Chapter 12

---------------

The plane was now on autopilot and was cruising at a comfortable five hundred miles an hour over the Atlantic.

"All right, thanks Adrian, keep us posted." Sebastian said hanging up the phone. He had been talking to Adrian for the past thirty minutes.

Roma looked at him expectantly. She was eager to know how the other alphas were reacting to their 'housecleaning' activity.

"He is smoothing ruffled feathers and reassuring our alphas that everything is fine...we have never had a purge of this kind and is causing some understandable uneasiness." He explained.

"Hmm..." Roma just said distracted in her thoughts and added "Do we expect further trouble?" That was something they could not afford now.

Sebastian chuckled "Trouble?" he said ridiculously "After showing what we do with disloyal alphas they have been purring like domesticated kittens." He said with a smile. They would not have trouble for a long time to come. Adrian said the alphas were really shaken.

She just sighed "I just hope we don't become some sort of monsters to these alphas..." She needed their support for what lay ahead.

"Sometimes fear is a good thing Roma" Sebastian said seriously then paused and added "and sometimes you have to be cruel first before you are kind." He told her.

She stared out of her window in to the vast emptiness, the sky was lit with bright stars but the ground below was pitch darkness. You knew you were on the ocean and you could not see it.

"Also, news started to leak out as we expected, we had some concerning phone calls being made to the palace as to what the hell was happening? One amusing version was the alphas have revolted against the throne and there is a coupe in progress." Sebastian told her recalling what Adrian had told him over the phone earlier.

"I see" She said thinking, still peering out of the window, the wheels in her head were spinning.

"I told him to get all the rumors under control, so the real picture should come out soon for the whole world to see how Roma deals with traitors." He reassured her.

Suddenly she spun her head to him "Don't!" she told him.

"What?" What was she talking about?

"Don't get the rumors under control." She told him calmly but he could see in her eyes a determined look, she was going somewhere with this.

"I see...why?" he asked.

"I want you to ensure that rumors of coupe reach Lockbourne" She said cryptically.

"Ok..." He still did not get the whole picture.

"Let the Lockbourne think we are imploding and the last thing they will expect is an attack" She finally revealed what she was thinking.

He sat back in his chair thinking, this could actually work very well in their favor. The cocky bastard would never expect an attack when he clearly believed Roma was imploding.

"They would also think you are weak and try to take you out back in Colorado" Sebastian warned. That was a good possibility, heck that's what he would do if he was in that bastards place.

"Then we will be ready. Wont we Sebastian?" she asked, it was more a statement, than anything else and he just gave her a nod and added "Yes we will." She was placing a lot of faith on him.

"What is the status of Nick's pack?" she asked, wondering how they were doing now, last she saw them they were rebuilding.

"It's great" he told her surprising her "We had two hundred of our men stationed there and they whipped the pack in to shape, there are a lot of surviving wolves, leftovers from the rogue attacks on Colorado who have joined in to the pack, so the pack numbers have swelled. Nick has invested in rebuilding housing and living and pack security. We have some of the best security put in place out there."

"So fast?" she asked surprised.

"Well, it was your pack, we know you have people you cared about we tried to do our best to secure the pack...unsuccessfully though" He told her disappointment evident in his voice, the conscience of her parents death weighed heavily on him.

"Why don't you call Adrian and get that Rumor started?" she told him instead, she did not want to dwell on her parents, it was too raw, too painful.

He nodded and picked up the phone next to him.

She resumed looking out of the window.

***

Alex came in, he has been off on a different section of the plane "So what are we up to?" he asked plopping himself down next to Roma.

"We plan to order some drinks and dinner" Sebastian said.

"You read my mind" Alex mumbled.

Sebastian called and ordered some drinks and dinner.

"So, what's the plan once we land?" Alex asked.

"Nick is waiting for Roma to close out on...the thing" Sebastian said, he couldn't say funeral.

"I see" Alex said and immediately regretted asking it.

"What about Lockbourne?" Roma asked, not wanting to dwell on what awaited her once she landed "Are we sure Patrick Lockbourne was responsible?" she asked him. She had to be sure for what she planned to do to him.

"Yes" Sebastian said without any hesitation and Alex nodded in agreement. It had been obvious and the cocky note they left behind did not leave any doubts whatsoever.

"So what is the plan then?" She asked.

"Ok" Sebastian said taking a heavy breath and began "We had ordered eight Apache gunships for the Roma army from the US army, they are ready for delivery. We use them on the Lockbourne pack, our sister concern American Avionics will provide us the firepower, all under the table of course."

"Gunships on the pack...aren't we being excessive? Unless we want to wipe out the pack..." Alex said trailing off looking between Sebastian and Roma who were exchanging discreet glances.

"We are going to wipe out the whole pack aren't we?" Alex asked calmly and added "Jesus! That more than two hundred wolves." Alex said out in shock. They really don't plan to kill two hundred wolves in cold blood do they?

"Yes" Roma answered firmly surprising Alex, of all people he did not expect that answer from her.

"Why?" He asked surprised, this was like fumigating an entire house to catch one fly.

"Because it's time to send a message...this is not just for what happened to my parents" Roma said "This is about what happened to Maxim, Roma, Max and everyone who had been killed...we need to send out a response" She told him too calmly for his taste, her voice has a certain steel in it he never noticed before.

"But Patrick had nothing to do with that" Alex defended.

Roma whipped her head to him "He didn't?" she said "Who kept Charles in their pack, the guy who plotted against our family, my family?" She told fiercely "No Alex, he is responsible and it's time to show the world what happens when you side against Roma." She meant it, Sebastian had warned her from the start...werewolves respected strength and once she was through with Lockbourne and co. they would not only respect her but would come to her tails tucked between their legs and more importantly would think an hundred times before they raised an finger against her family...at least what she had left of it.

"It's decided then?" Alex asked, she sure looked like she had made her mind and was not open to discussion.

"Yes" she told him unequivocally.

She leaned back in his seat "Shit!" he mumbled out loud. He hated it.

"Sometime you have to cruel to be kind" Roma said looking at Sebastian who gave her a small bemused smile at her repeating his favorite line back to them.

Before the conversation could go any further there was a knock on the door and a cabin crew opened the door "Dinner, Roma" the girl politely informed and started serving them food, once done she left closing the door behind her.

They began eating in silence, the only noise was the clatter of cutlery.

"So" Alex said breaking the silence "How do we do this, theoretically?"

"We go in at the dead of the night and then light up the place with the gunships" Sebastian said. It was a simple straightforward plan and something Roma wolves were extremely efficient at. The best part of it was the wolves he needed were already in Nicks pack.

"No" Roma said before anyone could respond.

"No?" Sebastian asked surprised.

"I want the Alpha to watch the destruction of his pack, with his own eyes. I want him to know why that happening to him and by whom is and I want him to call Gordon Lockbourne and inform him of what happened." Roma answered.

"You want to let him go?" Sebastian asked taken aback.

"No, you can kill him after the call" She told him coolly. She really dint care what happened to him at the end of it but she needed to know why it was happening to him and relay it back to his cousin.

Alex eyes widened, that was beyond cruel.

"Evy.." Alex said gently.

"No" She cut him short. "It's not just about killing, it's about sending a message to all our enemies. Who will have to think twice to lift a finger at us." She explained her position.

"How do we accomplish that?" Alex asked looking at Sebastian. Knowing Roma was dead set on her position.

Sebastian thought for a moment "We can drop a team in to their lands to extract the Alpha quietly and then we get the gunships out blazing while the team can hold the Alpha at a distance." He said thoughtfully "But this carries a higher risk and might alert the enemy." He cautioned.

"So be it" Roma said flatly "Anyways there is no escape from those gunships right?" she asked him and he nodded slowly. "So if detected, our team escapes in to the forest and anyone following them can be taken out. But I would prefer the Alpha caught and see what happens to his pack." She insisted.

"Sure Roma, I can arrange that" He told her finally thinking it out.

"But, I have a question" Alex said "Won't using the gunships in US airspace send out alarm bells to everyone...like the US defense establishment?" Alex pondered. The humans would notice for sure and the US defense establishment was not stupid for sure.

Sebastian smiled "I spoke to our contact in CIA told him we plan to place a big order of hardware..."

"Do we?" Alex cut him short.

"Yes. But we were doing it regardless" Sebastian answered and added "But they don't know that, however they fucked up with helping us getting Charles, so I gave him a rider. Told him we would do some tests with the choppers let's say...in Montana...Flathead national park so there are no humans around, a little test and then we fly them to Loveland, Colorado where we will be having weapons installed by American Avionics." Sebastian added.

"He bought it?" Alex asked surprised.

"Not for a minute, but he said ok" Sebastian told him.

"Just like that?" Alex asked in disbelief.

"No...I had to use some persuasion...dangle the carrot...told him he can confirm the $400 million order for the weapons system if he gets this through. He had to run around the Pentagon and jump through hoops but he had it done." There were lot more reasons, Roma had helped CIA out in a few tough spots in the past sending in werewolves to get their assets out where in the cost of human equivalent extraction would be too high. Now is was cashing in all his IOU's.

"So if we are firing away in the night, no one will notice?" Alex asked skeptical.

"They will...The people who matter will look the other way and for people who don't matter if they report any unusual activity, they will be given a vague scripted reason that governments are so famous for and no one would understand."

"My god!" Alex said in disbelief "They are ok in us firing upon their territory?"

"No they are not" Sebastian said.

"Then?" Alex asked confused.

"They know we are up to something so they don't ask and we don't tell."

"Wow" Alex just said. Unbelievable.

"Besides it's not a city we are blazing in to, it's a forest where no humans or property of any kind is around and I told him it's something to do with Charles. Also we fly low for most radars to detect us. It's going to be minimal exposure. There won't be a lot of people who will see us and those who do will be asked to look the other way." There had been a lot of arm twisting to get his way but the CIA had finally signed off on this.

"It's a gamble and if someone stumbles across the piles of bodies, there will be hell to pay" Alex warned.

"The American wolves will take care of that. They will not risk exposure, they have more to lose then we do." Sebastian reassured. They would be forced to hide it to avoid human exposure.

"So the final plan is this Roma" Sebastian began summarizing "We send in a team in a single chopper to retrieve the alpha and once captured we put him in a silver collar so that he is prevented from turning or linking his pack and then we send in the big guns and take the pack out. You ok with this plan?" He asked.

She nodded "Does he have a mate?" She asked.

"Yes...I think so" Sebastian said unsure looking at Alex.

"As far as I know he does" Alex said.

"So find a way to ensure his mate is left behind in the house without waking her up, just get only him out"

"Ok..." Sebastian drawled "It might be tricky."

"Figure it out...I want him to witness the death of his pack, his mate...by the end I want him completely broken when he calls his cousin." Roma said.

"Roma all this is going to snowball in to a huge cluster fuck with the world council" Alex warned. This would mean war, an all out war and he was afraid of the path they were going down on. Afraid she did not fully understand the consequences of these actions.

"We will cross that bridge when we come to it" Roma dismissed "But when they do summon us I want them to takes us seriously and this should do it." She added.

"And Sebastian, I need to understand how the council works, how is it run? How is it financed? All details" She asked Sebastian.

"Sure Roma, I in fact have a dossier on it if you want to read on it." Sebastian added.

"On the plane?" she asked.

"It's a soft copy and I can put it on an iPad or a laptop" He responded.

"Ok, get it on an iPad and give it to me" She told him.

"So when do we plan to get this plan in motion?" she asked.

"Tomorrow night, if you sign off on it" Sebastian said.

"Consider it signed off, just let me know we have all preparations in place and account for all eventualities, I don't want to have a surprise like last time" she cautioned. The last time they send someone in to Lockbourne territory they ended up dead. She did not want the same issue repeated.

"Yes, we will do it dead in the night and this time we fly our people and drop them well in the pack territory so we avoid detection by any ground sentry."

"ok" Evelyn said pushing her plate away, she was done.

"Why don't you catch up on some sleep Roma? Me and Alex will work out all logistics" Sebastian suggested.

"Yes" she said, she was tired and she got up and walked across the airplane and walked up to the private suite and she entered it closing the door behind her.

Both Alex and Sebastian sat in a few minutes of silence after Roma left.

"Do you realize this means war?" Alex asked.

Sebastian gave him a clod look and said calmly "I don't know if you realized but we are already at war."

With that he got up and walked away.

***

"Hello?" Gordon Lockbourne said picking up the phone. He listened to the other end in concentration.

"Are you sure?" he asked the other side.

"Ok. How reliable is this information" He double checked.

"Sure, keep me informed on any developments and cross verify all information." He told the guy on the phone and hung up.

He quietly went to the liquor cabinet and opened a bottle of his favorite bourbon and poured himself a generous serving of the drink in a glass. What the heck! It was time for celebration. He took a sip and picked up his phone and called a number.

"Charles" he greeted the other side as it was picked up "I have some excellent news" he said cheerfully "There are reports of coup in Roma, the alphas are revolting and conveniently when the new queen is on her way back to states for her parents funeral, looks like she won't have a country to fly back to" he grinned.

"What?" he said after Charles said something and responded after listening to him "it's a pretty reliable source my friend and confirmed by multiple sources, I will also have it independently confirmed but we can take this to the bank." He paused and added "Listen, I think this is the correct time, when the girl lands in Colorado we can send in a welcome party and topple the Roma empire one and for all."

He heard what Charles was telling "I know but let's get a large attack party ready, I know a small attack party won't do, let's kill two birds with one stone, finish off the Roma family and get Colorado back in to our fold. I think that outweighs any risks or loss of life we expect from such an engagement. Our victory will be total and our position unchallenged in the werewolf world. It's not a risk it's a sure bet."

He listened again to Charles and said "ok, get the pack wolves ready we attack Colorado in two days"

He hung up and was grinning, he sat down in his office chair and started humming to himself sipping on the bourbon.

Finally, they would be getting rid of the Roma empire one and for all and history will remember him as the one who got rid of it.

"Goodbye Roma!" he mumbled to himself taking a sip. The smile never left his face.

A smile which would be wiped off his face pretty soon.