"Yes! Yes, this is exactly what I'm looking for. Excellent work, soldier." The short corporal nodded nervously and stepped back, as if Stryker was going to suddenly change his mind. "As you were." Stryker nodded towards the door, and the corporal practically bolted out of the room. Krawley closed the door with a smart click and turned towards Stryker.
"Who is it, sir?" asked Krawley, overriding his professionalism in trying to see what was on the paper in the strategist's fist.
"A circus performer…agile, quick, a teleporter, excellent…from Germany, I assume. Quite scary looking. He'll be perfect." Stryker held up the green poster with a stylized sketch of Kurt Wagner on the front and then scanned through the information at the bottom. "He's only going to be in America for a short time. We'll have to find where he is as soon as possible." He thought quickly, sipping the tepid coffee impatiently. Yuriko could find him using the database, but it would have to be now or never. "Get me some special ops – three should do it – and get a jet and land transport ready for six passengers. I'll let my assistant take over his location search."
"Yes, sir." The colonel saluted Stryker, turned on his heel, opened the door, and left. Stryker waited a few seconds, and then closed and securely locked the door. He strode over to the desk, reached under the seat opening, and pressed a hidden button. There was a slight whirring sound, and a wall panel slid behind its neighbor to reveal a strong-looking, beautiful Japanese woman, apparently asleep, bound to the wall with adamantium chains.
He opened a drawer, drew out a syringe full of a greenish-yellow serum, and walked over to the unconscious woman. Tilting her head and hair forward, he revealed a circular lesion on the back of her neck and dripped three drops of the serum into it. He then tugged at a lever, releasing the chains and dropping Yuriko to the floor. She didn't move at first, but Stryker kicked her unceremoniously in her side, and she slowly stood up, ice blue eyes focusing.
"I need you to find the location of this mutant," he told her simply, handing her the poster the corporal had found. She blinked and nodded, walking out of the door as he unlocked it and opened it for her.
~X~
"After this mission, Colonel, you're going to have to step back. People might get suspicious if we're confidentially associated beyond this."
"I understand. You are sure about this information, sir?" asked Krawley, looking carefully at the printed documents as the Atlantic Coast flew by in the jet's windows.
"My assistant is the best," replied Stryker, stealing a small smile at his creation sitting behind him, cracking her fingers instinctively. He looked at the three grim, expressionless special ops and then back to Krawley. "Was it hard to secure them, Colonel?"
"I know what I'm doing," he replied. "This entire mission is being erased as it happens."
"Good," finished Stryker simply.
An hour later, the sun was just beginning to set as the jet touched down in an old runway about twenty miles outside of Boston. This was the city that Yuriko had pinpointed as the location of the target's performance of the day, and a Jeep in the back was all that was needed to get everyone to the circus grounds from this strategic point.
"Remember, soldiers, that we are tracking, not attacking, the target. Stealth is key here. We cannot let it see us before we want to. Is that clear?"
"Yes, sir!" the special ops replied in unison.
"Excellent. Let's get started." Stryker grinned as the Jeep roared to life. He was finally on the home stretch to achieving his goal.