Nathan Caldwell was made aware of Lucas James’ abduction case three hours after the boy was found. He had given all his team members case files that contained his pictures, the location of his abduction, officially reported statements from his parents, his teacher and other witnesses that came forward. In a nutshell, this was all the information they had to find out how Lucas was taken and most importantly, why. In the past day, Nathan and the team visited the school to recreate the kidnappers’ movements in order to find out their motive for such a criminal move, to speak to anyone present on the day and most crucially, speak directly to Lucas’ parents and find out if they had any idea of who could’ve been behind this plight.

  At the present moment, Nathan and three other members of his Division were going over the facts of the case.

  Lucas was an eleven-year-old boy taken at approximately noon by two Caucasian males, both estimated to be in their thirties. One was average height and one almost 180cm, both said to have been dressed in casual wear and dark shades. They interrupted his 11:45a.m class and one of the perpetrators whispered to the teacher presiding over Lucas’ English Language lesson, Mrs. Renwich, that they had to pull Lucas out of class because of an emergency back home. Mrs. Renwich had been told that Kale James, the grandmother, had been rushed to the hospital after a brutal accident and his parents were asking that Lucas return home to be with the rest of the family. That consequently resulted in Mrs. Renwich giving Lucas a pass to leave the school premises before the end of the school day.

  Ancillary staff that worked that afternoon reported that two males left with a sixth grader in a plain, silver van missing its number plates. It was a vehicle foreign to school property. Lucas was not seen again that day until he was spotted twenty hours later, at approximately 07:13a.m the next day, a few blocks away from his residence, lying unconscious on the pavement with splatters of blood stained on his clothes without any physical signs of an injury. Everything about him seemed fairly normal except the bloodless, amputated human finger that was packed in the side pocket of his satchel together with a note from the abductors that read ‘TRUTH’. As unconventional as the events were, Nathan went over the information repeatedly to make sense of it all.

  While he was sorting the papers he had in chronological order to study them again, he came across a photo of Lucas taken of him recently, given to him by his parents. Long, curly brown hair, sky blue eyes with green specks in them, freckles spread out on his rosy cheeks and a wide smile so contagious it made you want to smile too.

  Nathan sighed. Cases that involved children unsettled him because he was left with more questions than answers. Why children? What gave these perpetrators the boldness to abduct the child of a political giant anyway, knowing full well the intense repercussions of interfering with state families? Not to mention, kidnapping a child in broad daylight and robbing him of his innocence? Nathan’s mind was a windmill, racing, in which most cases, the energy would’ve been good. But because he had to have a clear mind to break down the facts in front of him, he had to put a cap on his thoughts. He had to focus on the work he was doing in the debrief room with half of the team that was present; Preston Davison, the sharpest individual in the room with an intelligence quotient of 170; Aria Trey, their proficient Technical Analyst and Evan Patterson, his outstanding, esteemed and incomparable Second Bearing. The room they were currently occupying was a large four walled room with a large wooden table in the center of the room. Eight chairs surrounded this table with beige velvet couches forming an oval a few feet away from the table. A ninety-inch screen was screwed into the centre wall so as to accommodate effortless viewing of photographs and documents to all the members of the team.

  The room balanced three colours. White, black and beige. The walls were painted charcoal while the floors were a sooty marble. The bookshelves at the back of the room were painted a sandy colour while the velvet couches were tan. The hammock on the left side of the room was a bleached white while the fur floor rugs were camel. The screen on the wall was chalky while the table they were surrounding each other on was a cream colour. This was the room they worked on cases, day and night.

  They all had Lucas’ file in front of them, a white bedazzled laptop sitting in front of Aria, theories and possible outcomes bouncing off of each other. What was the motive for this kidnapping? Was this the criminal’s sick way of staging a protest? An article in the daily newspaper was printed two weeks ago accusing the Minister of soliciting funds meant for the city’s development for his own personal luxuries. Was snatching his son a way of highlighting his incompetence? Could it have been a typical ransom abduction? If it had been, why did the abductors return the boy without making outrageous demands from the James’ family for banknotes? That couldn’t be it. There was no documented call that they were aware of before the time Lucas was returned thus, the theory null and void. They had to rule it out. Perhaps, these unknowns had an uncontrollable psychopathic urge for little boys. As sick as it was to think about, they couldn’t dismiss that they could potentially be looking at child trafficking. They weren’t sure on the unknowns’ motives but they were certain that this went beyond any demonstrations or monetary compensation.

  ‘’Finding these guys would’ve been a lot easier if we knew who that finger belonged to.’’ Aria said.

  ‘’Tremendously.’’ Preston agreed. ‘’But the finger deteriorated making it difficult to extract the biometric data.’’

  ‘’And we’ll only be able to determine who it really belongs to when we receive the lab results in a few hours.’’ Aria said.

  ‘’Either way, we have to continue and use the information we already have.’’ Nathan said. ‘’Lucas was found with a little note and grown man’s finger attached to it. Why?’’

  ‘’Taking the note into consideration, it was presented on a piece of white paper written with black ink in capital letters to make the message distinctive. It is a very simple word that stands alone so as to not distract us from what the senders want us to understand, and yet the fact that that these unknowns want us to focus on the postulation of truth suggests to me that they want to highlight the importance of it. Though there may be a plethora of interpretations and conceptions, one that really strikes me to be likely possible is that they want us to know that they hold vital information, someone’s secret they could expose at any time of their choosing. The severed finger we received may be symbolic of what could happen if the truth made its way out; permanent disrepair of someone’s life. Now, because they abducted Lucas James, I’m assuming their targets are his parents.’’ Preston speculated.

  ‘’You think they have something on the Minister?’’ Aria asked.

  ‘’Everyone has secrets.’’ Evan broke in.

  ‘’Preston and I spoke to his parents yesterday and they swore up and down that they hadn’t provoked anyone enough to birth these enemies or even just knowing anyone who would.’’ Aria reported.

  ‘’Clement is politician. If anyone had serious enemies he didn’t know about, it would be him.’’ Evan responded. ‘’Why use the boy as a messenger in the first place though? If the goal was to send a message, there were easier, less complicated means to do that. An anonymous email, a letter, or even a phone call from a burner phone. Why the drama and risk being compromised?’’

  ‘’Because it’s about so much more than that.’’ Preston answered.

  Nathan nodded his head in agreement. ‘’I think it’s more than that, yes. Not only was the message simple, but it was very specific. Truth. One word. Abducting Lucas made sure that there was no question about who the message was being delivered to. Plus, the kidnapping was very public. They want everyone to be a witness. It’s humiliation.’’

  ‘’These men are brave.’’ Aria noted. ‘’Not only did they waltz into Lucas’ school, where they could’ve been easily identified, but they returned him near his home with this barbaric message.’’

  ‘’They have faith in their abilities. They managed to snatch him up which was the hardest part of the job.” Nathan responded. “Dumping him was a piece of cake.’’

  Before she could reply, a ping noise sounded on Aria’s laptop to signify that she had received a notification. She focused her brown eyes on the message.

  ‘’Lucas is still in the hospital for monitoring but he gave Leicester Police Department an account of what he remembers.’’

  Her fingers moved at agile speed on her keyboard. ‘’I’m putting it on the screen now.’’

  Moments of silence passed while they all read an account of what Lucas experienced that night, displayed by Aria on the screen attached to the wall.

  ‘’So let me get this straight.’’ Evan began once he concluded reading. ‘’He remembers being pushed into a van with a bag over his head. They drove for a short or for a long time, that part is a bit foggy to him, and the car stopped. He was carried out and they went up. A door was opened and eventually he was dropped on a chair and the bag was removed. He couldn’t make out much of his surroundings but he was in a very dark room with three silhouettes in front of him, the two men that took him and an older man. He could tell that he was a little older than everyone else because he had grey hair that stood out even in the darkness, and his voice was very husky and hoarse.’’

  ‘’An older man? So, we have three unknowns?’’ Aria asked.

  ‘’Where was he when Lucas was taken out of school?’’ Preston asked. ‘’Only two men were seen in and out.’’

  ‘’He must’ve stayed behind. He was probably unable to participate physically in the actual kidnapping.’’ Evan speculated. ‘’Lucas describes him as an old man after all.’’

  ‘’Either that, or he could’ve paid these two to do all the dirty work while he assumed another position.’’ Preston said.

  ‘’A position like what?’’ Aria asked.

  ‘’The orchestrator.’’ Nathan answered.

  ‘’That’s possible. He calls the shots. Humpty and Dumpty follow.’’ Evan said. ‘’Money is one heck of an incentive if they agreed to go through all of this for it.’’

  ‘’Hm.’’ Nathan sounded

  ‘’What?’’ Evan asked.

  ‘’Lucas says they went up.’’ Nathan noted. ‘’Those could be stairs, an elevator or even an escalator. That means that we are looking at two-or three-story buildings within a five-to-fifty-mile radius.’’

  ‘’I’ll get LPD on it.’’ Aria said. The sound of her ring filled fingers hitting her keyboard buttons projected in the room.

  ‘’Uh, there’s more.’’ Aria said. ‘’Lucas says here that there was a fourth man. He was sitting right next to him in a chair similar to his. He couldn’t tell who he was except that he was quite a big guy. A few minutes, he heard shouting. The big guy next to him and the older man were going at it, not giving each other chances to speak, but the older guy’s voice was the loudest. Big guy stretches his arm over Lucas’ legs, que more noises and then Lucas heard a very loud scream. Like someone had been hurt. Someone poked him with a sharp object and it was lights out. He remembers nothing after that.’’

  ‘’A fourth guy?’’ Evan asked incredulously. ‘’Could he be a victim we don’t know about?’’ |

  ‘’That could be since he was seated just like Lucas was. But it’s very difficult to tell if he was a victim or a participant like them.’’ Aria expressed.

  ‘’No.’’ Nathan refused. ‘’He wasn't a victim. He was definitely a part of this little group.’’

  ‘’What makes you so sure?’’ Aria questioned.

  ‘’This guy stretched his arm over Lucas’ legs.’’ Nathan repeated. ‘’It doesn’t sound like he was restrained to me. If they were keeping a big guy like Lucas described, then they would’ve definitely kept some chains on him.’’

  ‘’Additionally, to that, these men were arguing and from what I understood from that account, male number four was one of the primary contributors to the scuffle. If you’re held hostage, the only time you vociferate is when you’re screaming for help.’’ Preston added.

  ‘’What could they have been arguing about?’’ Aria asked.

  ‘’It could’ve been something personal.’’ Preston suggested.

  ‘’Perhaps, it was about the job. It wasn’t as clean as it was supposed to be and the old man wasn’t too happy about that.’’ Nathan theorized. ‘’They probably made a mistake that we haven’t picked up on yet.’’

  ‘’That would apply to the two guys that abducted Lucas. But what about the guy sitting next to Lucas?’’ Aria asked. ‘’We don’t know his role.’’

  ‘’He’s sitting.’’ Preston announced.

  ‘’His role is sitting?’’ Evan questioned.

  ‘’Pardon?’’ Nathan asked.

  ‘’No. The man next to Lucas. He’s sitting.’’ Preston reiterated. ‘’Out of all the places he could be, he is right next to the abducted. And while he’s being scolded by the old man, he stays put which isn’t a natural reaction when someone is going at you.’’

  ‘’Unless he’s submissive.’’ Nathan argued.

  ‘’If he was, then he wouldn’t go back and forth with the older man who seems to have a dominant personality. He would naturally retreat and treat his actions as fact.’’ Preston countered.

  ‘’So, what are you saying? You think guy number four was rebelling or something?’’ Evan asked.

  ‘’In a way, yes. I think he was protecting Lucas.’’ Preston surmised.

  ‘’Protecting?’’ Nathan asked. |

  ‘’The way he stretches his arms over Lucas’ legs. He was trying to shield him.’’ Preston theorized. ‘’Stay with me, okay? Read Lucas’ statement again. After he stretches his arms, there is more arguing. Shortly after, Lucas hears a scream and then suddenly darkness.’’

  They all focused their eyes on the screen.

  ‘’Arguing, a scream then darkness.’’ Aria repeated the same words in the chronological order under her breath. It occurred to Nathan that Aria was repeating the events over and over to herself so that she could catch what Preston was throwing at them.

  ‘’Argue, a scream then darkness.’’ Evan repeated.

  ‘’What would happen when two men were arguing and a scream followed afterwards?’’ Preston asked.

  ‘’Physical display of dominance.’’ Nathan surmised.

  ‘’A fight broke out? Someone was punched?’’ Aria asked.

  ‘’A punch is not enough to make a man to scream. In fact, the immediate reaction would be to punch back.’’ Nathan said. ‘’Something else happened.’’

  ‘’The scream could’ve been someone else though. Like neighbours or something.’’ Aria theorized.

  ‘’These men kidnapped a child. A state child. They would’ve chosen a secluded area for absolute privacy. That scream could’ve only been produced in that room they were in.’’ Nathan contested.

  ‘’This might be a stretch. I don’t know but…’’ Preston stuttered.

  ‘’Go on, Press.’’ Nathan assured.

  ‘’We received a man’s truncated third finger, right?’’

  ‘’That was a huge ‘get screwed’ to us.’’ Aria mumbled.

  ‘’Would it be possible that the amputation of his limb happened in that very room?” Preston suggested. “That would explain the scream.’’

  ‘’Limb disassociation is not exactly a quiet activity.’’ Nathan backed. ‘’But that would mean the amputation took place while guy number four was alive.’’

  ‘’There’s no record of a dead body yet.’’ Aria reported.

  ‘’And there were blood splatters all over Lucas’ clothes yet he wasn’t injured in any way. They still had to test it just to be sure.’’ Preston revealed. ‘’Lucas’ blood type is A Positive. The blood found on his clothes was O Negative. It’s not his.’’

  Nathan eyed Evan. He was holding his writing pen a little too tightly, a habit he had adopted in their teenage years when something bothered him.

  ‘’Ev, what do you think?’’ Nathan asked him.

  ‘’There’s something I don’t understand.’’ Evan replied. ‘’Are we saying that guy number four’s finger was excised in that place? For what? As some sort of punishment?’’

  ‘’I got a good look at the finger when I was at Forensics. It’s sturdy. Definitely fits the description of a middle-aged man. Hairs, patterns and all.’’ Nathan described.

  ‘’My guess is that the three men had a plan for Lucas, killing him, which would’ve been the safest option for them. But guy number four probably disagreed to all that because he saw it as the most dangerous. That’s why there was so much arguing. Different sets of opinions. He, maybe, didn’t want the police to be all over them for murdering a state child.’’ Preston reasoned.

  ‘’It makes sense. Guy number four’s argument was convincing. He planted a seed of doubt within them and the idea of prosecution sounded very unappealing. That’s why the decided to let Lucas go unscathed.’’ Nathan added.

  ‘’Unfortunately for guy number four, his resistance to whatever they had planned to do showed the others his unavailability to really apply himself to the cause.’’ Evan continued.

  ‘’And so, they punished him by dismembering him and gifting his finger to the very person he was trying to protect. A way to teach him a lesson but also further their agenda. We might actually be working with guy number four’s finger.’’ Aria finished. ‘’Genius.’’

  ‘’Did anyone notice that guy number four wasn’t part of the kidnapping?’’ Evan observed.

  ‘’No, he wasn’t.’’ Nathan agreed. ‘’I wonder why.’’

  ‘’We are missing something.’’ Evan said.

  ‘’I agree.’’ Preston concurred. ‘’Ari, did LPD send you Lucas’ medical report as requested?’’

  ‘’Uhm, give me a sec.’’ she said as she focused on her laptop. ‘’Yes, they did.’’

  ‘’May you display it on the screen, please?’’ Preston asked politely.

  A white page filled with unreadable handwriting replaced Lucas’ statement on the screen. Must’ve been the original copy from his doctor. Nathan could barely make out the letters of the first line but Preston didn’t seem to have any difficulty reading it because in record time he said, ‘’Just as I thought.’’

  ‘’What is it?’’ Nathan asked.

  ‘’A dose of potent barbiturate was found in Lucas’ system.’’ Preston pointed out.

  ‘’Barbiturate?’’ Aria asked.

  ‘’Barbiturates are non-selective central nervous system depressants that are at the nexus of treatments to seduce patients or maintain unconsciousness. Certain barbiturates are used as anticonvulsants or induce thiopental. In this case, it was the latter. They used Amobarbital also known as Amytal, a barbiturate with sedating and hypnotic properties.’’ Preston explained.

  ‘’Anaesthesia.’’ Aria responded simply.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  ‘’A more dangerous and uncontrollable anaesthesia. Hospitals don’t use drugs like Amytal anymore because it’s difficult for patients not to become dependent on them.’’ Evan answered.

  ‘’Lucas described darkness after a feeling a sharp pain. They injected this drug into his system to knock him out.’’ Nathan realized.

  ‘’A side effect of the drug is memory loss. That’s the reason why we can’t piece it all together. He can’t remember what the men were arguing about or what they were wearing or what they even looked like. His statement has too many holes.’’ Preston said. ‘’It’s a miracle he remembers as much as he does.’’

  ‘’We had been asking ourselves why they would risk being compromised. They had already prepared a solution to that problem.’’ Nathan replied. ‘’They messed with his memory.’’

  ‘’And the longer Lucas was awake, the more he would’ve taken in, the more he would’ve heard and the more he would’ve put together.’’ Evan reasoned.

  Nathan had to admit that these criminals were a little brainy. They managed to remove Lucas from an institution with more than four hundred children without seeming suspicious or causing a ruckus. That meant that they had been watching him for some time, learning more about him and his schedules so that they were fully prepared to pull off the abduction. In that moment, finding out why Lucas was taken became a hundred times more important because of how the abductors were willing to dedicate their time to study Lucas. They were not any regular criminals. On top of that, they had the whole police force in the palm of their hands, treating them like pawns in their little game.

  ‘’All of this just theoretical.’’ Nathan said. ‘’For now, we will wait for the lab results to back up our theories.’’

  As soon as Nathan finished his sentence, he heard the sound of hard rubber hitting the furnished floor. Footsteps of more than one person. He familiarized the sound with the combat boots Division Units wore as part of their daily uniform when they were on the job. As if they all had one mind, Nathan, Evan, Preston and Aria left the room to enter a massive room adjacent to the debrief room, that combined both the living room and the kitchen. On the right side of the room, grey and cream couches made an oval shape around a mahogany coffee table that sat in the middle with couple magazines on top it. Similar to the debrief room, a black screen was indented on the grey wall except this one had no access restrictions on it unlike the screen in the other room. On the left side of the humongous room was the kitchen, accommodating a long black countertop beautified with brown lines around it that resembled little bolts of lightning or little cracks in the wood, depending on how you looked at it. Four ebony bar chairs coexisted with the counter and a tan vase of white daisies accessorized them. All the cabinets, cupboards and drawers, top to bottom, that extended throughout the entire left wall of the kitchen were the same colour and design as the countertop. The sink, the faucet and the refrigerator followed suit. The colours in the house were all in correspondence so it didn’t look depressing as much as it sounded. The east wall of the room was made of glass that allowed brightness to slip in and befriend all the dark furniture. Nathan truly enjoyed the view from the glass because it overlooked a steep slope of different trees as the house was built on a hill. Not to mention how attractive it made the house look. The kitchen and television walls could only enjoy the benefits. Just after the sitting area, there was a short hallway to the right, walls painted in grey, that led to the front door. Before reaching the main entrance, there were two flights of wooden stairs to the right that took them to their sleeping quarters and a bunch of other rooms that Nathan hadn’t really explored.

  In the room that they were presently in, there was a gap between the sitting area and the kitchen island that was filled by three individuals; one tall, muscular guy with deep rich russet skin, a more slender, pale guy who was the same height and a tan girl with pink undertones, who was shorter than the two boys. They were wearing official SSU gear; jet black cargo pants, compression t-shirts and black combat boots. A black holster was attached on the right side of their cargo pants’ belt accommodating their firearms and their SSU identification badges.

  Nathan was standing across from the rest of his team.

  ‘’I have a question.’’ Aria said in a very puzzled manner. ‘’How does Harper look so flawless? Is she not coming from a field operation?’’

  Aria noticed correctly. Unlike the two boys who flanked Harper, dishevelled and ready to collapse at any minute, Harper was very awake and spotless. Her newly cut strawberry blonde hair, inches below her ears, was very neat. Not a single strand out of place. In fact, she was carrying her teammates’ operation gear bags they had left with a few hours ago, including her own.

  ‘’Have you forgotten? Harper has HTD. High Tolerance for Danger.’’ Preston reminded. ‘’She could go on a high-risk operation and look the same way.’’

  ‘’She’s an alien.’’ Jordan, the muscular guy, chimed in as he buried himself in the couch.

  ‘’Honestly, it's just genetics.’’ Harper shrugged.

  ‘’Right.’’ Aria complimented Harper as they snickered at each other the way girls did when one complimented the other or talked about their girl power sisterhood.

  As he did more often than he liked, Nathan broke up the party as he assumed the responsibilities of the DEC.

  ‘’How did the operation go?’’ he asked.

  ‘’Successful.’’ Jordan answered. ‘’We found the two girls alive in the deepest part of the woods. Except for some cuts and minor abrasions, I think they’ll be alright.’’

  ‘’And Gambdie Olt?’’

  ‘’We caught him not too far from here.’’ William, the second guy, spoke. ‘’A few miles away from our house, actually. The idiot chained the poor girls in his truck and attempted to escape on foot.’’

  ‘’That psychopath was in our woods and we didn’t even know it. Who knows what he could’ve done to those girls if we were only a few seconds too late?’’ Jordan said.

  ‘’I’m just glad Division 5 asked for our assistance in time knowing our experience and familiarity with these woods.’’ Evan stated.

  ‘’It was a smart idea sending you guys to deal with Olt while the rest of us stayed behind to work on the James’ case. Job well done.’’ Nathan complimented.

  ‘’Olt is going away for a very long time. By the time he is out, he won’t know what the sky looks like.’’ Harper said.

  ‘’I know it’s hectic right now with all the different cases we are working on but I need written reports from the three of you concerning last night’s operation as soon as possible.’’ Nathan requested.

  ‘’Ugh.’’ Harper groaned. ‘’I hate reports, Nathe.’’

  ‘’I know.’’ Nathan sympathized. ‘’Make sure I have them soon. I don't make the rules.’’

  ‘’Will do.’’ William answered. ‘’Any news on the newbie?’’

  ‘’Her name is Cyan, Will.’’ Aria corrected.

  ‘’Whatever.’’ Will replied flatly. ‘’Has she graced us with her presence yet?’’

  ‘’Will.’’ Nathan warned.

  ‘’Fine. Has she arrived?’’

  ‘’Not yet.’’ Evan responded as he checked his wristwatch. ‘’Probably in a few minutes. It’s almost 1100a.m.’’

  Nathan had noticed that William had an edge to him whenever the topic of Cyan was brought up. And when they did talk about her, his contributions weren’t always the best. He wondered what it was about Cyan that ruffled his little eagle feathers.

  He remembered the day Dave mentioned that he wanted to add a new member to the team. A woman. It was a few days before they received news of the kidnapping. Dave expressed to them that D12 needed more of a feminine touch because women were expeditious and that he knew the perfect person. The girls were thrilled just to have another one of them around but when Dave revealed that he was thinking of offering the position to Cyan Tufala, it took a lot out of Aria not to jump on Dave and squeeze him to death. From what Nathan knew, Cyan and Aria had been friends from the time they were in the Academy and still kept in touch after they parted ways for their different Divisions. They were close. Not only were the girls happy to have another woman around, but the guys too. He knew that they were tired of Harper and Aria approaching them for solutions to their girl troubles every day. All the guys except William. He found out the hard way that he knew absolutely nothing about women. In a nutshell, everyone was happy with Dave’s decision for different reasons. Nathan just wasn’t sure how successful Dave was going to be on this mission. It wasn’t a secret that Cyan left the Agency and why she did so. It had been six months since she was on the field. Was it something she still wanted? He wanted to caution Dave that there was a slight chance Cyan would accept this position on the team but the girls looked excited that he felt like a monster just by thinking about it. So, he decided not to say anything. William on the other hand, took it upon himself to play devil’s advocate and make it known that Cyan might not accept the offer and that adding an eighth member to the team was unnecessary. He was adamant in his argument making Nathan realize that Will wasn’t necessarily happy about the changes. Even after all the discouragement from Will, Dave was still passionate about asking Cyan to join their Division and truthfully, Nathan secretly hoped that he would get the job done.

  Being Supervisor meant acting as a communication liaison between your team and the board of Directors and that’s exactly what Dave was good at. Communicating. His skills were so proficient that if Nathan really put some thought into it, the task wouldn’t be impossible for him. He only wondered what it would be like working with her. Would she be a positive update or a negative update? Nathan knew her as a really good agent. Excellent. She didn’t receive all those certificates by being average. But would she gel well with his Division? If he felt that her joining the team was more of a setback than an upgrade, what would be his next step? As First, his thoughts were always one step ahead so that nothing was a surprise to him and he was absolutely sure that Evan, his Second, was thinking the same. He just hoped that they wouldn’t have to deal with new agent drama because the mountain of work needed no distractions.

  Interrupting him from his thoughts, a thick branch with scalloped leaves, knocked part of the glass wall in the living room. The team lived in a huge house in the middle of the woods that Dave arranged for them whenever it was time for them to work on their cases. The advantage of their living arrangement was that they were able to work with no distractions from the city. However, the disadvantage was that they were surrounded by trees and whenever there was a breeze, the conifers felt provoked, releasing all their agitation on the glass wall. Because of the unrelenting mood swings of the trees, Nathan ignored the noise until the same branch violently hit the wall again. Usually, when the nature was uneasy in that way, it indicated that an aircraft was in the area so he willed his ears to search for a quiet wheezing in the air. He listened hard and he heard it.

  ‘’The SSU jet.’’ Aria announced.

  ‘’Speak of the angel.’’ Evan said as he took a seat on one of the high kitchen chairs.

  Nathan scanned his teammates. Some expectant, some stoked out of their minds and others with neutral expressions. His own expression was neither here nor there. One of his many talents was schooling his emotions. That way, no one could tell what he was really feeling.

  ‘’Guys? Hello? I know you missed me!’’ A deep voice sounded from the hallway.

  A well-dressed man in a black suit and tie accompanied by expensive looking shoes emerged from the main entrance and strutted into the room. His skin was a rosy pink from all the activity with the flight and walking down from the hangar situated a few miles away from the house. But underneath all that, he wore huge smile on his face. He was excited to see them. Nathan had no idea why because Dave had seen them sixteen hours ago.

  Next to him stood a tall girl, inches taller than the other two girls but definitely shorter than all the guys. Her hazel eyes were surveying her surroundings, taking in her environment. Basic rule of the Academy; ‘Be alert to notice enough about your environment before it notices you.’ She had been out of the playground for a while but she certainly hadn’t forgotten the directions.

  She possessed caramel coated skin, a few shades lighter than Jay’s, as if it had been licked by the sun every dawning she opened her eyes. Her sweet, flowery scent waltzed around in the room occupying his nose and her cherry braided hair cascaded down her back, tied into a single ponytail behind her head.

  Cherry.

  A very fitting colour for her that complemented her mien and sang her praises. It was so remarkably her to own a bold colour and walk confidently with it as if it was specifically made for her. He couldn’t quite articulate the sublimity of it. But perhaps, he didn't need to. Some realities known weren’t meant to be explained. She had a fit and toned body, which was a requirement for every single member that belonged to the SSU, but a touch of curve came with hers. A well-proportioned temple she evidently took good care of. She wore black jeans, what he understood as a high neck top from spending too much time with Aria and Harper, a windbreaker and black boots. Whether she was trying or not, she looked exquisite.

  ‘’Cy!’’ Aria exclaimed.

  She ran towards Cyan, long black silky hair in the air, and threw herself onto her. Surprised, Cyan dropped her bag but recovered quickly and embraced Aria.

  ‘’Oh, Ari! Look at you!’’ Cyan greeted with her arms around Aria’s shoulders.

  ‘’Alright, time for an introduction. Cyan.’’ Dave called.

  Cyan and Aria pulled away from each other and zeroed in on Dave.

  ‘’Meet Division 12. Aria Trey as you already know, Preston Davison, Jordan-Bailey Ofori, Harper Marie Blair and William Bradford Jr. These are the strongest, smartest and most skilled group of individuals I know.’’ Dave introduced.

  He motioned towards Nathan and Evan’s direction.

  ‘’Nathaniel Miles Levi Caldwell and Evanildo Isaias Patterson. Our First and Second. These are the captains of our ship.’’ He introduced. ‘’D12, I would like you to meet Cyan Autumn Tufala.’’

  ‘’Hi.’’ Cyan waved.

  A chorus of 'heys' greeted her back.

  Jordan turned to Evan. ‘’Evanildo?’’

  ‘’I bet all the paper and ink ran out when they tried to write Nathan’s names on his birth certificate.’’ Harper snickered.

  What had Dave done?

  ‘’Thanks a lot.’’ Nathan said to Dave.

  ‘’Really. Thank you, David.’’ Evan backed flatly.

  ‘’Oh, come on, Evanildo. I gave your team a spectacular intro.’’ Dave grinned.

  ‘’Last week we were the team that didn’t know hard work even if it slapped us across the face and shouted ‘’My name is hard work.’’’’ Will recalled.

  ‘’I was just a little upset that you guys didn’t invite me to your pasta party. So, yeah. I might have said a few things I didn’t mean.’’ Dave sighed.

  ‘’A little less drama and you might be invited to the next one.’’ Evan said.

  ‘’No promises.’’ Dave smiled. ‘’Anyway, I have news that’s not pretty but it could potentially help the James’ case.’’

  ‘’What is it?’’ Nathan asked.

  ‘’Debrief room.’’ Dave suggested.

  ‘’Can I put my bag down before we begin?’’ Cyan asked.

  ‘’I’ll show you to your room.’’ Aria suggested.

  ‘’And I’ll take that.’’ Dave offered politely referring to her bag.

  ‘’Thanks.’’ Cyan smiled at them.

  Dave led the way to the upstairs bedrooms, Cyan’s bag in hand, escorted by an eager Preston who was heavily engrossed in whatever conversation they were having. Cyan and Aria were trailing behind while engaging in scintillating and exhilarating conversation of their own.

  ‘’I’m going to shower. I’ll be back in a jiffy.’’ Harper announced.

  ‘’Same here. I need to remove Gambdie’s DNA off of me.’’ Jordan croaked and the three of them, including William, made their way up the stairs.

  Nathan and Evan left in the room. Nathan sat next to Evan who hadn’t moved from the bar chairs.

  ‘’We might have to wait for some time until everyone is ready to do the debrief.’’ he said.

  ‘’Yeah.’’ Evan agreed. ‘’It gives everyone a chance to rest so that we can work fresh when Dave deposits the new information.’’

  ‘’How do you think he did it?’’ Nathan asked.

  ‘’Did what?’’

  ‘’How did he convince Cyan to come back?’’

  ‘’I’m not sure. He probably told her that we needed her, that sort of thing.’’ Evan answered.

  ‘’I see.’’ Nathan murmured.

  Dave must’ve worked that charm of his on her. Or perhaps his presence just made her realise what she already wanted. One thing Nathan was certain of was that it was very difficult to escape from the Organisation. It took pieces from you, simultaneously making you feel whole. You didn’t feel complete until you were back to where it all started.

  Nathan heard fingers clicking in his ear. It took him some to understand that Evan was trying to get his attention.

  ‘’Hello? Earth to Caldwell?’’

  ‘’Huh? Sorry.’’ He apologised. ‘’Did you say something?’’

  Evan didn’t reply right away. He looked at Nathan quizzically as if he was calculating what he would need to do to see what was really going on in his head. He remained quiet. And Nathan knowing Evan, his silence spoke the loudest. He clearly had something on his chest. Something that he desperately needed to say. Only if Nathan allowed it.

  ‘’It’s weighing heavily on you, isn’t it? Say it.’’ Nathan instructed.

  ‘’Say what?’’ Evan asked.

  ‘’We’ve been best friends for almost a decade. I think at this point I know you more than you know yourself. So help yourself, please.’’ Nathan pushed.

  ‘’Fine. But only because you begged me.’’ Evan gave in. ‘’Will you be able to keep a straight head with her around? I mean, will you be able to give this case your undivided attention whilst seeing her every day?’’

  ‘’Who?’’

  ‘’Cyan, obviously.’’

  ‘’What are you on about Evan?’’ Nathan asked.

  ‘’Are you really going to pretend that you have no idea what I’m talking about? You’re better than that, Caldwell.’’ Evan rebuffed.

  ‘’Who said anything about pretending? I’m not even pretending.’’ Nathan blustered. ‘’I haven’t the slightest clue.’’

  ‘’Fine. I’ll rephrase.’’ Evan said.

  ‘’Tell me the truth. Are you a hundred percent sure that working with your ex-girlfriend is not going to be a problem?’’