Renée

Chapter 30

"I see Jasper," Nigel says as we approach the walls of the Newfall estate. He's standing all alone, his horse nowhere to be found, with his back against the wall. When he notices approaching, he stands and begins waving.

Nigel stops his horse beside Jasper, who reaches up to help Gwen down. He gently lifts her off the horse and sets her feet on the ground. As he does that, I jump down from the horse by myself with no issues. Seems like Renée was familiar with horse riding from how her muscle memory acted.

"I was going to help you down," Jasper says.

"It's fine, and I made it down safely anyway," I smile at him. He stares at me for a moment before chuckling.

"Alright." I spin around to see Nigel still on his horse. "I'm going ahead to the meeting."

"Are you a hundred percent sure you have the documents?" I ask.

"A hundred..." He stares at me in confusion before patting his saddle bag. "They're in here."

"Just follow the information on them and everything will go great."

"I will do that." He smiles at us. "Then, I'll meet you at the Central Plaza near where the fountain used to be at four o'clock. Does that sound like enough time?"

"It's plenty." I nod.

"Then I'm off."

"Good luck and be safe."

"You as well." He flicks the reins, sending his horse into a trot. He moves down the road before disappearing around the corner.

I glance back at Jasper. "Did Roman get the message?"

"He did, and he said he would be at the back gate of the Newfall estate shortly." Jasper nods.

"And Dr. Hartmann?"

"He said he would be happy to meet you at his residence at noon."

"We have about an hour then," I say as I think out loud. "Then we should head to the back gate to meet Roman before we have to go meet with Dr. Hartmann." I look around the area, but I don't see it.

"Lad... Renée? Is there something wrong?" Jasper asks.

I glance back at him and nervously rub the back of my neck. "Would you lead us to the back gate?"

"Of course. This way," he says, motioning for us to follow him. I look over at Gwen and smile before we both follow him down the road.

He leads us along the wall of the estate before turning a corner. It isn't long before we're standing near the gate and waiting for Wes. "Jasper, I need to ask you one more thing."

"What can I help you with?"

"Could you please guard us from a distance?"

He looks at me in shock for a moment. "I can't do that?"

"Please, Jasper? We're close to the gate, and the knights could help us if things got bad. And you'll still be able to keep an eye on us."

He hesitates. "Nigel would be furious if he found out."

"He doesn't need to know."

"I still don't know."

"Please, Jasper?" I ask again.

He stares at me with a complicated expression for a moment before sighing. "I understand, but I won't be any further than that building over there." He points towards a building that's just under ten meters away from where we're standing.