The breaking news

Lucas returned to the hotel, freshened up, and waited for the dinner.

After the dinner, it was time to give a call to another potential associate.

...

Molly has returned to her mother's home. She carefully stored the apology letter from the FBI department in a bank safe vault.

Even after getting out of the situation, she didn't feel any happiness. Her concentration was on the phone and waiting for the call.

After dinner, she returned to the room. She decided to read a few chapters of a book before sleeping.

When she reached to touch the book, the phone rang.

She froze for a moment. It has happened many times whenever the phone rings. Anxiety would creep on her body until she saw the caller.

She picked up the phone to see an unfamiliar number. Her breathing becomes heavy.

She put the phone to her ear after she swiped the receipt symbol. "Hello!"

"Miss Molly, I would like a favor from you." The deep breath voice gave her chills down to her toes. She moved to sit on the bed.

She has been waiting for this, she took a long breath, "Yes, what do I have to do?"

"You must have heard of Casino Royale in San Andreas, right?"

"Yes," Molly answered.

"You will take your credentials and meet the owner of the casino. I hope you can handle the casino for me, Miss Molly."

Molly took a few seconds to digest the news and asked, "What do I need to do there?"

"As the owner of Casino, it is up to you to decide what you need to do. I have confidence in your capable hands that you can handle it easily." the voice said.

"But..."

"You will receive a number in a message after the call. He is called 'The Conveyor': Every weekend, you will send a report of the casino activity to that number. You can also relay any other problem you may potentially face to that number." The voice calmly explained.

Molly wanted to ask more questions, but felt she wouldn't get any answer, "I understood."

"I have high hopes for you, Miss. Molly. Don't let me down. Goodnight!!" The call ended.

Molly sat on the bed dumbfounded. She didn't know whether she became the owner or not. But she didn't want to take the chance. She started preparing her luggage and informed her mom about her trip.

She decided to leave for San Andreas early morning.

...

[Ding! An associate has joined.]

[Ding! Reward releasing.]

[Ding! Reward frozen.]

[Ding! Please increase Infamy for the release of tasks and rewards.]

[Ding! Please increase the fear factor to increase the quality of reward.]

Lucas observed the lines of text in front of him one by one.

'...'

[Our plan to hide doesn't seem too feasible. What are your thoughts on this?]

'The decision has already been made. I don't want to run in public screaming 'fear me you all' alright.' Lucas said.

[Then, how about we let John Wick handle it.]

'How?'

[I can send him a message requesting that he let a few people from Pranas alive as witnesses. And leave behind the dead bodies as a show for the media and authorities.]

"Will that work?"

[Although it won't be much. You will get a few Infamy points.]

"Then I have no problem..."

...

After the conversation, the system went silent.

Lucas has no task in hand.

He started to focus on his survey job for the moment.

For three days, Lucas's routine was from hotel to survey site and vice-versa.

On the third night, Lucas arrived a little bit late.

The entire staff and hotel management were in the lobby focused on the television.

Lucas followed them and the news made him freeze in place.

[Breaking News: 102 dead bodies discovered. In the Plum Banquet hall, a total of 102 mutilated bodies were discovered this evening. All the bodies found have a connection to the Pranas family. According to the initial report of the police, it may have been a result of conflict between Pranas and another criminal organization. This event shook the entire police department and the world...]

The news continued. Most of the details seemed to be speculation. The police must have put on a tight seal on the crucial details of the event.

...

Bob was still busy with the customers when a call came.

It was from his cousin Marv. He informed Bob of the Pranas situation. Bob frantically searched for the information on the internet. The news shook him to the core.

'102 dead bodies, including the head of the family Lukyan Matreev, was dead.'

It was good news for him. There will be no Pranas and no drop in the bar.

But Bob didn't feel any happiness. This was the first time he had felt extreme fear for someone.

The Pranas were criminals using money and threats to make use of others. Even they won't kill someone without compelling reasons. He could have just moved to another state, and Pranas wouldn't have come chasing after him. They were interested in the bar for the drop point.

Now, he has become an employee of someone he didn't know, he cannot escape just by changing places. Dropping the phone he ran outside the bar.

He rummaged through the trash bin and pulled out the paper from the bottom of the bin.

At the same moment, Marv arrived at the bar.

"Bob, what are you doing outside? The Pranas are gone. It's time for celebration." Marv pushed Bob inside the bar.

Bod didn't say anything. The first thing he did was carve the number in his mind.

"What's with the long face? There will be no one to bother us anymore. You see Bob; this is the chance for me to regain my older power again." Marv said excitedly.

Bob turned to look at him, "So, you think someone cleaned the Pranas to make a place for you to rise?"

Marv's smile faded. Marv looked at Bob's face again, "You are scared. This is the first time I have seen you like this." Marv said, "What happened?"

Bob just shook his head and did not reply. He tried to distract himself from talking with the customers. But it did not work at all.

...

Ambarino State, FBI headquarters...

A conference room full of people was looking through a file with grim silence.

The door to the conference room opened and a middle-aged person barged in.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am Anton Nikolaev. I am leading this case. Before we discuss anything, I would like to show you something." Anton picked up a remote and gestured to turn the light off.

A video played on the screen.

The scene was from Plum Banquet Hall of Keystone state. The people gathered were all males, music was playing and the head of the family was looking from the stage of the hall.

The camera was directly facing the stage. The head of the family gave a speech, and the celebration started.

Then the door of the hall opened and a person in black entered with an automatic gun. He didn't fire blindly.

He took the shot carefully and precisely.

The video progressed, a man killing the people in the hall one by one.

Because of the celebration, the Pranas didn't bring any heavy guns. Just pistols were being fired from the opposite side.

The man in black quickly settled the one carrying the guns.

In just fifteen minutes, only the head of the family Lukyan Matreev was left. He was on the floor and the man in black was pointing the gun at him.

The video finished.

"So, I have never said this before but is there anyone in the room who wants to go out?" Anton gave a chance to them to drop out of the case, but no one made a move.

"Then let's begin the discussion." Anton started a slide, "We don't know who he is, and his affiliation is also unknown. But I can guarantee this person is a seasoned and veteran hitman."

"Upon checking the enemies of Pranas, none of them were found to be active. In other words, no one was crazy enough to take over the entire Pranas in such away. Not a single competitor or enemy of Pranas was capable of such a feat."

"As an initial assumption, we think this is the work of either a very old organization or a very new one that we do not know of."

"Our first job is to control the media and public outrage because of this incident."

"The two victims who are alive are in hospital. Due to their mental situation, it might take some time before we can talk to them. Search for anything you can come up with. Regardless of how small or out of place the clue is, we will investigate it.

"Everyone get to work."

Unlike the other detectives assigned to the case under him, Anton Nikolaev, the FBI's chief detective with decades of experience in crime investigation, has a different theory about the case.

Returning to his office, he picked up his phone and dialed a number, "Send Claudia with the file to my office."

After a few moments, a woman in her early thirties entered with a file. She handed the file to Anton, "Chief, how did the conference fare?"

"It was silent. There was nothing concrete to follow." Anton asked, "What are your thoughts on the case?"

"It is not for revenge. It doesn't even look like it was due to some conflict with another party. It looks like the man was just doing his job. There was no motive behind it. He was just there to kill them." Claudia shared her thoughts.

"Impressive. We are heading to the scene for a lookout, so gather your team." Anton instructed.

After Claudia left, Anton made another phone call, "So, do you have any information on this guy?"

"Not at the moment." The person on the other side replied.

"Keep on digging. I will call later." Anton ended the call.

...

While the FBI and authorities attempted to hold the media, it did not last long.

The news completely blows up.

Different speculations of terrorist attacks, gang war, and the underworld trying to wake up again spread from every news channel.

In just a few hours, social media-fueled the news.

It sparked the fire for public unrest. If they didn't get the proper answer, the entire Keystone state might come up on the street.

The seed of fear has been planted. And it won't take long to grow and bear the fruit of DREAD.