I had just closed my eyes when a rough baritone broke my attempt to finally getting a night's rest, "Yo, HQ. Boss wants to see you."

I opened my eyes, already glaring at the man who dared to disturb me. I sat up slowly and took a few deep breaths before I murdered my squad member. He wisely ducked his head in shame but stood his ground.

"Why the fuck does he want to see me," I demanded as I started pulling on my clothes.

"Dunno, but you know it's gotta be for a good reason," he answered the floor.

"Fuckin' hell, Jack," I sighed. "Doesn't he know that I just got back."

Jack nodded, "He knows but says it's important."

"Fuck," I growled as I slid my dagger in its sheath behind my back. "The fuckin' world better be endin' or I'm gonna eviscerate someone."

He looked up startled and backed out of the door, holding his hands up in surrender, "Hey, I'm just the messenger."

I rolled my eyes as I stomped past him, "I know. I know. You're safe from my wrath."

He turned to follow me, "Thanks, HQ."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just do me a favor and make sure the pups are taken care of."

"Yep, not a problem," he replied and with a parting salute headed to the cages.

Our little unit had four locally bred wolves. It was unusual to say the least, but we were an unusual group. Technically, we didn't exist. Each of us were assigned to different units deployed in Europe and the Middle East and crossed through several different branches of the military. We were the stuff of nightmares. Called Shadow Demons by our enemies. We were the deadliest and most highly trained in the military. Special Forces had nothing on us. We were the ones called when they couldn't be used and only a select few knew who we were.

We all took our code names from the deck of playing cards. Face cards and the suits, twenty in total. Our group was led by the Spade King, the person I was heading towards. Me? I was known as Harlequin (Joker), or HQ after the DC comic book character. It worked because my given name was Quinn, but no one in the unit knew that. Well, except for the Spade King.

I came to their office door, the walk having sufficiently cooled my temper, and knocked.

"Enter," a voice called from within.

Without hesitation, I entered and came to stand in front of their desk, "You wanted to see me, King?"

"Have a seat, Quinn," he said, tilting his head to indicate the seat in front of me.

I scowled slightly because he never called me by my given name. Alarms blared in my head as I took the seat.

"I'm just gonna cut to the chase," he said as he looked at the screen of his laptop. "Your CO in Rota got a Red Cross message that was forwarded to me."

"King," I questioned as horrible images crossed my mind.

"It's your father," he said looking at me. "He died two nights ago and your mother wants you home."

"How," I asked, slamming backwards in horror.

"The message doesn't say, but I looked into it because I know you. There was an explosion in his lab. The roof collapsed as he was getting out some of his co-workers. He was able to save them, but he couldn't make it out. They're still investigating the cause of the explosion, but the preliminary reports I've seen," here he paused and looked at me intently, "it doesn't look accidental."

I felt ire beginning to burn deep within my chest, "Are you saying that someone…that there was a reason behind the explosion?"

He slid a folder closer to me and taking it, I began to flip through the pages. It was the preliminary reports that the Arcadia Fire Department had begun submitting. Also, the reports of the Department of Defense (DOD), who was also investigating the explosion.

I looked up at him, "What the hell was he working on?"

King shook his head, "I don't know. I am truly sorry, Quinn."

"Thank you, King," I said, closing the folder and looking at him. "So, am I going home?"

"Yes. I've already made arrangements to get you to the closest airstrip. There's an Apache that needs to go to Rota. You'll take it and then jump on a military cargo plane heading back to the States," he told me as he handed over another folder.

This one had my flight itinerary and tickets for a commercial flight that'll take me to the closest national airport to home.

"First class," I asked, looking up at him in surprise.

"You deserve it since you'll have to put up with the cargo plane," he said giving me a small smile.

"Thank you, King. How long before I have to report back?"

"You're on indefinite leave, Quinn. I have a feeling that your family is going to be needing you on this one."

"King, what else do you know," I asked looking at him more closely.

He sighed and looked at me plainly, "I know who you are, Quinn. I know who your family is and their connection to Skaikru."

"If you know that," I countered warily, "why am I allowed to be here?"

"You are one of the best operatives this program has pushed out since its inception. There has only been two other operatives that are as good as you. One of them was the founder of our program. The other…"

"I understand that, King, but does that have any bearing on why I've been allowed to continue?"

"You're here because you deserve to be here. Plain and simple. I may be head boss, but those people out there would follow you to hell and back if you asked them to. And on that note, if you need them, I can give you Spade."

"As long as you include Bruja and Alma," I told him since those were my two favorite wolves.

He nodded, "Of course. Give me a call if you need them."

"Thank you, King," I said, standing up. "For everything."

"You're going to be hard to replace," he said, standing up as well. "No one here can do what you have."

"Of course not," I replied with a smirk. "I'll call if I need anything."

"Make sure you do and good luck, Quinn."

"Yes, Sir," I said and with a nod was out the door and headed back to my quarters.

When I entered my quarters, I found Spade sitting on my cot looking cozy. The raven-haired Latina was the only other person who knew who I was, but then again, she was practically family.

"What're you doin' here, Spade," I asked as I pulled my rucksack out and started folding my clothes.

"Oh, you know me, HQ," she said with a smirk. "I've got my hands in a lot of different things."

I paused and looked at her, sighing, "You know."

"Yeah. So, what's the game plan?"

"Go home, help my mom and sisters, come back."

"You're not coming back."

I raised a brow at her in question, "I'm not?"

She shook her head, "Nope. You're gonna go after whoever did this."

"I'm not. I'm gonna let them do their investigation and leave it at that."

"And what if they blame your pops?"

"Then my game plan will change. I'm not gonna run into this half-cocked, Spade. There's too much at stake."

"Damn right you're not," she said, sitting up straight. "You're gonna need me. I'm coming with you."

"Not right now, you're not. King's already cleared you, but only if I need you," I said giving her a stern look.

"Oh," she said, sitting back on her arms. "Okay."

"Yep," I said popping the 'p,' "but I do need something from you."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," I said nodding. "I need you to get my weapons cache home for me. Without customs blowing a gasket."

"Well, you do have an impressive array of blades. Most of them are not legal in the States."

I snorted, "I know that. Can you get them there or not?"

"Yeah, yeah. No prob."

"Good. And make sure that Bruja and Alma have the right papers too. If you're coming, they are too."

She made a face of disgust, "You mean I gotta travel with those pups. They smell, HQ."

Laughing, "Well, give them a bath."

"That's kinda pointless out here," she argued.

"It is, just…look, I'll give you a call as soon as I know something or need to know something, okay," I said giving her a soft look.

She nodded and stood up, "Promise?"

"Promise."

She nodded and gave me a hug, "Stay safe and may we meet again."

I returned the hug, "You too."

She let me go and without a backward glance, I headed out of my quarters and to the motor pool. I had been 127 days into my fourth six-month deployment and before the moon had set, I was on my way home.