Out of the Shadows: Tilda’s Brilliant Second Life

Chapter 173 Meeting in Hetsa

Dane was silent for a moment. He picked up a pen, wrote a word on a piece of paper, and showed it to Manfred.

“Speak.”

Hardly any people knew about Dane’s condition. Dane couldn’t talk. No one had ever heard him speak. He communicated only by writing things down.

Doctors had checked Dane’s body and found that there was nothing wrong with his vocal cords. His hearing was perfectly fine. No one could figure out why Dane couldn’t speak. And Dane was a genius—with an IQ of 260 and obsessed with his research.

Everyone just thought he was a cold-blooded machine, someone who never showed emotion and looked at people with the icy calm of a robot. He was so intimidating that even the cold air around him seemed to make people’s hearts freeze. Everyone instinctively wanted to keep their distance.

Manfred repeated Tilda’s message word for word. After hearing it, Dane—who was usually so expressionless, his eyes only lighting up during experiments—finally showed a spark of emotion. He grabbed his pen and quickly wrote something down.

“Where is she?”

Manfred was shocked. “Professor Kerrigan, do you know her?”

“Tell me. This is important. I have to see her!”

Dane was so excited, his handwriting—usually neat and perfect—became a little shaky.

Manfred had only wanted to give it a try. He didn’t expect that Tilda really did have some connection to Professor Kerrigan. After thinking for a moment, Manfred nodded. “Alright, Professor Kerrigan. I’ll arrange for you two to meet at the base."

Dane was too valuable to risk moving him to another location. Manfred decided to bring Tilda to their base instead.

The next morning, Tilda woke up to a call from Kaleb, who told her about Dane.

Tilda never expected things to move so quickly. The way Dane acted, he seemed to know about her mentor’s whereabouts. Could he be the same Dane her mentor had once talked about?

“My boss hopes you can come with me to the Hetsa base so you can meet Professor Kerrigan,” Kaleb said. “When are you available, Queen?”

“Right now!” Tilda replied.

“Huh?” Kaleb was stunned.

By the time Kaleb reached the airport, Tilda was already packed and ready to go. She even bought Kaleb’s plane ticket for him.

Kaleb was a little frustrated. “Actually, there’s no need to rush—”

“Kaleb, I know things happen a little fast for you, but Professor Kerrigan is very important to me. He might be the one I’ve been looking for all these years. I’ve searched for him for years, but couldn’t find any leads. There were times I was so disappointed that I nearly gave up. Now that I’ve finally found a hint of hope, it feels like the first ray of light in a world full of darkness.”

Her words were simple and easy to understand. Kaleb immediately understood why Tilda was so anxious. The look in her eyes was filled with excitement and hope, brighter than he’d ever seen before.

Kaleb nodded heavily. “Let’s go, Queen!”

They boarded the flight to Hetsa.

After three hours, Kaleb and Tilda landed at their destination. Manfred had arranged a car to pick them up.

A man in a suit got out of the car. He was built like a bear, wore sunglasses, and carried an air of strength that made people uneasy. Tilda caught a faint scent of blood on the man in front of her. He was no pushover; that was for sure. This was the kind of guy who’d seen real battles, a soldier who had survived life on the edge. Only someone who’d faced danger so many times could give off that kind of icy, intimidating vibe.

“Sorry, Queen,” the man said, “we have to take your phone and do a quick body search on you. You’ll also need to wear a blindfold on the way to the base.”

Kaleb frowned. “River, don’t you think this is a bit much?”

River Barber’s rough voice held no emotion. “Those are Mr. Parker’s orders. I’m just doing my job.”

“I understand,” Tilda replied calmly. She handed over her phone without a fuss. Tilda let them scan her with electronic sensors. She stood still while they body-searched her for anything suspicious. When they were done, they slipped a blindfold over her eyes and helped her into the car.

As they drove toward the base, Kaleb whispered, “Queen, I’m sorry. No one told me they’d do this.”

Tilda answered evenly, “I get it. After all, I’m here to see Professor Kerrigan. If I were a bad person and somehow found out something that could interest him, I could use it to lure him out—something terrible could happen. If something were to happen to Professor Kerrigan, it would be a huge loss for the country. You guys can’t afford to take that risk. So it’s better to be safe. That way, you can trust me more, which is exactly what I want to.”

Kaleb was speechless at how calm Tilda was. She never says anything to resist their demand. In fact, her understanding made him a bit nervous.

River, meanwhile, glanced at Tilda in the rearview mirror, a flash of respect in his eyes.

No wonder Mr. Parker had his eye on her a long time ago.