Nigel awoke to the sight of a beautiful woman. She was sitting next to his cot and one of his hands was wrapped in both of hers.
“Blanka!”
“Good morning, Nigel. I hope you slept well.”
“I’m better now that you’re here. What’s going on? Why is Dahlia so secretive?”
Blanka gave him a pained look. “It’s not for me to say. Madam Dahlia will want to speak with you later. Take care of yourself, Nigel.”
She turned to leave and was almost at the door when he leaped out of bed and put a hand on the door.
“What’s going on—”
Before Nigel could say anything else, Blanka slammed him against the door and gave him a passionate kiss that muted everything else.
“Just be patient. All will be revealed soon. For now, I need to do something important for our cause.”
Nigel watched her leave. It surprised him to learn that his heart ached for two women and he did not know how he was going to do about it.
Later that morning
The sophistication of the Black Iris bunker impressed Nigel. He had underestimated how connected Black Iris was. To his amazement, the bunker had several levels. After breakfast, Dahlia provided a tour of the bunker. He learned they had entered from the emergency exit. During the tour, he tried to get some information from Eva.
“Did Dahlia find the traitor?” Nigel asked.
Eva gave him a confused look. “Madam Dahlia has found the person of interest.”
Eva’s acting distant. Who are they after?
“Last night I got the impression that she was looking for someone that may have betrayed her.”
“You can rest easy, Nigel. You are in the clear.”
Nigel didn’t feel relieved. Some things were not adding up. He let it go—for now.
The tour concluded at the bank of monitors Nigel noticed when he entered. A brief examination revealed that the entire complex had eyes. Many of the cameras lie destroyed, but Nigel noticed several wilderness locations on the screens before him.
She must have a wireless camera system setup.
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When he asked Dahlia about the system, she explained she had eyes surrounding the complex for a quarter mile in every direction.
“How did you know about the bomber?” Nigel asked.
Dahlia pulled up a panel with a screen that reminded Nigel of an air traffic control screen he had seen in photos.
“Is that radar?”
“A smaller-scale version that gave us about two minutes of warning.”
“From here, I have eyes on the entire property, inside and out.”
“Did everyone make it out?” Nigel asked.
“I could alert April and Gretta, but I don’t know what became of Hans.”
“Where is April?”
Dahlia gave Nigel a wicked smile.
“She’s bait for a trap.”
“What trap?” Nigel said, alarmed.
“The one that brings me, the people responsible for this travesty. And I have some surprises in store for them,” Dahlia said, chuckling.
“I can’t believe she agreed to that. It doesn’t sound like the April I know.”
“She’s more battle ready than you know. I girl I spoke to has experience.”
“I can’t believe you are putting a little girl in danger.”
“My darlings have endured greater dangers than April and have survived. I wouldn’t let her be put in danger if I didn’t think she could handle herself. Now—come, I need to brief the troops.”
Nigel followed Dahlia into a side room that was near the surveillance area. Vedrana and Eva sat on the other side of the table. A screen displaying an overhead picture of terrain was visible.
“I think it is time that Nigel we briefed on the entire plan,” Dahlia said.
Vedrana put on a pair of glasses and operated a tablet that was connected to the screen. She zoomed upon their current location. A massive complex was visible. Nigel was in awe of how massive the complex was on the surface.
“This is a satellite view of the chateau that was taken about a month ago. About three hundred yards from the house is a shed with a snowmobile. Blanka is moving the vehicle to the other side of the northern ridge. We will rendezvous with her after the battle,” Vedrana said.
“What battle?”
“We’re using April to lure the people responsible, to their deaths,” Dahlia said.
“Who is responsible?” Nigel said.
“The cabal is responsible, but they hired an elite group known as the Dark Angels. This group is the one that attacked us, and they will pay.”
Nigel combed his fingers through his hair, something he did when he was nervous.
“I know them. They are a talented group of people.”
“They used to be an ally, but they have sided with the enemy and must pay,” Vedrana said.
Nigel’s stomach turned at the prospect of killing these people, but Mr. Chen had forced him to storm the windowless building with these soldiers months ago. What Dahlia said had some truth to it. They were in league with the cabal.
“I think the Dark Angels caught Jet. I don’t want her injured.”
“Of course not; we do not injure our own people. And Jet is one of us,” Dahlia said.
“When will the battle start?”
“It’s already begun,” Dahlia said.
Vedrana brought up a live image of the ruins of the chateau. Several soldiers were canvasing the area.
“Can you zoom in on that group?” Nigel said, pointing to a cluster of mercenaries.
Vedrana enhanced the area of concern. Several burly men with machine guns were nearby. It looked like they were pulling apart the corpse of a fallen animal. The presence of the automatic weapons caused much distress.
“What do they want?” Nigel asked.
“Isn’t it obvious? They are looking for survivors. They want us dead,” Dahlia said.
“Why did they take Jet?”
“They are using her to get to you. It did not thrill Chen to have you leave with us.”
Dahlia scanned her wristwatch.
“We require you to get into position. Nigel, please follow Vedrana and Eva’s lead and try not to get yourself slaughtered.”
Nigel was speechless. He couldn’t believe that the cabal had caught up to them. They seemed to be several steps ahead of their every move. He watched Dahlia leave and psyched himself up for the battle to come.