Immaculate Spirit c1-242

by Newbiel

  "I have some thoughts about that subject but before I share them, I need information about your mission here. What was your mission for the Saudi's exactly?"

  "It was pretty straightforward. Infiltrate the company to snoop around and in the case I find no intel on the people who enter the country using the company jet, I need to lure one or more members of your family into an abandoned building where a team of 'investigators' is ready to interrogate them." She said.

  "Where and how many people exactly?" A plan starting to form in his mind.

  "A standard interrogating team, five people at most but extremely well trained and the drop off is in a dockyard fifteen miles away from here."

  "Alright, this is what we are going to do." Nathaniel starts to say before explaining his plan to her.

  "When did you come up with this?" She asked once he was done, looking at him with renewed respect in her eyes.

  "Since the moment I learned that you and Marc had a son." He answers before putting the gun he took from her earlier on the desk, the handle facing her. "So, what do you think about it, Ivania? One last mission before retiring?" He asked, giving her a smile.

  "You would really trust me with a gun by your side?" She asked, looking at him like he was crazy.

  "You are a pragmatic woman Ivania and right now I'm more useful to you alive than dead. I will trust that about you at least. Not mentioning the fact that I'm also the only one who wants to help you on this planet."

  "I'll do it but I'm warning you, I will not wait for you so you better keep up with me or you will be left behind." She finally said, taking her gun back.

  Laughing, Nathaniel nodded his head before a beeping sound coming from his computer made him turn his head to his screen. Looking at it, his expression turned grave the more he looked at the information displayed by the screen. Getting to his feet, Nathaniel shouts out loud.

  "LINA!"

  The door of his office opened almost immediately, Scott seemingly taking upon himself to guard him in case of danger, his gun aimed right at Ivania. Waving to the ground in Scott's direction, Nathaniel made it clear that there was no immediate danger. Running, Lina appears on the door frame.

  "What's going on?" She asked.

  "Call everyone and if they don't pick up, track them down and bring them here ASAP." Nathaniel said before turning back to Scott. "This is happening."

  Understanding immediately what Nathaniel was talking about, the face of Scott turned as solemn as his own a few moments ago.

  Chapter 190: :

  "On it!" Lina shouted before running back to her desk.

  "Nathaniel, we talked about this, they are not ready." Scott said, shaking his head.

  "I know that and this is why I'm going to explain everything to them. I'm not going to sugarcoat the risk involved in this operation. If someone doesn't feel like it's worth it, he or she will stay here without repercussion."

  Not really convinced by this, Scott still nodded before closing the door and leaving them alone once again.

  "Do I want to know?" Ivania asked, raising an eyebrow.

  "No, this isn't your life anymore Ivania and this isn't concerning you. In the meantime, tell me everything you have on the Saudi's assets overseas."

  It took one hour to have the whole team in the bunker, Scott having to go to Hans appartement to get him. He had fallen asleep the second his head had touched the pillows and almost had a heart attack when he was roused from his sleep by a displeased Scott.

  "First of all, I'm sorry to take your leave away but as you can guess, this is important. Are you all familiar with the China one child policy?" Nathaniel asked looking around the table.

  Seeing only a couple of hands raised, he sighed internally before moving on to explaining it to everybody.

  "China one child policy was part of a child birthing program designed to control the size of it's growing population. Implemented in 1979, it was then modified later to become a two child policy but at that point the harm was already done. Considering the culture of family and clan in China and the need to have a male heir to continue a family line and you starting to understand the problem that the country is facing. In 2012, there was a shortage of more than twenty millions women compared to their male counterparts and that gap is widening more each year."

  Taking a break to make sure that everyone was following, he then continued.

  "Rural zone are especially impacted by this discrepancy and that created a market than everyone with a logical mind could have predicted: Slavery. Women are being kidnapped, drugged and then sold in China to be married. Just in Yunnan province, we estimate that more than fifty thousand women have been sold, all coming from the neighbouring country, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thaïland and Myanmar and this is where we are coming." Nathaniel said before sending a file to the big screen displaying the face of a man.

  "This is Wunna Thant. Ex colonel in the Myanmar army, he and some of his mens turn rogue two years ago and have been involved in the slavery market ever since. They established a stronghold in the mountain at the frontier with China and have used it to snuggle women into the country without being worried by custom checks."

  "How the hell is he getting away with that? Why is nobody stopping them? It's slavery for god sake!" Lina asked, pissed off.

  "He's clever and knows who to pay on both sides of the border to be left alone."

  "You say that they were doing that for two years, what changed for you to call us?" Lucie asked, her face way too more composed to be natural.

  "Good question." Nathaniel nodded in her direction before starting a poor quality video taken from a cell phone showing multiple houses burning. "Four hours ago a little village twenty miles away from the stronghold was attacked. All the houses were burned and the residents got executed but to one exception, no women's could be found among the dead except the one who were past fifty's and those that were younger than five years old."

  "Why did they kill the young and the old but take the others?" Hans asked, his eyes glued to the screen.

  "They are selling less." The cold voice of Ivania startled everyone except Nathaniel who was aware that she was eavesdropping. "The younger ones on the other hand need more resources, time and knowledge to take care of them before being sold, things that they don't seem to have or they just don't care. Considering that their market is selling women to serve as wife and later mother, I'm leaning to the second option."

  Hearing that, the whole team had various emotions on their face, the majority being anger and disgust. Na-Yung, Hans and Jon look at Ivania with curiosity while the others were clearly displeased to see her sneak in here.

  "Ivania, I told you to wait for me in my office." Nathaniel said, frowning at her.

  "I was curious and you knew I was there to begin with so stop pretending." She remarked cooly.

  Smiling slightly at her antics, Nathaniel got back on topic.

  "She has no concept of boundaries but she's right. That was not the whole reason of course, by killing everyone like that they send a powerful message to the other villages nearby which is: 'Accept all of our demands or this will happen to you too.' Cruel, ruthless but depressingly effective nonetheless and this is why we need to stop them."

  "You say stop them but do you know how many people we will be facing?" Jon asked.

  "This is where it gets complicated." Nathaniel answers, looking for a second at Scott before focusing back on Jon. "The reports are sketchy in that regard but the lower estimation put their numbers at twenty mens, the highest is fifty, all with poor military training."

  "Fifty?" Hans stutters, looking at the others. "We are eight! We can't take on fifty men, especially when they are entrenched and at the other end of the world!"

  "I know that Hans, that is why this mission is not mandatory, you can opt out if you think you can't do it. I will not lie to you, it will be extremely dangerous and in a country we should not be in. If you are taken, there will be no rescue mission, you will be tortured and
killed and that is in the best case. You are a majority of womens in this room, I don't think I need to tell you what the risks are for you, considering why I want to hit them in the first place." He said with gravity making eye contact with everyone.

  Waiting for a minute for that to sink in, Nathaniel saw Lina was going to say something looking afraid but resolute.

  "I know what you are going to say Lina and I refused, you and Hans are excluded from this mission, you are way too green for something of that scale, you will provide support from afar. Now, Na-Yung, Camilla, Jon, Scott and Lucie, I'm going to need an answer from you." Nathaniel said.

  He knew that time was short, in the past the womens that he took were always sold in a seventy two hours period after that. Albeit it would not be surprising that this time he took longer considering the amount that he took far exceeded the normal, Nathaniel was not willing to bet on it. For Lina and Hans it was an easy decision, they had never been in the field before and taking them would be a liability more than anything in this situation. They also never used their gun on a living person before and it was not a place where you could afford to doubt, especially considering the odds were already stacked against them.

  "If we all refuse, would you go alone?" Lucie asked.

  "Oh, that's a good question, I like this girl." Ivania remarks offhandedly smiling at Lucie who grimaces in answers.

  "Yes." Nathaniel answers honestly, ignoring Ivania intervention entirely.

  "Nathaniel, you are the most skilled person I have ever met but even for you this is insanity." Jon said.

  "Maybe it is but people need help and I'm going to provide it. I waited too long already to do something about this situation, I will not wait any longer but I'm not forcing you guys, this is all voluntary. I will not hold it against you if you choose to opt out of it, quite the contrary in fact."

  Nodding, they were all pondering what to answer when Lucie gave her answers.

  "I'll go with you." She said slowly in a calm tone.

  "Me too." Scott added, he was the one who was aware of that mission the longest as it was in the file that Nathaniel brought when he visited him at the hospital months ago.

  "There is no way I'm sitting this mission out if even the frenchie is going! I'm in too!" Camilla shouts, frowning in Lucie's direction who just gives her an amused smile in response.

  "F*ck it! I'm going too! You are going to need a medic if you hope to come home alive." Jon said.

  "Where you go, I'll go." Na-Yung finally said after being uncharacteristically quiet up until now. "Can we know who that woman is exactly? Lina told us about what happened earlier but we still don't know who she is and why she's here."

  Chapter 190

  Watching a commercial Boeing lifting off the tarmac, two people were in the shadow, way outside of an ordinary area accessible to the public. The two stay in silence until the Boeing becomes a dot of light in the dark sky.

  "Do you really think this is going to work?" A female voice asked.

  "A little late to ask about that Ivania." Nathaniel answered in an amused tone.

  "You know what I'm talking about." She responded, annoyed.

  "I do but this is not on our hands anymore. We just have to wait and see what their reaction is going to be. Moreover this is not your concern anymore, your involvement in this whole affair just ended."

  "What am I supposed to do now? Just hope that you will uphold our agreement and go back home waiting for my death?" She said, her hand grasping a gun behind her back.

  She was expecting to be betrayed the second that they took care of the interrogation team sent by Saudi Arabia but so far Nathaniel had not made a move in her direction which made her feel weird. He was not doing what she was expecting and that was a cause of concern considering that she always managed to guess what was in people mind and that was a huge reason why she was still breathing today. But now she was confronted by a kid half her age that she could not figure out and who had an uncomfortable hold on her life and her future.

  "Ivania, why in your opinion did I bring you to the bunker, why did I let you listen to our briefing for our next mission?"

  "Because you are an arrogant moron?"

  Nathaniel finally stops looking at the dot of light in the sky and faces her, patiently waiting for her to say something more. With that look, she started thinking deeper at the meaning of what he did. It took her a minute to figure it out and when she did she could not contain her surprise.

  "You… you give me something that I could use against you to give me power over you. You knew I would never accept being controlled by someone else and so you made sure that we could stand as equal, you create a situation of mutual destruction if one of us goes against the other." She said, a hint of awe creeping in her voice.

  "Indeed."

  "You know, you remind me a lot about him. Marc. Not physically of course, you look nothing like him but you have a lot of his mannerism and expression. Even the way you fight looks a lot like his. You have a fighting experience beyond your years." She added, looking intensely at him.

  "I'm not really surprised, Marc was a good man and if it was not for him, I wouldn't be here right now. I owe him a lot." Nathaniel said honestly.

  "That sounds like an interesting story."

  "It is, I will tell you about it someday."

  "Anyway, what are you trying to do with that team of yours? An excuse to find a harem full of beautiful girls?" She asked with a cheeky smile.

  "An harem? Where is that coming from? No, I just wanted people with specific skills and potential. I didn't care about their gender to be honest with you." Nathaniel laughed.

  "So that's just a coincidence that the four womens in your team are all hot? Even the computer girl is kinda cute."

  "Kinda yeah."

  "Well, we will see how it goes for you but you realize that the most likely outcome of your little team is that you will end up all dead. You know that, right?" She said, lifting an eyebrow.

  "I know the risk and I know the odds are against us but it never stopped me before and it will not stop me now."

  "You are a fool but after all you are an american, your country was essentially builded by fools. I still hope you come back alive though, you are entertaining and you are a puzzle I can't wait to crack." She said, giving him a predatory smile that gave him the chill.

  "Don't fret about it, I'm way too stubborn to die. I'm trusting you to achieve the last part of the mission alone?" He asked.

  "I was already doing this when you were still sucking on your mother tits, you should start treating me with more respect."

  "Yeaahhhh in the future, a simple yes will suffice Ivania. Until then, stay out of trouble. We will see each other again when I come back." He answered dryly.

  Ivania was going to strip him of a new one for the way that he was talking to her when a sudden noise made her turn her head away. Focusing her attention in the direction where the noise came from, she finally concluded that there was nothing. Turning back to Nathaniel, she quickly found out that he was not longer there and no sign of him could be found to determine where he was.

  "I can't believe I fall for that." She whispered quietly, shaking her head. "You better live you fu**ing brat, I'm not done with you!" She shouted to the darkness before walking away.

  Hearing her shout, Nathaniel let out a chuckle from where he was before continuing to run to the hangar where his team was currently embarking into a military plane. Seeing someone coming, Scott flanked by Camilla put their hands on their guns before putting them away after recognizing that it was him.

  "Everything is ready guys?"

  "Yes, everything is loaded and our flight plan has been validated. We're ready to go." Camille answers succinctly.

  "Did the pilot ask anything suspicious about us?" Nathaniel inquired.

  "No, they are professionals and they received strict orders to drop us off where we need to go and then forget our existence entirely." Scott responded.

/>   "Good but secrecy is always a double edged sword. We will have anonymity but we will also be alone, there will be no rescue mission, no negotiation for our release and no support from anyone beside ourselves. Let's go." Nathaniel said.

  "We know that. Put this on before we go inside the plane." Scott said before giving to Nathaniel a hood and a face mask.

  Contrary to the others, Nathaniel had a very recognizable face and could not be seen by everyone here tonight. Even if the pilots were trustworthy, they would still become curious when they will see the young pop star and actor Nathaniel Lyndon using a military plane to go on the other side of the Earth in what appears to be a classified mission.

  "Thanks Scott." Nathaniel said before putting on the hood and the black face mask. "Lead the way."

  Upon entering the cargo bay, the pilot eyes flicker to him for a second before going back doing his preflight check, seemingly unconcerned. Nodding to his team, he took place in one of the seats and strapped himself, the door of the hold slowly closing after Scott told the pilot that they were ready to go. Fifteen minutes later when the plane was leaving behind New-York, Nathaniel closed his eyes.

  ******

  Saudi Arabia, Riyadh. 02/02/2013. 19:55.

  located downtown, an old but well maintained five stories building was the siege of the Department of Agriculture, or so everyone thought. Even if the first two floors were indeed depending on the Agriculture department, the three top floors were not. In fact, they had nothing to do with Agriculture at all. These three floors and the two underground level that do not appear on any map were the unofficial Al-Istikhbārāt Al A'amah headquarter, the secret agency of Saudi Arabia.

  Inside his office on the fifth floor of the building, the head of the organisation, Khan Al-Maslah, was busy reading the situation report. Despite the era of the internet, Khan was old school and so preferred to use hard paper to look at the ton of information coming to his desk every day. That was his job to know what was happening in the world for him to brief the king and the prince.