Arielle Immortal Fury (The Immortal Rapture Series Book 6) (27 page)

He needed to phone Dylan when he arrived in Brussels. He had given explicit instructions to his agents to provide Sebastian and his friends with any assistance they might need while there. Sebastian wouldn’t worry about Arielle’s safety for the next few days, because
he knew that she was going to be protected extremely well. Whoever sent that envelope to his office had absolutely no idea who he had
riled.

Sebastian would have to get used to being away from Arielle, no
matter how much he disliked the idea. He closed his eyes and
released a forbearing sigh, praying that nothing unpleasant would take place
while he was in Brussels. A feeling of dread settled over him. He
hated that he put her life in constant danger, but he couldn’t help falling in love with her.

Sebastian's plane took off on time. With their earbuds in, the
immortals searched through the music channels on the airline’s
playlist. When
each one found what they liked, they leaned back against the
headrest
and closed their eyes to enjoy the music. They had agreed not to
discuss
business during the short flight. It wasn’t until they were in the
rental car that they began talking about their next move.

“I think we should stop at the hotel first,” Sebastian suggested.
“Then we can arrange to meet Dylan’s agents and go over their surveillance tapes. We might be able to get some insight as to whom
we are dealing with and the type of equipment they are using to hack our systems. Then, we will pay them a visit.” Fury was dripping off of each word that left his lips.

“How are we ever going to get in there without being noticed? I’m sure they’ll be keeping watch for intruders,” Nathan said.

“The best time will be after midnight. I think it’s a real chance that they will not expect visitors that late.”

“I know what I’d like to do with their equipment,” Troy said impishly.

“Whatever you’ve got in mind, you have my blessing,”
Sebastian replied with a smile.

“How about letting me in on the secret,” Nathan said.

Troy patted him on the back. “Nathan, I think the three of us are
capable of getting in there and destroying every piece of equipment they own, but that wouldn’t end the hacking. They would set up
their
operation center somewhere else. I’m thinking about delivering
some
awfully harmful bugs in their systems that would destroy
everything they have accumulated to this date. We might even protect some of the poor victims they are getting ready to destroy,” Troy said.

Nathan glanced between Sebastian and Troy, a wide smile on his face. “I think I’m starting to love this game,” he said quietly.

 “I like what I’m hearing,” Sebastian said.

“How about the resident virus?” Troy’s voice was energized as he gazed between Nathan and Sebastian with an expression of
openness. Both looked at him quizzically. “I was thinking more of invading
their system with a root kit that will make it impossible for them to
detect
the presence of anything we set in there to destroy their computers,” Troy
said.

“I’d like to hear a little more about it,” Nathan said.

“This virus will create chaos for them, because once they think something is wrong they will immediately use their anti-virus software to detect the problem. This resident virus is undetectable
99.5 percent of the time. It resides in the memory of the whole system. When the
virus scanner starts, it accesses every potential host file on their
computer
to perform a system-wide scan, and that is when such a virus can
piggy-back on the virus scanner and infect every file scanned. The infection to their system will spread fast and furious.”

He fell silent waiting for his friend's input. As the silence
lingered, he turned to look at Sebastian. “So what do you think?” he asked.

Sebastian smiled lightly. “Oh, I think I’m going to enjoy this.”

“So are we going to the hotel first?” Nathan asked.

“Yes,” Sebastian said, turning his attention to the road.

Troy humphed. “It would be nice to get to the bottom of this and finally find out who is pulling the strings.”

“What would be nice is to connect the names with the faces,” Nathan said. “That would make it easier to eliminate the right people.”

They all seemed in agreement about the last statement. “This time we are going to wipe out their deadly ring completely and get to the root of their organization. I’m not leaving this up to Dylan
again. He’s a
good man, but he can only do what humans can do.” Sebastian was unwavering in his statement as he picked up his mobile and called Dylan.

“Hey, Dylan; it’s Sebastian.”

“Are you already in Brussels?” Dylan sounded surprised.

“Yes, we’re in the rental car heading to the hotel. Can you call your detectives and let them know that we are coming?” Sebastian inquired.

“Yes, I’ll do that as soon as we get off the phone.”

“What floor did you say?”

 “We occupy the third floor in the building at Rue Bodenstraat 46. The surveillance room has a clear view of the hackers' office, which is set up on the second floor right across the street at building forty-seven.”

 “Much appreciated, Dylan.”

 “You stay safe. If you need anything at all, just let my guys
know and they’ll be more than happy to help. I know you are angry about what they are doing to your company, but, Sebastian, please don’t try anything dangerous. Let us do this; let us help you.”

 “Don’t worry, Dylan. We aren’t going to do anything at all.
Thanks again.” Sebastian pressed the off button and chuckled.

 “Dylan didn’t want us to do anything dangerous. He wants us to ask his guys for help if we get in trouble.” They all laughed out loud, though they knew that Dylan had the best intentions.

Their reservations were at the impressive Hotel de Ville. They
checked in and requested that their luggage be taken to their rooms.
They had a meeting to attend, and they were out the door in no time at all. It was fairly difficult to navigate directly towards their
destination
as the streets leading there were narrow and filled with tourists walking from one shop to the next. Sebastian had to zigzag carefully
until they reached Rue Bodenstraat. A tall young man in blue jeans and T-shirts answered the door. He had a gun and a police badge attached to his belt. He smiled at them and then spoke in a clear voice with a strong British accent.

“You must be Dylan’s friends. I’m John Mason; please come in,” he said, extending his hand to shake each of theirs enthusiastically.
He stepped aside and let them inside a fairly large room with comfortable furnishings. There were two long tables against the
glass wall facing the
street, used for the surveillance equipment. The agents had an
amazing
view of the hackers' building. There were three more agents in the
room. They all stood up to shake hands and introduce themselves, taken aback by the immortal looks.

One of the agents stared between the visitors with a stunned expression on his face. “Are you brothers?” The question left his lips before he could stop it.

Sebastian knew that they looked similar but for the color of their hair and eyes. Immortality changed their appearance.

“No, we are just friends and associates,” Sebastian replied
smoothly.
They looked puzzled, but they moved back to their seats. John
Mason told them to make themselves comfortable.

Sebastian was ready to say something when a knock made all of them turn and look towards the door. The detectives instantly placed their hands on their guns as they exchanged indecisive glances. John put his index finger on his lips as he moved silently to peek through the peephole. He looked back at them and smiled. His hand moved away from his gun, and he unlatched the door.

“Just the delivery guy,” he said. They all seemed to relax as they sat back down. After a short exchange at the door, John came back
with sandwiches and drinks in his hands.

Glancing at Sebastian and his friends, he smiled apologetically. “Sorry, we didn’t know when you would be arriving, so we didn’t order anything for you.”

Sebastian shook his head. “Please, don’t worry about us. We had breakfast quite late.

“Do you all know who is running the place across the street?” Troy asked eagerly.

John’s gaze flitted to Troy’s face. “Yes, his name is Jorrit Van Cleef, and he is the head guy here in Brussels. He has several hackers that carry out his instructions to destroy computer systems, and many guys that handle his dirty work and his extortion scams. Would you like to see a couple of the latest videos that might involve your company’s issue?” The detective was already walking towards the far wall while asking the question.

There wasn’t a moment’s hesitation. “That would be very
helpful if it’s not too much trouble,” Troy replied.

“No trouble at all.” He picked up a couple of DVDs and brought
them back, setting them on the table in front of them. “The information you are looking for is in one of these two DVDs. Not sure which one since both recorders were running at the same time, but it is definitely on one.”

Chapter 16

NATHAN PICKED UP
the first DVD, slid it in the DVD drive, and hit enter. They watched the first one carefully. The man called Jorrit moved through his daily activities. Meetings with people that visited his office, making threats to several individuals on the phone, and discussing jobs with his hackers, but nothing related directly to IIRL or Arielle’s photos. With a sigh of frustration, Sebastian hit the eject button and the DVD popped out. He ran a hand over his face and picked up the second DVD. He repeated the steps.

“Patience,” he heard Troy whisper.

He nodded once and set his eyes on the screen. A man called Rainer
and a couple of his sidekicks were visiting Jorrit’s office. The
conversations were clear. Sebastian flinched. The discussions were
centered on the importance of breaking into IIRL’s systems and the magnitude of the assignment. The words made Sebastian bring his fist down on the top of the table. He tried to not to show his fury. The very idea of it all made him livid.

When they brought up the extortion plan, Sebastian tensed,
squeezing his eyes shut. He cursed inwardly. As the video rolled,
they weren’t
surprised to find out that the orders were coming from someone
beyond the top man of the organization. Rainer appeared to be the second-
in-command, reporting to the prime minister’s right hand man,
Nikola.
They made mental notes of Jorrit’s men involved in the scheme
against Sebastian and his company.

“Hell, Sebastian. This is a big deal. This isn’t a simple extortion; this seems much bigger,” Troy whispered.

Sebastian kept his eyes on the video while talking to both
Nathan
and Troy in that fast immortal way that no human could
understand.
“Yes,” he said. “I’m afraid this is the same issue we had last year with the breaking into our main vault in London. This has
everything to do
with the theft of our designs and documentation, as well as the
abductions of our scientists and the death of a couple of our security officers. This is how the Russian government has worked ever since
the end of the Cold War. They have acknowledged their failure to
promote the kind of economic revolution that would give Russia the
chance to remain a major power. They are having a hard time
overcoming
their society of corruption and misuse. They want to rebuild their
industries but not the honest way.

They are sending spies around the world to gather a range of information, such as data on high-penetration nuclear warhead research programs, where dangerous substances are hidden, and
who is capable
of working with these materials. These spies love to carry out
espionage for Russia, because they are rewarded with fame, money, and jobs. Their getting ahold of our designs and the substances we use for our products would be disastrous. They’ll use them against every nation for their own personal gain and power.” Sebastian was silent as his mind whirled around all the things that had taken place last year.

“Now we have a better picture of the people involved, and we know who to go after,” Nathan said quietly.

The video kept rolling. All of a sudden, a telephone call got their full attention. It was a call between Jorrit and Rainer. Silence felt between them as Sebastian’s body stiffened, and his face went red
with rage. Jorrit was updating Rainer about the surveillance on Arielle and the extortion envelope that was sent to Sebastian’s office the previous day. Sebastian could feel scorching fury emanating from his body as he practically pulverized his teeth.