Warmth

chapter 3: dragocjen.

" Kanan, it's not safe going alone and that's that " Sam said hinting the guards to leave the room with his eyes before turning back to Kanan.

" Sam, you and I know your not stopping me, they have Dragocjen and if that sample gets to their labs without our labs modifying it first, they'll turn the Abyss upside down to get it and am not putting that many lives in danger " Kanan shot back at Sam, buttoning his cufflinks.

"you don't get it Goddamit, I know Unmodified Dragocjen in American lands is as good as a death sentence to the whole of the Abyss but so is your death " Sam yelled at Kanan for the first time in a long time " the Abyss cannot survive without your silly ass "

Kanan picked up his phone along with to other burner phones from the table, tucking them in his pocket, Sam knew very well that Kanan's silence didn't mean that he listened to him, in fact it meant quite the opposite. Kanan was leaving but he'd do everything in his power to stop it.

" At least give this some planning " Sam pleaded.

" I do have a plan " Kanan retorted sitting back on his couch, he knew Sam was just being worried about him but he wasn't going to sit and let thousands of lives get wiped out off the surface of the earth just because some rich young masters wanted to propose with something more precious than diamond sitting on million dollar rings.

He flipped open his laptop surfing through the data provided by their American spies, according to them, it was a standard operation and there was no way on earth the government wouldn't be involved in an operation this big yet so quiet. if not for their spies, it would look like half a kilogram of Dragocjen just vanished off the face of the face of the earth.

" they are traitors, aren't they? " Kanan asked tapping away on his laptop, but he received no answer from Sam who was still furious. "Sam? "

"do not 'Sam' me you reckless mother fucker " Sam cursed before leaving the office in furry " you can get Leon to send you to your death but I've got better things to do " and with that, he closed the door with a reverberating slam.

Kanan instantly lost all his fighting power as he sank back in his chair, hands rubbing his tired eyes. he knew he shouldn't leave and much less, alone but he wasn't about to risk anyone's life no matter how few. he was going to survive this and if he didn't, the Abyss would survive with Sam's leadership, that, he was sure of.

he abandoned his laptop on the table, picking up his phone and seconds after ringing him, Leon walked into his study, his own laptop in hand.

"situation of things? "

"very risky sir, the mass of Dragocjen is accompanied with a team of ten with twenty others in the shadows and another three acting as guards "

" thirty three," Kanan pondered, the Americans sure could do better considering that if they find out the truth about Dragocjen, it would be a stable way to fund all of America for decades at the expense of a few thousand band of people they detested " those people are decoys aren't day? "

" decoys?" Leon asked, he never thought of that but he knew from experience that the's lord's instincts are razor sharp and always spot on " I haven't thought of that sir. "

"as expected " America probably felt that way too, they felt they were all infidels who were unable to think outside the box, unfortunately for them, they were in for a big surprise. " fetch me a clear close up of the stones "

" right away sir " Leon said, his fingers danced on the keyboard as he tried his best to get a close up of the photo but all he could get was one where the stones where like 20 meters away from the camera. he took in a deep breadth before speaking " it's a little difficult "

"and that's why I hired you " Kanan shot back before collecting the laptop, he didn't even need to take a close look before handing the laptop back, " that's not Dragocjen, it's a decoy to throw us off their trail "

Leon was outstanding, he dealt with Dragocjen a lot, but he couldn't even tell if this one was real or not, it looked pretty real to him but once he saw the pure dragocjen ring around Kanan's finger as well as the pure Dragocjen hanging around a cheap but delicately woven string around Kanan's neck, he swallowed back his words.

if anyone knew pure Dragocjen upon sight, it'd have to be his boss.

but there was going to be a problem "Lord, these people have the exact same DNA with those that collected it from the worker, they have to be one and the same set of people " Leon could feel his two surviving brain cells fighting in order to come up with the answer to this puzzle, he knew that Kanan knew but he would never tell him outrightly.

"or else? " Kanan asked Leon, raising a brow at Leon's puzzled face.

Leon thought and thought and thought until it finally came to him " or else there was an exchange!" He practically yelled in excitement.

" at least I don't pay you for nothing " Kanan grunted looking out the floor to ceiling window a few feet him, staring at the bustling life in the Abyss right out the window. unlike Futo, he didn't live in a castle draped with Dragocjen, away from people and with gold lining his cigarette packets; he lived in a beautiful house, magnificent even, but it was in the mist of the very life of Abyss, the very middle of the hustle and bustle, surrounded at the back with farms and markets and at the front with little houses as well as big ones and a beautifull park.

he smiled at a little boy carrying his little sister as she pretended to be in pain, he raised his brows at an even smaller group of boys, stealing apples from his garden-turned-little-farm, the fulfillment of it all making him unable to hid the small stretch of his lips.

" there was an exchange! " Leon gasped, pulling Kanan out of his thoughts.

"who?" Kanan calmly asked.

" the US's secret forces dispatch team , this is not good sir, they travel in hundreds! " He felt his hair stand at the thought that Kanan had to face all these people on his own.

kanan smirked, he knew the US could do better than a petty team, " prepare all measures for me to go" he paused for a while " do not tell Sam "

"Oh, The minister knows fully well that your to stubborn to take company " Leon snorted before he realised he had, he's brain immediately short circuited, he had just said all that out loud!

'I'm dead, I'm so dead, this is the end of my life!' he thought, he couldn't believe he didn't say all that in his brain.

when he thought kanan would most definitely kill him, the latter just sighed " go get it done "

Leon sighed in releif, In his head this time, before turning to leave when Kanan's last order stopped him

" get someone to give those boys an ass whooping then pluck off all the apples on the tree for them" he motioned towards the children trying desperately to climb the tree.

Leon hummed with a small smile on his face before leaving, he knew his boss ordered him to punish the kids not for stealing but for putting themselves in danger of falling by climbing the tree recklessly. his boss was such a hard guy with a soft heart.

Once the boys where ordered to get off the tree and ushered into the mansion, Kanan took a deep breadth, he knew it angered Sam a lot that he kept testing God and putting his life on the line, time and time again but this place was much more than an illegal gathering of civil delinquents like the presidents of other countries called it in their private meetings. to him....

this was his family.

his home.

and he was going to die for it if that's what it takes.