Chapter 459 - Dogs and Cats and Mouse

Nicolae was very angry when he saw that a bounty announcement to catch him had spread all over Darknet. Some loyal friends immediately helped to erase his traces and covered his tracks. Still, he was so annoyed as he had to become extra careful.

In less than 30 hours someone had found his apartment on Robertson Road - Singapore, and that made him realize that the bounty was no joke. Fortunately, he left no traces or clues of his exact whereabouts there.

"Gosh ... This is all very annoying," Nicolae repeatedly sighed in frustration. On one side, the Wolf Pack was hunting Rhionen Assassins, yet on the other side, the Rhionen Assassins were hunting him.

It was like a game of dogs chasing cats and cats chasing one mouse. Even though Nicolae was very reluctant to admit this, but right now he was really feeling like the latter.

He hoped his father and team could immediately take down Rhionen Assassins and free him from the bounty.

"Big Brother, let's eat." London came in and invited Nicolae to dinner together, knocking the young man out of his dazed state.

For the past two months, Nicolae and Aleksis' two brothers had become very close as they had spent a lot of time together. Rune who loved technology especially stuck to Nicolae, frequently asking to be taught various tricks to be able to master information in the virtual world.

The warmth showed by Aleksis' brothers made Nicolae feel at home in their house in Switzerland. For the first time, he felt like he was back with his long-deceased family.

"All right, let's eat," Nicolae walked into the dining room holding London by the shoulders. The teenager had grown very tall at the tender age of 17 years old. His face looked very similar to his father and so were his personality traits.

Once London turned an adult, people who see them in passing might even mistake him and his father as twins. The funny thing was the two of them were also born on the same date.

"How was your lesson?" Nic asked in the dining room while eating the food prepared for them by the staff. He knew that Uncle Aldebar had given London and the Rune many assignments while he was gone.

The faces of the two teenagers quickly turned gloomy. The homework left to them by Uncle Aldebar consumed a lot of their time. Both of them did not have time to play with their sheep.

"Big brother Nico, when will Aleksis wake up?" asked Rune to change the subject. He did not want to remember his homework.

Nicolae shook his head bitterly. "I don't know, maybe in a few more months, maybe tomorrow ... anything can happen. But clearly, her brain activity has improved. She is physically strong. You can keep reading for her or talk to her." He added, "I'm sure part of her progress is due to your care too."

"Hmmm ..." Rune looked sad, "I really miss her a lot."

"Me too," London seconded.

Aleksis was the only daughter in the extended Schneider family. Of course, she was loved by everyone. Also, she was the light to her parents and brothers. Nicolae understood their sadness and really hoped that she would wake up soon.

***

Two days passed and no one had managed to find Wolf. This fact made Alaric very angry. Several times he received reports of Wolf's traces in Singapore, in Romania, and even in Switzerland, yet after the two days he allotted, no one managed to find the mysterious hacker.

Wolf truly deserved his reputation, Alaric resentfully thought. If only the damn hacker was not on the enemy's side, he would be very glad as a hacker of Wolf's caliber would be useful to him.

"Sir, the ransom is ready to be transferred. All the other requests have also been prepared," Pavel reported to him.

"All right. Let's hear what they have to say," Alaric replied.

Exactly 48 hours after the first message, they received the final demand from the people who captured Aleksis. The girl would be released once Alaric Rhionen came to the address that they would give and transfer the money to the provided bitcoin account. They were only given 45 minutes to accomplish all of these.

[Aleksis is at Stamford Hospital. If you arrive in front of the Mandalay Building within 45 minutes, we will leave her there. But if you come late, sorry, there is a doctor by her side ready to give her a lethal injection. Alaric Rhionen can just come to claim the body.]

Ugh ...

Those people really know how to force Alaric to obey their wishes. The man felt helpless. He could not imagine what he would do if Aleksis was killed by her captors.

He might destroy all of Singapore to exterminate those people. The analogy would be, in order for him to kill the ant that bit him, he would not hesitate to burn the entire ant colony.

How dare you! Watch what I would do to you if you touch even a strand of my wife's hair!

***

Upon hearing from the masked young man that Alaric Rhionen loved Aleksis, Lauriel realized how he could easily control Rhionen Assassins and capture Alaric. Love could indeed be very detrimental to a person, if the enemy who knew about it used it as his weakness. That was what Lauriel had just done.

"Are you sure Alaric will really come to the hospital?" Marion asked as she laid on a hospital bed. Looking like Aleksis, she was ready to play her role.

"Yes, I'm sure he will send one of his men instead to pose as him, while he goes here to pick up Aleksis. For him, the main priority is, of course, Aleksis," Lauriel answered with confidence. "That's why I will be here to watch over you."

"Hmm .. okay."

"We gave him 45 minutes. I'm sure in less than that, he will come here and try to take you away. Don't let your guard down."

"Uhm ... Lauriel, how about you just give me some sleeping pills? If I passed out, it would be more difficult for them to take me away," Marion suggested a moment later. "I'm thinking of the worst possibility. In case  they manage to break through here, we must at least slow down their movements as they take me away, ensuring that Endo and Neo will be given enough time to catch up."

"You're right," Lauriel thought for a moment and then agreed. He took a small pill out of his medicine bottle and passed it to her. "This should be enough to make you sleep for a while so that he would not be suspicious."

Marion quickly swallowed the medicine and then gave an okay sign. "Alright, the mission begins. See you soon."

"I will protect you, don't worry," Lauriel patted Marion's shoulder gently and then marched out of her room.

They had prepared so much just so they could arrest Alaric Rhionen in the hospital. Although his orders were clear, which was for the leader of Rhionen Assassins to come to the Mandalay Building, Lauriel had a hunch that the man would instead go to the hospital and order his subordinates to replace him at the Mandalay Building.

Ha. You can't fool us, Lauriel disdainfully thought.