Raised From The Wild-Chapter 369: The Alliance Stepped In
"How could it be?" Prince Raquim’s eyes widened when he came face to face with a man who looked exactly like him. The woman beside his look-alike also looked like Princess Amaya.
Leon and Vasquez only looked at each other briefly. They understood what the situation was.
Prince Raquim’s and Princess Amaya’s look-alike followed three guards who also looked like their own guards. They did not waste any more time. They scaled the wall and disappeared through the window in no time.
A tall, muscular man in his mid-fifties approached the prince and the princess and escorted them quickly to the waiting vehicle. Leon and Vasquez recognized the man.
"General Jones," Princess Amaya greeted him politely.
"Let us get you to a safe place first, Prince Raquim and Princess Amaya." General Jones gave them a curt nod before turning around to walk back to the vehicles parked in the parkway behind the garbage trucks.
Someone escorted Prince Raquim and his guard to a different black vehicle, and the general opened the van’s door for Princess Amaya before turning to the two guards and complimenting them.
"Congratulations on a job well done! You have successfully safeguarded the princess. Out of numerous hostages, only the five of you managed to escape."
The spacious van had enough room for five passengers in addition to General Jones. Princess Amaya was puzzled by the general’s choice to have Prince Raquim travel in a separate vehicle.
The seats were arranged so that they were facing each other.
"What’s with those people who looked like us, General Jones? Who are they? Are they wearing masks?" Princess Amaya asked curiously.
"They are decoys, Princess. We got intel that there is a shoot-to-kill order for those who tried to escape. We do not want to alert that terrorists that you have successfully gotten out of the hotel."
"How did you know that we managed to escape? How did you predict our route?" Leon asked, looking sharply at General Jones.
General Jones frowned. He stared at the guard and found him staring back at him. ’The man is not an ordinary guard.’ He thought to himself.
"We intercepted the messages you sent to Maharlika Palace." General Jones decided to be honest because he wanted them to trust him. He needed insider information, and they were the only ones who could provide it.
Leon studied the general seated in front of him. He pondered for a while before asking carefully.
"Usturia did not send you here. Are you from Uropa?" Leon thought that if he could intercept the messages sent out from their wristwatches, he must have access to Athena, the Skylar Intelligence System.
General Jones tried to read Leon’s expressionless face. He could not fathom the thoughts behind the pair of dark orbs. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞
"The Alliance sent me. The hostages are important people from the four continents, so the Alliance stepped in." General Jones replied casually.
"How can you prove that you are from the Alliance? You produced five people who looked like us at an unbelievable speed, so how could we know that you are not part of the people inside that hotel?" Vasquez asked suspiciously.
General Jones fixed a stern gaze on Vasquez, who immediately averted his eyes and offered a quick apology. As a mere guard, it was presumptuous of him to question a high-ranking officer like General Jones.
The general glanced briefly at Princess Amaya’s watch. He recognized the model. Though it looked simple, it was the most advanced of the highly intelligent and intuitive devices developed by Skylar Technologies. There were only three of them in the world. One belonged to the leader of the Alliance. The second one belonged to Hendrix Skylar, and Marx Skylar, the genius behind the innovative technology, owned the last piece before he went missing two years ago. So, he gave his watch to Princess Amaya.
"Princess, you are wearing a one-of-a-kind watch. You can use that to scan me, and it will confirm my identity."
"Huh?" Princess Amaya was surprised that General Jones knew about the features of her watch. She activated the holographic screen and initiated a scan of the general’s biometrics.
A chubby, cute young girl’s face appeared on the blue screen, and a robotic voice was heard.
"Initiating facial scan..."
"Initiating retina scan.."
"Initiating bodily x-ray..."
"Identifying subject as General Douglas Jones. Leader of the Uropan Security Council and recently elected to head Task Force Sunrise. The subject is authenticated as an ally, Princess."
"Thank you, ExZee." Princess Amaya placed her palm on the wristwatch, and the blue screen disappeared.
The AI that powered the watch was initially called WT-R23PO, but Princess Amaya changed the name to ExZee because she thought the WT-R23PO did not sound cute.
The three people facing the stern general relaxed after his identity was confirmed.
"My mandate is to save all the hostages before sunrise, and information that you can share with me is crucial to the task force’s success." General Jones spoke calmly while tapping the armrest of the seat.
"They posed as waiters and janitors. They used a woman to trigger a bomb that diffused the chemical that poisoned the air and knocked out all those who attended the party." Leon recounted what he had observed.
"Do you think they are terrorists?" General Jones directed his question to Leon.
Between the two guards, Leon exuded a mysterious aura that reminded him of that man two decades ago. When he checked his background, he appeared to be exemplary, but seeing him in person, General Jones could tell that he was a hundred times better than what his record told him.
Because it wasn’t even two days that he became the princess’ guard, General Jones could not help but be wary of him. He could not determine, whether he was a friend or a foe.
"No. I don’t think they are terrorists. They are more professional and highly trained. I suspect that they are part of the Dark Phoenix." Leon did not bat an eyelid when he replied to the General. He did not hide the fact that he was familiar with Dark Phoenix.
General Jones raised an eyebrow. His eyes flickered as he looked at the man sitting beside the princess. He was trying to gauge if there was a possibility of him being a spy planted by the Dark Phoenix organization. But Lireya was just a small country. Why would Dark Phoenix waste their effort on such a small territory?
Leon adjusted his wristwatch, sliding it up to relieve an itch on his skin. As he did so, General Jones’s intense gaze fixed on a seemingly inconspicuous tattoo on Leon’s wrist.
