CHAPTER 25

It brought them back to reality, and Cara disengaged herself from him quickly to answer the call.

There was this awkward feeling again, which made Henry get up to his feet immediately. He picked up his things and waited for Cars to finish answering the call before he told her he was retiring to his hotel room, which was opposite hers.

She didn't argue as usual for him to stay a little longer. She nodded her head gently in response and looked away without talking.

"Goodnight, Cara."

"Goodnight," she said in a voice not louder than a whisper.

She remained in the same position until she heard the sound of the closing door. She fell back to the bed and closed her eyes.

Several thoughts ran through her mind, and she began to feel so foolish as she wondered what was happening to her. She had not been able to get Henry off her mind in the past few days. She felt silly for letting him dominate her thoughts after she had only known him for a few months. She was sure there was no future with him, he was a man who God had brought her way only to help and who was soon leaving her to find his own life, she needed to get him off her mind completely. She realised she had allowed him to occupy too much of her thoughts, and she was gradually losing guard with him. She needed to apply more care and probably spend less time with him, she concluded in her mind.

She sat up and picked the notepad and pen beside her laptop. She opened it and scribbled something on the middle page. A member of her team had just called to inform her that they had secured their flight tickets to South Husan, and they would be leaving Bethanna by eight o'clock.

They planned to meet with their prospective partners that evening after a developers conference that would be held that afternoon where they would book a meeting with them for the next day and reveal their offer.

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Henry got into his room, feeling weak. Not physical weakness, but something that felt stronger than emotional weakness. He couldn't tell what was happening with him and Cara, but he felt it wasn't right. She was his benefactor, and he was indebted to her. He was not supposed to take advantage of her emotions in any way. Knowing that she had just come out of a disappointing relationship with Tom and she would be emotionally fragile, he needed to avoid anything that would make her emotionally entangled to him or do something that they would later come to regret.

The bed shook as he fell flat on his face into it. He pulled the pillow closer to his head and buried his face in it. He tried to get Cara off his mind by thinking about how his life would be when he finally left. A few minutes after struggling to keep her away from his thoughts, he still couldn't do it. He heaved a sigh and turned his face and whole body to face the ceiling. He raised his right knee and then crossed the other leg over it.

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Newland Estate, Ruthernard,Bethanna.

The Red Wolves Executives were seated for another meeting, in the same usual sitting arrangement.

"It's official. Our operations can begin since we confirmed the death of the Agent." The Ghanaian man said aloud. He now had some boldness in him, which was missing in the last meeting.

"Yes, I agree with Bernard." Another man put in.

There were nods and sounds of agreement from every corner except from two of the men, one whom they called the strategist and the other who was the leader of the group.

The leader of the team sat in the left-hand corner. He was mostly quiet during their meetings and, in their last meeting, had only spoken at the beginning and at the end. His name was Elvis Kahn, a man in his late fifties. He had a dual citizenship of Bethanna and the United Land and resided mostly in the United Land until the Wolves movement began years ago. He was an ex agent of the United Land's forces who was dismissed after 25 years of serving in the force. His outward look was that of a strict man. He was well built, a little above the average height. He was well trained in the use of arms and ammunition and was also a very intelligent man.

The rest of the men became confused when they noticed the other two men did not seem to agree that they could continue with their operations. They knew they only needed one of them to agree. When one did, the other would also succumb, trusting in the ability of the other one to make the right choice. Everybody placed more attention on the strategist. He spoke more than their leader did and came up with strategies most of the time.

"I do think we can go ahead with our operations." One of them spoke finally, but it was who they least expected – the leader.

There was total silence after. The strategist wasn't still talking.

"What do you think of Hutton?" Elvis, the leader, had to ask him.

"If you think we should go ahead, it's fine."

Hutton replied. "I will suggest that we just thread carefully."

"I think there's no cause for alarm," Elvis Kahn continued, now addressing everyone. "There's no reason we should be scared of a dead agent." He added and then flashed a look at Hutton again. "We'd continue with our operations and hit the next target. Remember, our plan is to crumble the economy of the nation so that they won't be able to sponsor FOX. It would take time for the International bodies to lend support because they would expect the FOX to be fit enough to take charge, but it would be too late when they'd realise that the FOX is weak. We would penetrate one after the other into neighbouring countries and spread."