The Alchemists

At the penthouse, which also served as a command center for observation, Lauriel and Jean could only look at each other as they followed the conversation between Terry and the two assassins on their monitor. They did not expect the assassins to be so kind to Terry.

Endo and Marion, who had been shadowing Terry with a few of Max's undercover men, did not need to intervene at all. Terry was fine.

"You see, right? Your son is safe," Lauriel said, turning to Jean. Jean had insisted to be involved after learning that his son would be used in the mission.

"Yes, I believe in you," Jean answered. He tapped his fingers on the table, thinking, "What do you think they want from Terry?"

"Confirmation," Lauriel answered. "They've asked me, Aleksis' godfather, about Aleksis' whereabouts. Now they want her sibling to confirm that Aleksis had indeed been kidnapped. I'm sure they won't bother Terry. As far as I can tell, these people really care about Aleksis."

Terry started to feel uncomfortable when he noticed that they were heading towards the waters. Would they hold him in one of the warehouses at the harbor or would they …

Ugh ...

He could only wonder where they were going. He hoped that Marion and Neo were still monitoring him, and would protect him if anything were to happen.

He received the answer to his question when Mischa's car stopped at the harbor parking lot. They went out of their car and waited for Terry to park. Mischa signalled him to follow them and they then walked together to the dock.

There were a number of large and small ships parked on the Harbourfront and Mischa steadily headed for one of the largest ships at the dock. The three boarded the ship and a few minutes later, the ship was sailing gracefully to the ocean.

"Damn! They got away from us," Marion complained as Endo stopped his car at a hidden place. She did not expect that Rhionen Assassins would take Terry to a place they could not reach. If she stalked them with a drone or chased them with a speedboat, they would know that they were being followed.

Marion and Endo exchanged anxious glances. This time they were fooled.

"Lauriel, we lost them. We can only rely on Terry at the moment as we cannot follow them into the water," Marion told Lauriel by telephone. "I'm sorry, I miscalculated."

***

Terry was not afraid at all because he was respectfully greeted by the friendly staff on board. No one looked scary or acted coldly towards him. The luxurious ship sailed gracefully on the waters and Terry felt as if he was at home.

Was this Alaric Rhionen's ship? Would Terry meet him soon? He was rather impatient.

Hidden in his shirt button was a micro camera that sent videos to Lauriel's computer at the penthouse. They were very relieved that Terry was treated well by the assassins. His father did not need to worry too much.

They climbed onto the spacious deck that was arranged like a very elegant living room. Inwardly, Terry was impressed because he had never been on a ship as grand as this. Even Caspar's ship wasn't this big, he thought.

"Welcome, Terry Chan. Thank you for coming here."

A tall figure dressed in all-black rose from the sofa as Terry stepped into the 'living room'. He was accompanied by two young men who stood on his sides. Mischa and Kai then approached the man and stood next to him. The man was now accompanied by the four most prominent assassins from Rhionen Assassins and Terry, who stood alone, felt a little daunted.

Was this Alaric Rhionen?

He seemed was very calm and unaffected. He was probably in his 40s, looked above average but couldn't be considered handsome. His face was flat and showed no expression. Was this Prince Siegfried? Why did my sister fall in love with a person like this? Terry complained.

Truthfully, Terry would probably accept it more if Aleksis were fascinated by Mischa, because in his opinion, Mischa was younger, more handsome, and far more friendly.

He may be a little flamboyant, but so was Uncle Aldebar and he was an amazing man. What was so attractive of this Alaric Rhionen? Why fall in love with this man?

To the left of the man claiming to be Prince Siegfried was Kai and Takeshi who looked injured; while on his right was Mischa and a young man who looked very calm, stood quietly with his arms crossed. Half of his face was covered with a black leather mask and, from the scar across his cheek, Terry could guess that the young man had covered his face because it was disfigured ... maybe due to severe injuries during one of his missions.

"Why did you invite me to your ship?" Terry asked, looking at 'Alaric Rhionen' probingly. "Are you involved in Aleksis' disappearance?"

'Alaric' shook his head, "No, on the contrary, I want to help. Please tell me what happened."

Terry frowned, "What's your relationship with my sister?"

"We have a good relationship," 'Alaric' answered. He still did not show an obvious expression. "You can trust me."

Finally, Terry sighed. He did not feel threatened at all. These people were trying very hard to make him feel comfortable, and he had a strong feeling that he could trust the man in front of him.

"All right ..." Terry nodded, "I honestly don't know what happened. I met Aleksis yesterday and we were supposed to watch Billie Yves' concert together but she canceled at the last second because she wasn't feeling well. This morning I couldn't contact her at all! I went to campus to submit my assignment and to find out from her friends whether they had met her... but I couldn't find any information about her at all ..."

Terry made sure that he acted sad and frustrated. If Terry had seen his acting in the mirror, he would probably reconsider his decision to help Caspar in Germany, and instead go to Hollywood to pursue an acting career.

"Hmmm ..." 'Alaric' nodded. He then turned to the masked young man on his right. "Then their threat is true."

The masked young man did not reply, his mind seemed to wander. Terry was very interested in their interaction. It seemed that among his four subordinates, the young man wearing the mask was the one whom 'Alaric' showed most concern for. Maybe his position was higher than Mischa and Kai and Takeshi.

"Do you know what happened to Aleksis?" Terry asked.

'Alaric' nodded at Terry, "Aleksis is taken prisoner by a group of people who are not in good terms with us. I would like to apologise because Aleksis became victim for being involved with us, but believe me, we will do anything in our power to save her."

"Do you know who they are? I can ask my father for help to send his bodyguards ..." Terry tried to offer help. At present there was no need for him to cover up the fact that he was the son of Jean Pierre Wang.

As a very famous celebrity, Jean also had his own security team, but they only worked every now and then as Jean preferred to travel quietly in disguise. He only used them to accompany him while working.

Certainly it would make more sense if Terry and Jean also took part in searching for Aleksis, Terry thought, which was why he casually mentioned his father.