Chapter one hundred and three

After that rather strange meeting with the ruler of hell, I was making my way back to the clearing where we had set up camp when I ran into a group of soldiers being led by a very familiar person.

The close cut military haircut, the cliché black suit and the dark sunglasses that looked even more ridiculous because he was wearing them in the middle of the night, his whole look screaming that he was a secret agent or at least he was playing one in a movie. It was the same man who had questioned me in Norway about the late senator, the imaginatively named Agent Smith.

"Ms Belikova, funny running into you here. What are you doing in Germany, in the middle of this refugee camp?"

I raised an eyebrow at him, "Agent Smith? I didn't know that this was CIA jurisdiction. Maybe I should be the one asking you what you are doing here."

He opened his mouth to speak but he was interrupted by a woman in military uniform who was pointing some machine at me. It was the size of a small calculator but despite its diminutive size it was flashing brightly and making an annoying shrill noise. The soldier immediately put her other hand on the handgun she had holstered at her hip and shouted,"Sir, I think she is one of them."

Agent Smith took a few quick steps so that he was standing between her and me. He turned to face her and barked out a short command, "Stand down soldier."

An older man who was standing next to her put his hand on the shoulder of the woman who seemed to be hesitant on whether or not she should listen to Agent Smith's order, but after the man put his hand on her shoulder she relaxed visibly. I could almost see the tension drain out of her.

"Smith, is she one of yours? I thought that you had told me about all of your operatives, I don't remember her being on the list."

The man was obviously important, I might not have been well versed in military uniforms but the many stars on his shoulder made that clear but even if he was going buck naked down the street he would still have that unique aura that only men in power possessed. I guessed that his age was around forty, he barely had any wrinkles and his blonde hair hid any gray hairs if he had any. If it wasn't for his overbearing demeanor I would have thought he was a beach bum in a uniform.

"General, she is not one of ours but she is a potential recruit. In addition to that she is the granddaughter of Victor Usmanov, the Victor Usmanov. Killing her will only incur his wrath." Smith's reply was respectful but insistent.

The blond man who was apparently a general narrowed his eyes and studied me carefully,"Are you saying that she is the granddaughter of the frost dragon?"

"Yes."

"Does that mean he is supernatural too? He is not a real dragon is he? That is the last thing we need right now. He is bad enough as he is."

"No General, dragons aren't real. Mr Usmanov is perfectly human last time we checked. Ms Sophia here is adopted."

I was getting tired of the way they were talking about me like I wasn't even there so I decided to interrupt their little conversation, "So you are a General? Great, this will make things much easier. I'm leaving this camp tonight. I have had enough of your 'hospitality'."

The General gave me a stern look, probably a look he used to intimidate and cow his people, "Ms. Sophia , I'm afraid I can't allow that. You are being held here under special orders directly from the EU governing body. I can't just let you out."

"That may be but I am a Russian citizen. Are you saying that you are going to hold me, a Russian citizen ,without charging me or arresting me? Are you seriously saying that you are going to deprive a Russian national of her basic rights to liberty?"

The General stayed silent. I could almost hear the gears in his head grind away as he weighed the consequences of his actions so I decided to help him out a little,

"General, you are already in a shit storm of epic proportions. You already have enough on your plate. There is no good reason to keep me here but there are many good ones to let me go."

The General sighed and turned to the woman who was about to shoot me earlier and said,"Fischer, I want you to escort Ms. Sophia here out of this camp and make sure she gets on a plane out of Europe."

"Hey, what about my group? When my grandfather's plane went down , I wasn't alone."

He sighed again, "Fine, escort Ms Sophia and her friends out of here as soon as possible."

He abruptly turned around and walked away with the rest of the group following him, leaving behind the female soldier and Agent Smith who turned to me and said, "You know I said that you were adopted but I'm not so sure anymore."

"What do you mean?"

One side of his mouth raised up in a crooked smile before he replied, "The way you handled that reminds me of your grandfather. Well, I have to go deal with an irate General. Good night Ms Belikova."

He then walked away leaving me alone with the solitary soldier who was looking at me as if I was going to turn into a monster and eat her at any moment.