BIA Ch. 92

Isaiah was dumbfounded. He was the one who took ‘those kinds of pictures’ ‘recklessly’ in the first place. And he had even tied someone’s hands and forced them to take them. Yet, his bright expression and confident tone made it seem like he thought he was completely exempt, which pissed him off even more.

Whether Isaiah in the passenger seat was furious or not, Bran skillfully drove the car through the increasingly heavy rain. It seemed their destination was the third building, The Bell Financial.

At this point, Isaiah had a rough idea of what Bran was planning. Chester was probably still checking his location with a GPS tracking app in between his dates with Hailey. He had probably been doing that ever since they left the church with Manny. So, Bran was planning to trick Chester by placing a smartphone with a GPS app at the Taten Building, and in the meantime, go to The Bell Financial to check out their real sniping spot.

It was a simple trick, not even a real plan, but it was a hundred times better than turning his phone on and off, fueling Chester’s paranoia, and making up unbelievable excuses about the battery dying.

You really do have it easier when you’re smart.

While secretly admiring him, the car arrived at The Bell Financial. The Taten Building and The Bell Financial were about 600 yards apart in a straight line. Geographically, they were only about three blocks apart, so it would probably take about five minutes by car. Today, it took a little longer because of the rain.

As expected, security was tight. Only registered vehicles could enter the parking lot, and to enter the building through the main gate from the outside, you had to swipe an ID card or enter a password.

“It’s acting like an expensive apartment.”

“It’s no different.”

As they got on the elevator, Bran pressed the 25th floor. The printout also described the distance based on the 25th floor, so it seemed that the vacant office they had looked at was on the 25th floor.

Sure enough, Bran got off on the 25th floor and started walking without even looking at the numbers or names on the doors.

“Is this place a maze?”

After turning about three corners, Isaiah couldn’t help but ask.

“What number is it, anyway?”

“2527.”

“At this rate, we’ll get caught while running away.”

“No. If you know the elevator locations in advance, you can escape first while others are getting lost. We came using the elevator connected to the parking lot, so there must be another elevator somewhere. Look for it.”

Finally, number 2527, tucked away in the deepest corner of the hallway, appeared. Bran pressed the eleven-digit door lock password and said,

“You’ll have to come alone on the day, so memorize the password.”

“It’s too long. Make it four digits.”

“Impossible. It has to be eleven digits here.”

Isaiah frowned. In response to his silent protest, Bran said with an overly benevolent expression.

“But I made it the same as the building’s front door password, so you only have to memorize one.”

“Oh, wow, thanks.”

“Just with words?”

Beep-beep- The door lock was unlocked. When Isaiah looked at him with a ‘so?’ face, Bran opened the door wide and said,

“You have to offer a special donation. As a way of repaying the mercy of your god.”

The desolate and quiet atmosphere unique to a space that had been empty for a long time rushed in through the open doorway, making it feel like some kind of divine power. The problem was that it was the god of death or the god of ruin.

“In case you don’t know, you already took seven hundred thousand dollars from me.”

Isaiah said as he entered the empty office.

“Chester only put seven hundred thousand dollars on my head?”

His reaction was, ‘only?’

“That’s the highest single fee ever.”

When Isaiah mentioned that the president of Ecuador was only five hundred thousand dollars seven or eight years ago, Bran crossed his arms and said, “Hmm.” He had a rather complicated expression.

The office wasn’t completely empty. There were desks, chairs, and partitions scattered here and there, and a few printers were rolling around on the floor. But judging by the thick layer of dust on everything, it looked like it had been abandoned for at least half a year.

“I can have this all cleared out if it bothers you.”

“No, it’s fine.”

He didn’t say that it was better to have them because it felt less desolate. Because then Bran would probably look at him too pitifully.

“Just get rid of the dust.”

“I will.”

Isaiah avoided the desks and chairs scattered around and went to the window. The blinds were still attached to the window.

“These blinds are usable.”

Isaiah said as he pulled the blind strings, turned them, and adjusted the angle.

“Really?”

“Yeah. This is good enough, I don’t think we need to install blackout curtains. Of course, we have to dust them off.”

“I’ll do that. I can replace them with new ones if you want.”

“No, these are fine. The vertical width and spacing are perfect.”

Isaiah completely opened the blinds and opened the window. It was still pouring outside, but the rain didn’t come in. There was barely any wind either.

“It’s better than I thought.”

“Right?”

“Yeah.”

Isaiah could see why Bran had chosen this building. If there was just one similar-sized building right next to it, there would always be a huge wind, regardless of the wind direction recorded on the weather app. But here, there were no tall buildings within 400 yards. The window faced north, so if they waited from the late afternoon, they wouldn’t have to face the sunset, which would reduce eye strain. And most of all, the unobstructed, straight view of the church was very refreshing. Even the window frame was wide enough to place a benchrest on.

“And like a fancy office, the soundproofing is very good.”

Bran, who had come beside him, said as he looked at the church in the distance.

“It’s a bit far, but still, 1400 yards is doable, right?”

“Well…”

While Isaiah hesitated to answer, Bran stated first.

“You’re not some nobody, you’re the great Lanius. That’s not even a handicap for you.”

He said with a relaxed smile, which made Isaiah feel annoyed for no reason. His attitude of asking for agreement as if it were obvious was annoying, but the smile that showed how attractive he was was so, so annoying. Isaiah, afraid that he might unconsciously smile back, frowned even more and said,

“What are you talking about? It’s 1400 yards in words, but it’s practically 1500 yards.”

“It’s the same thing.”

“How is it the same thing?”

“Don’t be petty. You’re getting seven hundred thousand dollars.”

“Anyone would think you were the one who paid seven hundred thousand dollars. You’re just freeloading off Chester.”

“I’m grateful to Chester.”

Bran said with a very dignified tone. Isaiah ended up laughing in disbelief.

Even though the wind wasn’t blowing, it quickly got cold because the window was open while it was raining. Isaiah closed the window and said.

“But I think I need to go to Virginia one more time.”

“Why?”

“To get the magnum rounds.”

They were magnum rounds that he couldn’t bring himself to use on Bran, but if the opponent was Chester, there was no reason to hesitate.

“You said you were going to use the AT. Aren’t all your ATs set up for .30 caliber?”

“No. One of them is tuned to .338. And magnum rounds aren’t for the AT. They’re for the M24. If the weather isn’t good on the day, that combination is the safest.”

“I think I saw .338 Winchester magnum rounds in your case.”

“Yeah. I put them in with the .338 tuned barrel.”

That’s probably what you saw, Isaiah said as he sat on the windowsill.

“Then why not just use that?”

“It’s too slow. It doesn’t reach 500 m/s even after 700 yards. I’m going to bring a Lapua^[1].”

“You don’t need KTW rounds?”

“Not really.”

Isaiah turned his head and looked at the church again.

“The point of using KTW rounds is to penetrate bulletproof vests. If you hit the head in one shot, you don’t need KTW rounds. In fact, at this distance, it’s most important not to lose speed, so magnum rounds are better.”

“You’re talking like you’re definitely going to hit the head.”

Bran said with his arms crossed.

“Because I’m going to hit it.”

Isaiah replied calmly. This wasn’t a question of whether he could do it or not. It was a question of how quickly and easily he could finish it. At least, that’s how it was for him.

“What was your success rate within 1000 yards? Officially?”

“About 93% for ten years. But it’s been over 98% in the last two years.”

Bran looked like he was thinking about something. Then he nodded and said.

“Well, it wasn’t a mistake when you shot Irina’s heart.”

Isaiah felt the blood in his body turn cold for a moment. The unexpected mention of her name in that instant caused an even greater disturbance.

“Come to think of it, did you know Irina wasn’t wearing a bulletproof vest back then?”

On the other hand, Bran was the same as usual. His tone was so calm that it was hard to believe he was talking about the death of his former lover.

That was even more despairing. The fact that something that had become nothing to him was still a huge event and a terrible memory for him was something he deeply felt.

Everything would be like that. Something that was nothing to Bran would become an event of great significance and a special memory for him. Everything that happened between them. Just like before, and forever into the future.