09:27
Naomi, Aiden, and Mitali enter the control room and see Sohel and Annabelle talking to each other. Annabelle had a bunch of papers in her hand. Sohel notices them entering the room and asks Naomi, "Are you done?"
Naomi replies, "Yes. I've graced them with some basic acting knowledge."
Sohel chuckles, "That's good. Princess, hand them the papers."
Annabelle goes to Mitali and gives her a bunch of papers, "You're Mellisa Flynn. Born and raised in the US. You married Aiden last year and now both of you want to adopt a child. These papers are the proof of everything I just said."
Mitali checks the papers and gives them to Aiden. Aiden also checks the papers and says in awe, "You managed to procure all these in just an hour?"
"Yes, we did. I could've gotten these in 10 minutes if we were in a signed country."
"That's awesome and scary at the same time."
Sohel interrupts them, "OK. Now go on. Take the KIA Sportage from the garage. They would recognize the Subaru." Sohel also hands them a picture of Luna and says, "Take special notice of this kid. She's the one who was in the plane that time."
"OK."
Aiden and Mitali head out for the orphanage. Sohel goes into the briefing room and starts going through the statements of the passengers and flight crews. A little while later Naomi enters the room with two cups of coffee and sits next to Sohel. She hands one to Sohel and Sohel takes that silently. A few moments later Sohel puts the tablet down and says, "You know Naomi, there wasn't any poison in the ingredients. And we checked the CCTV of the kitchen too. The hostess didn't lace the coffee in any way. So, the question is when did the poison get mixed in the coffee?"
"Maybe someone put it after she had made the coffee and was going to serve it."
"That's a possibility. Someone did say she was talking to the man accompanying the kid just before she served coffee to Ms. Mitalev."
"But we don't know for sure. Ahhhhh, just get me a lead already."
"Ghost, you should get some sleep first. It should clean your head a little. You didn't sleep at all last night."
"But...."
"No buts. I know you're the captain, but it's my job to support you in these types of situations. You get a few hours of sleep, meanwhile, I'll go through all of the statements and try to get a lead. Okay?"
"Yes, my mother."
Naomi frowns, "I'm not your mother. Now go."
Sohel leaves the room as Naomi picks up the tablet Sohel had put down.
12:55
Vinton, Louisiana
The Black KIA Sportage stops before the orphanage and Aiden and Mitali get out. After telling the guard that they want to adopt a kid the guard takes them to the office room and asks them to wait. 10 minutes later a man around 35-36 years old comes and takes them to a huge hall-like room. The room had lots of bunk beds set up on three sides except the side with the door. Around 30-35 kids aged from 08-17 were kept in the room. They were doing different things like playing, drawing, etc. The man tells them to look around and to let him know if they have chosen a kid to adopt. Aiden and Mitali start going around the room looking at the kids and asking them various questions like their names, likes, etc. They looked for Luna but couldn't find her. So they go to the man and Mitali asks, "Are these all of the kids you have in this orphanage?"
The man answers, "Yes, ma'am."
Mitali thinks for a few seconds and says, "Umm. we would like to take some more time to choose. Would you mind if we take some pictures and come back at a later date?"
"Of course not. Feel free to take as many pictures as you like."
Mitali tells Aiden, "Darling, let's take some pictures with the kids and go home for now."
"As you wish, my honey."
They take pictures with the kids and leave the orphanage. After they get in the car, Aiden starts driving and asks, "So? What now? Looks like they already moved the kid somewhere else."
"No, they wouldn't do that. Remember, the captain already visited there and talked to Luna this morning."
"If they moved her away now, they would just be making themselves more suspicious."
"Hmmm. I didn't think that way."
Mitali activates ARIA and says, "ARIA, contact Artemis."
"Yes, sergeant. Establishing connection............…connection found"
"Medusa here."
"Mitali reporting. We looked around the orphanage. The kids seemed fine but something was wrong. Their behavior seemed way too scripted."
"Hmm. What about the kid?"
"She wasn't there. We took some pictures and left saying that we would come at a later date."
"OK. Get back to Artemis. Medusa out."
"Yes, LT. Mitali out."
13:30
Artemis, Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport
"Ghost....Ghost...…Captain, wake up."
Sohel gets up at Jacob's voice. He gets up, rubs his eyes, and asks Jacob, "What happened?"
"You got a call?"
"Who is it?"
"Shadow."
After listening to this, Sohel hurriedly gets up and runs to the briefing room.
"Ghost here. Do you have the info?"
"I do. I've also got some other info. This one's maybe more vital."
"Alright. Go on."
"I've looked for people who bought the specific poison in that last month and one purchase stood out."
"Who is it?"
"An unknown man calling himself Sloth bought this poison last week."
"And how is it special?"
"The address. The address was the same as the orphanage in Washington where that kid, Luna was before."
Sohel's forehead skin wrinkles after hearing this.
"Ok. What's the other info?"
"The girl, Luna. I was looking through the security cam pictures from earlier murders and I found this."
"Four pictures come up on the screen. All of them showed Luna walking or sitting."
"The 1st picture was taken from a store security cam in New York, just 15 minutes before Conrad Vasili, one of our spies was killed by needle poison. The 2nd one was taken from a park CCTV in Washington, just around 30 minutes before someone killed UN Secretary Kim Min Jae by stabbing with a small knife. The other two photos are the same."
Sohel's face hardened as he asked, "Do you think that girl killed these people?"
"I'm not sure. But she's related to these killings in one way or another."
"OK. Thanks for the help. I've got at least a path I can walk on, thanks to you."
"Don't sweat. I was ordered to support you if possible. Ask me if you need anything else. I'll be in touch. Shadow out."
"I'll sure do. Ghost out."
After the call cuts, Sohel asks ARIA to contact New Eden. 2 minutes later the call connects.
"Overlord here."
"Captain Ghost reporting."
"How's it going there?"
"We've got some leads but I'll need a few permissions to progress."
"What do you need?"
"I need permission to conduct raids on two locations and authority to use Artemis in them."
"Send me the locations, I'll arrange raid permissions. As for Artemis use, you're authorized to use Artemis for surveillance purposes only. Do not fire a single round out of the Artemis cannons. We're already operating in an unauthorized area. We can't risk getting on their bad side by using destructive weaponry."
"Understood, sir."
"Anything else?"
"No, sir. Ghost out."
"Overlord out."