>FAIRFAX COUNTY, VIRGINIA
>GEORGE BUSH CENTER FOR INTELLIGENCE, SAC OFFICES
>29AUG2019
>0600...///

It smelled of stagnant cigarettes inside one of the SAC Office’s meeting rooms. No doubt some of them were Donnelley’s from the past, the smell sticking in Foster’s craw as much as the man’s attitude. Foster had put the call in a day in advance, effectively getting an RSVP from Donnelley and Jason. Apparently, things had gotten interesting at some point for the two in Iraq. To think, Foster had mocked Donnelley at first, but he should’ve known the old ghosts of the deserts there in Babylon would stir again soon at some point. The mountains of Afghanistan hid many things in their depths and valleys, and old salts told of the same in the ancient heart of the Near East.

But there were ghosts aplenty here at home too. West Virginia’s mountains were at no loss for the dark tales of deeds past and the things they were done in the name of. Old things. Dark things. He shook himself from his reverie as the door opened, leaving Overman standing in the doorway. He stood there for a beat, then nodded at Foster at the head of the table and took a seat at his right. It was only a matter of time now, any second. He hoped. He checked his watch and glanced at Overman, who already had his eyes on his, “They’ll be here.” Foster said.

Overman said nothing, just turned his eyes away from Foster to busy himself with his phone.

A tentative knock sounded from the door before it cracked open and Ava’s bright head of red curly hair poked inside. Her eyes quickly landed on Foster and Overman and a polite smile crossed her face before she looked over her shoulder. “This is the one Dave.” She said, opening the door wider and stepping inside, dressed in her usual office attire of pastel blouses and pleated tweed skirts. 

“Hello, I hope we aren’t late.” She said, lifting her hand in greeting. 

Foster lifted his eyes from the screen he was vacantly toying with to look at Ava. He gave the both of them a tight smile, “Glad you could make it.” He said, “We’re only waiting for one more then.”

Laine sat in her car, staring out the windshield but not really seeing. There as a part of herself she knew would never let this go, the gnawing need to know more and to understand yet there was her cool voice of reason that said to walk away. There was no victory, only pushing back the dark for another day and it would irreparably damage her. It was what Mariana had told her, to go back to work and whatever she was doing that was tearing her up inside was not worth it. 

But it was, Laine had said but could say no more. Her best friend had become an outsider, someone she could no longer confide her worst fears and doubts in. The wedding had been anticlimactic, something she trudged through and her dour mood kept but the most inebriated groomsmen away from her. 

Laine took a drag of the clove cigarette and blew the smoke out, letting it fill the closed car, not caring about the stink or the danger to her health. She almost laughed then sighed, before snuffing it out. She turned off the car and stepped out, brushing her tailored black pencil skirt to remove any wrinkles. Despite the humid heat, she pulled her blazer on over the fine sleeveless blouse, the dark fabric nearly translucent in the sunlight. 

She buttoned up the jacket as she walked with a purpose towards the building, her leather briefcase over her arm. Her security badge hung on an FBI lanyard and it was scrutinized by a guard before allowing her through. Laine continued towards the SAC offices, the nagging doubts trailing her like a shadow. 

[i]Like that shadow.[/i]

Her skin prickled with the memory and she forced herself to move forward. This was her fight, it was made her own many months ago at that first lonely cabin. Her work might not be geared for this but she was smart and she was learning. She would see him again, too. And that was something she had to also prepare herself for. 

Laine walked along the hallway, her high heels clicking in a quick rhythm, until she found the door of the meeting room. She reached up and smoothed her dark hair and took a breath and knocked. 

The door opened, hinges squeaking, and Foster stood face to face with her. He gave her a once-over and smiled politely, nodding, “Looks like the gang’s all here.”

He took his seat at the head of the table again and gestured to an empty one, “Alright, let’s start the briefing as soon as we’re all seated.”

Ava perked up from her seat as she saw Laine in the doorway, a smile appearing on her freckled face. She lifted her hand in an awkward, small wave.

Dave waved as well, raising his hand in a perfunctory greeting that was accompanied by a tight smile. He'd been relaxed, just him and Ava, the troubles of the job and of home left behind for a while. Now he had a tight, wary look about him that was rapidly becoming the norm. His blue eyes seemed suspicious and calculating, and he gave off the general air of a man who was ready to do violence at a moment's notice. 

Laine's calculated cool expression faltered at Ava's smile and she returned it as she sat down. She had her soft leather briefcase set on the table and pulled out a notepad and pen, still comfortable with the old fashioned way of taking notes at a meeting. 

Her gaze crossed over to Dave, admiring his handsome face but the easy going hillbilly seemed absent, there was tension in his broad shoulders and an air of caution that seemed all too familiar to the team now. 

She looked down the table, not seeing either Donnelly or Jason. Laine sat back, biting her remarks about not being surprised he didn't show up. The disappointment she felt at him not showing up to be her date at the wedding flickered to life in her green eyes. It had been unavoidable, inevitable, they both understood it was a bad idea. Yet she had put stock in a single phone conversation and a few nights stolen together as if she was a teenager. Maybe it was the danger or maybe it was the pure pleasure of feeling wanted after the empty months in the wake of her breakup that let her out hope in a hopeless situation. Or maybe it was more that she tried not to admit to herself to spare that pain. 

She clicked her pen and glanced up at Foster, her low husky voice tighter than usual, "Are they on a coffee run?"

Foster looked to Laine but paused with whatever banter he had prepared getting stuck in his throat at her gaze. He cleared his throat and shook his head, “They’re currently indisposed on another matter. Anyways,” he stood and a screen descended from the ceiling with a GPS terrain map descending from the heavens to zero in on Clarksburg, West Virginia, “Two days ago, the child found in McMecken’s Run was found again after escaping the hospital after Agent Jimenez dropped her off after the raid.”

“She is being held by Program personnel at a local Blacksite inside Clarksburg. Police have little interest in her being found, chalking it up to just another runaway kid they don’t have the resources or time for. However,” Foster rose his brows, “They know what she looks like and have orders to bring her into their custody if she’s seen on the streets. There’s no APB out on her, but the Program would like you to maintain low-visibility when you make contact with the Program personnel.”

“You are to make your way to Clarksburg, the rendezvous point will be messaged to your encrypted smartphones en route. After the Program team hands the package over to you, you are to take the Sprinter van, a non-descript white Ford Transit to another location.” A picture of the van in question with the make and model, as well as license plate number appeared over the terrain map, “The location will again be messaged to your encrypted smartphones once the Program personnel have confirmed that the package has been handed off. Once you make it to the second location, you are to confirm that the package in your possession has been handed to one Sobel.”

A picture of a man who looked to be the epitome of average with blue eyes that seemed at peace, yet frighteningly deep and empty came on screen, “This will be the child’s caretaker.” Foster said, “Any questions?”

"Why us?" Dave asked. He cleared his throat and tried again, realizing he'd come off gruff. "Serious question. Why can't Sobel just pick her up himself? Why the go-between games? Not complainin', just curious. Don't seem like our usual gig, is all."

Foster pursed his lips, his mouth drawn thin like holding back secrets as he looked at Overman. The other man nodded, “It would be like sending me to fetch coffee. Could I do it? Yes. Would it be the best use of my talents? No.”

Foster interjected, “The circumstances surrounding the child’s escape are… well, had this happened without us in the picture, what happened in the hospital would certainly warrant us becoming involved.” Foster inclined his head, hoping Dave caught his meaning, “That is to say, after being admitted, the nurses tried to remove the child’s earphones. After that, official reports become murky. Program personnel had to be scrambled to the scene, a cover-up was thrown over the events.”

“Eyewitness accounts say the air around the child began to shimmer, before she seemingly disappeared. The smell of electrical burn and ozone lingered.” Foster nodded to the picture of Sobel, “This man is one of the valuable few the Program has in dealing with these sorts of things. A skill set similar to Mr. Overman here, and so he is best equipped to handle the child.”

Foster looked at everyone in the room, “Not to mention that like everyone in this room, he does not officially exist when working under the authority of the Program. And unlike everyone in this room, his status is not on-call, but full-time.”

Foster opened his mouth to speak, but whatever words were there seemed to be shy. He forced them out from behind his lips with some work, not meeting his team’s gazes, “This assignment was given to us as a formal handover of the case to another Working Group. Our likenesses are too high-profile to continue operating within West Virginia.” Foster said lamely, “Further orders as to our status as a Working Group are to come after the mission.”

Laine closed her eyes briefly at the description about shimmering air and ozone but glanced sharply at Foster when he said their case was given away. 

"We've worked too hard and lost too much for them to just take it away," she said, tapping her pen against the steno pad. "This last thing they want us to do in Clarksburg, it's some token thrown to us before they rip the case away from us.   And are you saying they'll break up UMBRA, Mr Foster?" 

She cut to what struck her the most, despite all her own doubts she felt a fierce protectiveness over her team. "Because I think that would be a mistake, we've had some unexpected incidents but we work well together, we trust each other."

“No, Doctor Laine, they’re not that stupid. Thankfully.” Foster snorted ruefully, “We have unfinished business in Alaska and the Working Group taking over still needs whatever Intel lead we have there.”

“And Donnelley and Jason may have a strong case for activating UMBRA somewhere in, ah, somewhere a ways away.” Overman added.

Ava frowned as she processed the information, sitting quietly and taking mental notes of the meeting. Her heart sank a bit as she listened to what happened to the girl Donnelley and Jason had found. While her skin prickled at the alleged story of her ‘teleporting’ away, with similar means to the Hound, she was still just a little girl.

Abandoned, with no family and possessing abilities she doesn’t fully understand…

Ava raised her hand as she looked at the picture of the man that would be the girl’s “care-taker”. “Is this Sobel man...good with children?” She asked Foster with a concerned frown. “I don’t mean the...Nightcrawler BAMFing, but you know just...Taking care of a seven year old? She’s still just a little girl.”

“Taking care of children is not within the Program’s mission.” Foster frowned at Ava, shrugging as if that was that, “He’ll have to be a good caretaker.”

Ava frowned, crossing her arms over her chest. “He’ll have to be, but will he?”

Laine glanced at Ava, her concern about the child brought her back to that subject. “Have we found out anything else about this girl? I know it might not be part of our mission but a lost child is a lost child and there are likely parents suffering to know what happened to her.” 

She thought briefly of the women’s remains being identified and the killers still out in the hills. Now she was being pulled away from the very thing she had been asked to do and it still grated on her. “We have so much unfinished business, will we at least be able to meet with the team taking over so we can share our information?”

“That’s what you’re meeting for. And going to the BLACKBOX will be our last task on this investigation.” Foster looked at Ava and back to Laine, “And I expect that we don’t give the Program any excuses to bother us if any of you interfere without an [i]official[/i] order.”

“I don’t have to remind you of our interviews.” He said, folding his arms, “Do we all have an understanding or are there any other questions?”

Laine shook her head, her short dark hair swaying slightly as she did. “I’ll get a report together so they can have it all in one place, my analysis and Ava’s files.”

 Ava sighed and dropped the matter of the child’s care, for now. “Would it be out of bounds to offer my computer and analysis skills should the new team need it? Not going into the field obviously, but anything they find that needs looking over they can bring to me to take a crack at?”

Foster again looked at Overman for a brief moment and shrugged, “If it’s an official order. Internal Affairs has an eye on all of us.” Foster snorted, “I don’t have a doubt they’re monitoring Donnelley and Jason as we speak.”

He rose from the table and the screen sank back into the ceiling, the dimmed lights coming back up in brightness, “If that’s everything, let’s get to work. The Working Group is expecting you all ASAP.”

Laine rose from her chair, stepping back and looking at Foster. "I won't interfere but I would like to keep tabs if it involves the killers of the missing women. I usually stay updated with cases I've advised on."

The sight of Maria floated in her mind, the skinless woman who suffered so much at the hands of not only her murderers but at the men that had kidnapped and sold her and who traded her flesh. Her green eyes flickered, watching Foster. It wasn't an FBI case or a local, it was something even deeper, deeper and darker than even the CIA. 

Dave reached over and gave Ava’s knee a reassuring squeeze, then stood himself. 

“Well, I’ll just tag along,” he said. “Turnin’ over cases, briefings, all that’s y’alls thing. I’ll just hang out and…” He shrugged. “I guess shoot any bad guys that show up.”

“Hopefully this’ll be an exercise in, uh, [i]not[/i] going out guns blazing for you.” Overman addressed Dave and the rest without giving the courtesy of looking at him, “I’ve seen how this top-secret bunch operates. I’ve yet to figure out if this is Donnelley’s fault or just a unanimous decision to be... loud.”

Foster pursed his lips at Overman and then nodded to the door, “Best get going, UMBRA.”

>CIA HQ, PARKING GARAGE
>29AUG2019...///

The matte black Range Rover sat idling in the garage, the quiet rumble being heard from outside echoing through the empty concrete labyrinth of the CIA’s parking complex. Inside and hidden by the tinted windows young Avery sat in the driver seat, fingering the 9mm Glock issued to him by the Program. He’d worked his way up from Safehouse security to… chauffeur, he guessed.

He had slacks and a button-up dress shirt on, rolled up to the elbows. Perhaps the fanciest set of clothing he’d ever owned, besides his Army dress uniform that was in his closet far away from here. Funny, he’d been in firefights and strange locales without any other friends besides his PsyOps team and any ODA they’d be supporting, and here he was in America with clammy hands to be driving from point A to point B.

Maybe it was the fact he’d be around Ava again. He never forgot the woman ever since the safehouse. She was pretty, and around his age, something he never really came across too often in the Program. Mostly it was just dusty old grizzled agents and hard-eyed, quiet killers. Neither of which he was, even in the Army. PsyOps wasn’t exactly known for kicking doors and stacking bodies.

Even so, when he saw the four members of UMBRA approaching his vehicle, he tried to put on his best impression of a hard-eyed, faceless agent of the Program. And failed. He instead just rolled down his window, repositioned his sleek shades on top of his forehead and smiled, “Cab’s here!”

Ava perked up as she recognized Avery’s smiling face and she grinned. “Hey! Avery!” She said, giving him an excited wave. She hadn’t seen him since The Hound incident and her mood was buoyed to see him apparently doing well since that horrible night. “How have you been?”

Avery smiled at the redhead, “Been better,” Avery shrugged, “Been worse. I guess I’m your driver today!”

Dave grinned when he spotted Avery, raising a hand with Ava. He'd liked the kid, despite his frustrations during their last time together. Dave wasn't one to hold grudges. 

"Hey, what's up man?" He said, following Ava to the Range Rover and pulling the door open for her.

“Oh, you know how it is. Another cool assignment nobody will ever hear about.” Avery winked at Dave. “You wanna ride shotgun?”

"Nah, I'll leave the front for one of the ladies," Dave said. "They'll be better navigators than me anyway." 

He opened the back of the vehicle and tossed his single duffel bag inside, then took Ava's for her. That done, he offered a hand for Laine's. "Y'all want to load up, I got your bags." 

Laine left the meeting with an uncertain feeling, a mix of anxious resentment and resignation to losing the case and the sense of something held between Foster and Overman nagged at her. She was lost in thought when Dave spoke to her. 

“Ah, yes, thank you,” Laine said, focusing on him and handing over the suitcase but kept her laptop case with her. “I’ll ride shotgun, if you don’t mind.”

She tried not to glance towards Ava but failed as she flickered her green eyes at the young woman. Laine smiled slightly and opened the passenger door. 

“Hope you don’t mind,” Laine said to Avery as she buckled herself in, not prepared to leave even if he did mind. She rested her head against the cushion of the bucket seat, turning to gaze back at where they had come from. She was packed for Alaska but her security was shaken without Donnelly in the car. There always came a time for little birds to fly but it felt wrong, . 

“Not at all.” He smiled at Laine despite the trouble weighing down her brows, “Another sunrise, yeah?”

“So, where are we meeting this new team?” Ava asked, already buckled in the back seat and waiting for Dave to join her, her foot bouncing lightly with general nerves. “Do we have to go far?”

“Not far, just Clarksburg,” Avery said as he shifted the SUV into drive and let it amble towards the garage’s exit. Once they got there, he waved his badge to the gate guard and they were waved through, “That’s about all I know. Supposed to get a message from them once we pass into the city.”

“Hey,” Avery turned to Laine, “Speaking of sunrises, where’s that ray of sunshine and the big dude? Donnelley and Jason? They driving themselves?”

Laine smiled at Avery when he said that, then nodded. “Looks like a new dawn, a new day,” she agreed, though the unfinished business in West Virginia pulled at her she had to push it away. That was the nature of her job, afterall. Advise and assist then let others finish the task of arrest and prosecution. But it felt different this time, she was unsatisfied by her effort and had trouble releasing her grip on Maria’s killer. Killers, she corrected herself and the reminder of the new information, the forensics that she had yet to see results on nagged at her. 

And Overman. She did not like him or trust him, the sense of him striking her as false. It was something she had learned to spot, reaching past the slick veneer of accomplished liars.

At Avery’s question, she broke her thoughts and looked at him, “Yes, I suppose they are at some point. No doubt they’ll meet up with us soon.”

Laine sat still for a moment, it bothered her more than she had admitted that Donnelly and Jason were missing. Whether it was her personal feelings or not, it would not leave her alone. 

“I hope so at least,” she allowed herself to voice the apprehension. Laine reached for a cigarette but stopped, not wanting to punish those in the truck with the thick scent of burning cloves. 

Ava’s foot bounced a little harder thinking about Jason and Donnelley. Wherever they were it was bound to be dangerous, she hoped they were okay. Though at the mention of Donnelley, she was beginning to wonder how he would take being taken off the case. Knowing him, he probably wouldn’t take it well.

She glanced over to Dave beside her in the back and gave him a smile. 

Dave reached over and gave Ava's hand a quick squeeze. "Donnelley is still runnin' the show for UMBRA, they ain't gonna keep him away for too long." He paused. "Not gonna lie though, I'm kinda okay with not havin' THUNDER around. Them dudes put me on edge, and if they ain't here we probably won't be gettin' into anything crazy." 

“Must be why they were the ones doing the dirty work that night.” Avery said, head turning left and right as he looked for any oncoming traffic before he turned, “I’d see guys like them coming in or going out in Afghanistan and Sudan. Some of them were quiet like Ghost and others were like Queen.”

Avery snorted, chuckled a little nervously as if THUNDER would appear at any moment. The stories about them and the other Wetwork Teams in the Program could make anyone believe that was a possibility. Killer’s killers, “I don’t really like that guy, [i]Queen.[/i] Like, dudes like Ghost I can trust to not stab me without a reason. With Queen? I just dunno. Don’t know what Donnelley sees in those guys.”

“Anyways, what kinda music you guys like? I got all kinds, background noise for the drive.” Avery smiled around.

>CLARKSBURG, WV
>1000...///

As promised, the location of the meeting point was sent to the team’s smart phones via encrypted message. After a four hour drive, they’d made it into Clarksburg proper, but the coordinates led them to an old overpass on the city limits. A lone car was parked in the shadows under the low bridge. They were stopped on the road, their two vehicles facing each other, but from what Avery could tell it was not occupied. “Getting to see why you guys call them [i]spooks.[/i]” Avery muttered, still peering out at the car and waiting for something to happen. “Please, don’t tell me the girl’s in the trunk or something.”

He flinched as his phone went off, a ska song signaling a call from an unknown number. He looked around at the rest and then picked it up, “Hello?”

“Speaker.” The voice on the other line said. Avery did as told, and the voice on the other end could be heard by the rest in the car, “The keys to the vehicle in front of you are hidden in the front driver-side wheelwell. Open the trunk and you will find a note. Send the woman riding shotgun to get it.”

Avery looked to Laine, “Your time to shine.” Avery unholstered the Glock at his side and placed it on the dash, “I got you covered.”

Dave had drawn his Sig as well, the weapon reassuring in his hand. He gave Laine's shoulder squeeze from his position in the back seat. 

"I'm here too," he said, his drawling voice low and calm. He glanced sidelong at Ava and gave her a wink. 

She smiled at him, trying to hide the nerves making a cold sweat break out across her skin. “Really, they just need a sign that says ‘free candy’ to make this seem even more legit.” Ava said, trying to inject some lightness into her tone. She grimaced a moment later, instantly regretting opening her mouth. “Um, sorry, I’ve been spending too much time with Donnelley.”

Laine glanced over her shoulder when Dave’s hand gave her the comforting squeeze. She nodded, her own gun snug against her ribs in the shoulder holster under her black blazer which she unbuttoned to give herself access to it. She took a deep breath, her calm expression belied only by the nervous chuckle at Ava’s joke. 

“It would make this all sweeter,” she said, forcing herself to keep it light.

Laine exited the vehicle, her heels clicking against the asphalt. Smoothing her narrow skirt, she walked forward with a measured stride. Her eyes scanned the car and the area around and behind it, trying to catch any movement that might give away that someone was watching. 

When she got to the car, she bent to reach under the wheel well, feeling around for the magnet box that contained a key. She took it out and moved quickly to the trunk, sticking the key into the lock before pausing. Paranoia crept over her, what if it was like the door to the cabin where the shotgun had been a hair away from blowing her legs off. She closed her eyes for a moment and turned the key. There as a little girl somewhere that was lost and Laine held the key to getting her a step closer to safety. 

With the thought of the children she could never save hanging in her mind, she pushed the trunk open, stepping back instinctively as she did. When nothing happened, she moved forward to peer into the dark cavity of the empty trunk. Nearly empty, as there was a folded piece of paper laid in the center. 

Laine picked it up, there was a key with a cheap plastic fob on it that had a “9” stamped onto it and an address. After closing the trunk, she went back to the truck and got in, tapping the address into the GPS.

“Looks like another shitty motel,” she announced, reading the information about the address that popped up on the search. “The key is for room 9, that’s where we’ll find her I assume.”

Laine craned her neck to look back at Dave and Ava, “I think Ava and I should pick her up, it might be a little less frightening.” 

“She’s been around big, scary men all this time.” Avery shrugged, “I’m good with it. Let’s go.”

“See you.” Came the voice from the phone, then the call terminated.

>30 MINUTES LATER...///

The address had been on the other side of the city, Avery deftly dodging traffic and red lights every opportunity he had. As much as he was trying to be a good wheelman he really didn’t know if all those detours had saved them time or cost them some. In the end though, they did make it. And the hotel was indeed shitty. The paint was faded and even peeling in places, a one-story establishment that wrapped itself in a squared horseshoe around its parking lot.

The sign just under “Mountain Spring Motel” read No Vacancy. Not a problem, they wouldn’t be staying long. Avery kept the engine running as they sat in the parking lot. The scarred and rough, aged asphalt of the parking lot had no painted lines, the paint long ago chipped and rubbed away. It made even finding a spot for the Land Rover into guesswork. Avery nodded to the two women, “We’ll be waiting.”

Laine held the key and flipped it around her finger, tucking the fob against her palm as she observed the motel. Another faded West Virginia landscape, eaten away by decades of poverty and disuse. She got out of the car and waited for Ava, the difference between the women striking her at that moment. Laine knew how she looked dressed in the severe black, just like an agent of some sort, but Ava was warm and soft, perfect for getting a girl to feel more at ease. 

“I’ll open the door and provide back up, you can speak with her,” Laine offered, glancing at Ava, “I’ve never been much of a kid person anyway.” 

Ava smiled at Laine, trying to hide the anxiety forming a knot in her chest. She knew that these were their own people, but the mystique behind the whole thing and all the hoops they had to jump through made her nervous. It felt more like they were walking into something unexpected.

“I’ll do my best. Probably helps I look like a kindergarten teacher.” She turned to the car and gave Dave a reassuring wave as she followed Laine inside.

The layout of the motel made it easy to find the door, it was ground floor at least which felt safer. The door was cheap pressed wood with peeling paint and dark stains where hundreds of hands that had passed over the handle.

Laine drew her Glock and held it at her side before she unlocked the door and knocked a few times before opening it. The same paranoia made her stomach knot and she scolded herself, this was a drop off from [i]their[/i] own people. But the suspicion and insecurity from the meeting with Overman and Foster clung to her like stale cigarette smoke.

Ava took in a deep breath as Laine opened the door, hearing the sounds of a television on in the room. At least there wasn’t screaming or gunfire. She nodded to Laine and walked into the doorway, her eyes sweeping the room.

It was a normal motel room, standard affair with a packed down carpet like cardboard and heavily faded bed linens. The television was on, playing some brightly colored cartoon on PBS, the only light source in the room as the curtains were drawn shut, there were a few toys on the still made bed.

There was no sign of the little girl.

Ava’s heart dropped. “Laine! She’s not in here!” She called out over her shoulder, quickly going over to the bed and kneeling on the floor. She lifted up the sheets, hoping to find the child hiding from the strange knock on the door.

There was nothing. 

She lifted her head as she heard the faint sound of a phone ringing from inside the bathroom. She looked over to Laine with wide eyes. “Are they making us jump through another hoop?”

Laine stepped inside as Ava began to search, scanning the room but saw no sign of a child hiding. The question remained unanswered as she rushed to the bathroom and shoved the door open, her gun still in hand. 

The phone was vibrating and ringing, skittering towards the edge of the sink. She snatched it up and swiped to answer the call, hitting the speaker button. 

"Hello?" Laine asked, pausing before she used her name. The same crawling sensation she had at the meeting and the car now tickled over her scalp. 

“Hello, Doctor Laine.” Came Renko’s voice from the other end, “I have child. I will give her to you, but you must leave the hotel. Da? Understood?”

Her mouth went dry at the sound of the Russian accent and she turned to look at Ava as she held up the phone. It sounded like the strange man that had both endangered and saved them from the thing she could only describe as a hellhound. 

"Is she ok?" Laine asked, regaining her wits but held off from peppering him with questions. "Alright, where do we go? Where do we meet?"

“You want things too fast, you must leave.” Renko said, a bit of pleading in his voice, “Bratva are coming to hotel, you have five minutes, go now.”

"Fuck," Laine hissed and waved at Ava to follow, "We need to go, now."

Ava stiffened, her face growing pale but she nodded and quickly left the room, looking up and the hallway as she waited to follow Laine. She was getting a feel enough for field work that when someone says it was time to move; it was time to move with no time for questions.

She hurried out the door, the Glock now held in a more defense manner as her gaze swept over the parking lot. Her high heels beat a sharp staccato as she walked quickly towards the idling truck where the men waited.

Dave frowned when he saw the change in Laine’s demeanor, alarm bells ringing in his head as he watched her walk back to the SUV. He rolled down the window and leaned his head out.

“Laine! What’s wrong, are you okay? Where’s the kid?” He called. Things weren’t going according to the briefing, and his short time with UMBRA had taught him that if things went off-plan, it was usually a clusterfuck. 

Ava hurried toward the idling car, relief and safety in sight from whatever was pushing them to move. She shook her head rapidly at Dave’s question. “She’s not there.” She said as she reached the vehicle and quickly climbed inside.

Laine got into the truck, turning to look at Avery, “Drive, the Russians are coming.” 

She called back to Dave, “The girl wasn’t there, we’re going to go get her.”

Grabbing her seat belt, she tucked the phone against her shoulder, “We’re moving, now tell us where to go, Renko.”

“Oh, Jesus Christ, no.” Avery’s face grew pale as he swallowed hard. He stomped the gas a little too hard and forgot he’d left the Range Rover in Drive as they almost plowed through the wall in front of them. He quickly corrected himself, chanting the word ‘fuck’ under his breath. They were out on the road again and Avery gunned it in no particular direction.

Wherever Russians and Renko were, he wanted to stay well away from, “It’s him again?”

“Before I tell you, you need to make sure you are not being followed. Very important.” Renko instructed. “When you are sure, go to Hite Field. I am in white truck. Do not ask how I get this truck.”

He laughed on the other end of the phone as if he was talking to an old friend, and even when he stopped there was a smile in his voice, “It’s only joke. Not funny?”

Laine clutched the phone as the truck jerked to a stop and then backed up. She furrowed her brow at Renko’s humor and said, “I don’t care where you got the truck, we just want the girl. Hite Field. We’re on our way.”

She paused then asked in a lower voice, “Is it just the [i]Bratva[/i] coming?”

“If it were my people they would have been waiting for you. I am your friend, remember? I do not lie to friends.” Renko said, perhaps trying to be reassuring, “Just Bratva. Hite Field. I have terms. You agree to hear terms, I make sure we stay friends. Understand?”

At the word [i]Bratva[/i] Dave uttered a string of profanity that would have had Ghost raising an eyebrow. He holstered his compact Sig and then removed the rig from his waistband, tucking it into the back-pouch of Laine’s seat. 

“You’d better not be fucking us, Renko!” He called, unbuckling and half-diving over the seat into the back of the Range Rover. He grabbed his duffel and hauled it over the seat, setting it between himself and Ava. 

“I want to trust you, man, but you’re making it hard.” As he spoke, Dave was struggling into his plate carrier. He buckled his battle belt around his waist, with his full-size Sig and magazines already in place, then grabbed his SLR and cranked a mag into it. The 5.56 AK was equipped with a folding stock, which he left collapsed for maneuverability in the confines of the vehicle. 

“Any Bratva show up, we’ll handle it, but you’d better have that girl.” The distinctive [i]clack-clack[/i] of him chambering a round served to punctuate his statement. 

Laine glanced at the rear view mirror as Dave jumped into action then back at her phone, "What are your terms then?"

“You make me feel like bad friend when you say these things. I tell you terms in person like friends. Meet me.” And he terminated the call.

>HITE FIELD
>15 MINUTES LATER...///

Just as promised, Renko was in the gravel parking lot as they rolled into Hite Field, sitting on the bed of his small Ford Ranger with the girl dressed in an oversized hoodie that may as well have been a dress. The ice cream cone in her hands was slowly turning to mush, running down over her fingers to drip on the ground below. She stared at the approaching Range Rover with no discernible expression, though her face was no longer dirty. Renko waved, happily licking away at his own ice cream cone and smiling as if this was just a rendezvous between good friends. 

Avery wondered if the eccentric Russian spy was as dumb as he acted, “This dude is so fucking weird.” He muttered, “Who’s grabbing her?”

Laine took a deep breath, “I think Ava and I should, I’d like to speak with Renko.”

She looked over the seat at her, “If you are up to it, I still think the girl will be more apt to go with you. Did you grab one of her toys?” 

Ava mentally kicked herself. “No.” She sighed, running a hand over her face. “I didn’t think too, I wasn’t...thinking clearly.” She cleared her throat but nodded. “I’ll go with you.” She looked over to Dave, smiling at him and feeling a little more safe knowing he was watching her back.

Laine got out of the truck, giving what she hoped seemed like a cheerful wave back and pushed a smile to her face at least to put the girl at ease. “It’s good to see you!” 

“We meet again, Doctor!” Renko smiled, “I have kept her safe. I try to get her to eat and she does not, strange.”

He reached behind the girl slow as slow and retrieved some kind of device, as large as a pill. He threw it to Laine for her to catch, “Do you know what this is?” He asked, another lick of his ice cream. Vanilla. He nodded at it, knowing Laine might not, “Tracking device. I do not know who put it on her.”

Ava climbed out of the truck, straightening her skirt and blouse as she walked forward on the gravel driveway. She smiled over at the little girl, though noted the lack of emotion or interest in her ice cream. That wasn’t too surprising, she might be traumatized from whatever she went through and was weary to trust a bunch of strange adults.

She stopped a little behind Laine, her focus shifting to Renko and she waved to him. “Hello Renko...Um...Thank you for helping me when I was…” She trailed off and cleared her throat, nodding to him. “Thank you.”

“It was no trouble.” He nodded.

Laine managed to catch it, clutching it against her chest before pulling back to look at it. She met Renko’s gaze and nodded, “We appreciate your help. How did...”


She stopped herself from asking the question that nagged at her the most. [i]How[i] he found them and the girl. 

“I hope that everything worked out well,” she said, not wanting to alarm the girl but wanting to know what happened to the people that had been holding her. 

Laine shook her head at his question, tucking her hands in her blazer including the tracking device. She stepped towards Renko, allowing Ava to speak with the girl. When she was closer she asked as she watched his face and tried to meet his eyes, “You’ve saved the day again, friend, how can we thank you?”

“I have a favor to ask. We are friends, but I am not giving you this girl for free. I told you I am desperate man, few things I can do only out of kindness these days.” His mood seemed to darken and the hand holding his ice cream drooped. He sighed, “If you do what I ask, I will owe you much. I am GRU operative, it is true, but I do not like the work they make me do.”

“That is neither here nor there, as you say, I am grateful you trust me. I do not think the people they sent after you left this city would trust me.” He smiled softly to them, something in his eyes told them that it was all the truth, “I need to speak to your higher-up, your leader. Are you the one I am looking for, Doctor?”

While Laine spoke to Renko, Ava approached the little girl, trying to make herself as non-threatening as possible as she smiled at her. “Hello,” She said with a little wave. “What do you have there? Ice cream? Ooh, I’m jealous. What kind did you get?”

The girl looked at Ava, holding her gaze until Ava’s smile faltered just a bit after a few moments of no answer. The girl looked down to her ice cream and did not look back up.

Something about his demeanour made the tension in Laine’s shoulders relaxed slightly and she took her phone from her pocket. “Our team leader isn’t here. I suppose...”

Laine glanced at Ava, who was CIA but Laine had the field experience dealing with witnesses and suspects. She thought about calling Donnelley, but brushed it aside at first. Wherever he was, knowing him it was some place dangerous and besides, he wasn’t here. Her hand touched her phone in her pocket and suddenly the look in Foster’s face came rushing back. 

“I can try calling him,” she said, turning away and waking her phone up. She scrolled quickly and tapped Donnelley’s contact number. Laine tapped it and held it close to her ear, her dark hair falling over it to muffle the wind. 

It rang for a while and went to voicemail which she decided against leaving. She could not rely on Donnelley, she should have realized it after he stood her up for the wedding weekend. Hanging up, she turned back to Renko. 

"Guess that means me," she smiled a bit but the concern still knit her brow.  "Let's have a chat then, what's on your mind."

Her green eyes flickered towards the girl with Ava and back to Renko. "How can I help you?"

“Two things.” He showed the number on his fingers, folding one down, “Take the child. Far away. Do not let anyone you do not know take her away from safety. I know where she came from, and it is not here in America.”

He folded the other finger down and his hand returned to his lap, “I am Russian, I was a patriot and in some ways- many ways- I still am. I would never betray my oath to my country, but I can not let this stand. As a Russian, as a good person.” He swallowed, looking around, practiced eyes scanning for anyone listening, “Kherson, in Ukraine. There is an orphanage there where they took the children from, her and many others. Children disappear all the time in Kherson, and no one cares when they are Jews, and the GRU least of all.”

“The GRU is using it as a lab, the children are their mice. They take the children and they are never seen again, but this time it is very cruel. They have hidden something there that is killing the children, making them sick.” Renko’s lip curled in contempt. Contempt and sadness, “I need you to stop them. I need you to keep this quiet. You are the only ones I can trust, even my friends in the GRU I can say nothing to.”

His lip quivered and his breath hitched, he hid it in a cough and looked away, “Please.” He said, falling quiet for a few moments, “I must go. If you do this for me I will only give you more important things. I start with giving the child to you, but I beg of you...”

He stood from his seat, gently letting the child stand on the ground before shutting the tailgate. He turned to Laine, “I beg of you to be careful who you trust. You are my only friends in this world. I would become lonely without you.” He said, a small smile as he regarded Laine and then turned to walk to his driver door, “Before they come for me too.”

He shut his truck’s door and the engine came to life. The gravel under his wheels cracked and popped as his truck rolled through the gravel parking lot, turning onto the street and disappearing into traffic.

Laine watched Renko as he spoke, the story he told hit her like a hammer. It felt like every case of child abuse and murder but rolled up into something more. Something systematic and calculated and completely heartless. She nodded, the mistrust she held for the Russian finally melting away. 

“We’ll take care of her, I promise,” she said, holding his gaze and returned his smile. It was not really an expression of joy but of mutual understanding, that they were on the same side in this fight despite their nationalities. “[i]Dasvidaniya[/i], my friend.”

Ava stared after the truck, eyes wide as she processed the information then looked down to the little girl. “...Right, um, come on sweety.” Ava held out her hand to the child to take. “My name is Ava, how about we clean up that ice cream and I can show you a fun video game I have?”

Dave half-watched the proceedings, his focus mostly on their surroundings. He was low in his seat to keep his tactical gear from being visible to passers-by, but his eyes combed the area, looking for anything out of place.

Families passed, oblivious to the tension of his little group. He felt a twinge of jealousy at their naivety, and directed a glare upwards, towards the God he was beginning to question more and more lately. 

Small birds darted overhead, and he froze as he caught sight of one small dot that seemed to hover against the blue sky. It suddenly made a hard right turn and flitted off, and his blood froze. He hit the window-down button. 

"Ava! Laine! Car, now!" He shouted, his tone drawing glares from a couple of passing men who assumed he was just being a dick to the ladies.

Dave ignored them, leaning forward to smack Avery on the shoulder.

"Start the truck, we've got a drone in the sky," he said. 

Laine watched Renko leave then turned to the girl and remembered the tracker. She put her hand in her pocket, the small bit of tech she was going to ask Ava about until Dave called out. She looked around but saw nothing alarming, regardless she trusted Dave and she reached her hand out for the girl and Ava to go ahead of her, “Let’s go, we’re in the middle of it now.” 

The chill of panic ran down Ava’s spine as the little girl took her hand. Ava tried to smile down at her to reassure her. “Alright, come on, let’s get going! We’re going to race to the car now!” She said, inflecting her voice like she was playing a game as she started to jog toward the car, pulling the child along with her.

Laine got to the truck, opening the door for Ava to help her hustle the little girl inside. She reached back to find the rusty Russian she knew but had not used in some time, “[i]Vse budet khorosho, dorogoy.[/i]”

The girl looked at Laine, big eyes growing wet, “[i]Ya napugan. Gde Renko?[/i]”

Her small voice caught Laine off guard and she met her eyes as she translated what the girl said. The accent was different but clearly Russian. “[i]Byt' khrabrym.[/i],” she said, trying to dig for other words of assurance as Ava buckled her into the center seat. Laine climbed into the passenger seat and turned to look at the girl, smiling at her. 

She was worried about Renko and so was Laine, about the whole situation. Everything seemed off since the meeting with Foster and Overman. Donnelley not being there. Now what was supposed to be a routine exchange was tossed into the wind. “My name is La... [i]menya zovut[/i]Heather. [i]kak vas zovut?[/i]”

The girl held Laine’s gaze and her lip began to quiver. Soon her wet eyes had become waterfalls, her tiny voice whimpering as she closed her eyes and pressed the tiny palms of her hands against her ears, “[i]Ya ne khochu vozvrashchat'sya, Renko skazal, chto ya ne vernus'...[/i]”

Laine’s chest clenched at the sight of the little girl breaking down, so afraid of returning to the people that hurt her. The FBI agent tried to speak but her voice caught and her throat closed with hot tears that wanted to threaten. She searched her brain for the right words no less in Russian. She tried to smile, reaching over the seat to try and assure her. “[i]Nikto tebya ne voz'met. Ya obeshchal Renko. YA obeshchayu tebe.[/i]”

She closed her eyes briefly, promising something she was not sure she could deliver was something she had told herself she would never do with a child but here she was. Laine gave her another smile, then turned back to sit down as the truck moved. She took a deep breath, “Renko said we had to be very careful with who we trust, not to let her go. I believe him, after what he said about where she came from. Look, I don’t have a good feeling about this, something is up. Foster was lying, I don’t know about what but...it felt wrong. I don’t trust Overman.” 

Ava had sat in her seat, watching Laine converse with the little girl with growing dread. It pained her to see the child in distress and even though she didn't know what they were saying, the meaning of it was loud and clear. 

She blinked her eyes to keep her own tears from forming and offered her hand for the little girl to hold if she wanted. “So...what do we do?” Ava asked Laine with a frown. “How do we help her?”

Laine reached into her pocket and twisted in the seat, handing the pill sized tech to Ava. “He said they had a tracker on her.”

The memories of Renko’s sudden appearance at their motel as he was chased by that hellhound rose in her mind. He trusted them, for whatever reason and Laine had no reason anymore to think he was lying. Renko was desperate to help the child.

“Aren’t we supposed to take her to the objective? The… guy?” Avery asked, his expression growing more worried by the sudden talk of insubordination and trust games being played right in front of him, an outsider, “Look, I don’t know how to feel about what you guys are talking about. Does Donnelley know anything about what you guys are saying?”

“I’ll deal with Donnelley,” Laine said, “He and I...Right now, you listen to me, Avery. It’ll be fine.”

She turned to look at him and stared for a long moment at the young man’s face. “It’ll be fine, don’t worry.” 

As the little girl cried Dave felt his own heart break. A cold anger settled in him, the sudden urge to find the people who had dared terrorize a child and hurt them. Badly. 

He fought to keep the fury from showing in his eyes, instead smiling gently at the little girl. 

"Gonna be okay sweetheart," he said, knowing she couldn't understand the words but hoping the warm tone would break the language barrier. "Ain't gonna let nobody hurt you."

He glanced up at Avery, the uncertainty in the man's voice putting him further on edge. He flashed back to Avery freezing up during their last rodeo, and desperately hoped he wouldn't get any of them killed.

>20 MINUTES LATER...///

They were sent the address of a storage facility, neat little garages filled with the excess of peoples’ lives. A parking lot where RVs and Winnebagos rested until they were needed again. It was in there that they would switch vehicles to the Ford Sprinter Van. Before long, they’d made it to find four men and a woman standing around it, all of them looking expectantly at the Range Rover. Avery was starting to think the stresses of this outing with UMBRA was not yet over. He softly depressed the brake pedal and brought the Range Rover to a slow halt in front of the other people. He reached down to his seat and found the Glock there as the woman of the other group began to walk to his window.

There was a look in her eye as he brought his window down, “Yes?”

“Yes? That’s it?” She began, a cruel little smile twitching at the corner of her mouth, “We saw you meet with that weird fucker, who is he? How did he get the kid? Before you fucking lie to me just know that there’s four guns and a sharpshooter aiming at your heads.”

She looked to Dave in the back, “Don't even think of raising that fucking AK or you’ll find out if I’m lying or not.”

The other four men approached the car and the woman fixed her gaze on Avery again, her blue eyes and blonde hair, the vaguely aged attractiveness betraying a woman who could be commanding and dangerous if needed, “Unlock your doors. Where’s Donnelley, is he with Foster?”

Dave's blue eyes narrowed at the woman's tone, his weight shifting subtly at the mention of guns so that he could throw himself across the child and hopefully Ava if bullets started flying. She was another fucking Fed who was convinced she owned the world and answered to no one. He was starting to get tired of that attitude. 

He ground his teeth, trying to keep his temper in check, his eyes darting from the woman to the thugs. "Why y'all bein' so hostile? We're all on the same team, ain't we?"

Dave kept his hands still, though the way his drawl intensified spoke volumes about his irritation.

Ava glanced over to Dave, recognizing the tone of his voice and the way his accent was beginning to thicken. She felt it too, the shock and frustration with the situation. They just escaped an encounter with the Russian mafia by the skin of their teeth and they were being treated like criminals by their own people. 

She reached over to place a hand on his shoulder, hoping it brought him some measure of calm. Dave was their muscle, their point man if things went south, they needed him to have a clear head.

She frowned as a thought occurred to her and looked over to the woman. “So the drone we saw was yours? If you knew where the girl was, why didn’t you retrieve her?”

“We didn’t. Why the hell do you think we’re pointing guns at each other?” The Agent sneered, “We knew where you were, we’d been tracking you since the hotel. A glitch with the camera feed and by the time we saw you again, you’d left to meet with someone else.”

“So, answer me. How did he have the child? Who is he?” Her words were firm and without any pretense of politeness.

“[i]YA boyus…[/i]” The child whispered, pressing herself against Ava as if she was trying to squirm behind her.

Ava reached back and wrapped an arm around the girl.

Laine looked at the woman, a calm cool expression that she had practiced so often. Ducking so she could get a better view past Avery, she said, “Donnelley isn’t here, I’m in charge. Special Agent Laine. Now if you could get us that van I’d appreciate it. We made the pick up, followed the instructions. We don’t know who that man was, just like we don’t know who you are. So please, lower your weapons and let us continue our assignment.” 

She was channeling Lila Laine’s best annoyed at bad help voice and focused on the woman that looked like she probably yelled about her coffee. Laine raised her brows slightly, expectantly. “Foster expects us to get this done today.”

The Agent’s lip curled up in contempt for the nerve Laine was showing her, “Should I call it in that UMBRA had met an unknown military age male and exchanged god knows what with him for the package?” Her eyes narrowed, “Or maybe I just call it in to the Office of Security and see where that gets you.”

Her eyes scanned the occupants of the Range Rover and she snorted, “I’ll just do that.”

She turned around and stalked off, leaving her steely-eyed and sunglass wearing compatriots to watch them. Some of them stood with arms at their sides, others with hands casually resting on their handguns. A few moments passed with the Agent’s back turned to them as she spoke an unheard conversation over her phone. Her shoulders seemed to tense more and more until she returned the phone to her pocket and came back to Avery’s window. Her eyes were icy as she regarded each of them one by one, her tone no warmer, “I’m going to be looking for that friend of yours. Take the fucking van, hurry up and get the fuck out of my sight.”

She turned in a huff and rallied her team with a hand signal, filtering into two Dodge Interceptors and almost burning rubber out of the parking lot of the storage facility. They were finally alone again and Avery let go a heavy sigh, exhaling a breath that was held for almost the entire tense exchange. “Fuck.” He said, “Is this what fieldwork is like? Like, all the time?”

"Yeah, basically," Dave said. He leaned over and clapped Avery on the shoulder. "You get used to it. I've only got shot twice, so far." 

He opened his door. "Alright y'all, load up. Avery, help them girls with the bags, alright man? Ava's gotta get the girl situated and Laine's gotta do boss shit." He climbed from the vehicle and moved to the engine block, where he would have cover if things went pear shaped.

Ava relaxed somewhat as the team of hostile agents left, narrowing her eyes at them as they disappeared. Why had they been clocking them with a drone? From the motel no less and that glitch with their camera…

She shook her head as the paranoid conspiracies started to form and turned to Laine. “Um, can you help me with her? You are the only one that can speak her language.”

Laine breathed out, unsure to be relieved but at least they were leaving now. Renko would be on his own, but she had confidence in the man’s ability to keep two or three steps ahead of Special Agent Karen’s team. As they left, she silently mouthed, “Fuck you.” 

She climbed out of the truck after Dave, picking up her soft leather briefcase that held her laptop and files. Laine stepped around to the back, peering in at Ava and the girl. The woebegone expression on her young face tugged at her heart, stirring a fierce protectiveness that she had not expected to feel but should have. This girl was Maria, she was all the ones that disappeared and were ground up by the cruelty that humans can be capable of doing. Moreso, she was herself and one they could possibly save from GRU and their experiments.  

Laine looked at the girl, meeting her eyes as best she could, “[i]Oni ushli. Ty v bezopasnosti. Pozhaluysta, skazhi mne svoye imya, dorogoy.[/i]”

She then reached out her hand, unsure if the girl would accept afterall Ava was the soft one, the one that did not look like an agent.

The girl tentatively reached towards Laine’s hand, ever so slowly she came to wrap her soft grip around three of Laine’s fingers. She looked down at her feet as she shifted them nervously on the asphalt. Her shoes crunched across the stones in the concrete, avoiding the question. Or perhaps mustering up the courage for an answer, “[i]Ya ne znayu.[/i]” She muttered, “[i]Ya ne znayu, Ya ne lgu.[/i]”

Laine curled her fingers to hold the girl’s hand and looked down at her, then shifted her skirt up so she could crouch down so she would not be looming over her. She translated the girl’s words but could not recall the world for ‘believe’. Laine kept her phrases simple and hopefully clear, not wanting to make some subtle mistake that might change everything she meant. 

“[i]Vse v poryadke. Mozhete zvat' menya Heather...uh, Khizer. Yeye zovut Ava. Yego zovut Devid.”[/i] Laine smiled a little, gesturing first to herself and then at Ava and Dave. Then she glanced at Avery, “[i]Yego zovut Eyveri. Vy khotite, chtoby nazyvalos' imya?[/i]”

Laine could see the men hustling to load up the van and the pressure to move fast was knotting in her gut but she did not want to rush the girl. It seemed important to Laine that the girl knew them as people, like she saw Renko. Not just hands shuffling her off like a sack of potatoes and that she was an individual, not just some piece of an experiment. 

The girl’s brow rose and she went to chewing her lip. She looked away, eyes looking off to the bricks and mortar of this place. She stayed like that for a few moments and then looked back at Laine. She shrugged.

Laine took that as approval, unsure how to handle children but fumbling in the dark to make a connection, to try and ease some of the fear in her eyes. 

“[i]Khorosho, ya budu nazyvat' tebya Muru, tak menya nazyval moy dedushka. Eto po-finski.[i]”

She stood up, still holding her hand, “[i]Teper' poyekhali.[/i]”

“[i]Ya budu v bezopasnosti[/i]?” Muru asked.

Laine smiled again, the expression reaching her deep green eyes. She nodded at Dave and Avery, and then looked down at her, squeezing her hand slightly, “[i]Da.[/]”

She led her towards the van, gesturing to Ava to come with her as she would need to be in the back to help the girl. She wondered about this Sobel person they were taking her to and hoped that she had not just lied to the girl. The description of the situation Renko had described reminded her that the girl, Muru, was a weapon to these people. She was something to be examined and experimented on, and maybe not just by GRU. 

Dave watched the conversation, giving the girl a grin and a wink when he caught her eye. Despite his outward calm, there was still a steady throb of anger beneath. The next batch of Russians he met wouldn't have long to regret their crimes.

As Avery loaded the van Dave kept an eye to their surroundings, his grip on his rifle relaxed but ready. 

"Ya know, I been thinkin'," he said, frowning suddenly. "What happened to them boys who were supposed to meet us at the motel?" 

Laine helped Ava get Muru into the van, turning at Dave’s question. It had crossed her mind but had been lost among everything else. 

"I didn't see any sign of violence or struggle, no blood or anything," Laine said, then turned to look at the girl. She would know, Laine sighed inwardly at the prospect of questioning her with her limited Russian but there was no one else to ask. Even the cameras had been manipulated. 

While Laine spoke to the girl and Dave kept watch, Ava helped Avery move everything to the van. The last thing she grabbed was her messenger bag, fishing around in it while she did a final check of the van to make sure they didn’t leave anything behind.

She checked her skirt pocket to make sure the tracking device was still there and with a breath, stepped away from the Range Rover. She had looked it over on the drive there, but the only thing she could summarize was that it was indeed a tracking device and that due to the size likely didn’t have a very large range. Whoever had been using it would have had to have been close by, at the very least in the same city.

“Looks like that’s everything.” She announced; pulling out a bright, floral rectangular case from her bag. She opened it and retrieved a Nintendo Switch, wrapped in soft blues and pinks. She dropped the pill sized tracker into the carrying case and shoved it back into her bag.

Ava held up the gaming device as she joined Laine and Muru. “I think I can change the settings on this to be Russian if she can read.” She smiled down at the girl and turned on the device before she showed the girl all the games on the screen. “Would you like to play one of these?”

Muru looked at the plastic thing Ava was holding out to her, eyes examining it curiously before she looked up at Laine, [i]“Dlya menya?”[/i]

[i]”Da eto dlya tebya, Muru,”[/i] Laine nodded with a smile, gesturing for her to take it from Ava’s offering hand then looked at the redhead. “She asked if that was for her, I said yes.” 

“Oh, uuh,” Ava blinked, clearing her throat and looking over to Dave for some kind of help; but he was busy keeping watch. “That’s...suuure?” She said, her voice ticking up with slight uncertainty.

Muru took the Switch and looked at it, not quite sure what it was or what it did. Even so, she looked back at Ava and nodded her thanks. Her face had remained as it was since Jason and Donnelley pulled her from a meth house- implacable. She tugged at Laine’s hand and pointed at the van, apparently eager to go, or at least not be in the open. “[i]On ne khochet, chtoby ya poshel s toboy[/i].”

Laine tilted her head at that, perhaps she had misunderstood but allowed the girl to lead her to the van where she stood back for Ava, “[i]On?[/i]”

“[i]Plokhoy chelovek.[/I]” She murmured. “[i]Ya khochu uyti seychas.[/i]”

Laine glanced at Ava, noticing the uncertainty on her face. “Do you mind if I sit back here with you and her, I want to try and get some information about the motel. I’m not used to questioning children, I don’t want to upset her.”

She glanced down at the Switch in the girl’s hands and back at Ava, “Look, I don’t know the word for borrow.”

Her own uncertainty flickered over her face and she slid the van door open. 

“Uh, yeah, I can do that.” Ava nodded slowly. “Have to show her how that thing works right?” She chuckled nervously and adjusted the bag on her shoulder, looking back at Dave as she joined Laine and Muru at the van. She turned back to Laine and offered a reassuring smile. “For what it’s worth, you seem to be doing a great job so far.”

Dave kept his eyes moving, his paranoia riding high. While nothing drew good attention he was keenly aware of the passing minutes, and given that Bratva had already been on their tail he wanted to be moving as soon as possible. 

As the last bags were loaded he turned and headed for the van.

"Hey Laine, you mind if I sit in the back?" He asked, trotting to her. "Figure with the set up, it's the best place for me. I can take a knee to shoot out the windows, or bail out the slidin' door to shoot if I have to."

Laine turned to Dave, remembering suddenly that they were hardly out of the woods and bad men were coming. She nodded, "Of course, I'll ride shotgun."

She helped Ava get Muru into the van and settled in, giving the girl's hand a squeeze as she said, "[I]Yedem seychas. Ava i Deyv pomogut vam, ya budu vperedi.[/I]

Laine gestured to the front seat then backed out, moving to the passenger door to let herself in. Once she was buckled up, she found herself glancing at the rearview mirror to see how Muru was doing.

>1900...///

Non-stop driving. Music. The sound of hushed conversations. Somewhere behind him the sounds of a video game being played. After a while, the hum of tires singing across the road just fades into the background. Seven hours of cruise control had seen the sun go down and streetlights turn on. After a bit, even the streetlights went away, the night only being beat back by the lumens of the Campervan’s headlights. Among all this, Avery had time to think. About everything, and nothing. But it always went back to the same thing- Renko. The girl. The case- that he knew nothing about. Mostly just the fact he knew nothing about anything.

It was like the Army all over again. In his sphere, the SOF community, a lot of things were need-to-know. And a lot of those things he never learned about. Much less why or what that thing that killed half an ODA and the EOD girl he was getting sweet on in the span of three minutes was. Or why an OGA spook posing as a Military Intelligence Officer had come the day after to sweep it all under the rug, telling the angry Green Berets that he’d take care of it himself. He never knew if he did. Guess he didn’t need to.

And now, he was out of the Army. But still knee-deep in bureaucratic bullshit. Still had his eyes covered by the blindfold of need-to-know. Guard this Safehouse, Avery, that’s all you need to know. Drive these guys around, Avery, that’s all you need to know. He didn’t have a problem with the danger, hell, that’s half the reason he told the guy in the restaurant he’d take him up on his offer to get back at the things that took Air Force EOD Senior Airman Villaume away from him. But he wasn’t put on a Working Group. Just handed a Mossberg and some keys to a house in West Virginia. Shut up and wait. It was hard to believe in a cause that was so elusive. Hard to want to die for the righteous cause of shutting up and waiting.

He knew Dave liked him. He liked Dave. But Dave didn’t like some things about him, and that irked him. He was starting to realize that Dave didn’t like the fact he was so unsure of everything. But how could you be sure of something that everyone else but you needs to know?

He looked at Laine. It wasn’t hard to see that she and Donnelley were close. Donnelley and Dave were close too. They all were. He wanted that, “How long have you guys been working together?” He asked Laine.

Laine drifted in and out of sleep during the drive, keeping an ear out for the little voice at first then her focus turned towards the drop and Renko. Who was Sobel and could he be trusted, why she felt a connection with Renko and the distrust of the men that were supposed to be the leaders of the team. Everything seemed backwards now, ever since Clyde’s cabin and a living dead woman introduced her to this hidden world. The Russians were always a step ahead it seemed and it left them reeling.  

She blinked at the sound of Avery’s voice cutting over the music that was playing at a low volume. Laine sat up, her high heels kicked off and her bare feet against the floor mat showing off the pedicure of deep violet. 

“UMBRA? Well, it’s been since...” Laine paused, thinking about it. It seemed like years but it only been a few months. “I believe we started the case in West Virginia back in June.”

Avery’s brows went up, nodding, “You guys mesh well for only knowing each other for a few months.” He said, “I appreciate that. Good team. What’s your secret?” He chuckled.

Laine smiled slightly, thinking over the arguments, the harrowing moments and the intimate ones. “Well, we didn’t always and we’ve lost some of our team to death or attrition. What’s left is us, bonded through fire I think it’s called. We know we are all we have.”

She looked at him, suddenly having an urge to smoke but reminded herself there was a kid in the car. The girl. Laine turned and looked over her shoulder, realizing it had been hours since she heard a peep but Muru was not asleep. 

“Ava,” Laine said, “Has she asked for anything?”

 “Uh, no,” Ava said from the back seat, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. She was still dressed in her office attire and the uncomfortableness of the outfit was really starting to wear on her. She glanced over at Muru, her face illuminated by the screen of the Switch, with a fair amount of concern. “She hasn’t said a word to me. I’m kinda starting to get worried? She’s been playing Minecraft since we started driving and she has hardly looked away from the screen. I’m wondering if I should take it away from her? For a little while?” She suggested, looking up and to the others in the car. “She also hasn’t eaten or asked for anything to drink so, maybe we should stop and get some food?”

Dave leaned over where he could see Laine’s face, his own creased with concern. “I’m with Ava. Kid’s kinda worryin’ me. We should at least try an’ get some food in her, right? Hell, I know I’m hungry.” 

“We can stop at the next place we see.” Avery said, looking at the trio in the back through the rearview.

>TEXAS ROADHOUSE
>ATHENS, OHIO...///

Avery had stretched the parameters as much as he could. He’d kept driving past a few fast food restaurants and the prodding of his teammates. When even his stomach started to growl and cramp, he’d finally seen it as a priority higher than getting all of this stuff over with at the earliest opportunity. They’d pulled into the parking lot of Texas Roadhouse in Athens, Avery smiling at the cheesy “Texas” decor on the outside, the lights and dusk sun shining back in the lenses of his sunglasses, “Think Donnelley would like eating here?” He chuckled, “Remind him of home?”

Ava stretched up her arms and bent down to put her shoes back on her nylon clad feet, grumbling to herself about being stuck in her office attire. Everything was starting to get distinctly uncomfortable but she didn’t have much choice. 

She sat up and looked down at Muru, the gentle sounds of Minecraft’s background music drifting out from the small speakers in the Switch. She carefully put her hand on her shoulder to get her attention.

Laine slid her shoes back on as they pulled into the parking lot. The girl had been quiet as a mouse, absorbed in her game. She did not know much about children but it seemed like she would have wanted a snack or have to pee in the near full day of driving. 

Laine glanced at Ava, then removed her blazer, the thin black blouse clinging to her. She too was uncomfortable and for a brief moment she thought about the trip to Nordstroms Donnelley to her on when she had rushed to the site without packing. She needed to remember to keep a bag packed, something for all situations. 

At Avery’s remark, she smiled slightly then felt a sudden sharp pang of longing. She wanted him there, not just because he would know what to do but for her own reasons. She missed his company, his humor and the assurance she felt from him. Despite what had happened about the wedding, how he had not made it out there, she could forgive but the silence was deafening. He had not called or answered her calls for sometime. Laine swallowed the unexpected emotion and shook her head, “He’d probably love it and put on his accent to show the waitress she was dealing with the real deal. 

Laine huffed a short laugh at the idea, the ache of missing him slowly dissipating as she turned her attention turned to Ava and the girl. 

Approaching Ava she said, “After dinner we’ll go to Target or something. I forgot it’s adventure time every UMBRA meeting.”

She glanced down at Muru, Ava trying to pry her attention away from the screen of the Switch. “[i]Muru, ty goloden? Vannaya?”[i/]

After a long moment, Muru was taken out of her stupor brought on by the little gaming console and looked to Ava and Laine. Her face was as blank as it was as she shrugged, “Net.” She looked beyond the two women to see the restaurant, and looking back at them she said, “ty ostavish' menya v mashine?”

Her face did not betray emotion, simply a question that sounded as if the satisfactory answer was a yes or no. Almost unnervingly mature for a girl her age, though she had maybe proven from the first time she had been taken from the meth house that she was anything but a normal child.

“Net?”

Dave shed his flack and pistol belt, slipping his compact and spare mag rig back into his waistband. He hated having to leave the rifle and armor behind, but walking into a restaurant kitted out like a militia thug would probably make ordering a meal difficult. He half heard the conversation the girls were having, and glanced over at them.

"Net, that one's no, right?" He'd seen enough movies to have picked up that word, at least. "What's wrong, sweetheart, you don't want a little food? Gotta eat, ya know." 

Ava frowned as she stepped out of the car, looking down at Muru with a concerned furrow of her brow. “Maybe I shouldn’t have introduced her to video games.” She muttered to herself.

Laine cocked her head, translating the words over again to make sure she understood. She glanced at Dave and Ava, “She says she’s not hungry or needing to use the bathroom. I don’t know if that’s stubbornness or...something else.”

She looked at Muru again, the girl looking back at her with those frank eyes. “[i]Ty dolzhen poyti s nami, tebe nuzhno khotya by vody i poyest'.[/i]”

Laine offered her hand to the girl so they could head inside the restaurant, softening her tone as she said, “[i]Vy ne mozhete ostavat'sya v odinochestve, Muru.”[/i]

As if resigning herself to being outvoted, she took Laine’s hand with no complaint or glee. She eyed the lights of the restaurant with quiet curiosity like a thing that had seldom seen such decor. She quietly waited for them to go inside as she held Laine’s hand, the lights reflecting in her blue eyes as she stared seemingly impassively at the display.

Laine led her along to the restaurant, turning to Ava, she seemed to know what to do with children. She herself had not spent time alone with her niece and nephew for some time, her brother or his wife usually hovering around. 

The hostess led them to a booth, Laine slid into it beside the window and Muru sat beside her with enough room for one of the other adults. 

She ordered an ice tea and glanced at Muru, ordering her an apple juice and ice water. The waitress smiled and took their drink orders, then placed a paper placemat and a box of four cheap crayons in front of Muru. 

"There you go, sweetie!" 

Ava sat down on Muru’s other side, smiling down at her as the crayons and paper were set down in front of her. She ordered herself a shirley temple before the hostess left and glanced to Muru before looking over to Laine. “I hope she likes the crayons as much as she seems to like Minecraft.”

>...///

One hour later and they had full stomachs, speeding down the highway again towards Boise. To anyone they were just parents and some friends on a road trip. The black page was still a peculiarity to the young waitress, and Laine and Dave seemed to do a fine enough job of explaining the oddness away. Muru wanted to keep it, so of course they let her. Now she was sitting in the back, content with simply looking at it. She didn’t eat either, which took some more explaining that she had filled up on snacks beforehand.

The truth was that she wasn’t eating the ice cream Renko had given her, she didn’t eat the food they’d ordered her, she didn’t complain about being hungry, or needing to use the bathroom. If Avery was anyone else, he’d think that was weird. But, as a person working for a secret government agency who saw what he could only describe as a literal demon from hell coming to kill a Russian spy… if Muru wasn’t a normal girl that would just be par for the course.

Not only that, but he was starting to catch on the more he thought about it. Dave and Ava seemed to be really good friends. Like, really good, he thought. It reminded him of young Sergeant First Class Avery Rite and Senior Airman Sarah Villaume. He was jealous at first, and then insulted, and now just accepting of it. At least, accepting of it whenever he didn’t look at the rearview to see them sitting in the back together with Muru. It might take a few more hours of driving for him to accept it all the way. “You guys did a good job.” He said to Laine, “Really sold the whole, uh, parent performance.”

Avery chuckled, watching lights pass as he drove, “You have kids?”

Laine almost choked on the water she sipped, managing to catch herself and used a knuckle to wipe the droplet off her chin. “Ah, kids? Me? No,” she said, shaking her head. “I have a niece and nephew. The boy is around her age.”

She avoided elaborating the memories of the arguments with Bakker over the future family he wanted. How could she, knowing what she did about the world, bring children into it or how she preferred to dedicate her life to her career. And most important, what if she was like her mother, it was a fear that kept her anxious. Laine liked her freedom too and her clean apartment.

Laine rubbed the bridge of her nose and capped the water, glancing in the rearview mirror. She said in a low voice, “I’m glad I paid attention to Pappa when he would speak to us Finnish and Russian, I’ve been refreshing myself on the russkie.”

She held her phone up to a website English to Russian dictionary and said, “At least I can help in that way. I really want to help her.” 

After the restaurant, Muru had not requested back the Switch; seemingly more interested in the dark black canvas she had created out of the placemat. It worried Ava, a lot of Muru’s behavior was starting to really concern her and try as she might she couldn’t think of what to do to help her. Nor could she understand what was the cause of her odd behavior.

With Muru occupied though, Ava turned on her Switch and navigated her way to the minecraft world she had set up for Muru to play in. She’d spent hours making something in there and she wanted to see what it was. 

Ava waited as the screen loaded, relaxing back in her seat as much as she could. The events of the day followed by the monotony of the drive with nothing else to do but sit there and think about everything, was starting to wear on her.

As the Minecraft logo faded, Ava found the player avatar staring up at the sky at a giant, looming eyeball. 

Instantly Ava felt a cold sweat break out over her skin and she quickly flipped the screen down onto her lap. Her heart started racing in her chest as a surge of adrenaline prickled along her arms and legs, the sudden urge to flee rising up from the pit of her stomach.

But she had nowhere to run to, she was stuck in her seat, tightly gripping onto what was essentially a toy with the reactionary instinct to run away as fast and as far away as possible.

That eye...She had seen it before, but she didn’t want to look at the screen again to find out how familiar it was.

Muru grabbed Ava’s skirt between thumb and forefinger, rubbing the fabric as if it was comforting to her. She looked at Ava, “On govorit, chto zhdet. On razgovarivayet so mnoy. On mne ne nravitsya.”

Dave had geared back up once they’d finished eating, and was once more cradling his SLR with casual ease. He wanted to be ready to rock if something happened, and had learned the hard way that if shit hit the fan, you didn’t always have time to grab the gun you wished you had. Muru’s voice caught his attention, pulling his gaze away from the windows of the van and back to her and Ava. He spotted the sudden discomfort, almost fear, in Ava’s eyes, and his own brow creased. 

“Ava?” He said, shifting his weight a little closer. “You alright, sugar?” 

“Um,” Ava looked down at Muru, unsure of what she said and surprised to see her look away from her picture. “I...I don’t know.” She said to Dave, taking Muru’s little hand in her own and giving it a gentle squeeze. “Muru...Muru made something in the game, an eye in the sky and...I don’t even understand why it freaked me out.” Ava rambled, forcing a nervous smile and chuckle. “It’s nothing but a bunch of digital blocks but…” She trailed off and glanced down at the Switch, keeping the screen faced down. “I-I think I’ve seen it before.”

Dave fought a shiver, glancing over at Muru. He hated the suspicion that he knew was in his eyes, and tried to suppress it. 

"What do you mean, you've seen it?" He asked, scooting a little closer to Ava. "Like in a dream?" 

She nodded slowly. “It reminds me of the eye I saw when we were escorting Dulane, when I was really sick.”

Laine glanced up from her phone when she heard Muru speak, the simple words sending a chill through her. [i]He talks to me.[/i] 

Turning in her seat, she could see Ava and Dave’s expressions as they looked at the Switch. She looked at the girl and asked, “[i]Chto on tebe govorit?[/i]?”

Muru looked at Laine with the first sign of emotion she’d shown since the night THUNDER scooped her up screaming in their arms and took her away from that house. The only time she’d shown a semblance of fear, hands slowly going up to cup her ears. She simply shook her head and turned away from them, not in the mood for talking anymore.

>TEN MILES OUTSIDE OF FAIRFIELD, ID
>31AUG2019
>ZERO DARK...///

The city roads and choked highways soon gave way to mountain trees the closer they got to the west. They’d pass through cities and small towns alike, but as they got closer and then into Idaho the sprawling beauty of flat plains and rolling prairies greeted them and stretched out as far as the eye could see. Not that they’d see it for long. Night had fallen once again just as they passed the border, but Avery never saw the night the same way after all he’d experienced with UMBRA. Everyone had taken their turns sleeping over the course of the trip, even him, switching with Dave or Laine to give them a chance at driving.

Muru never did, and she didn’t show it if that bothered her at all. He kept his eyes on the road, but every so often he’d look in the rearview to see Muru staring out at the blackness. If it were any other little girl, he might’ve asked her what she was looking at. Avery didn’t want to know with this one. It was quiet, Avery having nothing to say, not to mention his tired mind unable to drag up anything to talk about. By the time the first streetlights of Fairfield could be seen, he was already fading. Had to get there, then he could sleep.

It wasn’t Fairfield proper that they found this mysterious Sobel, but a house a couple miles outside of it. It was connected to the main road into and out of Fairfield by a dirt and gravel path meant only for one car. They came to a gate with a small talkbox, Avery rolling down his window and pressing the call button. As if they were expected this very second, the gate slowly came open. The campervan ambled inside and Avery parked them next to an old Ford pickup.

He opened up the door and cut the engine, stepping outside into the night air, loudly yawning and stretching. Across the gravel driveway the squat house had its lights on, though no one came to greet them. A cat sat in the middle of the driveway, lit with the solitary lamp that hung over the large gravel courtyard of sorts, staring impassively at Avery. He looked at the tiny, grey tabby and almost felt like he was staring at another human, rather than an animal. It meowed once at him. He peeled his eyes away from it and turned to the others, “I… guess this is it.”

Ava crawled out of the back of the van, leaning against it and digging her glasses out of the pocket of her new coat and placing them on. Over the course of the drive Ava had discovered that not only had she nothing to put her contacts in, on top of no clothing to change into, but she was completely without her anxiety medication. And with her brand of medicine, withdrawals were a very real concern.

Logically she knew that her medication would linger into her system for at least 2 days, so she should be relatively okay until they got back to Virginia. Though it seemed like just knowing she didn’t have her medication was feeding into her anxiety, which already wasn’t doing great thanks to the strange behavior surrounding Muru. 

Ava tried to keep herself upbeat for Muru’s sake, but it didn’t appear her mood actually affected the little girl in a positive way. The combination of anxiety, lack of her medication and being stuck in the van for hours on end had also worn down her ability to sleep more than an hour or two at a time.

Eventually, she just...stopped trying when the exhaustion had started to get too much and she couldn’t muster the energy to be perky or positive.

She glanced around as she put her glasses on, glad that they had at least been able to stop at a Target so she and Laine could get some more comfortable clothing. Her jacket was doing a nice job of blocking the chill on the wind. It was black, maybe Laine was rubbing off on her.

Her eyes landed on the cat sitting in the middle of the driveway and she cracked a small smile seeing the little animal. Though the way it was sitting in the spotlight was ominous. “Dave, look,” She said back to him and nodded to the cat. “That cat has its own mood lighting.”

Dave grinned at Ava's words, glad to hear a bit of her quirky humor. He was worried about her, though he tried not to show it too much. He had the feeling it would make her more anxious knowing he was stressed about her. 

He had climbed out of the van fully armed; recent events told him it was better safe than sorry, and THUNDER had taught him that the best cover was ballistic in nature. An AK was better than a compact SIG in that regard, for sure.

Dave shot an uneasy look at Muru. The kid made him nervous, as much as he hated to admit it. What was she? What was wrong with her? Was she a threat? All these questions drifted through his mind, and he was disturbed that he found himself asking if he could shoot her if it came to it. More disturbing, though, was the knowledge that he probably could. 

Laine stepped out of the car dressed comfortably in black workout leggings and a long tank top with a Jurassic Park logo and another new pair of Converse All-Stars. She slipped the hoodie on, leaving it hanging unzipped as she jammed her hands in her pockets. She looked at the cat, then stepped towards it, whispering, “[i]Pspspsps, hello kitty.[/i]”

She glanced at Muru, wanting to see if she would warm up to a friendly cat. Laine bent and reached out to it, rubbing her fingers together to beckon the tabby to come to her for some pets. The cat eyed Laine before moving towards her, but going past her at the last second, brushing past her leg and making straight for Muru.

Muru watched it as it brushed against her, making purring figure-eights between her legs and head butting against her. Muru tepidly reached out and the cat rubbed its face against the outstretched hand. If one were to look closely, it almost seemed like Muru had a small smile, a faint spark of childhood in the corners of her eyes as she scratched the cat’s forehead.

“Milaya koshka,” Muru cooed, “ochen' khorosho.”

“Ona tebe nravitsya?” A voice came from the front porch. It belonged to a soft-spoken man who looked gentle enough. He stood with slouching shoulders, hands folded in front of himself as he watched Muru and the cat with a gentle smile. He kept watching Muru and the cat while speaking to the others, “I hope the drive wasn’t too bad. It’s hard to find me. How are all of you?”

He thrust a thumb over his shoulder, “I have dinner ready, if you’re hungry.” He turned his soft eyes on them then, “And I’m Sobel.”

Smiling at the sight of Muru acting like a little girl for once helped ease the tension in Laine, even if it was a brief interlude. The voice caught her off guard, the Russian words sending her heart racing as she stood up with a quick jerk and turned around. 

Laine looked the man over, the question seemed to hover. He had no doubt meant the cat but she almost answered. She did like the girl despite her strangeness, maybe because she was so alone. Laine stopped herself from analysis and stepped forward, holding her hand out to shake. 

"Sobel," she repeated, meeting his gaze. He seemed less cold and hard than the people they normally dealt with but her guard was still up. "Laine. The drive was long, thank you."

She glanced at the rest of the team, "Shall we?"

“My apologies,” he said, hands not leaving each other in front of him as he eyed Laine’s hand, “I don’t like... physical touch.”

He cleared his throat and sheepishly smiled, “I’m more than happy to have you all. It gets lonely out here, even with Murph.”

Laine dropped her hand, making a little gesture to show she understood. She smiled a bit, raising her brow.  "Murphy the cat? Cute name."

Ava watched Muru interact with the cat and a small smile appeared on her own face, with no small amount of tension leaving her shoulders. She glanced over to Sobel, giving the man a mildly suspicious look over. “Hello.” She said with a small wave to avoid being rude. “I’m Ava. You have a very nice house and your cat is adorable.” She smiled back down at Muru and Murphy. “More sociable than mine, unless food is involved.”

“Thank you. She’s named after a late associate of mine. The house was painstakingly picked for privacy.” He looked at the humble abode and sighed appreciatively, “Something I value very much.”

Dave turned from doing a quick visual sweep of the yard, then looked from Muru, to the cat, then to Sobel. He gave the man a friendly smile and polite nod but said nothing. The man wasn't armed, but given that on this op Dave had already run from gangsters only to have guns pointed at him by his own 'team', he wasn't yet ready to trust Sobel at his word. 

“He doesn’t trust me.” Sobel murmured to the two women, “I don’t blame him. In our line of work, we have to be careful about that.”

He smiled, turning for his door and opening it, Murph trotting through without a second thought. He waved them inside, “Come on. I’m sure you’re aching for a sit down dinner after a long drive.” He spoke louder for Dave, “Even you. Eat with your gun in your lap, if you’d like.”

Inside the house was something to behold. It looked slightly bigger on the inside than it did on the outside, the transition a bit jarring for those witnessing it for the first time. Even with the strange discrepancy in measurements, it looked like your typical country home. It lacked a television, though there was a tablet out on the kitchen counter. It opened up into a spacious living area with various pictures lining the walls, the largest of them was a service picture of Sobel in his Army dress uniform. Next to that was one posing with a few others in some desert environment, and another in the middle of a jungle. Hung up on the wall was a plaque emblazoned with a unit insignia of some sort, with the Latin motto [i]Veritas Omnia Vincula Vincit.[/i]

To the right was the kitchen, with the evidence that Sobel had been doing his own cooking for this occasion. On the table were a stack of plates numbering enough for each of them with a few leftovers. He didn’t know exactly how many there would be and he’d be expecting a fully staffed Working Group anyway. A large pot was on the dining table next to the plates, still steaming. As well as that, there was a large serving plate with six or seven ounce steaks piled on top of it. “I was expecting more of you, but leftovers are welcome, I’m sure.”

Laine met Sobel’s eyes for a moment when he stated the obvious, recalling Renko’s words. Her own instinct was to want to trust him with his soft spoken and reserved demeanour and maybe that’s why he was chosen to take the girl. Her gaze went back to Muru with the cat and she called to her, “[i]Muru, my idem vnutr'.[/i]” Muru, we’re going inside.

She waved the girl over, not wanting to leave her alone as they went inside for dinner. 

Ava cautiously stepped into the house, blinking her eyes as they adjusted to the interior, her head swimming for a moment. She shook her head, took off her glasses and looked at them in confusion; squinting her eyes as she inspected them for any cracks or warping. Dave pulled up short behind her, rifle hanging, and put his hands on her shoulders. 

He grimaced as his brain did a quick back-flip, assimilating the reality of Sobel’s house with only a moment’s difficulty. He found that both bothersome and reassuring; the fact that he was adjusting so quickly was a little unnerving, but if it kept him and his friends alive then it was something he would deal with later. 

Dave squeezed Ava’s shoulders, a quick reassurance that he was there, and as he caught Laine’s eye he gave her a brief smile. 

“You hungry, sugar?” He asked Ava. “I could probably eat half’a what he’s cooked by myself.” 

“Oh, yeah, I could eat. Those chicken nuggets were tasty but hardly filling.” She looked back up at him and gave him a bit of a smile, then stepped to the side so he could enter. She peeked outside to look for Avery, her eyes landing on him as she smiled again and waved for him to follow them in. “Um, some coffee would be good too if that’s okay?”

Avery took a few steps towards the door, catching Sobel’s eye. There was something about him he didn’t trust, but everyone else seemed okay around him. He chuckled quietly when Ava mentioned coffee, “That’d do me good, uh, sir.”

He said the last part a little hesitantly, seeing as he caught the service pictures in the middle of his words leaving his mouth. Long hours of driving will do that to you, “Where’d you serve, if you don’t mind me asking.”

“Here and there.” Sobel said from the kitchen, where he was busy dutifully beginning a brew. “It’s been a while since anyone has called me sir.”

Muru brushed past Avery and sat at the dinner table, Murph choosing her lap for a place to lay down just as soon as she was in the wooden chair. 

Laine watched the girl go inside and followed her in, the cat brushing past her in its rush to follow its new friend. She stepped inside, the design seemed to take a small space and make it appear larger. That had to be it. She was tired, and stepped past the photos after a cursory glance and sat at the table. 

“The food looks good,” she smiled, trying to relax but the tension in her neck made her reach up and rub underneath her hair. 

Ava made her way over to the table, pausing to give Murph a little skritch under the chin. “Good kitty.” She cooed, then took a seat in an empty chair and tried to ignore the hungry grumbling of her stomach. “The food certainly smells good.” She said, glancing around while waiting for the others to take their seats. “So, Sobel,” Ava said with an awkward clearing of her throat. “Um, how much do you know about Muru?”

Laine glanced at Ava, surprised she had jumped right in before the meal started but they were all wrung out and wanting answers. She shifted her gaze to Sobel, watching close as he answered. 

“Will the truth make the trust flow?” He asked, not looking away from the brewing coffee, “Sharing a table with people who don’t trust me doesn’t sound like a great mood to break bread.”

“The truth would be nice for a change,” Laine said, watching him make coffee and she reached for the plate of steaks, serving herself one and looking at Muru. Despite knowing it was likely a waste, she took the smallest and placed it on her plate before passing it along to the closest person. 

“It’s nothin’ personal,” Dave said, taking a seat beside Ava. Taking Sobel at his word, he kept his rifle slung, adjusting the hang so it was easily accessible and folding the stock to make the weapon more compact. “Ya gotta understand, man...Since all this started we’ve been gettin’ the run around from our side, the other side, an’ pretty much everyone else. It’s...We’re tired.” 

He shook his head, glancing at his team and then back at Sobel. “I know it ain’t really [i]super spy[/i] to go askin’ these sorts of questions, but it is what it is.” 

“Isn’t it?” Sobel turned, leaning on the counter behind him with a small smile, nodding. He looked at each one of them and then looked at Ava, “The truth about the girl is that she isn’t normal, but I’m sure you know that. I’d say she’s like me, or like [i]you,[/i]” he inclined his head towards Ava, “But that wouldn’t be the truth you asked for. Everything about what you do for the Program is need-to-know, and if you don’t need to know, it’s classified. That’s [i]super spy.[/i]”

“If you’re tired, rest here. The run-around is outside these walls and far beyond my six acres. The only advice I can give you is to forget about all of this while you’re all at your homes.” Sobel said, crossing his arms, “Show up again fresh-faced next assignment.”

Sobel left the coffee to brew in peace and grabbed one of the service pictures off the wall, the one with him posing in the jungle with a few others. He put it next to them for them to see and sat at the head of the table. “Your team lead, what’s his name? What did he tell you about why the Program keeps doing what it does?”

Laine understood the not normal, part of that could be written off to trauma but basic human function seeming not to be necessary had her on edge. When Sobel compared her to himself and Ava, she automatically turned to look at the little redhead, frowning slightly. Ava seemed normal, normal for a computer genius anyhow. 

She almost laughed at his suggestion to rest at home. Home had only been a place to pace around and her vacation had been a disaster. Laine looked down at the meat when he asked about Donnelley, unsure to answer that question wholly. 

“You assume our lead is a ‘he’?” she said instead, glancing up at Sobel. “Why wouldn’t our lead be right here at this table. Let’s play spy games.”

Laine shook her head, then sighed, “You likely know more than we’ll ever know. You probably know this answer as well...”

There she paused and looked at the picture closer, recognizing the smirking smile under the beard. She stared at it for a few moments then looked back up at Sobel. “Donnelley,” she said, her tone softened, “That’s him. And yes, he told us. It seems like ages ago but we’re in a fight against a darkness we can’t ever understand truly. For another sunrise.”

She looked away, back at Dave and then at her plate, the meat sitting there suddenly unappetizing. 

“If you couldn’t guess where that picture was taken, most of my career with the Program was spent in Africa.” Sobel said, placing his hands on the table and folding them, “CIA and ISA, SF-affiliated agents with the Program were scouring the place. There’s no shortage of violence on a grand scale there. We looked and looked.”

“Boko Haram had been raping, brutalizing, killing, enslaving. We were there to figure out if any of it was unnatural.” Sobel frowned, “By the end of our tour there, we were hungry, beaten down, tired. Even if we’d seen some of the most horrifying things we’d ever seen, we didn’t find anything for the Program there.”

He stood, scooping up the picture and returning it to its place on the wall. He stepped back, gazing at it and the memories that surrounded it, “It was just people.” He scowled, “Just people. We’re fighting so that it can be [i]just people[/i]. We’re easier to deal with.”

“That girl…” he said, turning to look at her poking the meat with a finger, “She’s more important to this fight than any of us know. Even her.”

While the others were talking Dave was busy attacking his own steak. He had, briefly, considered the possibility of poison. In the end he had decided that all things considered, he was more likely to get shot than poisoned, and in the end at least he’d go out with a full stomach. 

He examined the photo of Donnelly and Sobel without comment. It went a ways towards helping to build some trust, at least. He trusted Donnelly, and if Donnelly trusted Sobel then he was probably alright. 

“That why that bitch from earlier had us starin’ down sniper rifles and goons?” He asked around a sizeable bite of steak. “She some kinda… I dunno, rogue agent or somethin’?”

Sobel snorted, “If she were a rogue agent, we might not be having this conversation. As I understand, the development with these Russians have everyone…” Sobel shrugged, “Pretty paranoid. The Cold War is threatening to become… hot, I guess.”

“Tell me about it.” Ava sighed, rubbing her forehead and finally tearing her eyes away from Sobel. When he had mentioned that she had similarities to him, she had not taken her eyes off of him as her mind began racing with questions. However, she bit them back until later. Now wasn’t the time. “Every move we make seems to have them shadowing around a corner.”

[i]Just people[/i]. Laine could relate, her mind and her career were all geared towards the worst that a person could do. It might seem illogical or insane but once it was broken down and the parts understood it became a pattern and people were often very predictable. The Program though, it was still so raw and new, so incomprehensible that even seeing a hellhound and a living dead woman with her own eyes her brain still tried to explain it in rational terms. There was no rationale with the world the Program dealt with, not that she had found. 
She turned her attention to Muru who pet the cat in her lap and ignored the steak growing cold on her plate. Laine looked back up at Sobel, “Why won’t she eat? Or sleep or anything else we all do.”

Sobel crossed his arms tight, closing his eyes and thinking on how to put it to them. He retreated to his room to return with a stethoscope, handing it to Laine. “Nam nuzhno proverit' tvoye serdtse.” He said to Muru.

“Budet bol'no?” She murmured. Sobel shook his head, and after a moment Muru nodded hers.

Sobel shook his head lightly, offering her a comforting smile, “Net, ne kak ran'she, malyshka.”

Laine took the stethoscope, her brows furrowing in concern at the exchange. She slid the earpieces in and rubbed her hands over the bell, warming it. 

“We call her Muru,” Laine said, then looked at the girl as she pressed the metal piece against her chest. The sound that met Laine’s ears had the tempo of a heartbeat, but was decidedly not. Like the twinkle of broken glass in a jar, it twinkled away inside of her chest.

“She doesn’t eat, because she has no need for food. Her life is stilled, and she will always be this young. She doesn’t sleep, because she dreams awake.” Sobel laid a hand on Muru’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze, “But her dreams are closer than ours, but no more fake.”

“The Program came across one in Washington. Another in Kentucky. All were trafficked by the Russians, the Tadjbegskye Bratva.” Sobel sighed, Muru’s eyes widened when she heard the word Bratva, “No one knows why.”

“...I’m sorry?” Ava asked, her eyes widening as she leaned back in her chair, stunned. “Are...I...I’m sorry?” She inquired, her voice raising slightly higher because surely, she had merely misheard the man due to her exhaustion. 

Dave paused with his mouth full, another bite halfway to his mouth. Blinking, he looked from Muru to Sobel, then at the others, then back again.

"Fuckin'...What? She's a zombie or somethin'?" He swallowed hard and looked down at his food, trying to decide if his appetite had been ruined. On the one hand it was disturbing that he'd been in a van with her for a day-and-change. On the other, she hadn't tried to eat anybody. He shook his head and shoved another bite in his mouth. 

"So what's this mean?" Dave asked. 

“She isn’t a [i]zombie.[/i]” Sobel curled his lip at the notion, eyes flashing a cold blue from under a darkened brow. He shook his head, recovering himself, “She’s… like an antenna. A tuning fork. Except instead of radio waves or water, she is attuned to the unnatural. When it is near, and when it draws her towards it.”

Laine listened to the strange sound that replaced the expected heartbeat and slowly pulled back, trying to keep herself from recoiling. Her attention on the girl was broken only when Sobel spoke of what she was. A magnet for the unnatural, here with them for the last few days. Living a waking nightmare and those Russians did this to her. 

Her mouth went dry and she folded the stethoscope over and wrung it tight in her hands. “There’s no heartbeat, just some sort of tinkling sound. What the fuck is this? They’re using these children to draw out those...[i]things[/i]. To do what, create weapons? As if they can control it. What happened, how did they make her like this? You’ve seen others, you said Washington...you said-”

She stopped then looked at Ava, watching her reaction and was certain she had heard Sobel correctly. “Wait, your dreams?”

Ava sat up straighter in her chair, her already fair complexion growing paler. “I...did see the Hound before it arrived.” She said, her voice growing quiet as a cold sweat began to break over her skin. 

“Some are more attuned to things. Some lose this as they get older, others keep it. Dreams, a sixth sense. Hearing them.” Sobel stood and crossed his arms, walking back into the kitchen to pour himself coffee, “The children that we’ve found, we’ve relocated. Tried to give them as normal a life as possible. The less tools the Russians have, the better. The children are important, like I said.”

“For what,” he slurped at his coffee and shrugged, “No one really knows. But they’re sensitive to the mad whispering of things that we can not hear, touch, or see. Things that lay beyond, that mankind should have forgotten long ago. They’ve cropped up everywhere a Russian and a black slab is near. Perhaps they’re using them, canaries in the coal mine. Still leaves the question as to why. And how.”


"And how to stop them," Dave growled, even as he put a comforting hand on Ava's. "Don't like the idea of them usin' kids like that. Ain't gonna let it stand, either."

Ava snapped out of her stupor as she felt Dave’s hand on hers. She placed her hand over top of his, the warmth of his touch spreading to her suddenly cooler fingers. “So...How do we help Muru?” She asked, looking over to the little girl and giving her a smile. She had no idea what to make of her now, but at the end of the day, she was still just a little girl. 

Laine crossed her arms under her chest, the stethoscope still gripped in one hand. “Is there any way to change it? Take it back? And how do we stop them if they have these people? They’re always a step ahead of us, we’ve been tripped up ever since we started.”

Her thoughts ran to the old Soviet experiments attempting to use ESP for spying and psychic warfare. It was lesser known but the US had tried such things, the CIA had a program that lasted decades for similar purposes. She looked at Sobel, “The Russians do this, tell me we’re not trying to match them.”

“I wouldn’t know.” Sobel said, “Even I don’t Need-to-Know some things, sometimes.”

He shrugged, sipping again at his coffee, “As for helping her, you just did. Bringing her to me is the second to last stop she has on her journey to wherever the Program can scramble up for her.” He set his coffee mug down and folded his hands in front of himself, “I was told to notify you that you may use the van to transport yourselves to the nearest airport and hotel. You are to stay there until further notice and then make your way to the BLACKBOX.”

“I know how this all sounds, and I am sorry, but we are fighting another Cold War. Somehow, they’re ahead of us at every turn. We need to find out how, not dwell on the… effects, of this conflict. Ours isn’t to wonder why,” Sobel sighed, offering them a consoling expression, “I’ve done everything I can for these children. So have you, for Muru. Now it’s time to make sure America and the Program can see another sunrise, as Joseph would put it.”

Ava put her elbows on the table and placed her forehead against her hand, taking in a deep breath and letting it out to calm down her anxiety. “Well,” She sighed, lifting her head and sitting back. “What about what Laine said? Is there anyway to...undo what was done to her?” Ava asked Sobel with a frown.

“With all due respect for your concerns,” Sobel sighed, “That’s Need-to-Know. You don’t. What I can tell you is that they’re seeking every option. That will have to be good enough for you.”

>SOME TIME LATER...///

There wasn’t anything to pack, save for the food that Sobel insisted they take with them. No matter how his words might’ve seemed so callous to them, as they did to him, he had no ill will towards them. If Muru was saddened to see them leave her, she did not show it. She only clutched at the hem of Sobel’s shirt as she too watched them go. Sobel didn’t seem to mind. He fixed the red haired one with a curious look as she turned back from the van to look at him. Muru looked from Ava and then up at Sobel, perhaps as curious as he was.

Then again, he knew she’d want answers. Which ones she could hear was another matter. Sobel only stood where he was and awaited Ava’s asking them.

Ava glanced over to Sobel as Dave got himself situated in the van. She bit her lip, wrestling with herself for a moment before she walked away from the van and up to Sobel and Muru.

“Uh, hello again,” She said with a clearing of her throat. “I just wanted to come over and thank you for your hospitality, Sobel. I’m sorry if my behavior might have been...abrupt before.” She said, shuffling nervously on her feet. “Stressful day and everything, which I know isn’t an excuse just...An explanation.”

“This isn’t the first time someone has been abrupt around me.” Sobel smiled, shaking his head. He unfolded his arms and slipped his hands in his pockets, “A fair few things in our lives are easy as Program agents. What you’re all doing right now isn’t easy.”

He sighed, “Anyways, dinner and leftovers is the least I can do.”

“It’s appreciated, really.” She folded her arms over her chest, glancing down at Muru as she hesitated. She took in a breath and looked back up at Sobel. “Can I ask you something? About something you said at dinner?”

“Sure.” Sobel nodded, putting his full attention on Ava, his soft blue eyes searching her face.

“...You said that I was like you and Muru.” Ava said, her voice softening. “I know I’m not exactly like her, but what did you mean by that? I have all of these visions and nightmares when I sleep and I sleep walk, once I even drew on the walls of my room in my sleep.” She stopped there as she realized she was getting worked up and becoming close to saying everything strange that had happened to her. “I just...I want to know what’s going on and no one has been able to tell me.” She looked up at him, blue eyes watering and pleading. “Can you?”

Sobel’s lips drew thin, but he did not break his gaze with Ava. She deserved the truth, “I can’t.”

He shook his head, “I wish I had an answer, for myself and you. As I went on to do the things I’ve done, good and bad, for the Army. For the Program. I settled not for wondering why I was like this and accepting, using it at least for the right reasons.” He said, looking away from Ava and to Muru, “She could never understand why, but she can understand that there’s always a choice of how she uses it and what she does with what’s happened. What’s [i]happening.[/i]”

“So, no. I’m sorry,” Sobel shrugged, somewhat defeated, “But some other abrupt ginger told me in Africa that he doesn’t regret what happened to him his whole life. He’d regret any of it not letting him fight so it didn’t happen to others. I thought he was full of shit then, but out here…”

The empty countryside, the smell of soil, and silence. A breeze rolled through and tussled the strands of Ava’s red hair. The night encroached all around Sobel’s little homestead, obscuring the beauty beyond and turning it into an inky nothingness. But the single light that shined down on Sobel’s driveway, and the lights in his windows made a bastion in the dark. “Out here, you get time to think.”

He placed a hand on Muru’s back, “Pora zayti vnutr'.”

Muru waved goodbye to Ava and walked through the door, closing it behind her, and leaving Ava and Sobel alone. “You remind me of him when you’re angry.” He had a small smile, “I should go inside too. I wouldn’t want you all to be late to the staging area.”

Ava felt her shoulders slump, blinking her eyes as tears of mingled frustration and defeat started to well up. “Right, um,” She sniffed and cleared her throat again. “Thank you for being honest at least.” She took in another deep breath and looked back up at him. “But, before I go...How do I use it? It just happens to me, I don’t know how to control it or what good it serves.”

“Truth overcomes all bonds. It’s what my old unit’s motto is, that Latin on the plaque inside. Ironic, my job is to lie to people.” Behind Sobel, movement could be seen, subtle. In the shadows that made different shades of the darkness, his own reached up to the doorknob and pushed it open before returning to its original position, “I’ll keep in touch with you, if you’d like. Good night, Ava. Tell Donnelley he’s rubbing off on you too much.”

He walked through the open doorway and it closed on its own. One by one, the lights shut off in Sobel’s house, leaving the only light to guide Ava the one that showed Sobel through the kitchen window, sipping his coffee before getting to work on the dishes as Murph the cat once again returned to accompany Muru at the table, and the tall light that shone down on UMBRA’s van. Avery stretched and yawned as he stepped around the van, “Ava, come on.” He waved her over.

[url=https://open.spotify.com/track/1UKobFsdqNXQb8OthimCKe?si=jNVB-OJbRDCcYcqv1UN-og]Ava stared at the door wide eyed[/url], her mouth hanging open slightly for a few seconds. Then she shut her mouth and slowly turned, walking down the porch and toward the van. She quietly climbed into the back and sat with Dave, uncaring of his armor and weapons, or the other people present, she rested heavily against him. 

Avery yawned and rubbed a hand across his groaning face, putting the van into drive and hearing the tires crunch across the dirt and gravel until they got to the road to Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport. Their headlights shrunk into the distance where the night-black earth swallowed the starry sky, leaving the lonely homestead alone in the Idaho plains.