"—ombination of MI23 and the TCRI mutagen shows promising results. Beth was able to sequence the DNA from specimen A56. Combing A56 seems to concentrate the mutagen, stabilizing it. Bishop will regret not funding this—"
Karai fast forwarded the tape.
"Finding suitable samples of Human DNA had been difficult, but I believe my students will be—"
Karai stopped the recording and set her headphones on the table mulling the tape over. To think the most brilliant scientist was right under their nose. She set the tape back in the box with the others. It wasn't much. One of the last tapes ended with glass shattering and alarms. While most of the tapes survived the raid all the handwritten notes were smeared with water damage.
"Mrs. Saki, your jet is ready."
She taped the box up and handed it off to one of her guards. "Have this shipped off to New York."
"I have good news and bad news," Donnie said, his fingers flying over the keyboard as he sorted through three days' worth of emails and error messages. "Good news, Karai is almost finished sorting through the information found at Bishops lab. Bad news is a sensor was tripped at the Casey's farmhouse. This is the only footage I was able to recover," he said playing a video.
Leo and Jess leaned towards the computer. It was the camera pointed towards the yard. On the left side of the screen a small mutt ran out and a pair of feet then the feed went black.
"What do you think happened, Don?" Leo asked.
Donnie shook his head, "I'm not sure. I'm going to call Casey and see if we can get up there this weekend."
Jess stepped away when her phone buzzed. It was a time and place. She spun back around with a deep breath. "Leo, it's time to go."
"Oh, right!" Donnie said standing. He took Jess's right hand and attached a tracker to the inside of her coat sleeve. "We'll be with you every step of the way," Donnie promised and handed the tracker to Leo. "Good luck."
Jess hugged him knowing she'd need every ounce of luck she could get. She followed Leo out to the garage.
He pulled the van over a few blocks from the meeting spot. "Are you ready?" he asked half hoping she'd say no, and they could go back home.
"No, but I can't back out now." She opened the door shocked at how cold it was and zipped her coat up. The mild temperatures of the Nexus had made them weak to the wind chill. Jess pulled her stocking hat over her ears with a grumble, "God, I hate winter."
Jess looked around the lavish room feeling uneasy. When she agreed to meet Russo, she expected a warehouse or somewhere else he did business. Not his private office.
"I'll admit, you surprised me," Russo said as he poured whiskey into two glasses. He handed one to Jess before he sat.
"Surprised me too," Jess admitted downing the whiskey and sliding the glass towards him.
Russo poured her another glass leaving the bottle on the coffee table between them. He leaned back in his chair preferring to sip his whiskey. "Tell me, why shouldn't I hand you over to those purple idiots right now and be done with this?"
Jess thought for a moment, sipping her drink. "If you were you would've already, but that wouldn't benefit you. Not to mention I have a better offer."
"You're smarter than your father," he said looking at her over the rim of his glass. "That's good. So, what can you offer me, Demonio?"
Jess tensed at the name but reminded herself that in this world she was and always would be Demonio. "New York City," Jess replied simply setting down her empty whiskey glass. She sat back in her chair looking him in the eye.
"You take me for a fool?" he quipped annoyed.
"Not at all," Jess replied expecting his reaction. "I know what you want, Russo. You've already taken a good chunk of Dragon territory and I know you've been buying up their supplies."
Russo worked his jaw impressed and intrigued. "Go on."
"I'm the rightful leader of the Dragons. When I take out Lake, the Dragons will be disbanded, and I will hand that territory over to you. . .with some conditions."
He finished his glass and set it down on the table. "What conditions?"
"No protection money. You won't have anyone to protect them from anyway. I also want your help taking out Laker."
"That's it?"
"That's it."
"Hardly seems fair."
Jess looked away. "I want this war to end. I want to go back to my normal life. You get what you want and I get what I want."
He looked at the Latina woman before him with narrowed eyes. "And what if say no?"
"That's up to you," she said leaning forward on her knees, "but say you make this deal with me and you break that promise, I will bring you down too. I may be smarter than my father, but I keep my promises same as him."
Russo took in a sharp breath remembering well that Hun kept his promises. . .no matter how severe. "I'll make this deal with you, Demonio, but you have to do something for me."
Jess watched him stand feeling her anxiety pound. He walked over to his mahogany desk and picked up a file. He sat back down in his chair and slid it over to Jess. She picked up expecting another hit but the picture inside was of a young girl. She looked up at Russo about to refuse but he held his hand up.
"It's not what you think," he said, pouring himself another glass. "Gianni is my daughter. She ran away nearly a month ago now. I want you to find her."
Jess looked down at the file with a frown.
"I know there are some. . .stories out their about me, however, if you bring my daughter home you will have all my recourses," he promised, almost pleading. He'd been a customer of Jess's a number of times and he hoped she could put those detective skills to good use.
"Deal."
Jess got into the van ready to take a long nap.
"How did it go?" Leo asked eager to know what happened.
Jess was quiet for a moment, "He agreed to help, but I have to find his daughter first. She ran away."
Leo took the file she offered him and looked through the pages feeling a rush of relief, but he could tell Jess didn't feel the same. "This is a good thing?"
"I guess so," she breathed, "but it feels ironic. Bring back the daughter of gang member after she ran away."
Leo looked back down at the picture of the girl. "That is ironic," he muttered. "Are you going to do it?"
"I made a deal," she sighed buckling in. "I have a feeling Russo isn't like Hun, I just wish I knew why she ran away. Not to mention it's going to be nearly impossible to find a single girl in this city who probably doesn't want to be found."
"We'll figure it out," he replied putting the van in gear.
Andrea rounded a final corner slowing to a walk as she tired out. She took out one earbud watching in confusion as some girl tried to pry her backpack from its hiding place. She was amused till the girl got it free. "Hey, that's mine!" The girl spun around shocked and tried to run but stumbled back in confusion when Andrea was suddenly in front of her. She tried to run a different direction, but Andrea was there too. "Not that way either."
The girl tossed the bag back to Andrea. "You shouldn't leave your things just lying around. You're just asking for it to be stolen."
Andrea glared at the girl as she put the backpack on. "I'll keep that in mind."
"So how did you do that?"
"Do what?"
The girl gestured around her bewildered. "Move so fast?"
"Just a runner," Andrea replied turned to leave but stopped. Three men were standing in the alley entrance. From what she could tell they weren't Purple Dragons.
"Shit," the girl cursed before grabbing Andrea's hand and pulling her down the alley way from the men now chasing them. "Help me up."
Andrea looked up at the fire escape and cupped her hands together lifting the girl up and taking the hand she offered back. As the ran up the stairs to the roof the men looked up at them pointing and talking to each other.
"Vaffanculo!" the girl yelled over the rail at the men.
Andrea pulled her the rest of the way to the top worried about an escape route and if they may find a way up. "Why are those men chasing you?"
"They've been at it for weeks," she waved off. "I'm Gianni by the way."
Andrea shook her hand hesitantly. "I'm Andrea."
"So, what's your story, Andrea? It's gotta be interesting since you're green and fast."
Andrea took a step back feeling her stomach drop. "H-How?"
"When you were running your hood fell back a little. So, are you an alien?"
"I'm not an alien," she grumbled.
Gianni took a few steps closer looking Andrea up and down. "Then what are you?
"I can't tell you that. I should go."
"Wait," Gianni said grabbing her hand. "Don't go. I won't ask. Come on, I know some place warm."
Thanks for reading!
I almost completed writing book 2 (I think anyway) which had been renamed Force (thats what I get for trying to name something before I'm even half done).
My mind in chaos and I have three different outlines. rip
