Dragging the unconscious Arthur, William walked over to the sofa and casually tossed the old man onto it.
"William," Gareth started to speak but was immediately silenced by William's wave. William gestured to both Gareth and Catherine. "Don't talk right now. I suspect Arthur is being monitored."
William's previous actions had built up enough trust in both Catherine and Gareth that, despite their doubts, they chose to remain quiet and observe.
Taking out his phone, William used its scanning function to repeatedly scan the back of Arthur's ear. In no time, an X-ray image appeared on the screen.
The image clearly showed a small chip the size of a fingernail embedded in the scar behind Arthur's ear.
Seeing it with their own eyes sent a chill down Catherine and Gareth's spines. Arthur was the head of the most secretive intelligence agency. If even he was under someone's control, who else could they trust?
Catherine's face darkened. "It seems we've been infiltrated, and we don't even know how deep or how high up. Damn it, should I start suspecting that the top brass have been compromised too?"
"Do you know who's behind this?" Gareth quickly asked.
"How would I know?" William looked at the chip displayed on his phone, but in his mind, he was thinking, Of course I know who's behind it. But what's the benefit of telling you right away? If I solve this too easily, it'll be hard to make a case for claiming any credit or favors later. He feigned a difficult expression. "Hand Arthur over to me and give me some time. I'll try to hack into the opposing party's servers. But I'll need a supercomputer. If our hardware doesn't match theirs, they might detect us."
"No problem," Catherine said without hesitation. "Whatever equipment you need, I'll provide. But I need a concrete timeline."
Given the seriousness of the situation, Catherine wasn't concerned about William taking advantage of the situation. After all, someone else would be footing the bill for the equipment.
William pretended to think for a moment. "Hmm, at most, it'll take three days. If all the equipment is in place, I could get it done in less than 36 hours. It's best if we work out of my castle."
"Good. The equipment will arrive at your castle in three hours."
"Then I'll take him with me," William said with a smile, addressing Catherine. "You have a secret exit here, right?"
Catherine personally led William through a secret passage, carrying the unconscious Arthur to the underground parking lot. After tossing him into the trunk, William activated the signal-blocking feature on his phone. After bidding each other farewell, William drove off toward his castle.
On the way, William instructed Sunday, "Send Catherine the list of servers and materials you'll need. We'll build our own supercomputer, but be careful not to make it obvious that you have the capability to manufacture equipment yourself."
"Understood, Sir. Fortunately, during the renovations of the London estate, you allowed me to work on the castle as well. The second basement level is nearly complete, and there's plenty of space for the new server equipment."
William chuckled. "What's the progress on the island missile defense systems for the castle and the estate?"
"Both the hardware and software have been completed, but without your authorization, I haven't begun manufacturing the missiles."
"Start production. Prepare 12 missiles for both the castle and the estate."
"Production order received. Estimated completion time: six hours."
Thinking about the massive amount of equipment that would arrive at the castle soon, William felt a bit uneasy. "Have you noticed any issues with the servants at the castle after monitoring them for so long?"
"No abnormalities so far. However, several have complained that their workload exceeds their job descriptions."
"What are they complaining about? They should consider themselves lucky. Their salaries are 10% higher than the average in Oxford, yet they still have the audacity to complain."
British professional servants and butlers were impeccable in their duties, but they had also mastered the whole aristocratic way of doing things.
Gardeners only took care of the flowers and wouldn't touch the lawn, even if offered double pay. The hall servants only dealt with matters in the hall, and room servants only handled tasks in the rooms. Even if they were idle, they wouldn't lift a finger to do anything outside their assigned duties.
"Damned aristocratic etiquette. No wonder most nobles can't afford to keep servants anymore. There's hardly anything to manage in the castle, and yet I've already got 21 servants, haven't I?"
"Sir, to be precise, there are 32: 21 for the interior of the castle and 11 for the exterior."
"I swear I'll get rid of these people eventually. Robots would be better than them," William grumbled.
"Sorry, Sir, but you'd have to consult with Mrs. Lena on that," Sunday teased William, which was a rare occurrence. "Without her approval, I doubt you can make that decision alone."
Thinking about his mother's growing aristocratic tendencies, William felt a headache coming on. Trying to change the subject, he said, "After the press conference in New York, I had you investigate Valentine. How's that going?"
"I'm sorry, Sir. I've only found surface-level information. The confidential data is likely stored on an isolated server."
"Figures," William said, not surprised. He knew all too well the value of keeping secrets on a separate server. That's why, apart from Sunday's main server, there was an independent smaller server to receive commands, avoiding any risk of network breaches.
After more than an hour's drive, William arrived at a forest about a kilometer from the castle.
As his car reached the center of the woods, the ground suddenly opened up, revealing a long ramp. He drove down the ramp, and the ground closed automatically behind him.
After parking, William pulled the bound and gagged Arthur out of the trunk.
He dragged Arthur to an electric cart parked in the hidden tunnel and threw him into the vehicle, driving back to the castle.
A few minutes later, William dragged Arthur into the first underground level of the castle's lab. "Sir, the signal-blocking feature in the lab has been activated. You can turn off the one on your phone."
"Got it." William deactivated the signal blocker on his phone, then ripped the tape off Arthur's mouth, smiling as he said, "Welcome to Devonshire Castle, Arthur. Surprised? Shocked?"
"How dare you?" Arthur Kane's voice was low, tinged with fear. "Kidnapping me is a serious crime, William. Do you realize what you're doing? If you let me go now, I can pretend none of this happened."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Arthur, has the thing behind your ear made you stupid?" William snapped his fingers, and a needle emerged from the lab's equipment, injecting Arthur in the neck and rendering him unconscious once again.
A few minutes later, William used a pair of tweezers to remove a tiny chip from behind Arthur's ear. He examined it under the light before placing it in the scanner for Sunday to analyze. "Can you replicate it?"
"Of course, Sir. While this chip's technology is advanced for the current time, it poses no challenge for me."
William smirked. "Good. Create a file on it. We'll use it when the time is right."
"Understood, Sir."
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