by Diana Winchester 19th December 2020, 9:25 pm
-Inside Capital Coffee, Capital Crocus, early afternoon-
Wearing her purple long-sleeved shirt, black skirt with pockets, black thigh-high stockings, and black tennis shoes, Diana sat in Capital Coffee, the coffee shop Lorelei had told her about at Singles Night several weeks ago. Diana was not looking for a meeting with the attractive blonde. Instead she was looking for a calm place to gather her thoughts. Soft lounge music played over the speakers as she sipped from a cup of espresso while sitting in a single white "pod" seat with black cushions facing the window and watching people walk into Capital Crocus Mall, which was only about eight meters away from the entrance to Capital Coffee. Capital Coffee was a coffee shop with a sleek modern theme that attempted to appeal to the young twentysomething and thirtysomething crowd. Judging from how many young adults were in the shop, Capital Coffee was succeeding in attracting their target demographic.
Diana was here to prepare herself for what was to come. Over the months she had come to the conclusion that one day she would leave her double life behind, but before she could do that she would have to take care of all her old enemies first. The Shadow Collective, Mr. Gorman, and that "Raven Squad" would all have to be eliminated before Diana could one day leave the shadows for good.
As far as she knew The Shadow Collective was still in the employ of Mr. Gorman, who lived somewhere in Bellum. The obvious plan to get them off of her back would have been to eliminate their employer, but the huntress could not move against him because he was too well-protected, which would make any attack on his home suicidal. If Diana moved against him in Bellum, took him down, and somehow survived, the authorities would spare no effort to hunt down his killer. Mr. Gorman was also too smart to leave his home for any length of time, so she could not draw him out for an easier kill.
Diana frowned and sipped on her espresso as she listened to the soft lounge music that featured a piano tinkling in the background. She thought back to what her family friend Mr. Necargie had told her about Mr. Gorman's tendency to get angry when things did not go his way. Diana thought about that weakness for a moment and thought about how best to exploit it. Then she had an idea.
If Diana could not target Mr. Gorman directly, she could let his attitude get him into trouble with his hired helpers.
The huntress wanted to get proactive in her shadow war, but when dealing with a target that was too well-protected for a direct attack the best plan of action would be to sit back and keep thwarting his hired helpers. If Mr. Gorman got angry with them enough he would say or do something that would anger The Shadow Collective. If they terminated their contact with him one way or the other Diana would be in the clear. With The Shadow Collective no longer a threat that would leave only "Raven Squad", the mercenary group that Diana had encountered in a "job" around Silent Cemetery that was actually a setup. Out of all of her enemies Raven Squad had come the closest to putting her in the ground.
Diana had not seen or heard from any of them since the night she had met Selene. While it was natural that a group of mercenaries who dabbled in murder for hire would not stay out in the open for very long, she was concerned by the fact that she had not heard from them at all. She had expected them to make another attempt on her life once they realized that their first attempt had failed, but so far they had not tried again. Maybe they were waiting for her to be lulled into complacency before making their move.
The huntress sipped on her coffee and tried to figure out how to deal with Raven Squad. She knew very little about them other than they wore all-black outfits with gas masks and that their leader wore an all-black outfit with a gas mask boasting red lenses. They also had military training and knew how to make the most of the surprise factor from an ambush by using suppressed weapons and working in two twelve-man teams to focus a lot of fire onto one target. Those factors would make Raven Squad by far the toughest of her opponents to deal with.
[Post Word Count: 760]
[Total Word Count: 760/1,000]