"What do you mean by, 'we'll be rescuing her?'" I ask.
"What I just said," the Chief says. "Your mission is to find Ms. Darwin and bring her back here, to the organization, unharmed."
"OK, but can't you get one of the trainees to do it?" I ask.
"I think what Scorpio is trying to ask is, why send us? Who is this girl and how important is she to get the three of us involved", Oscars says, trying to dispel the tension caused by my sharp tongue.
The Chief turns to the desk cabinet beside him and pulls out three black folders. He lays them on the coffee table in front of me and directs the three of us to grab one.
I grabbed one and opened it. The first thing I see is a picture of a girl; she was young, around seventeen, if I had to guess. She was a brunette with a heart-shaped face and had full pouty lips with big doe eyes. She was cute.
"Ms. Darwin is the daughter of the now late forensics scientist, Dr. Darwin, who passed a month ago."
"How did she die?" ask Michael, in his deep baritone voice.
"Suicide," he answers, in a doubtful tone.
"You don't seem to believe that, " I say.
"Because I don't," he says.
"You think someone murdered her?" Oscar asked.
"I know she was murdered. By whom? Not sure, but the day before Dr. Darwin died, she made an order," the Chief continued. "She wanted us to find and protect her daughter."
The Red Note Organization was not by any means on the public radar. Still, we were well known by the government and the higher-ups in the country, who are known to be customers to us.
An 'order' is a request made by one of these two groups. Need someone to die unexpectedly, we got you. Need your stolen money back from a gang of thieves, we got you. Need cash stolen from the bank of Spain, we got you. We did everything but save people, well everyone did except me, and that was supposed to be my secret.
On missions involving a rescue like the one I was just on, you were never to save anyone other than the target, because they could possibly distract you from the goal. But I could never turn a blind eye when there were other victims involved in the job.
I always kept the secret from everyone except Oscar. And the truth is this mission shouldn't bother me like it did, but I had this anxious feeling that I was getting into more than I thought I was. And I knew the Chief would never keep vital information involving the case if our lives were on the line.
But there was something, but what was it?
"I did send a team to find Ms. Darwin, but they've come up empty several times."
"Whose team?" I ask.
"Jason's."
Wow. Jason Eric was the best field tracker we had, and he had a team of exceptionally skilled members he was training under the Chief's permission. If he couldn't find her, then this was definitely a case.
"Then isn't there a possibility that could she be dead if Jason couldn't find her?" asks Michael.
"Yes, there is that possibility, but we have a suspicion that she is still alive. Although Jason wasn't able to find Ms. Darwin herself, he was able to locate where she was hiding; in an old family holiday house in Hawaii." He continues, "The place showed signs of forcible entry but no manslaughter."
"If you turn to the third page in the file, you can see a copy of a letter we found in the house, from Dr. Darwin to her daughter. The main message was for Ms. Darwin to never go back to her father".
"And who is her father?" Oscar asks.
"Former prime minister, Mr. Daniel Montgomery."
Oh, everyone knew the very controversial Mr. Montgomery; the man had been in politics longer than the Chief has been on earth and has left a trail of multiple offences. Including sexual assault claims, human trafficking and theft. He has been married more times than I could count on my fingers.
And now that I think of it, I remember hearing the Darwin name being involved with him. "Is the Darwin we are talking about related to Darwin Tech.?" I ask.
"Yes. Dr. Darwin was the daughter of the late Robert Darwin, creator of Darwin Technologies." the Chief explains.
In the past, there was news of the former prime minister and the heir to Darwin Tech, getting engaged to be married. But it was called off two days before the wedding, due to the emergence of new sexual assault claims against the groom to be. The news was everywhere. That was fifteen years ago, I was ten at the time, and remember the surprise I felt after my mother told me the prime minister and doctor were a couple. I had seen them on the cover of a magazine and had assumed they were father and daughter.
"I the letter, Dr. Darwin states believed that Mr. Montgomery was after their daughter for the family inheritance her grandfather had provided them before he passed. We have investigated and found it to be true. Ms. Darwin has a substantial amount of fortune under her name and since a decade has past since Mr. Montgomery has been in office, it is safe to say the greedy bastard wants the fortune." says the Chief.
"But he doesn't have any claim to the fortune, does he?" I ask as I stand up from the couch and head toward the bar at the corner of the room. My headache was starting to get worse and I needed a drink. "Drinks, anyone?"
Michael is the only one that raises his hand.
"As the only living relative to Ms. Darwin, the state wouldn't see anything wrong with him taking care of his daughter-"
"Aside from being an international rapist" I remark in a low voice, as I pour two glasses of whiskey.
"And we all know he can influence her into giving up the fortune to him" the Chief finishes.
I hand Michael a glass as I head back to the couch. I tip my glass up and drink the hard liquid in one swallow. The burn felt good, I made a mental note to take the bottle on my way back to my apartment, the Chief wouldn't mind since it wasn't my first time taking liquor from his bar. Besides, it was one of those nights, I wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight without some help and I was too lazy to find a bed mate.
"You said, there was forced entry into the house Ella was staying at, but you don't believe it was her father who found her?" Oscar asked as he joined me on the couch, staring at the Chief.
"No, Mr. Montgomery's men are still out searching for her. There is another player involved here. We don't know who it is yet, but it is safe to assume they have their own motives for taking her. The reason I've asked you three to be on this mission, is because you all have been trained to expect the unexpected, and if whoever else we are dealing with is more dangerous than the former prime minister, then you will be ready".
I glance at Michael to my left and at Oscar, seated to my right. He catches my eye and winks. The Chief was right, we would be ready. With the help of satellites and Wi-Fi, no one could hide from Oscar. We will find Ms. Darwin, I just hope she was till breathing by the time we did.