t help asking.

When they were on assignment he was Captain Kendalls. Once the mission ended, he naturally became the high-born Mr. Kendalls.

"No. I’ve got something to take care of," Felix said lightly. "Personal business."

The others didn’t dare ask more.

Everyone knew Mr. Kendalls was parachuted in for this operation. He had his reasons for coming here.

They watched Felix get in his car and drive off.

One of the younger officers couldn’t help asking, "What kind of personal business could Mr. Kendalls possibly have in a backwater like this?"

Another lowered his voice and said, "He’s here to see someone. I caught a glimpse this afternoon. Mr. Kendalls came looking for a woman who’s teaching here as a volunteer. I heard her surname is Song."

The two of them exchanged suggestive looks, only to have the deputy team leader knock them on the head.

"Knock off the gossip! Get these people moved! Don’t let anything go wrong on the road!"

"Relax, Deputy! With these few puny little punks, they practically pissed themselves when they saw us. What kind of trouble could they stir up!" one of them promised glibly, and took the opportunity to glance at the prisoners squatting in two groups on the truck. There were eight in total, four per truck, with their arms cuffed behind their backs and secured to the safety rail.

Every last one of them looked pathetic and beaten.

Especially one guy in glasses, squatting in a corner. He stuttered when he spoke, and there was a scar at the end of his eye. They all called him Shiv.

They shut the truck doors, not noticing the flash of viciousness that passed through Shiv’s eyes. The tip of his tongue curled; without a word, he discreetly spit out a length of steel wire...

Meanwhile, Felix didn’t drive toward the city. He circled back to town, turned into the narrow alley running along the back wall of the school. At the end of the alley stood that old house.

Felix killed the engine and got out, pushing open the wooden door that had been left ajar. The courtyard had been cleaned; the weeds were gone, exposing the bare stone paving.

There was an osmanthus tree in the yard. It wasn’t in bloom this season; under the moonlight the leaves were a dark, inky green.

Felix walked toward the main house. The door wasn’t locked; he pushed it, and it swung open.

There was no lamp on inside, only moonlight leaking in through the cracks in the window, laying a narrow strip of white across the floor. A figure sat at the table, head bent over a drawing.

He had his back to the door. Even sitting down, you could tell he was very tall, but painfully thin, the outline of his shoulder blades pushing against the fabric of his clothes.

Felix paused, then started toward him. The room was so quiet that Felix could hear his own slightly uneven breathing.

He really couldn’t reconcile the man in front of him with the one in his memory who had once called the shots and moved mountains.

Felix drew a deep breath and finally spoke.

"Declan Pierce." He called his name.

The man’s hand, holding the pencil, paused for a moment, then slowly turned around.

Moonlight fell across his face. It was still that excessively beautiful face, brows and eyes deep-set—but he’d lost too much weight. His cheeks had hollowed out, making his eye sockets look even deeper. The hair over his forehead had grown out a bit, hanging down to shade the edge of his brows.

Felix stepped closer and noticed he was wearing a hearing aid.

"Why didn’t you tell Tanya Sinclair that you’re still alive? Why call me here instead?"

"What difference is there between me now and being dead?" Declan spoke. His voice was a little hoarse, with the awkwardness of someone who hadn’t talked much for too long.

Felix frowned slightly. "You know Tanya better than I do. She wouldn’t care about—"

"I care."

Felix was taken aback.

Declan slowly walked toward him. Moonlight washed over his face, and only then did Felix notice how oddly vacant his gaze was.

Felix hesitated, lifting a hand and waving it in front of his eyes.

Declan let out a short, bitter laugh. "Don’t bother. In a little while, I won’t be able to see anything at all."

That was why he had come here.

Before he went completely blind, he wanted to take one last look at Tanya Sinclair from afar... that was all.