The Fox, Red

107 - Put Down The Monster

"Madam Odette, it's time."

I put down the book I'm reading to look up out the window overlooking the back of the manor. Everyone is blissfully unaware of what's been going on. Our "guest" is just a business partner to them. He's my military liaison. He showed up over two weeks ago when they noticed that Red had left the country. They began working with me as a contingency should they need to move on him. It worked so well for them last time.

Last week, their fears may have justification. There was a shift in the world as though a new, greater power was born. I know where it comes from. I know who it is. Red has finally gained his final tail. Usually, I would be pleased but... He's changed so much since he left. I'm not sure I can say he's the same person anymore.

Red doesn't understand the response he stirred. On the surface, they tried to play it cool. They worked in the background to create a contingency plan for him. After his fight in Death Valley, everything had to change. That was when they came to me. They gave me a choice at first. I didn't want to get involved but the more I heard about what he was doing, the more he became a threat to the countries of the world.

His want to spread magic put a target on his back. I guess he succeeded. He got what he wanted. There have been many influential people from entertainment to politics that have come out as a mage. There are still non-believers who just do what they can to deny the existence of magic. I know that was something Red was dealing with. I watched his interviews.

I don't have much of a choice now. He's disappeared again causing an alarm to go off. They're going to send me and a team of operators to track him down. No one is allowed to know where we're going. I only know we're going to Ireland, somewhere in the highlands. From what they've learned, he went with three others and just fell off the Earth. Two returned but Red and one other are still missing.

They suspect that I know something. I couldn't begin to fathom where they would have gone. My hands are tied on this one. Their liaison tried to work with me in the early stages. He's been reporting back that I've been uncooperative despite that I don't know anything. Red left. He started living his own life. Our paths crossed a few times but nothing beyond that. I was worried sick about him for a week but I had to realize that he has his own life.

They've got a gun to my head, metaphorically. They threatened my livelihood. They've threatened my people. They plan on taking everything from me. I see why people are siding with Red after he started this movement of his. It's opened my eyes to just how deep the governments of the world had a stranglehold on the magical community. They're doing what they can to keep that grip.

Danny escorts me from my room to the front door where our guest is waiting. He's standing with two other men with a black SUV out front. Red spoke about the time when these people tried to abduct him. I wonder if they're going to do the same with me. Much like Red, they will be in for a surprise if they underestimate me.

The joy of living out in the middle of nowhere is the long car ride to get anywhere. The town closest to us doesn't have the ability for planes to land. My helicopter can fit but nothing else. We'll have to drive six hours to get where they can land a plane to take us to another airfield to switch to a plane that can take us across the ocean.

The amount of red tape they've cut through to make this happen astonishes me. First, they have to authorize what is essentially the polite kidnapping of a private citizen to conscript them into fighting an individual who they have labeled as a domestic terrorist. My handlers are quiet. I wonder what they do and don't know.

The airfield has a small plane waiting for us. We don't go through the normal method of boarding. I'm ushered around and straight to the small jet. We are off within minutes. Maybe another 3-hour flight before we land at a military base near the coast. There is no time to rest for me. I am walked from one plane to the next. The large 4-prop plane is already spinning. I'm not even sure I was sitting when I felt everything start to move.