RETURN OF THE SHADOW - Chapter 218

When Bruce realized that one of the commanders might be in trouble, he immediately put his forces to be ready and in a state of alert. He had also informed D.i.c.k to remain with Balthazar and Glen for a few days. At that time, he only knew that Parvati was aware of his location and he had considered that there might be a mole or two among his men as she managed to realize his location.

So, he needed to have his men under scrutiny. He had prioritized saving Bharat and abducting Parvati, but he never stopped thinking about the possible traitors among his own men. At the very least, he could openly take action against Parvati, but it wasn’t the same within his own organization.

He considered D.i.c.k and Barbara as his heirs even though he hadn’t officially put them in front of the other Shadow Card commanders. As much as he was concerned, he and Barbara were already under the eyes of an unknown traitor among his men. So, he told D.i.c.k to sever communications all his men except him and remain with Balthazar till contacted.

D.i.c.k was on a shuttle to board a ship to get back to home when he received the message from Bruce instructing him to remain there.

“That is odd,” thought D.i.c.k as he confirmed it again with Bruce and turned his vehicle around to the Blyth mansion. “Maybe, he wanted me to protect the kid,” thought D.i.c.k misinterpreting Bruce’s message. He quickly sent a message to Balthazar telling him that he would like to join him and Glen in their mission.

Balthazar and Glen had just reached the Blyth mansion when he got the message from D.i.c.k. “D.i.c.k wants to join us in our mission,” said Balthazar as he saw the message. “What do you think?”

“It looks like Bruce is quite interested in your attempt,” said Glen a bit surprised.

“I guess, should we allow him. I wouldn’t have thought much about it before, but after I heard all the things you explained a few moments ago, I am wondering if it is in the best interest of the family to let Bruce know much about me,” said Balthazar putting forward his concern.

“He wouldn’t have sent D.i.c.k to help you if he wasn’t interested. You have a valid concern, but there is also the fact that if you receive the message from Ryan Rowling about his location, it might be a trap to kill you,” said Glen.

“It might be so, but it is a good lead either way,” said Balthazar.

“True. That is why it is best if we have a bit more support for this, but since you insist that we leave quietly and let no one notice our absence and also Arthur wants to keep our absence a secret, we can’t really count on members available in the family for this. So, it isn’t bad to have D.i.c.k provide us some help. He is quite a capable person,” said Glen.

“Valid points for having him along with us, but what about the other things you told me?” asked Balthazar.

“You should understand one thing. If D.i.c.k wants to try anything, he wouldn’t do it when Bruce knows he is along with us. Heck, he would even stake his life for you in such a situation. Only fools try to kill competitors when the judge is aware that they are close by. Even, if proved not guilty and evidence points towards an accident or someone else, the sense of doubt would always remain. From what I heard of D.i.c.k, he wouldn’t do that and none of the Shadow Card commanders take it lightly if one of their own disregards the mission and intelligence gathering for sake of internal competition. So, as long as he doesn’t know how you actually managed to get information which allowed you to stop that invasion by the apes, you are safe,” explained Glen.

“Just accept the help when given. Moreover, you don’t even have a ship to get off the planet. You don’t know if there is a time frame on the meeting. A lot of unknown variables. Transport being the one of the most importance, if you don’t have a way and you intend to keep it secret from the eyes of the family, it is better to seek his help.”

“Fine,” replied Balthazar as he sent back a message to D.i.c.k asking him to join them at the main hall. It was true that he didn’t yet get any reply from Herschel apart from one that stated he was close by, hence came to the solar system and he would be lodging on a neighboring planet for the night. So, he wanted to see if he could get D.i.c.k to provide them a means of travel. Once, he got a confirmation from D.i.c.k, they got into the mansion. As they got into the main hall, Balthazar found the family butler, Thaddeus waiting for them.

“Young Master, Balthazar. A package arrived for you during the event. During the routine scans of the parcel, we have had an issue. We realized that it’s design and materials make the normal scans useless and higher frequency scans might have a chance of damaging it. So, it is left in the lab on the ground floor at the back door,” informed Thaddeus.

“Lab at the back door of the mansion?” asked Balthazar surprised. He had never known that there was a lab at that location. The mansion was mostly living quarters and offices of the family. There were a few labs, but none on the floor and it seemed very odd to have a lab at the back exit.

“I have never known of the lab. Could you please lead me to it?” asked Balthazar.

“Sure, young master,” said Thaddeus.

“Do you know what the lab is?” Balthazar asked Glen.

“He is referring to the mail room,” said Glen. “There is a room adjoining it where any mail deemed dangerous or harmful is taken to examine after the preliminary scans. It is a strong room with lots of facilities like a laboratory. No research is actually done there, but the equipment’s appearance caused the staff to mistake and it often called the mail room lab.”

“Hmm. I didn’t know that there was such a facility in the mansion,” said Balthazar. When he heard about it from Glen, he found it acceptable that such a room existed in the mansion. He had seen similar rooms in military facilities as a part of the security and realized that he had overlooked quite a few things about the family and mansion.

A minute later, they were in front of the lab. Thaddeus used his credential to open the door and let them in. The room had a 30-inch thick door with no windows or any openings. It was clear that the place was constructed with the purpose of testing anything. Even explosions would be contained by the walls. The entrance itself was through a safety shower room. There were a set of lockers on one side and the other side had protective suits to safeguard them against all manner of pico-particles and explosions and an assortment of tools that might be required.

“Your packages is sealed in locker number 3, young master,” said Thaddeus pointing to the lockers.

“We will take care of this, Thaddeus. You may depart,” said Glen as he sent the butler off. He quickly stepped in along with Balthazar and donned a protective suit. He took the package from the locker and found it to be a cylindrical puzzle box and a small note which said, “To Avenge:”.

“This has got to be a joke. The note itself is a big red-flag and it would put here after anyone saw it. And if he believed that this kind of a device is useful to safeguard anything, I am sure that he isn’t reliable,” remarked Glen. Balthazar had a look at it as he wore a protective suit himself and enabled the force field as he took the cylinder from Glen.

“Don’t fret. Let us at the very least check it out. If it just contains a simple message, you are right and we don’t need to me further ahead,” said Balthazar as he examined the cylinder. It was a cylinder with six rotatable rings on it, having the numerals from 0 to 9 and a red arrow pointing towards the circ.u.mference on one of the circular faces.

“It has a pass code. If anyone tries to open it without the pass code, it usually has some sort of vial made of delicate materials containing something that could corrode the material inside instantly. The note probably has some relation to it,” said Glen pointing to the note.

“To avenge?” asked Balthazar looking at the note.

“Yes, his brother. His name probably. Try the numbers on which the letters of his name appear on an old phone keypad,” suggested Glen. “That is whom, he intends to avenge, right?”

“That is a seven lettered word and we only have six rings. I won’t do if we are sure. It doesn’t look like we have multiple chances,” said Balthazar.

“Six letter’s, huh,” said Glen. A moment later, he let out a wide smile. “Of course, it is not Raymond. It is Rowley. It actually a lousy password method unless you have a specific method to map the letters to numbers which you both have discussed, prior.”

“Shit, it is neither,” said Balthazar as he put it to the side and quickly checked his mail. A moment later, he put the cylinder in a glass chamber used to open devices which are suspected of having poisonous gases. He put his hands through a pair of fibre gloves attached to the glass chamber and put in a sequence and circular face with the red arrow popped out and small glass cylinder containing an electronic device slid out of it. It was rectangular with a glass face and there were four buttons on the side a small port to charge it.

“A smart watch without a strip,” said Glen looking at it in Balthazar’s hand. “A bloody old model at that, it would be hard to find a charger that supports that port. Where did he even find this. Does collect them or what?”

“Might actually be from a collection. Don’t forget, that family has an auction house and some rare old things like this might actually fetch a good amount,” said Balthazar. He checked on the sensors of the chamber to see if any other substances had been released before opening it up and taking out the device.

“Well it is at the very least fully charged and that would guarantee a couple of days, but I doubt it would support the current communication frequencies used,” said Glen. “Moreover, it has a password and no notes this time.”

“No need for notes this time,” said Balthazar as he directly entered the word Raymond as the password.

“So, a single password for both. That is useful. I seriously doubt his capabilities, now. Anyone one else would guess it easily,” said Glen.

“That is where you are underestimating him. Neither of the brothers are fools,” said Balthazar. He remembered for a second about the incident when he was actually kicked of the force when he thought about Raymond. “He was definitely a smart and crafty person. Ryan probably is no less cunning then him,” thought Balthazar.

Seeing that Glen didn’t look convinced and was even looking at him with doubts. “The note was a trap. The first password has no relation to it at all. It was delivered to me verbally through a mutual acquaintance some time ago.”

“Ok. Maybe, he is a bit careful, but still isn’t considered the safest method. Verbal messages are not really that safe. Even walls have ears,” said Glen.

“Not when we are using a virtual private conference room through somnium technology in a game,” said Balthazar. “I doubt there are ones who already managed to hack into the game without touching our gear and use it to spy by now.”

“Fine, it is not the worst way. Now, where are we to go?” asked Glen.

“I haven’t the foggiest clue. Know anyone who could help us with navigating through this,” asked Balthazar. He had hoped that the information would be readily available after the use of the two passwords, but this is much harder. “Would Ellie be able to help us?”

“I doubt if even her uncle would be able to,” replied Glen. “Moreover, we didn’t want to let many know about this, right?”

“Hmm,” grunted Balthazar. Ryan Rowley’s methods have become far too cryptic for his tastes, but he realized that it may have been expected.

“Luckily, D.i.c.k is joining us. He is an expert in infiltration and hacking. So, he would be well read about different kinds of devices even ancient ones,” added Glen.

“Didn’t expect him to be useful so soon,” nodded Balthazar. He and Glen checked out the device from the mail room along with the puzzle box and made to the main hall. Once, they reached the main hall, Balthazar immediately messaged D.i.c.k and found out that he was only a couple of minutes away. He sent a message to Thaddeus that D.i.c.k would be arriving so that he could make the necessary arrangements as he slumped down into a sofa in the hall along with Glen.