Reacting quickly, Tristan stepped back into the hallway and strained his ears to listen to the police officers'' words.
They were asking the receptionist about two people who stayed there… Trey and Owen, using the full—and fake!—names under which they were registered in the hotel and in the GTG agency as security guards.
''What? Them, too?''
Tristan bit his lip.
A part of him wanted to escape immediately, although his current identity was not attached to anything criminal… directly. He began thinking that keeping criminals so close to himself, even if he could deny in court that ever knew that they were criminals, was too risky.
"Excuse me, sirs, but I can''t give personal information about the hotel''s visitors without a search or an arrest warrant. There are high-profile people who stay in this hotel asionally. You can''t just ask for their whereabouts."
Tristan smirked at the receptionist''s practiced rebuttal. He was also d to hear it, because it meant the officers didn''t have a warrant.
No matter the reason they went for his subordinates, they probably didn''t have the evidence to get a warrant. It was reassuring.
Tristan straightened his shoulders and marched toward the registration deck like he just heard themotion.
"What''s going on? Did I just hear POLICE asking about MY security guards?" he raised his brows and sent his coldest gaze at the pair of officers. His hypnotic voice drilled into their heads. "I hope you have a good reason for this." Discover more content at m,v l''e-NovelBin
The officers stepped back, shocked by Tristan''s fearsomeness like someone poured a bucket of ice water over their heads.
"I… Um…" The officer coughed, then pushed his chest up and looked at Tristan down his nose. "We got information that these people might be here under false pretenses and using false documents! If you are their boss, mister, I ask you to tell them to appear at the police station!"
Tristan huffed.
"I won''t do any such thing. Leave ande with something more than empty usations, officers. And if I find that you keep bothering anyone else here after this, I WILL make an officialint."
[Ding!]
[You have scared 2 people of above average skill. Reward: your PP increased by 40.]
With these words, Tristan cut the officers down with another re and walked away with thest word. He was sure that the annoyed receptionist would be able to deal with the rest herself.
The officers, although they both were brave enough people to not crumble immediately, still only gathered their wits long after Tristan walked out of the building.
When they looked back at the receptionist, she gave them a service smile that would''ve fit a shark.
"Do you want to rent a room, officers?"
"No… Alright, partner. We will… we will get themter, yeah."
***
Outside the building, Tristan warned his resting subordinates with a text message and hurried to his car. Not knowing what to expect, but hoping that he wasn''t going to bete, he drove at high speeds toward the point in the text Cutout had sent him earlier.
Tristan was halfway there when he got another message. When he had to stop at a red light, Tristan checked its contents. This time, Cutout wrote much more legibly.
[pigs lost us. some chick helped. we are at rose av 4.y low/go back?]
Tristan didn''t have the time to reply until the red light changed to green, and he wasn''t going to look at the phone while driving. Wondering what Cutout meant, Tristan just drove toward the address. He didn''t have the opportunity to read the next few messages at all.
The destination wasn''t far, at least.
On his way there, Tristan saw a pair of police cars driving down the block, seemingly aimless.
In ten minutes, Tristan stopped near a small mid-tier restaurant named ''Grill Bill''. through the windows, he saw that there were very few people inside, and neither were his subordinates.
This was all strange.
Originally, Tristan thought to approach the police osting Cutout and Same in his Gemello identity, the same way he did before. However, now he has changed his mind.
Tristan drove to a parking lot nearby and parked. When he felt not a single gaze or camera on himself, he took his special earring from its ce on a thin chain around his neck, and put it in his ear.
Although ''rk Kent Effect'' talent didn''t feel like anything to him, a check of the status showed that Tristan''s current identity was Tristan Hayes.
As he walked toward the restaurant, Tristan read the next messages. Those were from Sam.
[Boss, some local gangsters im they heard of you. They saw the car chase and distracted the cops. We are inside the ''Grill Bill'' ce, in the back. These people say they''d like to talk to you if you areing.]
[I''m already here. No cops in sight.] Tristan typed back as he pushed the restaurant''s door open and stepped inside.
Although his posture was rxed, his palm was hovering close to his knife, and he stood in a way that let him dive behind the cover of a table in an instant.
He didn''t have to.
His subordinates came from inside the restaurant, both unharmed. Cutout nodded, Sam waved his hand.
Tristan walked up to them, frowning.
"Boss! I guess we sort ofpleted the mission," Sam said cheekily.
Cutout grunted in agreement.
"Exin. For a start, what did cops want with you?" Tristan asked quietly enough to not be overheard.
"We don''t know. They just saw a pair of us and started pointing their fingers. We knew better than to stay out there."
Tristan frowned.
This chase after his people, paired with the officers who came to his hotel… It all couldn''t be a coincidence. At the same time, it didn''t seem like Tristan''s people were the cause.
"Anyway, there''s a local gang boss in the backroom who wanted to chat, boss," Sam added.
But Tristan wasn''t listening anymore.
He saw another person walking out from the backrooms.
The person whose face he could never forget.