Instantly Nicolae clenched his fist. Terry, who sat across the room, saw this and immediately approached him.

"What's wrong? You look so angry ..."

Nicolae took a deep breath before showing the contents of the message he had just received to Terry. The young man was as shocked as Nicolae and came to the same conclusion.

"That means he's the one," Terry said in a choked voice. He turned to Aleksis and his mind became frantic; he could not understand how Aleksis could be involved with such a sadistic and dangerous person - the leader of Rhionen Assassins ...

"I just checked the internet and found that all the news about what had happened to Aleksis today is gone, maybe that's why he was forced to ask for my help," Nicolae said. "You know what happened?"

Terry shrugged, "Uncle Caspar is very private man, and he is very strict in keeping information about his children from surfacing. Surely he blocked all the news about Aleksis."

"Oh ..." Nicolae became even more amazed of Caspar. Aleksis' father was far more powerful than he initially thought. He couldn't wait to meet Caspar who was now on his way to Singapore.

"What would you do?" Terry asked. "Actually, this could be an opportunity to free Aleksis from his grip. I'm afraid that my sister has been brainwashed by him, and that's why Aleksis always defended him. You know yourself that until yesterday, Aleksis was still trying to protect him?"

"What do you have in mind?" Nicolae asked.

"You can send him the doctor's diagnosis and say that there is no chance that she could survive a brain stem injury this severe, and that you are very sorry," Terry said firmly.

"You want me to tell him that Aleksis is dead ?!" Nicolae asked.

"No. I want you to send him Aleksis' diagnosis and say that you are sorry, and let him draw his own conclusions." Terry shrugged, "He will probably conclude that no ordinary human can survive a brain stem injury. He does not know that Aleksis is an Alchemist. So if one day Aleksis recovers and Alaric found out, he would not blame you, because he himself drew the wrong conclusion. You only gave him the information he asked for."

Terry knew how dangerous Rhionen Assassins was, and he couldn't imagine what Alaric would do to them if he felt that they cheated him. This was a safe choice.

Nicolae finally nodded and replied to Alaric's message.

[I will provide the information you asked for if your assassin who committed the massacre last night turned himself in to the police. You are responsible for what happened at St. Mary's University today.]

Before he could press the SEND button, Terry hurriedly grabbed his cellphone.

"Don't say it like this, you will make him suspicious. Why would you, as Wolf, care so much about what happened at St. Mary's? We don't want him to know that there is a connection between you, Aleksis, and St. Mary," he said quickly. "I know you are upset, but you must not lose your composure when facing a dangerous person like Alaric Rhionen."

"Then, what do you suggest?"

Terry then changed Nicolae's reply to Alaric and pressed the SEND button.

***

Alaric was very upset. Portia was right when she had told him that the weather would turn very bad. The storm and the fog was so thick that the visibility was very poor. There was no way an airplane could fly in such thick fog. He was forced to wait until the weather was clear enough to leave.

Restless, he paced through the lounge, confusing his staff. They had never seen their boss so restless before. There must be something really bad that had happened. A message he received from Darknet made him stop in his tracks. He carefully read the reply from Wolf.

[Rhionen Industries and Rhionen Assassins have committed many crimes. I found the girl you are looking for, but this information is very expensive. If this girl is really that important to you, I want you to choose between her and Rhionen Assassins. If you want to obtain the information I found about her, I want you to hand over Rhionen Asassins to me by giving me all their data. I won't offer twice.]

Alaric was stunned to read a message from Wolf.

"How dare that lowly hacker blackmail me!" hissed Alaric in a low, angry voice.

Alaric felt blackmailed by Wolf's request to exchange the information on his group for information about Aleksis' whereabouts. This meant a 1 to 15 ratio. He knew that he was cornered but he still had to think rationally.

He could not sacrifice 15 of his men who had faithfully followed him, some had even spent decades with him and become his foster children, for his personal interests, namely to obtain information about his wife. Moreover, that information did not necessarily indicate that Aleksis was okay.

He closed his eyes and thought. If the storm were to pass soon and he could fly to Singapore right away, it would take him 14 hours to get there. If, for example, he could only fly in five more hours as predicted by weather experts, then he would arrive the next day at sunset in Singapore. He would be 30 hours late.

Or .. he could fly to Germany and look for Kurt Van Der Ven. Certainly information from Aleksis' own father could be far more accurate. Aleksis was either still in Singapore or she had been brought back to Germany.

He needed to go to the right place to find the girl. Whatever Aleksis' current situation, Alaric realized that he was not God and his ability was limited. Right now he could only wait ... wait for this stupid storm to pass so he could immediately look for Kurt.

He almost hit the wall of the lounge in frustration but then he realized that his hand was still injured as a result of venting his anger at the wall in Portia's castle. He must not lose his composure. Therefore, he closed his eyes and meditated, trying to calm down his nerves again.

He, Alaric Rhionen, was a professional assassin who had become the best assassin in the world because he never allowed himself to be overcome by emotions. He must return to being that kind of person.

"Pavel ... order all the assassins currently in Europe to immediately fly to Berlin. I will wait for them there." Finally Alaric made a decision.

"Everyone, Sir? There are currently eight assassins in Europe," Pavel answered in a surprised tone. They had never had a mission this big where they had to send so many people. What was Alaric's plan?

"You come too."

"Yes, Sir."

***