NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 166: Operation Claw
A week later.
[Your Pop-star rank has changed from Adolescent Star to On The Olympus! Reward: your CP increased by 10000!]
The notification came to Tristan soon after several more of Tristan's songs climbed up to the top 30 of the charts. He really was being noticed at this point.
It was great news, and even better news in the context of the conversation Tristan had with his manager a short time later.
"So if, as you say, the tour arrangements won't be finalized at least for the next few months, not much stops me from taking a vacation and traveling a little, Derek—isn't that right?" Tristan said with a smile at the man.
Although the words were phrased like a question, they sounded like a statement.
"Well, there are still a lot of business offers you might take in the meantime. It would keep your name afloat—but yes, that's not necessary." Derek shifted uneasily. "Of course, the agency would prefer you to… A more important matter is the ongoing court case against Ms. Gabriella."
The crazy woman.
Following Tristan's order, Derek had sent her a lawsuit from his name for defamation and assault just a day earlier. Since then, the crazy woman was crying about it online, and the court was slowly grinding its gears.
"This won't be quick, anyway. I will have time between this and that. If she doesn't choose to settle things outside the court, anyway."
"That's a real possibility. What if she does, Mr. Gemello? She obviously can't pay a large settlement fee, but we can make her keep silent about things from now on."
Tristan's eyes flashed with cold anger.
"Refuse any settlement, Derek. Keep suing her."
"If that's what you want, Mr. Gemello… I see that you have thought things through with that vacation and aren't just bringing it up at random."
Tristan stared at Derek. The man understood how Tristan's plans worked and still supported him. At first it was just because it was his job, but now Tristan knew Derek felt some genuine appreciation toward Tristan.
Not like a friend, but something more mentor-like. It was hard to explain.
Either way, Tristan liked it, so he smiled gratefully at Derek.
"I did. So just help me arrange everything. Give Lenny a vacation, too."
Derek's eyebrows shot up.
"You won't take him with you? Are you going entirely alone? Where to?"
Tristan smiled mysteriously.
"Places. I will be going anonymously, and I will stay safe. Don't worry."
Derek worried visibly.
In fact, he subtly tried to change Tristan's mind about having guards for the next week of preparations, in-between trying to get Tristan's destination out of him.
But Tristan was stubborner than that.
In two weeks, the preparations for his absence were complete.
Tristan planned to be away for ten to fifteen days—a short enough leave to return to the premiere of Nelson's album.
In the meantime, the crazy woman was being stomped in the court. With donations of her supporters—which still existed despite all proof of her wrongness—she hired herself a decent lawyer and was now dragging the case out.
That was fine for Tristan.
His gang subordinates were also getting ready to set off.
The "Operation Claw" codenamed and was ready to begin.
(Other code names included, "Operation Barbarossa", "Operation Kill Those Fuckers", and "Operation Out-punch." Out of them, "Operation Claw" was actually the tamer one—and the matter of naming brought way too many empty arguments for Tristan's liking.)
The underbosses didn't like the idea of Tristan leading the "Operation Claw" personally—he was too important for the gang to lose there—but anything else was out of the question for him.
Now Tristan also had a reason for his total absence from his pop-star life. He was fully ready for this.
***
Two weeks and a couple of days later.
Mexico was as hot and full of Mexicans as Tristan expected. There was no orange tint filter, at least.
As soon as he'd leave the AC-cooled interior of his car, the hot air would push down on Tristan like a pillow that tried to smother him.
This feeling grew only stronger after a few hours of staying under the sun.
The local heat was even hotter than the one Tristan was used to in California. It was a marvel how the climate could change over such seemingly short distances.
He and his team of four other people were still adjusting to it.
They have arrived in the country by legally driving through a checkpoint with tourist passes—it was a good thing Americans didn't need a visa to visit Mexico.
The documents were masterful forgeries, anyway. Going under real names meant attracting attention from Cuatro Angulos.
(Tristan considered using his pop-star identity to bring a team with him as "staff" and mask some gear as music equipment, but decided it was too risky for his public image… And his legality. Once was enough.)
As it stood, Tristan's group was just a group of tourists, together on a tour. A typical thing. The group wasn't too big to be conspicuous.
Although these people were few, they all were the best of the best. And they knew Spanish at least enough to buy themselves things from the street vendors.
But it meant that Tristan's team couldn't bring his weapons the same way.
After passing the border, Tristan drove the car directly toward their next destination—a small coastal city where their gear was going to wait.
That city had contacts with smugglers that supplied some of King Lion Gang's drugs.
According to Tristan's plans and arrangements, these smugglers would supply the gear his team needed for the operation. Guns, mostly, but also certain chemicals he needed for later.
The team had to drive through the day and stop in a motel for a break at night. The place was incredibly cheap by Tristan's steadily growing standards, but at least it had enough separate rooms for everyone.
'I could've kept driving until morning,' Tristan thought with a sigh.
He wanted to do things as quickly as possible even if he was still fitting perfectly into the planned time of the Operation Claw. Which already had some extra time built into it in case of unforeseen problems.
Not driving felt like a waste of time, even if there were still plenty of things to do.
Tristan brought a laptop with him so he could keep tabs on King Lion Gang even now.
There wasn't much to do for him at the moment, though—he put all his duties to subordinates for now.
Next, he checked his system status.
[======]
[Tristan Hayes (Tristan Gemello)]
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[Current identity: Criminal. Second identity: Pop-star.]
[Pop-star rank: On The Olympus.]
[Criminal rank: King Lion.]
[Pop-star Points: 8000]
[Criminal Points: 18000]
[===Attributes===]
~~~Pop-star~~~
[Appearance: 570 (Top Model)]
[Charisma: 1059 (The Beguiler)]
[Dexterity: 600 (Gymnast)]
~~~Criminal~~~
[Fearsomeness: 1077 (Dark God)]
[Strength: 679 (Weightlifter)]
[Toughness: 800 (Bones of steel)]
[===Skills===]
~~~Pop-star~~~
[Vocals: 1938 (Siren)]
[String instruments: 2097 (Guitar God)]
[Percussion instruments: 0 (Nobody)]
[Wind instruments: 1 (Nobody)]
[Electronic instruments: 0 (Nobody)]
[Keyboard instruments: 801 (Professional Amateur)]
[Exotic instruments: 0 (Nobody)]
[Songwriting: 2404 (New Beethoven)]
[Dancing: 1079 (Dance Floor Legend)]
[Acting: 2538 (Drama King)]
[Production: 740 (Good)]
[Style: 506 (Good)]
~~~Criminal~~~
[Stealth: 844 (Shadow)]
[Melee combat: 5224 (Impossible!!)]
[Ranged combat: 4836 (Impossible!)]
[Observation: 5076 (Impossible!!)]
[Driving: 2618 (Racer)]
[Athletics: 2419 (Coach Physical Instrument)]
[Medicine: 5203 (Impossible!!)]
[Interfacing: 6003 (Impossible!!)]
[Sleight of hand: 533 (Light Fingers)]
[Tactics: 505 (Good)]
[Strategy: 4958 (Impossible!)]
[Hacking: 6431 (Data Demon)]
[===Talents===]
[Clark Kent Effect] [Sleepless] [Clean Hands] [Bullet Time] [Hypnotic Voice] [Sight Awareness] [Electronic Sight Awareness] [Ambidextrous] [Bilingual (Spanish)] [Freezing Glare] [String Theory] [Copycat] [Detective] [Blind Shot] [Quick Fingers] [Explosive Awareness]
[===Tasks===]
~~~Pop-star~~~
[Deal with the crazy bitch (and restore your reputation). Value: 300.]
~~~Criminal~~~
[Save the family of Rafael "Big Rocket" Villanueva from being hostage. Value: 300.]
[Stop the upcoming attack of Cuatro Angulos on King Lion Gang. Value: 1000.]
[Arrange the assassination of "The Boss" of Cuatro Angulos. Value: 500.]
[======]
Tristan had three recently added tasks in his "Tasks" panel and more points to spend.
Right now was actually a good time for it.
But he wasn't spending those points on skills and attributes this time.
Instead, he went to the system shop and bought a Glock handgun for 1000 points and 2 ammo magazines for it for 600 points.
He hoped he wouldn't need it for the upcoming meeting with smugglers and the weapons they prepared for Tristan's team, but one could never be sure.
Tristan hid the weapon in his over-shoulder bag and the next day, drove the team's car toward their destination. By noon, they were at the designated meeting point—a harbor hidden from being easily found by a twist of the shore.
There was no road leading below. Tristan had to leave the car behind as he and his team made the way down past overgrown vegetation and steep slopes.
But after they climbed down, they were rewarded with a sight of a small waterside cave and a narrow strip of a beach.
No smugglers in sight—yet.