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Elena's SUV was speeding down the Danish highway, Max and Kenny had already lost several liters of blood, and their demise was imminent. They had driven a few miles until they came to a small town near the German border. There was an old garage, and the seven of them stopped there.

"Why did we stop?" asked McClaine to the woman

"The hospital is not very discreet, but they will be able to help you here" Mayer explained

"I don't think a garage can help them" Isako said worriedly

"But this is no workshop" Elena said cryptically.

Lucas and Alex shouldered the two dying men and entered the compound. There was no one inside, just rusty old cars and some tools, but not a hint of help. Elena walked up to a wall and pulled what must have been a fire alarm, but it did not sound, instead a keypad appeared on the wall, she punched in a six digit code and the wall swung open. Behind the wall was an elevator.

"Where does it go?" asked Lucas

"You'll see" Mayer replied, pushing the only button there: -1.                                                                    The elevator went down a few floors until it opened, they had arrived at level - 1. When the doors opened, they went down to a basement level, next to it were marble stairs. They hurried down the stairs and on the next floor they found a whole laboratory, doctors picked up Max and Kenny and took them to the operating room, the other four were taken to a room by armed men.

A few hours passed in that room, and Alex and Mason were already impatient, when a man came through the door. He was rather tipsy, had a neat goatee and a square jaw, and was dressed in a camouflage uniform.

"Sorry to keep you waiting boys, we had to make sure you weren't followed" the man said

"You underestimate me Ray, you know they can't follow me" Mayer said in a defiant tone, the man smiled and said

 "For those of you who don't know me, I'm Ray Manning, director of Silent Nation"

"So that's what this basement is called" Mason said ironically

"Funny... but Silent Nation is the only reason you are still alive" the director replied

"And how is that different from Interpol?" asked McClaine

"The Silent Nation is a secret task force created by all European spy agencies to fight terrorist organizations and government conspiracies in the shadows" Manning replied extensively

"I've never heard of it" Lucas revealed

"It's a good thing, otherwise we would have been doing our job badly" Elena admitted

"Are you working for them?" asked McClaine incredulously

"You're wrong, I'm working with them" Mayer insisted

"Will you help us stop the Dragon?" Isako asked hopefully

"That's the idea" Ray replied confidently

"We can't, he'll already be in New York and we're still hiding here in Denmark" a frustrated Mason said

"Not for long, as soon as your friends are stable we'll go to our headquarters in Munich and there we'll prepare to stop him" Manning concluded enthusiastically.

The four of them would spend the night there, maybe a little cramped, but the next day they would leave for Munich, ready to stop Ricardo Diaz. The Silent Nation was one of NATO's secret agencies, and part of this joint effort were the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Holland, Sweden, Norway, and Croatia. The next day three trucks were loaded, two with Max and Kenny, they would be the ambulance for the transport and the other would carry everyone else. 

They would cross the border to Flensburg Airport, which would take them directly to Munich. The plane landed after two hours in a hangar near the Bavarian city, then they were loaded onto two trucks and taken to the Black Forest. There was the base. It blended perfectly with the colors of the forest and hid the huge black site from prying eyes.

The base was located at the foot of a promontory that blended into the rivers and endless trees, from the outside it just looked like an old abandoned bunker, but inside it was anything but. The base was an old Cold War missile silo but it had been completely modernized, it was built on several vertical levels and each level had its own function. It was also quite bright for being underground. When you walked in, you could see the huge technological load, every system was state of the art: they could monitor all European and non-European satellites, they had missile radar and much more. There was a long hustle and bustle of people doing all sorts of things.

The team went down to level two. Outside the elevator was a long corridor with neon lights from the ceiling; at the end was a circular room. There were huge screens with coordinates and targets on them, in the center a circular touch screen table. Manning had arrived before them and was there, in that room, directing operations.

"You have finally arrived" the director said

"It's been a long journey" Elena replied, hugging her colleague

"Your friends are awake, they are waiting for you in Level one" Manning told the four. Lucas, Mason, Isako and Alex made their way to Level 1, or more precisely to the infirmary.                        Max and Kenny had woken up, but were still groggy from the medication.

"Look who woke up" Mason said to the two teammates

"Where are we?" asked Max with his whole arm bandaged

"We haven't figured that out yet" Lucas joked

"You've recovered well" Isako remarked when she saw that Max was on his feet

 "Yes, only the arm is the problem, but with all these painkillers I don't feel it" the Italian admitted, "if I can find those dogs..." he added

"I'm glad you're okay" Alex said from the back of the room, and Max returned the look.

"Where's Kenny?" asked Lucas suddenly

"In the next room" Max revealed. The group entered the room where Kenny was resting.

"How are you, old man?" Lucas asked his old friend

"Fine, I just got shot" Kenny said as he lay on the bed

"Can you get up?" asked Mason

"Yeah, I think so" the Mexican said as he tried to get up

"What did they say about the dragon?" asked Max impatiently

"We were just making a plan" Alex revealed.

"Right, they said they know where he is and what his plan is" Mason supported him

"Are you still going to challenge him?" asked Kenny as he stood up

"We have to" Lucas said.

 The six made their way to the central hall of the secret base, the team was weakened but not defeated, even though Max and Kenny were weakened, they could still face Diaz and his terrorist plan. In the central hall there was a hustle and bustle of people, in the middle, near the touch screen table, Ray Manning and Elena Mayer were waiting for the team.

"It's good to see you up and about" Elena said, turning to Kenny and Max

"We've had a tough time" Kenny revealed on behalf of both of them

"We're ready, what's the plan?" Alex asked

 "You're not going to do anything, we'll take care of it and when it's over we'll send you home" Mayer said firmly

"You can't bench us, we risked our skins, now let's go all the way" Lucas said

"He's right" Manning admitted, "it's been hard for us to find them, for the first time we have a concrete lead" he added

"We're asking them to risk their lives" Mayer said angrily

"This isn't the first time we've risked our lives" Mason admitted

"We can do this, we have to" McClaine said, reassuring Elena

"All right, you're in" Director Manning announced. The six were taken to the main computer where a small team was working out the plan of action.

"Welcome to the RedCode section of Silent Nation" Manning exclaimed

"Red Code?" asked Mason

"Yes, it's the Global Security Emergency Team" Elena revealed. Ray called the attention of the entire team, along with the Six, and began to explain the plan.

"Gentlemen, we know that the Dragon, whose name we finally know, must go to New York for a meeting, nothing else" Manning exclaimed, "However, we do know that Diaz's cargo plane stopped in London to meet with an electronics and pharmaceutical giant: Edward Calvin, CEO of Calvintech. He left this morning, this time for New York, but not on a cargo plane, on a regular private plane" the director added.

"What do you mean?" asked Kenny

"That he no longer has the Vial" suggested Lucas

"Exactly" said Ray

"Anyone care to explain?" suggested Max

"To take the serum up to high altitude, you need a special container to keep the atmospheric pressure from destroying the vial and spreading the virus" Mason explained

"And only a cargo plane can carry such complex equipment" Isako added

"I see, so are we going to visit this Calvin?" asked Max

"Technically, we have no evidence against him, but we can get it by sneaking into CalvinTech's headquarters in London" Manning suggested

"How do we do that?" asked Max

"I have an idea, what if a rich, award-winning video game designer goes there?" suggested McClaine, looking at Mason

 "Should I be a mole?" he asked wryly

"That would give us time to go in and look for answers" Elena concluded. For the next four hours, they worked out a detailed plan that would begin the next day with the first flight to London.

Alex noticed Isako leaving the base in the distance, so he followed her.

"What are you doing out here in the middle of the night?" he asked her friend

"I'm wondering how this is going to end" Isako said in the middle of the black forest

"Are you afraid of dying?" Alex asked thoughtfully

"No, just regret" Isako said, looking deep into Alex's eyes

"You mean Phoenix" McClaine said, maintaining eye contact

"Besides" Isako said, "maybe we should tell them" she suggested

"No, what difference would it make now" Alex said resignedly

"They hate you" her friend said

"Maybe, but if I said it, it would be because I care about you" McClaine revealed, the two stood there in silence and as they were about to kiss, Alex pulled his head back and said: "We have to go, we have to get up early tomorrow. The two returned to the base to await the next day's departure.