Walking through the mansion toward the main door, Tina met Jonathan and Daisy.
"Is it true?" Tina asked, hugging Daisy.
"Yes, the security team advised me," Daisy said, "I hope you don't mind me telling Jon."
"Of course not. You know what this is about?" Tina asked, looking at Jonathan
"Daisy filled me in," Jonathan said, "I made a few enquiries. It would seem that Devon has either been taken or gone with for some reason. Someone on the team who tried to stop Nigel said that Gina called him a different name."
"What was the name?" Tina asked.
"Keme," Jonathan said, "that is what Gina called him? Are you okay?"
"Yes," Tina nodded, swallowing hard, "there have been a few ... concerns today, but this ..." Tina inhaled, "if he hurts that child or Devon ..."
"He won't," Jonathan said, shaking his head, "the only thing Keme is interested in is money."
"Money? Is he a bounty hunter?" Tina asked in confusion, "but he's enhanced."
"Darcia had a few of those," Jonathan said, "Daisy found folders within a folder on the database. Each was named ..."
"Jon," Daisy interrupted, shaking her head. Jonathan and The two looked at each other before looking at Tina. Tina felt an icy sensation wash through her.
"What?" Tina asked.
"Your name was on it," Daisy said, "when you're out there hunting tonight, don't be surprised if you discover something about yourself that was … not there before."
"You think Darcia enhanced me," Tina whispered, "to be a bounty hunter."
Jonathan and Daisy nodded in unison. A knock came at the door. It was concise and to the point. Instinctively Tina knew who was on the other side.
"That's our ride," Tina said, stepping between Jonathan and Daisy and opening the door.
"Are you Tina, Daisy and Jon?" the tall man in camouflage asked in a clipped tone.
"I'm Tina, my sister Daisy and Jonathan," Tina said, "you are?"
"Todd McGarrett," the man came to attention and saluted, "part of the team that will assist in the hunt."
"How are you qualified to hunt?" Jonathan asked, stepping through the door with Daisy, "we need to move to the vehicle. The mansion will start lockdown in fifteen seconds."
"This way, Sir," Todd nodded, indicating the two black SUVs parked on the garden side of the mansion. "To answer your question," he looked at Jonathan, "we were trained in the art of hunting and led by one of the best men we know."
"Who might that be?" Jonathan asked, lifting the gear bags into the back of the open SUV.
"Major Craig Gordon," Todd nodded, "he taught us everything we know."
"Was that before the enhancements?" Tina asked.
Todd froze, cleared his throat, and blinked rapidly, glancing away before nodding, "We will understand if you don't want to work with us."
Tina looked from Daisy to Jonathan before looking back at Todd, "You're speaking to people who don't even know what was done to them, and you're willing to help us. You'll find no judgement here. In fact, we'll understand if you don't wish to assist us since we're unknown to ourselves as we are to you."
Todd looked between the three taking them in before nodding, "There are some in our unit who are uncertain of their abilities as well. Thank you for your acceptance. It's difficult being ..."
"Different?" Daisy supplied, "we know."
"Sir," another tall camo geared man came around the side of the SUV, "we need to move before we're stuck here. Michael just advised the estate will lock down in ten minutes."
"Everyone in," Todd called, opening the back door of the SUV, "back to the rendezvous point."
Tina watched the mansion disappear from view as the two vehicles drove quickly down the long drive.
"We're clear," the driver called as they broke into a more expansive path moving through the forest, "fifteen minutes from the rendezvous point."
Todd looked at his watch, "We have ten."
The two vehicles seemed to accelerate in unison as though driven by the same person.
"Where is the rendezvous point?" Tina asked.
"A hangar we have at an airstrip not far from here," Todd said.
"Michael owns that as well," Daisy nodded, "what doesn't this man own?"
"Not Michael himself," Todd corrected, "his family."
Daisy nodded in acknowledgement, "Will Michael be at the hangar?"
"That is unknown," Todd said, "we will only know on arrival."
Silence fell as the two vehicles raced through the predawn hours. The sound of the tyres engaging with cement alerted the occupants of the change in the road surface.
"We're here," the driver announced, "looks like a war room set up, Sir."
Stepping from the vehicle, Tina looked around the open space. A long airstrip big enough to land a jumbo jet could be seen in both directions. Another three hangars lined one side, including the one they parked outside, making four. A cargo plane with its back open waited on the runway outside the hangar. A group of men dressed in camouflage were loading gear, equipment and food supplies into the back.
"This way," Todd motioned for them to follow him.
Daisy, Jonathan and Tina looked at each other before following Todd into the hangar, heading toward the side where a long table filled with maps and various kinds of papers and documents lay. On one side of the long table stood another holding a coffee machine, cups, kettle, spoon, and something that looked like biscuits drew Tina's attention.
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"Help yourself," Todd said, motioning to the beverage table, "we're over here when you're ready to join us."
Tina quickly made a coffee, grabbed a few biscuits and headed to the war table, as the men around them called it. Daisy and Jonathan joined her a moment later. Looking at the maps, Tina noticed some were marked similarly while others were marked with different coloured pins.
"What are these?" Tina asked, drawing the attention of a burly, dark-haired man leaning over another map.
"Markers indicating variation routes," he said, glancing at the map but not at her before looking at the map in front of him.
"Variation routes for what?" Tina persisted.
"Alternate routes the kids could be taken," he muttered, still not looking up at her.
Tina moved the map to see another underneath it, "This is where the facility is."
"There is no facility," the man muttered, "if there was, there would be a marker."
"Jon," Tina looked up at the bristling man, "give me the coordinates."
Jonathan opened an app on his phone showing the coordinates of the facility Breanna and the extraction group were heading. Tina looked from the phone to the map before pinpointing the exact position on the map.
"There," she said, picking up a red pin and pushing it into place, "now, how would they get from Amsterdam to the facility?"
"There is no facility," the man straightened, finally meeting Tina's steady gaze, "get it through your head. Europe doesn't have any facilities."
Tina stared at the angry man before cocking her head to one side, "What next? Tell me, I don't have a safe house full of enhanced children pulled from your non-existent European facility? Two were kidnapped last night to be returned to that same non-existent facility."
Silence fell. Deafening and long.
"Stand down, Buck," Todd spoke into the silence, "no one is here to judge anyone or rock any boats."
"Well, I'll be darned," a stocky red-headed man moved from behind a group cleaning gun, his eyes fixed on Tina.
"What is it, Cam?" Todd asked, watching the man walk toward Tina.
Jonathan bristled protectively, stepping in front of Tina and Daisy, waiting. Cam stopped a short way from them, acknowledging Jonathan, who relaxed his guard slightly.
"She's a bounty hunter," Cam said, narrowing his eyes slightly, "they both are."
"I don't know what you mean," Tina shook her head, "as far as I know, I was never enhanced."
"What does that mean?" the question came from a group at the far end of the setup.
Tina stepped around Jonathan to find a giant of a man, his satin ebony skin showing scars of war and depicting the kind of life he had led.
"It means that we are not privileged enough to know what was done to us," Tina said, "unlike you, we don't even know what half our enhancements are."
A murmur rose throughout the group as the men shifted uncomfortably.
"If anyone has an issue with that, we will understand you would rather sit this mission out," Daisy said into the rising noise. "We understand not everyone wishes to be around … our kind. But like it or not, we have children who need protecting ... if we're the only ones that get on that plane ... we will understand that as well."
Another heavy silence fell.
"That won't be necessary," Todd said, "every man here knows what it is to be rejected over something he never had control of."
"A bounty hunter hunting another bounty hunter," Cam said, shaking his head, "thought I would never see the day."
He saluted Tina and Daisy before sauntering back to his position.
"Who is the bounty hunter you're hunting?" Todd asked, moving down the table toward the trio.
"Gina called him Keme," Tina said, "but he presented himself as Nigel."
"Does he have more than one?" Todd asked.
"Yes," Daisy nodded, "but they live in the same body."
"Not like you?' Todd motioned between Tina and Daisy.
"No," Tina shook her head, "we didn't know Nigel was able to extract a second person until one part of him was in our tech room while another was talking to me at the safe house."
"Keme is a dangerous bounty hunter," the bulky standoff man offered, "you say he presented himself as Nigel?"
"Yes," Jonathan said, narrowing his eyes, "why?"
"He presented himself to me as Jack," the man said, offering his hand to Jonathan, "my name is Zack."
"Jonathan," the two men shook hands, "he told you there was no facility there, didn't he."
Zack nodded, "He played me."
"He played all of us," Tina said, "the important thing is to ensure those children don't land back in that hell hole."
"Children?" Todd frowned, "are you sure? Why and what exactly do they do to these children?"
"Absolutely certain. Darcia created a group of enhanced men able to impregnate normal women," Tina said. "The children produced are called half-and-half," she said absently, rubbing her active stomach. "We discovered fanatics are sent to "collect" these children at a certain age and are further enhanced at a facility, one of which is at these coordinates."
A murmur of disgust rose among the men. Some ran their hands through their hair or scrubbed their faces with trembling hands. Todd leaned on the table, hanging his head, steadying his breathing before he looked up again.
"Everything okay?" Tina asked, watching the different reactions.
"Someone may blow," Jonathan murmured, "if something happens to you, Tina, Craig will never forgive me."
"We are angry," Todd muttered, straightening, "you will not be harmed."
"We understand your emotions," Jonathan said, "we have a team en route to that location. They know nothing of the kidnapped pair we are currently tracking, and we don't want them to know until they need to know."
"Understood," Todd nodded, "men, let's find this …" he inhaled before continuing, "we need to find those kids and get them back."
"What about an extraction for their team?" Cam asked, his expression serious.
"Cam," Todd sighed, "we don't know if she is there."
"It's irrelevant whether she is or not," Cam said, "Todd, these are children who are being tortured for someone's amusement. They have abilities that are not considered normal. They didn't decide to do this. It's not a lifestyle choice."
"Where will they go once they are out?" Todd asked, "we don't have anywhere to put them."
"We do," Daisy said, raising her hand, "we have a network of safe houses and places where they learn to integrate with society."
"Who put that into place?" Todd frowned.
"Breanna," Tina said, "with Michael's help."
The men around them chuckled and scoffed. Tina frowned at their reaction. Daisy bristled slightly before Tina laid a warning hand on her arm.
"What is so funny?" Jonathan asked.
"Breanna," a muscle-bound giant said, "we know the myth ... she's dead. Something used to invoke loyalty and unity."
Daisy tugged at Tina's grip, "Don't, Daisy. Let me hand this. If they don't listen, you can erupt and lay them low but remember this ... we need their firepower and numbers."
"Fine," Daisy said, "I'm walking to that end and back. That's your time."
"Understood," Tina said, hesitating, "my kind of walk ... not yours."
"Drat," Daisy muttered, strolling away.
Turning toward the waiting men, Tina took them in. She felt her babies bristling on their own. Jonathan pulled a chair toward her indicating for her to sit.
"I see you don't believe that she ... Breanna is real," Tina said, easing into the chair. "You have believed the lies circulated ... that is your choice. The one thing we have left ... choice. It's the one thing that still is alive and well in our Agency. No one is there because they are forced. We do what we do through our own choices. Also, taking responsibility for our actions as a result of those choices. The three of us are here because we know and choose to protect the innocent and vulnerable, regardless of being human or enhanced. It is the right thing to do, and it's something we choose to do. Regardless of what you believe or not," Tina shrugged, " we know the truth. We live, breathe and eat with Breanna, who is very much alive. You can scoff all you like, but we still have the network to help these children, and we will be leaving in half an hour to intercept those taken. Oh, and one more thing ... when you see Craig on the other side ... don't let him see you disrespect his little sister as you are."
Ignoring the reaction to her speech, Tina rose, looking over what had already been marked.
"Stop grinning," she hissed at Jonathan and Daisy, "let's find the best way in and out."
The pair joined her at the table, quickly discussing the best ways to get in front of the trio and where they could retrieve the children with the most ease and success.