CHAPTER 22: THE WHITE HAWK
Victoria's POV

The next day I was a bit worried about the Shadow's meeting. I know he is a big boy and can look after himself, but you can never be too careful around someone like the White Hawk.

The whole day I spent wondering when the Shadow was going to meet with the White Hawk. Why did the White Hawk want to meet up with the Shadow? Did he want to warn him to stay away from 'his city'?

That's when the most horrible thought popped into my mind, what if the White Hawk lured him in to kill him?

What am I thinking? He's a thief for goodness sake, he'll be fine.
These type of thoughts plagued me the entire day.

That night I struggled to fall asleep. Please Shadow, where ever you are, stay safe.

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Shadow's POV

It was Saturday night, my heart raced as I rode on my bike to the meeting place an hour before the agreed time. That thing they say about the early bird catches the worm is one of my philosophies, but in my case it's the early bird catches the wanted thief.

I brought cameras along with me and listening devices to capture the entire meeting on video. I wanted to be sure I had evidence.

I made sure the meeting place was a secluded place, and I brought my gun for extra protection. I always hid my gun too scared someone will find out that I'm able to shoot. Especially from Victoria, I'm scared she'll be scared of me if she knew about my gun.

The place I picked was an old abandoned shoe factory. It was just out of the city and away of population.

I stopped infront of the big factory and took a quick look around. There wasn't a soul to be seen and everything was deathly quiet, there was an eerie glow to the place that sent a chill down my spine.

I made quick work of picking the lock, the lock on the door reassured me that no one was here recently for it is the same lock I placed on the door for good measures. I bought this factory under a false name for my lair but then I discovered the boat house and I changed my mind.

The lock opened with a clank, I opened the big steel door and went back to my bike. I drove inside and parked my bike at the back of the factory.

When my bike was parked I went back to close the door. I then proceeded to set up the cameras and listening devices, I pulled out my laptop that I carried in my back pack and made sure that everything was connected and on.

When I was certain everything was connected I hid my laptop in one of the rooms in the back of the factory.

Then the wait began, I was nervous to meet the White Hawk but I promised myself that I won't show him my nervousness.
You can do this I kept repeating to myself. My thoughts were a jumbled mess and every now and then there was a stray thought questioning me, if I was doing the right thing. I knew there would be risks in meeting him but I had to.

My thoughts were interupted by a knock on the steel door, my heart beat increased and my throat felt dry. Here goes nothing.

I walked to the door slowly and steadily as if I was approaching a deadly beast. When I came to the door I took one big breath before I opened the door. My face was emotionless.

When the door was opened I was greeted by a man in a White mask with an hawk beak. It looked a bit scary, and then to make things worse he gave me a grin that sent a chill down my back.

I opened the door wider and he stepped inside, when he was inside I looked behind him to see if there was anyone else, to my surprise there wasn't.

What game was he playing? I thought for sure he would've brought reinforcements.

"I came alone." He says from behind me, his voice is normal and I know for certain he doesn't have a voice alternating device.

I quickly close the door and turn around to face him. We stare at each other for a few minutes, neither of us wanting to break the silence that is surrounding us.

"So you must be the White Hawk, I've heard a lot of you." I state trying to break the deafening silence.

"All good things I hope?" He asks.

No,"Yes, your work was quite inspiring." I say and to some level what I say is the truth, if it weren't for him I wouldn't have started this search for justice.

"Glad to hear, I didn't expect you to catch one of my guys so quickly." He says as he stares at me with calculating eyes, probably trying to figure out my age.

"Me neither, so why did you want to meet up with me? Obviously not to hold a tea party." I ask.

"No, I wanted to meet up with you because I have a business proposition for you." He says.

"What type of proposition?" I ask.

"Oh just something you should help me with that will bring us big money." His face lights up as he says 'big money' probably thinking I was only in this thing for the money. "But before I dive into the proposition I must be certain I can trust you."

I nod, this guy is careful and smart, not like his minions.

"And how do I prove that I'm trustworthy?" I ask curiously.

"Through a test. You should rob three different stores in three different parts of town tonight. And then you should bring me everything you've stolen."

"Okay." I say hesitant, "And how will this prove anything?"

"Don't you worry about that, just rob the stores and bring me the things, I'll give you until midnight and then we will meet back here." He says.

I nod and he walks to the door, "See you at midnight." He says before he disappears out the door.

I'm not sure how robbing three stores would prove that I'm trustworthy, but if that is what he wants then that is what he'll get.

I left my laptop there and locked the doors before I drove off to my first store.

I decided to rob the first store that came into view. The first store that came into view was a jewelery store. I wanted to give the White Hawk as much money as I could get and a jewelery store would do the trick.

The first store was relatively easy to enter, seeing that the alarm in the store was an old model which I could easily bypass, however the cameras did cause some trouble and I think the camera caught me once or twice. I hated cameras, but only if they caught me otherwise they are my best friends.

The second store I robbed was a sport shop, I checked the register and everything for any cash and took anything that could be turned over into cash on the streets easily. The security in the shop wasn't great and I easily slipped in, but there was another camera that caught a glimpse of me.

The last shop I decided to rob was a candy shop, what he said any store and the spare change in the register was at least three hundred. But like the previous stores the cameras caught me. Again.

When I was satisfied I went back to the abandoned shoe factory and waited for the White Hawk to swing by. I placed a table in the middle of the warehouse and placed all the cash that I took and items onto the table for display.

I checked on my laptop to see if the cameras were still on and if the listening devices were working. When everything was still in place I headed back to the main part of the factory where my stolen goods were nicely displayed on a table.

An hour went by when the White Hawk finally came back. I told him what I stole and where, still not knowing why he would like to have me rob a store.

"Good job." He says as he stares at the things I've stolen, "You've outdone my expectations."

"I aim to please." I say.

"That is a good quality you have, if you keep up this good work we'll be getting along just fine." He says.

"So what is the proposition you have in mind?" I ask.

"All in good time Shadow, as for now I think it is time to show you my place. Since we'll be working together I thought it senseless not to show you where my place is." He says as he takes a bag and throws all the stolen goods inside.

When everything is inside he takes the bag and walks to the door. "Coming?"

I quickly follow him outside. There is a black truck parked next to my bike when I step outside. I lock the factory door behind us.

"Just follow me." The White Hawk says as he climbed inside his truck. I quickly put on my helmet before I climb on my motorbike.

The White Hawk starts his engine and I follow suit. The drive to his lair was short and I followed him to another abandoned factory, how original. Not.

This factory was much bigger than mine and was very secluded. I did expect his place to be something cool like mine but I guess I've misjudged him.

There was an iron fence around the factory with guards stationed by it. There were men in black who walked around the factory. This guy is really careful.

The fence was opened for us and we drove through, the factory doors was also opened and we drove inside the factory.

When we were both inside the factory door closed behind us. I parked my bike behind the White Hawk and climbed off. There were a few men standing inside the factory who locked at me suspiciously. I also saw Eric hanging back in the crowd.

The White Hawk walked towards me and called the men closer. He introduced me to all his minions and I concentrated really hard to remember them all. There was Nicholas his right hand man, Christopher, Eric who I already knew, George, Michael, Logan, Ryan and John. They all seemed normal to me and I wondered how they all ended up here. Were they all blackmailed into helping him or were they here because they wanted to be here?

"So boys we finally have the Shadow on our team and now we can finally put our plan in motion. But first we have to put him through the test." The White Hawk says and I wonder what this test is, "For this test I want the group of you to rob the gallery studio down Walker street. There are new pieces coming in tomorrow and I know someone who would pay a pretty penny for them. This is a test to see if the Shadow is a team player and to see if we can trust him."

The guys stare at me again and I feel a bit nervous, I've never robbed an art gallery before and last time I heard they were filled with high tech alarms and fancy security systems, the point is that art galleries were the most difficult things to rob. The White Hawk was definitely not going to make it easy for me.

The White Hawk pulls out a floor plan of the art gallery and orders a few people to bring a table.

The White Hawk places the map on the table and we all huddle around it to get a better look.

After a few minutes of studying the plan one of the guys, I think Ryan, suggest that we go throught the back door. Half the time I use the back door but this is an art gallery and with new pieces coming in tomorrow there was bound to be extra security.

"What do you think Shadow?" The White Hawk asks.

I give him a quick glance before I take another look at the plans, that's when I notice the air conditioning tunnels in the roof. They won't expect us coming from the roof.

"Well I think we should go through the air tunnels in the roof. With new pieces coming in they will get extra security at the doors, but they won't expect us coming from above." I say still staring.

"I see what you mean." Ryan says and the White Hawk nods, the other guys agree and I give them my plan of action.

Throughout my plan the guys give me nods of agreement and the White Hawk also nods along.

They were happy with my plan and I felt relieved. When we were all happy with the plan we agreed on the time and place of meeting and who brings what.

I felt accepted by the group and all the men formally introduced themselves to me after I explained my plan. They were really friendly people and I felt bad knowing that they might be locked up with the White Hawk when we finally gave all our evidence to the police.

Maybe the police captain will be lenient if he knew that some of them were forced into this.

When the plan was finally done and perfected the White Hawk told me that I could go and that he'd see me tomorrow night.

I was nervous for tomorrow but I knew it was the only way to get close to the White Hawk. I wanted to go to Victoria but I had a strange feeling that the White Hawk sent somebody to follow me so I didn't want to take any chances. I drove extra fast and took sharp turns and after I was certain there was no one behind me I drove to the shoe factory to get my laptop. When I had my laptop, I locked the factory and went home after I checked that no one was following me.

Let's just I don't get caught tomorrow.

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Hey guys
I know it's been a long time but I've been extremely busy and I didn't feel happy with this chapter, but it's finally here and I hope you enjoyed it.
Please comment and vote.
Thank you.
-Amorie