"Sorry sir, unfortunately I needed to figure out if he's doing something that would be a first, Russian was the best way to do so"
"You sounded pretty harsh at one point"
"True, however I know for a fact that things are status quo between us"
"And you could tell that through a foreign language?"
"Yes, and you know I have my reasons behind that ability"
"True, now then back to our current dilemma"
"Right"
Five months later and they were no closer to resolving the situation with Peter, however it was now declared that he was to be arrested alive, primarily due to five Texas Rangers, fifteen Dallas police officers, six ATF agents and twenty-five FBI agents seeing him getting thinner and thinner, and Allison thought she'd seen bruises which possibly meant he was busted and being starved to death and also beaten on occasion
"So...we still have yet to get him out of the situation"
"We're trying, but he's never out except at crimes scenes with the others and about which means we can't arrest him to save him"
"Anyone see John lately?"
"I know what he's doing and that's private unfortunately"
"Question has anyone else seen a person wearing a mask and shooting two guns, and they left something behind which is confusing me a whole lot"
"Oh?"
"Yup, here"
"A bullet...um what's this bullet made of?"
"Silver, it's a silver bullet"
"Does this mean they're a friend or foe?"
"No idea"
"I know what it means, but unless I get special permission from a few people I can't explain what it means, other than that you might want to keep that bullet for later"
"Fine, do you know if John's alive at least?"
"Yes he is indeed alive, and well sort of safe"
"Sort of safe?"
"You know full well police work isn't safe"
"You win that argument"
"By the way, what is Randolph doing here?"
"The reserves, they are demanding both of us do some sort of training together for the next few months with the SWAT units, away from our actual military unit for their own reasons, that training starts next week by the way"
"And since it's harder for you to get away from Dallas he was transferred from Austin to here temporarily"
"Exactly"
"So, anyone have a plan for Peter?"
Suddenly the door is opened and everyone but Allison is on high alert due to a person in a mask suddenly barging in and speaking up
"I have a plan, Allison, Peter needs rescued now, the FBI agent is in serious danger of dying, and the government just told me that I need to move faster"
"Don't tell me let me guess, they got word about something from someone and while your speed isn't too bad there are indicators that you need to move faster or you won't get the entire group"
"Not just that, there are possible international implications as well"
"Okay, two questions, one are you going as you are?, and two can I reveal?"
"Yes to both"
"Fine John, make sure that your regular police equipment is also ready, because you are not going after the terrorists without modern weapons, I don't care if you did that as the Lone Ranger before, this time it ain't happening, because hearing more from my family our problems are related, there are EDC enemies involved and thus too dangerous for your silver bullets alone"
"Speaking of, while I haven't followed everything here's your bullet back"
"Okay, two important things, first off this is John, the second thing is that more explanations are coming later"
"Understood"
"Okay then, John you have a location so that we can rescue Peter?"
"Fortunately just got it before I came here, and he doesn't look good everyone"
"Yeah, several of us have noticed his becoming thinner every time"
"It's worse than that unfortunately, but you have to see to believe I'm afraid"
"Why do I get the feeling that I'm not going to like what I'm going to see?"
"Because you won't"
"Figures, by the way when we get the agent rescued I'm going to be helping...ah! I know you work solo normally now that Randolph is a paramedic and Dan is in Maine as a lawyer but this is Presidential orders"
"Wait I thought you and Randolph were supposed to do training together"
"We are, the help is mainly through contacts and research"
"Oh, okay"
"You know, I get the feeling that the explanation you're going to tell us Kerenai is going to be interesting"
"It is, for now though, arm up and mount up, we've got a raid"
"Need warrants first"
"Made, signed and printed out, we have Federal warrants that last seventeen months per warrant signed date, don't ask how that works due to the fact that that's classified"
"Fine, you have those warrants on you?"
"Right here"
Allison holds up the warrants that they needed and fifteen minutes later were at the location that John led them to
"Wait here guys, I'm going to go up first to get a quick look around, John may not know everything and then there's the fact that anything could have changed during the time it took for him to get to headquarters and then lead us here"
"She's right, and she's the quietest of you guys"
"Oh?"
"He's long since been able to sneak around which is how he found the location and the agent in the first place, more on that later, by the way while you're going to get a full history and some of that does indeed involve the journals we're still not telling you everything about the person who wrote the journals or why they wrote them in the first place since the background will tell you enough anyways"
"Okay that makes him quiet, what about you?"
"Family, you learn fast to be quiet when walking and sneaking around when you're raised by robots almost all your life"
"They teach you those skills?"
"Yep, life saving too since those skills come in handy at any time"
"Like now?"
"Yes like now, wait for my signal, John will know it instantly seeing as how one signal will mean that it's safe another signal will mean that we can't move right now, and since these are prearranged signals it's better this ways"
"Why use prearranged signals?"
"Later, much much later guys, for now just do what I say"
"Very well"
Five minutes later and a signal wasn't needed, primarily due to the fact that Allison had come back in person instead of sending a signal like the original plan was
"Too dangerous, almost got caught sneaking about, we're going to have to wait a while, might need to do a night raid instead of day time, so let's get back and make plans for tonight, we have the location anyways so that's one less worry"
"Fine, but is this why you kept us at this distance?"
"Yes, if you guys had seen me captured or even killed you would have still been able to escape without discovery since the vehicles wouldn't be heard from the distance we have them at"
"Okay, that makes much more sense now that we know it's for our own safety"
"Yeah, now then come on, I managed to get away but I don't know how long we'll be safe here since they might send out search parties"
They start leaving and Allison in the car is asked a question
"What exactly did you do that would have required search parties?"
"I might have made noise accidentally, and I nearly had to knock someone out too"
"How sure about that are you?"
"Sure enough John, you know the training I get regularly with my family and you know what that training entails due to you insisting on joining in once three years ago"
(Sighs) "OK yeah you win the argument"
"Thought I would"
"Well since we can't do anything more until tonight might as well catch up on paperwork"
"Nope, no one but John and I are night vision trained, and while it's pretty easy to get a handle on using the equipment it does take time to adjust to this particular set"
"Oh...the new NightProwler 6000?"
"Exactly John, I'm surprised you've heard of it though since it's still primarily used in military operations"
"Your family insisted I get trained on it when it first came out, thus I know it's not too different from the NightSun 2000"
"Okay that's good to know, but still everyone else needs the training"
"True enough, especially if they're not used to night vision equipment in the first place"
"Why's that?"
"The vision is a bit...weird at first until you adapt"
Allison then noticed one person staying away from everyone and noticed that it was a rookie police officer seeing as how it had been decided that the Dallas PD would also be involved once they got back to the station
"Hey what's wrong?"
"It's just...am I really good enough?"
"Okay, you and me need to have a little talk, I can tell something from your past is affecting you"
They go to a corner where there was mild privacy
"Okay what's wrong?"
"It's just...I barely made it through the academy and my probation period, everything was so hard, and you guys are the elite of the elite in Texas, and some of you are not quite famous but well known Texas Rangers"
"Why do you think you never did so well, that everything was hard?"
"Because academics has always been hard for me, and I was always behind the rest of the class, plus I was constantly making mistakes as well"
"Okay, you and me are going to go over training videos that involve you and I'm going to do an evaluation myself"
"But...the raid..."
"I already know the equipment, there's plenty of time for you to learn, there are those besides me and John here qualified to train on the new equipment and finally your confidence is more important than you knowing how to use night vision, if absolutely necessary we'll keep you in the van doing something else"
Through a three hour viewing of training videos and in person evaluation Allison discovered that yes the officer did have several weaknesses, but she also discovered part of the reason why they were struggling so much both in the academy and during the final evaluation part she also discovered a very hidden gem of an ability of his that had been honed in part because of his troubles
"I have a question, have you ever been tested for a learning disability called dyslexia, and also had your vision truly tested lately?"
"No to both answers, why?"
"Because I think your vision is deteriorating so slightly you're not even truly noticing it which is part of the problem, the other part is that I think you're dyslexic and never diagnosed as such"
"So what am I supposed to do?"
"For tonight I'm keeping you in the van like I told you I would, however that's because you're going to be our ace comms person since you have an ear for voices and sound differentiation, then tomorrow you're coming with me to my annual eye doctors appointment, the office does accept walk-ins, and get your eyes checked out, you probably need glasses and haven't realized it yet, you're also going to officially be tested for dyslexia by an EDC officer authorized to test such learning disabilities in both kids and adults"
"And if I do have dyslexia?"
"Then we're having lessons to help you catch up on what you're still missing and struggling with plus teaching you coping strategies that should help you with your disability"
That night the raid was very complicated but completed partially successful, they got the agent out alive, but they had no clues as to how big the group still was, and there was a serious danger of the agent dying anyways in the hospital or even in transport