"I'll call the Director," Owen stood up and pulled the burner phone out from his back pocket.

"There you go again..." James muttered, lowering the lid of the laptop. "Not calling him Flagg like some of the L1's."

Owen put his hands on the table and stared James down with his foul blue eyed glare. "You know, considering that we just uncovered some pretty vital information that will probably prolong our time together, I'd learn how to hold my fucking tongue," he growled down at him.

James wasn't even the slightest bit deterred. "I wouldn't hold your breath."

Owen looked about ready to launch himself across the table and sock the redhead in the face. "Check what is leaving quicker, a ferry or a plane from here to Tunis," he directed James harshly.

James grudgingly slid the laptop back over to himself and started typing."Yesmissionleader," his snarky voice was dipped in venom.

"Just fucking do it Strider!" Owen yelled at him.

Axel and I exchanged another look. This was continuing to go just swimmingly

"What are you going to tell Flagg?" Cal butted in quickly.

Owen sighed and tore his eyes away from shooting daggers at James. "That Basilone has been supplying terrorists with bomb supplies."

Cal licked his lips. "But do we really know that for sure? What about his boat, the one that went missing with him that they found wrecked off the coast of Tunis?"

"Probably put there on purpose. Fake his death, get people to stop sniffing," Axel said, turning away from the table to watch Owen scroll through the phone in his hands. Next to him I did the same thing. "It's a classic for a reason."

"Do you think he's there right now then? At the factory?"

"Well, we're finding out."

"Ferry. 2:30 this afternoon," James said. He shut both laptops and slid them off the table then carried them off to his backpack.

"Tickets?"

"Already got them."

-

"Do you know what we should do?" Lautao's accent suddenly cut through the sea breeze.

I turned from where I had been staring at the glimmering water off the portside of the ferry. We were moving quick, the water all kinds of shades of blue beneath the white foam the boat's motors were kicking up. The afternoon sky was clear, and the wind was quick, but not laced with ice. I stood beside Axel overlooking the boat, still in his dark sweatshirt. Lautaro, Cal, and James were behind me leaning against the windows of the bridge.

"Fuck this and head to Vegas?" Axel suggested. He turned and leaned against the side of the boat right next to me.

Lautaro seemed to contemplate this for a second before snapping out of it. "No. We should totally prank Blitz."

Cal's eyes lit up and he took his back off the dark tinted windows. "Yes! We know how much he values sleep and we can take it away from him!" Blitz was inside napping somewhere, saying he would come outside in just a few minutes. But that was about 45 minutes ago.

James squinted at the Irishman. "I had no idea you were so devilish Cal." His red hair picked up in the breeze and whipped around on his head.

"Are you saying you're not getting in on this?"

James rolled his eyes. "Y'all know how much he knows about drugs. Don't know 'bout you, but I don't want to lose all feeling in my legs for a few hours."

"It'll be worth it," Cal assured us.

"What exactly is your plan then?" Axel asked Lautaro.

The Honduran rubbed his chin in thought. "There's hair dye in case we needed it."

"Oh oh oh we can crack an egg inside his drink!" Cal suggested enthusiastically. His dark eyes were bright with liberation. "He drinks dark beer, so he won't be able to tell!"

"Where are you gonna get raw eggs?" James asked him dully.

Cal wiggled his eyebrows at Axel until he sighed. "I suppose I can sneak into the kitchens and find some," he muttered. "But I won't take credit for it."

"We could bet him he can't balance two glasses of water on his hands at the same time."

"The classic spraying water on someone when you pretend to sneeze or cough."

"Axel just grab like a bunch of random food from the kitchen and we'll find something to do," Cal said grinning.

"If you start rubbing your hands together like a 90's cartoon villain I am not assisting in this prank," I added.

Cal gave me puppy dog eyes until I cracked up. A six foot, muscular man six years older than me managing to look like a baby animal was pretty hilarious. "Lucky, you in?" Cal called up to him.

The 23 year-old was sitting on the top of the bridge behind us after getting kicked off the tall radar machine by the staff within five minutes of getting on the boat. I had no idea what it was with him and perching. He'd retreated to the ground and then went right back up just to where no one could see him. He popped his head over the edge at my call though, dark hair swinging above his forehead.

"I can drop something on him," he suggested.

"Eggs!" Cal cheered excitedly.

-

We suddenly heard ruckus and Cal came sprinting around the hem of the boat laughing his head off and getting chased by a very pissed off Blitz. Cal spun behind me and maneuvered me as a shield from the fuming Englishman.

"Oakleigh I swear to fucking god I will push you off this bloody boat!" Blitz's blond hair was spiked up, sticky and dripping yellow egg yolk.

Cal continued to laugh. He had two more raw eggs in each of his hands.

"Gotta catch me first, wanker!" Cal called out.

Blitz focused his furious blue eyes at him and then he took off again. I ducked as he swung out at out at Cal and the Irishman fled again, both of them slipping on the wet floor as they chased each other back and forth across the boat.

Lucky cheered them on from above us while James, Lautaro, Axel and I just laughed and tried not to get caught up in it.

After almost three minutes of slipping and sliding Blitz managed to get a grip on Cal's arm when he tried to juke on the sea soaked floor and twisted his arm around and pinned him to the floor.

"Give me the damn eggs Callum!"

"No!"

"You're gonna risk a bloody dislocated elbow over this?"

"It was a prank!"

"You ruined my sleep and my hair!"

"Oh you're just a big ninny!"

Blitz dropped Cal's arm, kicked him between his shoulder blades, grabbed the last two raw eggs out of the Irishman's hand and scurried away. He didn't hesitate and started pelting poor Cal with the last of the eggs. "Eat eggs mother —oh." His expression dropped when one of the staff members on the boat turned the corner. "Sorry," he twisted his lips into a sheepish smirk.

And here I was thinking that the whole point of spying was to be slick.

The staff member started yelling at us in rapid fire Italian, flailing her arms about and shooing us to the helm of the boat instead. Lucky retracted his head on the roof of the deck before she could notice him.

I whacked Blitz upside the head as we were herded away.

"He started it!"

I sighed and shook my head at him. "Now I know why Owen is always so sulky. Leading y'all is like herding cats."

"Y'all?" Blitz scoffed in an American accent for a second. "You've been hanging around Strider too long."

"You know I think a quick dip in the sea will get those eggs out of your hair."

"You reckon?"

"Yeah. I'd be happy to give you a boost over the side."

"Sea water, eggs and INDs. What a morning."

"So you're not gonna wash them out?"

"I'll wait. It's too cold just now."

"Coward."

I dodged his swing and sprinted one boy forward, grabbing Axel's arm and slinging it around my shoulders. The brunet himself didn't really react. I stuck my tongue out behind me at Blitz, the raw eggs making his hair even more spikey than normal. He flipped me off.

-

"Basilone might not even be here," Lautaro said.

"Does that even matter anymore? I mean, he's obviously a part of something so much bigger than selling NATO secrets now," Axel said.

"The Director said to find him. He's the mission." Owen's tone was clipped.

"Seriously? Nothing about how, I dunno, people making their own nuclear weapons? He doesn't want us to follow anything there?" James questioned.

"That is what he told me."

"Jesus, what a dick."

"Aren't all bosses dicks though?"

"Flagg is just... extra dick-ish."

"Cause that's a word."

"Focus guys," Owen redirected us. "Bowman, what do you see?"

What could I see? Nothing of importance. What could I smell? Wood. A lot of wood. I was behind one of the wooden crates with a Sicilian port stamp on it, inside the warehouse after Axel gave the all-clear for security cameras. None had been installed. Yet.

The warehouse had a concrete floor and concrete walls. Workers were all dressed differently, jeans and t-shirts, no uniforms or anything. Flagg had disclosed pictures of Basilone at the mission briefing, but I hadn't seen anyone who looked like him yet. Like Lautaro said, we didn't know if he was even here for sure, but since Flagg had said that finding him was still the top priority, we were targeting our focus on spotting the missing general before investigating more into the bomb ingredients.

Workers were all around the warehouse shifting and lifting the various crates with forklift trucks and the small ones by hand into the place. All kinds of accents were flying around, mostly northern African from the Tunisian workers and then Italian from the ones bringing in the crates from Sicily.

Blitz, Axel, and I were in the warehouse. Owen and Cal were around the outside. Lucky was on top of the warehouse, and the plan was for him to crawl through the vents to maybe get into some of the offices that were on the second floor. Lautaro was inside the factory next door looking over the bombs that had already been made to get a sense of the level of mechanics we were dealing with. James was at the new hotel, controlling a small drone that was scanning heat signatures and movements and charting the parameters of the place from outside. Lautaro had a computer chip he had to clip to the computer electrical systems so James could see those too. Lautaro just had to get there first. Since there were no security cameras for James to hack, we just had to rely on intuition of where to go and getting ready to knock anyone out who saw us sneaking around the place looking for Basilone.

"Wait," Axel's voice cut through the radio. "West corner talking to the worker with the clipboard. He's in uniform."

I peaked around the crate I was hiding behind that was about a foot away from pressing me completely against the east wall. I flicked my eyes to the corner and saw what Axel was seeing.

"Shit, it is him," I confirmed.

"Strider?"

"Yeah, one sec."

"Record it too," Owen added.

"I was already going to," James muttered.

We all heard Owen sigh.

A few moments later different voices came over the radio. James' drone had a speaker on it, he'd probably flown it close to the outside of the wall and could pick up what Basilone was saying.

It took me a few moments to get used to the Italian exchange in words. I quickly yanked my ear piece out and tapped the button on the side that just connected me just to James.

"...Hey James?"

"Want me to translate?"

I let out a sigh of relief. "Please. I mean I'm learning but—"

"No problem."

"And James?"

"Hmm?"

"Stop it with Owen."

"I wasn't doing anything—"

"Awesome, thanks!" I tapped the button again that re-connected me to the rest of the group and stuck it back into my ear.

"The uranium?" Basilone was saying. His voice sounded exactly like how I thought it would —deep, authoritative and rough.

"It arrived yesterday morning," the worker with the clipboard responded. His voice sounded on edge.

"Ricci?"

"He's got two for testing. He's ready for you now if you want to see them."

"It's about time he has some ready. How is reconnaissance in New York?"

"Do you mean at the Bellevue?"

"Yes idiot, that's the first target."

"Our insight says everything is ready for the 18th."

"Make it the 17th."

"But sir, that's in two days... what if Ricci's bombs aren't suitable for the damage you want?"

"They better be. He's had months. Plus, the 17th is a workday. More people will be inside and around the place."

"Yes sir."

"And the library?"

"It's... getting there."

"Getting there? How hard is it to find the weakest spot in architecture? I want everything set for the 23rd."

"There are people in there all the time—"

"Exactly. More people, more attention. Who do we have stationed at the rescue mission?"

"The rescue mission... the one on Lafayette?"

"For god's sake, yes the one on Lafayette."

"I think it is Lucchese who is stationed there right now, sir."

"I want to strike the library quick after we take the Bellevue, then the rescue mission." He paused for a second. The worker next to him went silent. "Do you know who would be perfect for this job?"

"Uh, no—no sir," the flustered workman stammered. "Should I?"

"Did the attempt to contact the Sytengco's go through?"

I blinked. I'd heard that name before. Sytengco. Sytengco. Huh. Where had I heard that name before? Sytengco. It sounded island-ish. Not Hawaiian... Philippino maybe?

"Oh, right. About that, well, you see sir—"

"I take it your trembling means no?"

The workman let out a shaky laugh. "No—not quite sir. We did manage to contact them, it's just... she's gone." He scrunched up his eyes like he was expecting an explosion from his boss.

"Gone?"

"Yes sir. It seems that she... escaped."

"What?"

"In Las Vegas. About a month ago."

My heart stopped.

Then I started to hyperventilate.

I couldn't speak. I couldn't breathe. My chest felt like it was contracting smaller and smaller with every breath I gasped to take. I dropped to the cement flooring, knocking my elbow on one of the nails on the crate as I went down. The force to my elbow ripped through to my bone but I barely felt it.

"Damnit," Basilone continued. "Pity. Her work is exactly what we need. Lucchese could learn about a dozen things from her work."

No. No no no no no this couldn't be happening.

"They asked us to look out for her and contact them if we see her. Shall we see Rucci in the basement now?"

"Let's."

I tried to keep staring at Basilone and the worker from behind the crate, give myself something to focus on and forget what they said. It was just for a second but in that second I felt all the walls I'd rebuilt, that Axel had rebuilt, come crashing down in my head and I all I could feel was irrational, erratic, stone-cold fear.

"Deera, you alright?" Blitz's voice came.

Fear crept through me like wildfire, igniting every neuron in my body. I tried to reply but I felt light headed.

"James where is she?" Axel demanded.

"East corner, third crate down from the left."

"Lawrence—"

"Just keep going," Axel interrupted our mission leader. "Get Blitz to follow Basilone down, while I get her out."

"You do not get to tell me what to do, get back where you were—"

Suddenly Axel's extraordinary eyes peaked around the crate I was behind and he got down on his knees to my level. "Hey hey hey, breathe," he told me calmly.

"No, no they're here!" I gripped his forearms tightly.

He shushed my quietly and glanced back around the side of the crate. "No they're not, they're far away from here."

"Yes, looking for me! If they see me here Basilone, he—he will call them and I'll go back I can't go back don't let me go back Axel listen!" I stammered out.

"I am listening, and we are going to get you out of here, okay?" He encouraged me to nod. I focused on getting lost in his eyes instead of getting lost in my fear. He slowly slid his way out of my tight grip and beckoned me up with his hands. "You can stand, come on, you got it." I hesitated, quite liking my huddled position on the floor. "Adira listen to me," Axel remained calm. "We're not letting you go anywhere, do you understand me?"

"Y—yes. But you can't! You don't understand, they—they're ruthless, and they'll find me eventually. Jesus Christ why didn't I think of this before?!" I raked my hands through my hair. "The more I'm out there's more of chance that I'll be seen and then—and then they'll come get me!"

"We are not gonna let that happen."

"They're stronger than you," I widened my eyes. "They've got connections, you don't know the people they know, the people I've worked for!" I suddenly clutched the shirt over my chest with one hand. "I can't breathe."

He smoothed his thumbs over the back of my hands. "Trust me, okay? Those men are not going to get you ever again. I'm not giving up on you, remember?" He smirked a little and I would have nudged him for doing that in a time like this, but instead I just took a deep breath.

"Thank you," I breathed out.

"No problem," he said. "James, you got an exit for us?"