Thrive in Catastrophe - Chap 94
Liv said nothing, she merely nodded with approval.
Xiao’s gaze shifted toward Lauren. “This time, you cannot come with me. I may not make it back so…”
He trailed off, his meaning clear.
Lauren’s lips curved into a difficult grin. “No matter the task, I am still your research assistant. Don’t look down on me. I can do more than you realize.”
Winn smiled back at Lauren. “What can you do? Get in the way?”
Lauren narrowed his eyes at Winn and shot back. “At least I am smarter than you!”
Because of Ritz and Loch’s dedication, none of the other research directors opted out. Despite their trepidation, they did not want to be labeled a coward.
Xiao’s placed his hands on the desk in front of him and leaned forward with an oppressive and authoritative air. “From now on, everything I have to say is completely confidential. Even if the president were to ask, you must keep everything a secret. Say nothing.”
This was vitally important, Valentin could easily intercept any communication.
Shen Bing stepped forward and closed the terminal, shielding the signals. Xiao continued on. “In a week Jane Wallace will release a coordinate. This information will be transmitted through multiple channels. In other words, Valentin will receive this piece of information. He will know where Jane Wallace is and go to this disclosed location. Form here, there are two possibilities. Valentin may arrive personally or send people ahead. If he goes in person, then we pounce on him. If he sends people in his stead, they will still deliver Jane to Valentin. From there we just need to pursue to Surge to locate him. Either way this gives us an opportunity to take him out. To do this, I will need two very important resources.”
Ritz smiled at Xiao knowingly. “You will need a wireless terminal that matches your interface speed and a craft the taxes and exceeds the known limits of the technology.”
“Yes. I will need these things by next week. Work hard!”
Xiao returned to his room, his head lowered as he tiredly made his way through the hall. He opened the door with prints and dumbly walked inside the room. Heine suddenly pushed Xiao behind him, his body tensed and vigilant.
Xiao looked up as Heine’s urgency flew through him and his heart pounded erratically, his brain scattered and flowed anxiously.
A man sat on the bed in the darkness. He leaned casually against the wall. Heine looked at him with narrowed eyes.
The lights flicked on and Xiao looked over at the slender man with a stunned expression.
“Jane Wallace! How did you get here?!”
Xiao stood in front of him, still wearing his research attire, he couldn’t believe that Jane managed to easily sneak inside such a heavily guarded base.
“Colonel Burton. You don’t want to fight me here.” Jane stood up leisurely and picked the pillow off of the bed. He brought it toward his nose, deeply and dramatically inhaling Xiao’s scent.
Heine watched him with a weighted gaze that could crush mountains, Jane looked over at him and continued nonplussed.
“Not only did Gordon get you Xiao’s contact, he gave you the code to enter the base?”
“You are so suspicious of me that you think that I planned an invasion of this base?” Jane laughed, “You should know that Gordon is intent on killing Valentin.”
“I believe you came here to help us deal with Valentin.”
Xiao walked around Heine to look over at Jane.
