???
3rd December 2021
10:10 am
Ray of Hope HQ, Staten Island, Richmond County, New York.
USA.
Khristina stood behind the men in the security room.
“Empress, we just received intel from Manhattan. There’s some disturbance there. It seems the president is under attack,” Mikolas said.
She raised a brow.
“Oh, really? Do we have any military units over there?” she asked.
“No. Just the few that were to protect the president and his central committee. A couple of our agents are with him too,” Philip, the other man said.
“And how large is this attack force?” she asked.
“We don’t know yet. Our soldiers just spotted a few going in. there are probably more around,” Philip said.
“Where’s the closest unit to that hotel?” she asked.
“Fort Drum. But it would take them hours on foot to get there,” Mikolas said.
“Damn it,” she said, “What about the strange man that showed up here? Any news?” she asked.
“Not yet. Mandy and Cole aren’t back, but I’m sure they will return any time soon,” Mikolas said. He was going to call them, but he was sure they were probably hiding to smoke weed somewhere.
“Let me know what they find when they return,” she said. Suspicious activities had been going on for a while. A lot of their agents had died mysteriously. The previous day, their agent in charge of a military base in Brooklyn had been killed. Some agents who had been there had reported that some external soldiers had assassinated him. When they tried to reach the agents to confirm who the enemies were, their devices had been turned off. Till today, there was no response. Two names stood out in her mind. Vivien Dmitri. Stephen Wallace. It was only a guess, but she knew she wasn’t far from the truth.
“Connect me to the men in the Special Forces unit,” she said.
Mikolas and Philip pushed several buttons; then, they motioned for her to speak.
“All members of the Special Forces are to head to Manhattan now with the helicopter. Alexei Igor is under attack. Be on the lookout for Stephen Wallace, former Airforce Captain at AFB Ohio. His pictures will be sent to your devices right now. If you find him, bring him here alive,” she said.
Facing the men before the computer, she said, “Find Stephen’s picture from the Wanted Folder. Send it to the Special Forces. Also, forward it to the soldiers in Manhattan. They are to affirm immediately if Stephen is among them.”
She walked out of the room and took the route leading to the Luxury quarters. The council members’ rooms were all located there. The two guards were placed at the entrance to the quarters hailed her. She didn’t bother replying to them. She passed by her door. She had no intention of sleeping. Soon, she arrived at the door she was looking for. She pressed the doorbell.
Seconds later, the door opened to reveal Adrik. He was in a bathrobe. He’d probably just taken a shower.
“Hello, darling,” she said, tilting her head and eyeing him. “I guess you’re probably hungry,” she said.
Adrik’s eyes ran over her body.
“We shouldn’t be doing this,” he said. “Nikolas will not be happy. He considers you his property.”
“Just like you considered Vivien yours, right? Girls just have to run rogue sometimes. Relax. Nikolas is probably reading some boring book in his house in Russia now, while we are here doing all the hard work,” she said with emphasis on the last two words.
Adrik stared at her for a while. The mention of Vivien caused hurt to rise inside him. he fought the feeling. He had always told himself that he didn’t want to be attached to her. He just needed her to be on the same path as him. Her intelligence was indispensable. However, after her betrayal, he realized that his feelings for her had gone deeper than he wanted. He had even fancied marrying her.
He needed to drown those feelings.
“Come in,” he said as he turned away from the door.