Immaculate Spirit 115 :

"You really expect us to believe you are fluent in six languages other than english?"

Not bothered in the slightest that Tobias did not believe him, Nathaniel said a phrase in French, German, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin and Korean. It was done so well and with such a perfect accent that the two men got dazzled for a moment, exchanging an awed stare.

"What did you say just now?" The President asked, curiously.

"Nothing important sir." He answered, smiling.

They did not believe Nathaniel in the slightest as everything the young man did had a purpose. It was quite interesting to just observe him as every movement that he made seemed to be thought through and perfected to have an effectiveness that he had never seen before. The more he thought about it, the more he believed that youthful smile of his was there to throw people off and to not notice these types of att.i.tude. Still, the President decided to move on as he would soon know what it was all about.

"That still does not justify the number of weapons you are qualified to use and the fact that you are a sniper. Hand to hand combat, knife proficiency and deep dive experience." Tobias got back to the topic.

"Let's just say that I was thoroughly trained by an Ex Seal commando who took affection of me and since I was incorporating the knowledge that he was pa.s.sing to me at a speed never seen by him before, he chose to teach me everything that he knew. And no, I will not divulge his name, not now, not ever." Nathaniel said in a voice that broke no argument.

Seeing the head of the Secret Service did not appear convinced, Nathaniel add almost belatedly.

"If you want to make sure I can handle a gun, you can give the one you have on your belt and I will show you."

The two in that moment exchanged a veteran smile that Tobias was stupefied to see on a face this young. It was not normal as the kid in front of him had never been in the military or even a scout.

"Not even in your wildest dreams." Tobias said, still watching Nathaniel like a hawk.

"Well now that you have seen my list of skills. I'm going to tell you what I want for working for you. These are my conditions and they are non negotiable, once heard you are free to say no and it will be the end of our talk and I will go back home. So let's begin. We will be a simple contractor as my company cover will be an Internet security firm, me or my team will not become employees of the government or the White House. n.o.body outside of the two of you will be privy of my existence for obvious reasons. We will be free to take our own cases but if you need us, you will be put in priority. There is one thing I know you are not going to like. I'm also free to reject one of the cases you want to a.s.sign to us if I judge it violates my morals and idea."

"That's preposterous!" Tobias exclaimed.

"You are going too far young man. If I pay you, I expect you to show up. If you are not going to, there is no point in paying you in the first place." The President said, harshly.

"Even if kings or might commands my movements, I remain the only guardian of my soul, sir. I come here to see you first because we share something you and me. We are both idealists and we want to make the world better. I can become your trusted aide to help you in that endeavour but I will never be a tool for you to use at your convenience." Nathaniel said simply.

That made the President pause and he appeared deep in thought. Even Tobias did not expect something like that and was thoughtful as well. In his time in the Rangers, he had followed more than a couple of orders that did not sit well with him and even today he was regretting obeying these orders.

"If I were to say that you are not worth it, what would happen?"

"I will say goodbye and leave your office. You are the first name on my list but far from the only one. I will work my way or not at all."

"And if I were to strong arm you into working for me?"

"You have nothing that you can use against me without implicating yourself in a big way." Nathaniel answered, not worried. He had taken precautions as even the file containing his future team had fake names on it. Even the files of his skill was missing some important information in it.

"On you, yes I know that but this is not only you that can be put into consideration. Your mother is a prosecutor, your company. That's two things I could mess up without exerting myself."

Hearing that, the smile present of Nathaniel face died. His whole demeanor seemed to change as he leaned forward, his eyes turning cold. In that moment, the temperature in the room dropped a few degrees, the two men in front of him s.h.i.+vering. Even Tobias could feel the aura around Nathaniel changing from calm to slaughter. Putting his hand on his gun; he was ready to draw in case of attack.

"That was the first and only time you will even consider hurting my family. You are maybe the President of the United States but that will not matter if you choose this path. My grandfather is known to be ruthless to people who want to hurt his family but compared to me, he could be considered almost nice. Don't force my hand on this William, this is your only warning." Nathaniel said in a chilling voice.

"You are threatening the President! This is treason!" Tobias shouted.

"Tobias, you have three seconds to take your hand off your gun or I will do it for you." Nathaniel said coldly, looking at Tobias like he was a lamb ready for execution.

Seeing Tobias was not going to comply, Nathaniel started counting.

"One."

"Okay stop! Both of you just stop! Tobias move your hand away from your gun, this is an order!" The President shouted, his hands put in a sign of appeas.e.m.e.nt. Obeying orders, Tobias put his hand away, still ready to jump in front of Nathaniel in case of an attack.

"I present to you my apologies, I just wanted to see how you would react in case of extortion against your family, I was not expecting things to go awry this fast. I will not go after them, this is a promise. Can I hear the rest of you condition?"

"Glad to hear that. Our headquarters will be located in an old bomb shelter in the sub bas.e.m.e.nt of the Lyndon tower. It will need a complete refit before being operational, I was going to pay that myself but now, you are going to put in half of the money. I want access to CIA, NSA and DOD database. You will pay us that amount of money a year in addition to transport when we are in a mission for you." Nathaniel said once calmed.

Looking at the numbers, the President was surprised.

"I expected that number to be much higher." He said.

"I'm not doing this for the money but I will never start a company that loses money either. That amount will be enough to pay my guys well and give them a good health insurance. This is all that matters for me."

"I will consider it, when are you going to leave the city?" The President asked.

"In two days. If I don't have an answer from you at that time, I will conclude that you are not interested and I will take my business elsewhere."

"I will have an answer for you at that time but we still have a few questions for you. How did you enter and exit the White House without being noticed by none of our men or cameras?"

"You have a breach in the East perimetre and the patrol road of the Secret Service needs to be modified. For the exit, I used two dozen cats that I brought with me to trigger the motion sensor in the garden and attract the K9 dogs. After that I just mixed with the cops team until I was out. You did find the cats, right?" Nathaniel smiled.

"Yeah, we found them alright. My son and daughter even found one and wanted to keep it. Tell me they are vaccinated at least." The President said bitterly.

"Yes, they are. I bought them at a farm on the outskirts of the city and brought them to a veterinary myself."

"We still have a problem, the press knows that something happened last night with the lockdown and everything else. They demand since this morning to have answers. So far, we did not give an answer but the more we wait, the worse it will get. What do you want to do?" The President said, asking Nathaniel specifically to test him.

"Did you catch all the cats?" Nathaniel asked.

"Not all, we have only eight. Some are missing and a couple had an altercation with our K9 dogs and died as a result. Why do you ask?" Tobias questioned.

"It's a pity." Nathaniel said sadly before continuing. "I brought those cats for two reasons, diversion and justification. Stage a press conference and just say that the cats triggered the motion sensor of the house. You have not communicated before to make sure it was not a diversion and for National Security purposes. Continue by saying your own children took affection of one of the cats and decided to adopt him. Think about posting a photo with your children playing with it. You can also finish by saying you will sell the rest of the cats who broke into the White House at an auction for charity purposes. In no time the story will die down, you will even get a boost in popularity with that." Nathaniel smiled craftily.

Looking at the two men who had their jaw hanging, Nathaniel laughed before looking at the time.

"And I believe my half hour with you is over sir. Tobias, walk with me. We need to review the placement of your Secret Service agents to tighten the security." Nathaniel said, getting up, Tobias following him.