The Black Swan Behind

244 Not a Boss, But a Leader

“How was the last condition?” Rachel asked Emma who had just entered the base.

Emma took off her helmet and mask which made her feel hot. “Everything should be fine. The three men were also still passed out on the road.” Then she asked back, “What about the kidnapped girls?”

“They’re on the second floor. Our girls are opening their chains,” Rachel replied as she followed Emma’s footsteps.

“After this, the Beast Empire will be desperately looking for us. We must be completely prepared for war. Do you think the girls are mentally prepared for that?” Emma asked with a slightly worried face.

Rachel, who was the head coach of the group members, nodded confidently. “They have great passion. You have to trust your girls, Emma.”

Emma nodded with a long sigh. “You’re right, Rachel. I just can’t help but worry. I’m afraid they’ll get hurt,”

“Getting hurt is a consequence of our work. But those people are ready to accept it because they know that what we are doing is worth it. We are saving other people, Emma. Even if we do it in secret, knowing that you are a hero will certainly give a sense of pride.” Rachel explained while rubbing her best friend’s back.

Rachel understood the burden of being a leader was heavy. She not only had to think about the smooth running of the mission, but also paid attention to every member; making sure everything was okay.

The next day, a meeting was held on the third floor. All the members of the Black Swan gathered there. Luckily, the room was big enough to accommodate all of them.

.....

“Ladies, I thank you for your hard work. You did everything so well that our last mission went smoothly.” Emma said in her speech.

“But there is one thing I want to tell you: After that mission, the Beast Empire will not remain silent. Obviously, we have declared a great war on them. After this, things will become very dangerous. And perhaps, war will happen soon. Ready or not, we all have to be able to deal with it. I hope you girls can understand that.”

“Yes, Emma.” The girls answered in unison.

Emma’s worried face couldn’t be hidden. She looked at all the eyes of her friends who were looking at her. Then she gulped to clear her dry throat.

“Girls, I’m so sorry to say this. I don’t mean to doubt you guys, but I want to remind you of one thing. Black Swan is not the same as the other groups. Here, we have no superiors or subordinates. We are all friends on the same mission.

And, we won’t hold anyone here. I mean, if any of you have any objections or other interests, you don’t need to make the Black Swan your top priority. We are all friends forever. So, you are free to have your opinion and decide whether to stay here or not. You.. understand what I mean, don’t you?”

From the other end of the room, Rachel stared at Emma with her arms folded across her chest. As soon as their gazes met, Rachel smiled gently as she nodded. “Everything will be fine,” she said with a mouth movement only.

Emma smiled faintly at Rachel who was standing quite a distance from her. Since childhood, Emma was never a leader. She was a girl who was always taken care of like a princess.

Now, after getting out of her golden cage, Emma had to live alone, including taking care of everything by herself. That was not all. Emma never imagined that she would become the leader of a group that had dozens of members like this. Now, she had to take care of so many people at a time when she sometimes still had trouble taking care of herself.

From the start, Emma knew that being a leader was not an easy job. Her father was a mafia group leader who led about a thousand people who were spread to other countries. Even, from the eyes of common people, his work looked heavy. He was so busy that he didn’t have time for his family.

Not only her father, but Emma had also witnessed the experiences of the leaders of the gangster groups she had defeated. Just because of an incompetent leader, the group fell apart. Its members got hurt, not even a few whose future was ruined.

Leaders bear a very heavy burden. Emma was afraid that she would make a mistake that would affect the lives of her members. However, despite feeling afraid, she would continue to live it and try to do her best; because she was sure, even though she never imagined that she would become a leader at first, she at least had her father’s leadership talent running in her blood.

Therefore, Emma decided to be honest with all her members from the start. She didn’t want anyone to feel forced into her group because she was not a boss, but a leader.

“I’m just an ordinary girl. I’m not a girl who has superpowers and wise thoughts. Becoming the leader of the Black Swan is a new experience for me. Because of that, I might make a lot of mistakes in the future. Honestly, I feel a little worried that I will disappoint a lot of people who have put their hopes in me. But I dare to promise you that I will work hard and give the best that I can. Therefore, I ask for your help in the future,” Emma said.

The sound of applause echoing from everyone made Emma raise her face.

“You’re great, Emma! You’re the best leader!” One of the girls exclaimed.

“Thank you for being our leader!” The other added.

“I never mind being here!”

“Black Swan is the best!”

The girls felt both touched and proud of Emma. They knew that Emma was always trying to pay attention to everyone in the Black Swan group. In fact, Emma herself rarely mentioned that she was the leader of the group.

She would go straight into the mission and make sure all the members were okay. She always called all her members: friends, not subordinates because she didn’t position herself as someone at the top level.

Emma always thought of others before herself. She always cared about the lives of her members and offered to help if anyone had a problem.

In fact, she often felt bad to accept the results of her friends’ work. She always told them to take at least half of their work income for themselves because she didn’t want the Black Swan to burden its own members.

Emma was not the type of leader who would do anything to enlarge her group but would do everything to make sure the group would become a comfortable place for its members.

**

Derric banged his desk hard as an outlet for anger. Black had really gone too far. After disappearing like cowards, they suddenly reappeared and disrupted the process of transferring their captives.

Not only that; the damn masked men even took five beautiful girls that Derric had promised Pablo to be the entertainer ladies for the new brothel on Jen Marrie Street.

Black had intercepted Derric’s men’s car and knocked off all of his men on duty. They also looted all the important stuff in the car.

“So, it turns out that Black was not just two men. Ronny said there were about four motorbikes that stopped them. On each of them were two men, so a total of eight people attacked them.” Juan explained.

“It’s got to be more than that. With all the bikes full occupied, how could they take all the girls? There must be at least twenty of them,” Derrick replied. “Did you find any other clues?”

Juan shook his head. “Looks like they chose that location on purpose to intercept our car. There were no CCTV cameras and it was surrounded by a few houses and a few small closed shops. Therefore, it was difficult to find evidence of their vehicle. They even took the camera in the car.”

“Dammit!” Derric hit his desk again. Then he got up from his chair and glared at Juan. “I don’t want anything like this to happen again, Juan. You have to find the base of that f*cking group.”

Juan nodded once. “I understand.”

**

“They keep on searching,” Cecil said.

Linda nodded. “I also saw some suspicious men on the bus. They actually put at least one person around a few blocks,”

“Of course, they would. We’ve stolen their stuff.” Kathy chuckled.

“Did your team find anything out from all our loot, Kathy?” Emma asked.

Kathy nodded. “From their car camera footage, we found that Beast Empire has three human warehouses. Two of the warehouses are not big; just ordinary houses in bad condition. However, there is the largest main warehouse on Lunny Albert Street. That’s the location of the warehouse that the van headed to yesterday.”

“I see. Seems they have a lot,” Emma rubbed her chin with her finger.

“Actually, the two houses are just transiting places. Basically, everyone will be kept in the main warehouse which has a lot of rooms. It accommodates people who are waiting for their turn to start working elsewhere.” Ava explained.

“Does that mean that the stopover warehouses will usually be empty?” Poppy asked.

Ava shook her head. “There are usually about five people at least, because the warehouses are transit points for sending captives.”

“Actually, I’ve only been to the warehouse three times. Those are all information from the workers I met, so I can’t guarantee that the information is one hundred percent correct or not.” She added.