Learning Romance

Chapter 9

The next day James and Chelsea paid a visit to the office of the Council Chairman. The Judicial council of Atratia worked from the Supreme court, their responsibility was to propose laws, amend them, process laws proposed by the government and perform disciplinary actions. There were however some responsibilities of this council that James and Chelsea were not cleared to know but that didn’t prevent them from investigating the council.

“How does a Council Chairman propose the idea of such a highly advanced security spy weapon?” Chelsea asked. She was currently dressed in a sleeveless vest, ontop a long sleeved white t-shirt and her usual black jeans.

As for James, he wore a corporate suit, black and simple.

“We should be able to find out today.” James pulled up at the front of the Supreme court.

“James, Albert got me a warrant and I tapped into the Chairman’s security camera, you won’t believe the fish in our net” Stacy’s excited voice came through the coms as soon as James stopped.

“Who is it?” Chelsea asked as they alighted the car.

“Our very own Kelly Scott”

“Let’s go” James ordered pulling out his pistol and they both ran into the supreme court building.

Within the Council Chairman’s office, KS sat in front of the Chairman with a small smile on her lips, she had a gun resting on her laps and pointed at the Chairman as he stared at her with fear in his eyes.

“Tell me what it was you gave Karen. It’s all I need to know” She said to him slowly and with pressure.

“I can’t, they’ll kill me if I do” the Chairman wore a mask of calm, his heat anything but.

“And I’ll kill you if you don’t” KS’ smile brightened.

“The military has no power over within the country”

“And yet here I am. I am known by most as the Destroyer, it’s not a scheme to make people fear me. My methods, I hope you not learn for yourself are not as violent as one would expect. I hear you are married, Gideon, of all things I find the drama between couples a lot more fun to watch. Imagine the anger and pain a wife would feel when she learns that her husband has been screwing her sister who he employed out of ‘goodwill’. Think fast Gideon, tell me what the package contained. I don’t think our DVI friends are so stupid to not realize the folly of that emergency meeting yesterday so talk fast.” Although KS was pressuring the Chairman to hurry she didn’t seem to be in a hurry herself.

“A journal, containing all councilmen involved in the building of Lavender. I didn’t give it to her, she gave it to me.” Gideon’s mask of indifference broke once KS talked about his wife.

“What would you need such information for and why don’t you already have it?”

“No one involved in the project is aware of the other. The DVI kept the records so she needed it from the badge she stole. As for why she gave it to me, my employer no longer trusts her, she seemed to have had other plans so was asked to retrieve it”

“I want a name Gideon” KS stood up from her seat.

“Souter” Gideon quickly replied when he saw the gun pointed at him.

“DVI, put down you weapon slowly” a cold voice sounded just when KS was about to pull the trigger.

“That was a little faster than I expected” KS muttered and attempted to turn around. A bullet flew past her breaking the glass on the window behind the Chairman’s chair.

“Next one goes in your head, put down the gun” the voice warned again and KS frowned, she understood that she was dealing with a tough nut this time and slowly put her gun down on the table. Raising both her hands she entwined them behind her head.

James walked past her, while Chelsea approached with her gun still pointed at KS’ head as James cuffed the chairman.

“Gideon Phels you are under arrest for conspiring against the Atratian government. You have no rights” James winked at KS as he led the cuffed Council Chairman past her.

“What a pretty face” KS smiled but at that moment Chelsea yanked her hand down forcefully before cuffing it and doing the same to the other.

“Easy easy” KS grimaced from the pain, she didn’t even know how she offended this agent.

Back at the DVI base.

The group was going over the information they just received from KS when Albert stormed in.

“I heard you captured a stealth military operative?” he asked glaring at the team gathered around a table.

“Yes, she attacked a DVI agent, attempted to kill the Council Chairman and was responsible for the attack on a Judicial council meeting. Is there a problem?” William answered coldly.

“The military is requesting her back, they claim she was on a top secret mission.” Albert didn’t back down.

“The military has no jurisdiction within Atratian soil, what top secret mission?” James asked his brows slamming together.

“You don’t have clearance for that, just let her go” Albert walked out after he gave the order.

“Sir Albert” Chelsea called from her seat and he stopped.

“If I recall correctly, this team was commissioned by the president himself to investigate all cases relating to the most wanted felon known only as Souter. KS was captured in a meeting with the Judicial council chairman who was on Souter’s payroll. He confessed to this himself and we have discovered three hundred Atratian credits paid into his account from an off shore account. We have reason to believe that KS is involved in whatever scheme Souter may have thus we are keeping her with us until we learn everything about that, after which she will be tried by the Military court. You can tell that to whoever sent you in here word for word.” When Chelsea finished she smiled at Albert mockingly and the man continued out of the cortex.

“I think Albert may be right about her being on a top secret mission, she has been cooperating since we brought her in” Chelsea’s smile disappeared as soon as Albert was out of hearing range.

“Let me talk to her” William headed for the questioning room but walked back to Stacy.

“Find out everything you can about the Lavender project, I feel like that thing is in the middle of all this” he left as soon as he gave the order.

Walking into the room where they were holding KS, William made himself comfortable on the chair across from her.

“Tell me everything” he requested calmly.

KS regarded the young Striker for a moment before nodding.

“My name is Kelly Scott, I am a stealth operative for Sentinel task force, our responsibility is to squash terrorist threats within the country before they escalate. When the task force was first commissioned years ago, the commander reached out to me because of my bad reputation in the army as the Destroyer. I accepted the invitation at the time because I knew there was something wrong with it, a soldier like me should not be allowed to operate within Atratian soil because of how much damage I could deal to the country’s property. Everything went find until we received Intel that a new terrorist group had risen in Rhina, their leader known only as Souter. Instead of acting on this Intel, the commander told us he had someone handling it, myself and a few others of the Sentinel operation felt there was something wrong about the commanders reaction to Souter, at the time he was only a common drug dealer. We later learned through personal investigation that Sentinel did have an operative keeping tabs on the Souter case, her name was Karen Sanchez who we discovered was the commanders daughter.

“This discovery only served to increase our suspicion but we decided to drop the case until recently when Souter’s terrorism attracted the attention of the Administrative Office and they began to question us. The commander dispatched another agent, Nita Sullivan. I abandoned my post and followed her, I suggested that she remain hidden while I act as the front in our negotiation with Karen Sanchez and she unsuspectingly agreed. I didn’t know Karen had daddy issues or that her problem with the commander ran deep so I fell into her trap. Our deal was that she assassinate a member of the council and receive a package from the Council Chairman while I capture Codesus son, a new DVI agent named James, Lewis James. During the emergency meeting I was alerted to the presence of Karen’s armed forces, she double crossed us, she wanted James for herself, he was to be an exchange for Lavender. I had to escape but the real operative dispatched by the commander, Nita was killed. Karen found me to finish the job but I killed her, I also failed to recover the package and James’ badge as for the rest, you know how that went.” KS took a deep breath when she finished.

“What you mean is, you were investigating the commander of Sentinel?” William asked.

“Yes”

“So you are from a third party group, neither part of Karen nor your mystery commander?” he asked again and this time KS simply nodded.

“Why didn’t you report your suspicions?”

“You said it yourself, my suspicion. The government would never act on something so shallow.”

“ The military is requesting that we hand you over to them, from the story you told me, I’m guessing you won’t be having a good time over there. Tell me why I shouldn’t comply with their request”

“Because they will torture me to learn who else was part and kill me after” KS gave a sarcastic smile and William shrugged.

“I’m fine with that” He relaxed on his chair.

“I just gave you classified information, you aren’t cleared to know about Sentinel. Cut me a deal and I can tell you all you need to know about Sentinel, Lavender, Souter and every crime lord within the country who Sentinel has been keeping an eye on” KS sarcastic smile turned confident. William stared at her for a while before leaving the room.

“That girl is smart, she knows we can’t reject the deal” James shook his head seeing William’s bitter smile.

“Let’s find out what deal she wants first” Chelsea suggested. What KS was offering was something the could not reject.