Chapter 39: The Dark Castle
After returning to his safe house, William opened the data cabinet, took out the files for Barney and Christmas, and opened two corresponding digital files on the computer.
He filled in the data for Christmas and Barney in the files, attached their photos, placed the documents in a bag, got up, put on a coat, and went out.
He made a phone call to Christmas, asking him and Barney to meet on Baker Street.
William ordered dinner at a café. After eating, he saw Christmas and Barney push open the door and walk in.
William greeted Barney and Christmas. After they sat down, he took out the file bag and handed it to them. A waiter took their order for two cups of coffee, and William stirred his own while they reviewed the documents.
After Barney and Christmas finished reading, they didn't speak. They put the documents down, drank their coffee, and waited for William to speak first.
"Alright, since you've finished reading, you can sign the documents, and then you're free to leave. I'll find you when I have a task," William said.
Barney asked, "Mr. Devinshire, what do we need to do on a regular basis? Where do we stay?"
"You do what you've always done. I'll find you when a task comes up, and I will pay you according to standard mercenary rates."
As Christmas was about to speak, William continued, "If you're going to ask, then yes, you are now a secret action group for the British Military Intelligence Bureau. Officially, the only person who knows your identity is me. This is your appointment letter and my credentials from the British Security Council."
Christmas and Barney took the appointment letters and certificate, examining them seriously. After confirming there were no issues, they both felt a sense of relief. This wasn't too bad.
Still, having someone over their heads made them both a little unhappy, but they weren't in a position of strength, and he had leverage over them. For now, they could only go along with it.
Christmas asked, "Mr. Devinshire, what will we need to do in the future?"
William said with a smile, "We are a clandestine group, operating only in the shadows. I will only assign you tasks that you are capable of. I don't need to tell you what your job entails, Barney."
Barney and Christmas nodded at William.
William went on, "Officially, you have no external records or identity. You can get paid, however. The payment goes into a secure box at Buckingham Palace. Only I know the password to the safe deposit box. It's a cryptex with a self-destruct mechanism. No one can open it except me. So, if you are exposed, you can only pray for mercy, because it means you exposed yourselves. At that point, all you can do is pray that your enemies can't find you."
Barney looked at William with a grim expression. He wanted to say, *What if you deliberately sell us out?* But he held his tongue. He could imagine the circumstances where that might happen: if the team became useless to William or, worse, a threat to his security. Then William would have no choice but to clean house.
Seeing that neither of them spoke, William said, "Okay, since you have no objections, then that's settled. By the way, there's a good benefit to working for me: a £5 million pension for death in the line of duty, and £2 million for disability, plus a guaranteed job. I don't think any other mercenary gets a pension that high. Am I right, Barney?"
Barney nodded at William. "Thank you, Mr. Devinshire. I assume, given the situation, you already know who our beneficiaries are?"
William nodded. "If you don't provide me with new information, I will pay the pensions according to the family information in your files."
Barney and Christmas nodded. As they fell silent, they knew their futures would be more dangerous and more thrilling than ever before.
After saying their goodbyes to William, the two got up and left. William sat in the café for a while longer, seriously scanning the room and the street outside several times. After satisfying himself that he wasn't being tracked or surveyed, he drove home.
He hadn't been home in several days, nor had he been to school.
However, he first had to deliver Barney and Christmas's information to Buckingham Palace. These past few days, he had been recalling the things his grandfather, Henry, had said to him when he was sick.
Among them was a seemingly random English sentence. Now, he thought it might be the password for Henry's safe deposit box. He wanted to verify it. If he was right, then the other phrases Henry made him memorize must also be true, and he'd need to go to his family's castle in Oxford at the right time.
William drove to a small building just outside Buckingham Palace, got out of his car, and rang the doorbell. After a moment, an old man with white hair, likely in his sixties, opened the door and asked, "Sir, can I help you?"
William recited an old verse to the man, while simultaneously making a series of more than a dozen hand gestures on his chest. After watching William's hand movements, the old man smiled and said, "Welcome, Sir Devinshire. You may call me Old Victor. It has been ten years since someone from the Devinshire family has come to the Dark Castle. I did not expect that the heir of this generation would be just as remarkable as Henry."
William grumbled internally about the "mission of the ghost family." He was basically a hired gun now, with none of the benefits and a lot of the trouble.
The poems William recited were useless. The important part was the hand gestures. These were the secret code of the Devinshire family.
If a visitor recited the poems but did not know the gestures, Old Victor would lead them to a fake basement. The layout was identical to the real one, but the fake one was filled with unimportant documents and dazzling jewelry and gold. The documents were real, but not very useful.
After the enemy left, their accomplices would be unknowingly exposed.
It was a simple but practical system that protected the bunker. There were too many secrets here, and it had never failed.
William thanked Old Victor and said, "Thank you, Old Victor. I am honored to meet you. The Devinshire family is on the road to prosperity. You should be seeing more of me in the future."
Old Victor smiled. "Very good, kid. I will take you to the Devonshire family's darkroom."
William followed Old Victor into the house and to an elevator. Old Victor performed a palm scan, a retinal scan, and a voiceprint identification, and finally entered a numerical password, shielding it from William's view.
With a click, the elevator began to descend. It traveled for at least a minute, going down dozens of meters. When the doors opened, William saw an alloy vault door, like one you'd find in a major bank.
After Victor went through another set of security measures, the vault opened. In a chamber of more than one hundred square meters, William saw four armed guards and a middle-aged man standing behind an iron fence. Beyond the fence was yet another vault door.
Victor said to William, "Mr. Devinshire, this is as far as I can take you. There is a password that requires your confirmation." He gestured for William to enter the password on the display screen in front of the iron fence.
After William entered the password, Old Victor turned, entered the elevator, and left.
Under the guidance of the middle-aged white man, William entered the final warehouse. It was a basement with hundreds of small, private rooms, each with a password lock. The man led him to the Devonshire family's room and motioned for him to enter the password.
After William entered the correct password, the middle-aged white man said, "Mr. Devinshire, you now need to enter your handprint and eyeprint. No one from the Devinshire family has been here for ten years, and this system was replaced in that time. You will need to re-enter your biometric data."
William followed the man's instructions. Afterward, the man said to him, "Mr. Devinshire, when you are finished with your business, you can press the call button inside the room, and I will come to get you. You cannot leave this room on your own. Do you understand, Mr. Devinshire?"
William was speechless. *If you go in, you can't come out without permission.* If someone wanted to harm him, they could just lock him in here forever.
William hesitated in front of the door.
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