Chapter 996 - King investigates Chaos

~ New York ~

December 24

9:12 AM

"What do you mean by: the mission was a failure?", King growled at Ivan.

Three more subordinates are present in the room and they are trying to diminish their presence.

"The men we sent didn't come back. The communication was cut off and the trackers are dead.", Ivan explained, and pointed at area of the map of California which is on the table in front of the King. "As soon as they entered the zone here… they disappeared."

Ivan is not sure why is King asking for an explanation? The report in front of him says it all, and the same happened with previous five groups of people they sent to investigate what is going on in California.

"And we still don't know who is doing this?", King craned his neck to look at his subordinates in the back.

"They call themselves the army of Chaos.", one man from the back responded.

"Who are they?", King squeezed through his teeth.

The man stepped forward and started talking: "The leader is a female…"

King threw a pencil holder at the man and it hit him in the middle of the forehead.

The man felt stinging, he is bleeding. But he does not dare to reach for it.

King grunted and spoke in a dangerously low voice which increased in volume as he proceeded: "Are you going to tell me a story about a female warrior with glowing red eyes who can crush things with her bare hands? One report even mentions a black panther! She is so silent that no one hears her coming, and people just drop dead instantly. And she commands shadows who can't be caught, and your body gets paralyzed if you lay your eyes on them? Is she a mutant that can shoot lasers out of her eyes? Or maybe releases a poison? Or is she using a potion which can give her supernatural strength? Do you really think that I will believe that load of bullshit? I need to know who are they!"

King stood up abruptly and it made all three men in the back flinch. "Get out and find me something useful!"

The three men scrambled out of the room.

King sat back in his chair and pinched the roof of his nose.

"Any movements from Milena's side?", King asked Ivan.

He knows that Milena is upset because of what happened to Sarah and Aiden. That is why they destroyed three of his facilities. And he allowed it without retaliation, thinking that it will pacify her. He does not mind sacrificing few locations and some pawns.

After that incident, everything was quiet for some time, as expected. But now… they are losing resources faster than they can account for them, and in the most populous area of the country!

Milena is the top suspect, because she knows inner workings of the family, and these quick and precise attacks can't be done by an outsider. It's like they know exactly the location of each of his men. 

"No." Ivan responded to King's question and explained: "She is on her way to Los Angeles, probably to spend the Christmas with her daughters. There is no movement from her or her men."

King wondered, if it's not Milena, who could it be? "How about Whites? Or Milena's daughters?"

Ivan had another report ready in his hand and placed it in front of King while summarizing: "Whites are busy with power transfer, and they have an internal struggle which involves Marcus White. JoAnna is supporting Jeffrey, and Sophia is mostly at home taking care of her pregnancy."

"What about Sarah?" King knows that her arm is permanently damaged, but that does not mean that she is not angry.

"She is at home. Ever since they returned from the hospital, other than trips she takes with JoAnna, she stays home and takes care of Aiden White. They hired a full time nurse who is staying at their home. Few photos we obtained show that Sarah's left arm didn't recover." Ivan placed several photos on the desk from the folder in his hands.

"What about Voronins?" As much as King is treating Milena as a number one suspect, his men are investigating others as well. And Voronins are always suspected of acting against Lebedevs.

"Our sources from Russia say that their core members are under alert. It appears that the army of Chaos is attacking them as well."

King leaned back in his chair and started thinking… So, it's not only them, but Voronins as well? Maybe this army of Chaos is not targeting them specifically, but it's cleaning the field so that they can take over Los Angeles? Are other organizations under attack? They should investigate this.

Huh, that army of Chaos already has Los Angeles and surrounding cities in their control, and they are expanding… soon they will own the whole Southern California! That must be a large army if they are having such a strong defense and expanding at the same time. How can an organization with so many members suddenly appear out of nowhere, and they are not able to get any useful information on them? The rumors are outrageous. There is no way he is going to believe in that… a female with glowing red eyes… yeah, right. The only thing missing are aliens.

"Should we alert our core members as well?", Ivan's question interrupted King's thoughts.

King nodded. "Tell them to keep an eye on Voronins. Let's avoid a scenario where they take advantage of the situation and grab what is ours. There is a possibility that they are the ones behind all this… Assign extra people into finding out who is pulling strings of this Chaos army. They are too organized. At this rate, we will lose California within weeks…"

"This arrived this morning.", Ivan placed a printout in front of King.

King read it and snorted. "Elders found about the situation?"

Ivan nodded. "They are requesting you to go back and to meet in person."

An amused smirk danced on King's face. "In person? Are they considering to replace me?"

"I don't have that information." Ivan took a step back after responding. King is (almost) smiling, that can't be a good thing. He is the most dangerous when he is smiling.

King pushed the paper back to Ivan. "Delay them. I want to find out about this new organization before meeting with Elders. And contact Milena."

Ivan was surprised by King's request. "Do you think that she will talk to you?"

"It's in her interest that I stay in charge of overseeing North America."

Ivan looked at the paper which has a notice that he should return to Eastern Europe for an emergency meeting. "You can just go to the meeting and wipe them out."

King chuckled. "Yes, I can. But where is the fun in that? Life will be boring if we remove everyone who is in our way."

Ivan headed out of the office and King stopped him: "Tell those three that if they don't find anything useful within a week, I will go there by myself to investigate… and if it comes to that, their services will not be necessary."

Ivan paused. "Do you really plan to go…?"

"Of course, not.", King cut him off impatiently. "My presence is not necessary. But I will get rid of them. They have one week."

Ivan nodded and exited the room. He exhaled. This went better than expected considering that they just dumped number of bad news at King. But those three are in trouble. If they don't produce results soon, King will dispose of them.

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