Chapter 1: Prologue

Prologue – McCoy’s Passion, Whereabouts of Bingo

McCoy scrambled out of the overturned carriage and made a hasty escape into a narrow back street. Once there, a maze of alleyways that he was familiar with from his childhood greeted him as he entered the back street from Tottenham Court Road, the main street. By blending in with the steamy fog that was rising in the darkness, he was confident that he would be able to escape.

“Even so… what a day today turned out to be… damn it!”

McCoy muttered softly as he cast a glance at his rear. After being stood up for an hour by his business partner, McCoy was left hanging. When he gave up and left the pub, a stranger confronted him with a gun and nearly took him into a steam automobile.

Although he managed to escape by leaping into a passing horse-drawn carriage, the men he was dealing with were willing to leave no stone unturned. While forcefully knocking away the other carriages, the steam automobile caught up with McCoy’s horse-drawn carriage and sideswiped it. It was too daring to do this in a crowded London main street. Or rather, it was too brazen.

“Surely this wasn’t set up by Kealp… or is it the others… the Hailip family?”

McCoy shook his head mentally as he traveled through the misty, smoke-filled back alleys. If Kealp was the one, he would have shot him in the head instead of resorting to the sloppy kidnapping method, and he had zero clue about other gangs that would attack him.

Through the complicated maze of alleys, McCoy took the shortest route and headed for the main street on the opposite side of the area. As long as he can blend in with the crowd, he will not be captured any longer. After making a brisk turn at the last four corners, the tip of his nose collided with something, and McCoy fell on his butt on the cold cobblestone pavement.

“Well, I suppose you don’t have to run away from anything all of a sudden, McCoy. Let’s get along.”

Emerging from the thin white mist was the blond-haired, green-eyed man who had called out to him earlier. McCoy was so startled and terrified that he retreated, with his buttocks still on the ground.

“W-What the hell do you want from me! Why are you pursuing me?”

“It’s about Kealp. You know him, don’t you? Shall we discuss it in detail?”

In the back alley, where a crude gas lamp cast a pale light, the man’s jade-green eyes shone with an icy, intense light.

“Kealp? Who’s that, I have no idea.”

“I see, even McCoy, the mediator, hasn’t heard of him. It seems I was mistaken. Sorry, sorry. Allow me to buy you a drink to make up for it.”

With his cold stare intact, the green-eyed man offered his hand to McCoy, who remained on his buttocks. In a natural motion of accepting his hand, McCoy quickly drew a gun from his chest and thrust it out… as that was supposed to be.

When the man spun around, the pistol was flung with a mighty kick into the mist. Far off in the distance, a metallic clang of the gun striking the pipe and the whimpering of a stray dog could be heard.

“You’re joking too harsh, McCoy. I’m only inviting you out for a drink. Pointing a gun at your drinking buddy is… hurtful.”

“My… bad! It’s a mistake! I got upset when the carriage crashed, and I didn’t mean to do that.”

Once more the same hand was extended, and McCoy took it with a fake smile on his face. In a flash, his hand was jointed behind his back and he was crushed face-first against the cobblestone. When McCoy was forced to kiss the cold stone with a passionate kiss on the lips, he felt a chill in the back of his head. There was only one thing he could associate with that rough edge that was pointing at his neck. There was no need to turn around.

“Listen up, McCoy, unless you want a hole in the back of your neck. I know you were supposed to meet Kealp at that pub today. But he didn’t show up even after an hour. Why is that?”

“I told you, I swear I know nothing of this.”

His right elbow tightened further, and McCoy let out a small scream.

“The sister at the pub you’re so hot for, I believe her name’s Wendy, right? I guess I could ask Wendy if you have no knowledge of it? Even if she doesn’t have a clue, unlike you, maybe a lot of enjoyment can come out of it?”

“Ugh… you’ve got to be kidding me. How the hell would Wendy know anything about this… I understand, I do know Kealp, I’ll admit it. But I have no idea why he didn’t show up today, and that’s the truth.”

“Oi, oi, tell me something a little more interesting, McCoy. You were the one who mediated the request for a murder to Kealp, weren’t you? What did this job entail this time?”

When the muzzle of the gun was pressed against the back of his head grimly, McCoy gave up and ceased his resistance. It seemed that no matter how he struggled, he would not be able to escape the pursuit of this green-eyed man.

“The job was–“

You are reading story Vanstein Copyright at novel35.com

Bang.

A single shot with a dry sound in the dark night, and a small pebble flew nearby. It was a sniper shot.

McCoy, once docile, began to resist with all his strength again to the best of his ability. The green-eyed man grabbed McCoy by the collar and attempted to hide in the shadows together with him, but the violent resistance did not work.

When the second shot was fired, the green-eyed man pulled his hand away from McCoy and slid back into the shadows alone.

A further third shot came. There was a brief reverberating sound from the hidden steam pipe. The shot was clearly aimed at the green-eyed man.

Upon realizing this, McCoy hurriedly made his way to the front street.

When the green-eyed man made a move to chase him, another shot rang out and ricocheted somewhere else. The sniper appeared to be buying McCoy time to flee.

From behind the pipe, the green-eyed man looked up to the sky. In the dark night sky covered in black smoke, nothing else was visible apart from the barely discernible silhouettes of the buildings. He feigned to leave the pipe once more to trigger the sniper, yet the light from the gunpowder and the gunpowder smoke were still not visible.

“… I am counting on you, buddy.”

All the green-eyed man could do was to let his partner fire a few shots so that he could locate the sniper.

＊　＊　＊

“It starts from here.”

The green-eyed man and his partner, Masao, were on the roof of a building with a fierce wind blowing, where they suspected the sniper had been. Through the rising black smoke, the alleyway where McCoy had escaped could be seen dimly in the pale light of the street lamps. It was approximately 300 yards away.

“Look! I can see the alleyway from earlier! He must have taken a rifle shot from here.”

Masao grabbed onto the railing and shouted in a voice as strong as the wind.

“… No, you’re wrong.”

The green-eyed man was looking elsewhere. When he spotted something, he walked in a downwind direction and picked up a long, thin piece of metal that had fallen.

“This is a stripper clip for loading bullets. Moreover, it is used only with the Red 9 – the Mauser C96 with nine-millimeter parabellum bullets.”

“You mean bingo! No… that means the shooter made a 300-yard shot with a handgun in this windy weather, without the use of a rifle?”

“The Red 9 can handle long distances to a certain extent with a stock. Though I am not sure if it can be aimed at 300 yards…”

“Anyway! That was worth it to have them fire a few rounds. The guy must have been blown away by the wind when he reloaded halfway through.”

The pleased Masao tapped his partner on the shoulder. However, the green-eyed man only shook his shoulders, clutching a thin piece of metal.

“Hey, are you okay?”

“… Still only one hole on the bingo card.”

The green-eyed man squeezed out the words as if muttering. His wide-open green eyes no longer seemed to focus on anything, not even the stripper clips.

“But this is a major hole I’ve been working on for three years. Kealp is in London now.”

Although Masao called out to him, “Calm down,” the green-eyed man seemed as if he did not hear his voice. His shoulders were shaking, he was staring at a piece of metal, and even a low, maniacal laugh was leaking out.

At that appearance, Masao had no choice but to look at him with a sympathetic gaze.

You can find story with these keywords: Vanstein Copyright, Read Vanstein Copyright, Vanstein Copyright novel, Vanstein Copyright book, Vanstein Copyright story, Vanstein Copyright full, Vanstein Copyright Latest Chapter