"How did he die?" I asked my teammates as soon as I got back to HQ.
"Laura, we'd talk about that later. For now, we have more pressing issues. We're on a call with Alfred now and he's insisting he wants to talk to you"
I 𝘯𝘰𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘥, and stood in front of the screen, since it was a video call.
"𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰 𝘓𝘢𝘶𝘳𝘢. 𝘐 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘷𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵? 𝘓𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘑𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯 8 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦, 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘦. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘴. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘰𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘢. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘢𝘳𝘮. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦."
He ended the call immediately.
His last statements struck a nerve.
"What's he saying?" Nathan asked, rhetorically.
"I still think this guy's calling a bluff. He just wants to get us scared" Tasha replied.
"No!!! He isn't!!!" I replied calmly. "He's talking about my mother"
Almost everyone in the lab turned to stare at me immediately. Even my team mates were shocked.
"Everyone, I want you in my office ASAP" Charles said, referring to Pat, Tasha, Nathan and me. We followed him immediately.
My heart was torn into two, thinking about my mother and how she died.
"We're the only ones that know how your parents died, yeah?" Charles asked me.
"I hate to bring back old painful memories, but after they died, have you ever gone back to check what happened?" Pat asked. I shook my head in the negative, wondering why she'd be asking me such a question.
"So you never buried them?" Tash asked.
"No I didn't. Look you all are getting it all wrong. Alfred probably knows how close I was to my mother and he's just saying that to me, to make him fall for his lies. He probably knows that was my mum's favourite line for me. She loved flowers, and I shared the trait with her" I shrugged.
"You keep saying he probably knows, without wondering how exactly he knows" Nathan stated and we all turned to him.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
He sighed. "Laura I have reasons to believe your mother is still very much alive and is probably in the custody of Alfred and his rogues"
The entire office became silent, as everyone gently tried to ponder on this information.
"Excuse me!" I said to no one in particular and left the office. I went to the locker room and stood there panting, as I remembered one of my favourite childhood memories of my mother
**********************************************
"Mum" I called out.
"Yes baby"
"What do you think I should become in future?" I asked her, because a lot of my classmates were talking about it in school and I just stared on clueless.
"You can be anything you want to be Laura" My mum said in the most gentlest tone ever.
"Really?? I want to be a soldier. Do you think I can be it?"
"Let me tell you a secret baby. You are a wildflower; you always have been. You belong in a boat out at sea. You belong with your love on your arm. You belong somewhere free. You can be anything you want to be" She smiled up at me and I hugged her tightly. After that night, she kept on saying those words to me, almost every night, till that fateful day.
**********************************************
I wiped back tears that were beginning to form in my eyes. How could my mother be alive and she didn't look for me all these years?
"Well, you left her no choice" Tash replied, walking up to me. I forgot she knew how to expertly read minds, so she probably knew what I was thinking about.
"How did I leave her no choice?"
"After they died, you left your country. You left everything there. How did you expect her to find you? You left no traces, and you haven't gone back there. It's been over 2 decades now, isn't it?" She asked, and I nodded.
She was actually right.
After they died, I ran away immediately. I had no friends around so I usually slept under the bridge and during the day, I'd go look for work. I worked as a waitress, baby sitter, maid and so many other places for a year, still living under the bridge and saved enough money. I was able to get into the FBI academy and then the rest is history. I just never found a time and chance to go back to my country.
"Don't beat yourself up about it, okay?" Tasha rubbed my back in smooth circles and I smiled. Her phone beeped immediately. She checked it and her face lighted up.
"Pat's got something"
We both went back inside.
"Okay. I just found out what's going to happen in 8 hours time. Alfred and his brother, who are leaders of the Donatello mafia gang, are actually about to form an alliance with another powerful Russian mafia. Their wish was approved on a condition that they bring someone for sale - a child, and Jared has to be the one to bring the child, himself" Pat said, emphasizing on the "himself". She looked at all of us to make sure we were following, before she continued.
I nodded in realization, and that's where the 5 - year old innocent boy came in. They wanted to sell him to the Russians to prove their loyalty.
"They were offered a contract to sign, and the contract stipulated that if the deal doesn't go through, they would eliminate everyone and everything, associated with the Donatello family" Pat concluded.
"Oh my God!!" I exclaimed. The Russians were apparently very powerful and they out outnumbered The Donatellos. In fact, the Americans wouldn't want to have anything to do with the Russians because they were considered ruthless in most of their dealings.
"So, does this mean, you're in danger?" Nathan asked, looking at me. I nodded. Tash walked away, muttering something as she looked at her tab.
"There's a call from Alfred again. I think this guy's desperate now" Pat said, and answered the call on the projector. She started trying to
track the call, but it kept on rerouting.
"Laura. You didn't tell me Jared was dead"
Everyone stood still, fidgeting in there positions. Before I could respond, he continued. "You don't know what you've just done. Remember you have just 8 hours to either release Jared or bring back that little boy. I'll send an address. If you don't, a lot of things are going to go wrong, my little Laura the wildflower" He replied.
"The FBI does not negotiate with terrorists" Charles said, coming in to view.
"Well, this one is non-negotiable. Many things are going to go wrong" He ended the call immediately.
Tash came back.
"I got something. As much as the Donatellos are involved in a lot of things, they're also known for outstanding feats too. They founded the St Jerome orphanage, they're the major sponsors of the Picasso carnival. They hold major shares in the Grand Central hospital. If the Russians wanted to attack, it could be anyone of these places" She explained.
"Those are too many for us to watch out for. And we're actually short on agents now. Do you think the CIA or the DSS is going to..." I interrupted Pat immediately.
"Wait!! When's the carnival going to take place, again? I asked, when I suddenly remembered that the twins have been talking about it for so long.
"On the 29th, and the 29th is...." Nathan's eyes widened as he said "This midnight"
Charles came up immediately. "Anna Caldwell, Matthew's ex-wife, loves the carnival and has never missed it in all the years she's been in New York. Chances are she's going to be there tonight, with her son, because she doesn't have family members in New York"
"We have to warn her then, not to go for the carnival" I said.
"No. These people have already designated that place as their target, which means, even if Anna doesn't go, other people there would be a victim and we can't just cancel the carnival" Tash said.
"Then we have a target" I said.
"Alright everyone. I know it's early, but go home, get enough rest and we regroup here at 8pm. The carnival starts at 10pm and lasts all through the night. We'd start guarding the place from 9pm" Charles said, and we all nodded. Then he turned to me. "You're sitting this one out, Laura. You're not fully recovered. You just got out of the hospital. Don't worry, we've got everything covered and there's no room for negotiation" He said and walked out, leaving me alone.
I sighed and went out to my car. My first top was to the safehouse, where my children were hiding.
"Twin turtles" I whispered, as I stood in front of the door, and it opened slowly. Alex was a mess. It was obvious she'd been crying, and Andrew.. He just stood there, staring at me, like I was a stranger.
I don't have time to start explaining anything to them yet.
"Let's go home" They obediently got in the car and I drove to Mrs Green first to pick up Amanda. She kept on screaming in excitement when she saw me.
As soon as we got home, the twins went to their rooms. Amanda was with me, telling me every thing that happened at her teaparty, but I wasn't even listening. I brought out my sniper and some pocket knives. Years of experience with Russian terrorists taught me to always have knives on hands, because those people are really ruthless. I took a few rifles with me too. Amanda didn't even mind. She was already used to seeing me with guns, so it wasn't a new thing. I packed all these into my black bag. I cleaned my brown boots and placed them by the entrance.
I then searched on the web for Anna Caldwell's contact number. I called her and asked to meet with her.
"Hello Miss Anderson. I never really got the chance to..."
"Never mind about that Miss Caldwell. Something big is happening tonight at the carnival and I need you to follow my instructions carefully to the core" She nodded in fright
I placed a tracker on her phone and told her to make sure her phone was on all through. I told her some other things and even when she was skeptical about going for the carnival. I advised her.
"If the Russians find out that you're not there. It will spook them off and the damage could be greater. Their major aim is to get your son"
She nodded and thanked me, and we dispersed.
If Charles thinks I'd just lay in bed all night wondering how they were faring with the mission, then he thought wrongly.
I walked to my garage and checked my motorbike. It was dusty from being unused for so long but ofc, I'd make do with it.