"Lyon?" Des asked, his dark eyebrows frowning, as he took a sip of his pink Frozen Mango Dragonfruit Lemonade Starbucks Refreshers®, which he ordered half an hour ago, together with a Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino for Cael, and a Cinnamon Dolce Latte for me.
"Yep, France!" Cael snapped his fingers, taking a sip of his drink.
"Did you get her name?" He asked, monolid eyes turned to me.
Sigh, "Not yet. It's covered by too many layers of security. Not just by MI6, which I already cracked, but by Interpol," picking up one of the sliced cubes of dark chocolate brownie I cut, I ate it. "I know it's her. She goes by the same codename as her mother did in MI6, the Countess, and she's a legacy like me. But they are really protecting her."
"And are we sure she'll be of any help for us?" Des sighed annoyed.
"Her parents were digging through the same stuff mine were before they died, all because my parents picked up the same mission hers did, and all had the same ending, death," I passed my right hand over my wavy black hair. "Hers died when she was 3 years old, I was 12. Mine died 5 years later than that when I was 17 and she was 8, all because they wanted to solve the mystery of mamma's childhood best friend, Catriona. Unfortunately that's all I remember of her, her first name, because mamma only called her by it, or by Cat. I know they worked together in MI6, and that 'The Countess' was married to 'Black Mamba', who's name I never knew, because mamma called him Ness, as in the lake monster, his nickname for whatever reason."
We are currently in my townhouse in Mayfair, London, cracking our heads trying to solve a problem that not even the higher ups of MI6 know much about, related to a human trafficking cartel that appeared on the dark web, anonymously, 25 years ago. Back then, the head of the MI6, 'The Phoenix', had passed the mission to the top 2 secret agents of the Obsidian division, which dealt with the most dangerous problems on the field and constantly had to murder people, 'The Countess' and 'Black Mamba', but both were murdered 4 months into their investigation.
Their deaths shook the organization to a degree that it took 5 years for 'The Phoenix' to pass down that mission to the current best secret agents of the Obsidian division, 'The Peacock' and 'The Red Swan', respectively papa and mamma. 1 month and a half into the investigation, and they were murdered in the same way their predecessors were. And their deaths made the head of the MI6 archive the mission.
That is, until I requested him to let me work on it with my team, made of Desmond and Caelan, in secret, without anyone else knowing, We all work in the hacking side of the organization, but I'm also a Obsidian agent. But so is 'The Countess' 2.0, who the big boss warned me about. Not about her being trouble to me, though she is dangerous and an Obsidian agent as well, but because he told me she had her eyes on that mission, and she could probably have more information than me, had she inherited the journals of her parents, that were never found.
I asked him about her identity, so I could contact her, and maybe get in this mission with her too, since she's in the same spot as me, but he told me he didn't knew her name. That her parents never told him, and that the MI6 had a hard time going through it, because she had ties with the Interpol, who protected her identity with arms of steel. But that she comes around once to twice a month, always with a wig, but that different from the others, if I paid attention I would figure her out, because she's hot.
Yes. He said she was hot.
It baffled me to say the least. Specially because he is old enough to be our grandfather, I'm sure of it. Either that, or he's bloody worn-out.
"So, yes, we need to find her. She must be 27 to 28 years old now, as she was 3 when they died. But they died in July, and we don't know her birthday. I'm three ranks higher than her on the Obsidian division, so she's not as dangerous as me, but she's deadly for sure, and has quite the bloody heavy body count. She's been part of MI6 for almost 10 years now," I put down the list I had in hand, with the missions I managed to hack from the system, that were previously assigned to her. "She's methodic on her work, that is for sure."
"Who took care of her after The Countess and Black Mamba died?" Des tilted his head, putting his drink down and grabbing his laptop again. "Maybe that could lead to her."
"Two Obsidian agents," Cael sighed. "It's a dead end, bro. Their links with the Interpol are even deeper than with MI6, and I tried cracking through their security with Eric and we got nothing."
I nodded, because it's true, and I'm the absolute best at hacking, he comes second, as I helped him out myself, then comes Des. "They were not close to my parents, so I don't know their names, but they were best friends with those two. Retired, they go by 'Smoker' and 'The Pink Panther', they were part of 'The Countess' squadron of 6, together with her husband, and their other two partners 'Gemini' and 'Rapunzel'," the names get more and more ridiculous, believe me, but it's catchy.
Mine is 'Beast', short, simple, and strong.
Cael is 'Panther' and Des is 'Medusa', all catchy.
If it's catchy is good, everyone knows us by it. I'm sure she knows us too, even if just by listening once. She was smart in taking her mom's.
"Three men and three women. Two dead, four alive but retired, and all with ties to the Interpol. My parents were from another team, of which papa was the leader, together with both of your parents," which they nodded to, as they already know that.