01:35
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport
Sohel gets in his Subaru Defender and starts the car. While driving he taps a few times on his dashboard screen and ARIA speaks up, "Good Evening, Captain."
"It's past midnight, ARIA. Don't good evening me. Has Blast uploaded the location of the orphanage?"
"Yes, sir."
"Put it on the GPS and take over the wheel."
"Yes, captain." A location shows up on the dashboard screen as Sohel lets go of the steering wheel. Sohel then commands ARIA, "ARIA, put up the info about the kid and the man accompanying her."
Two data files appear in front of Sohel on the car's front windshield. Sohel checks them and starts talking to himself, "Luna and John Hunt. An orphan 13-year-old and his caretaker. ARIA, where was she before she was transferred to this orphanage?"
"It was an ordinary orphanage in Washington. Not much info has been made available publicly about this orphanage."
"That's strange. Can you look into it?"
"I can try but it would take longer as I don't have any admin authority in US's servers."
"Just make it as fast as you can."
"Yes, captain."
Sohel then looks at the info on the current orphanage Luna is in. He takes the number given there and contacts the orphanage letting them know that he was coming.
05:07
Vinton, Louisiana
The car stops in front of a big church-like building. Sohel gets out and looks around. He goes to the building's door and knocks but no one answers. He thinks, "Shouldn't have come this early in the morning. But we've got no time." And he knocks again. This time a middle-aged man opens the door and asks, "What do you want?"
Sohel reluctantly answers, "Uh. I'm sorry for coming this early in the morning. I'm Captain Ghost from SNA. I'd like to talk to one of the kids from this orphanage about a murder. She's a witness."
"Huh? A murder witness, one of our kids? And why did you think I would believe you? You're just a kid who knocked on the door of an orphanage early in the morning?"
Sohel looks down at his uniform as if he's searching for anything that makes him look fake. At that moment he and the man looked at the street at the sound of a car stopping. A cyan Audi stops just behind Sohel's Subaru Defender. A man in his early 40s gets out of the car and comes to them. He looks at the middle-aged man and asks, "What happened? Why's the SNA here?"
The man answers, "This boy here wants to speak with one of our kids as he thinks she's a murder witness. So I was just shooing him away."
The man looks at Sohel and extends his hand, "Hello. My name's Marcus Stone. I'm the one running this orphanage. I'm sorry for my employee's rude behavior. Please come inside."
Sohel shakes Mr. Stone's hand and follows him inside. They go through a few corridors and reach a room that seems like an office. Mr. Stone sits on the revolving chair kept behind an office table and urges Sohel to sit. Sohel sits in a chair opposite him. The man asks Sohel if he wants to drink something but Sohel declines. Sohel continues, "I'm sorry for coming this early in the morning but as I've already told you in the phone call, we don't have much time. We need all the info we can get to catch the criminal."
The man then asks, "So, Who is this kid you want to talk with?"
"It's the new kid you collected from Washington named Luna and the guy you sent to get her."
Mr. Stone nods and instructs someone on the intercom to bring Luna and John Hunt. A few minutes later both of them enter the room. Sohel turns around and asks Luna to sit in the chair in front of him. Luna reluctantly sits. Sohel then starts asking, "You're Luna, right?"
Luna nods.
"Can you tell me if you saw anything unusual in the plane yesterday?"
Luna nods her head sideways. Sohel thinks, "What's with this girl?"
He then asks, "So, How is this place? Do you like it?"
Luna was going to say something but stopped. Sohel notices that. He also notices that both Stone and Hunt are looking at her with an intimidating look. Sohel then thanks Luna and turns towards Hunt. He asks Hunt many questions but doesn't get any meaningful answers. Sohel then says to Mr. Stone, "I'll take my leave then, Mr. Stone." Mr. Stone smiled and said, "Sorry we couldn't help you."
"Don't be sorry. It wasn't your fault."
Sohel understood something was happening in that orphanage but couldn't tell what. He feels a little defeated as he leaves the orphanage. Sohel enters the car and ARIA says, "Captain, you got a mail."
Sohel gets a little shocked and asks, "Who is it?"
"No idea. SNA's privacy protocol protects the sender's ID."
"Override it. I have Level V clearance."
"Commencing Override...… Override failed. You need Level IX clearance to override the protocol."
"Who is this guy?"
Sohel opens the mail and sees it's a mail from Shadow containing info about Luna's previous orphanage. He reads it and says, "What is this Shadow? Always one step ahead." He then starts heading back to Artemis.
08:21
Artemis Briefing Room, Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport
Sohel enters the briefing room and sees everyone is already waiting for him. He first asks Mitali about the dead body. Mitali answers, "She was poisoned. The poison swelled her larynx muscles and she choked to death. I've already determined the poison and submitted its info."
Sohel asks Annabelle, "Can you find out where this poison came from?"
"It will be hard considering we don't know which black sites sell this one."
Sohel thinks for a moment and says, "Ok. Don't worry about it. I'll do something."
Sohel then says to Mitali and Flynn, "Aiden and Mitali, get ready. You two are going undercover."
Aiden gets a little shocked, "Undercover? Why?"
"You two will pretend to become a married couple and go to the orphanage to adopt a baby."
This time it was Mitali's turn to get shocked, "M-married couple? Why?"
"Something is going on in that orphanage. You will go there and investigate in the pretense of finding the baby you want to adopt."
Mitali murmurs, "If I was going to pretend to be married I'd prefer it to be with you."
"You said something?"
"Nothing. When do we have to go?"
"What time is it now? Princess, can you procure some fake documents for Mitali? Oh, and a fake marriage certificate too. Mr. and Mrs. Flynn. Hmm. it has a nice ring to it."
Annabelle smiles, "On it. Give me 30 minutes." Annabelle leaves for his laboratory.
Sohel asks Naomi, "Medusa, ready them up."
"Yes, captain." Naomi takes Flynn and Mitali with them and leaves. As they were leaving, Sohel asks Naomi, "Oh, Where's Blast?"
"He's sleeping. Do you want me to call him?"
"No. Let him sleep."
After everyone leaves, Sohel asks ARIA, "ARIA, connect me with Shadow."
"Yes, captain."
Around 10 minutes later a rugged voice is heard on the comms.
"Shadow here."
"Good morning, Shadow. Thanks for the info earlier. How did you know I was looking for it?"
"I didn't. I thought you might need it."
"Nice. I'll need you to investigate something more for me."
"I've sent you info about a poison. Can you find out who bought it among the flight crew and the passengers?"
"Will do. Give me half a day."
"That fast?"
"Don't underestimate the info network of a spy."
"Yes, boss. Please let me know as soon as you find something. Ghost out."