Whether the information was accurate or not, it wasn’t a loss for the Continental Hotel.
Also, the person who leaked it was the survivor who had nothing to do with the hotel.
It didn’t matter who wanted to go to war with V, but the Continental Hotel wouldn’t be their pawn.
As for the deaths of the 126 hitmen, what did that have to do with the hotel?
The hotel was only a platform which provided intermediary and logistic services. It didn’t have its own assassins, nor was it a training agency for killers. Winston didn’t care about the deaths of a few killers.
There were thousands of such killers in the database of the Continental Hotel; it was normal for one to two hundred to die every year.
If more than a hundred of them died, then two hundred of the elites who were on standby would be sent forth. This had always been the case.
Assassins were always expendable.
Only one in a thousand killers could live to retire safely, not to mention that some hitman “enterprises” weren’t clean.
Some were for silencing others, while some were for… saving money. They would kill the killers who wanted to quit.
This was the legendary “death ends all troubles,” which saved money and simplified matters.
Winston didn’t like these enterprises; they were too rough.
Here, the records and membership cards of the people who declared they were retiring were preserved in the Continental Hotel’s database.
As long as they wanted to, an assassin could quit in the morning and come back in the afternoon to take on another mission.
Once a killer, always be a killer, even if it was a part-time job or hobby.
Winston couldn’t be bothered to set up an insurance or retirement plan for hitmen. If they didn’t like it, they could get lost.
This was how the Continental Hotel had always been.
The fact was that many hitman firms and brokers went through the Continent Hotel, and their hitmen would receive orders through the hotel.
No contribution, no official membership card.
A low contribution rate meant that a hitman couldn’t receive any high-level member missions or access to many high-level membership services.
How could a hitman increase their contribution rate? By converting their completed missions into credit points for use at the Continental Hotel.
Luke didn’t know about this “bad news.”
Luke, who didn’t know much about Kingpin or the Continental Hotel, had been overly optimistic when he was doing the math.
What he didn’t know was that the two big bosses whom he thought weren’t going to let this matter rest had backed off for the time being.
At half past five in the afternoon, Elsa and Elizabeth arrived in the same car.
The car belonged to Elizabeth, this hidden rich young lady.
After parking the car in the garage on the first floor, Selina welcomed them to the second floor, and they gave her their gifts.
Looking at the gifts, Selina knew that Elsa had probably given them porcelain utensils.
It was a useful household gift that any family would use.
Even if they didn’t use them, they could still leave the set in its original packaging and give it to someone else next time.
It was also very easy to guess what Elizabeth’s gift was. It was most likely an art piece, and the biggest possibility was that it was a vase.
This was a very individualistic gift from a young person. After all, everyone had different aesthetics when it came to art.
Selina wasn’t too bothered.
If it was nice, they could use it. If it wasn’t, they could stuff it in the storeroom. After all, this building was big enough.
She asked casually, “Where’s Dustin? He didn’t come with you?”
Elsa said, “I called him on the way here. He won’t be able to leave the department until half past six. He’ll be here at seven.”
No one was surprised.
They were all Dustin’s old subordinates, and they all knew what the boss’s schedule was like.
In fact, they all had a rough idea of each other’s habits.
Elsa liked to be ready half an hour or twenty minutes beforehand.
Luke and Selina were usually ten to fifteen minutes early.
Dustin would at most be two to five minutes early; he was usually unavoidably late, but that was what being the boss was like.
Elizabeth? She was more free and could be ready anywhere between five minutes and half an hour.
On the second floor, they greeted Luke, who was sitting in the kitchen.
Luke smiled and took out some pastries which he had been keeping warm in the oven. “I knew Dustin wouldn’t be on time. Have these first, and don’t get too full.”
There weren’t a lot of pastries, but there was quite a variety. There were more than ten different types, including cupcakes, biscuits, and taiyaki.
Luke simply reminded Selina to serve drinks to the ladies, before he went to the window to continue reading.
Since Elsa and Elizabeth were here, he couldn’t look at the sensitive files, but there was a lot of less sensitive information on New York that he could go through.
Half an hour later, he heard someone say, “Luke, what are you looking at?”
Luke put down the tablet. “A map of New York.”
It was Elizabeth.
She was the only one who had come down from the training room on the third floor.
Elizabeth looked at the image on his tablet curiously. “Why does it look like a photo?”
Luke said, “It’s a satellite map, so it’s pretty much a photo.”
Elizabeth was stunned. “Taken by satellite? So… a spy?”
Luke chuckled. “Then we would have to interrogate the hundreds of companies involved in the development of the system before we can figure out who it might be.”
Elizabeth immediately understood, but wasn’t embarrassed. “It’s just something I saw in the movies.”
Luke chuckled. “You’ll get used to it in the future. Sooner or later, someone will provide this service online for free.”
Seeing her thoughtful expression, Luke cut straight to the chase. “Alright, what do you want to ask me?”
Elizabeth’s expression finally returned to normal. “I need your advice about the future.”
“Have a seat.” Luke gestured for her to sit down across from him at the coffee table, before he poured her a cup of black tea.
She explained the situation.
There was a female detective in the intelligence department who was having a lot of issues after giving birth, including household, physical and mental issues. She couldn’t take temporary leave, and could only resign.
This position was empty.
If it was any other position, just having seniority would be enough.
However, it just so happened that this position required a high degree of literacy and a certain level of technical knowledge. Many older female administrators had enough experience, but didn’t have enough knowledge to take this position.
Luke asked, “What position is it?”
Elizabeth said, “The NYPD intelligence branch responsible for collecting and analyzing online information. The position requires the ability to gather information and also a certain amount of online skills.”
Luke understood.
Back in Los Angeles, he had, intentionally or otherwise, told Elizabeth to learn some online skills on the side. It wasn’t in-depth, but at the very least, she had to understand the basics.
Cases in the future would definitely start to involve the Internet more and more, and it wasn’t a bad thing for Elizabeth to get an early start.