The Deep Web

It was simple. If Kadipur was the traitor, then Yang Yi and Kate would be dead. Daniel seemed the least likely to be the traitor, but Yang Yi could not deny the possibility of him being the traitor any longer.

"We will go find Daniel. When we find him we should be able to resolve everything."

The three of them headed back outside and got in the car after deciding what should be done next. There was nothing left for them to discuss, so the car was silent. They did not talk to each other at all. They seemed to have mutually decided to keep their thoughts to themselves.

Yang Yi pulled out the gun. He held it in front of him as they got closer to their destination. He was getting more and more agitated because he still had not determined what they should do with Daniel.

Should he kill Daniel on the spot? If he was, the traitor, then there was really no other way to handle the situation. He should be executed immediately. After all, if Daniel was the person that betrayed them, he would be responsible for the deaths of the other members of the team. He would be solely at fault for destroying the team John had built.

In any criminal organization, even their small team of commercial spies, the only way to deal with a betrayer was to kill them. Could Yang Yi actually carry out a death sentence? That was the only question left to be answered.

Yang Yi had already come to terms with living his life in the shadows, but he was still in a predicament when it came to the act of killing. Yang Yi had never killed anyone before. He would be a criminal after committing the deed and his future would be ruined if he was caught. Even if he managed to escape capture, he would be a fugitive for the rest of his life.

Whether he was caught or not, Yang Yi was not ready to become a criminal.

Kadipur announced, "We are here. We should get out of the car."

Yang Yi was slowly readying the gun when Kate said, "If Daniel really is the traitor, then I will be the one who kills him."

She looked at both Yang Yi and Kadipur. Her expression was hard and resolute. Neither of them got the chance to respond because she continued, "I will kill him if he is the traitor! Even if I get caught by the police, I will take full responsibility for the crime."

However, Yang Yi was more worried than inspired by her statement.

"We should think about how we can escape the hitmen first." Yang Yi took a deep breath and continued, "Get out of the car. We will go find Daniel. If he is the traitor, it will be very dangerous for us to enter his house... Fuck! It is like we are trying to get ourselves killed..."

Cursing his own cowardice, Yang Yi pressed a hand to his forehead in frustration and cursed himself for being cowardly. He thought for a moment and said, "We have to call the police this time. We will tell them there has been a murder here. We will let the police break down the door and deal with any hitmen that may be inside. If Daniel is not the traitor, we can assume he is dead. If they open the door and no one is inside, we will assume he is the traitor!"

Kate understood Yang Yi's plan. She volunteered, "I will call the police."

She took out her phone to make the call. Yang Yi started yelling angrily, "Are you fucking stupid? Use a public phone not your own. If you cannot find a public phone, then buy a new sim card! What are you thinking?"

Kate had already taken her phone out. She checked her notifications and said something unexpected, "It is Daniel! Daniel sent me a message."

".....!" There was silence for a beat since the other two were shocked.

Yang Yi's eyes widened and he asked, "What time did he send the message?"

"8:30."

Yang Yi pressed a hand to his forehead again. It was as if all his guesses were wrong. "Daniel has a phone? I thought he did not. Why does he not use it?"

"He types faster than he talks, so he only uses text message."

"Well ask him where he is then!"

Kate started typing on her phone and a few seconds later she raised her head and said, "He is coming back from Manchester. He is on the train, but it will not be long before he arrives at the station."

"What was he doing there?"

"He is from Manchester. His mother and little sister still live there. His father passed away. That is why he goes back to his hometown a lot."

"How far are we from the station?"

"Ten minutes. We are very close to King Cross Railway Station, right now. Daniel will get off the train there," Kadipur answered.

Yang Yi asked Kate, "How long before the train stops at the station?"

"Five minutes."

"We will go meet him at the station. Tell him to wait for us. Tell him there is an emergency and we need to discuss it with him. Tell him to come alone... no that would be stupid. Tell him we will wait for him near the exit."

Kadipur started the car and they drove towards the station. It seemed that luck was on their side this time. As they arrived at the exit, Kate pointed out the window. "It is Daniel! I just saw him."

Yang Yi said, "Wave at him and tell him to get in the car."

He then took out the gun, making sure what he was doing could not be seen through the window, and started loading it.

Kate was sitting in the front passenger seat. She opened the door and got out. Then she waved in Daniel's direction to get his attention. Daniel noticed her waving and walked towards the front of the rental car. Once he was near her he asked, "Kate? Is something wrong?"

"Get… in the car! We should just get on the car first..."

Daniel opened the door to climb into the back seat, despite the fact that he was shaking when he spoke to Kate. He saw that Yang Yi was inside the car and said in a surprised tone, "You are here too?"

Yang Yi ignored his questioning tone and commanded with a cold tone, "Get in the car and shut the door."

Kadipur started the car and began driving as soon as Daniel was inside. Daniel could sense a strange tension in the air. He looked around the car, but he was not sure if he should speak. A street light shone into the car as they passed by and Yang Yi saw that Daniel had broken into a cold sweat.

Kate was about to speak, but Yang Yi started yelling before she could, "Mr. Jones, Jenny, Ryan, Wales... every member of the team except for us is dead! What did you do, you asshole?"

Daniel just blinked at him for a bit. He realized that they had picked him up to interrogate him. "What happened? I do not know anything! ...I did not know it would be like this!"

He looked around in confusion. He saw that Yang Yi and Kate were both looking at him, waiting for an answer. Kate was staring at him, eyes full of resentment. He knew that this was not a joke.

"You are telling the truth? Really? Are they all... dead? Why?"

"Why did you betray us?"

"What? No! I did not! I did not…"

Daniel was unable to defend himself because Yang Yi grabbed his sleeve. He pointed the gun at him. "Then what did you do? Tell us!"

Daniel sat silently for a moment. It was as if the air was frozen he did not move or even blink. He realized that he did not have any other option, but to speak. He swallowed and stammered, "I... I... I sold some intel without telling anyone."

"You sold intel on your own?!"

Kate jumped at Daniel from the front seat, grabbed his shirt, and pulled him towards her. It all happened in the blink of an eye. The look in her eyes seemed to say that she would not be merciful.

Yang Yi was sitting beside Daniel. He sighed and intervened, "Kate, release him. We should get an understanding of the situation first. Daniel, tell me what you did. Come on, out with it already!"

"I..." Daniel was like a child admitting his mistakes. He sobbed and confessed, "I saw a transaction record in the intel we stole. It was not anything related to what our client wanted, but... I... I thought it would be useful to someone. Anthony is not a regular company. It is more than it appears to be."

Everything was clear now.

"Mr. Jones told you to delete all the unnecessary parts, did he not? Fuck! What the fuck have you done?"

"I thought… I thought I could sell the information for some extra money. I am sorry… I need money. I need a lot of money. I thought someone might be interested in the information, so I uploaded it onto the deep web. I did not know…. I did not know it would turn out like this!"

After he explained himself, he asked in a soft voice, "Are all the other members... IS everyone really dead?"

Kate punched Daniel in the face instead of giving him an answer. He cried out in pain as he fell back against the window, "I am sorry! I did not think it would end up like this!"

Yang Yi reached out a hand to stop Kate from doing anything more. He continued his questioning, "Who is it? Who is the secret benefactor of Anthony?"

"An arms dealer! Anthony is helping an arms dealer raise funds! Sometimes Anthony will even make legitimate investments for them! Marthall! That's the name of the arms dealer, the Marthall Family!"

"Oh my god..." Yang Yi looked at Kate, who was trembling in fear. "The Marthall Family. They are one of the largest arms dealers in the world."

It is definitely over now. Yeah... we are all finished.

Yang Yi thought there was no way out for them. He cried out in rage and fear, "You fucking moron! Daniel, you are a fucking moron! You have killed us all! You have the balls to ruin a deal that was worth billions? Billions?! Do you think they are scared of killing people? How dare you! It was not even yours and you had the balls to sell it?!"

Daniel was trying to staunch the flow of blood from his head. He replied as he covered his injury, "I have not sold it yet! I have only made a post on the Cicero Family's underground network. I set the price at a hundred thousand pounds for information on the true owner of Anthony Investment Company and the evidence to back it up. However, the post was removed even though no one bought it. I have no idea what happened."