~ Los Angeles ~
Thursday
As planned, Max and Liz stayed in Los Angeles.
Max split his day between dealing with urgent matters related to the Alpha group and meeting with Sophia and Felix at the White corp. (the Orion Enterprise branch) in order to familiarize himself with the offerings related to security.
Liz was with JoAnna and Emma at the LA Medical Center. Liz's assistants arrived, and they were busy with preparations for the upcoming surgery.
Mia and Hunter returned to Seattle early that morning.
Mia had an appointment with her doctor, to make sure there are no issues with her pregnancy, and they also needed to deal with the matter of the lost bet.
What bet? Seeing Mia's confidence in Hunter's fighting skills, Sarah suggested spicing up the experience of watching their husbands fight by adding a wager. If Hunter wins, the Army of Chaos will do a favor for Mia's organization, and if Aiden wins Mia will do a favor for them.
Since Hunter lost, Mia listened to Sarah's request and she was surprised when Sarah gave her a list of seven names.
"You want me to dig out information about their bank accounts?", Mia asked with a complex expression on her face.
Sarah confirmed. "Bank accounts, vaults, safe deposit boxes, anything that can contain valuables or sensitive information."
When Mia and Hunter spoke earlier that day about their organization, the couple from Seattle mentioned a vast amount of data. Sarah wanted to see if Mia can provide them with clues on where the vaults of the Council are.
Sarah told Aiden about the bet she made with Mia, and Aiden approved. Like this, Mia and Hunter can show their sincerity by providing information that is not crucial for the Army of Chaos.
Sure, Sarah is set on looting those vaults, but if they skip on swiping things, their Army of Chaos will not be in danger.
Back to the present…
In the planning room at the Cliffside Villa…
Sarah, Aiden, Oni, Nala, Michael, and Haru were going through various reports that were collected related to the members of the Council.
Sarah and Aiden were looking at the reports that proved how Albert and Rance are up to something.
"Rance is mobilizing his men.", Nala said. "Based on the communication we intercepted, they are preparing to strike our mines on Saturday morning. Most of our miners will be gone for the weekend with their families, and by the time they return on Monday, they will walk into Rance's hands."
"That means Albert will act before that.", Sarah mumbled, more to herself.
"We assume that Albert will make his move on Friday.", Oni spoke about the part she was investigating.
"You still don't know for sure?", Sarah asked.
Oni shook her head dejectedly. "He has too many people and they are not communicating electronically. Albert is making sure not to leave traces. However, by attacking us on Friday, we will have enough time to notice it and to divert our attention to him, leaving mines with lowered security and less personnel for Rance to take."
Sarah puffed her cheeks in frustration and looked at Aiden. "What do you think?"
"I think that we should go after Albert first. By forcing him to defend, he will not have time to attack.", Aiden said. "We have media campaigns against him ready, however, I don't think we should use them. Not yet."
Aiden made a dramatic pause and looked at five people in the room before continuing.
"The media campaigns have the potential to destroy his personal and political life. As much as they will be effective, it will take time for him to actually lose power; we can take away public support, but for him to actually lose his position, the government of Sweden needs to take action. That is why I suggest we issue a warning first. This warning needs to be swift and effective, and to send a message that if he doesn't back off, we will destroy him."
"Do you think that a warning will work on him?", Michael asked suspiciously.
Aiden shrugged. "I don't expect him to back off completely. But it should throw him off the track. He will make mistakes and maybe even postpone his attack."
Sarah thought for a second about Aiden's words. "We can empty his bank accounts. Show him that our people can reach him anytime."
Aiden approved. "Sounds good. Also, let's show him that WE can reach him anytime, the closer we get to him, the better effect it will have. We have blueprints of his mansion in Switzerland. There is nothing more intimidating than the knowledge he is not safe in his own home. His people will be dazed, and his technology will fail to catch anything out of the ordinary, yet he will know that we were there."
Sarah's face lit up. "Are we going on a trip?"
"No. You are pregnant.", Aiden rejected Sarah by reminding her of the obvious. He had no objections to Sarah traveling, but he knew that if she is there, she will go on a mission, and he will have none of that.
He looked at Oni, Nala, Michael, and Haru. "Any volunteers? The mission is to breach into a mansion and… swipe things. Maybe vandalize the place."
Four hands flew high into the air at the same time. They all wanted to go. It's been a while since they did something fun.
Aiden approved their enthusiasm. "Alright. Oni and Michael will head to Rance's villa. Nala and Haru will head to Albert's. You leave in two hours. Let's check the blueprints, estimate haul, and determine the size of the teams that will go with you…"
Just as Aiden suspected, Sarah wanted to go herself, but she couldn't deny that she was pregnant. Going on a mission where she would sneak into someone's house, take care of security, and steal things, didn't sound like a good idea with baby Logan in her belly.
Sarah consoled herself that with drones she will be able to see everything and if they bump into safe deposits, she can guide units in the field on how to crack the safes open.
"Don't leave anything behind…", Sarah advised seriously. "Take everything. Refrigerators included."
Aiden stifled a chuckle at Sarah's words. Ah, that's his wife.
While they discussed important matters, Sarah couldn't shake off the lingering thoughts at the back of her head.
"I need to make a phone call…", Sarah said and left the room. In truth, she needed to make two.
The first one connected when Suvedini picked up the call.
"Hi, Suvedini… We confirmed that Rance and Albert are making a move and are preparing for a counter-attack."
"Do you need assistance?", Suvedini offered with relief evident in her voice.
"Not with this. I don't want you to expose yourself by acting against Rance and Albert. Giving us a heads-up was enough. Thank you."
Suvedini exhaled heavily. "Just by telling you, I acted against them. If I add more, it won't make a difference."
Sarah had a nagging question. "You knew about the consequences and I'm sure that you weighed your options before you came to the Chaos nightclub. Why did you do it?"
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