Chapter 96

General Brian Greyson looked at the phone with a smile on his face before placing it back in its cradle. Leaning back in his office chair, he looked out the window at the bright blue sky. It was the first time he ever wanted to laugh when he was basically told off.

Shaking his head, he picked the phone back up and dialed the number for his superior. "Richards? It's Greyson," he said as the other man answered.

"What was the response?" he asked as if there was only one possible outcome.

"She suggested that you contact her secretary and make an appointment," smiled Greyson as he thought back to the way she sounded so adorable on the phone. He wondered what she was up to last night that made her so tired at 10 am. His smile dropped as some possibilities entered his mind.

Shaking his head as if those thoughts could fall out that simply, he didn't realize that General Richards had been quiet for a few minutes. "Duncan?" he asked confused. "Are you still there?"

"Is that what she said? Contact her secretary? Did you not explain who I was?" he demanded like it was asinine that someone would not jump at being able to meet with him.

"I did," assured Greyson. "But I think that she might have been busy which is why she suggested going through the secretary. I am sure that you would do the same thing."

"Yes, but I am a General with the United States Military. She is nothing more than a Gypsy, and from what I can understand, not even on the same level as Jenny."

Greyson held the phone away as he quietly scoffed at Richards' remark. From what he could gather, she was much more powerful than the other man knew, and only a stupid man confronted an enemy without gathering all possible information on them. But then again, maybe that was why Richards wanted to meet with her.

"You do know that she is connected to Viktor Singer," he said cautiously. He didn't want to give away important information, but he had to straddle the line carefully.

"Viktor Singer?" asked Richards confused. "How do I know that name?"

"Viktor Singer is the CEO of Knights Security," said Greyson rubbing his head. He could feel a headache coming on the more he talked to the other General.

"Ah," said Richards as if Greyson was not talking about one of the most powerful men in the private sector. "I'll leave you to make the appointment then. Have it be for 11 o'clock." Without another word, General Richards hung up, confident that things would go according to his desires.

Once again, Greyson was left staring at the phone, but this time, there was no smile on his face. Sighing, Greyson hung up the phone and then dialed the number for Stephanie, Natalia's personal assistant and secretary.

"Hello?" came the voice on the other end.

"Hello, Stephanie, it's Brian Greyson. I need to make an appointment for General Duncan Richards to see the Head of House," said Greyson as he swung his chair around to look out the window again.

"I will need to speak to her about that. I'll get back to you as soon as possible," she replied with more professionalism than his own secretary.

"Sounds good. I suggest you wait a while before calling her. I just hung up and she was still sleeping. I think she said sometime after 2:00 pm," said Greyson with an air of nonchalant. There was a pause on the other end before Stephanie replied.

"Sounds good. I'll wait until later. Thank you," she murmured and he could hear paperwork shuffling over the phone. "Will you be joining?"

"Yes, I think I will," replied Greyson.

"Sounds good. I'll let you know the location after I can contact her, although it will probably be at the mansion if that is okay," said Stephanie sounding much more sure of herself.

"You mean that she doesn't normally stay at the mansion?" Greyson asked surprised. He had assumed that that was her primary residence.

"Not always, no," said Stephanie before ending the call with a polite; "I'll be in contact later."

Greyson hung up the phone for the third time in 20 minutes and sighed. It was going to be a long day.

Just as he was grumbling under his breath about being reduced to an errand boy to another General, there was a gentle knock on the door to his office. "Come in," he yelled. Seeing his own secretary opening the door, he put his best professional smile on his face.

"What can I do for you?" he asked as he began to tap his pen onto his desk.

"You have a Capital Zaitsev here for you, Sir," said Rebecca as she poked her head through the gap in the door.

"Thank you, Ms. Smith, you can let him in," nodded Greyson as he put down his pen and pulled a file folder out of the rest.

A tall man with dirty blond hair and brown eyes walked into the office, his clothes still stained with fresh blood. But this was standard. As soon as the Special Forces Team completed a mission, they were expected to debrief without delay. Greyson would have been more upset if he had taken the time to clean himself up before coming to see him.

"General," said that man as he straightened up and saluted Greyson. His light Russian accent was more apparent than normal.

"Is everything okay Zaitsev?" he asked the Captain as he gestured for the other man to take a seat.

"Yes, Sir," said Zaitsev hesitantly. "At least everyone came back in one piece. But it was close."

"Tell me what happened," commanded Greyson as he leaned forward on his desk, the Captain of the Green Beret Team A having his full attention.

"First of all," started Zaitsev before he broke off and looked around the room as if searching for something. Not finding it, he took a deep breath. "I have taken and passed all of my psych evals," he continued. "And so has everyone on my team."

Greyson narrowed his eyes before nodding his head in understanding.

"Keep going," he encouraged.

"Sir," another pause, as the man's eyes drifted around the room, not able to meet the General's in front of him.

"Yes?"

"We aren't crazy."