The legacy of the dark blood

Chapter 11

Max is gone

The news didn't seem to faze Liz; with how little she had known Max, she supposed he must be pursuing one of his selfish goals.

"I'm sure he's wandering around here" Before she could finish her words, the agent remembered that the entire perimeter was secured, which made his disappearance a mystery, but still hoping for other communication possibilities, Liz picked up her new radio transmitter and tried to reach her leader. Before she could even press the button, Bernard interrupted her.

"The radio Ulrich gave him is still in the tent, he has gone out without it, no one has seen him leave the camp."

With every word he uttered, Bernard looked more and more upset. Although none of the agents had empathized so much with Max due to his cocky attitude and total lack of respect for his fellow officers, they knew that he was not only a partner, but also their leader and that without him they would not be able to communicate with the rest of the assault team they had called in to intervene in cases of emergency.

"Damn bastard!" Liz muttered through her teeth; she couldn't conceive of their leader abandoning the group like that without warning them beforehand, but under the circumstances, speaking ill of him behind his back was the least opportune thing to do.

The camp had lit up again, after having announced the disappearance of the American agent. Once Liz and Bernard met with Chris to discuss what had happened, she could watch as Ulrich questioned the agents who were on duty that night, none of whom claimed to have seen anything suspicious in the area. It was somewhat curious that Max's disappearance, even though there was so much security inside the perimeter, had been as mysterious as those reported so far of the other American citizens.

Liz was a bit chagrined to see how the situation of one of her colleagues had made things more complicated for the German agents, although at the same time she felt that helping them was among what they called a sense of duty. Ulrich was trying to get an update on the situation with the other officers, so much so that he called several of them to wake up. On the other side of the camp, there was still that unextroverted face of Nick doing his guard duty routine, who contrary to the other officers was not showing an interest in finding out what had happened to Max and was still checking his assault rifle. No one had dared to say anything to him, until Bernard addressed him in a very polite manner.

"Hey, Nic..., Deisler. I think you should be contributing to your buddies too" Liz knew that what her partner had done hadn't been very bright.

"Contributing to what exactly?" Nick asked Bernard, raising his voice rudely and giving him an intimidating look as he walked toward him, "I heard your moron friend say that you didn't come here to babysit anyone. Besides, didn't you hear him say that he had the balls to stand up for himself, let's see if that's true."

"You could at least be polite to our guests!" Chris reproached him, feeling that he could no longer stand the irreverence with which Nick treated everyone, reaching the point of rudeness "This man has addressed you with respect."

"They have supposedly come to collaborate with us" grumbled Nick "but so far they have brought us no significant progress in this mission and many inconveniences."

Although Liz partially agreed with Nick's comments regarding Max, she had not been at all pleased with the way he had addressed her friend, as well as the fact that he did not take seriously the danger their leader might be running by walking alone at night in that dark and gloomy place, where no one knew what evils or horrors might arise.

After the interrogation with the other officers on duty was over, Ulrich turned to the group of agents who were arguing with Nick, among them Steffi, whom the captain ordered to attend to other more important matters as he pointed out her work station. All the agents showed great respect for him, including Nick.