Blade of the Avengers

Chapter 8 - Orders and Blackmailed

AVENGERS HQ

8:12 AM

THE NEXT DAY

Secretary Ross sat in stunned silence and listened to Nolan's report and couldn't believe what was told to him. When COVID first reared its ugly head, there was little information on the virus because the Chinese government refused to cooperate and be truthful. Scientists across the globe had to piece together the puzzle and to this day, the picture was still incomplete. When Rutherford first developed the vaccine and then two years later the cure, it was a godsend. He was hailed a hero and awarded the Nobel prize for his work. Every news outlet, CNN, MSNBC, FOX, CBS and others interviewed him for weeks and still interview him. Fauci's deputy was Washington's darling and soon thereafter the UN's. Ross never would have guessed that the doctor was actually a hostile agent determined to control the minds of the world's populace. He himself was now worried for he had taken both the vaccine and cure. If Nolan and Kate's report were true then he was susceptible to the Templars intentions of eradicating free will. Nolan and Barton were both right. The Templars had to be stopped by any means necessary.

When Barton first told him of the existence of the Templars, Ross imagined them to be similar to the Free Masons or the Skull and Bones Society. He envisioned old men in robes in smoke filled rooms and secret rituals trying to hold on to some vestige of their youth. He never would have thought it was a centuries old international conspiracy bent on world domination. Barton had shocked him when he told him the number of wars the Templars were responsible for and the untold numbers of deaths that lay at their feet. HYDRA were rank amateurs compared to them. And the fact that they had infiltrated the government at every level frightened him. Ross did not know who he could trust in Congress for Barton cautioned him that many Congressional members were Templars or on their payroll. Ross focused on the last of Nolan's report and rose to his feet and looked out the window watching the rain fall like tears. Marco Ruiz the owner and CEO of Zephyr Shipping was a multi billionaire philanthropist who provided clean water to some of the poorest nations in Africa and in Asia. Ruiz also provided millions of dollars of relief money for natural disasters. He was a frequent guest of every president beginning with the Clinton administration and had powerful influence in Washington. I wonder if he was a friend of Epstein Ross thought to himself. It was difficult for him to fathom that one of the most kind and generous men in the world was a depraved seller of human cargo.

"My God. The COVID vaccine and its cure used as a vassal for the implementation of their plan. Under normal circumstances I would dismiss this as slander of the highest degree. Friday however was able to break the encryption on the file you downloaded. We have the names of every Templar in America and in Europe except one. Strangely, that name is only a number. Rutherford's name is in there and so is Ruiz. Are you sure it is wise to terminate him? He is a very public figure" Ross asked turning to Nolan, Kate and Yelena. Daisy too had joined them but stood there silent processing what she had just learned.

"I'm not sure yet. He is arriving on his two hundred fifty-foot mega yacht the Royal Falcon" Nolan answered. "I could rig it so that once its back at sea there is an unfortunate . . . accident with no survivors. But I'm more inclined to make him talk first. I want to know why he is coming to New York and who he is meeting with. My Mentor wants to know why the hit on Barton was taken out. Clint was retired; done with being the Ronin after Thanos was defeated. Petty revenge is not the Templars MO. No there is a much larger agenda at work."

"I agree" Ross concurred. "You are clear to move against Ruiz. Your discretion on lethal action. Dismissed. Nolan, I need you to stay for a few minutes with Daisy. I have to discuss something in private with the both of you."