Tarred pulled over on the side of a road, a decent amount of distance away from a warehouse surrounded by a green field in the middle of nowhere. A black jet right outside of it, though it was hard to make out with the only light coming from the warehouse and the moon above. "Hija isn't exactly a model citizen," Tarred said, getting out of the car with me. He began briskly walking towards the warehouse motioning me to follow. "He's a criminal but he's our best chance of getting out of here quickly. Less likely to run into problems if we go to an airport, given your father's and mother's pull in the country; not to mention the tech..."
"He can get to the US without any problems, right?"
"Yes, but he'll have to leave the second we get off. Or he'll have to be in hiding for a short time before he comes back here. I imagine he'll probably do the latter since he's helping us and he doesn't want to become a target for your family."
"I see..." Tarred led me into the warehouse towards a man with blonde hair, dressed casual. "Hija!" Hija spun around with a sly grin, "Tarred, it's good to see you in one piece. And this is?" He looked to me with a raised brow. "Motome," I said back politely.
He snorted, "from what I gathered from Tarred... another government pawn." I laughed though I knew it was meant as a insult,"oh you're not wrong. I'm permanently owned."
"So, where is it you need to be?"
"D.C," Tarred answered. "As close as possible if you're comfortable with it." Hija grumbled, grabbing a tote, walking towards the jet. "D.C is probably the worst spot for me to be, with all their cameras and spooks watching," he stopped in his tracks and turned around, "you're not a spook, right Motome?"
"If you're worried about me turning yo-"
He held up his free hand, "I'm not concerned about you turning me in. I need to know what I'm getting involved with. So are you a spook or not?"
Spooks... A slang for spies or espionage agents. I bit my tongue however I gave him a nod. It'll suffice.
He scoffed, "great," he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Anything else I should know?"
I shook my head, "to what I'm aware of, no." He continued walking towards the jet, pulling out a remote. He pressed a button, a passenger door sliding open, and a step ladder folding out from it. He climbed up, and shouted from inside, "Let's make this quick!"
We followed suit, taking our seats, buckled up. Moments later the ladder folded back in and the door locked shut.
"You know the drill," Hija said over the intercom. "There's a mini fridge on the right of your seat Tarred with a lock and key attached. Take what you'd like, I don't care... And for the love of everything don't make a mess back there."
With that said we took off without a hitch.
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***
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Tarred had fallen asleep moments after we got into the air. He's slept relatively solid. I however only slept maybe an hour. I got up from my seat careful not to wake him and went to the cockpit. The amount of buttons and tiny switches were overwhelming. "How's it going pilot?"
He rolled his neck, "well, we just entered the US, no problems. I was planning on landing a little closer to DC than I'm comfortable with but..." I sat down in the extra chair, careful not to bump anything, "But?"
"Something tells me I shouldn't. I'll be landing about an hour, give or take from DC. We have maybe thirty minutes till then." He flipped a switch, "The jet is cloaked now. We won't be seen where we land if it's a concern of yours."
I shrugged, "Will you be leaving once I and Tarred take off?"
"No. Japan is to dangerous for myself right now. If I went back, someone will find me and question me. I don't need that. I also need to refuel, then figure out where I'll have to go... I'm gonna be here a while," He paused, "go prepare for landing." I nodded and made my way back to my seat. I gently shook Tarred, who woke with a small jolt. "We're landing soon. We'll be about an hour or so from DC." He nodded, rubbing his eyes, "alright."
Soon, like Hija said, we landed on a small grass strip in a secluded area. We got out of our seats, Hija joining us and allowing us out of the Jet. The warmth of the setting sun was a comfort on my skin. He wasn't kidding when he said it was cloaked. The jet looks invisible. "There's a car just a little ways over there," Hija said pulling out keys, pointing past the trees. "Take it to where you need to go. If you end up coming back, leave the car in a random location in the forest." he tossed the keys to Tarred, "you owe me." He nodded, "thank you for your help, Hija."
Hija waves him off, getting back into the jet and shutting the door.
Tarred clasped his hands as we began walking the direction Hija gave. "Am I driving or are you?" I put out my hand for the keys, "I'll drive, I know the area... Mostly."
"Mostly," he asked as he handed me the keys. "Yeah mostly. If I'm right, this is the same forest I went through for my most recent mission. I damn near memorized the area with a map before hand. I don't have perfect memory but I can figure the way out." As we went deeper into the forest a make shift path of mulch under foot, I felt myself become on edge. Every small noise made me want to draw my weapon.
Eventually we reached the vehicle, a Ford fusion. I quickly got in the car, my heart racing, my mind trailing off to what had happened over a month ago.
"Are you alright," Tarred asked, placing a hand on my shoulder. "I'll be fine. Don't worry." As he buckled in, I took off, eventually reaching the highway.
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For most of the drive we were quite until we got into DC. "So, let's run this over again, what's the plan? You're the officer here, I see it only fitting you organize this out..."
I took an exit, taking a deep breath. "Well, we head in, and quickly get scanned. I'm going to go find a couple of my most trusted subordinates. Then we'll all head for General Johnson's office. There I'll give my hard drive and we'll proceed from there."
"Understood. How long do you think till we're at headquarters?"
I turned into the lot, parking as quickly as I could. "We've already arrived."
We jumped out of the vehicle, I making sure I had the hard drive on me. We made our way through the doors, and stopped in front of a face and print scanner. Once that was over with I guided Tarred through the lobby to the elevator, going up to floor six.
Around this time in the day, EAS is having a meeting over our next focus, so I headed for the conference room. I entered the room and Sure enough they were in a middle of a meeting, my Lieutenant discussing the plans for the month. She stumbled slightly on her words once she spotted me, calling the room to attention. "Lieutenant Brady, Corporal Kelly, Sergeant Davis, with me," Brady put down her notes and clip board and made her way to me as did Jira- who seemed concerned that i used his last name- and Davis. "O'Ryan, take over the meeting for Brady, look over her notes and the files if need be." O'Ryan, another lieutenant, stood giving a clear "yes, Ma'am," and continued the task I gave with decent speed.
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I swiftly left, my subordinates right behind me. We reached Johnson's office relatively quickly. A clear knock and he said, "enter."
We walked in, he raised a brow at me as I stood up front. "You're back early."
"I have information for Investigation Ace, Sir."
"Hold on, before we see it, who's this," he motioned to Tarred. Tarred stepped forward "Staff Sergeant Kato, Sir."
"You have the right clearance I assume if Kyrn grabbed you?"
"Yes sir," he confirmed. Johnson looked to me, "Alright let's see what you have."
I handed the hard drive to him who immediately plugged it in to a port.
He dimmed his lights, a hovering screen appearing near the left wall. He leaned back in his seat, watching the information download. "Just how much did you find?"
"Enough to not have the time to go through everything when I saw it. The system itself might even be on the drive, I'm unsure."
He grimaced. Once it finally finished, he took his time going through it all. "Thera."
His AI spoke up, "yes?"
"Show me any emails and persons mentioned."
A second later, hundreds of emails and list of names showed up. I felt the air in the room grow tense as we saw the names aligning with the emails.
"All of them are US officials." Johnson nodded, "DoD, the House, the Senate... We weren't supposed to find this. Fuck... They've been trying to keep this under wraps, trying to keep us out of the loop." Suddenly another email loaded in, one between my father and an DoD official.
I read it out loud,
"Captain Kyrn, Motome stole Top Secret information. She's no longer in Japan and I'm unsure of where she's currently located."
Johnson looked at me. "I don't know about you but what you've found isn't something we can let slide. They're not just experimenting with what the Twisted's blood can do to a human or fae... They're increasing the Twisted's population, and allowing innocent civilians to die. We can't outright fight this-"
Another email, in response to the recent one popped up. We were deathly silent.
'Thank you for notifying me. We have her whereabouts and she'll be silenced immediately. I'm sorry it came down to this with your own daughter.'
Johnson stood up quickly shutting his blinds.
"Brady, Kelly, Davis, Kato, if any of you are willing to fight this, to put your life in jeopardy and potentially family, stay here. If not, I understand, and you'll need to leave the premises immediately."
They were silent for a moment. "I'll stay. I took an oath to protect the people, I'm not backing down," said Brady
"I as well," said Jira.
Davis hesitated. "I'm sorry General Johnson, Captain Kyrn. I can't stay. I have kids and don't want to risk losing them. However if I ever find a way to help without putting myself as a giant target, I will, you have my word."
I put out my arm to him, and he grasped my forearm, "thank you, Davis. I would never expect you to put your kids at risk for me. You, and your family stay safe."
"You as well, ma'am. God willing I hope to work with you again soon." He let go, turned and left the room, shutting the door behind him.
I looked to Tarred. He smiled, "you already know my answer ma'am."
I smiled back, "thank you."
Johnson spoke up, "alright, now that's in order," he held down a button for the intercom, "All personnel, please leave the premises immediately. You must be outside the building within three minutes. Thank you."
He looked to the blank left wall, flipping a small switch on his watch. The wall opened up to reveal various weapons and equipment. "Now gear up, and let's move."
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