Into The Wild ~ Book 3 ~ The Royal Blood Collection

Chapter 2

Restraining the distaste that I was feeling at the moment, I silently waited for the blundering fool to find what he was looking for. In the sweltering heat of this little shack in the middle of nowhere, he had one little desk fan to move the hot air around. The windows were open but they did absolutely nothing.

"It's here somewhere." He muttered.

I'm sure it was. The office of the commanding officer for this posting was tiny, I've seen coffins bigger than this room. I suppose that he worked with what he could and there were clearly things more important than a flash office or air conditioning. Security was strong, far better than anything I've ever seen. Which considering they were constructing a large bridge to the other side of Rivarno Diablis, I'd say that it was warranted.

"There!" He exclaimed, lifting a brochure.

I took it and looked at this mystery spa that no one had ever heard of.

"Has anyone else been to this place?"

"Well, it's close enough if the troops want to go there for R and R but until Silas produced that pamphlet, I wasn't aware of it so I doubt the troops were either. In this camp, we have a gender imbalance. Ninety percent are male and to be brutally honest, they're not interested in getting a massage unless it comes with a happy ending. I doubt that something as classy as that place offers such things."

Yes, it did seem rather upmarket and lacking in prostitutes. I was never one to judge a book by its cover so I would not make assumptions about this place or where Silas might or might not be.

"Has anyone rung this place or gone to see if he is there?"

"My assistant rang when Silas did not return as scheduled. She was met with an interesting response."

I raised an eyebrow as I tucked the brochure into the inner pocket of my jacket.

"Oh?"

"Client confidentiality. Odd, don't you think?"

"Yep. I take it that no one went down there?"

"We cannot leave the base unguarded at the moment. All R and R has been canceled until further notice. I rang the leader's assistant and told him of this, I assume that is why you are here."

Or perhaps Oliver realized that this place was filled with incompetence. It wasn't a good thing considering they were the only line of defense against the creatures.

"Why?"

"Pardon?"

"Why can't anyone leave the base?"

"The final section of the bridge is about to go into place. We've held off until Silas returned but the time limits are almost at an end."

"So, you would continue without Silas if he didn't return?"

"Yes, though I would rather he was here. He has quite a rapport with the workers. They were getting the job done with little fuss."

With a heavy sigh, I wandered to the closest window. Outside it was lit up with massive floodlights, not a section of the base was spared from the harsh light. Like all army bases, it was set up to function of a night and during the day, it was down to the security staff that were either hidden from the sun or a hybrid that could venture into limited light.

"Tell me something, General. Do you fear foul play?"

Turning to the silent man, I saw a stunned face. He shrugged uneasily, not making this any easier.