Redemption

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

                Darius and Viceroy followed Tin into a part of the estate he’d never been to before. There was a staircase behind a locked door in Senator Rheingold’s office. Tin gave him the code for the door, but as he had been instructed to personally escort Darius to the room, he unlocked it and led him down the stairs. Another door stood in their way at the bottom of the stairs, although it wasn’t locked.

                On the other side of the door was what looked like an ordinary conference room. Tin sat down on one end of the table, and wanting to be as far from him as possible, Darius sat on the opposite side on the other end. Not long after he sat down, Erik walked in, sitting next to Darius and leaving the seat across the Tin vacant.

                Senator Rheingold walked in, stopping and looking at those already seated with a frown. “Where’s Ruslan?”

                “Haven’t seen him,” Erik said with a shrug. “He’ll probably show up soon enough.”

                The senator sat down at the head of the table, the side near Tin. He said nothing for several moments and then finally started to speak. He didn’t even manage a full word before the door swung open and Ruslan stumbled in carrying a backpack.

                “Sorry I’m late!” he shouted while walking over to the table. He stopped at the end opposite Rheingold and looked at everyone. “Aw, I don’t wanna sit next to Tinny!”

                Ruslan sat down across from Darius, but immediately stood up again. He pulled several plastic shot glasses out of the bag and set them on the table. Ignoring the senator’s order to sit down, he continued what he was doing. He took out a bottle of a dark colored alcohol and poured several shots. He telekinetically pushed a shot glass in front of each of the others saying, “One for you, one for you, one for Tinny, and one for the senator.”

                “Sit down!” Rheingold shouted at Ruslan, giving him a telekinetic shove at the same time which knocked him into his seat. Ruslan grabbed the bottle and took a swig right after he fell into the chair. “Are you drunk?”

                “Nope,” Ruslan said with a grin. “Just drinking.”

                “I think I need one too,” Erik said, taking the shot that Ruslan had poured for him. Darius followed his lead and drank his as well.

                “If that’s enough disturbances,” the senator said angrily, but keeping his voice low, “we have actual business to attend to. No more drinking and no more outbursts.” He looked at Ruslan as he said that last part.

                “Yes, sir,” Ruslan said, sounding very serious.

                “I have recently received a valuable report from Alvarez,” Rheingold said, referring to Fox Alvarez, one of his people, and one that Darius had specifically trained. “He’s given us all locations of Anitreh strongholds.”

                “Let’s get them,” Tin said. “We can take them all out.”

                “Because that’s not extreme at all,” Erik said, rolling his eyes. “And we have the manpower to do that.”

                “It’s our end goal anyway,” Tin argued. “We should act quickly before they can react.”

                “Then we have to assume that it’s a complete list Fox got us,” Erik said. “Because if he missed a couple, that’s going to put the remaining Anitreh all over us. Not to mention the fact that the other regions can step in and stop us. And we can’t ensure that they’ll all be there when we strike, still leaving loose ends. It’s simply not possible to take them all out in a quick strike. We’ve got to play this smart. Like we’ve been doing. Take out the higher ranking ones and those that get a hint of our existence.”