50 The Spy in the Garden -48

While the discussions between Ricci and Wenwu were slowly coming to a close. Many other discussions were just getting started.

[With Natasha Romanoff]

Natasha found herself under far less observation yet still unable to truly move about freely. Due to this, the best she could do was try and get as much information out of Andrew as possible while she had the chance.

The guest room to which she was escorted was a testament to the rich cultural heritage of China, exuding a sense of tranquility and ancient elegance. As she stepped through the intricately carved wooden doorway, Natasha couldn't help but be taken aback by the beauty and meticulous attention to detail.

The walls were adorned with silk tapestries depicting scenes from ancient Chinese mythology, each stitch a vibrant echo of the past. The furniture was of dark, polished wood, ornately carved with motifs of dragons and phoenixes, symbols of power and rebirth, respectively.

Natural light filtered through paper-pane windows, casting a warm, inviting glow across the room. A single, delicate porcelain vase filled with fresh chrysanthemums sat atop a side table, its fragrance subtly permeating the air. The overall atmosphere was one of serene isolation, a world away from the chaos and danger of her usual environment.

Despite the room's undeniable beauty and the relative comfort it offered, Natasha felt the weight of her situation. She was effectively a prisoner, albeit in a gilded cage. Her mind raced, piecing together fragments of information, trying to form a clearer picture of the Mandarin's operations.

"How long are we expected to stay here?" Natasha opened up with an easy question after carefully taking in the surroundings.

"I'm not quite sure; we were supposed to stay the night with the boss being a guest of honor at a banquet. That won't be happening now, so yeah, not quite sure if we will still be staying or leaving as quickly as possible." The young, nervous-looking guard replied after a moment.

Natasha nodded her head and gave him a reassuring smile before digging a bit deeper. "I can speak logic in wanting to leave as soon as possible with Mr Ricci's death and the mess made at the airport, but wouldn't it also be dangerous to leave after creating such a mess?

I mean, I can't imagine that it didn't draw a lot of attention to this whole operation here." Natasha asked a question that seemed normal but was, in truth, digging for some crucial information.

To her questions, Andrew had to pause and think before he was able to come up with a satisfying answer.

"Pretty sure our host is taking care of the clean up, so that shouldn't be a problem. The boss's remains have already been transported back on the plane as long with half the escort, as you probably noticed.

So imagine the biggest difficulty in getting back home is sending another plane down here."

His words did not give Natasha as much information as she had hoped, but he did allow her to at least get a better idea of the reach of the Mandarin. The fact that he could cover up such enormous events as the massacre at the airport wasn't a small feat.

She could easily imagine even her own boss, Director Fury, having trouble pulling off something like that. Then again, the Chinese government was, after all, known for its efficiency in shutting up anyone asking questions.

This also highlighted that, indeed, the guards were at a minimum right now, with many of the vehicles in the convoy having only the driver. Meaning that the trip back towards the airport would be her best bet at escaping, should things, come to that.

Before planning her escape, she did wish to figure out if it was even necessary. After all, if she made an escape, she would definitely draw a target on her back, and no doubt be considered a suspect in the assassination even more than she might already be.

"This is a very beautiful place," she said, motioning to the room around her and the stunning scenery outside. "It would be a shame if they weren't allowed to have a walk around."

"That won't be happening unless the captain and our host give permission." Andrew was quick to shut down that line of discussion.

Not that Natasha had expected anything less, but it didn't mean she was going to give up that easily.

"It's hard to imagine that this is this stronghold of a terrorist. This looks more like some kind of imperial garden complex." She said as she turned towards the window and looked out at the grounds.

"Well, yeah, he and his family live here after all. As far as I know, all the expected massive organization things are all underground." Andrew replied absent-mindedly.

It might have been a casual answer, but it gave Natasha a wealth of information. For one, information about the Mandarin's family was a valuable asset when nothing about that in the files has been presented.

As well as information about a massive underground complex, which had also been missing from her information brief.

"So it's not just well hidden, all the tech, I mean. It's all underground?" Tasha asked for clarification.

"Well, there should be some tech around as expected in any household with children. Anything else so underground, yeah, as far as I know, at least."

Another rather casual answer and another wealth of information for Natasha. It had been rather suspicious that she hadn't been able to find any surveillance equipment.

She had expected the guest rooms, the hallways, and everything to be filled with sensors and cameras, but there was nothing.

The answers she was getting with helping her to paint a clearer picture of why that was. The above-ground seemed to be more of the private family residence, with the underground complex being the one connected to the terrorist organization side of the Mandarin's life.

This did, however, mean that the chances of her being able to gather much Intel on that were minimal, as even if she was allowed to walk around the grounds, she wouldn't be able to get under them and into the places she really wanted to be.

"Andrew," Natasha ventured after a moment, her tone casual but her gaze sharp, "you mentioned children. What do you know about his family situation?"

Andrew nodded, unaware of the significance of his confirmation. "Yeah, he's got kids. Two of them, or at least two small enough to be called kids. Wouldn't be surprised if he had a very large family, being so old and all."

"Was Mr Ricci very close with the Mandarin?"

Andrew paused, considering Natasha's question with a thoughtful frown. "From what I've seen, Mr. Ricci and the Mandarin seemed to have a relationship built on mutual respect more than anything. Close? I'm not sure if I'd call it that. They're both too... enigmatic. Like chess players appreciating a worthy opponent." He shrugged as if trying to convey the complexity of a relationship he only partially understood.

Natasha absorbed this insight, turning it over in her mind. "So they didn't meet often?"

"Meet often? No way, as far as I know. The boss had to spend months setting up this meeting. Pretty sure this was the first meeting since he even got his children. Or at least I think so. I mean, we've prepared gifts for the two of them. For a boy and for a girl, younger girl, I think from the gifts."

Once more, Andrew came through and delivered a wealth of information to Natasha. Sure, she had to turn his ramblings into useful information, but that wasn't too difficult.

She now had a better understanding of the relationship between the late Mr Ricci and the Mandarin. She also got a better idea of how important Ricci saw this deal, given the amount of time and energy he seemed to have spent setting this meeting up.

The more effort someone as powerful as Alexander Ricci was willing to put into something, the grander the outcome would have to be. Months of effort were put into this. Attach, she could hardly even begin to imagine the magnitude of the deal planned here today.

Yet clearly, there was someone who didn't want that deal to succeed, and they wanted that enough that they put a bullet in the head of the infamous overkill himself.

This Natasha had no doubt would trigger enormous reprisals Ann revenged from his men and his organization. So, to dare risk that amount of anger and heat, well, someone clearly stood to lose as much as Ricci stood to gain.

She wasn't in a position where she knew who this could potentially be, but she had no doubt that Ricci's successor would probably have a decent idea.

Thinking back on what Alexander had said to her on the plane, she couldn't help but think. 'Could someone be trying to create chaos?'

If Ricci was to be believed, then part of his goal here was to end the expansion and terrorist affairs of the Ten Rings. Something that has brought stability back to many places in the world.

Ricci himself was also someone who brought stability to the less stable parts of the world. She knew that even her own organization, Shield, as Ricci's men called it. Almost so allowed him to continue to do his business as illegal as it might be due to the stability he brought.

This meant that with his death and the possibility of this deal now falling through. Now, the world might enter a far more chaotic time. Should the Ricci family start to collapse in on itself.

'The power vacuum left behind here is truly going to be enormous.' She couldn't help but think as she reminded herself of the enormity of the Ricci family's reach.

Natasha's thoughts were interrupted when Andrew shifted uncomfortably, clearly eager to change the subject. "Anyway, we should probably get some rest. Tomorrow might be a long day, depending on how things unfold here." His attempt to steer the conversation away from the delicate topics they had been discussing was obvious, but Natasha decided to let it slide—for now.

She nodded, allowing the conversation to lapse into silence. As Andrew excused himself, claiming he needed to check in with the others and ensure everything was set for their potential departure, Natasha took the opportunity to study the room she was confined in further.

Her analytical mind didn't rest, constantly weaving through the tapestry of information she had gathered, looking for patterns and potential leads. The mention of Ricci's gifts for the Mandarin's children intrigued her.

It was a personal touch, one that suggested a level of foresight and planning that went beyond a simple business transaction. It hinted at Ricci's understanding of the Mandarin not just as a business associate but as a man with a family—a man who, despite his notorious reputation, had a life distinctly separate from the shadowy dealings that had brought them together.

This insight provided Natasha with a new angle to consider, one that humanized the enigmatic figure of the Mandarin in a way she hadn't anticipated. It also made her wonder about the lives of those children, growing up in a place steeped in so much tradition yet shrouded in secrecy and danger. What did they know of their father's empire? And how did they view the world outside their luxurious yet confined existence?

The room, with its serene beauty and quiet elegance, suddenly felt like a metaphor for those children's lives—beautiful but isolated, protected yet imprisoned by their circumstances. Natasha felt a pang of empathy for them, even as she reminded herself that empathy could be a liability in her line of work.

Natasha spent the next hour going through the room, meticulously checking if there were any hidden cameras or listening devices she had missed. She was tempted to place some own, except she didn't have anything to place and that it probably wouldn't matter much.

After all, she was the one staying here, so anything the devices would hear, well, she would be the one saying it; as for once she had left, well, you could clearly see that while this place was cleaned, it had also been collecting dust quite a while before then.

So it was clearly a normally unused guest house, so even if she could plan something, who knew how long it would take before anyone else came to stay here.

After a while, she heard someone approach and quickly pretended she wasn't acting like a spy as the door opened.

"Miss Romanoff, the boss wants to speak with you." Came the voice of the person currently in charge of things here. A man whose name she did not know as everyone just referred to him as captain.