Immaculate Spirit c1-242

by Newbiel

  "No, even if he decides to arrest me, I will not fight back. I will not hurt you or the President but I could hurt Tobias if he goes out of line, he can be kind of a dick sometimes." Nathaniel answers honestly.

  "That's the truth." Linda judged after looking at him attentively.

  "Hey!" Tobias shouted unhappily.

  "I was just saying that he was being honest, not that he was right Tobias." Linda said to placate him. The two of them knew each other for more than two decades now and they were familiar with each other. "I'm not saying that he's wrong either." She added under her breath that Nathaniel managed to pick up but was sure the others did not.

  Chapter 149: :

  After giving an amused glance to the First Lady, Nathaniel refocused on the matter at hands as it was a serious matter.

  "Why did you summon me, Mister President?"

  "I'm sure you can guess." He answers.

  "Of course I can but since we are here, it's much better to ask you about it directly."

  "What were you thinking for god sake!?" He exploded. "Do you have any idea of the number of people you kill in the last three days in your quest for revenge!?"

  "Yes, I do actually. Thirty four."

  Taken aback by this, the President's anger vanished, replaced by a multitude of others emotions like fear, disgust and a tinge of respect.

  "Why did you keep a count?" Linda asked.

  "Because I believe that every life is important, that's why. I hated to kill these people but I had no other choices. They would have caused grief and would have hurt other people if I did not."

  "There is always a choice, you just choose to kill them like the freak you are." Tobias said hotly.

  "Think what you want Tobias, I don't really care but let me remind you that you talk about this matter with the people in charge of the military and intelligence and they give you no doable answers. I find you one that resolves the situation but there is a cost to everything, I think if anyone here could relate to that, it would be you Mister President." Nathaniel said calmly.

  Hearing that, the President nodded almost absentmindedly while Tobias lost it completely.

  "You resolve shit! You frigging bomb two buildings in the Saudi Arabia capital! There were even children caught in the blast, you killed children, you piece of shit!"

  "I know Tobias." Nathaniel responded softly, emotions flickering in his blue eyes.

  "You knew?" Linda asked with an horrified expression on her face.

  "Yes, they were the two sons of Khalid Rahal, one was fifteen years old while the other had my age. I didn���t want to kill them with the rest of their family at first but I had to at the end." Nathaniel shook his head sadly.

  "Had to? Nothing can warrant the death of two teenagers!" Tobias shouted.

  Not saying anything, Nathaniel gets his laptop out of his bag and turns it on. Entering his password, He quickly found the file that he was looking for. Putting it in the desk of the President so that any one but him could watch the file, he pressed enter. For Nathaniel, he knew the content of the video as it was burned in his mind already.

  Once the video started, the President, the First Lady and Tobias could see two young people on the screen. One was a seventeen years old boy who was naked to the waist down, the other was a girl who could not be over fourteen with a torn up white dress. Her cute face was bloody and she had swollen eyes who were shut tight. The boy behind her was making a hip movement behind her that was leaving no doubt about what he was doing. From time to time he was smiling and making signs to the camera while hitting the girl even more.

  "My god…" Linda said, putting a hand in front of her mouth with an horrified expression.

  It lasted for a couple of minutes longer until the boy finished. Once it was done, he spitted on the girl before putting his pants back up.

  "Okay, I believe we see enough." The President said, clearing his throat to hide his discomfort.

  "No sir, it's not over yet." Nathaniel shook his head.

  Looking at Nathaniel for a second, the President focused his eyes back to the video where they could see the boy coming close to the camera and taking the phone from the person who was filming it before. Pointing the phone back at the girl, and another boy appears on camera. This one was looking younger than the boy from before but had similar features than him, obviously a little brother.

  Approaching the girl and taking her by her hair, he starts dragging her out of the room. Kicking her from time to time to make her move faster, they finally leave the house and appear to be in a garden. Leaving her begging on the ground, the boy leaves the line of sight of the phone before coming back with an AK47 in hands.

  "Please, don't…" Linda's voice murmured, her eyes glistening with tears.

  Straining the gun on the girl, the boy said something in arabic with a nasty smile before shooting the girl two times in the chest. The boy laughed seeing the girl on the ground and turned to his brother, exchanging a fist bump. The final image of the video ends on that scene, two boys laughing with the corpse of a girl behind them, her white dress smear with blood. At that point Linda was openly crying while the President had shining eyes, even Tobias was looking rattled.

  "The last word he said to her was 'Die, filthy bitch.'" Nathaniel said with an infinite sadness in his voice before focusing his eyes on Tobias. "Since I came here, you keep asking me how could I do everything I did, Now that you have seen this, how could I not have done this?"

  "They were still kids." He answers faintly, none of his previous anger here anymore.

  "You see what they did to that poor girl Tobias and they had fun doing it. Just what they did warrant their death on it's own but you miss something more I believe." Nathaniel turned back the laptop and froze the image on the frame where the youth was holding the gun, turning back the laptop, Nathaniel asked "Tell me what you see Tobias."

  Knowing that Nathaniel will never ask an idle question, Tobias put much more thought into his examination than he would in another case. He was quick to find what Nathaniel was talking about. The kid was holding the machine gun in the correct posture. The foot opposed to his hand put forward, the cross put on his shoulder and even his aiming was correct.

  "He was trained, it's not his first time holding a gun and definitely not the first holding that AK47."

  "You were in the Rangers for most of your life, what is the military stance on teenagers holding a gun in combat?" Nathaniel asked, closing his laptop.

  "They are to be viewed as enemy combatants, not kids." Tobias said thoughtfully, realizing something.

  "You were right to kill them, I don't even want to think about the damage they could have done if they were given the opportunity to grow." The President judged, Linda nodding in assent, not crying anymore but her eyes still red. "But you still have some explaining to do. We found out that in the Caldwell case, one of his accounts with a couple of million of dollars was empty a few hours before being taken into custody. The same happened with one of Khalid Rahal's accounts before he was found dead. Did you take that money?"

  "I did." Nathaniel answered honestly.

  "Why?" The President asked, Nathaniel did not look like he was a money grabber but he had been wrong in the past with his assessment and with Linda here, he could not lie to him.

  "Karma, I wanted to give ill gotten money to people who really needed it, like that it could serve a good purpose to counter the way they had gotten it. I can give you a list of the donations made anonymously to various orphanage and veteran centers, a couple of free clinics too. The money I took from Khalid ended up the same with an exception, a portion of it did go to the family of the girl you see in the video. That will not bring her back but that could help them in their daily life."

  "He's saying the truth." Linda said.

  "Of course I do. Honestly, I don't really care about money. I have some and if someday I need more, I can earn some easily and all of it will be legit."

  "Also the truth." Linda gave
a little smile.

  "Glad to hear it but we have still one more point to talk about." He said seriously.

  Chapter 150: :

  "I'm listening, sir." Nathaniel said respectfully.

  "Why do you want to recruit a team around you? If anything, the situation clearly shows that you were competent on your own to deal with anything that came your way. Even Tobias agrees on that part."

  "Because it's safer that way and the people I want to deal with are too powerful for me alone. I wasn't alone by the way, Amal Rockea and Scott McCornaig were with me, their help proved to be invaluable in this situation. I could not have achieved everything I did without them present with me."

  "About them, I did some research, how did you manage to become their de facto leader? You are half of their age and they still follow your order without even thinking about it. I know it's not because of the money, their profile clearly shows that much." Tobias asked.

  "This is not my place to tell, this is a question better suited for them to answer."

  "You know, I can't believe we let a man with Scott skills get away, I was thinking about enrolling him again." The President mused out loud.

  "You did not let him get away. He was dishonorably discharged without a chance to be heard by any defense committee and then lied to to crush his spirit. Don't even try to take him back Mister President or I would sue you for it and believe me, I know everything about that particular operation and how bad it ended. It could turn into a nightmare for your administration real fast."

  "Who do you think you are, threatening the President?" Tobias shouted angrily.

  "Easy Tobias, I was just testing him and he passed. Just to let you know, the person who did that in the State Department got fired. I understand putting the sake of the country before a single soldier but there is something that should not be done in terms of human decency."

  "Glad to hear it, sir. Why were you testing me?"

  "You know what I like about you beside your skills Nathaniel?"

  "No, sir." Nathaniel answers.

  "The way you talk to me. Matter of factly, you respect me and the office but you take no crap from me and you will never do something if it goes against your belief. And to top it off, you are brutally honest sometimes, it's refreshing compared to what I get here in DC."

  "I don't think brutally honest is what I would call what Nathaniel is doing." Linda interject.

  "Nathaniel, how would you go about it if you were to murders the three of us and then escape?" The President asked.

  "Sir, I don't think this is wise... " Tobias starts to say before Nathaniel starts talking.

  "Obviously Tobias is the biggest threat here so I would kill him first using the letter opener from your desk and trusting it in his throat. After that I would use the moment of you two freezing under the brutality of the attack to jump on you after taking the knife that Tobias is hiding on his left ankle. Knowing there are six commandos ready to engage when the panic button under your desk is activated, I would kill you both using the knife before you remember to press it and as silently as possible. Once done, I will take Tobias' gun and enter the side room where they are positioned and ambush them when they are the least expecting it. It will be bloody and noisy and that's why I would start a fire to engage a diversion before taking the gears of one of the SWAT teams and blend in with them using the chaos created by the fire to exit the house. I believe this plan is more likely to succeed, around seventy nine percent." Nathaniel answered thoughtfully.

  Looking back to the President, he could see that they were all staring at him with wide eyes.

  "I stand corrected." Linda said once she could talk again.

  "And from where you would get the letter opener?" Tobias asked.

  "You mean this letter opener?" Nathaniel asks, making it appear in his hand. "I took it on the desk a while back, I was playing with it until you ask"

  Seeing the paper knife in Nathaniel's hands, Tobias paled visibly. He knew how deadly Nathaniel was and thus had kept a close eye on him through the talk in case of attack. Despite that, he never saw him take it from the President's desk and play with it like he said. Thinking back on what Nathaniel had said, he realised that he could have carried out his plan. The two of them were sitting quite close and were in reach of a knife attack that could end his life before he could do anything about it. He didn't know either how the hell he knew that he had a knife on his life ankle as it was really well hidden and barely noticeable even when he was walking.

  "How did you do that?" The President asked, not even afraid. He was starting to trust that young man and he knew that if he wanted to hurt him, he could do nothing about it, even protected by Secret Service agents.

  "Well, it was when I did my movie 'Now you see me', I learned to make a couple of hand tricks and I became quite good at it. It's almost like second nature to me now." He said, making the paper opener appear and disappear from one hand to the other, making even Tobias look on admiratively. "Sorry sir, your paper opener." Nathaniel said, putting the paper knife back on the desk.

  "Thank you. I believe we are done for today as you have answered all of my questions. So far on the diplomatic side, there was no blow back to us. We receive no recrimination from the Italian government and the investigators in Saudi Arabia are leaning against another terrorist organization for the bombing of Khalid Rahal home and warehouse. You did well given the circumstance."

  "Thank you, sir. I will start recruiting my team in a few weeks."

  "It was planned for march I believe, why the rush?" The President asked, frowning.

  "Because even if I did cover my tracks well given the little time I had, there are still some trails to follow. Nothing that could point on me without doubt but enough to point on the direction of my family. It was inevitable and I decided to use that as a cautionary tale." Nathaniel explained.

  "You use that to make a statement of what happens to people trying to hurt your family. Effectively preventing people to believe it was sanctioned by this government. Brilliant." William compliment.

  "Thank you, sir but this is a double edged weapon. It will make everyone second guess it hurting us but it will also make a lot of people angry, people who have the means to strike back. I need my team up and running when they will come to protect the people close to us."

  "I see. I will help you however I can if it's come to that." The President supports.

  "We have agents posted in New York, if the need arises someday, they will be here for you to use." Tobias nodded as well.

  "Thank you, it is appreciated.��

  "Nathaniel, what do you think about eating with us and sleeping here tonight? We will arrange your transport back to New York for tomorrow morning." Linda offers with a smile.

  "I believe I would like that very much Ma'am." Nathaniel nodded with a smile.

  Chapter 151: :

  "Great, dinner will be ready soon. It would be a good occasion for you to meet the kids."

  "Are you sure?" The President asked his wife, caution written all over his face.

  "Yes, I trust him and he could be a good role model for Alexander to follow." Linda said with a furrowed eyebrow.

  They had trouble with their son for some time now and it was worsening. A few weeks ago he even got suspended for bullying one of his classmates. Despite the lecture and the punishment, he was still not listening to them anymore and was becoming insufferable for anyone near him, his little sister included.

  "William, are you sure about this? We really don't know much about Nathaniel and the little that we know is worrying." Tobias warned.

  "Linda trusts him and you know how rare it is, I will trust my wife on this and I have also a good impression of Nathaniel here so don't be worried Tobias."

  "Mister President, before we go I have something to give you." Nathaniel took a huge stack of paper and put it on his desk. "This is the personal files I took from Khalid Rahal home. Inside there is their contact in Europe, Asia and in the
Middle East. There is also shipment receipt saying to who they deliver explosive devices and in what quantity. I'm sure intelligence is going to love this."

  Nathaniel had already made a copy of these files on his computer, that was why he was giving the originals. There was also the hard drive that he took for Khalid's computer but kept for himself. Since it was encrypted, he wanted Lina to look at it before handing it over. It was not that he was not trusting the President but he was at his core the President of the United States. His job was to put the interest of the country before his own, not mentioning Nathaniel's.

  "I have a security meeting tomorrow, I will drop it on them then. I'm excited to see their faces when they are going to see the files." William smirk, he was tired of these guys arrogance and it will be fun to surprise them for a change.

  "Ok stop talking about these depressing topics, I just want a quiet, peaceful meal tonight." Linda ordered.

  "Yes Ma'am." The President and Nathaniel said at the same time, laughing a little after seeing they had the same idea at the same time making Linda shake her head in amusement.

  "Tobias, can you arrange that Nathaniel things are put in the guest bedroom?"

  "Of course Mister President." Tobias nodded, going to take Nathaniel's bag when his hand was stopped by him.

  "Mister President, I did nine hours in a plane followed by two in a chopper to get here. I would very much like a shower before dinner."

  "Of course, sorry to have forgotten that. Tobias will lead you to your bedroom, inside will be everything you need to shower." Linda said.

  "I have everything with me already but thank you Ma'am."

  "Stop with the Ma'am, just call me Linda for the rest of the evening, please. I will make sure dinner is ready in half an hour, is this okay with you?"

  "It's perfect Linda."

  Following Tobias out of the room and after exchanging a couple of words with Judith, Nathaniel was led to the residence and into one of the bedrooms on the first floor. He was not surprised that Tobias chose to assign him the bedroom that was the farest away from the President family quarter.