Chapter 13 Pandora's box

Faster than Alex could blink, something flew past him and Will and hid behind Tes.

Gitte had an assault rifle at the ready. 

"Come out! " she barked. 

Alex cleared his throat. 

Gitte looked at him.

"She's climbed over the wall! "

"Uh-huh ..." He looked at Tes.

"So Tes, since she seems to know you ..."

Tes looked from Gitte to him.

" Me who?"

" The one behind you."

Tes looked at him and then behind him, her expression questioning.

" Shouldn't you stay in the present?"

" But Mom, it's boring there and the food is yuck Auntie can't cook! "

"Mom...?" came from Alex.

Will next to him seemed to be clicking something on the tablet.

"It looks like that in the photo, too." 

Alex looked at what was displayed in the photo.

"Tes, how old are you again?" he asked. 

She looked from her daughter to him.

"39..? Why?"

" Then she is?" 

Tes smiled at his daughter, in the light you could see a resemblance.

"19. Why?"

Gitte stared at her, stunned.

"And actually she should stay in the present," she put her hand on her head and squeezed with her fingers.

"So for the data synchronization Teresa Katharina von Krackenstein? Currently at Texas A&M University. " 

Gitte stepped forward.

"She climbed over the wall! And why do you have a daughter?"

Tes grinned.

"Because I wanted one, Gitte."

Teresa looked at her mother, then at Gitte, then at Alex.

"Who's that?" She pointed at the people.

Tes whispered something in her ear and her eyes grew wide. She bowed to him.

"I'm sorry about the wall! "

"But why didn't you go through Tor?" 

She looked at him questioningly.

"Gate, there was no gate, just the canal and the wall." 

"And the guards on top of the wall?" 

She smiled and Alex saw the same smile as Uther.

"They were distracted with relief, so I got past them. " 

"And what exactly are you doing here?"

She cocked her head to the side.

"To Papa, I need his permission to get something from the plantations. The old she-devil won't give anything and neither will the others. I'm just saying. I'll have to ask the boss myself," she rolled her eyes.

"Plantations ... These days?" 

She looked at Alex.

"It's on the estate property, guarded," Tes commented. 

"Okay, so how did your daughter get here? "

Teresa smiled. 

"I took a train until the station was closed and then drove here. "

Alex sighed.

"Gitte, put the gun down."

" Why?" 

" I'm begging you."

Footsteps fell silent in the hallway, Uther appeared in the doorway, he looked at Tes, then at Teresa, who came running towards him and hugged him tightly.

Alex had the feeling of seeing a dog running to its ruler, tail wagging.

"She'll go home when she's eaten. "

She looked at him. 

"Dad, it's boring there, Auntie only talks to Auntie Tiri and Arti, and she's in the reading room right now." 

Uther sighed. Tes stood next to the two of them, smiling.

"And she says the old devil won't give her any fruit to eat." 

Uther sighed again, Alex grinned, seeing a smile on Will's face.

" I'll take them both, I need access cards for both of them so the wildcat doesn't wave a gun around."

"Hey!" came the protest.

"You did." 

"Thanks," he turned and went outside with the two of them.

 Gitte stared at him. 

"You're just going to let her go with someone like that?" 

Alex sighed. 

" Gitte, just show me where she came in." 

Growling, she led him with Will to the piece of wall, he saw bloody handprints on the wall. He leaned over the wall and looked down. 

"There are actually marks on the wall too."

"Alex doesn't want to say anything, but they must have been extremely fast, the patrols run from post to post on the wall every five minutes." 

" Yes, and they saw her when she was up there and, according to them, she jumped down like a madwoman and ran off. " 

He sighed.

With the Danes, the queen finally agreed to attend the council on one condition. Alex had no problem with that. Then it went in quick succession. Sweden and Norway came forward and responded to the radio messages from the troops in the northern bloc. The liberation was carried out quickly and ice-cold with the help of the local troops. 

In the third month after Alex's reactivation, the northern bloc had expanded to Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland, Iceland and Greenland quickly followed and the build-up began. Deuchbach moved the Council to Copenhagen and the system was integrated into the new society. 

More and more refugees arrived from the surrounding countryside and from the sea. 

Many breathed a sigh of relief that they were at peace again, but not Alex. 

He was given the call sign big stray cat because he was actually just out and about. 

It wasn't intentional, he just had too much to do. 

He was called in when they rescued a British ship that had some of the British nobility on it. Desperate, they asked the Council to free the island. Alex launched reconnaissance flights to get a picture of the island, but he didn't like what he saw. 

The land was a patchwork of anarchy, infected, survivors and state loyalists. On the others, people had been happy to be rescued, here it would be more difficult. 

He sat in his car in Kiel for hours in front of his laptop, pondering and studying satellite images. 

John had become a shadow of Alex. 

"You have to decide Alex, I mean even if you say no. "

Alex leaned back and lit a cigarette.

" It's not that. We need at least 3 more days for our troops to recover."

"Then what's on your mind?" He sat down on a stool that was attached to the wall. 

" I wanted to meet with your people and take care of the United States."

John laughed. 

" Alex, they're glad to finally have a home and look what the monster did. Alex, really."

"Yes. Without Uther, while we're still painstakingly gathering resources ..."

Alex blew a cloud at the monitor, which he continued to stare at.

"We start in three days."

"And where do we start?"

"London, where else?" 

John laughed again. 

"Well, London then, but the people have to be fully protected?"

Alex nodded. 

" I'll give the signal for take-off."

3 days later, a Blackhawk landed in the courtyard of Buckingham Palace, Alex got out, John after him, followed by 6 soldiers from various special forces. They had agreed with Will to be Alex's bodyguards. As they were all of the opinion that he could not be left to walk around alone. 

"Are you sure there's someone here? " John asked.

" Yep. The satellite images showed that there's something here. "

" I hope you know what you're doing." John looked around. 

" Yeah, me too. " Nothing was moving, except the infected on the fences. 

Another helicopter landed, Uther got out and the helicopter took off again. Uther came to them, John looked at him questioningly.

"He really wanted to," he pointed at Alex.

"And?"

"Nothing," came from Alex.

"That can be changed." He drew his service weapon.

"Are you crazy, that will attract the infected" came from John. 

Uther looked at him, glanced at the palace. 

He raised his gun, aimed at the palace. 

" Until they're inside, we're gone. " 

John rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses.

Alex then waited for a reaction from the palace 4 SAS came out with their assault rifles on, aiming at them. Alex's men aimed at the 4.

>> What are you doing here? << came from one of them.

>> Now that we're about to take over the island, talk to your boss. <<

They looked at him.

 >> You're taking over the island? <<

Alex grinned. 

>> Why should we believe you? << 

John pulled a tablet out of his pocket, pressed it and let a video of the rescued nobles play. 

One of the soldiers pressed against his neck, and shortly afterwards the queen and a woman who looked like Gitte came out with an escort. 

The latter sighed when she saw Alex. 

"The world is coming to an end and the devil is coming," she commented. 

" Nice to see you again too and believe me, I've met better devils. "

John nodded in agreement. They both looked at Uther, who was standing a little to one side smoking and taking pictures of the palace with his cell phone.

The queen looked at her Alex stopped in front of him. 

>> So? <<

>> Your nephew wants to see you and the island free. <<

She looked at him questioningly. 

>> And it's supposed to be that easy? My people only hold a few corners. <<

John handed her the tray with the message. 

"You want to explain to me why you're in uniform now? Don't tell me my Hubi."

She scowled at him.

"He's fine, he's in Copenhagen now, doing civilian work. Sleeping it off etc. and your girls are fine too."

"Fine? Last time, one of them got drunk and got fucked because she was fired from a company as a psychologist, and the other lost her nerve because her wife cheated on her. So what's supposed to go right?"

Alex scratched his nose.

"Well, one is working as a psychologist again and looking after incoming refugees and the other is up to her ears in work."

She looked at Alex scrutinizingly. 

"Do the three of them know you're here?" 

" Um..." 

John had to stifle a laugh. 

"The general didn't tell them he was here himself."

" Oh, the general?"

" Yes, complain to Hubi, he threw a spanner in the works and left for civilian service."

She sighed. "You know, Alex, he's been telling me for years that he wants to retire and in four weeks' time he will. But I'm not entirely clear about your role in this. Even when you were still working for him, you were foisting ideas on him that got him further in his career, but also ..."

Alex grinned. "Yeah?"

She stared at him. 

"No ... " She looked at John. "What did he do?"

" Ma'am. We're from the North Block, the Association of Plague Survivors. We have ..."

>> Good, I'm coming with you, Phillips, tell the rest of the squad to work with the incoming troops. << 

>> Yes, Your Majesty << the soldier addressed hurried in. 

>> "Not in such a hurry..." she began, but the queen glanced at the tray. 

>> I want to live my last years in peace Beth, not be imprisoned. <<

Beth took a deep breath. 

>> Beth, you seem to know him, tell me <<

Beth bit her lip, looking from Alex to her. 

>> So General Alexander Julius Kaiser, I only know him as Lieutenant Colonel Kaiser, he was my husband's bugbear. I told you that he was in charge of secret operations for a long time and this << she pointed at Alex. >> Was his shadow, a demon until he retired. With an excuse to protect Gitte."

"Wasn't that me? You were the one who told me she'd rest better this way."

Beth looked at him. "How did she take it when you came back?"

"Since the soundproof walls were installed, there have been no more complaints about the noise they make," John said.

"Are they arguing?"

Uther appeared next to Alex and sat down on the floor.

"No, ma'am, they're just loud and snoring during sex."

Alex looked at him. "Let the others know, John."

John hurried to the helicopter. Alex looked at Uther.

Beth was staring at him, Uther at her.

"She's the spitting image of those two wildcats."

He walked around them, which seemed to set Beth off.

"Wildcats?" she growled. Uher grinned and looked at Alex.

" Those two are really hers." 

The majesty looked at John and then at Alex, who was lighting a cigarette.

>> If I give them a list of names of people to disappear...

Alex looked at her, pointing at Uther. He looked at her.

>> Then they disappear. All right, let's get started.<<

>> Start with what.<< she asked him.

>> With the recapture, ma'am <<

Beth looked at him. 

"You alone? Be realistic, Alex. " She was interrupted as fighter jets and helicopters flew thunderously over their heads.

>> Welcome to the north block << Alex commented.