13

Aiden felt terrible. He had not only failed to convince the colonel but has also allowed her to cause both of them to lose their professionalism. Although the moment felt good, what came after wasn’t. Aiden reflected on what happened back in his office and still could not believe he had just allowed the colonel to show a public display of affection. The more Aiden thought about it, the more bummed up he became, and the more cynical as well. The colonel and Aiden had always kept their distance. Although Aiden secretly liked the colonel, he wasn’t sure that the colonel had the same affections towards him. Things seemed all to perfect when she grabbed him and they kissed, it seemed that there must have been something else. Perhaps the colonel has just simply manipulated him, and wanted to ensure that he would not ruin her plans as it became clear that he would not take part in them. Aiden’s heart ached at such a thought, and he decided to put it aside. For now, he will presume that the colonel’s affection was real, both for his own sake, and also because it does not change the current situation. Whatever the colonel was going to do, Aiden cannot bring himself to harm her.

However, that conclusion left little to do, and Aiden tried to think of another way. He decided that he and Liam had a single of action which can hopefully both secure the TAC IIs and not put Elizabeth, George, and Lucas in danger. The first was for Liam himself to simply suggest a security upgrade, targeted and possible actions which Elizabeth and her crew may aim to do. The colonel would know that Aiden tipped Liam off, but there is nothing she can do and Aiden would not have actively placed her in harm’s way, but rather hopefully deter her from her actions. Aiden thought about making a threat call to the company in an attempt to boost their security but realized that since Bureogis received hundreds of terrorist calls every day, one single call was not going to make a difference.

Content that he had something to do he packed his laptop and thought about leaving. However, he thought that it may be a little bit suspicious for him to simply come to the company, talked to Elizabeth, and then leave. He wasn’t sure if he was monitored, but having monitored company employees himself, Aiden did not want to take chances. As a result, Aiden took his laptop out and checked his schedule. He observed that he was supposed to have one hour of physical training, two hours of skydiving practice, and one hour of tactical training with the fire team after the three hours of shooting practice which he missed. The last one and a half hour of his day would be for getting familiar with the new generation of grappling hooks developed by Bureogis weapon engineers, which his team would be using for their mission. Satisfied that he would at least be doing things which he is familiar with, Aiden left his office and took the lift underground to the BSF training compound.

Aiden was dog-tired when the day was over, as he and his fire team was every time he had a day of actual training instead of planning, which were more than eighty percent of their time. Aiden bid his team farewell as he stepped into Liam’s mag-mobile which he parked directly outside the company’s gate under the spot usually reserved for the lead engineer. Some his team looked astonished, and many of them did not know that his brother was the head of the department of engineering for the entire corporation. In fact, most people he working with did not know, except for the officers who had access to company personnel files. Aiden wasn’t one to use connections to be advantaged usually, although his recent experiences, especially his firing, has led him to question how much an individual can actually do. Perhaps success is not just about individual effort, but also privileges, birth, connections, and a bit of luck. He sighed as he realized he was still drenched in sweat from the intense wall-climbing exercise that he and the team did with the grappling hooks. Liam wasn’t going to appreciate the temporary smell or the stains, but at least his brother can hire someone to clean the car afterward. At the moment, Aiden was too tired to care, and he took a nap while the mag-mobile drove by itself.

Aiden woke up half an hour later when the mag-mobile stopped. However, due to his fatigue, he has forgotten to set the location to his apartment but has instead arrived at the default location which was Liam apartment. Aiden decided that since he was here anyway, he might as well brief his brother on his failure to convince Elizabeth to stop her plan, his team’s exact plans on assassinating the professor, and the further course of actions that he and Liam had available. In fact, thinking about it, Aiden realized that he really had a lot of important tasks to get through, and really not a lot of time.

Aiden knocked on his brother’s door and was accepted in.

“Not good,” Liam said as soon as Aiden entered the room.

“What’s not good?” Aiden asked, wanting clarification.

“I looked over the entire net, but I can’t seem to be finding a comprehensive line of logic for Mr. Owhn’s theory. Although I do seem to see where he is getting at. It seems that the idea of justice is founded on fairness, and if we can get a better understanding, perhaps we could convince the TAC IIs in time for their announcement of policies.” Liam explained.

“Well, that is problematic isn’t it,” Aiden said, rhetorically. “Well, I got more bad news. Seems Elizabeth wasn’t convinced that we have a better way, and also, my team seems awfully prepared to take the professor down. From my briefings, it would seem that I would be needing to leave with them on Wednesday. For the Elizabeth problem, I guess you could try to tighten security, hopefully without putting her in danger.”

Liam peeked from his desk, from behind his screen and said: “Well, you have feelings for her don’t you?” It wasn’t a question, and Aiden was tremendously irritated by his brother’s perceptiveness, and by that smug look on his face. He didn’t say anything, and Liam took that as a yes.

“Ok, no problem, I will see what I can do. Now to the professor. If our plan is to work, then I guess the only way for us is to actually go and meet the man, before his dies of course. I thought about it, and since you are being fired anyway, perhaps you can quit your job and we can take a flight to Paris. Yes, it is going to look very suspicious, and I probably would not be able to keep my position. But, I got more than enough savings to support all of us for multiple lifetimes. Anyways, if we do pull this off, personal finance should be the least of our worries.”

Aiden thought that the plan was overly simple, and now actually considered the tremendous risk involved with their actions which will certainly not only anger the greatest corporation on Earth, but perhaps the entire establishment. If they were actually going to do this, then they need allies, and they needed to keep their family safe.

It was as if Liam could see what Aiden was thinking when he said “Oh yeah, few more things. I’ve been busy today and I have talked to the leader of the HLF thought some of my … less known assets. Anyways, we will be sneaking into the dark zone tonight to meet Ms. Rosa Ristenel herself. As for mom and dad who we’d obviously want to keep out of this mess, I have arranged for them to live in the castle of someone I really trust all the way up in Scotland, so their safety should not be a big problem. I have arranged their transport to the airport via sky-mobiles with some of my private security team today. I told the team that it’s a vacation for the old couple, to not raise any unnecessary suspicion for now. So really, we are all set to get this thing started.”

Aiden saw that Liam has already covered pretty much everything that he thought of when he was at work, and once again appreciated his brother’s ability to think ahead. He asked his brother if there was anything else that he needed to do, and Liam simply said that Aiden needed to message that company that he got a broken ankle or something and will not be able to attend his mission. Bureogis administrators will proclaim Aiden to be fired on the spot to save wages, and hopefully, no suspicion would be raised. In addition, Liam told Aiden to pack up anything he needed from his apartment, as it was almost sure that when Bureogis found out who tempered with the TAC IIs, Liam and Aiden would be targeted by the BSF. Finally, Liam told Aiden to scout the old subway system that they use to use to go to the dark zone undetected and to make sure that it was still clear. Aiden responded that he understood everything he needed to do, and left Liam’s apartment to his own.