I guess you could say this is where the story truly began. I have my prize possession, New York City. I have my weapons: four bodyguards straight from Hell's Academy, three dozen foot soldiers, a private arsenal stored in every gun shop in the city, and the Cortez family's youngest head at my side. I also have a powerful enemy now, the merciless and unbelievable Chief White. She thinks that she can take what's mine, so I guess you can say I'm the hero of this story.

~

"This place is a shit hole!" my attention was pulled away from the stack of pictures on my desk. Antonio Cortez strode into my office with his volume on high and his arrogance radiant. Two goliaths walked in behind him wearing dark purple suits. Antonio grinned when he saw me and I rose to my feet before returning the smile. His bright purple suit made him look like a cartoon character, but I'd tell him that later.

"Glad to see you made it. Have a seat, we've got matters to discuss." After we both were seated, I laid out the pictures on my desk. If he was going to be useful to me, I'd need him to understand the situation. "There are twelve large banks, ten gun shops, four prominent government buildings littered throughout the city. I've gotten someone on the inside of every single one of them. They've been keeping an eye on things and reporting back to me every week. Before you got here, I got a tip that something wasn't right, and these pictures came in."

"Who are these pricks? Your moles?" Antonio had a strange way of speaking. His tone would jump from formal to childish in a flash. He gestured to the dozens of faces on my desk.

"They're new hires; all of them. Dozens of facilities have hired new staff within the same week that White came to town. All of them have spotless resumes and top tier backgrounds. None of them have lived in New York before this month."

"So your girl has a lot of friends, and she's got the same game plan as you. I gotcha." He pulled out a cigar and one of his hands stepped forward to light it. Nothing could have made him look more out of place.

"Yeah, but that's only half the problem. She's been stepping on my territories and cutting through my suppliers. If things don't change fast, I'm not going to have any funds to continue operating as far as I do. So I figure we've got to start cashing in on these banks." Thankfully, the kid seemed was a little smarter than I gave him credit for.

"You want my men to take these faces off the map so you can step in and collect." It was the only way to get in quickly. My bet was that those eyes were planted there just to catch me slipping. If I tried to act while they were still in play, the cops would come crashing over me before I had the force to fight back. "My boys can handle that, but there's a problem." I raised a brow in question. "Why not just kill her now. We can send our hands in and have her cleaned up in one night. End of story. All of this spy crap can happen later."

"Damn, you're stupid." I couldn't hold that in anymore. "If it were that easy I wouldn't need you here. White has a place in the old phone building on Thomas st. It's the most secure building in the city. When she's not there, she's surrounded by cops. We send our hands after her alone, and we won't get them back. We've got to cripple her forces first. So, can you take these faces out for me? Let me know now, before I continue."

"Piece of cake. I've been making chumps walk the plank since I was in diapers." That might have been last year for all I knew, but now wasn't the time for insults.

"Good. There's one other thing as well. There's this new tech supplier around that's got better gear than my guys. I've got a way to flush him out, but I need your hands to trap him when I do. I want this tool alive and in one piece. I'll send you the details tonight. All you have to do is follow this face when it makes a move tomorrow. It'll lead you straight to their tech wizard." I handed him a picture with an address on the back. Antonio looked more serious all of a sudden and nodded his understanding. He walked out of the room without another word.

~

The intercom buzzed and my assistant's voice followed soon after. "Mr. Jupiter, sir. Your ten o'clock with Victoria San is ready. Shall I send her in?" Molly was quite possibly the worst assistant in town, but she was an adorable mess that I kept around for my daytime entertainment. I smiled genuinely and returned my attention to the woman sitting opposite me. Victoria had walked in five minutes ago without warning and we'd already begun talking before Molly alerted me this morning.

"I don't see why not, thank you, Molly." Victoria laughed and bowed her head slightly. At least some women still knew how to show respect. "What do you have for me today, Victoria?"

"Oh, I've got a few new toys, Mr. Cortez. My lab was able to upgrade the hijack hardware on your phone so now you can plant spyware on other cellular devices just by coming near them. Also, the ammo jamming spray that you requested has also been perfected. Spray it on any firearm and you have a useful paperweight! Uhm...we were also able to reverse the feed from those recording devices you sent us."

"Excelente, mi amor. So you were able to find out whoever put up all of those bugs in my night time office? I sent you all of the devices I was able to find at the warehouses and office. I'll be happy to pay this voyeur a visit. I'm sure Mr. Crimson would be even happier to meet the person who has been spying on his work."

"Yes, Mr. Cortez! I have an address for you as well as a name. I've put the spy's information in a file and sent it to you before coming in. It should be enough to identify the spy on sight and...do whatever you need to do with them." I smiled to hear the confidence in Victoria's voice. She had done great work for me in the past, and it was a relief to know that I could count on her now.

"Alright, excellent. I'll have Joshua and Connor take the full team there tonight. I believe that Chief White has managed to get a very talented technician on her side. If I can get my hands on it, that should give me more breathing room during the night. As long as you keep up the good work, my operations will continue to be ahead of the game. Tonight, we'll take her back to the stone age!" Victoria got up and took another bow. She was excellent at what she did.

"It's my pleasure to be of service to you, Mr. Cortez. I hope you have good luck with your conquest tonight!" I smiled to myself as she eagerly exited the office. The windows to my left allowed bright light from the rising sun to cascade over my daytime office. The pale white room glowed faintly yellow as silence enveloped the space.

"I can only imagine the look on White's face tonight when her prized pieces become mine." The technology was truly brilliant in design. The tiny microphones that were found in various locations were exceptionally crafted. So small that they broke when removed from their hiding spaces. Almost all of them were destroyed the moment someone tried to remove them. I had everyone in my tech lab take a look at the fragments, but everyone said the same.

The devices couldn't be traced or converted because of how fragile the designs were. Months, if not years, ahead of modern spyware. The microphone that I held in the palm of my hand was the only one still active. A faint hum went through it which told me that it was still broadcasting its signal with its tiny antenna. I could never find the maker's location normally, but thankfully I had discovered the person in charge of responding to my every move. I could imagine the smug smile on that guy's face as he rushed to their engineer's lab as we spoke. He would be in such a hurry that he wouldn't even notice the black convertible that followed him to his destination.

Oh, yes Victoria was an excellent performer. She followed directions to the letter and sounded so convincing that I'm sure the camera positioned at the back of my chair got a very convincing shot of her face. So when White's people came searching for Victoria Sans later, it would be a riot to discover her acting career was just beginning. "All is fair in love...and war."

Hey there! If you've been following this story so far, you know that I've been slow with updates. That is because I want to make sure I do this story right. It takes me longer to put something up that I feel is worth reading and I figured it'd be better to have one good chapter every 8 days, than 8 bad ones every day. So, if you thought that this chapter was worth the extra time, leave a comment or vote to let me know I'm not crazy ;)

So how many of you were surprised to see that little twist at the end. sometimes it can be dangerous to spy on the wrong person. Especially when that person knows you're doing it. Jupiter Cortez is more than just Mr. Crimson, he's also a pretty damn good strategist. 'If you can't find the eagle's nest, attach a string to a fish's tail and that will take care of the rest'