In the side yard, Major General Randy Westwood was grilling two large tomahawk cuts. As Vex and Bob came over in casual steps, he welcomed them with a wide smile.

“Sake, gentlemen?” Major General Randy said as he pointed a porcelain jug near the fire.

“That will be nice.” Wasting no time, Vex pour the warm sake into two cups. Then, as he handed over one of the cups for Bob, he said, “And this is Bob.”

“Nice to meet you, Bob.” Andrew Fox had sent Bob’s profile to Major General Randy. Therefore, he knew about Bob to some extent. “Before you, Vex never had any assistant. You must be very capable if he hired you.”

In a tone full of respect Bob replied, “You are too kind with your words, General, Sir.”

“Trust me Bob. Vex’s is very picky about his men.”

Bob smiled before replying, “I absolutely agree.”

One short conversation and Major General Randy had found that Bob attitude was very pleasant. The young man didn’t try to flatter him or impress him with his ability, but he clearly had a good amount of confidence in his eyes.

Major General Randy then turned his gaze towards Vex. “I had tried to contact you with every mean I have. I even sent my men to track you, but you just disappear like last time you did it in Louisiana.”

“Sorry about that. A complicated circumstance put me in a total cut off.”

“Well,” Major General Randy wanted to know more about Vex’s circumstance, but he managed to hold back his curiosity. “As now you take your time to meet me, I believed you had read my messages.”

“I had. A few weeks ago,” Vex calmly replied.

“I can do nothing about delay in your procurement, but I can guarantee you will get your items in full.”

“What is your plan?”

“My replacement is an idiot, and he had already made a few fatal mistakes for army and air force. My colleagues have initiates a plan to replace him with someone I know very well. In two months, we can continue our deal.”

“Well, I’m truly curious. Can you tell me who kicked you out of your office?”

“Just a group of clowns who got a lucky shot.”

“And yet they managed to neutralize your strong supporter in Pentagon, White House, and arms industry.”

“Honestly,” Major General Randy took a deep breath before continuing, “It also surprised me. I mean, they just a bunch of sideshow who I refused when asking for some projects.”

I believe a small group of strong figures exploit the event to kick me. However, to this moment I haven’t found the detail.”

“What if I have a sure way to put you back into your office?”

After contemplating for a while Major General Randy said, “I never imagined this scenario. So, to be honest I don’t know how to answer it.”

Vex checked his watch before saying, “You have ten minutes to think about it.”

In an instant a big question mark popped up in Major General Randy’s forehead, “Ten minutes for what?”

“In ten minutes, someone from White House will call and offer you your old position.”

“Nice joke, but it’s--” Major General Randy couldn’t finish his words after seeing the seriousness in Vex’s gaze.

And exactly ten minutes later, Major General Randy’s smartphone rang. After a short conversation, he then gave Vex a deep and complicated gaze for a long time.

“Vex, if you has power to put me back into my office, my replacement will not become a trouble for your procurement. So, why do you choose me instead of him?”

“I don’t trust him,” Vex casually replied.

“I see.” As he put one of the tomahawks cut into chopping board and cut it into pieces, Major General Randy continued, “I had promise my wife that I will retire and help her manage Mount Fairy. She will very angry if I return to Pentagon, but become a farmer is not my thing.”

“Good. I had put additional purchase on Andrew. After you return to your office, we will talk about it.” Vex then smiled for a while before continuing, “As for now, allow me to reintroduce my employer.”

“Your employer?” A big question mark immediately popped up in Major General Randy’s forehead.

“Bob is my employer. He is the biggest investor for Amethyst Security Group and Mekar Corporation.”

“I see.” After calming the great shock that shook his heart, Major General Randy immediately said, “I believe Andrew doesn’t know about this.”

“No, he didn’t.”

After taking a few deep breaths Major General Randy turned his gaze towards Bob. “Mr. Bob, I’m sorry if I had offended you in any way. My knowledge about you is based on Andrew’s knowledge.”

In a calm tone Bob replied, “General, no worry, you hadn’t offended me in any way.”

“Glad to hear that.” After heaving a sigh of relieve, Major General Randy then asked, “Mr. Bob, can you tell me how you pull the strings to put me back into my office?

My colleagues are deadly curious about who had helped me from the shadow.”

“General,” Bob put a piece of grilled meat into his mouth before continuing, “My influence is not big actually. It’s just that, recently, Mekar Corporation had found new type of crude oil, along with some minerals reserve. It helps me a lot in the talk with Big Players from the State.”

In an instant a big question mark popped up on Major General Randy’s forehead, “New type of crude oil and some minerals reserves?”

“Yes, Mekar Corporation will carry initial process in Central African Federation before sending it to the State and other allied countries for further process?”

“I can understand for the oil, but for the raw minerals, why don’t you sending it to Japan? They have best tech and efficiency to process raw mineral, and we have a deep connection in this industry with them.”

“Mekar Corporation use Japanese tech, but we need a fully new production line for this new discovered mineral reserve. So, I chose our facilities in Central African Federation.”

“Well, seeing how you can put me back into my office, I believe Big Players from our country agree with your choice.”

“Sort of,” Bob cheerfully replied.

As Major General Randy and Bob talked about a lot of things, Vex was busy enjoying the grilled meats. Now, Bob would supervise first and second purchase with Major General Randy and Andrew fox. Meanwhile, Admiral Reed would handle the shipment of Amphibious Strike Group and naval industrial complex.

As for Vex, he and Juan Cohen would handle the shipment of military industrial complex to Amstell Continent. Of course, once for a while Vex would also check on the other shipments.

---

In the Middle District of Baltimore, a few kilometers from inner harbor, a nice looking two-story house stood happily. It was indeed a small house, but it stood in the business and commercial district where residential opportunity was limited and astronomically expensive. Moreover, this small house had a good size of front and backyard. Yumiko managed to buy this house six months ago, just after her company made a good deal with a wine maker from France.

Of course, money alone would not enough to bag the house. It was Claire who secretly pushed the dealer so he agreed to sell it to Yumiko.

Like any other Saturday morning, Yumiko and her second husband were still fast asleep. The two were hardworking couple who spent their week day as productive as possible, and then they would rest their body in the weekend as much as possible.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen Nicole was busy preparing breakfast. After swiftly tied her long golden hair, she then made two glass of warm strawberry milk and handed over one of it to her three-year old step brother.

As she gently wiped out the white line on her step brother lips, Nicole asked, “Timmy, what do you want for breakfast?”

“Curry rice,” Timmy cheerfully replied.

“Timmy, that’s too much work for Saturday morning.” Nicole took a sip of her strawberry milk before saying, “We will have no time to watch morning anime.”

After pondering for a while, Little Timmy said, “Toast for breakfast and curry rice for lunch.”

Basically, Nicole would pamper her step brother as much as she could, so she immediately agreed. “Okie, and I will add chicken cutlet to our curry rice.”

“Big Sis is the best.”

Seeing her step brother looked at her with sparkling eyes, Nicole immediately cupped his cheek, “Of course I’m.”

Wasting no time, Nicole then swiftly cut six thin pieces of loaf, spread the butter over it, sprinkle granulate sugar, and then lightly toast it using frying pan. Nicole preferred this method compared to use toaster. It was an old school method that Vex’s usually used.

Before long, Nicole had toasted all the loaf. She then cut each toast diagonally before put it in a plate. After that, she and Little Timmy enjoyed it while watching their favorite anime.

After happily took a bite on his crispy toast, Little Timmy said, “Big Sis’s toast is the best.”

“I know.”

Nicole happily replied as she recalled a memory when Vex made a similar toast for her. However, it was memory from a decade ago, when she was in kindergarten and it became blurrier every time she recalled it.

“It’s a secret technique from my father,” Nicole happily said.

As he munching his second toast Little Timmy said, “Big Sis, isn’t your father is a bad guy?”

“I still can’t forgive him for what he did to Lily.” A sense of pain gripped Nicole’s heart as she recalled how Vex slammed Lilly to the wall and then shot her as she was struggling to get up to her feet. It’s took a while before Nicole heaving a deep sigh and continued, “But he still my father and I think it’s time for me to meet with him.”

“Mom said you will meet him in a few days.”

“Yeah.”

“Can’t I come along? If he wants to hurt you, we can fight him together.”

Little Timmy said in a determined tone, but it looked so cute, and Nicole can’t hold back her urge to tussle his lightly brown hair.

“I will go with Mom, so everything will be alright.”

Little Timmy was disappointed, but he didn’t want to argue with her beloved Big Sis. So he only nodded and said, “Okay.”

Unknown by the two siblings, Yumiko actually stood behind the corner before the living room. She listened to the conversation of her two children while drowning in complicated emotion.

For almost 18 months after their last meeting, Vex never opened the emails she sent. It was only around six weeks ago when he opened them in one go. For Yumiko, it wouldn’t matter if Vex opened Nicole’s picture she sent or not. She would just keep sending it as part of her deal with him.

However, three months ago, Nicole suddenly asked her if she heard any news about Vex. After she told her about their last meeting, Nicole then asked Yumiko to bring her if she would meet with Vex again.

Therefore, as soon as Vex opened her email, Yumiko immediately told Nicole that she would bring her to meet With Vex soon, but she didn’t know the exact date because Vex’s hadn’t answer her email yet.

Then, yesterday afternoon, a lawyer from the most expensive firm in US of A suddenly visited Yumiko in her office. He came over to deliver Vex’s dead certificate and the wealth he left behind for Nicole. It stated that Vex died in an aircraft accident. His plane crash in the middle of Atlantic Ocean in return flight from London and his body was not recovered. Coincidentally, the accident took place a few minutes after Vex opened her emails.

And now, Yumiko didn’t know how to tell Nicole that his father had gone forever. She could only heaving a deep sigh repeatedly as she found out that Nicole was truly expecting her meeting with his father.

‘Damn you Vex!! How dare you to make Nicole losing you twice.’

*****