Temporary Alliance

Chapter 36 : Conclusion

I walked towards the conference room that I was told the meeting regarding the situation about Efren was going to be held. As I reached the room door, I saw Alexander approach.

"Wait," he commanded while walking briskly towards me.

I frowned at him as he stood in front of me. "What?"

Alexander opened his mouth as if he wanted say something, but stopped himself and frowned back at me, matching my expression.

He sighed and reached for my hand, lacing them tightly together.

"Something wrong?" I asked him quietly and he shook his head.

Finding his behaviour odd, I opened the door with my left hand since my right hand was tightly in his, and saw that both of Alexander's parents were standing in the room along with Emmaline and Victor. Then I saw her. Cadence was also standing in the room with an unknown female agent standing next to her. She met my gaze for a second before looking away.

Alexander squeezed my hand and nudged me inside the room when I realized that I stopped moving.

"Shall we get the meeting started?" Mrs. Blades nodded towards us as we approached the table.

I walked towards the table with Alexander following right behind me.

"We found him," Mrs. Blades started. "But getting him is trickier than I thought. Efren had been hiding in a remote double story home provided by one of the people that worked with him in the past according to the list that we got from Cadence. He moved there recently, only a forty-five-minute drive from one of the weapons facilities." She looked over at Cadence.

Cadence started to speak as she pointed to a certain area on the map projected on the wall. "I was able to take a look at the satellite images of the place and I remembered hearing about the place. The full two-hundred-meter radius around this place has sensors around the perimeter and inside. If anyone were to step a foot in that radius, Efren will know. It gets electricity by a power box and the best way would be to destroy the box first then go in. There are underground pathways and they are set to close immediately after someone enters so if Efren succeeds in entering, we'll lose him for good since there's no way to tell where they lead."

"Do you know where the power box is located?" Mrs. Blades brought up.

Cadence's expression turned grave. "In the ground, not too deep though. The exact location is on the drive I handed to you. Efren kept track of these things electronically." She pointed to a spot on the map in front of us. "Approximately here, close to the back porch."

Her eyes strayed to me as she finished.

"I'll go find a special unit with a sniper and get a weapon." Victor spoke up in the silence.

"Let's do that first. After we get a team together, we'll figure out the logistics," Mr. Blades started.

Cadence frowned slightly at me as I took a glance at her and I sighed slightly to myself.

Mr. Blades and Victor were discussing while I looked over at Alexander.

There was a softness in his gaze and I knew that he understood my reluctance to speak aloud.

I firmly shut my eyes closed as the fear of failure laid heavy in my heart. Alexander's fingers brushed against mine and he soon laced his fingers against mine. I squeezed his hand as I felt his warm support.

"I have a rifle strong enough."

Everyone in the room stopped talking and stared at me.

"Should I ask from where?" Mrs. Blades eyed me curiously.