(2 hours later, UNAME base, Jerusalem)
"Thank you lad," said General Yashar at Sean who tended to her bruises. She and Team Zero are in her office, discussing what to do next.
After the standoff ended with the Zionists taking away the High commissioner, they returned to the UNAME base, Ismail rushed to the hospital and a region wide search initiated, with the borders closed.
"No signs of them yet ma'am," reported a UNAME soldier.
"They cannot escape the city without a fight, because we have already closed the air space and all land routes, they are still in Jerusalem," analysed Sean.
"I agree," said Xiao Tian, analysing the map on the holographic projector.
"Now, let's think this through," he said, drawing a circle from where they were ambushed.
"It's been 2 hours since the attack, UNAME locked down the entirety of the airspace almost immediately after the attack, and did not detect any aircraft taking off in the area, so we can eliminate air transportation," he said.
"That leaves only road," he analysed, drawing arrows around the area by estimating the speed and distance the enemy can realistically travel.
He looked at the areas they can reach, cross checking them with known Zionist operating areas, then he continued to narrow down and eliminate areas based on multiple criterias after discussing them with his teammates.
"We can eliminate the places near the West Bank area," analysed Santos. "That's a Muslim majority area, the Zionists won't want to get into trouble when they have an important hostage with them."
"I agree," said Nanami. "We should focus on the Jewish majority areas, not that they will support the Zionists, but they can blend in better."
Xiao Tian commended them for making good points.
"We also need to consider one point, ease of escaping," he added. "There's no way they will keep the High Commissioner for long periods in the territory of UNAME, they will try to bring him out to the sovereign states which will make things more complicated for us in tracking him down."
"Open road and air transport will be too difficult for them to pull off now, so they will have to go to an area where they can do so discreetly,"
"Out of all of our UNAME areas, our defences are the least concentrated at the Lebanon border region," he analysed.
"But how will they get over there?" asked Sean.
"The tunnel systems dug by the loyalists during WW3," said Xiao Tian.
"After Israel and Palestine fell, the Hamas remnants among the loyalists built a dense network of tunnels in the region to continue their guerrilla warfare against the collaborationists. These tunnels gradually expanded to underground cities after more people joined the loyalist war effort, some of them so big that you can host drag races in them."
"And, there is one such tunnel network, here," he said, pointing to a spot on the map.
"This hill is the entrance of a wide tunnel network now used to host racing events, very popular among youths," said Xiao Tian.
"But, what they don't know is that there is a hidden tunnel that heads northwards, ending in here, near a under construction heliport that is already functional," he analysed.
"And what's more interesting is," he said, bringing up an image in the holographic projector. "Ori seems to have already reserved 2 helipads there for 2 helicopters, barely a month ago."
"I suspect that's where the Zionists are headed, after all, we cannot lock down the airspace indefinitely," he finished.
General Yashar nodded.
"What's your plan then?" she asked.
"Team Zero will strike the tunnels," he said. "I want a QRF on standby around the hill as well, gather a Special Operations Brigade to strike the heliport too."
"I can arrange that," said General Yashar.
Xiao Tian nodded. He ordered all of Team Zero to time their watches.
"We are striking at 19 hundred hours," he said. "Pack your equipment and get dinner."
"YES SIR!" replied the operators in unison.
(4 pm, in a restaurant)
Sean, Frederica, Phineas and Ariel are finishing up their dinner.
Due to the huge influx of operations, the UNAME headquarter canteen ran out of food before dinner time, hence Team Zero members decided to eat at the restaurant on the street opposite the headquarters. As their orders took longer to come, the rest of Team Zero returned to base, leaving them to finish up on their own.
Just as they paid the bill, a hooded figure heading to the restaurant's back door caught Frederica's attention. She had already been eyeing this strange patron the moment he entered the establishment, for he tried his best to avoid interacting with anyone, be it the staff or fellow customers.
The hooded figure passed her on his way, allowing her to catch a momentary glimpse of his appearance.
Her eyes widened momentarily as a realisation hit her. Once the figure headed out, she immediately pulled Sean close, whispering something into his ear.
An alarmed Sean frowned at her.
"Are you sure?" he asked.
Frederica formed her fingers into a 9, implying a 90% certainty.
Sean frowned. He immediately texted Xiao Tian. Once he replied, he pulled Phineas and Ariel with him and Frederica towards the back door.
"What's wrong?" asked a confused Phineas.
"Freddie said she saw an old friend of ours," said Sean.
"Dr Edward Sterling."
"No way," muttered Ariel.
"Xiao Tian allowed us to track him, on the condition that we make it back by 5pm," he said. "If possible, once we confirm his identity, we take him in."
They exited the restaurant, overlooking a busy shopping street.
"There," said Frederica, pointing to the hooded figure a few shops away from them.
The 4 followed him, using their expertise to blend in with the crowd, steadily moving closer to him.
They followed him into a bank, which Sean discovered to be the same bank that he and his siblings of Squad Artemis save at. The figure sat down at the sofas after communicating with the robot receptionist.
Frederica discreetly stayed near the entrance, her hand slipping into her denim jacket, removing the safety on her FN 5-7 pistol. She grabbed a brochure, looking through the banking options available, while keeping the corner of her gaze fixed tightly on the figure.
Scrolling through, she noticed an advertisement for a joint bank account for married couples with better interest rates, part of the schemes rolled out by the bank to cooperate with the world governments' attempts to encourage childbirth.
She looked at Sean, and then momentarily, an image of she and Sean tugging their child into bed crept into her mind. Startled, she quickly averted her gaze, hiding her blush.
Sean grabbing a device from his bag, it is a quick DNA test kit that allows operators to quickly verify their target's identities through things like hair. Now, he needs an excuse to get close to the figure to confirm their suspicion.
He looked at the time, it is 4.20 pm.
He then noticed the same advertisement. He smirked at Ariel and Phineas, and a plan formed in his mind.
"Thank me later, Doctor," he mused.
He pulled Phineas and Ariel over, sitting down next to the hooded figure.
"Mind if we sit here, sir?" he smiled.
The figure hesitated briefly before saying yes.
Sean thanked him. He looked at the man's worried expression.
"Something wrong?" he asked, "an issue with your loan?"
"Oh no, just some complications with my account," replied the figure, laughing nervously.
"What about you?" he asked.
Sean smiled. "Here to accompany my cousin who is just engaged with her boyfriend," he said, pointing at Phineas and Ariel. "They are interested in the joint account."
After a momentary shock, Ariel quickly linked arms with Phineas, careful to make sure that her ring finger is out of sight, smiling warmly at the figure.
"We are getting married next month!" exclaimed Ariel.
"Congratulations," smiled the figure. "You two look good together."
"...Thanks..." stammered Phineas, embarrassed.
"You hear that babe? We are a perfect couple," smiled Ariel, kissing Phineas on the cheek, prompting him to almost jump off the sofa.
"I have an excuse to do everything I want with him and he can't say no!" exclaimed Ariel in delight internally. "I AM TREATING YOU TO BEER AFTER THE MISSION SEAN!"
Phineas glared at Sean discreetly. His eyes saying a mixture of "screw you" and "thank you".
"So good to be young," laughed the figure. "How did you 2 meet?"
"I am a doctor," replied Phineas, recovering. "She is a paramedic, we met at the hospital."
"What do you practice?" asked the figure, interested.
"Emergency medicine," said Phineas, recounting his time studying medicine.
"No wonder," remarked the figure. The 2 chatted on about medicine related things, and Phineas commended the figure for his proficiency in the field.
"Oh thank you, I am a doctor myself too, I specialise in neurology," replied the figure.
While the 3 talked, Sean discreetly plucked off the figure's hair using the magic tricks from Monsieur Jacques, running it in the DNA test.
Once the results are done, he check it with Dr Sterling's DNA, finding it to be a 100% match.
"Hi, can you explain to me the mechanism behind influencing brain functions using microorganisms?" asked Sean.
The figure frowned.
"I mean, that's the topic you wrote your PhD thesis on, right Dr Sterling?" asked Sean.
Dr Sterling's eyes' widened in shock at having been recognised. He drew his pocket revolver, only for Phineas to quickly disarm him. The 3 then pinned him down, restraining him tightly, while Ariel handcuffed him. Sean then pulled out his phone from his shorts, using Dr Sterling's face to unlock the facial recognition lock.
Frederica raised her UNSSD badge at the shocked customers and staff, calming them down, before rushing over to help her comrades.