Space Odyssey: Spectre-Chapter 153: Qwan Lee’s Bar

They walked down the street getting stares of surprise and suspicion as they moved. Vana and the shinobi were a lot less discrete than him. They were the ones getting looks, not him. So as he walked up to the bar he was not surprised when the pair of people walking out immediately stepped to the side.

"Excuse us." Jace nodded politely as he walked through the door. Once he was through he looked around the rustic bar design. It must have been expensive to build this out of wood. Even the bar was made of wood. With crystal clear glass mugs and a smell of bitter lemon in the air. "What a nice place."

As he walked in a few of the patrons by the door watched him as he walked past looking at him with suspicion. It was early in the morning by New Osaka's time standard but they were still drinking booze this early. There were a few other patrons at the bar. One was even hunched over snoring loudly. While a few holo displays were playing various sports and live events.

Behind the bar a human with an eyepatch over his right eye was cleaning a glass mug. Jace smiled and walked to the bar. "Hello there-"

"What the hell do you government types want?" The bartender did not even give him a chance to speak. He set down the glass mug and reached for something under the bar. He could hear a faint metal click. freewёbnoνel.com

"Well that was rude." Jace made a humming noise as he walked up to the bar and then tapped his communication watch a few times. An image of Qwan Lee appeared. "We are looking for this guy, have you seen him?"

The bartender's eyes narrowed before he smirked and shrugged then shook his head. "No we have not. Sorry but you and your friends are going to be disturbing to my customers. Please leave." The bartender told him.

Jace sighed and raised his watch up enlarging the image so all of the patrons could see it. "How about any of you? Did you see this person? Or is the bartender the only one that has seen him?" Jace asked.

"What?!?" The bartender yelled in surprise. "I said I have not seen the guy before! What the hell are you saying?"

But Jace ignored him as he waited for an answer from the bar patrons. But he already could hear the answer. All of the patrons except the one that was faking sleeping had their heart beating faster the moment they saw the holo image.

Jace turned back to the bartender and turned off the holo image. He leaned against the bar. "So I suppose this means all of you know him and where he is. So let's try this again. Where is Qwan Lee?"

The bartender began pulling out an object below the bar. He could hear it. While behind them the other patrons were grabbing their own weapons. None of them had pulled them out into the open. But Jace could tell that they were getting ready to do so.

"Should I assume he is upstairs?" Jace asked and listened to the bartender's heartbeat.

"No, I have never seen the guy before." The bartender answered while his heartbeat sped up. A clear indication that he was lying.

Once he confirmed that Qwan Lee was upstairs. Jace listened closely to see if and where he could hear some other heartbeats in the building. Three to be exact. One was beating quickly behind a door leading to the kitchen. Another was beating steadily up stairs, like they were sitting or at rest. While the last one was much different, he could tell it was a small child. They were in the basement of this building.

"What are you thinking?" Vana asked from behind him.

Jace nodded. "I am thinking that aside from these people there are three other people. A child in the basement around three to four years old. Someone behind that door," Jace nodded at the kitchen door. "Then there is one upstairs, that one is Qwan Lee. I will go for him."

The shinobi began speaking, "what are you-"

SHING!

Before he managed to finish his question Jace had to roll to the side as a sword flew past him slicing right through the head of the bartender who raised a laser shotgun up above the bar to fire at him. Blood began flowing out of the body and sprayed the back of the bar. The body went rigid as it was stuck standing because the katana went through the head and embedded into the wall.

The only ones that were surprised were the patron that was faking sleeping at the bar and the shinobi. Vana had already spun around and rushed to one of the tables where they drew some knives. While the patron that threw the katan was flinching in surprise. His companion pulled out a laser pistol.

"You got Qwan Lee?" Vana asked as she dodged a stab and countered with an uppercut that sent them through the window and out onto the street.

"Yeah, you have this shinobi and an undercover agent to help you." Jace told her as he went through the kitchen door pushing down the person that was behind it. It was the chef and he already had a knife drawn.

The chef jumped up and went to stab Jace. But Jace made a rapid movement with his knee. Hitting the chef in the side of the head sending him into a wall where he hit his head and then fell to the ground unconscious but not dead.

He then moved further into the kitchen and looked around. It was a stainless steel kitchen. State of the art and looked much cleaner than the wooden walled lined room he just went through. There was a door leading to a fridge. There was also a metal door that led to an alleyway behind the building. Then there was a wooden door leading to another part of the building.

That was the door he decided he needed as he ran to it and quickly pushed it open. He came out into a hallway that was the same wooden walled design as the rest of the building. There was a set of stairs leading upwards to his right and another leading into the basement in front of him.

Jace moved up the stairs. They creaked as he moved. There were picture frames on the wall. The pictures were of Qwan Lee shaking hands with various people. People he could only assume were sports celebrities from their clothes. It seems this guy was a fan of various sports teams or he was just egotistic.

He arrived at the top of the stairs and then walked to a door and opened it. Coming into an office that was just over the bar. The office had a giant window and balcony going over the street in front of the bar. Sitting or rather standing up now was Qwan Lee, he looked a bit older than the picture that Jace was using but he otherwise looked the same.

He was wearing black suit pants and a loose white suit shirt. He had a black tie and black overcoat hanging from a hook on the wall. He had a stack of papers and datapads in front of him. While behind him on the wall were various types of expensive alcohols and books that appeared to be leatherbound.

"Who the hell are you? How did you get up here?" Qwan Lee demanded as he stood up at attention. One of his hands quickly pulled open a drawer in his desk. "What happened to my people downstairs?"

TING! TING! TING!

They could hear the faint sound of laser fire. Jace could even hear the impact of the lasers against wood. It seems things were starting to get a bit more chaotic down there. But looking at Qwan Lee he could tell things were about to get started here.

"Qwan Lee, I suggest you come quietly." Jace told him. "Otherwise it will get a bit- shit!" Jace ducked as Qwan Lee pulled a gun from the drawer and fired at him.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Jace rolled back out of the room as Qwan Lee fired. His first shot missed Jace barely and went out the window. Qwan Lee's second shot hit the floor where he was standing a moment before he dodged and the third hit the door frame as he moved out of the room.

"A hand cannon? What the hell? Did you really get a hand cannon from the Vexical Empire?" Jace asked as he moved behind the door frame.

"I might not care for the Vexical Empire but I will not deny that when they make military weapons or armor it is top of the line. I always kept one on me just in case. So tell me, what the hell do you want from me?" Qwan Lee demanded as Jace could hear him moving out from behind the desk.

Jace clicked his tongue in annoyance. He was going to have to pull out a few tricks in order to get through this unscathed.