Chapter 1257 - No More Secrets (almost) (2)

"OK. Enough of hugging…", Sarah said after some time. "Let's not delay much, my party is upstairs…"

Sarah made few movements with fingers and holograms of King, his information and all the papers disappeared and all that was replaced with number of small screens showing: Emma, Charlie, Penny, Leah, two black screens, Mike…

"We are keeping track of our friends, with whom they interact and their communication. Just to make sure that they are not in danger.", Sarah explained shortly.

"Why are those two screens black?", Edward asked.

Sarah turned to Aiden, indicating that he should answer.

His side-glance told Sarah that he is not pleased about this, but he still spoke: "If image is R-rated, it's censored. Those two are Ellie and Jasper."

JoAnna giggled. "Well, they are on a honeymoon. Can you remove censorship?"

Sarah rolled her eyes and made a movement with her hand. All the small screens vanished and were replaced with the map of the world.

A second later, red and blue dots were shown on the map.

Reds are known bases on Voronins, and blues are Lebedevs.

Sarah selected to remove red dots, because currently they are focusing only on Lebedevs.

Lebedevs are keeping information about their bases airtight and split into multiple locations which are mostly offline, and that is very frustrating for Sarah and Aiden.

Most of the blue dots shown are found from the combination of maps which the army of Chaos collected while raiding various storages and warehouses of the Lebedev family.

The first map Sarah and Aiden found in a safe of an underground base on Mt. Rainier. That map didn't have any useful information on its own, but later Sarah found two more maps and with Eve's help she found out that they are partially overlapping. Each map showed bits of data and together they marked several distinct spots which Sarah later identified as locations of branch families. Since then, they found more than a dozen other maps which are gradually showing them the size of the Lebedev family.

Stella approached the map and pointed at the blank area in Eastern Europe. "The main base is here. About five kilometers West from Stolovoye. Looks like a luxurious community with large lots and villas surrounded by a forest. It has an underground network of tunnels. We will give you more details later."

Stella pointed at one spot in Portugal. "This is a major base for operations. And there is one more in Munich." Stella looked at Sarah. "I am in charge of Western Europe…"

They discussed Lebedevs for some time and then Sarah tapped above the United States where various locations were marked with red, green and blue dots, and some areas were black. It was time to talk about the army of Chaos.

"Our goal is to eliminate threat of Lebedevs and Voronins. We don't want to give them an opportunity to launch a sneak attack." Sarah paused and glanced at Aiden. "What happened to us, we don't want anyone else to go through. We have the control of California as stage one of the plan is completed. We are expanding by eradicating locations which can pose a threat…"

"At what point you plan to stop expanding?", Elanor asked when Sarah finished.

Sarah shrugged indicating that she is not sure. "We want our friends and family to be safe. How far we need to go to accomplish that, we don't know. Our current plans include eliminating high-risk bases of enemies and setting up ours. Ideally, we would have allies we can trust, so that we don't need to overstretch, but it's difficult to find those. Aiden is ensuring that territories under watch of the White foundation are safe, and we have an ally in Northern Ireland who is helping us with information gathering. Other than that, our friends from the party upstairs are available to assist us, but they are not aware that this is a… family issue."

When they finished exchanging information, Sarah looked at her sisters, their husbands and Aiden and confirmed that they all share a silent understanding how they are all on the same page.

Sarah turned to Stella and Edward and asked: "Now what?"

"I hope that this is not where our collaboration ends.", Stella said.

Sarah nodded in agreement and gestured to Stella to continue.

"We will stay where we are and do our best to keep an eye on any movements. Also, we will do whatever we can to eliminate or at least postpone anything they plan against you."

When Sarah confirmed that Stella is done, she took over. "Give us the information on your resources. We will do our best to avoid attacking them, if possible. We will share any relevant communication that we intercept. In order for us to know what is going on your side, the best is if you wear our equipment. Also, we can use it to communicate with you."

Edward and Stella agreed.

Sarah frowned and reminded her parents: "I gave you lenses and ear studs, you didn't use them."

Edward responded: "We wanted to use them but considering that Stella was meeting with King and then we went to their base, we didn't want to risk being found out."

Sarah glanced at Felix who understood that it's his time to shine.

Felix stood up and explained: "The lenses and ear studs are undetectable. Even if they go to the length of asking you to remove them, they will not find anything out of order because only authorized persons have access to features…"

Edward was impressed.

"Felix can also give you additional equipment such as accessories and rings. Our generals wear those." Sarah turned to Felix and asked him to take care of it.

When they finished their sync-up, everyone left the room except for Sarah, JoAnna and Sophia.

"You should have told us about plans that King has for you.", Sophia told Sarah.

Sarah can see that Sophia is upset, but she does not see the reason for it. "As I said, it would make no difference, and it would only make you worry. I've got it…"

"Sarah...", JoAnna interrupted whatever Sarah wanted to say next. "Don't you see what you are doing?"

Sarah was confused. "What?"

Sophia sighed. "You are doing the same thing mom does: keeping the information because you think that it's not important, or that it's too much, or whatever reason you have… But the point is that you are keeping us in the dark while facing the storm by yourself."

JoAnna nodded in agreement. "I forgave you for keeping this army business a secret because Aiden was in a coma. But you ran out of free tickets to avoid scolding."

"We should not scold her because it's her birthday.", Sophia told JoAnna.

"Hmph! I am pregnant and I get to scold whom I want.", JoAnna protested.

"I am pregnant also.", Sophia reminded JoAnna.

"I am double-pregnant!"

"And I am pregnant for the second time, so we are even."

Sarah burst into giggles at the sight of her sisters bickering which one is more pregnant.

She hugged both JoAnna and Sophia. "I am sorry. I promise not to keep things from you even if they are not important or if they are too much. If I'm going to hell, I will let you know. OK?"

By now JoAnna and Sophia spread their arms and it was a three-sister-hug.

"Good that you know. If you are going, let me know and I will supply you with my concoctions so that you can poison the devil himself.", JoAnna said cheekily. "Also, use my truth serum on him, so that he reveals to you the way out of hell because you must come back to us."

Sophia hummed in approval. "Tell me also, and I will help you plan your trip so that you make the most damage on the way."

"You've got yourself a deal.", Sarah said with a big smile. "You are the best sisters ever!"

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