Time of Fate (Wealth of Time Series #6) by Andre Gonzalez (e book reader online txt) 📗

wouldn’t have felt the need to be marching all around the continent and get news coverage from every major network around the world.

Our team is working on containing and controlling these protests, but things could be done much quicker and easier with a quick message letting us know you’re alright. Can you imagine if the president of the United States hadn’t been heard from in two weeks? It would cause mass hysteria, and that’s what we’re seeing now.

It is wrong on your part to relay communication back to headquarters every day of the mission until the actual day of you kidnapping Sonya, then stop. Did you get her? Is she dead? The suspense you have left us in is mind-blowing, and not in a good way. Our organization is currently under a blackout, and it won’t be lifted until you make an appearance. I urge you to reconsider your actions and make life easier for the entire membership. One day has passed, and a second will start to spread further unrest within the Road Runners. The blackout was implemented to allow us to arrest and detain those who are protesting, but if it spills into a second day, we expect matters to snowball even further out of control.

We see you are alive and well, thanks to your tracking device. As I write this email it appears you are in Nevada at Wealth of Time. I unfortunately have no additional resources to send to check on you, thanks to the protests, but I assume you are safe since you are traveling with the best crew available. All I can do is trust that the mission is going successfully, and will stay out of your way. I’m giving you two more days. If we don’t hear from you by then, we’ll be forced to lift the blackout and make preparations for a new leadership team. Some Lead Runners around the continent have already reached out to throw in their names for consideration.

I wish you well, and hope to see you soon with a dead Chris Speidel. Godspeed.

-Chief

Martin rotated his laptop and let Alina read the message. She took a minute to skim it over before letting out a soft chuckle. “I’m impressed the Council tracked down my friends in Central America so quickly. I wonder who they reached out to.”

“We need to do something, Alina. They’re already talking about starting a new election. This is irresponsible.”

“It will be fine. This email is all a ploy to get a response from you,” Alina replied, handing the laptop back. “If they were serious, do you think he’d give you two days? He knows the mission is working and is leaving you time to finish it.”

“Then why bother sending this to me?”

“He just wants the response. Even if you replied with one word, it would be something he could share with the organization to prove that you’re alive. That’s all this is—people worried you’re dead because of what happened to Strike.”

“The tracking devices are open for plenty of people to see—”

“The members don’t care. Strike’s tracking device was ripped out of her arm and dropped in the middle of a field. Until the people hear from you directly, they’ll assume anything else that suggests you’re alive is just a coverup. Keep in mind, our bunch has become very paranoid since Strike. Trust is broken, and while this precise moment doesn’t help, things will get better once we finish this mission. Tensions are high, but a broken Revolution will relieve all of that tension.”

Martin nodded. “I don’t see the harm in sending an email back. He acknowledged he knows where we are—”

Alina shook her head viciously. “You need to read between the lines. If he knows where we are and isn’t sending anyone to check on us, then he’s deliberately staying out of our way. You’re the Commander—there is no valid excuse to not even take two soldiers off the streets and send them our way.”

“You really do this all the time, don’t you?”

Aline smirked. “Let’s just say this isn’t the first time I’ve received an email like this, and I know it won’t be the last.”

“So we just sit on our hands for all of tomorrow and hope things don’t spin out of control?”

Alina shrugged. “How do you think wars end? I’ve settled a few local wars with the cartels all over Central America, and every single one is complete chaos on both sides until the final bell is rung. I know we’ve been taking a beating for years from these guys, but I can assure you this is all very normal. I’d actually be surprised if people were just going about their business as usual, pretending nothing is happening.”

“But they don’t even know we’re on this mission. They should be going about their days as usual.”

“People have an extra sense that can read scenarios, even when they don’t realize it. It consumes them, overtakes all their reason and logic—it’s almost like a poison. The fact that you and I haven’t been heard from in two weeks probably started as a bit of anxiety and worry for our members. But as the days passed, that stress turned into hope and speculation. ‘Are they really doing it?’ people ask, first in their private homes, but eventually in larger group settings. That’s what feeds the rumor mill. They piece together their theories and eventually land on the right answer. The protests are just a result of the impatience everyone has waiting for the outcome of this mission.”

“And you think sending a reply to Uribe will unravel all of that hope? I guess I still don’t see how it’s a bad thing.”

“Not at all. Sending the email isn’t about the members. If they hear from you, but still don’t see you, it will only throw more gasoline onto the fire. I just don’t want you to send an email because we are so close. We’re off the grid, as