I have no idea what to do with this chapter...
I know Lord Anthony was the spokesperson dude for Duncan, and Tyler was actually a baron, but I was running out of people.
Disclaimer: Will does not belong to me. All I own is two bookcases of books.
Chapter Twelve
Duncan viewed the people in his office. Of course, there was Representative Arald, Commander Rodney, and General David. In addition to those three, the CEO of the ISD; Tyler Ruman, Emerick Wessler; Chief of Police, and Agent Anthony; head of the Royal Guard- the security service for the President, dating back to the days of royalty- were present. It made for quite a crowded room.
"So," Duncan began, "As some of you may know, this meeting was called to discuss what actions to take against the Ranger Corps."
There were small cries of surprise from Wessler and Anthony, who had no idea that the Rangers still existed. Arald, Rodney, and David, of course, had known previously and the novelty had worn off. Interestingly enough, Tyler did not act as surprised as the others. However, he did crinkle his eyebrows in confusion.
"Why are you so sure?" he asked the president.
Duncan raised an eyebrow. "Were you not aware that it was the Corps who successfully infiltrated your headquarters?"
The man shook his head. "No, we knew, but we didn't keep any updated files on them due to the risk."
"So you knew they were still around but you didn't tell anybody?" Arald asked, his voice hardening.
Tyler raised his hands up in a small gesture of innocence. "We knew we could never completely destroy a force as dominant as them, so we focused our attention on more important matters. We kept the occasional tab on them, though."
"But those tabs were only what they wanted us to know," Duncan pointed out.
"Let's not fight about this," Anthony intervened. "What I'm more interested in is what you mean by 'actions to take against the Rangers'?"
"Well," Rodney began explaining for Duncan, "first they broke into the Intelligence Building, and right now, they are the only lead we have as to where Cassandra is."
"And my youngest employee," Anthony muttered.
"He knew the risks," Wessler pointed out.
"But that doesn't mean he was supposed to go and get kidnapped," Anthony growled. It was impressive, Duncan mused, that they had gotten this far with out an explosion of some sort. These six men reacted like a chemical experiment when forced to work together. All were polar opposites, if there was a magnet with five poles (Rodney and David thought along the same lines).
"I think the real question is why Cassandra's protection force contained only one man, and he was only barely of age," Tyler joined in.
Rodney rose halfway out of his seat, leaning across the table to glare at Tyler. "That young man is very accomplished and more than up to the job," he said forcefully. Rodney felt a sort of connection to Horace, since he had trained the boy in the beginning, then convinced him to join the Royal Guard instead of the army.
"Tyler has a good point, though, why was such a young person put in charge of the president's daughter?" Arald said.
All looked at Anthony, who raised his hands in self defense. "I was not in charge of appointing the agent. I have no control over that, either."
"Well who does?" Wessler asked snarkily.
"I think this all smells very fishy," David warned, raising his voice over the other arguing men.
"Of course it smells fishy!" Wessler exclaimed. "How do we know this isn't some concotion made up by the President's party? That this isn't just one big ruse to secure his position in office?"
"He is right here," Duncan said loudly. He felt like sighing. The Chief of Police was always wary of politicians and the underhand workings of politics. He preferred in-your-face, physical tactics. Duncan sometimes wondered if that wasn't the best course of action.
This time, Rodney did rise fully out of his seat. "One big ruse from Duncan? Do you hear yourself? This is his daughter you are talking about," he said, close to shouting.
"And my agent," Anthony added. "What would this prove?"
"Oh, no," Tyler jumped in, a maniacal grin forming on his face. "I see it now- this is all a big plan to get the ISD kicked out, too, just like the Ranger Corps. Of course- make the ISD look weak and unstable- first with the infiltration, then the kidnappings- then leak information that we have that could be used against us. And then you get your wish: we get kicked out. I'm not blind," he snarled. "I'm out of here," he headed for the door.
Duncan nodded at the security guard at the door, who locked the door, preventing Tyler from leaving. Tyler spun around, glaring at the the president. "This is not a plan to get your organization removed," he said quietly. "This is not any planning at all. I assure you nobody here was involved in the disappearance of my daughter, or Agent Horace-" he nodded at Anthony, "- I promise there is nothing that any of you don't know. Let's try to work together with this, okay? No politics. No fighting. Just a simple plan to track down the Ranger Corps and get those two kids back."
Tyler glanced at the other men: Rodney, who had sat back down, Arald, David, Anthony, and Wessler. They all seemed to silently agree to work together for the time being. Tyler hesitated, then moved back to his chair.
"Good," Duncan suppressed a sigh of relief. He caught Arald's eye, and nearly grinned. "Now. We need to find out where the Rangers operate from. What do you people know? Anything about anything about the Rangers. Just spit it out, and we'll try to piece everything together."
Everyone unconsciously looked at Tyler. He looked a little uncomfortable from all the attention. "Well," he said slowly, "We know that they've been working in the shadows ever since they were expelled. They haven't caused us any problems, until now."
"Do you know who the infiltrator was?" Duncan asked, eyebrows crinkled.
"Actually, we think we may have identified the suspect." He pulled out a touch screen, hand-held computer. The other men glanced it interestedly. They had never seen anything like it before- but then again, the ISD always had cooler, more advanced toys than everybody else. He tapped it a couple of times, then showed everyone the screen. A head shot of a young man, still in his teens, dominated the screen. He had brown hair and brown eyes, with a faint smile tugging at his lips.
"Will Treaty," Tyler said briskly. "Disappeared off the map a few years ago. Seventeen years old."
The other men studied the picture.
"They recruit that young?" Arald asked disapprovingly.
"We suspect he was about fourteen or fifteen, but yes. They're an illegal organization- they don't have to follow the same rules we do," Tyler replied.
"But he's so young," Wessler pointed out. "What do they expect them to do at that age?"
"Successfully break into a government building," Tyler muttered, "but they obviously know what age they can start recruitment. It isn't the first time the Rangers and the Araluen government haven't seen eye-to-eye."
Sadly, that was true. The Ranger Corps and the government had a love-hate relationship, and multiple times in the past the secretive agency had been suspended.
"But what about his family?" Duncan asked.
Tyler shrugged. "Doesn't have any. His parents died when he was still an infant. He grew up with multiple foster parents, continuously getting in trouble."
"Let's focus on ethics another time, shall we?" Anthony tried to bring everyone back on track. "What else do we know?"
"They obviously have a mole in the government. How else would they have known how to get past all the security we have?" Arald said.
"But where? They'd have to be high up, or been in the business for a long time," Duncan countered.
Wessler grunted. "Would they have to be related to a Ranger?" He raised an eyebrow at David.
David raised an eyebrow back. "I'll have you know that I haven't corresponded, or even seen my son in years. And you have the nerve to accuse me of being a mole? Obviously you have no understanding of the workings of people higher up than you."
Wessler opened his mouth to argue, but Duncan cut him off. "Leave it," he sighed. "General David just returned from a six month tour halfway across the world. He couldn't be."
How do you know the Rangers kidnapped Cassandra?" Anthony asked.
Duncan looked up. "We don't," he said shortly. "We just said they're the only lead we have right now. We never said they actually did it."
The seven men reached a lull in the conversation as they digested all of the information thrown at them in a short amount of time. It was broken by Arald.
"Does anybody have any idea where they are?"
That was greeted with more silence. Arald nodded.
"Okay."
A few minutes later, Duncan spoke up. "We'll have to do a thorough search of the the entire country. David and Rodney, comb through all of your bases and their surrounding towns. Wessler, check your men and then see if you can scrounge out any information. Anthony, see if you can find the mole. And lock down the security. Double check everything and don't let anyone unauthorized gain access to private areas. Tyler, send out a couple of teams to cover the rest of the towns. And have your tech force see if they can find out anything on their computers. Arald, see if you can find the mole in any of the politicians."
The men nodded, processing what they would have to do. All had made it to the top because they were remarkable in what they did. Duncan knew they would get the job done.
"What about you?" Arald asked.
"I'm going to the Celtic Council Triumvirate Conference on Friday and see if I can glean any information from our neighbors."
With Gilan and Will
Gilan and Will's plan to track down Horace's phone was successful, to a certain point. The found the phone in a discarded pickup truck, under a rough blanket. It had most likely been forgotten by the captors.
Currently, the two Rangers leaned against Blaze, thinking.
"They probably came here and performed a tuck-and-roll," Gilan thought out loud.
Will sent his friend a queer glance. "Tuck-and-roll?" he repeated, turning the statement into a question.
"Yeah. You know, they changed cars. Quickly. They tucked and rolled from one automobile to another. Tuck-and-roll."
Will made a small ah sound. "I see. And then what?"
"Well, then they continued in the other car or truck to their final destination. This truck proved a liability because people had probably already seen it. But the cell phone was probably an accident."
"The question is, though, where did they head after this?" Will built on Gil's idea.
The two were silent for a minute, before Gil answered. "Well, unless they were stupid, they wouldn't have continued in the same direction. They don't strike me as stupid, so I'm guessing they backtracked and circled around before continuing to where they wanted to go."
"Unless," Will countered, "They thought that if someone was following them, they'd assume they wouldn't go in the same direction, so they did go in the same direction. It would be a case of they think I'll think that they'll do A, so they'll do B because I wouldn't think they'd think of that, but then because I might think I know what they're thinking, they'll do A after all, because I wouldn't think they'd think of that."
"Excuse me?" Gilan's eyebrows were practically one line.
Will drew in a big breath, before letting most of it out. "I think they may have gone in the same direction after all."
Gil cocked his head. "It's possible." He grinned at Will. "You do realize there's only one way to figure this out, right?"
"Split up?" Will offered.
Gil rolled his eyes. "Consult the Conscience. Duh."
"Right," Will breathed, nodding slowly. "Do I have to?"
Gil smirked evilly. "You offered to wear the ear piece."
"You suck," he muttered, before turning the chip on. "Hey, Halt? Lucas?"
There was a moment of silence, before Halt answered. "I thought we'd been ditched on a side road."
"Don't worry, the thought occurred more than once. You're not losing your touch. Yet." Will replied cheerfully.
"I'm touched," he said dryly.
"Well, anyway, Gil and I needed your expertise."
"Do I want to know why?" Halt asked tiredly.
"We have a slight problem," Will continued, ignoring his mentor's tone. "We found the truck that they were originally in, but we don't know where they went after that. We have two options: continue the way they were originally headed, or find a different place."
"Will," Halt said in a weary voice, "Those are the only two options."
"Exactly. That's why we need your expertise."
"What does Gilan say?"
"I dunno. Let me check." Will looked up at Gil. "What do you think we should do?"
Gil gazed down the empty dirt road in the countryside. "I think we should ask Halt."
"He says we should ask you," Will conveyed to Halt.
Halt was silent for a minute. "You don't want to underestimate these men, but you don't want to overestimate them, either. It's possible they're not as bright as we like them to think. Think as if you were in their shoes. What would you do?"
Will frowned. If he had just kidnapped the president's daughter... "I would want to get the hell out, and not worry about covering my tracks so much. That would imply going the the same direction."
"Then that's your best bet, right now. If you don't find any traces of them, then you'll have to retrace your steps. Remember, they may have left the car there to trip you up."
"Okay. Thanks, Halt."
Will looked up at Gilan, who was watching him curiously.
"Well?"
Will held out his arm to link up with Gilan's. "Off to the the Wonderful Wizard of Oz we go."
That's a nice, normal length chapter for you. And we got a little Will and Gilan in there- yay!
I honestly didn't expect the meeting earlier in the chapter to turn into a giant argument. It just kinda happened.
But whatever, REVIEW!
-Silver out.