Immaculate Spirit c1-242

by Newbiel

  "Next, Hand Fuchs. German citizen, he graduated at the Technical University of Munich at the top of his class in engineering. After refusing huge offers from European tech companies, Hans decides to become a sort of Robin Hood, crafting devices to bypass security to steal money from big companies and rerouting it into various orphanages in Europe. He's fluent in German, French and English."

  "Next, Lucie Lafitte. French citizen, officially she never pursued higher education after graduating from High School. Unofficially, on the other hand, she owns a masters in psychology and even entered the French Military where she became a fighter pilot on combat planes and Helicopters. Based on what I gather so far she owns six fake identities that she used in fonction of her need. She is also the heir of an important family worth billions of euros in France and where they own half of the vineyard in the region around Bordeaux." Nathaniel said, noticing a few speculative glances coming her way hearing that and after looking at her file display on the screen.

  "And last but not least, Na-Yung Kim. A South Korean citizen, gifted student at school, she managed to enter Columbia law school after graduating from High School. After her family survived an assassination attack here in New York, she got recruited by the CIA as an agent in training. She's a skilled fighter and is highly trained with a knife and a bow. She's also from an influential family in Korea where they own a huge tech company worth billions of dollars. Full disclosure here, she's also a friend of mine but I reassure you, it just means I'm going to go harder on her than everyone else." Nathaniel finished explaining.

  He had just finished when someone chose to speak and it was no surprise for Nathaniel to see who it was.

  "And what about you? What are your skills?" Camilla asked, challengingly.

  Chapter 179: :

  "Oh? You think I'm good looking? Well, it's cute of you to say Camilla but I don't see you that way. Don't misinterpret me, you are hot but you are older than me, way older than me in fact, almost twice my age, it's a little too much for my tas…" Nathaniel was prevented from finishing his sentence by a pen that was going on a collision course with his face and so had to dodge to the side. "Hey, that was not nice!" He shouted at her, if he hadn't dodge, it could have been really painful.

  "You deserve it! Now answers the question or I'm going to hurt you for real until you do."

  "You know Camilla, you should think about consulting a shrink about your anger issues." Nathaniel said playfully.

  "I don't have anger issues, I have men issues!" She shouted back at him angrily.

  "Well, make sense then." He said with a hint of amusement in his voice. "Alright, have it your way Camilla." Nathaniel adds, showing on a screen a new file, his own.

  He had decided to be open with all of them to a certain degree. He had put on everything that he did since he had awoken from his coma. The defense against the mafia that wanted to kidnap him to blackmail his mother into dropping his case, the attack on their headquarter as a result. The assassination in the hotel that almost took the life of Na-Yung's family, his intervention in Italy and the bombing in Saudi Arabia. He still chose to hide what he could do with his soul because it was too sensible even from them. But looking at the reaction of the new people around the table, it looked like he had shown too much.

  "That can't be right." Jon said, looking at the screen and Nathaniel in turn.

  "I read about what happened in Italy last month from the news, they say it was a war against the mafia or something like that." Lucie interjects.

  "Yes, it's indeed what the Italian government official said." Nathaniel answered, putting emphasis on the word 'said'.

  "Still, you really expect us to believe you did all that and that you are competent in all of these areas?" Camilla said, pointing at the screen. "This is ludicrous, you are thirty years old too young to be competent in even half of that."

  "Wait a minute!" Jon interrupted Camilla's question by seeing something on the screen that surprised him. "You are saying that what happened in Italy and Saudi Arabia was connected?"

  "It was indeed, by my family in fact. My grandfather was in Italy for a business deal when they were attacked, my family company lost two mens on that attack and one the personal bodyguard of my grandfather was heavily injured. The second was left alive and could call me to let me know what happened. A little later, someone named Khalid Rahal called us to ask for a thirty million dollars ransom to release him. Khalid Rahal was a Saudi citizen who was in the kidnapping business and used the money that he used to fabricate IED to use against our soldiers and our allies soldiers in the Middle East. Camilla, I believe you are familiar with The Crooked Moon organization."

  Hearing that name, Camilla reaction was instantaneous. Her eyes dimmed and turn in comparatively cold.

  "Of course, I know them. I lost more brothers to their hands than at the hand of the Talibans." She said.

  "What happened after that?" Hans asked curiously.

  "After that, Scott and I did go to Italy to ensure that my people here would be safe. It happened that the attack had been carried out with the help of a unit of the Police under order of the commissioner of Rome who was dirty beyond belief. We two rally with the last bodyguard of my grandfather, an ex operative from Mossad and start hunting them all until I have all the information I needed to know where my grandfather was located." Nathaniel said the last bit with a chilling voice that made even Camilla shiver.

  "Is all of this true?" Jon asked, looking at Scott.

  "Yes but contrary to what is trying to make you believe, Amal and me did not do much and I had the impression that he could have done so without our help. It was also a lot more chaotic and bloody then what he's implying." Scott answers Jon, looking him in the eyes.

  "I could never have done it without your support Scott." Nathaniel frowned at him.

  "No." Scott shook his head. "You incorporate us in your plan to take them down, it's different. We did something that in the Delta Force we would never could and the whole time I never felt in danger. You shoulder every situation that was dangerous and you use us as support."

  Nathaniel did not even try to contradict him. It was true, he did do just that.

  "I was just better to handle certain situations and I'm young enough to hit them with the element of surprise on my side. People always underestimate young people."

  "You push that to the next level!" Scott shouted.

  "What did he do?" Na-Yung asked.

  "He let himself be taken by the mens of the Crooked Moon. He ends up in an office on a warehouse outside of the city with four goon armed to the teeth, his grandfather and the leader, Rachid Rahal." Scott explained.

  "You and the other rescue him?" Lucie asked.

  "No, when we entered the building after taking care of the sentry, everyone was already dead in that office and Nathaniel did not even have one scratch on his body or even a single drop of blood on his clothes." Scott shook his head.

  Noticing the stare that he was getting, Nathaniel defended himself.

  "I had two throwing knives on me. They didn't take the time to sweep me before letting me inside the warehouse." He explained.

  "I want to fight you." Camilla said, making him and a couple others laugh.

  "You would have the chance later, don't worry about it Camilla. In fact, for the one who accepts to join, we will leave tomorrow to Indiana in an old ranger training camp for the next month to train. I'm going to be honest here, it will be hard. You will hate me before the first week is even over and you will all be treated the same way. I don't care about your background, the color of your skin, your age or the amount of money you have in your bank account, I will push you past your limit every day until your break. I will run with you, fight with you, I'll do everything that you do."

  "We don't even know how much you are willing to pay us for that!" Camilla said exasperated.

  "The contract is just here on the top of the table, you will see that the money is quite good but I'm afraid it will not seem
much for the richest among us. You will all have full assurance coverage and for the non american around the table, the President will agree to give you the American citizenship, you will become all dual nationals." Nathaniel explains, hearing that Hand and Na-Yung seem interested while Lucie keeps herself composed, not letting anything show on her face.

  Letting a moment to let that sink in, Lina used that moment to distribute the contract to everyone present who did not have one yet. Nathaniel let them read everything and sit back to his place.

  "What will happen to me if I choose to accept your proposal? I believe I'm the only one who is still engaged in the military." Jon asked.

  "You can quit and become a civilian again or stay in the military, the only difference will be that you will work for me here and not at Fort Detrick anymore. You will be reassigned and put as a liaison to my unit."

  "You can really do that?" Jon asked, surprised. "How much power in the government and in the military do you have exactly?"

  "You are seriously asking that question?" Lina jumps in the conversation. "He has the President on speed dial and you are asking that?"

  Nathaniel simply smiles and chooses to stay silent and let them figure it out themselves.

  Chapter 180: :

  Emigrant Peak, Montana. 15/01/2013. 09:50.

  Camilla kept walking as quietly as she could among the trees and bushes in front of her, things quite difficult considering the thirty kilo of gears that she had on her and her weapon who kept getting jammed between branches. She had lost radio contact with her other team members some time ago, the last being with Lucie five minutes ago. She knew it was not because of technical reasons that they had lost contact but because they have been taken out. She knew that she had failed that exercise but she was too stubborn to quit and she thought that if she could take him down alone, she could still come out with a win.

  Their mission had been simple and quite straight forward. One prisoner managed to escape from prison and is now on the run. A few people alert the authority saying they saw someone matching his description entering the wood. Her team mission was to find him and bring him back to the prison. In that particular exercise Camilla was leading the team consisting of Lina, Lucie, Hans, Na-Yung and Jon. Scott was in the woods, observing the way that she handled things and Nathaniel was the prisoner in question.

  Hearing the sound of wood breaking in the direction in front of her, Camilla crouch and strain her M4 in that direction. Thirty yard in front of her, behind a huge tree she could distinguish a piece of orange clothes fluttering with the wind. Flashing a victorious smile, Camilla made her way to the side moving quietly and paying special attention to move around the bushes. With a better look now that she had close on the three, she could see an arm clutching a gun behind the tree.

  Turning the safety off, she aimed and shot at the arm in question, two paintballs leaving the muzzle of her gun and hitting the target who yelped in response.

  "I got you! You stupid blond..." Her shout of joy dying abruptly on her lips when she felt cold steel press on her throat.

  "You stupid blond what?" The voice of Nathaniel whispered almost huskily in her ear.

  Not understanding at first what happened, all became clear when she saw Scott walking from behind the tree, massaging his arm where the paint hit him. Taking his knife away from her throat, Nathaniel took her gun away from her.

  "Let's go back to the camp to debrief." He said before starting to walk, not waiting for either of them.

  Walking inside of the camp, Camilla could already see her teammates already busy doing push up in military fatigues. It was going to be two week since they had first come here and now they were all in shape. Even Hans who was the worst physically arriving here now could do a long series of push ups without falling to the ground. The first week has been rough not only for Hans but for all of them. Nathaniel kept pushing them until their breaking point, all of it to start again the next day and the day after that.

  He was right, Nathaniel was hated before the first day was even over but he kept his promise. He ran with them, he did push ups with them, he pushed as much weight as they did and even more.

  Seeing Nathaniel, Scott and Camilla coming back into the camp, they all stop doing push ups and get to their feet. Looking at this, Scott made a move of his head, signaling Camilla to join the others members of her team in line.

  "So, why did you fail?" Nathaniel asked after looking at each of them.

  "You cheated! It was supposed to be…" Camilla starts.

  "Shut you friggin mouth, Flores!" Scott yells at her.

  "Okay, Lucie. You were the second in command of that operation. What could you have done better?" Nathaniel asked, looking at her.

  "Our deployment was bad. We should have kept visual contact between the team of two. We would have covered less ground but we would have been more safe." She answers.

  "It's true. The only reason why I was able to pick each of you out was the fact that you were divided and far away from each other. But this is a consequence, not the real problem. Hans? Your turn."

  "You were simply better than us. You hit us and I didn't even see or hear you until I had your knife on my throat." Hans answers.

  "It's because you were not looking at the right places. You keep looking at the height where you expect a man to stand but they can crouch, lie down and even be on top of a tree. Moreover, when you are walking with teammates, you will learn to have a look out at one eighty degrees on your side to have an optimal cover. Don't worry, I will train you, this will not happen again."

  "But why? Making sure I'm fit, I can understand but training me as a commando it's just too much! Especially considering I will be on the backline most of the time. There is no need for me to learn all that!" Hans said, exasperated and tired. Nathaniel had pushed him the hardest since they started training.

  "Because the strength of our team will be determined by our weakest member and right now, that's you. And no, you will not stay on the backline, you will go in action like the rest of us where you will pull your weight. Lina, your turn."

  "Our deployment was bad. I was in a duo with Hans, Lucie with Jon, Na-Yung was our scout and Camilla was left alone. We should have split the team better. Jon was in the army and even Lucie was trained in the French military while neither Hans or me did. We should have teamed up Camilla with Hans, Na-Yung with Lucie and Jon with me. Our individual skills and experiences would have been a better match." Lina said.

  "Excellent Lina." Nathaniel nodded approvingly. "Okay, Camilla your turn. Why did you fail?"

  "I said it before! You cheated! It was supposed to be one prisoner, not two! You tricked us!" She shouted angrily.

  "There was a twenty five page file with every information on the prisoner. Did you at least read it?" Nathaniel asked patiently.

  "Yes, I look at it quickly. I didn't want to waste time and let the prisoner run further away from us. There was not any relevant information on it. I didn't care to know what food he liked or whatever." Camilla answers.

  "Irrelevant hein?" Nathaniel said, walking to the table where the files were, picking it up and launching it into the surprised hands of Camilla. "Page twenty three, fourteenth lines, start reading."

  "The cousin of the prisoner supposedly owned a cottage on the north side of the mountain." Camilla read out loud, starting to realize her mistake.

  "The error that you all made was to trust the information in the briefing too much and so you did not seek to inform you more than that. You need to realize that information in the military is more often than not flawed or flatly wrong. Do not base your plan of action on that information and try to seek out as much intel as you can in those intelligence reports. Moreover, you should have thought of one more thing. Escaping from prison is an extremely hard endeavor, doing it alone is almost impossible, you should have expected at least one more person with the escaped prisoner." Nathaniel said out loud before coming close to Camilla and starting whispering in he
r ear.

  "Having ego is good, it can motivate you to be better than everyone but you need to control it, not be controlled by it. I put Lucie as your second in command because she's smarter than you and could hold your impetuosity in check. Being impetuous can lead to your death or one of your teammates. I know that you were never trained to be an officer but I will train you to become one. One more thing, the next time Lucie or Lina is trying to make a point with you and you shot them down like you did, you will get latrine duty for the remainder of our training. They were just trying to help you and you behave like a bitch." Nathaniel finished before taking a step back.

  "You all failed. Two hundred push ups for each of you." Nathaniel said before waiting for someone to groan but no one did. They seem to have understood by now that bitching about push up was multiplying the number of the said push up.

  "Sir, where is Na-Yung?" Camilla asked, she still seemed a little rattle by what he just said to her.

  "Na-Yung seems to have misunderstood scouting and assassinating. She tried to take me out alone in the woods by surprise." Nathaniel said, smiling internally when watching their surprised expression.

  "Is she alright?" Lina asked worriedly.

  "Yes, she's fine. I just knocked her out and tied her up to a tree. I'm going to wait four hours and then I'm going to bring her down. I don't take kindly to people fu**ing up an exercise in the hope of making a point." Nathaniel said with a dangerous tone, making eye contact with everyone, his message clear. What happened to Na-Yung could happen to everyone. "Start pushing people!" Nathaniel shouted, urging them to start their exercise.

  Walking away with Scott, Nathaniel did not have to wait long before Scott's voice is concern.