A/N: I'm back! how y'all doin? I'm just fine here. Yeth! Ze chapter is here! Danny will be relocated in this one. Well, I ain't stayin' here to spoil the chapter. Enjoy!
Disclaimer (I really need to make a draft for this)
Blah...blah...blah... You all know the drill. The "I don't own anything" kinda stuff... Let's just get on with the chapter, shall we?
Chapter 11
Moving To the Good Ol' US of A
Arif Mansion
11.12 a.m.
About 1 hour after helicopter crash
The sun was finally shining again over the neighborhood after the stormy gunfight. All of us had dried ourselves off and drank a mug of my mom's hot chocolate. Geronimo decided to take a shower, as I had provided some of my late father's clothes for him to wear. A deep black suit, a blank white shirt and a red tie. It actually fitted him very well. Sorta looked like my father too. Trap... He couldn't fit in most of my dad's clothes. So, there was only one shirt that could barely fit him. My dad's college sweater from where he was overweight. Me? Just a replacement of what I wore just now... Another black and white plaid and unbuttoned shirt over a blank red tee with deep blue jeans and red sneakers. Thea broke out here purple sweater because it was cold outside, and a pair of white trousers.
The three of us, Thea, Geronimo (while slinging his M4 on his shoulder), and I took a stroll in the front yard while viewing the aftermath of the fight in the street. Police tape wrapped around a few lamp posts closed the street to clean up the debris and to remove the bodies of the enemies on the road. The helicopter was still smoking as the paramedics pulled out the dead pilot and gunner. A local news team and their van was seen reporting the incident outside the tape. Trap walked by us, helping a cop carry a stretcher with a dead Technologist body on it down the helipad to the police truck parked out front.
"Danny, I think it's time we relocate you," started Geronimo.
"Relocate? Why?"
"It's becoming too dangerous and risky if we keep protecting you here. With the helicopter nearly crushing a house when it crashed, I think it's for the safety of the public. They know too much of you in this country. Not to mention a mole situation. Who knows how much they've known about you in Malaysia."
"I'm sorry Geronimo, I'm gonna have to say no. I-I-I love my motherland too much," I rejected, stammering in disdain.
"I thought you might say that. But ask yourself this, how long can you hold yourself here with The Technologists learning about your defenses and weaknesses with every attack their going to launch on you?" He was looking at me with seriousness, raising one eyebrow.
I was overwhelmed with thoughts. He was right, I won't last two days if I continue to stay here. I sighed. "It seems that I don't really have a choice, do I?" I asked rhetorically while looking at him with big, sad eyes. He shook his head in response.
Thea crouched down and looked up at me. "Hey... I know it's hard for you to accept this. But my brother's the wisest guy I know, next to our grandfather that is."
"Thanks, Thea," Geronimo responded to the complement.
"What I'm trying to say is that...you should trust him."
I thought about it for a while. "Where do we go?"
"The United States. I've a safe house of my own back at DC a few miles from the DC headquarters. All of us will be there to protect you. Me, Thea, Trap, Benjamin, and Pandora. We'll leave the other stuff to the other Interpol agents. Unless, you have another place in mind."
I stood there, deadpanned. "When?"
"As soon as possible. Tonight maybe."
Then a car pulled up outside the police tape at the other end of the street. It was Firas. Strange, I thought school was supposed to end at one o'clock. He got out from the rear door, wearing his white uniform with his saddle bag on his shoulder. He looked shocked.
"Oh my God! What the heck happened?" He exclaimed as he ran on the sidewalk, entering the front gates.
"'Sup bro," I started.
"Hey dude. What happened?"
"The Technologists happened. They launched full-scale assault on my house. By the way, what are you doin' here? I thought you were supposed to be in school."
"My parents called me at school. They said that the police called, telling our house is semi-destroyed by a helicopter."
"I think that was it, and I think it's partially my fault."
"How is it partially your fault?"
"I shot the bird down with an Arwen 37... Bullets didn't seem to bring it down. As a matter of fact...isn't that the stabilizer tail sticking out of one of your house windows?" They all turned to look. I narrowed my vision and focused on the 'tail'.
"I think it is...see that stabilizer rotor there?" Thea indicated while pointing out her finger.
"I think that's my window... Dude! That's my room!" yelled Firas angrily as he gave me a look full of hatred.
"Sorry man, the thing was gunning us down..."
"Sigh... Who's this dude, by the way?" he asked, referring to Geronimo.
"That's Thea's brother, Special Agent Geronimo Stilton."
"Oh. Hey. Firas Fuad," he introduced himself informally.
"Geronimo Stilton..." replied Geronimo.
"Nice M4," Firas commented.
"Thank you..."
"So...uh...are you still staying here after all this?" Firas asked me, rubbing his neck nervously.
"Nope. This event made Agent Stilton reached a decision to relocate me."
"Where?"
"Gasp..." I was about to tell him, when Geronimo nudged me in the arm. I looked at him and he shook his head, telling me not to tell him. "I'm...not supposed to say," I said, smiling.
"When are you leaving then?"
"Soon...probably some time today..." I said as I shrugged.
"Whelp," he started, patting his both hips, making a frown-y face as he said it, "I'm really gonna miss you buddy."
"Me too, bro..." We gave each other a gentle, friendly hug.
"Sob...this is so touching..." said Thea as her purple eyes started to water, wiping them away. Geronimo threw an arm over her shoulder to comfort her. This is the first time I saw her cry.
"Bye..." he whispered in my ear.
"Bye..." I whispered back.
We stopped, and gave ourselves a pat on the shoulders.
"Take care of yourself," he advised.
"I will. Don't be strangers, now! Geronimo, should we stay or HQ?"
"HQ. Pack your bags too." he answered.
"Thea? You okay?"
"I'm alright...sob...I'll go get my jacket," she answered.
Thea went back inside that leaves me and Geronimo on the front yard, starring at the sky. Firas walked around the tape and back to his house, watching the cops trying to pull the tail out of his room. They didn't manage to pull the whole tail, leaving a part of it inside. Then, to make matters worse, all the weight shifted to the rotor's end of the tail, making it fall, scraping a long, wide hole in the process.
"OH, COME ON!" Firas yelled at the cops for doing a bad job, raising his arms to emphasis his frustration.
"Geronimo, can I change the place of the relocation?" I asked him.
"Of course! Where's the place that you had in mind?"
I stood still and thought: 'it ain't safe to talk out here'. "Let's discuss this inside..."
5 minutes later...
Before we started packing, Thea and I restocked on ammo from the armory for our small-calibered SMGs after trying to shoot the helicopter down a few hours ago. It wasted our entire ammo stock after those rounds ricocheted off the heli to God knows where. Anyway, I was rechecking my magazine count. I confirmed that it was enough, I swiped my weapon off the living room coffee table and refolded it. I grabbed my backpack which contained both my Razor and Alienware gaming PCs from the couch.
"Thea! Are you done up there?" Geronimo called from downstairs.
"Just a second!" As if she was on cue, she came down with her luggage and backpack. She was changed into her everyday clothes. "So you and the Wolf Pack are escorting us to HQ?" Remember the Wolf Pack?
"Yup... They'd be here in a minute."
"Where's Trap?" I asked.
"In the car, waiting."
I looked out the window. I saw the Charger down the street, about a house away. And at the gate, the media was swarming to wait for any of us to come outside, to be questioned. The two Interpol agents were struggling to calm all of them down with great magnitude.
"Looks like I gotta use the backup garage exit outside the street. The media are storming the gates," I stated, looking back at the two young mouse agents.
"Sigh... When Thea and I was a part of the media, I used to question people. Now that we're part time Interpol agents, we provide the answers," responded Geronimo, readjusting the position of the M4 that slung on his shoulder.
"Talk about irony..." said Thea.
"Well, I better get out there."
"Good luck!" Thea wished his brother before he walked out of the door.
Geronimo's Perspective
As soon as the media saw me walking out the mansion, the reporters and journalists tried to storm in. But the agents managed to hold all of them off.
I was asked by many news-hungry reporters from many TV stations, online news, and other forms of the mass media.
One reporter from CNN, he asked me about Danny's condition. I answered: "He is alive after escaping the assault with no injuries."
Another reporter from an Australian news channel asked who launched this attack. I gave her: "As we all know, the one terrorist group that targeted him, The Technologists, did," as an answer.
A local news correspondent asked if I was to relocate Danny. "I'm afraid I cannot discuss that," I answered.
An American news journalist asked what was The Technologists plans with the chip. I answered; "We haven't acquired any info on that yet. Now if you all will excuse me, I have to get back to my duties."
More and more questions raised. But I rejected and moved through the crowd. 'So that's how annoyed people get when I interview them,' I thought.
I got to the car and put the M4 on the backseat. Then I opened the door to the driver's seat, and waited inside for Danny and Thea to appear out of the 'backup garage exit'. Then finally, the Wolf Pack came right on time.
Out of nowhere in the middle of the road, a part of it opened downwards like Danny's garage door. Inside, Trap an I heard a low-pitched but loud roar. It sounded like a car with a V10 engine. Then there it was, coming out of the 'door', a cheese-yellow SRT Viper GTS (in my opinion) with carbon-painted alloy wheels. It revved its engine, backfiring from its side-mounted tailpipe. The 'Stryker' logo on the trunk lid glowed red, acting as a brake lamp.
I got a call from my sister (who was probably in the driver's seat of the car). "Thea?" I started when I answered.
"We're in the yellow Viper. Let's rock and roll!"
"One question. How did you get out here?"
"Danny built a secret tunnel under the road, now come on!" She terminated the call as she revved the V10.
I then radioed Sergeant Hussein and partners to give instructions for the formation. "Alright, I'll be in front of the yellow car while five of you are in front of me, and the other five behind the yellow car."
"Ten-four," the young Sergeant replied.
My Perspective
All twelve of us got the show on the road. Thea revved Python (the name I gave the car) once more on neutral before shifting into first. The reporters from the gate noticed that we were leaving from the noise of the engine, so they went after us.
"Look, the reporters are chasing after us!" I said to Thea, looking in the side mirror, smiling.
"Too late for them now," she replied, looking into the rear-view.
They disappeared in the mirrors as we turned left to exit the residential area.
After 10 minutes of driving
It started to get hot in the highways, so I cranked the temperature knob on the controls to 'low'. Our twelve cars and drivers stayed in formation inside the middle lane just above the speed limit. Thea drove in fourth gear, making Python rev up his supercharged V10 up to 3500 rpm. Noisy because the supercharger was whirring in high-pitch, but our voices were still audible.
I was busy watching 'Let's Play' videos in YouTube with Python's holographic display hovering above the dashboard. Soon, Thea joined in when I played videos of PewDiePie playing the extreme sports game full of glitches, known to many Bros as Skate 3. She turned on autopilot and shared the screen with me.
As we laughed out heart out, I saw a couple of news vans in the mirrors tailing us from behind, with a cameraman in the front, pointing the lens at us. That's not all, we heard swooshing from the sky. It sounded very close to the ground. We looked out the windows trying to find the source. Two local news helicopters, souring in the sky, recording us from above.
I paused the video. "I can't believe it! They're still after us!"
"Well, there's one thing that we media people and or mice say, when it comes to getting a scoop, you gotta do anything to get it," Thea replied, returning her paws on the wheel, and turned autopilot off. I simply shrugged to that comment.
Interpol HQ
12.20 p.m.
Geronimo was on the phone with the General Secretariat again, requesting an aircraft to pick me and the others up at the RMAF's (Royal Malaysian Air Force) airbase in Kuala Lumpur. "Yes, sir. Thank you sir. The favor is very much appreciated." He hung up and brought the great news. "Great news, the Secretary General just sent us a military aircraft, courtesy of the French 'Armée De L'air'." He said the words in French.
"The French Air Force?" I 'asked'.
"Cool! What'd they sent us?" Thea asked, taking out and turning on her gaming-spec upgraded laptop.
"I hope this surprises you, because the aircraft on its way here right now is a Lockheed C-130-J Super Hercules."
"Dayum!" I said in slang as I setup my Razor gaming laptop on Thea's desk.
"When will it arrive?" Pandora asked.
"Unfortunately...in about 10-12 hours," answered the young mouse, who frowned suddenly.
"What?!" I said in disdain, recoiling in my chair at Thea's desk as I looked at him.
"Hey, France is a few thousand miles away... Plus, this specific aircraft's fuel tank is modified it reach ranges up to 16,000 kilometers, and the turboprops are replaced with more powerful ones that could reach Mach 0.82," he said, shrugging and tilting his head. (FYI, Mach is the ratio of the speed of a body to the speed of sound.)
"Whoa, that's fast," Benjamin emphasized.
"At least we've got plenty of time to kill. Who's up for a Bluetooth match with bots?" I said, turning my frown upside down. Seems like my suggestion has infected the entire bullpen with a smile. Even Geronimo, because whenever anyone else is happy, he's happy.
"I do!" Pandora responded as she quickly reached for the laptop in her backpack.
"Me too!" Benjamin said while doing the same.
Thea and I had already connected our laptops together. Soon, we started a no kill limit deathmatch. Human and mice versus bots. Bot difficulty: human-like. The map was a different rendition of the Counter-Strike's 'Assault' map.
5 minutes and 42 seconds later...
At a point when the entire team of bots took hold of the train station (which is supposed to be a ramp leading to an empty road), we were getting powned. It was actually a very practical sniping spot for both teams as it stretches along the map.
"Dammit! Why'd I have to set it at human-like?!" I shouted into my computer, making my avatar take cover at an alley near our spawning places.
"Good thing you added spawn protection a few updates ago," Benjamin recalled, trying to counter-snipe the bots.
"It's really hard to aim at their heads because their lying down," Pandora analyzed, taking cover behind a prop car, struggling to stay alive.
A light bulb of idea just suddenly popped up in my head. "I've an idea... Thea cover me!"
"Got it!" She responded as we came out of cover.
We just came sprinting out of the alley and down the road Thea fired a spray of rounds for cover fire until we reached the stairs to the station.
"Alright, let's go pop some heads!" I announced, switching to my secondary weapon.
We climbed the stairs and just stormed the place. The bots were perfectly aligned, side by side. I shot two melons (heads, not...*clears throat*), Thea popped the other two.
"Yes! Yes! Yes!" I shouted slowly, celebrating by making my avatar crouching up and down the dead bot's head. AKA, the T-bag. "How you like 'dis ya friggin' moron?!" I yelled, switching to my Italian accent.
"Danny, what are you doing?" Thea asked, looking at my avatar.
"It's called T-bagging."
"You're so disgusting Danny..." Looked like she understand what I meant.
"Ah man, it disappeared," I said as the lifeless 'body' de-spawned.
"You guys better watch out, Danny's turned on his Italian accent," Benjamin gave the others a heads up.
"I never knew he could speak in accents," Pandora wondered as her avatar stormed into the warehouse.
"Yeah, I use 'dis accent when people tryna cheese me off," I replied as Thea and I sniped some enemies.
"Who's cheesin' you now?" Thea asked, rolling her eyes towards me.
"At 'dis moment, these damn bots. They're drivin' me...freakin' nuts!" I shouted, trying very hard not to swear.
"What other accents can you do?" Pandora asked, shifting her focus to me.
"Lemme try Afro-American. *clears throat* 'Sup homies! Name's Danny!" She got me off my guard, letting a bot blow my brains up. "Man, 'chu gotta be effin' kiddin' me, nigga!" I shouted again into my computer screen, trying to ease the usage of the f-word and the n-word.
"Whoa! Easy there tiger... Don't lose your cool," Thea advised, patting me on the back.
"Jeah, my bad. Lemme just switch to Hispanic. *clears throat* Alright, 'chu better watch yourself mister! Because for my people, we take businesses very personally. And then, 'chu no longer Mr Overkill, 'chu Mr Who-cut-of-my-tongue!"
"How about Russian?" Thea requested.
"Da, I can do that to, my tovarisch," I said in my Russian accent and spoke a little Russian too. "I wish I was paid to do this, but I'm already a multi-billionaire. So, I don't have to sell my talent."
"Danny, sniper!" alerted Pandora.
"Oh shoot!" Luckily, I moved my avatar out go the way. "Spasibo, tovarisch," I said, looking at Pandora.
"You're welcome," she replied.
Geronimo's perspective
10 hours later...
10.01 p.m.
Danny (in his British accent): "*Snore* Ah no! Not again! *snore* That's it! *snore* I will freakin' break you, mate! *snore* I swear on me mum! *snore* Come on, one versus one me mate!"
Benjamin: "No, no, don't storm in just yet... *snore* backup will be here... *snore* ...any minute..."
Trap: "*Snore* Officer, someone stole my favorite cheese... *snore* and I need you... *snore* to find it..."
Pandora: "..."
Thea: "Can I drive her next? ... Yes? It's a dream come true!..."
Me? I was just coming out of the bathroom, after waking up from my power nap ten minutes before. I came back to the bullpen just to see everyone was still catching some Zs.
Yes reader, they were sleeping. Having dreams and nightmares. Thea put her head on her desk, Danny slept in chair next to her, reclining while his head tilted, Trap's mouth watered as he dreamt about cheese, Pandora... She didn't show signs of any dreaming, but she was just sleeping quietly at the side of Benjamin's desk. Benjamin was on his chair holding an imaginary rifle, recoiling his arms and shoulder as if he was shooting.
"Tisk tisk tisk..." I said while shaking my head, with my arms akimbo. I looked around the squad room to see if there's still anyone around. The other bullpens were dark and empty, leaving us and the Wolf Pack in the next bullpen, the only bullpens that were lit with desk lamps. Once I've confirmed that no other staff was present, it was time to break out my newly bought airhorn as a souvenir. "I knew this would come in handy," I muttered to myself as I took it out of my backpack. I assembled the horn to the nozzle of the can and aimed it in the air. Then; "HOOOOOOOOONK!" I pressed it for literally three seconds. Everyone jumped off of their chairs, literally everyone.
"Alright everyone! Nap time's over!" I shouted over the two bullpens.
"Ugh..." My little sister moaned as she wipes her eyes, "Geronimo, did you really have to do that?"
"Pretty much," I answered. "Come on! We need to be at the airbase by 10.45."
"Hang on, need to stretch out..." said Sergeant Hussein.
"Danny, is the diversion here?" I asked him, who was still yawning.
"Yeah, they're out back chillin' in the impound lot," he answered, still stuck in his British accent.
"Good. You'll signal their role when we move to the underground parking garage.
My Perspective
The plan of diversion was to distract the press. I've summoned from my garage a squad of 12 Koenigseggs I call the Ghosts. As the name implies, all of them are named after ghosts.
The Ghosts
Haunter, the CC8S
Spook, the CCGT
Spirit, the CCR
Ghost, the CCX
Vision, the CCX Edition
Specter, the CCXR
Shade, the CCXR Edition
Shadow, the CCXR Special Edition
Ghoul, the Trevita
Wraith, the Agera
Banshee, the Agera S (also the only female in the squad)
And Phantom, the Agera R, the leader of the Ghosts (as you knew in the last chapter.)
The Wolf Pack and us went down to underground staff (and VIP) parking where the press wasn't allowed to access. (We didn't fit the entire elevator, so we had to make two trips.) It was totally empty but our cars, the Wolf Packs cars, and other staff's cars who was working overtime. We all hopped into our four-wheeled vehicles and started our engines. Python's engine was the loudest during startup, echoing against the solid walls.
"Alright Ghosts! Do yo thang," I communicated them with my chip.
"Ten-four, sir," Phantom replied in the impound lot. I listened to their progress. "Ghosts! Apply disguises!" It works by projecting a holographic image of the disguises over themselves, appearing genuine. Anyway, whirring was heard from their projectors, indicating their disguises are on. Banshee became Geronimo's Charger, Phantom disguised as Python, while the others turned into the Wolf Pack's cars, the Evos. "Let's move out..." They exited the impound lot (which was next door to the HQ) and drove past HQ. I watched the news from Python's holo-screen.
Every news network and channel. Dying to get this hot scoop. Every cameraman, reporter, even the news choppers from just now. All of them left the front entrance in their news vans and followed the Ghosts to the twin towers. Once they were out of the way, it was time to make our move.
I tuned my voice to speak in redneck accent. "Alright, they left. Let's move out."
We drove out the parking garage slowly and stealthily to avoid anymore media people that possibly stayed behind from noticing. As we turned on our vehicle's lights, Thea shifted up early into fourth gear for minimal engine noise. As the Ghosts diverted the press, we drove in the opposite direction, went passed the impound lot and headed towards the airbase.
RMAF Airbase
Somewhere in KL
10.46 p.m.
We had arrived after roughly 35 minutes of driving. As we drove up to the gates, our eyesight was focused on the C-130 at the other side of the fence. Upon entering the gates, we got to see the full view of the tactical transportation aircraft. I just gaped. 'Maybe we've gone a little bit overboard with this,' I thought while making a raised eyebrow face expression that says: 'are you kiddin' me, mate?'
Upon entrance, the place was dark. The area was only lit by lamp posts between hangars and by small lights at the runway. The aircraft was parked in front of a hangar next to a small tanker truck, containing kerosene. AKA, jet fuel.
Geronimo just spoke to the aircraft's pilot while we were still sitting inside Python. He came to Thea's side and told us (after she rolled down the window): "I just spoke to the pilot. He said we're clear to takeoff for D.C. in 15 minutes. In the meantime, you can 'chill' in here as the aircraft refuels." He paused at the word 'chill' because he felt awkward for using informal language.
Thea rolled the window back up. "You nervous, champ?"
I was deadpanned for a while. "Yeah. It's been my first time in three years since I've been in The States," I said, turning my attention to her. "Well, not actually three years. A part from all the video game conferences I've been to, I'm tryna say that I haven't been staying in the US since my family passed away."
"Those memories of what happened there seem haunt you, huh?" I nodded, frowning.
"Whelp, you gotta push yourself hard to move on, especially when you lose your entire family. Besides, I'm not gonna just abandon it for all my life... It's a beautiful estate."
15 minutes later...
Geronimo came back to Thea's window. She rolled it down. "Shes fueled up. Let's go!"
"Ready?" Thea asked.
"Yup, let's go," I replied.
We stepped out of Python. I carried my backpack while Thea went to the trunk to get her luggage.
"Hey, I just thought of something. Why didn't you pack?" said Thea, who lifted her bag out of the trunk and closed the lid.
"Don't you remember? We're taking refuge in one of my retreats outside of DC, remember?" I stated, extending my arms in front to emphasis my point.
"Oh, right..."
I came to Python, who's bi-xenon headlights were still turned on, accompanied by his daytime-running lights. "Python," I called.
"Sir?" He responded in a mild-deep voice, somewhat British-American accent.
"Don't forget to switch profiles."
"My DC retreat profile, sir?"
"Yup."
"I will not forget."
We shook 'hands' goodbye with the Sergeant and the rest of the Wolf Pack, thanking them for their service. They stayed to see us take off. Then, the cargo door opened, revealing bright white light from inside the cargo hold. The pilots turned on the turboprop engines, spinning the four propellers. The loadmaster came out of the cargo hold, ran to us and called us to aboard the C-130.
"Are you sure that you're not going to bring your car aboard?" the French loadmaster asked me, shouting because of the noise. "We still have 20000 kilos of free payload space."
"That won't be necessary, sir," I replied loudly with a nervous smile and laugh.
"Alright... Suite yourself kid..."
"Okay! Has everyone gotten their passports?" Geronimo asked aloud as the propellers spun.
"Yes!" All of us replied.
"Alright! Let's get on board."
Before we left, the Wolf Pack left us one last surprise as we marched to the cargo door, pulling our luggage. "WOLF PACK, SALUTE!" Sergeant Hussein yelled. The team of elite drivers gave us a military-styled salute. We all saluted back, smiling and boarded the aircraft.
We took our seats (settled our luggage first), and strapped in the harness seat belt. The bird moved to the runway, readying itself for takeoff. The propellers spun at full speed, and the noise level cranked up to 11. At takeoff, the aircraft shook and we were pulled to the back (good thing the seat belts hugged us tight to our seats) as the Lockheed-manufactured C-130 accelerated faster than Dubai's Devel Sixteen which (supposedly) accelerates in 1.8 seconds. We began our ascent and soon, we were airborne.
"Goodbye Malaysia," I bid for the final time.
Meanwhile, the diversion was going according to plan. The Ghosts have reached the Twin Towers' entrance, aligned side by side along the road. They turned off their disguises, revealing theirselves as Koenigseggs. The media surrounded them, according to the news I was watching on my phone. For the grand finale, they projected a holographic message, teasing them. It said: "Sorry guys. He already left." An arrow pointed in the message towards the sky as our C-130 flew above and past the towers. The camera panned in and focused on our plane.
"Your diversion ops went to plan?" Thea asked, leaning at my side.
I smiled. "Yeah, they totally fell for it."
As the night was passing through, we were quarter-way across the Pacific Ocean. We got bored so we played some games, sang songs and talked. The Stiltons and one Woz made me talk in accents again, until I was locked in me thick British accent again. Oh no! I'm stuck in it again! Why am I sayin' 'again' so many times? Why am I asking YOU all these questions?
Andrews Field, Joint Base Andrews
Southeast of Washington DC
2.40 p.m., 16 hours later
We finally landed in America after 16 hours of being strapped and doing nothing in the cargo hold of that Lockheed. It really make my back ache! Whoo! Anyway, upon stepping out of the aircraft, a heat wave struck us because duh, it was in the middle of summer...and a few soldiers from the US Army armed with AR15s and some Interpol agents armed with UMP45s guarded us as we approached our vehicles. The one Thea and I rode in was one of mine, as you may recall, she was Colette, my Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse. She got confirmation from me to get Interpol to authorize her into the airbase. The same happened to my facelifted 2013 Porsche Panamera Turbo S named Ameera, also a female. I lend her to Geronimo and the others. They took position, angled side by side, with their front wheels steered. How did they get here? They're cloned and placed at the retreat I was talking about, switching to their profiles in this countries. Anyway, five black Dodge Chargers as escort vehicles and their drivers waited for us as their hidden red and blue strobe lights blinked repeatedly.
"Great Gouda! Danny, seriously? I'm driving Colette today?" Thea exclaimed upon exiting the cargo hold as she looked at me with a face expression that says: 'aw, hell yeah!'
"Yes indeed," I responded. "Geronimo, Benjamin, Pandora, and Trap, enjoy Ameera."
"Your Porsche, I assume?" he asked to confirm.
"Eeyup," I nodded. "If you have any trouble, don't be afraid to patch in your radio communication signal to Colette's. I'll be there to help. Also, Ameera herself will help you if you have any problems."
"Copy that..."
As for Pandora, Benjamin and Trap, they just walked, deadpanned, gaping at Colette.
Thea and I jumped into the 16 cylinder supercar. I handed, or rather, pawed her the the keys which I always keep in the glovebox. As she started the engine, the roar went through the glass targa top. As the hot, blazing sun burns us, I ordered Colette to turn on the semi-solid tints on her targa top.
"I'm sure Geronimo's having trouble with Ameera," Thea stated, smiling at the white car next to us.
"What makes you say that?" I asked, looking at her.
"He hasn't started the engine yet." She was right. He was still finding the keys. He gave up and requested something from Ameera. I read his lips and he requested: "Ameera, patch your communication with Colette's."
"Sir, incoming transmission from Ameera," Colette notified.
"Need help, big bro?" Thea started, trying to hold back her laugh.
"Yes, we can't seem to find the keys," he said, looking at us through the window.
"Have you tried asking Ameera herself?" I suggested.
"Huh, I haven't thought of that. Ameera, where do you keep your keys?"
I heard her answer. "Why didn't you ask? They are in the glovebox, Agent Stilton."
I giggled. "Alright, keep yourselves patched in. I'll tell you the directions."
Geronimo got Ameera started and put her gear lever into drive. She gave a little advice on how to drive her, like did with Thea. "I must advise you that my accelerator pedal is very sensitive due to my master tuning up my engine to output 780 horses of power. So you might want to step on it slowly." The wheel was still steering to the right, so Geronimo just stepped on it, maybe just about half judging by the sound of the revving. He forgot that he was on neutral, so he shifted up into first...
While his paw was still pushing down the accelerator.
"Whoa!" Geronimo and the others shouted as Ameera launched into a burnout. As the result of the front wheels being steered to the right and the state that Ameera was in rear-wheel drive mode, she did a fishtailed u-turn in the process. Luckily, Geronimo's reflexes was fast enough to counter-steer and brake when they exited the u-turn.
"That...was...awesome! Let's do it again," shouted Benjamin.
We drove out of the airfield, with the sirens of the escorts turned on and in a different formation, Geronimo and the rest of the gang in the front, Thea and I behind them, and the escorts behind us.
Twenty minutes of driving and being escorted later, we reached the rural areas outside of DC, halting at a stoplight by a t-junction. A head of the junction was a dirt road, leading into a forest.
"Just go straight ahead after the stoplight," I instructed Geronimo.
"Into the forest?" asked Geronimo, sounding unsure.
"Yeah. Why? You scared, big bro?" Thea teased.
"What? No, I was just...unsure," he responded, trying to sound brave. Smooth, G. Real smooth.
The light turned green, and we continued on our journey to my isolated retreat. We drove down on the dirt road, surrounded by tall trees along the way. Colette got a large advantage as she was permanently four-wheel drive, which assists in high speed off-road driving.
Arif Retreat Estate
In the middle of a forest, somewhere outside of DC
3.10 p.m.
Ten minutes went by and already I saw my place sitting on top of a hill. There it was. My isolated retreat estate. About nine acres big, the whole property was surrounded by a thick brick fence. It has an outdoor shooting range, a 30mx30m pool, separated indoor gym, and a large courtyard with a fountain in the middle just in front of the mansion. The other spaces were free for anyone to do whatever they like.
"Is that the place Danny? The one you talked about?" Geronimo asked again.
"It is," I answered confidently. "Whadya think guys?"
Pandora started: "Oh..."
Benjamin continued: "My..."
Followed by Trap: "Gosh..."
"I thought you guys would say that," I responded, filling myself with ego while I held a face expression that said: 'like a boss'. "Is there anything you'd like to add, Thea?" She was just gaping, deadpanned. She finally responded with; "Holy mother of cheese..."
We drove in after the gates opened. Tall hedge trees were planted on both sides of the dirt path. Both our cars entered the courtyard (the escorts left when we entered the gates) then all of us got out after we stopped. We grabbed our luggage, and the two supercars drove away slowly.
"Thanks Colette, Ameera," I thanked, looking back at them as they drove away to the underground garage. I walked up a few steps up the stairs to the porch. "Alright guys, welcome to my Retreat! We've nine acres of land around here, containing an outdoor shooting range, a separated indoor gym, a 900 square meter pool, and the rest is free space so you can do whatever you want to do. And don't get me started on the underground level. The kinds of stuff and rooms would really make you wanna say 'like what'."
"Like what?" Pandora asked enthusiastically.
"See? What I tell ya?" I 'asked' rhetorically. But seriously though, we'll get to that later. Right now, I gotta show you guys where to settle in first. What're we waiting for? Come on in!" I opened the door after after leaning to the retinal scanner to unlock the door. Upon entrance, the place was lit by the sunlight, passing through the sliding glass door from the living room.
We just marched into the living room and I started pointing out the basic facilities as if they the house was a normal house, except every space in the house was wide and the ceilings were decorated with cornices and a chandelier, accompanied with no more than a few spot lamps. "That's the living room, the dining room is over there, that's the kitchen, there's a bathroom if you want to use that one, there's the door to the yard, and here in the upper level... Follow me," I said as I ran up the steps to the upper level, skipping one step as the others followed. Then I continued. "Here are the guests rooms. I've so many, just pick any one of them. Except this one, this one's mine," I said, pointing out to the door to my room. The hallway was as big as the living room, with the rooms as big as the A Famosa suites. A large window was at the end of the hallway, overlooking the yard and the forest. "And to the left at the end of the hallway is a door to roof access. There's a helipad though It's empty at the moment... Whelp, as always, gents and ladies will sleep in separate rooms. So go pick one that suits you best..." Different rooms has different decorations to suit my guests. "After you settle in, feel free to take a self tour and explore the estate and don't be afraid to ask J-Son if you have any questions, he'll be anywhere inside the property. I'll be at the living room, watching TV. Whelp, have fun at your stay!" I walked down to the living room to do what I mentioned just now.