Chapter 206 - Asylum

"Major Khalid, that is who it is," said Balthazar as he remembered the name. "He shaved his beard and has a lot of make up confusing me for a bit."

"Who is he?" asked D.i.c.k wondering if Evelyn had put someone on Balthazar's tail after he heard that the waiter was a major.

"Someone who is supposed to be dead. He used to work under Lieutenant Colonel Jane. He was considered to have blown up in the explosion as he was supposed to be in the shop at the time of the explosion," said Balthazar. D.i.c.k immediately started to search for information on the Major through his wrist band. It was a very important lead which could provide them more information about the knights of the old republic.

"Why don't we have a talk with him," said Balthazar putting a hand on D.i.c.k's wrist band stopping him. "You wouldn't find anything there. It is best we have a few clams."

"He is retreating to the kitchen," came Glen's voice through the microphone.

"Did he realize that we made him?" thought both Balthazar and D.i.c.k as they quickly walked out of the balcony to catch up to him.

"He is just going to fill up his tray before he comes back. The pair of you can wait at the balcony," said Glen.

"No. Let us get to him first. Catch up to him and pull him to a private room. Most of the room in the floor below have been booked in case any guests would want to rest. Get him to one of the rooms," said Balthazar to Glen.

"Could you please get a hold of Evelyn and Ichigo, but make sure that you don't inform them of the major till they are out of the penthouse. We don't need anyone here to think much about their disappearance," he requested D.i.c.k as he followed in direction of the kitchen. Glen was already ahead of him in order to capture Khalid. As Balthazar reached the kitchen he found a few of the waiters and cooks in a tensed and frightened expressions. Some were looking seriously towards the kitchen backdoor.

"What happened?" asked Balthazar though he already was quite sure that it is probably Glen who had put them in that state.

"That man knocked out one of the waiters with a tray and carried him out," said a cook pointing to the backdoor. "Somebody alert the security." continued the cook as he looked at Balthazar.

"Don't worry. I am Balthazar Blyth. We have booked the penthouse for the party. The waiter was suspected of infiltrating the party and having stolen something. He was taken to a room by our men to find out more information from him," said Balthazar as he showed his identification and went through the backdoor.

"I hoped that Glen would be a bit more discreet. What is he thinking taking out Khalid in such an open fashion?" thought Balthazar as he contacted Glen.

"He noticed me and try poke my eye out with a barbecue poker," said Glen. "I have him in tied up in a room and am currently trying to make awake."

"Douse him in water," said Balthazar. "I am coming and there would D.i.c.k, Evelyn and Ichigo coming a few seconds behind me. I would like to get a few answers before they come up."

"I understand," said Glen. To him it was clear that Balthazar wanted to talk to this major away from prying eyes. He understood that D.i.c.k was included among the list of unwanted people, but he could only send away D.i.c.k without raising suspicion by requesting him to get Ichigo and Evelyn. So, they needed to talk a bit before D.i.c.k gets a hold of Evelyn and Ichigo and manages to get them without arousing any suspicion or fear in any of the other people in the party.

It would be an easy task to alert them, but there would an expression of surprise at the very least if he informed them of the supposedly dead major. If officials of the armed forces high up in the command chain like Evelyn or Ichigo put any expressions of surprise, it would cause the people in the party to wonder and might disturb the atmosphere. All the people invited were social elites and they would have high level of intelligence. They would definitely wonder about it and he didn't want that to happen. So, it would definitely take some time for D.i.c.k to get them both to come out of the party and he wanted to not waste any of this time.

Glen took the major and threw him in the bathroom and used the shower to rouse him out of his trauma induced stupor. As Khalid's eyes opened him found himself sprawled in a bathtub, with a man pointing a gun at his face. It was clear to him that he had been captured and they suspected that he had infiltrated the party. He just hoped that they didn't know his identity and have somehow managed to realize that he had entered the restaurant after he tied up a waiter.

"Damn these guys are pretty heavy handed," thought Khalid as he moved his hand over his head to check the bruise on his head caused by Glen. "They clearly want to interrogate me but why am I in a bathtub. I expected them to move me to some place like a dungeon."

"Why did you knock me out? Where am I?" asked Khalid in a feeble voice. Though he was captured he had enough common sense to try and feint that he was wrongfully captured. He was a trained soldier and had kept a frightened expression on his face even since he woke up. He was sure that he had put up a good act as a common civilian to his captor. "I am an employee of the ambrosia restaurant owned by the Blyths. They are the rulers of asklepian. Don't think that you can get away without any repercussions by being so heavy handed in this place."

"I suggest that you cease the acting, major Khalid. We know of your identity. If you continue in this manner, I wouldn't mind repeating my previous actions," said Glen as he pulled out a hair drier from the cupboard in the bathroom and held it as a club ready to smack Khalid on his head again.

"No need for such brutish behavior. I understand my situation," said Khalid.

"Sometimes brutes have the best effect in inspiring civilized liars to become honest gentlemen," said Glen smiling. "I suggest that you dispose of your wet clothes, cover your private parts with a towel and seat yourself in a chair. You are going to have a few visitors soon."

Glen wanted to make sure that the major isn't hiding any items that he could use to attack or defend himself. So, it was best to have him strip down before he got to meet up with Balthazar and the others. It was necessary for him to take such measures as Balthazar's bodyguard. Under the stern gaze of his captor, Khalid had no options to do as he was told, and he was in a chair in the room before Balthazar came into the room.

"Is he clean?" asked Balthazar as he entered and saw Khalid with a towel wrapped around the lower part of his body. He immediately realized that Glen had already taken appropriate measures to avoid an unexpected attacks.

"Clean enough," said Glen leaning against a wall with his gun trained on Khalid.

"So, it is you who had identified me," said Khalid. "That makes things a lot easier. I was afraid that someone else might have caught me."

"Hmm," said Balthazar in surprise. "You actually wanted to meet me?" he asked in shock. He knew that Khalid had worked under Jane and had expected him to have been under the employ of the knights of the old republic. So, he thought that Khalid wanted to attack or injure him rather than talk.

"Of course. You didn't think that I had any intention of harming you. I am not suicidal. I just needed to meet you away from prying eyes. I have been in the city for quite some time, but it was tough to get in contact with you. When I heard of the party, I believed that it was the best chance to get in contact with you," said Khalid. "But first, was I that apparent that you managed to identify me before I even introduced myself. I thought that I had disguised myself quite well."

"You did, but it was apparent to him that you were trying to get close to me in the party for a long time. That is quite an odd thing for a waiter to do in such an event," said Balthazar.

"I guess I am not made for such things. Most of my work was always in technology. I was hardly any good at these things," said Khalid as he dropped his head.

"Anyway. I don't care about your experience in spy work. Tell me how you are still alive and why you wanted to meet me?" asked Balthazar.

"Yes. Yes. I need your help. You are the only one I could come to," said Khalid.

"Clearly not the answer to my question and I don't have much time. If you are expecting anything from me, you better make yourself useful and answer my questions quickly," said Balthazar.

"I will. I will. I trained along with lieutenant colonel when we were young. We came from the same batch. I was very good at software and my previous job was quality testing during which I had decent knowledge about updating software of various systems deployed by the military. I was also known to be a gambled and was under debt to some unsavory forces. So, she contacted me and told me that she could get rid of all my debt and provide me a fortune if I helped her sabotage the defenses systems of the citadel," explained Khalid.

"So, you were the one who actually caused the issue with the systems in the citadel?" asked Balthazar angrily. He had suffered a lot in his past life due to the incident at the citadel and he hated all who were responsible for it. Even though, he managed to keep the citadel from falling the second time, he still had the memories of his past life and bore a lot of hatred towards the ones responsible. He wanted revenge and felt that he lost the chance to avenge himself personally after the explosion killed Jane as she was the only one whom he could ask for answers. His rage was clearly visible in his eyes and even the tone of his voice changed as he heard Khalid. This put Khalid on the guard and even Glen was a bit surprised that his cousin would take the matter that seriously.

"Yes. I was under duress. I didn't want to do it, but I was forced by using my family. They had pictures of them and threatened me. I had to help them," said Khalid in fear as he saw the expression on Balthazar's face. "I did as they bid, but I didn't take any money either. I didn't want anything linking me to them. I had no contact with any of them."

"Still haven't answered my two questions. I suggest you start with how you managed to escape," continued Balthazar in an angry tone.

"That was easy. I have also put a back way to determine the true information sensed by the defense systems. It concerns the safety of the citadel and I was at the same place as you. So, I needed to be able to make a retreat if necessary. It would provide me with notifications if anything dangerous happens. When you announced a state of alert, it was very surprising, and I was sure that someone managed to set the systems right. I was sure that soon the traitors would be routed out if you managed to find out about the hack in the defense systems. So, I decided to escape," said Khalid.

"You were seen near the ship that exploded. You were noted to be present. Else, they wouldn't have marked you as dead and would probably marked as a deserter," said Balthazar. "High chance that you would still be marked as one."

"Of course, I went to the hangar. I wanted to escape and disappear. The ones who threatened me would also try to silence me after the incident. I expected the pirates to attack us at the hanger, though didn't expect it to be a suicidal one. I went in and then walked away from the hanger along with a few volunteers under the excuse that I would train them," said Khalid.

"So, you were a deserter," said Balthazar.

"No, I just put my distance from the hangar as I didn't want to die. I was just being careful. I didn't leave the citadel. I didn't want anything to do with Jane after it was clear that her plan failed. We all knew we were liabilities and were on guard, but I bet no expected the explosion," said Khalid. "After the explosion, I realized the extremes these people were willing to go, just to keep their name clean. So, I feinted my death. I just ran away from the citadel but realized that I was considered dead due to the explosion and as I didn't give my name to the volunteers, no one suspected anything."

"So, you got lucky. That is your reason for your escape?" asked Balthazar not knowing what to make of it. He had expected quite a lot from him as he managed to evade both the knights of the old republic and the border forces. Knowing that it just happened due to a bit of prudence and him being away from the hangar was just disappointing to him.

"Why did you want to meet me, then?"

"Because you were the one who escaped even after the explosion. Cause you were the one who managed to capture them by updating the defense systems after you have identified the issue which was supposedly impossible to identify," said Khalid in an excited tone "Please, tell me how you managed to do that so that I wouldn't make such a mistake again."

"That was just luck. You can modify the defense systems to not report any foreign sh.i.p.s that are close to the moon but can't actually prevent them from being noticed by other devices and personnel. A trusted subordinate had informed me of a private vessel and that is the only reason, I followed up," said Balthazar.

"Hearing what I told, it looks like I have just been lucky. Just as luck as Khalid or probably much luckier. Without my knowledge of my past life that is the only way it would appear to others. Or they would think that I am purposefully not revealing something," thought Balthazar as laughed inside at the ridiculous circ.u.mstance he was in.

"Seriously?" asked Khalid unwilling to accept a reason so ridiculous.

"I assure you one thing. It has got nothing to do with any issues in your work. I only realized the problems in the defense systems due to its effects. I could only realize it because the ones who asked you to do it were foolish enough to not think thoroughly about their request. Their plan had too many flaws to begin with," said Balthazar. Though most of the things he just told were true, the words he used gave the impression that the reason he managed to save the citadel was something within his control, but he is unwilling to inform anyone about it.

"So, it wasn't my mistake," said Khalid. "Still, they wouldn't let me be. So, I came to you to request asylum."

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