"How far is it?" Marcus knew that this was a possibility from the beginning, but with how Corgan put it, they all thought that the market was inside the town, not outside it.

  "Not that far," Jared said, "It won't take us more than an hour, especially if we take the secret passage in this inn."

  "When can we head there?" Marcus asked.

  "Before all that, I need you to answer a few questions for me." Jared's face turned serious again.

  "Go on." Marcus noticed how the old man seemed to have believed them more after they told him about Corgan, but he still had his suspicions.

  "You said you helped Corgan," Jared said with his deep voice, "So where is he now? Do you have him? What else did he tell you?"

  "I don't know where he is." Marcus just shrugged, saying the truth. "He said that the Dynasty had a few bases he could head to, don't know much other than that. He actually was talking about that when he mentioned this black market, I guess this is one of them."

  "Hmm," the old man just grumbled as he remained silent for a while.

  Marcus didn't interrupt him. He was pushing for their journey to the black market to be as soon as possible so as not to give the old man the time to contact Corgan or someone higher in their hierarchy who wouldn't be so into helping them.

  From what he was seeing, it looked like Corgan didn't try to mess with them, the black market was most likely real and they could reach it soon, they just needed to get Jared to take them there.

  "Okay, I doubt you're lying to me," Jared finally said, "We can head to the market after midnight if you want, at that time everyone should already be asleep in the inn and we would be closed. No one would have any suspicions about me not being here, is that alright with you?"

  "It's good." Marcus glanced at his two friends before nodding when he saw that they had nothing to say. "But we need to know where the market is, to prepare things on our side, you know, our carriers and all."

  Jared gave him a deep look, his expression bordering on a glare. Marcus met his eyes blankly without any change in expression. They did need to know where the market was, it was a must for them after all, and it would help them with lowering the chances of anything going south. Having an escort fully armed and armoured would only add to their safety after all.

  "How are you going to get your cargo?" Jared finally said. He didn't answer his question straight away, instead, he hit him with another one back.

  "By water if that is possible." Marcus only thought for a second before saying the truth. If mentioning that made it easier for them, then it would be for the best.

  "That makes it easier." Jared sighed in relief. "Around 7 kilometres north of here, there is a long cliffside facing the ocean. Have your people get to around the midpoint of those cliffs."

  "And?" Marcus asked, "They are just going to wait there? What are some of the signs they should look for? Any other instructions?"

  "Just have them wait a kilometre or so away from the cliffs and it should be alright." Jared waved his questions off. "Once it's time, and we are there, there's going to be a sign that they won't miss, you don't have to worry about it."

  "Okay," Marcus eventually said. He felt that that would be the best they could wish for at the moment. That part of the deal dealt with, he turned to something that they were quite worried about, "We are going to pay in jewellery and other valuables, is that acceptable in these parts?"

  "I see no reason why it wouldn't be." Jared raised an eyebrow. "Gold is welcomed everywhere, and if the craftsmanship is good enough, it might even be more valuable than its weight. It will be dealt with easily."

  Marcus pondered for a few seconds whether he should accept that as it was or push a bit more, but considering how things could change for whatever reason, he guessed that being proactive now might help offset whatever trouble would happen in the future.

  "What about things like these?" As he spoke, Marcus put a couple of finely crafted golden rings and an earring on the table, "Do you think things like this are going to do well?"

  Jared glanced at the jewellery before looking at Marcus deeply, he then focused his attention on the few golden pieces. Marcus and the others just watched in silence, awaiting his response,

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  "I'm not into jewellery," he finally said, "It's not my main area of expertise, after all, so don't take what I'm going to say to heart. That said, if you spend as long a time as me in a black market, you pick up a thing or two, and in my unprofessional opinion, I think that if you have more of this, it could do quite well in the market. I can take you to someone more of a collector, he should be the target for something like this."

  "Now that that's dealt with," Jared said as he went to the door and unlocked it again, "Let's head out, I'll give you a room to wait till midnight, is that good with you?"

  "It is." Marcus nodded.

  Jared then pushed the door again, his voice booming with laughter as he returned to the entrance hall,

  "It's great that old idiot is still alive and kicking, thanks for bringing me this news."

  He turned to the waiter who had been keeping the counter and waved him away. He then took his place behind the counter, threw them a key and said,

  "Go rest for now, we will talk some more tomorrow."

  Marcus just nodded before leading the two with him up the stairs, where the inn's rooms were. Once they were in the room and after making sure that there was no one nearby, Marcus turned to them and said,

  "So what do you think?"

  "I think our chances are good that this isn't a trap," Old Raily was the one who spoke, looking outside at the street.

  "I think so too," George agreed, "The old man truly seemed surprised that the contact was Corgan."

  "I noticed that too. What I'm afraid of though is whether that is going to change between now and midnight or not," Marcus said.

  "You're worried if he's going to contact someone who's going to make him go after us?" George caught up to what he meant fast.

  "Exactly."

  "I still doubt it would happen." Old Raily shook his head. "Don't get me wrong, I can see something like that happening, but Corgan knew that we were coming here for days, and nothing had been done so far, the chance of it happening now is low, I think."

  "I hope," Marcus said, "Should we send Hank to have the team come to the black market?"

  "Of course," Old Raily said seriously, "We should have them bring both the modified tenders at once, along with our full arsenal. Have them be fully armed and armoured, we won't take any chances."

  Marcus almost let a smile slip, he was glad that he and Old Raily had the same thought. Jared might be setting the location of their meeting, but they could make their preparations too.

  "It's decided on then," he said once he saw George nod in approval, "I'm going to update Hank."

  "Marcus here, how are things on your side? Over," he said into the walkie-talkie.

  "I hear you," Hank's voice was heard soon after, "Everything has been good, nothing off. Over."

  "We made contact," Marcus said seriously, "Things are looking promising, we have found Jared, going to leave for the black market at around midnight. We also managed to get a semi-confirmation that the jewellery should do well there.

  "Now I have a task for you. I need you to leave for the Voyager and to tell them this; there is a cliff side to the north of Rosereef, it's supposed to be around 7 kilometres or so north of here. At midnight, I need the two tenders we decided on to have all our guards, fully armoured and armed, and be around the midpoint of that cliffside. They need to stay a kilometre or so away from it, a signal should appear that would lead them to the market from there. Did you get all of that? Repeat it to me. Over."

  Hank then went and repeated what Marcus had told him perfectly.

  "Good." Relieved that the message got sent perfectly, Marcus continued, "That's all for now, head to the Voyager, deliver the message then return to your current location, we will contact you when we start heading to the black market, you can join the two tenders then, is that understood? Over."

  After getting an affirmation from Hank, Marcus wished him good luck before cutting the line.

  The wait after that was quite hard on the mind, there was a long time before midnight and not much to do, they could only wait for updates from both sides.

  An hour or so later, someone knocked on their door. Marcus had Old Raily and George stand on both sides with their guns ready as he opened the door. It turned out to be just Jared's man who was asking if they wanted to have something to eat, refusing that, they continued their wait.

  Not long after, Hank contacted them again telling them that he delivered what was asked of him, and that things were being prepared on the Voyager's side as they were speaking.

  Marcus felt his heart relax a bit at the news, that part of the plan was going well.

  And just like that, their wait continued, and Marcus kept on updating Hank each hour at least.

  The more time passed, the quieter the inn got too, so once it was close to midnight and Marcus heard a light, barely audible knock from the door, he knew who it should be. He turned to the other two and nodded before opening the door with them ready beside him.

  As expected it was Jared. The old bald man didn't say anything, under the faint lighting from the ceiling, he just nodded at them and had them follow him.

  Marcus took a deep breath and nodded back, he also signalled to old Raily who turned on and off the walkie-talkie fast, contacting Hank for a split second, the operation was a go.