Melano hotel.

Luke was reporting what happened to Jayson.

“You had one job, and you fucked it up”

“…” Luke remained silent, he learned that silence is the best way to smooth things out. when dealing with his boss especially when he is grumpy,

“Lucky you they were just a couple of rascals, otherwise we would be having a different conversation” Jayson felt the situation, wasn’t as severe as it could be, of course, that doesn’t mean this failure will go unpunished.

“…” Luke knew where this was heading, he just wanted it to be done.

“Alright, I’ll duct your share of the cores, for the next two hunts, now tell me, what did you find out about the kid?” Jayson asked.

“He belongs to Jack’s scavenger group” Luke reported.

“Jack? Who is that?” Jayson asked with a questioning look.

“We met him back in the meeting, the electric guy” Luke explained.

“Ah yes, he wasn’t anything special, so there is nothing to worry about” Jayson stated confidently.

“I agree, but there is something strange” Luke agreed but expressed his doubts.

“what is it?” Jayson asked.

“The kid when I was questioning him, I had a feeling he was hiding something” Luke said skeptically.

“Don’t tell me you can't get a kid to talk” Jayson teased.

“believe me, I have tried every threat and scare tactic in the book, and the kid didn’t budge” Luke said honestly.

“Maybe, you're just overthinking things” Jayson said dismissively.

“No, I think he wasn’t fazed, because he was scared of something” Luke said firmly.

“Anyway, don’t kill him, let’s see if Jack contacts us, we will make him pay us some cores for our troubles” Jayson ordered.

***

A few Hours later, Fletcher walked straight toward the Melano Hotel's front door.

The guards noticed him and raised their weapons.

“Stop right there” the guard fired a warning arrow, that landed beside Fletcher’s feet.

Fletcher stopped in his tracks, looking straight ahead unfazed.

The guards reported things through their radio, “We have an intruder ..., ....male unarmed, ...at the front door, waiting for further instructions, over”.

A few minutes later, Luke walked out of the front door, he stared at the man, who gave him a strange feeling, ‘this man, he looks too relaxed for someone with weapons pointed at him’

“Who are you? And what brings you here?”

"My name is Fletcher, I'm here for my friend"

"What makes you think we have your friend?"

"Just a hunch last time, we saw him he was staying in this area, and someone saw him enter this hotel with a bunch of people"

"So assuming we have this friend of yours, you must know that there is no free meal in this world"

"I'm aware, that's why I came here, I'm sure we can reach a resolution that satisfies everyone"

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Luke gave a signal to his men, to search Fletcher, after they made sure he didn't have any weapons on him, they signaled back to Luke.

"Alright, follow me" one of the armed guards commanded.

Fletcher was escorted inside and they took the elevator to the 17th floor, 'The elevator is working, how did they restore the power to the building?'.

Jason was sitting on a nice couch having two beautiful women serve him food and keeping him entertained.

Fletcher looked him up and down, his first impression was that this guy didn't look like much, but Fletcher wasn't as vain as to judge a man by his appearance, because someone who can lead and control such a well-organized group is not to be taken lightly.

Jayson also assessed the man in front of him, from what he could gather he could feel confidence oozing out of this man like he wasn't the one in danger, but they were.

"So what are you prepared to pay for the kid'

"Cores or supplies whichever works for you"

"We want cores other things are useless to us, but before we get to that, why didn't Jack come himself? This is very disrespectful, the only reason we didn't hurt the kid, was because we hail from the same base. Otherwise, we normally don't tolerate this type of behavior"

Fletcher almost broke out laughing, he thought that this guy was full of shit, the only reason he didn't kill Ray is probably because Brian ran away so if he killed Ray, it would link back to him, especially since Jack is from the same base, and might publicize the matter, dragging his reputation through the mud, although it was a lawless world in the outside, inside the bases, law and order is still maintained.

"Of course, we appreciate your show of good faith, and Jack would have come here if he wasn't occupied with an urgent matter"

"Well it can't be helped then, alright Let's talk business now, what are you ready to pay?"

"50 Red, 50 blue cores" pretended to be losing on the deal.

Jayson was surprised he didn't expect much, if he was offered half of that he would be more than happy, but offering a hundred cores for a normal kid was unusual, this made Jayson have second thoughts, are they that desperate to get him back, or do they have a lot of cores on their hands.

Some greedy thoughts manifested inside Jayson's mind, once they took root they evolved into cynical ideas.

"Are you kidding me, I can get double that for him, such a healthy youthful man, a lot of people would line up to buy him" Jayson was just making things up, he just wanted to see what was their bottom line, this will clear or confirm his suspension.

Fletcher honestly wasn't sure what the other party said was true or false, he was winging it, the price he gave was just a generous estimation, and it didn't matter if he gave them a thousand core because he would get it all back.

Fletcher needed to show some backbone, otherwise, they might think they could take advantage of him, which would complicate things further.

"I'm not sure what you mean by that but that was a generous offer, if that's not enough for you, then you are just making things difficult for us, this might not put you in the best of light".

Jayson squinted his eyes, he thought 'It looks like the kid is someone important to them, should I continue to push or just end it', he remained quiet for a while the said " is this kid related to Jack in some way?"

Fletcher was impressed this guy was testing him, and even accurately deduced everything, as he suspected despite his look, this man was quite smart and calculative.

"Well it would be useless to hide it right now, but you are right he is Jack's fiance's brother, and as you can see we are very eager to get him back safely, hence the generous offer we made earlier"

"Alright you have a deal, but tell Jack he owes me a big favor for this one "

Fletcher was relieved that he could settle things peacefully, and not have to do it the hard way, while he could attempt to fight his way inside and bust Ray out using pure violence and chaos if he were to try protecting Ray and fight at the same time, the odds would stack against him.

"Luke will take you to see the kid, and tomorrow morning we will do the exchange "

The situation seemed to come to a peaceful conclusion, but as Fletcher turned around to leave at the last moment, Jayson's eyes went wide. Something on Fletcher’s wrist got his attention.

The bracelet was the device, the military claimed could help the awakened get stronger, he had seen military-awakened recruits wearing it, ‘is this man related to the military? or was he able to exchange for one?’, either way, this was his chance to get his hands on one.

"I forgot to ask, I have a taught time remembering faces, have we met before?" Jayson asked with a friendly voice.

Fletcher turned back and said "No"

"Really! I thought since you were an awakened surely you'd have been to those military meet-ups at the base" Jayson added trying to pry some information for Fletcher.

"I have never been" Fletcher answered neither confirming nor denying that he is an awakened.

"Well! I'm sure we will see each other again! As matter of a fact, I'm looking to expand my operation and I'm always looking for talented individuals" Jayson said.

"Good for you! I'm not a team player, I like to do things on my own" Fletcher responded.

Jayson nodded his head and sent Fletcher on his way.

'He is not related to the military, he must have got the bracelet some other way' Jayson contemplated grinning from ear to ear.