Chapter 16: The Cavalry

...

After waking up Helena asked Ian to his room and they had a long conversation. She couldn't move as the ankle was still sore. Ian now exited the room.
"Vanya," he said noticing the younger agent.
Cosmo had been lounging in the lobby space close to Helena's room. He didn't seem to mind that everyone knew why.
"How is she?" he immediately asked.
"Tired. But she wishes to stay and help us...I can see this is not easy for her. I was actually thinking that since you know her best could you just keep an eye on her?"
"Of course."
"Good," Ian nodded.
"But right now...She needs to sleep," he said glancing once at the door.

Cosmo waited till the evening. He had a tray with some food. As he knocked on Helena's door he noticed his heart was beating quite fast.
"Come in," he could hear her voice.

Only the night lamp was on and she was in the bed, under the sheets, obviously wearing a dark agent t-shirt. For a moment they just stared at each other. She looked exhausted.
"Hi."
"Hi."
"I got some food."
"Thanks...Could you leave it there?"
Even her voice had sounded exhausted. She nodded towards a small desk close to the bed.
"Of course."
"I'm really tired...I guess I should sleep."
"I'll leave you then."
Cosmo took a deep breath as he returned to the door. His heart felt quite heavy. There had been so many things he had wanted to say. As he still stood there, not being able to turn the door handle yet, he was startled by her voice.
"Cosmo."
"Yes?" he immediately said, turning back to look her.
"Please don't go."
Suddenly his heart was anything but heavy.
"I won't."

...

The doorbell rang.
"Didn't know we have a doorbell..." Mitsuko muttered as she approached the door and opened it.
There was a man wearing black combat trousers and a t-shirt. He was perhaps in his early forties but the face had this ageless look. His hair was blonde and cut very short. Mitsuko couldn't help noticing the most piercing look in his light blue eyes.
"I am Agent Adler, MSA. I believe you were expecting me."
He had a British accent.
"Could I see some...ID?" Mitsuko asked looking at the man.
Without saying a word he took something from the back pocket of his trousers and handed it to Mitsuko. She looked at the badge. It had the picture of the same man, slightly younger, and his full name, Laurentius Adler. Also, it had the fancy MSA logo, with the extremely stylized crown and flames. Mitsuko had actually ran into this organization, the Majestic Security Agency, a few times during her hacking adventures. It had been the legendary last resort in many cases so in a way she respected them.
"Where are the others? We expected a team," she asked.
"It's just me. For now," Agent Adler said, in the most expressionless tone.
"Okay, just a moment. Let me inform the others…"
"The cavalry is here!" Mitsuko shouted so that the whole building echoed with her voice.
She noticed Agent Adler had most certainly frowned.

…

"Mind if I record this? The memory often cannot hold details."
No one opposed so Agent Adler took out a tape recorder from the backpack he had, starting to speak to it.
"August 4th, 1541 hours. I am with the Agents of Metal at...I am sorry, could you tell me the name of the village again?"
Gudrun said the name. Agent Adler repeated it and then placed the machine in the middle of the dining table.
"A short recap. Hermann Grieg contacted MSA 14 hours ago and our analysts went through the intel, provided by you. We assessed the threat as a level four so I was sent from the London agency."
"Level four?" Jo asked.
"The whole world is about to be brainwashed in about two weeks...and it's only level four?"
"Yes," Agent Adler answered in a cool voice.
Then seeing the Agent's reactions he obviously assessed he needed to elaborate.
"The scale is from one to ten, one being the most severe. I naturally cannot discuss this much further but let me just say...You wouldn't believe the things I have seen."

Agent Adler showed the satellite images MSA had been able to access. There was a larger structure, obviously a pyramid, and smaller around it, located at the Saharan coordinates. The MSA was going to send two teams of six men, in three days. Before that they would coordinate everything with Agent Adler.

...

"Agent Adler, would you like to join us? We're having a drink," Mitsuko asked.
It was evening. The Agents were outside at the small terrace. There was a definite need to unwind as the atmosphere was constantly most stressful.
"I consider myself off duty now so I see no reason to refuse."
"Absinthe, I see," he said clearly surprised, sitting at the table.

An hour later

"So you're like...Agent Adler and she's like Agent Alder...That's like...mind-melting...," Orfeus was practically giggling.
"I know," Jo laughed.
"Anyway...You can call me Laurie now."

They all shared their names with him.

...