Ryder placed the gun over the stand before he started aiming it towards Luke, who was sleeping on the chair.
His finger reached the trigger as he looked through the scope. He took a deep breath as he calmed his head to make sure that his aim didn't miss.
Once he shot, the bullet was going to break the window of Luke's room. If he missed, the noise of window breaking was going to wake up Luke. Ryder didn't wish to have this happen. The first aim was something he wanted to make his final aim.
The cross in his view was on Luke's forehead.
After becoming calmer, he pulled the trigger.
A bullet shot out of the gun zoomed towards the house ahead.
It soon reached the window of Luke and penetrated through it.
The window shattered, creating a loud noise. Luke's eyes opened wide at the sound of the breaking of the window, but it was too late for him as the bullet penetrated his forehead as soon as his eyes opened.
"Wa…"
He couldn't even finish his words as he dropped to the ground, dead instantly.
Ryder placed back the gun in his inventory before he walked closer to the window. He closed the window and went upstairs once again.
As he reached upstairs, he looked around the estate to see if there was any commotion amongst the guards. The house he shot at was pretty far. So the noise shouldn't have reached here.
As he looked around the Estate, he realized that it was safe. No guards seemed to have noticed.
"Good. Now I should go and check. I also need to free the owners of the house that are tied. Without anyone knowing, they might die of hunger as well," Ryder muttered as he thought of some things.
He placed a black cloak around him to hide his clothes. Moreover, he also donned a mask that he had worn in the previous timeline when he had gone to take care of Luke.
After making sure his identity was completely hidden, he chose a route that he believed to be the best for dodging the gazes of the guards.
He decided to go around the house after thinking for a while. Even though it was a bit longer, it was the safest path.
After selecting the path, he started floating in the air before he shot out like a superhuman.
As Ryder flew, he couldn't help but smile wryly.
He remembered a famous superhero that was no less than a god. He could also fly; the only difference was that he flew with both his hands raised towards the front.
It was a superhero known as BlooperMan in BC Comics.
Ryder wondered if there was any logic to flying like that. Did it increase speed or something?
He decided to try it as he raised both his hands towards the front.
"It's useless. I don't see any change in speed with this. On the contrary, I feel tired," Ryder let out as he returned to his usual position after not finding the change to be beneficial.
"At Least now I know how BlooperMan feels when he files," he chuckled, trying to find some childish logic in this whole thing.
He was basically trying to divert his mind from thinking about how he was going to clean a body from his neighborhood belonging to a person that he had killed. He didn't want to think how close trouble came to the place he stayed.
Even though he took a long route, it didn't take him long before he reached the house where Ryder's body was lying.
The window was already broken, so he didn't have a hard time entering the place.
As he entered through the broken window, he ended up right before the dead body of Luke, which was lying on the ground with a hole clearly visible on his forehead.
His eyes were still open as the poor man didn't have the time even to close his eyes as he died.
"Sigh, bro. When I shot you, you had your eyes closed. And that was when you happened to be alive. And bow that you're dead, you have your eyes open," Ryder let out as he smiled wryly while walking towards the dead body.
He placed his finger on Luke's wrist to once again make sure if he was actually dead or not.
"I now pronounce you dead—time of death, twelve a.m. Rest in peace, bro. And sorry for killing you, but you can't blame me for that. Apparently, you were going to be trouble."
"And from what I understood from your behavior, this trouble was going to involve her. So please don't complain to the Devil too much about me when you reach hell. In exchange, I'll close your eyes. Deal?"
Even though Ryder expresses his views before a dead body, he still closed the eyes of Luke.
"Sigh, my inventory will become a graveyard, I believe. There goes another body," he let out after he sent Luke's body inside his inventory.
After cleaning up the body, he stood up and started walking towards the room where the owner of this house was held, hostage.
Reaching the room, he opened the door and saw a middle-aged man and woman lying in one corner.
Their hands were tied behind their backs, and the two of them seemed unconscious.
He closed in on the two to check if these two were fine.
"They seem fine. But I should still help out," he muttered as he opened their rope.
He carried the both of them separately to their bedroom and placed them on the bed safely.
After that, he found a phone inside the house and called 911.
"I have an emergency. A man infiltrated my house, and he's keeping me hostage. Please send help. My address is…"
He informed the authorities of the address before he disconnected the call. Throughout his time inside this house, he hadn't used his normal voice. Instead, he had talked in a heavy voice with a British accent to make sure no one can link anything to him.
After informing the authorities, he started flying back and reached the Maxwell Estate's roof.
"Cops will come. They'll find the couple. Probably help them. Problem solved," he muttered as he started walking downstairs.
Now that Luke was dead, he has no reason to stay up. He could go back downstairs and enter Divinity. The problem was solved, according to him.
As he wasn't able to talk to Luke in this timeline, he didn't know that Luke was only following someone's commands. In the previous timeline, he had talked to Luke, and he has also talked to Adrian, but here, he was able to do none, making him unaware of everything.
As for the memories of the previous timeline, he didn't remember anything.
*****
In a different part of the country, a man was frowning deeply as the phone remained close to his ears.
"What do you mean all our men disappeared? Did the earth eat them, or the sky swallowed them?" The man roared in anger.
"They could have been killed? You're saying some of our best men were killed in an attempt to kidnap a single girl? Do you know your it might have happened?" He asked again, seemingly not happy with whatever response he had received.
"No idea? Then get an idea, you useless man! That's not the response I wish to hear!" he scolded again.
He took a deep breath to calm down so as not to lose his control.
"Where is the girl now?" he asked after taking a long pause.
"No ide-, ah, Sir, I mean. She is in the hiding, most probably. She isn't at her house. We're still trying to find ourselves," the man, on the other end of the call, replied, barely stopping before saying the words that could have made the man angry.
"I don't want to hear excuses. Find Ray's sister fast!" The man commanded before he disconnected the call.
*****
On the other hand, Ray was inside his bedroom in the New Capital City. He had been released from the FBI's cell and brought back to the force. Not only that but he was also given the command to find the killer of the previous Director.
He didn't know if it was even possible for him to find the guy. He already knew who the man was, but the thought of going against Ryder hadn't even crossed Ray's head.
He still thought of Ryder as a friend whom he had betrayed once. He couldn't feel ashamed of what he had done, but he was sure that he would have done the same if he was given another choice if his sister's life depended on it.
In any case, Ryder still saved his sister despite all that. Not only that, he saved his sister once again by calling him only recently.
That made him even more ashamed that he had to betray Ryder. He was calling him again and again to apologize, but no one picked up his calls.
