Lethal Combination

CHAPTER 4

The day went by quickly without a hitch. Everything went well and, for the first time in years, Ainsdale was able to lower her guard and enjoy whatever was happening around her. Being surrounded by her family is still the best thing to spend her time with.

When the sun began to set on the sea, their relatives started to leave the estate one after the other with a plan of coming back, but a few of them stayed until dinner before saying their goodbyes to them.

"Next time, we want to meet your fiancé, so you had better tell him to clear out his itinerary for a little while and bring him here with you."

"I'll try and ask him, uncle."

"If he's a busy man, just ask him to come by for a little while, dear," her uncle's wife told her with a reassuring smile before she hugged her goodbye.

"I will, aunt Grace. Thanks."

Sage was the last one to leave and the glint in his eyes while looking at her after he talked to her brother made her frown a little. Aizen must have said something again.

"What's with that smile?"

Sage chuckled. "I know who your fiancé is."

"Well, congratulations," she sarcastically said, "You must be special. I don't even know who he is."

Sage full on laughed at what she said, which made their family glance in their direction until her cousin stopped laughing.

"So, who is he?"

"Ah, you'll meet him soon. Don't worry. It's not like your engagement is completely a lie. Just a little bit chaotic."

"What?"

"Nothing. I have to go. I have to drop by at the company because I still have some things to finish at ISR."

"This late?"

"Yes. Your brother already briefed me about your plans a while ago. You can visit ISR anytime but notify me when you start to plan on completely overhauling the intelligence system so that I can inform the employees what to do when that happens."

"It will only take overnight, so there won't be any problems when it comes to the operation of the company."

"That's great then. I have to go," Sage told her after a while before hugging her.

"Take care."

"I will. You, too."

An hour after Ainsdale entered her room, she couldn't force herself to sleep, so she ended up lazing on the couch in her room's receiving area. It seems like the circadian rhythm of her body is still disturbed due to jet lag.

While she was staring into that particular part of the ceiling inside her room, she unconsciously pressed her shoulder and ended up cursing when she felt pain. It had already been seven weeks but the pain was still there. The ruptured veins are visible and they are slowly spreading.

She cursed as she sat up slowly.

"AVII, connect me to Lewis please."

"Please wait a moment." AVII responded before a ringing tone echoed throughout her room.

It was a little while later when he picked up the call, "Lewis Dahlstorm."

"It's me."

Lewis immediately recognized who she was from that two-letter word. For a second, he did not say anything, but when he did, he immediately asked her about the blood sample she sent him a few months back. "It's your blood, isn't it?"

She did not confirm nor did she deny anything by staying silent, but Lewis knew he was right.

"Do you know how many times I tried to call you when I found out what that drug was, what was in it and what it did to someone injected with it? Your life is in danger."

Ainsdale was at a loss for words. She was stunned. She surely never expected to hear those words from him. After all, she never considered it to be capable of literally endangering her life.

"What?"

"The drug which was injected into your system is called Flagrare. It's a bio-weapon created mainly to stop agents like you and it will stay there in your system until it is neutralized. It doesn't actually kill you immediately. It slowly envelopes your blood cells and damages your blood vessels in the process. If you execute your deadly skills in combat with it in your system, the drug will immediately attack a part of your brain which controls all of your motor skills. In return, you'd experience headsplitting and painful headaches as your body rejects a foreign substance which was the drug itself."

"Is there any way to stop it?"

"They wouldn't have created the drug without anything to counter it. But we're dealing with a highly organized syndicate which involves all the higher ups and political officials we sent to jail a few months back. We're surely going to have a hard time acquiring the other drug which serves as a neutralizer, especially when some of the ones backing them managed to get outside the bars even after all the evidence we've presented. Unfortunately, you who have the highest percentage of obtaining it from them is the one injected with it."

"So, it's safe as long as I stay inactive?"

"It's safer when you're injected with the drug to counter it. If you stay inactive, it'll only slow down the process of you dying."

"But in the end I'll die anyway if the drug within my system isn't neutralized."

"I won't let that happen."

She is sure he really won't, but they both know they'll have a hard time acquiring the needed neutralizer with the little knowledge they have about it. They're not even sure if it really exists. "How long do I have?"

"Is it showing any signs?"

"It started two nights after I was injected with it. But the glaring bruise on my shoulder had already disappeared. The only thing visible are my veins, which are literally turning black. It's like an ugly web was painted on my shoulder and it is slowly spreading from where I was injected with it."

"Just don't do anything careless and you'll have about a year."

"A year, huh?"

"I'm dragging agent Nikos back - "

"I didn't save him that night just to get him involved with it again," she cut off immediately. If only Lewis had been right in front of her, she'd be glaring down at him already.

"He's the only one who knows about what's happening, Ains." Lewis explained, but she wouldn't have any of it.

"Agent Nikos is dead."

"You and I both know better."

She restrained herself and stayed silent, but it doesn't mean she didn't curse him in her mind.

"Curse me all you want, but I won't let a friend die, Ainsdale. I'll exploit every resource I have just to do so. And if I have to reinstate the one we declared dead as an incognito, I will."

"Do you even know where he's at?"

"The last time I checked, he's much easier to reach than you are."

She gave out a sigh. "I don't want anyone dying because of me."

"I won't let him die. I'm giving you my word, he'll be the one delivering the neutralizer personally to you."

Aizen stood frozen in the doorway. He wished to talk to his sister before he started his assignment of locating Alessio's fiancée but words seemed to have left him when he heard the conversation she just had over the phone.

Ainsdale, too, seemed to have been affected by what she heard, but she stayed unmoving and indifferent. Something went wrong with her last assignment and it was at the expense of her own life.

"Fiume. (River.)"

Ainsdale turned her head towards her brother with widened eyes. With the expression written on his face she could tell he had heard the conversation she just had with Lewis.

"Which part of it did you hear?"

"Everything." Aizen answered before he sat on the single couch and stared at her. "So what happened?"

"I…" she sighed.

Ainsdale didn't have any other choice but to tell her brother everything that happened that night and all of the consequences it brought to her life. "As you've heard, I have about a year just as long as I don't exert myself with things."

Aizen remained silent. With one wrong move, she could lose her life. And with what they are planning to do, she will put her life on the line.

"Are we still on it?"

Aizen frowned. After what he heard, he didn't want to endanger her any further. "You're still doing it?"

"Yes."

"You'll get killed. That's the kind of situation we'll be getting ourselves into," he said.

"I'm dying anyway."

Aizen felt anger at that moment. How could she simply jest about her own life? "Do not joke about that, Ainsdale Fiumeluna!"

Ainsdale stared at her brother without blinking. How rare is it for him to call her by her name? Ah, it was only when he was angry because of something she did.

She smiled. But that smile didn't reach her eyes.

A few days later, Sage didn't expect to see his cousin Ainsdale lying without a care in the world on the sofa just as soon as he entered his office early that morning. She looked like she had worked herself overnight when one was taking note of the gadgets lying down on the center table.

"Did you sleep here?" He asked, bewildered.

Ainsdale's eyes opened to see Sage's handsome face as he stood by the couch she was lying on. Shock was written all over his face as he subtly looked over the things on the glass table not far away from her. He was wearing an Armani suit which made him look more like the COO he is.

She groaned but didn't move an inch from her place, not caring that she was still wearing the same clothes she was wearing yesterday while her cousin was all ready to start the new day. "Che ore sono? (What time is it?)"

"Sono le sette e mezza del mattino. (It's half past seven in the morning.)"

She moved her head but didn't bother sitting up. Instead, she closed her eyes again as she hid her face in her arms while she continued to lie down on the sofa, face down. "Perché sei così presto? Mi aspettavo di vedere la tua segretaria prima di te. (Why are you so early? I was expecting to see your secretary first before you.)"

"I'm mostly earlier than her. And I have an emergency meeting this morning because a certain someone changed the specifications of the company's artificial intelligence system last night without informing me first. Did you forget when I told you to give me a heads up before deciding to overhaul the system? The employees in the main control department thought someone had taken over the company overnight. And the Arcanes were a little bothered by it because it appears that their security system has been somehow linked to ISR. Not associated with the company as it should be but completely linked."

"I asked Aizen to inform you beforehand and I was not able to give you a call because I was busy with something. As for the Arcanes, AVII had to secure the data which the family owned and she suggested she'd take over their security system to provide more security than the previous one they had. Oh, and you should tell the Arcanes that only the head of the family has access to highly classified files they owned. Even I, the brain behind AVII's creation has been restricted by the system itself to access those so they can be rest assured."

"So there's no chance of you digging in on their personal data?"

"Not with AVII keeping it safe from anyone. It would be like hacking a system which I, myself, am operating on the other side. Unless I override the program of the system from the beginning, which I'm telling you, I can, but it is going to be bothersome, so I won't."

Sage sighed as he adjusted her coat above her body for her comfort, which she obviously used as a blanket. "A che ora hai finito? (What time did you finish?)"

She yawned. "Five? Maybe half past it. I'm not sure."

"You really ought to find yourself a husband. One who could tell you to sleep at the right time and not five in the morning. Oh, I forgot, you already have a fiancée."

"Shut up." She retorted, to which Sage only chuckled in return. "Will you be in the meeting room then?"

"Yes. So get your needed sleep. I don't want the employees screaming bloody murder if they happen to see you walk out in my office with dark bags under your eyes and a nest of a hair above your head."

She ignored him and with a sleepy voice she asked, "who are you meeting again?"

"Alessio."

The name ringed on her mind but sleep took over her senses making her completely ignore the fact that the one coming to see her cousin was the one whom her brother was working with and the person who owes her something in return of her giving him a hand on the data which was stolen from him as well as saving his cousin from immediate death seven weeks back. Yes, she already knew that the guy Stefano told her to call that night was none other than Alessio Arcane, her brother's friend and the present head of the Arcana Famiglia.

Sage looked over his cousin who was completely lying face down on the couch in his office's receiving area. She looked exhausted. He could not remember the time she looked this vulnerable before, even if she had not had a wink of sleep for a few days. Back then, she was always alert even when she was asleep, but right now, she looked like she would not care a damn about everything that is going on around her.

After making sure that his cousin was comfortable, Sage went over to his table. It was then when the light of the blue line on the ceiling shifted before AVII's hologram appeared in front of him.

"So this is the new system…" he thought, amazement crossing over his eyes as he stared at the holographic figure in front of him.

"Good day, Mr. Castiglione! I am AVII. Short for Advance Virtual Interactive Intelligence. As of today, I'll be responsible for ISR's and the Arcane's security systems. Should you have any questions regarding the matter, you can always ask me and I'd be willing to assist along the way."

"An interactive system which anyone would be willing to pay huge sums of money just to have," Sage continued thinking after he saw AVII smiling. "Hello, AVII!" He greeted her back before he sat on his chair. He put his elbows on his table before he intertwined his fingers in front of him. "So, can you tell me what my cousin did the whole night in my and Aizen's absence?"

AVII starts explaining what Ainsdale did last night, accompanied by a virtual screen which she opened up by herself to show Sage what his cousin has been up to. Afterwards, she herself briefs Sage on all of her features as the new artificial intelligence of International Systems and Robotics Corp.

"What about the matter with the Arcanes?"

"I simply suggested the pros to Ms. Castiglione the minute I overtake the Arcane's previous security system and she agreed with it after hearing the cons, which are mostly directed at anyone aside from the Arcane's head of the family, Alessandro Scion."

"What happened to the previous system used by the Arcane's which was provided by the ISR?"

"It has been permanently erased and replaced by my program."

"Can Alessio access your critical mode, too?"

"No. The only people programmed to be able to use it were Mister Aizen, Miss Ainsdale and you."

Sage was about to ask another question again when he heard a knock on the door. AVII glanced in that direction before looking back at him.

"That would be your secretary."

"Please open the door," Sage instructed as he pulled out some documents from his drawer and AVII opened the door using the automated system installed in the whole building of ISR which she had full authority to control.

Sage's secretary stared at the hologram in front of her boss as she entered his office before focusing her attention on him. "Good morning, Mister Castiglione! Mister Arcane is already waiting in MR1."

"Good morning, Claire! Tell Alessio I'll be there shortly. But before that, kindly inform the kitchen to bring breakfast for one here in my office later? I don't want Luna (moon) leaving with an empty stomach after she exhausted herself overhauling the entire AIS of ISR last night."

Claire didn't question whom Sage was talking about because, after working under Sage for a few years as his secretary, she knew there was only one woman whom Sage fondly calls with that word - their CEO's sister, his cousin. She subtly glanced at the waiting area where Ainsdale lay out on the couch face down. "The usual?" She asked, referring to Ainsdale's usual preference for food back when she last visited the company.

Sage stopped browsing on the documents above his table and glanced over at his cousin. "Luna, c'è qualcosa che vuoi in particolare per la colazione? (Moon, is there anything you want in particular for breakfast?)"

"Porcini carpaccio."

Sage looked back at his secretary and smiled. "That."

***

Lucien glanced at the projected time on his dashboard as he drove towards ISR where he had dropped Alessio off, because he wished to talk to the company's COO in place of Aizen, the CEO of the company itself, who was out of the city due to the favor Alessio asked him to do. ISR is a system and robotics company owned by the present generation of Castigliones and it's the sole company which gained Alessio's full trust by providing them with a security system because of Aizen.

After dropping him off earlier this morning from Terra di Sienna manor, Lucien had to go over to Arcane Conglomerates' main office building to see if the company's security system also changed overnight, just like what happened to the manor. ISR did not inform them about anything with regards to the change, so Alessio was bothered about what happened so he immediately sought to have a meeting with ISR's COO.

The second he was able to park his car in the underground parking area of the building, his phone vibrated and on the screen appeared Aizen's name. He'd been gone for a week without any contact since he left to do what Alessio asked of him and it was the first time he heard from him.

"Just what the hell did ISR do with the security system it provided for the Arcanes? The manor's in disarray because everyone woke up with a whole new security system installed along with the entirety of Terra di Sienna estate without our knowledge and the AC's in chaos right now with the same problem at hand."

Aizen did not say any word for a moment before a sigh escaped from his lips. "It must have been my sister. And if the security system you guys are using in the manor and at the company building changed, every place where you installed the previous program which ISR provided must have probably been changed too."

Lucien frowned. Sister? Aizen has a sister? "What do you mean?"

"My sister developed a program which has the ability to turn everything around the planet upside down with only one command. And that program must have finally overtaken the system the Arcanes were using for security purposes as it had suggested before it was officially launched. Which means, my sister has already overhauled the entirety of ISR's artificial intelligence system. I'm sure Sage will be able to explain everything to Alessio."

If Aizen's sister is capable of doing that, then these two were really siblings on the same pod. Both dangerous in their own way. "Any news on your side?"

"There's good and bad news. Which one would you like to know first?"

"The good."

"Hmmm. The good news is that I have finally found her. She's in one piece and kind of doing great from what I see."

"And the bad?"

"The woman is with the Brovinos."

Those six words made Lucien grip his phone tightly towards his ear. He inhaled, as if preparing himself for something bad. "Mi dispiace, vieni di nuovo? (I'm sorry, come again?)"

"The woman is with the Brovinos," Aizen repeated without a change in his tone.

"s**t!" Lucien cursed. "How is she?"

"From what I saw before I lost track of her, enjoying life to the fullest. With a few of Brovino's men guarding her. She doesn't look like she's been kidnapped either."

Lucien could not believe what he heard. "What?"

Aizen chuckled on the other end. "Has there been something wrong with your hearing lately, Lucien?"

"f**k you…"

Aizen went from chuckling to laughing his heart out in his end.

Lucien ruffled his hair. He could already see Alessio's full-blown anger if he happened to learn about the whereabouts of the woman he didn't seem to like from their very first meeting.

"Is she working with them?"

"Looks like it. But she slipped off of my radar a few days ago. Someone must have warned her that she was being tracked down, which led me to the conclusion that someone in the Arcana was working secretly for the Brovinos. He must have been the one who helped Euphrosyne get the data in the first place. Dug out the mole at the soonest possible time or else it will bring problems at the family's doorstep. The Brovinos are backing her up because she is still of use to them due to the fact that the old patriarch of the Arcana is fond of her. That's what I've confirmed so far."

"It's going to cause a war, I'm telling you. But I won't let it happen if it is all because of that woman."

"The old patriarch might order someone to kill you because of that statement you just said. Alessio couldn't even move because of the fact that Euphrosyne is dear to the old man because she's the sole granddaughter of his late friend."

"I don't work for the old man. I work for Alessio," Lucien stated proudly. "With regards to the mole, Luca and I will handle it. Where are you?"

Aizen mentioned a place which is not too far away. "She has been going in circles these days as if wanting to take me off her tracks, so they must be taking note of the Arcana's movements. This is where I lost track of her, so I'll inform you about her status the next time I find her."

"Has the stolen data been handled then?"

"Didn't my sister call Alessio yet?"

"Is she supposed to?"

"Did she forget she had Alessio's number in case she needed to report about her progress or did she just completely ignore his existence after she was done with her task at hand?"

"You're asking me?"

"Anyway, my sister has already handled the stolen data. The copy which Euphrosyne stole has been completely deleted. I bet the Brovinos are fuming right now about the damage they received on their end. I couldn't reach Alessio, so I'll be informing you in advance that I'll be abducting the woman in question once I find her."

"When are you coming back?"

"Hmm, depends," Aizen answered before he dropped the line.

If Alessio learns that the woman his grandfather wanted him to marry is working with the Brovinos, hell will be damned for sure. The Arcanes and the Brovinos have never been on good terms because both families were rivals in their underground business. They have been in feud for a long time and that won't come to a stop, especially with what has been done through Euphrosyne. What Alessio didn't like the most was a deserter, a traitor, and that is what describes Euphrosyne at the moment.

He sighed as he made sure his car was locked before he walked towards the elevator, only to stop in his tracks when he saw who got out of it.

Didn't Aizen just tell him he had lost her tracks? What the hell is she doing here - inside the ISR's facility no less? s**t! Did they use a doppelganger to deceive Aizen who had been tracking her down? Without thinking, he pulled out his gun and pointed it at the woman, who wasn't even fazed at the sight of a gun being pointed directly at her.

"After betraying the family, you sure have the nerve to be walking around here without a care in the world, Miss Simonetti. Or did the Brovinos ask you to confirm the connection between the Arcanes and the Castigliones in exchange for your life?"

The woman frowned as if everything he said was utter bullshit. "Are you sure you're pointing your gun at the right person?"

"You're the only woman who has that face," he answered. He had seen her a few times when she was spending her time in Terra di Sienna, as if she owned the place because she knew the old patriarch of the family had her back, so there was no way he'd be wrong. "Not unless you have a twin, which I'm sure you haven't."

Something glinted at the woman's eyes as if something clicked onto her mind, but Lucien ignored it.

"I might be who you think I am, but I am not what you think I am either."

Before her words could register in his mind, her foot came flying as she kicked his hand, sending the gun away from his hold. It was immediately followed by a spinning back kick which made Lucien curse because she had kicked him in the face. When the gun came to a halt on the far side, they looked at each other before attacking one another.

Lucien may have been questioning how Euphrosyne turned out to be adept at hand-to-hand combat after not seeing her for a few months, but he's more focused on taking her down because she's got a lot of things to answer. But the woman in question made sure to make it hard for him to subjugate her. She knew what she was doing and she knew exactly where to hit him, like she'd been trained exactly how to defend herself to death. Has she undergone training during these past months that she disappeared? The woman held her ground but when Lucien saw an opening, he immediately grabbed it and pinned her down on the floor, not caring whether he had hurt her in the process.

"Let go of me you - !"

"Shut up or I'll knock you out completely," Lucien warned, as he held her hands at her back with his left hand while his knee was at her back as he pulled out his phone to call Alessio, who he knew was still with Sage at the moment.

"What is it, Lucien?"

"Come down to ISR's underground parking area quickly. I have Euphrosyne with me."

Lucien didn't wait for Alessio to respond and ended the call. He pulled up Euphrosyne with him and walked her towards his car where he pulled out a nylon tie from his dashboard and tied her hands behind her.

Not a moment later, Alessio came down, his face void with emotion upon seeing her. She tried to ask for Sage's help but he only stood without a word behind Alessio, probably deciding not to get himself involved with their business, so when she saw a few people who were obviously employees of ISR, she screamed danger. Alessio glared at them with a warning and Lucien then decided to put her to sleep.

Not even a minute after inhaling the sedative, she fell unconscious in Lucien's arms.

"Is that her?" Sage finally asked when Lucien put her on the back seat. Aizen told him everything before he took a leave from work, so when she was asking him for help, he decided not to intervene.

"Yes. Re-schedule our meeting some other time. I have to deal with this."

"Oh, no need. You saw what the new system can do. I'll have our employees install the newly developed hardware into your house and company building the soonest possible time so that AVII will be able to assist you in everything you need."

"You can send my secretary all the expenses and I'll have her handle it."

"Of course."

"Then, we'll get going."

Sage subtly glanced at the sleeping woman inside and he never moved an inch until the car disappeared from his view. As he walked back towards the elevator, he decided to call his cousin Aizen, who left him to do everything without a choice.

"Sì? (Yes?)"

"Tutto è andato bene. (Everything went well.)"

"You mean, in general?"

"Yes. We'd expected much worse. Your sister overhauled the whole system of ISR without a word, which made Alessio come over all the way here so early in the morning."

Aizen had to laugh at that. "I wish I had seen his face."

"He looks fine this morning. But he looks like he's about to cover himself with blood upon seeing… his fiancée. She unexpectedly crossed paths with Lucien and everything went down from that."

"How is she?"

Sage has a knowing smile etched on his lips. "Beautiful."

"Shut up… Take care of everything while I'm away for a little while. Now that Alessio has found her, I'll need a few days off to do something. Ciao! (Bye!)"