Chapter 63 : Bad News

Meanwhile, her husband shrugged casually as he grabbed his trousers and started to pull them on. "He has to be ready at all times, just in case there's a problem," he explained. "And he's been instructed to use the key only in emergencies, which means he can't use it all the time."

The loud banging continued, this time sounding even more urgent, with the addition that they were pressing the bell several times in a hurry. This time Aishleen could not remain silent. She immediately jumped up and grabbed Keenan's shirt, pulling it on as she left the bed.

"Wait," Keenan tried to stop her, "this could be a problem—"

She ignored his warning and rushed out of the room, carelessly fastening each button of the shirt in her haste - just to make sure it was enough to cover her bare skin - as she walked down the hall to the entrance. Something in her told her that whoever they were, even if their intentions were evil, there was no way they would do her any harm in her own home.

Hadn't Keenan said earlier that 'they' couldn't touch her while she was here with him? And she could feel the urgency calling to her, the chill on her skin telling her that this probably had more to do with her than her husband.

She reached the door in record time and hastily pulled it open, revealing the man standing on the other side of the threshold.

His hand was still in the air, ready to hit the door again to summon her, and his hair was completely disheveled on top of his head, something she usually didn't see on him when he was calm and collected whenever he met her. His panting breath told her that he had come to this place in a hurry and under stress, and the bags under his eyes were proof that he had been up and working hard during the time he had been away, during the time he could not be contacted by her or Herman.

"John? What are you doing here?" she asked him, brows furrowed, arms crossed over her chest to cover her body. Suddenly she felt exposed even under the shirt he was wearing.

The man in front of her raised his head to meet her eyes and gave her a deep, devastated look before turning to look over her shoulder.

"This is Herman," John replied after taking a deep breath, but his eyes were not on her as he spoke, instead he was looking directly at the person standing right behind her. From the sound of soft footsteps behind her, she knew that Keenan was behind her because he had followed her.

Aishleen made no move to turn her head to look at him, too stunned to see how John's eyes were now filled with anger as he continued,

"He's dead."

***—A few hours ago—***

There wasn't much to see as Herman looked out the window during the night flight. All he could see as he scanned his surroundings to look out the window of the plane was pitch black. But he kept his eyes scanning his surroundings as he grew more and more uneasy the longer he sat in the small plane.

He hadn't said a word to the pilot since the plane had taken off, the sound of the engine and the wind outside being the music that drowned out the deafening silence of the hour and a half flight. Being thankful for the good weather seemed the most rational thing to do to allay his fears of what would await him when the plane landed.

Herman is not specially trained to do such things, as he spends most of his time and work from the safety of his technical and computer equipment. And he certainly didn't have a solid plan for what to do once he reached his destination. Except to go in and look for the most important thing to take with him. Information.

*"I just need to look closer, to find something about them up close,"* he reminded himself of his failure to find anything about these people, no matter how hard he tried. It was as if he had been chasing shadows, as if they had never existed. *"I have to do this,"* he thought to himself, "this could solve everything, and once I have the answers, I'll finish my part of the deal.

The lack of basic knowledge or clues that he had been given about the place that he was about to enter prior to his departure was the main reason that he felt uneasy as he got closer to it. While this was not the first time he had infiltrated a place to tap into their database, as he was about to do, it would be the first time he had practically walked in blind, with absolutely no idea of what lay ahead. Too risky, even for him, but he had no choice.

*"It's now or never, because time is running out."*

*"Soon,"* he said silently to himself, taking a deep breath with closed eyes and leaning back in his seat, feeling it in his bones that it would soon be time for him to move. He got confirmation just a few seconds later when the co-pilot finally spoke—

"We'll be landing soon. You'd better get ready."

Herman opened his eyes carefully as he exhaled deeply to stabilize his heart rate before turning to the man who was watching the panels in front of him prepare for landing. "We're landing? Where are we landing?"

"Certainly not at the airport," the young pilot - who had introduced himself as Jacob just before they took off - said calmly. He turned to meet Herman's gaze and smiled when he saw the man frowning at him. "What? Are you expecting me to tell you to get off the plane?"

"Yeah, no, I guess not," Herman chuckled as he shook his head. "I just assumed it was because we were supposed to be stealthy or, I don't know, something like that. I just thought I should prepare myself for something more extreme."

"Unfortunately, this is not an action movie. This is as stealthy as we can get," Jacob stifled a laugh as he stared ahead with his hands ready on the levers while his eyes continued to scan the screen as he explained, "We landed just outside the boundaries of the local airport. The airport is usually closed at night, so it should be empty by the time we get there. But as a precaution, we're going to land far enough away that we can use the lights from their runway as a guide while staying off their radar. I've also prepared a vehicle at the landing site to help you get there quickly."

Feeling reassured by the current plan, Herman took a deep breath and nodded. "Alright. Thank you, my friend."

"Thank me after we get out of there safely," Jacob grinned at him.

"We?"

"My orders are to get you to your destination and then bring you back unharmed. The only way to ensure that is for me to go with you and be your backup," Jacob spoke casually as the plane prepared to descend from the sky. He turned his head briefly when he noticed that Herman was also silent and hesitant, then gave him a smile. "Don't worry, I've been trained and have plenty of skills for that."

Herman scoffed, then spoke in a sarcastic tone while looking away, "So he still needs me, huh?"

Jacob let out a small laugh. "Are you kidding me? You're an important asset to him. At least for now," he said in a firm tone, the look in his eyes turning sharp to show that he meant every word and that his orders had been made as clear as possible, causing a smirk to appear on Herman's face as he hummed softly—

"That's good to know."