Chapter 1083: The President’s Daughter (9)
Chapter 1083: The President’s Daughter (9)
"Master, we have a situation," the Chimaeric Demon driver said. Erik noticed a slight tint of apprehension in his clone's voice. It was clear something worrying was happening. "We've just received word that the blackguards are moving."
Erik cursed under his breath.
"Moving? Why?"
"We don't know it yet, master, but they are creating blockades on all the streets, and a lot of patrolling flying cars belonging to them have been seen flying over Sleb Harbour."
"FUCK!"
Mia Turke, the president's daughter, was still waking up from the anesthetic. She could hear people talking around her, but her mind was still foggy.
She heard what Erik Romano and his driver said. Yet, despite the serious situation, they didn't seem worried. This confused her.
Mia looked at Erik through half-open eyes. He seemed calm, with only a hint of frustration on his face.
This surprised her, given how dangerous their situation was. The blackguards, the most powerful organization in the world, the strongest people in the world, were closing in on them, but Erik acted like it wasn't a big deal.
The blackguards were very powerful, but Erik seemed unbothered, to the point of making the woman think he was very foolish, extremely confident, or, of course, just crazy.
What Mia didn't know was that Erik's calm appearance hid his racing thoughts. He wasn't worried about fighting the blackguards. Their military prowess was the last of his problems. Instead, he was worried they might know about his kidnapping.
Erik knew that if the blackguards had found out about the kidnapping, it could ruin everything he had planned.
"Deploy our reserves, and make all those at the airport leave right now," Erik said. "I want you to find out why the blackguards are moving. Be prepared for a fight."
"Yes, master."
The Chimaeric Demon started reaching his brothers. However, he closed the window that separated the driving seat from the passenger ones so that Mia wouldn't be able to listen.
As the internal window closed, Erik leaned back, his eyes closed.
<What the fuck is happening?>
Erik suddenly realized something.
<Maybe...>
The blackguards were not stupid, and everything they did couldn't be just random.
<They might know about my plan.>
He thought about it more: they knew he was in Hin, that was for sure. After months of them knowing he reached their shores, it was clear the most likely place for him to be was their capital city.
There was just a problem. If the blackguards were really getting ready for something, it might mean that Mia's travels to different countries were just a trick.
It could have been a trap, planned to make him come out of hiding. This made Erik feel both impressed by their cleverness and angry that he might have fallen for it.
But there was no way to find out the truth. The blackguards might have just reached Sleb Harbour and started a thorough search. That happened when he kidnapped Mia; it could have been a coincidence.
But Erik didn't believe in coincidences. The fact they didn't find information about Salena Turke was proof enough that they knew he was going to do something to find the woman. Maybe Mia was the only target he could find because the blackguards wanted it to be that way. In truth, that was a little scary, even for Erik, who prided himself on being highly intelligent. Yet, if his assumption was right, he had just been played by the worst motherfuckers on the planet.
<Fuck... Those ugly bastards are hell bent on getting the biological supercomputer, uh?> However, Erik wasn't totally convinced of his theory, or better, he didn't want to believe he was actually right, because if he was, it meant there was some scarily intelligent dude out there who, without certain information, devised a ploy to make Erik get out of his hiding. <They haven't found out we replaced the president's daughter, but they are sure we are plotting something, and that's why they placed so many patrols around.>
The problem was that the driver kept giving information to Erik. Apparently, the number of soldiers within the city was increasing exponentially, to the point that Erik had trouble understanding how that was possible.
<It's like they hid people in Sleb Harbour a long time ago... But how? When?>
It was simply impossible for this many troops to have reached Sleb Harbour all in a day, and without the Chimaeric Demons finding out. Based on what the clones said, there were at least 20 thousand soldiers around the city, and their numbers were increasing.
<This was a trap, right?>
Just then, the president's daughter moved beside Erik. She let out a small noise, like a silent moan. Erik's eyes opened and his body tensed.
<She's coming to her senses,> he said.
The Chimaeric Demons nodded.
Erik turned his attention to the groggy woman beside him. He had to act fast before she fully regained her senses. No, most importantly, he had to act fast before the blackguards found him, because he wasn't sure they wouldn't be able to do that.
He needed to find out where Hin's president was, and to do that, he needed to read this woman's mind.
Erik looked at Mia in the eyes and point blank he made a barrage of questions.
"What's your favorite color?"
The woman was left confused. Though her thoughts went to Emerald Green.
<Interesting color.>
"Do you prefer coffee or tea?" Again, the woman was confused by the questions, which Erik kept making despite her not answering at all. She couldn't even if she wanted, and that was
the last thing she wished.
However, her mind was still clouded by the anesthetic, and despite struggling to process the bizarre line of questioning Erik made, she always thought of an answer.
Mind it, her thoughts were a jumbled mess, but truthful.
Erik continued asking questions. There was a reason he was asking these seemingly random questions, and it was because he wanted to probe the woman's mind. Sure, he could have also used the Instability brain crystal power to make her more keen to answer, but there was actually no need to do that given the effects of the anesthetic.
Erik asked several more questions, and they became increasingly more specific and on topic.
"When was the last time you spoke to your mother?"
"Fu...ck..." Mia said. Erik felt her mind was becoming stronger by the second.
"Cursing, uh?" Not very ladylike. Yet the woman thought about the answer. Mia saw her mother the last month, when she suddenly came with a request she wasn't used to making in person. She wanted her to leave for a political trip, which was what Mia did.
"What did you discuss that day?" Erik somehow knew what they talked about, but there were some things the woman didn't think about and to which Erik wanted answers.
Erik knew Salena sent her daughter, Mia, to Khunelerp. They went there to ask for help in the war against Frant; it was obvious thinking about it.
The point was that Salena appeared slightly worried in her daughter's memories, a little
reluctant.
<Could it be she didn't want to send troops to Frant?> Maybe the war was getting too taxing
for Hin.
Though Mia was slightly confused by Erik's question since he asked what they discussed that day, just after he asked when it was the last time she spoke to her mother. It was almost like
he could read her mind.
"Where was she when you last saw her?"
The woman's eyes widened, a flicker of defiance struggling to surface through the haze of
drugs.
"I... I won't tell you anything," she said, her words slurred. Erik didn't reply, as he didn't need her to talk, only to think, something impossible not to do.
He could see the answers flickering through her mind, the images and memories rising unbidden to the surface.
He saw flashes of conversations, meetings, and phone calls. All happening in one place, a sprawling estate, hidden away in the mountains, heavily guarded and fiercely protected.
President Salena Turke, the woman who held the key to everything. The key to get control over Hin.
She was there, in that mountain stronghold. But Mia didn't know why, nor when she went
there.
Mia didn't know if her mother left, but she knew her mother had been put under heavy protection lately and often moved from place to place.
In Erik's opinion, it could be possible that she left already, that she was in a bunker underground, that even the Chimaeric Demons might not be able to find.
Erik leaned back, not knowing if he had to laugh or not. <Is she really there? Did she leave?>
He had no answer to that, but it was the only lead they had to find the woman. He had what he needed. The rest was just a matter of time.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
<Send squads to infiltrate this place.> Erik sent the driver the memories he stole from Mia. The Chimaeric Demon immediately picked up his radio and made calls. Five minutes passed, with Erik reading the clone's mind, knowing he just told what he needed to. Yet, he asked.
<Are you done?>
<Yes, master.>
<Goo->
But then a tremendous rumble echoed around, and then an explosion caught the flying car.