"So what happened?" asked Robert as soon as they caught up to Salazar.
"The other two are missing. We tracked them moving to the planet BR-64, where Bolena is residing at the Apropos office but we have no idea where they would go on that planet," replied Salazar.
"Good job in the washroom," he added patting Balthazar on the back.
But Balthazar was shocked and didn't even notice Salazar praising him. He stopped walking and stood there in confusion. He was extremely afraid. In his previous life, he was attacked but there were no attacks on Bolena as long as he lived. A lot of random and frightening thoughts began to run through his mind.
"Did he saving himself cause Bolena to be the next target. Would Robert or others be targeted now. Why would Max get so desperate all of a sudden?"
"Bel. Bel. BEL!" shouted Robert shaking him out of his stupor.
Salazar was looking at Balthazar with worry and shame. Even though Balthazar had managed to bring valuable intelligence about the traitor in the family. They still couldn't do anything about it.
"I am very sorry. We didn't expect the members of the Orthrus Guardian Group to leave their patron and go to another planet. We are already making inquiries and Abel and Roger would also be interrogated," said Salazar. "You don't need to worry about her."
"How about reinforcing her security? What are we doing about it? Is she informed of the danger?"
"Additional security has already been deployed. The Patriarch doesn't want her to know of the danger."
"OK. Let us go to the mansion. I need to meet up with grandfather. I will go there and bring her back."
"The Patriarch and Walter wouldn't be available right now. I doubt they will agree to let you go either. It would be an unnecessary risk on your part," said Salazar.
"I don't care. My sister isn't me. She could never actually fight someone. I am going there. I will talk to grandpa," he said. He immediately messaged his grandfather about it.
As soon as they reached the mansion, Elaine and her team also reached them. The escorted Robert and Balthazar back to the forbidden region. They soon went into a meeting hall where they were a number of people waiting for them including a few elders. The only ones among them that Balthazar knew were Walter, Winston, Albert and Arthur.
"As we were discussing before Miss Bolena refused to move to a more secure location unless we have a concrete reason. I would suggest explaining the entire situation to her," said Albert.
"No, I don't want her to know something like that. It is best we keep her unawares of the Max's ambitions. I would suggest that she doesn't know till we have something concrete on Max. She isn't trained, can't hold back her emotions and would clearly let out hints when she comes in contact with Max," said Winston.
"I agree with Albert. He could go and get her back immediately. Or at least provide proper security to her. It would get a lot easier if she knows whom to be aware of and why they are after her. It would be easier for her to trust us if something unexpected happens," said Walter.
"I have an alternate idea. Why don't I go there to meet with Bolena. She trusts me more than anyone," pitched in Balthazar.
"I am fine with it. He has a good sense of judgement. Especially at hostile situations. I heard how he managed to help subdue Abel. What do you guys think?" asked Arthur. Marie had given him the report and he personally saw that the video stream of the seizure.
"It might work," said Albert. "But you need to follow my lead," he continued looking at Balthazar.
Winston immediately got up and went towards Balthazar. He couldn't believe that Balthazar suggested putting himself in harm's way. "Are you sure about this? It would be extremely dangerous for you to go there."
"I would just go there to observe and try to get back Bolena. I don't intend to stay there for a continuous time. It would only be until we get a hold of them two or get any further with Abel's interrogation," said Salazar trying to assuage his grandfather.
"It is not a bad suggestion. It would be a good experience too," said Walter. "Let us give Bruce an hour or so to get something from Abel and Roger. Then, if we don't have anything, we can go on with what Balthazar suggested. In the meantime, I suggest Balthazar get acquainted with Albert's team. Outfit him with a proper combat suit with a few armor and shield just to be on the safe side."
Everyone knew that Walter is suggesting that he agrees with Balthazar's idea and what he told was just code for to leave it to him to convince Winston to allow Balthazar to go along with Albert to talk with Bolena.
"Can I also go?" asked Robert suddenly.
"What for?" Walter and Winston both retorted immediately.
"Hmm. Experience?"
"Experience!?," said Walter loudly. He definitely didn't want another person away on the planet unnecessarily risking his life, especially one that is not experienced and not strong enough. But he couldn't just directly deny Robert, when Balthazar who is training along with him and an year younger than him is being sent.
"How about you observe the interrogation. Abel definitely would have seen you at the restaurant. You might be useful," said Walter in an attempt to cover his outburst.
"Come with me you two," said Albert walking towards them. "The old guys are both worried. Let them discuss their plans. Abel and Roger are being interrogated by Bruce. We can go and have a look at how it is going."
Albert was one of the elders of the Table of Ouroboros. He was Arthur's nephew and brought up by Arthur after his father died when he was toddler. He was mostly involved in gathering intelligence over at the planet DH-13 and lived there. He was only here because he was summoned to head the team which was investigating Max.
"What do you mean by interrogation? Are they being beaten up or tortured?" asked Robert.
"Well Abel is pretty weak and down. He isn't being tortured or anything like that. He needs to be woken up before we ask him anything," said Albert.
"Oh! Cool," said Robert confused.
"But he strapped down in the same room where Roger is being is being tortured. Though he is somewhat weak and lightheaded, Bruce insisted that Abel be in the same room as Roger," continued Albert.
"Oh! So, they are being tortured," said Robert realizing that Albert had agreed to them torturing Abel and Roger.
"Isn't that illegal?" he asked Albert.
"You tell me a way to inspire Assassins and security professionals to reveal about their operations without torturing or doing illegal stuff in such a small time-frame," Albert asked back.
"Huh! Ah! Hmm! Yeah, I got no proper answer for that," accepted Robert honestly.
"By the way, who is Bruce?" asked Balthazar. "I never heard about him before."
"Well, he is a professional. He was called from the DH-6 planet. He worked in collaboration with us quite a few times. Apparently, he used to work with Walter on some black ops stuff when Walter used to work in the alliance military," answered Albert.
This surprised Balthazar and Robert a lot. They both knew that Walter had brought home their parents from their grandmother. If Bruce worked on the same team as Walter, he might be aware of their secret.
A few minutes later they went into the big training hall through which they entered the armory. They went to one of the doors which opened into a small interrogation room. There was a wall dividing the room into two parts. The wall had a transparent crystal which works as one-sided glass.
They could see two persons strapped on a couple of work benches on the other side. There was a man wearing a black mask covering most of his face. He was a little more than 6-feet tall and was holding a couple of instruments in both his hands.
One of the men strapped on the bench was half-naked, convulsing and spitting all around the place. It was Roger. His face was pale with his eyes red and looked very frightened. Most of his upper torso had red and blue. Bruce pulled the gag out of Roger's mouth.
"You feeling a bit more talkative now?" asked Bruce in a gravelly voice.
"I will. I will. Please stop," said Roger quickly half stammering. "I have no idea where they are right now at BR-64."
"Here we go again," said Bruce taking the gag into his hand.
"No. No. I got another way you can reach them. I heard they would be moving tomorrow to meet some guy called Troy Harper," said Roger.
"Troy Harper?" asked Bruce. "You sure about that?"
"Yes. Yes. I don't know anything other than that. I swear. I only did it because they had my mother in custody. I got nothing against you guys."
"Oh! Is that so? We will confirm that," said Bruce.
He immediately came out and asked, "Give me the video of him saying that." His voice suddenly changed to smooth and pleasant tone.
"What do you need with the video?" asked Albert.
"I know someone at the staff of the Orthrus Group. With the information, we just got we can have them look over his mother's place. Then, we can get their support."
"How sure you are that he is not lying?"
"Very sure."
"OK. That's fine. These are Balthazar and Robert, Winston and Walter's grandsons."
"Hi guy, nice to meet you. I have a lot of stories about Walter and Winston which would have you laughing on the ground. We should have lunch sometime. It would be fun," said Bruce with a devious smile.
"Yeah sure, we would love to hear more from you," said Robert with interest. People would hardly say no to learning the stupid and silly things their parents/grandparents did in their youth and Robert was definitely not going to be an exception to it.
"Of course, you would. Robert's here to have a look at your interrogation," said Albert.
Bruce stared at Albert. "He is going to be observing me?" asked Bruce back in a gravelly tone. For a second, Albert got extremely flustered. Hearing Bruce's voice tone, he thought that Bruce had misunderstood Robert observing him to be Robert supervising him.
"No. No. You misunderstand. He is actually here to strictly observe the interrogation process. You know. Broaden his horizons. Experience new things. No interference of any kind," said Albert trying to explain.
"Haha, I was just kidding. You are a lot different from Arthur in this aspect. I know, they would be here to just learn. Walter is not into Filicide," said Bruce with a silly smile on his face.
"Ha. You got me," said Albert. "Walter's going to come here. I will leave young Robert in your care. Bel and I need to go to BR-64."
"Young Balthazar is joining you at BR-64? What's he going to do there?"
"We need someone Bolena trusts without needing to tell her about the attacks. So, we are taking him with us."
"But he is still a kid. Is he on the same level as you guys?" whispered Bruce into Albert's ear.
"He is not bad, and he did manage to help take down Abel there," said Albert nodding towards Albert.
"He helped take down Abel? You might be exaggerating a bit there. Aren't you?"
"No. No. Abel would have successfully knocked down Salazar and his team, if he didn't interfere. He also managed to take down Max in a combat challenge."
"Really?!"
"Yeah. It was so crazy. The entire family is still talking about Max challenging him and then losing," said Albert.
"Well, they are both Walter's kin. So, I guess crazy is a given," said Bruce as if it is expected of them.
"Anyways, we got to get going," said Albert.
"OK. Be careful kid," said Bruce. "Don't do anything too crazy. I heard you almost died once. If you carry on like this, you might end up with a reputation as bad as Walter's especially since work in the alliance army."
"What? Walter is well known,"
"Ah. Story for another time. You need to get going," said Bruce waving his hand down.
"Come on in, Robert. Let me introduce to the tools of my trade," said Bruce going back towards Abel and Roger.
"OK. See you later," said Balthazar as he walked out of the room along with Albert.