Chapter 124

December 19, 2003 – 09:00

Coralis and Andrew entered the meeting room, dragging a restrained Xanita with them.

"What is this?" said Elder Alfredino.

"Xanita Aza is the one who killed Minister Luke Massina, and we sent a copy of our evidence to British authorities," said Andrew as he played the video timeline assembled by Erik and Henry. "Do you want to handle her yourself, or shall I hand her to the authorities?"

"It seems we owe you an apology, Blue Thunder," said Elder Rolland, watching the video.

"The warehouse we searched never had any cursed weapons. It was merely a ruse Xanita used to get Blue and me away from the hotel. Want to tell me again how in gods world Massina's murder got pinned on my apprentice when we were nowhere near the vicinity of his hotel?"

Elder Phraton tried to say something, but Elder Alfredino quieted him, using magic to shut him up.

"JORGIE! Jorgie Fluk gave me that tip about that warehouse!" said Xanita, panicked.

"Oh, we know about that, don't you worry. Unlike you, he's been making a better effort covering his tracks, but we know," said Andrew while dropping a folder in front of Elder Rolland.

The folder contained Xanita's phone record and CCTV pictures, with timestamps, showing him and Coralis entering the warehouse parking lot and walking out of there.

"What do you have to say for yourself, Xanita Aza? Why kill the human minister and why would you frame Blue Thunder? Jorgie Fluk may have been involved, but that isn't a justification for killing a human and framing a colleague for it," said Elder Unimoto.

Xanita stared at Elder Alfredino and stayed silent. Elder Rolland signalled to a guard.

"Please take Xanita Aza to a cell, we will deal with her later," said Elder Rolland, returning his attention to Coralis and Andrew. "Brilliant work there. In light of what has been presented to us, it is clear that we have made a mistake, and we hope that you will forgive us, Blue Thunder."

Xanita screamed as the guard carried her out of the room.

"We will be taking over the investigation regarding the actions of Xanita Aza," continued Elder Rolland when the guard closed the door behind them, "and we will reinstate you in your position with us. However, if you agree, you will return to us as a full agent."

"With all due respect, elder Elder Rolland, I decline the reinstatement and will not be returning to the EBEE. I am thankful that you have allowed me time to clear my name in this matter, but I should never have been accused in the first place. Moving forward, I need to take some time to reassess who I can trust and will work independently."

"Have you been talking to the CMMA?" said Elder Phraton.

"General Tobly contacted me, but I declined his offer."

"Very well. May the gods and goddesses be with you. If you ever change your mind, you know where to find us," said Elder Rolland.

Coralis and Andrew stood outside the EBEE compound a few minutes later.

"I will miss working with you, Blue, but I believe you made the right decision. You know my plans. I will stick around for a little bit, to see what they'll do next and collect more information, but I'll be coming for Jorgie next. Stay safe," said Andrew before taking off.

Coralis watched him leave and took off when he was out of sight. Erik and Henry were supposed to be at work, but they wanted to be home when Coralis got back from the pre-trial, hopeful that she wouldn't get locked up pending execution or trial.

As soon as she set foot in her flat, they hugged her. Erik poured her a drink while she told them how it went.

"Of course, they wanted you back!" said Erik.

"There was no way I would go back, and I'm glad Andrew understood. We all know why you ended up on the Other Ones list, for the same reason as Sebastian. No one even came up with a reason as to why I was the one being put on the butcher block for Massina's murder, we still don't know what proof they had."

"They should rename that list "Other Ones on Warning," said Henry, refilling their drink. "I don't know about you, bro, but a vacation to Montreal sounds like an appealing idea at the moment."

"If only we could play our home games there! Your man will be happy to see you back. Did you call him on your way back here?" said Erik.

"No, he is usually asleep at this time and my focus was on ensuring I wasn't followed."

"I guarantee you he was up and probably staring at his phone or pacing your apartment," said Erik.

"Hmm, you're probably right. I want to have a couple of drinks with you before heading there, and there is a part of me thinking that I should wait a bit longer. I don't want to be seen leaving for Montreal right away. I'm technically free, but you know they'll be watching me."

"Valid point," said Henry.

"I have a game tomorrow in Mexico, so I can't be staying too long either, and I do miss him. He made a good point the night he got me to take him as a mate. Everyone is looking for Blue Thunder, but the authorities aren't looking for Coralis Golmar. Frank told the neighbours that I was in the UK for work, so I'm thinking of going back by plane and having him pick me up at the airport so that it'd fit his story and leave a paper trail to prove it."

"That is a brilliant idea. We should get ourselves a pair of binds like you got. I heard that the authorities will start using a tool that can detect supernatural essence, that can't be good if that's true," said Erik.

"It's definitively not good, but I don't think their prisons are equipped to contain us, so even if they arrest one of us… what will it do? You know we'd be out before they can even process us," said Henry.

"Which would serve to prove what we are and is likely to create a greater panic among the population. People would fear us even more," said Coralis as her pager vibrated. "I guess I'm going to be calling back my contact at MI6 before updating Frank," said Coralis as she dialled the number displayed on her pager.

Henri went to the kitchen to make something to eat.

"It seems I'll be taking my flight to go home from Edinburgh. My MI6 contact wants to meet with me there."