News of Talimay Singh's return echoed all the way from Waterchester to Axfield. Everyone was already aware of the warm welcome back she received in the outpost she led in Oakneil, Waterchester. After being away for a while to mourn her deceased brother, Heycliff, Men of Midas' first and only female lieutenant was back in the ranks.
Back when Arkaneh sat to meet Reus for the first time in his office, Reus already prepared him for her return, and so he offered that she would take part in Arkaneh's plan to catch the traitor. Therefore, by the time she made her first visit to the Ravenwey Burrows outpost after her anticipated return, she was already well aware of the current situation, and the proposed plan.
Welcoming handclaps and loud cheers were abundant as soon and she stepped into the abandoned factory. Arkaneh watched from above, through the glass in Griffiths's office, as the interior hall was packed with over two dozen members of the outpost that were calling and shouting Talimay's name, chanting it like a prayer, as if their messiah had just entered their holy ground. Talimay has had some impressing achievements during her time as a lieutenant. Some say she holds the highest count of Justicar kills, as well as being behind some of the most profitable robberies and heists. No wonder she's so well-liked among the brothers. The red-headed lieutenant waved at the cheering members with a half-gleeful smile, one that suggested she wasn’t still completely over her brother's death.
"She's getting quite a welcome," Arkaneh said to Griffiths, who sat in his chair behind Arkaneh.
"Yeah…" Griffiths's voice sounded grim. "She was always the most adored one. The legendary Talimay Singh," his face looked sour. Arkaneh could already tell what was hiding behind that frown and cold tone. He's jealous of her. He wishes he could be as well-liked as she is. I can probably guess what he must feel like, being the lieutenant who cares first and most about his own brothers before anything else, sitting in his chair as he hears how everybody cheers and howls that name of his counterpart.
"I heard some call her the Golden Marauder," Arkaneh added salt to Griffiths's wounds. The old man sat in silence against that, only making a grunting sound.
Talimay was accompanied by 4 members of her own outpost as bodyguards, as well as a young girl. The girl had black dreads tied to her head on the left side, and long, silky hair on her right side, short enough to only reach her chin. Black tattoos riddled her arms, and her bottom lip was adorned with a silver ring on its left side. A black laptop was clutched in her hands. The young girl remained shy against the racket that took place around her. Arkaneh noticed some members whispering among themselves as their eyes lingered on her, probably wondering who that girl was, but he already knew the answer to that question. Fenia Merritt. According to Reus, she's a brilliant girl who serves the organization on all matters technical. Her involvement in jobs usually consists hacking into keypads and security systems. She refuses to go into the field herself, choosing to aid through her computer from behind the curtain instead. Reus asked Talimay to bring her along as part of the plan.
Talimay and her entourage paved their way through the members to the rusty stairs that led up to Griffiths's office. Before climbing them, Talimay ordered her 4 bodyguards to remain downstairs, making her way up with Fenia alone. The cheers finally died down as she walked up, eventually fading away altogether.
Arkaneh's plan was simple, yet effective. At the current situation, he had 6 suspects, out of which one had to be bugged. Arkaneh realized that the only place to plant a bugging device on a person without him noticing was most likely in his SmartWrist. Therefore, the plan was to have Talimay come to the outpost under the guise of delivering words of encouragement and raising morale against the recent attacks made by the Justicars while Fenia would analyze the SmartWrists of the 6 suspects to find out the bugged one. Since Arkaneh's recent ploy with the warehouses raised many question marks among the members and had everyone begging Griffiths to answer for the 7 men who died in the result. Talimay would also have to tell everyone about the existence of a rat and explain the plan that stood behind that night. That would also serve as an explanation to why they would take away everyone's SmartWrists before her speech.
Originally, the plan was supposed to have Griffiths deliver the speech, but once Reus heard about it during their latest meeting, he suggested that they use Talimay's upcoming return instead and have her do it. Obviously, Griffiths didn’t look quite satisfied with that change in plan, and Arkaneh could definitely notice that.
"Good to see you, Griffiths," Talimay acknowledged her partner as she stepped into his office.
Griffiths removed his frown and got on his feet. He walked up to her and shook her hand. "Talimay, how are you?" he asked her.
"I'm… okay." She hesitated. The pinch of grief that still lingered in her was visible through her sad green eyes. "And you must be Arkaneh Frye," she approached Arkaneh.
"I am." He shook her hand.
"This is Fenia, you must have heard of her by now," she presented the young girl to her side.
"Hi," Fenia said in a shy manner.
"I've sent my men to gather everyone in the nearby room, as well as gathering all their SmartWrists before I go there myself to give my speech," Talimay said.
"Good," Arkaneh said. "I understand that Reus filled you in on everything we have so far."
"Yes," she replied. "That trick with the warehouses and the groups was a clever one. Now we have to find our leak source within that group of 6 people."
"Did he also inform you of their identities, as I gave him?"
"He did, and the 4 men I brought with me from Oakneil know them as well. They've been instructed to place the SmartWrists of those 6 individuals in a different box, apart from everyone else's."
"Great. Since we're bound to the length of your speech, we're only going to have just enough time to check out those 6 SmartWrists."
"Very well. I'll try to keep them busy for as long as possible. I'm going to head down and bring those SmartWrists. We'll talk later." Talimay left the office and climbed down the stairs. Her presence seemed to be lingering a minute longer after her departure, as Griffiths's silent teeth grind was still noticeable.
"You look nervous, Griffiths," Arkaneh pointed out to him.
"Shut up, tenderfoot," He rudely replied. The OldGen took out a bottle of scotch from his desk drawer and took a sip from it. His eyes rolled back afterward as if the booze tastes like heaven. Arkaneh simply looked at him in disgust.
Fenia hurried to sit down at Griffiths's table and placed her laptop in front of her. As her fingers swiftly tapped the keyboard with utmost grace and agility, her eyes lit up and the hint of a smile curved on her lips. Clearly, this is what she's meant to do. I can see why she'd never go out there with her comrades and stick to her computer, and I can see why Talimay and Reus permit her to do so.
"Alright, I think I'm all set," Fenia said minutes later.
"Very well," Arkaneh said. "Remember, I'm going to need you to work on those SmartWrists as fast as you can. Once Talimay announces that we have a rat among us, we're going to want to act as quickly as possible and know who our leak source is, in case we want to question him immediately. We don’t know how the rat will react, so we can't take any chances."
"Are we even sure it's such a good idea to tell them about the rat?" Griffiths barged into the conversation, taking another small sip right afterward.
"We've talked about this, Griffiths," Arkaneh said. "The people here are agitated after our latest scheme. No lie can cover up so many question marks, and if anyone disappears or runs away, we'll have a prime suspect for our rat. This is our only choice. Besides, it'll shift the anger over the 7 men we lost to the Justicars, which is what you need right now, instead of it being directed at you."
Griffiths grunted in silence in the face of Arkaneh's claim.
"Arkaneh's right." Fenia agreed. "If your people are thirsty for answers, and the truth is the only one that works, then that's your play. You don’t have any alternative."
She seems like such a clever girl… how did she ever end up in this organization? "Fenia," Arkaneh approached her. "Forgive me for asking, but, how old are you?"
"25," She replied.
"Reus told me that you've been a member for 3 years now."
"If you're going to ask me about why I joined or anything like that, spare me the question. I'm not going to answer that." She saw where I was going with this way ahead… as I thought, this one is very clever.
Talimay returned to the office a moment later, carrying two plastic boxes, stacked on top of each other. "The top one has the 6 SmartWrists of our suspects," She said upon leaving them on the floor."
"Great, I'll start working on them." Fenia jumped out of her seat and opened the top box, pulling the first SmartWrist out of it.
"I'm going to go ahead and speak to the people downstairs. Arkaneh, I suggest you join as well, so no one will question where you were."
"Right," he said.
The two climbed down and made their way into the next room, where the two dozen men have been waiting eagerly to hear the words of the great Golden Marauder.
"Reus mentioned that you already spoke with him about the possibility of having a rat among us," Arkaneh said as they walked.
"Yes. He was the one who brought up the notion, but we never actually gave any effort into that wild theory. I think deep inside, we both hoped that we would end up being wrong." Her voice turned stern. "When I find out who that traitor is, I'm going to rip his guts out, and I'm going to hang him for all to see. I'll make sure everyone knows who he was and what his punishment was."
"There's no such thing as bad publicity, eh?"
"Bad publicity?" she chuckled. "Everything is a matter of perspective. To the average citizen, every headline revolving us is bad publicity, but to us… every other organization that sees us hail fire and stand firm, every ringleader who may think twice before going against us, every potential tenderfoot who's bickering over which organization he should join… in the end, it's only more profiting. A golden key can open any door, right?"
"Right," Arkaneh felt sick agreeing with the term. More profiting… Men of Midas truly are a bunch of greedy bastards.
Talimay's eyes scouted Arkaneh, taking a long look, almost as if she could see into his soul. "You seem different from the others," She said. "Tell me, why did you join us? You don’t seem as money-hungry as most members."
"Don’t be a fool. What kind of person wouldn’t be money-hungry in this god-forsaken country?"
"The kind of person that seeks something that money can't buy." Upon uttering those cryptic words, Talimay entered the spacious room, in which the members of the Ravenwey Burrows outposts were waiting. Talimay Singh… you too are not the same as most members. You're far more intelligent and far keener. You may just prove to be the only person in this organization worthy of my attention.
Another hail of cheering began as soon as she was noticed in the room, much like the one she received upon entering the outpost.
The room was lit by two large lamps, pointed at the direction of a small stand, on which Talimay took position. The 4 men she brought with her were mingled among the crowd.
As the cheering died once more, Talimay looked at the crowd with a menacing expression and spoke with a high, confident voice that echoed between the walls like a mighty roar. "My fellow brothers, today I bow my head, in honor of my fallen sibling, Heycliff. He was a great man and a valuable asset to our organization. He did not deserve the death he received." Her voice was determined and strong, yet mixed with a hint of sorrow. "He taught me many things, but most important, he taught me how to fight back against those who hurt us. So, my brothers, as we all bow our heads to commemorate him, I ask that we immediately raise them back and look ahead. Not at our future, for we can't see it or know what it is. Not at our past, for we can't allow ourselves to be lost in it and hang on it forever. We look at our present, and in the current present, we have to fight against our enemies!" shouts of agreement and roars of vengeance started to overtake the crowd. Fists were raised in the air by some. "We must show everyone that we are a force to be reckoned!" More fists were raised. "Show them that we have hearts of fire and hands of blood!" as the roars conquered the room and men were seen thumping their chests with pride like Vikings, Talimay's eyes shifted to Arkaneh. He could see the desire for vengeance in them, but as he did, he noticed her expression changing from an invigorated, fervent one to another, much more serious. "We will strike at those who try to hurt us. And we will strike twice fold at those who do it by ratting on us." A sudden shift in the crowd's enthusiasm took place. Whispers of wonder were heard among the people. "That's right," she said. "We have a rat in our ranks." Voices rose in the crowd, some begging to know who it was, others claiming that it can't be. "We don’t know who it is yet, but know that we are working on it. We were trying to figure it out when we sent you to those warehouses, and it's also the reason why we took your SmartWrists earlier." A sudden silence had fallen on the crowd. "Whoever you are," her eyes scanned through every single person in the room. "When I find you… you better run fast." Talimay got off the stand and made her way through the baffled men out of the room. Arkaneh hurried to follow her, glancing back at the outpost members quickly before leaving. Just before losing eye contact, he could see the perplexed appearances on several men, as well as rage on others.
Talimay and Arkaneh made their way up the stairs to Griffiths's office once more, hoping that by now Fenia had finished analyzing the SmartWrists of the 6 suspects.
"Must have been a great speech," Griffiths said upon their entry. "We could hear the cheers all the way from up here." There was clear sarcasm in his voice. Talimay didn’t seem to appreciate it much and chose to ignore him.
"What do we have, Fenia? Are you done?" she asked her.
"Yeah," Fenia replied. The box of SmartWrists laid on the floor right next to her. "Arkaneh was right. One of the SmartWrists was bugged." She held up a tiny chip, almost as small as a fingernail. A bugging device… so this is how they could get information on us. "This little chip is a listening device. It's basically the equivalent of wearing a wire, only hidden inside the SmartWrist. The Justicars can constantly hear everything around whoever has it in his SmartWrist, even if the SmartWrist itself is turned off."
"So if they're talking about some job or trade they're about to do, the Justicars will know about it upfront and know to be there," Arkaneh said.
"Right," Fenia said. "Even when they leave their SmartWrists here or at home before going out on such missions, the Justicars already know where and when to be."
"That's quite clever," Talimay said. "They know that lieutenants must sanction missions before they can be executed, so talking about the details of the missions is almost bound to happen."
"Alright," Griffiths intervened. "Now that we know how they're bugging us, who's SmartWrist had the chip in it?"
"His name is Orrlian Fens," Fenia said.
"Good work, Fenia," Talimay looked down through the glass window at the scattered men that started filling the interior hall. "Bring that guy in. we need to ask him some questions."
