Saturday, June 24th, 2017

11:00 GMT+2 (09:00 GMT June 24th)

Zürich, Switzerland

David & Kate

When the rehabilitated Marauders had started to arrive in the United Kingdom, there had been talk amongst the various families about where they might go and who might like to take in one of the troubled youngsters.

David and his wife Amy already had a troubled child in their midst – their own son – not to mention that they also had custody of Jordan, but Amy had so wanted a daughter. Neither really wanted to battle through with a youngster, so they had offered a place for an older girl. When Kate Fincham had reached Scotland, David and his wife had discussed the young woman and decided to take her in. They had not been disappointed. Kate demonstrated an air of maturity which helped her to manage the boys' immature behaviour and endeavour to always be on a level above the boys. Amy found that Kate was wonderful to talk with about womanly topics and the pair got on like a house on fire, much to Craig's annoyance. Having another female in the house helped to even the odds somewhat. Initially, David had been concerned that Craig might have his nose put out of joint by no longer being the only child in the house, but no, Craig had risen to the occasion and welcomed Jordan and then Kate into his childhood home. As for David, the girl was a breath of fresh air, but to make it even better, she was a budding young pilot which was right up David's street. Being able to spend time with his new daughter was amazing, but to be able to fight alongside one another was something else. From Kate's point of view, she loved her new family – the boys would just learn to behave, one way or another – and she loved to be a Daddy's Girl. Being with her adoptive father was amazing, and to be able to be herself – a Predator – was the absolute best.

As the pair moved through the southern parts of Zürich, in the Audi S8, they had the lake to their left and while they had the enemy in sight, they had not approached for fear of causing Laurel's death. Instead, they had kept their distance, having a fairly good idea where Laurel was being taken. About six kilometres later, they found the BMW had stopped in a suburb called Wollishofen. Kate leapt out of the S8 as they passed and she was able to get into a position overlooking the shipyard from where she was able to see Laurel being pulled out of the BMW, still unconscious. As Kate watched, Laurel was taken down a jetty and then up the gangway of a large wooden-hulled motor yacht Surprisingly, Laurel was handed over at the base of the gangway to a different set of men, none of whom appeared to be Panther Brigade – they appeared to be more Italian than German which indicated that the yacht belonged to someone else entirely. The Panther Brigade mercenaries then made their way aboard another, slightly smaller yacht two piers down. Kate took several photos with her phone and then ran back to where David had parked the S8.

"What did you find?" David asked his daughter.

"Laurel was passed off to somebody else – she is no longer in the custody of the Panther Brigade," Kate reported.

"Come again?"

"Laurel's been given to someone else."

"You got the name of the yacht there, Kate?"

"Here, Dad."

"Akuma, over," David radioed.

"Go ahead, Chief."

"Laurel has been taken aboard a yacht that we don't believe to be Panther Brigade. The yacht is called Carpe Diem, registered in Zürich. We need to know who owns that yacht before we make a move, over."

"Okay," Akuma responded a moment or two later. "This is not good. That yacht belongs to Enzo Moretti – he's a businessman who specialises in entertainment. He owns numerous bars and restaurants. He has unconfirmed links with prostitution and sex trafficking. Oh, shit! He's linked with Eidolon via several shell companies, one of which is used to sell underage girls for sex."

"We need to get her the fuck out of there!" Kate almost exploded. "Those Panther Brigade bastards sold her! That could have happened to Diana, too."

"Bloody hell!" David exclaimed.

"Support is on its way," Akuma advised.

"Have them take down the Panther Brigade on the yacht at slip four," David directed. "Me and Goshawk are going for Laurel on the yacht at slip six."

"Remain in contact."

"Chief out!"

"We got a plan?" Goshawk asked as she pulled on her mask.

"The beginnings of one," Chief muttered as he too masked up and then moved the Audi into a location where it could not be observed.

Goshawk then began to dig through the kit which they had brought with them.

Two hours later...

13:15 GMT+2 (11:15 GMT June 24th)

Chief & Goshawk

With it being daylight, the pair had to be careful assaulting a yacht moored in full public view.

Therefore, Goshawk opted to go in underwater. She changed into a shorty wetsuit as the waters were quite warm for the time of year and it would be less than a hundred yards in total. She stuffed some additional clothing and equipment into a watertight pack which would travel with her – she added some weights to the pack to ensure that it would not float to the surface while she was under the water. Under the shade of a tree which overhung the lake waters, Goshawk pulled on a pair of lightweight black flippers over her rubber booties and she checked that the fighting knife strapped to her right lower leg in a scabbard was secure. She also checked that the suppressed Glock 26 pistol in a holster on the small of her back was secure as were the four spare twelve-round extended magazines which she carried in a waterproof pouch clipped onto her weight belt. Then she pulled on a pair of thin diving gloves as in her mind, she could see many dead bodies in her future. Predators had levels of people they detested, and those who committed heinous crimes such as rape and other sexually motivated crimes were very high on that list of people who needed to be put down, violently, so her mind was clear. Finally, after checking that her hair was securely tied up in a ponytail, and her domino mask was in place, she pulled down her dive mask and bit down onto the mouthpiece of a pony bottle.

The seventeen-year-old girl slipped into and below the cool waters of Lake Zürich.

..._...

It was not only those annoying little Zeta twats who could swim underwater, Goshawk thought as she swam; she was just as good as they were – unlike those little twats who could swim under the water and swim on the water, she could also fly over the water.

The waters were remarkably clear as she swam. Overhead, she could make out the hulls of watercraft as she swam. She counted the hulls as she went, considering nobody thought to label the undersides of the piers – thoughtless bastards! Finally, she reached the pier alongside slip six where the CARPE DIEM was moored – only, there was a problem. As she stopped underneath the wooden hull, her ears easily picked up on the single diesel engine starting up which indicated that the yacht was about to get underway. With a swift kick of her flippers, she came up alongside the hull and she looked around. She was waterside, between the CARPE DIEM and another yacht. They were separated by maybe four feet or so. Swiftly, she pulled off her flippers, clipped them together at the heel and then hung them around her neck – the pony bottle was clipped to her weight belt. Then, bracing herself with feet and arms, she clambered up between the two hulls until she was high enough to reach up and grab a stanchion on the deck of the CARPE DIEM. Pulling herself up, Goshawk peered along the deck fore and aft. All activity was on the far side where the crew were singling up the lines and preparing to shove off. That gave the girl the opportunity to throw herself over the safety rail and onto the deck where she scarpered into the safety of a space behind a stack of liferafts.

With a grin, she realised that was behaving like a true marauder, as she pulled off her dive mask and removed her weight belt, dropping them to the deck along with her flippers. She quickly unstrapped her watertight pack and she produced a different belt onto which she clipped the holster for her Glock 26 which was none the worse for its soaking in the freshwater lake. The four spare magazines were inserted into the relevant slots on the belt which was then secured around her waist. She pulled off her rubber booties and pulled on a pair of trainer socks and a pair of lightweight trainers.

"Goshawk, location check."

"I'm aboard."

"Me too, port side aft, under the RHIB."

"We wait until we're a few hundred yards out and then we move," Goshawk suggested.

"The crewmen will have secured the deck by then and gone below," Chief agreed.

There was a pleasant breeze blowing which was amplified as the yacht built up speed and headed out into the lake, before it angled to the south.

13:34 GMT+2 (11:34 GMT June 24th)

The first man died as he patrolled the upper deck.

The man felt the blade entering his chest, but he was unable to yell out as a strong hand clamped over his mouth. He was dragged to the teak deck of the yacht and the last thing he saw was a face with a mask around the eyes, then he died.

"Upper deck is clear aft," Goshawk heard in her ear.

"I'm going inside."

"Copy that – stay safe."

Goshawk drew her pistol and she slipped through a wooden doorway into a corridor. It was empty with a door at the far end and two doors to the right. Methodically, Goshawk moved forward, checking out each door in turn – they were day cabins and of no interest as they were devoid of life. At the doorway leading further forward, Goshawk paused, and she glanced through a circular porthole set into the upper half of the door. Beyond there was a small vestibule with a staircase leading upwards and downwards as well as a small elevator. Carefully, Goshawk moved past the door and into the small vestibule, checking out both staircases and finding no activity. But then the elevator donged and the doors opened. A man wearing a snappy dark suit stepped out of the elevator – he held an UZI in his right hand which instantly told Goshawk that he was a bad guy. The bad guy made to react, bringing up his weapon, but Goshawk fired off a single round from her suppressed Glock 26 pistol and the man's head jerked back and he fell back into the elevator, a single red dot in the centre of his forehead.

"That's two," she muttered as she peered through another circular porthole set into a door which led forward.

Through the glass, she could make out a large salon which extended over most of that deck. There were four stewards laying out what looked like a late lunch. Goshawk decided not to engage – as it stood, her arrival onboard appeared to have gone unnoticed, despite two dead men.

"Coming up on your stern."

Goshawk turned to see Chief step through the aft doorway into the small vestibule. The man was dressed from head to toe in black and he wore a full-face mask. In his right hand he held a Browning Hi-Power with attached suppressor.

"I'll go up," he said.

"I'll go down," she said.

"Stay safe, my girl."

"Always, Dad."

Chief smiled beneath his mask as his assassin daughter headed down the steps leading to the deck below.

Goshawk

The steps leading below were broad and they curved down onto the lower deck.

Goshawk moved slowly, her pistol held up ahead of her, the muzzle of the suppressor pointed wherever her eyes looked. A man appeared out of a cabin – he caught sight of Goshawk, but then he died, his body dropping to the deck, his pistol barely out of its holster, just a single red hole in his forehead. The fourth man to die almost got the drop on Goshawk as she pushed open the door to a short corridor which led to a pair of cabins. The man appeared from an opening just before the cabins and he blindsided Goshawk, shoving the girl hard into the steel side of the ship. Goshawk tried to being her gun around, but it was smacked from her hand by her assailant. She in turn elbowed the man in the face, then punched him in the side of the head. Blindly, the man punched out, catching Goshawk in the side. Goshawk grabbed the man and she took his head off the same steel bulkhead hard enough to leave a small red smear of blood. The man tried to fight back, but Goshawk fended off his strike and then broke two ribs with her left knee. The man never saw the fire extinguisher which Goshawk had wrenched from its storage and proceeded to take across the man's face, breaking several bones in the man's nose and cheeks. As the man sank to the deck, Goshawk dropped the fire extinguisher and she swept up her pistol before checking out each cabin in turn – both were empty, but as she emerged from the second cabin, a security guard peered through the door to the main passageway and Goshawk put a bullet through the glass porthole and into the man's face.

Quickly, she moved, jumping over the corpse, and turning right to head further forward. Then she paused – she could hear footfalls coming from up ahead where the passageway doglegged to the left around another staircase. Then she saw the muzzle of an Uzi sub-machine gun appear from around the corner and she flung herself to the deck as a man appeared. The man took in the sight of a prone body – one of his colleagues – a few yards ahead not to mention the prone form in a wetsuit. The man triggered off a short burst of gunfire, waking up the entire vessel, even as Goshawk slotted him with a double-tap to the head. She knew that she would not have much time before the other security personnel aboard came after her. She almost ran into another Uzi-toting goon as she rounded the next corner, but she was ready for him while he had not been ready to run into her. Goshawk grabbed the muzzle of the gun and she forced it upwards even as she fired two bullets into the man's gut. She shoved his body aside, ejecting the empty magazine and inserting a fresh one as she moved forward but then something massive struck her and she was slammed against the wooden bulkhead. She involuntarily screamed out at the pain, even as a fist punched her in the right side, eliciting another scream of pain. The pistol in her right hand went flying as it was torn from her grip and she felt another punch, this time to her lower back.

The pain was intense, but the veteran fighter used the pain and she redirected it towards her foe . . . who was larger than most.

..._...

The beast of a man was large to say the least and Goshawk felt intimidated for just a second before she reached down, and she drew her combat knife.

The man obviously enjoyed a good fight as he stepped away from Goshawk and he drew a blade of his own which was suitably bigger than Goshawk's own – obviously he was compensating for something else, she thought to herself with a grin. Then the fight began in earnest as the man attacked, his blade slashing at her. She dodged, using her speed and agility versus his brute strength. Each of her own strikes went nowhere as every strike was parried and she moved her feet to constantly change position from which to reattack. The man was good – particularly good – and while he struck with his knife, he would blindside Goshawk with his left fist which sent her reeling. Then she dodged another strike, falling through a doorway into a plush sitting room. With anger building inside her and the adrenalin pumping, the girl threw herself at the man as he followed her into the room. She expertly rolled, stabbing upwards and ripping out a chunk of his abdomen and spilling blood across the white carpet which covered the wooden deck. The strike was rewarded by a strike from his left fist which sent her flying onto a spotless white couch, even as the man drew a mini-Uzi and Goshawk scrambled for safety, dropping over the back of the couch even as nine-millimetre bullets stitched across the couch and the wooden bulkhead behind, shattering the glass in several expensive paintings. Goshawk could feel her bare legs being cut by the flying glass even as she rolled away from the couch and she could hear the brute's heavy footsteps as he came towards her, so she took a chance. She bolted out from behind a plush white chair and she threw herself across the open space even as a stream of bullets followed her movements. She landed and rolled before she threw herself through a plate glass window back out into the main passageway. As glass exploded out all around her, Goshawk spied her discarded pistol and she seized up the weapon, firing off six rounds into the sitting room, the nine-millimetre bullets cutting through the thin wooden bulkhead and tearing into the man beyond. Goshawk jumped up and she peered through the empty window frame once she could no longer hear the Uzi spitting death. The large man was spread-eagled on the deck, his blood soaking into the plush white carpet.

Goshawk ran back into the sitting room and then ran at a set of double doors which she kicked open and she found herself diving for cover inside a private dining room with a large polished wood table which could seat eight comfortably. Bullets from a pistol struck the wall behind her as she rolled into cover and fired off four rounds before ejecting her empty magazine. As she reached for a fresh magazine from her belt, Goshawk saw a foot coming at her and she reacted. She dropped the empty pistol and she seized hold of the foot. She shoved her attacker away from her and discovered that her attacker was a woman. Goshawk attacked the woman, kicking out and striking her in the chest with her fist kick. The enraged woman punched back; Goshawk countered with a block, then kicked back. The woman seized Goshawk's left leg as it came at her and deflected it. Goshawk was grabbed and thrown across the dining table, sending place settings flying in all directions. Goshawk landed on the deck on the far side of the table amidst a rainstorm of gold cutlery. The Predator swept up a pair of knives and threw them through the air at the woman. The knives were poor weapons, weighted for eating, and not for being thrown – both were easily deflected. Goshawk's eyes searched for alternative weapons as she realised that her fighting knife had fallen out somewhere and was not readily available to her. Instead, she grasped a bottle of red wine, smashing the bottle on the edge of the table to break it, but retaining the top as a deadly weapon. She ran at the woman, slashing and catching an arm with the razor-sharp glass, sending blood flying.

The woman deflected the next strike, but struck back with her own blade, a nasty hooked device which Goshawk did her utmost to avoid, but to no avail as she was slashed on the right shoulder blade, and she could feel the warm blood inside her wetsuit, dribbling down her back. In response, Goshawk struck with the bottle remnant, stabbing the girl in the chest, and then kicking her in the stomach. The woman doubled over with a scream of agony, even as Goshawk brought the bottle down and buried the savage glass into the woman's neck, severing the carotid artery and staining the otherwise ornate navy-blue carpet on which they had fought. The woman sank to the carpet, gagging as she tried in vain to stem the flow of blood. Then she heard a scream of pain – it was a girl's scream – coming from the room beyond the next set of double doors. Goshawk scrambled to her feet and she spied her knife, sweeping it up and stowing it back in its scabbard securely. She then grabbed up her pistol and reloaded it as she ran at the double doors.

Goshawk kicked open the doors and she levelled her pistol at those inside.

..._...

Laurel was wearing nothing more than her underwear and she was showing the obvious signs of drug-induced slumber.

A man, some forty years older than Laurel had been inspecting his latest acquisition and then she had started to come around. Indeed, only Laurel's confusion and the fact that she was shackled at the ankles and the wrists had prevented her from killing the man who had stripped her all but naked. He had heard the fighting beyond his door but he had been confident in his protective security detail, therefore, he was more than a bit surprised to find the doors to his private bedroom kicked open and for a masked woman in a wetsuit to appear holding a pistol in her hands which was pointed directly at him. The pistol did not waver even a millimetre as it was held in rock steady hands. As for Laurel, her mind was still trying to figure out where she was, let alone to figure out why a masked girl, who was probably Kate, was pointing a pistol at the man holding her. Laurel's subconscious mind began to process the odds of the shot taking the man before the sharp point digging into the soft skin of her neck slashed her carotid artery open to the world. However, before Laurel's brain could process the critical numbers, everything began to move terribly fast. Laurel's brain registered the flash, followed by searing heat just to the left side of her face. That was followed by the feeling of wetness across her left shoulder. She felt the knife dropping away from her neck, just as she felt pain like she had never felt pain before as her right side exploded into agony.

Kate had been blindsided. Just as she had fired off a carefully aimed round, sending a nine-millimetre bullet into that bastard's face, her peripheral vision had caught sight of someone entering the room from the left and raising an Uzi sub-machine gun which then exploded into life. Kate registered an explosion of blood as Laurel was hit in her side but then as she turned to take down the interloper, another shape had appeared, and the sharp cracks of a suppressed pistol could be heard from the left and the interloper's head exploded, covering Laurel in even more gore than the unfortunate girl already had on her bare skin.

As Laurel fell to the deck, she remained conscious for a precious few seconds and she looked up at Kate, her eyes pleading.

"Help, me – please don't let me die."

Then the girl passed out from the combination of pain and exhaustion.

Ashore...

13:45 GMT+2 (11:45 GMT June 24th)

Wollishofen

Slip Four

It was a no holds barred assault with masked, armour-clad individuals racing aboard the yacht which was moored stern in.

Drift, Custos, and Styx had boarded the yacht at the bow from a borrowed RHIB. Simultaneously, Polaris, Noxa, and Necis had boarded via the stern, using grappling lines to scale the sides of the vessel. That had left Sleuth and Aegea covering the dock itself. Scorpion had been sent off on a mission in their borrowed Airbus H145 helicopter. The men and women aboard the yacht had thought themselves impervious to attack – nobody knew where they were. It was a fatal mistake which would cost the fourteen people aboard the yacht their lives as they were mercilessly squeezed from bow and stern and then slaughtered.

The three girls raced forward, taking down the first person who stuck a head out a hatch. Gunfire burst out in both directions as a fierce firefight began, the sounds of gunfire echoing around the area. The crunch of flashbangs and high-explosive grenades punctuated the gunfire as the teams moved through the yacht from bow and stern towards midships. It was a classic surprise assault and the Panther Brigade had quite literally been caught with their pants down. Indeed, Styx had cringed at the sight of a naked German getting out of a shower before she had shredded his naked body with a three-round burst from her sub-machine gun. It had been slightly worse for Polaris, Noxa, and Necis who had burst into a cabin to find two members of the Panther Brigade busy making new panthers. Polaris was so horrified at the sight of a naked man and a naked woman, not to mention that when the man stood up, something pointed at the young vigilante, that she put the first bullet into said dripping hardon. Necis, on the other hand, had enjoyed the view but she took perverse pleasure in taking the naked woman in the breasts and the cunt – a bullet in each location – while Noxa followed up with another to the woman's face.

Up in the bow, Custos was happily fighting alongside Drift. Custos found Drift to be a bloody fighter who appeared to enjoy melee fighting. Drift was making his way through the yacht with a pair of Ninjatō, slashing and stabbing as he went. Custos managed his own kills, with a similar blade. As for Styx, she just enjoyed a good killing spree. She backed up the young boy as he pushed through the yacht, watching his back, and taking down her own targets. She actually found it kind of therapeutic as she went about the simple task of taking down men and women who had thought they were safe.

It was, quite literally, child's play.

13:49 GMT+2 (11:49 GMT June 24th)

Naturally, the explosive and noisy assault had drawn attention from the various Swiss police agencies.

Unfortunately for Vengeance, the Swiss did not hang about and the President of the Cantonal Council had ordered their best unit to respond to the unknown threat. The force of black-clad, heavily armed police rapidly arrived in the area. Sleuth and Aegea were the first to find themselves facing a dozen Kantonpolizei who were very rapidly reinforced by the Interventionseinheit Skorpion who deployed around the slips. It was a nasty situation for Sleuth and Aegea, both of whom were masked and neither of whom were willing to back down as they aimed their Heckler & Koch G36C sub-machine guns at the rapidly assembling threat.

"Keep your finger away from that trigger, Aegea," Sleuth warned as they both stood behind cover on the dock beside the yacht.

Very soon after the arrival of the Interventionseinheit Skorpion, the six members of the assault team had emerged onto the upper deck of the yacht and then instantly taken up positions to cover Sleuth and Aegea below them on the dock. All told, Vengeance came out onto the upper deck of the yacht to find themselves facing well over a dozen Heckler & Koch MP5 sub-machine guns and many more Glock pistols. It was an extremely dangerous situation that could result in a very nasty and very bloody bloodbath with dozens of people dead. Then out of the blue sky came the sound of a helicopter racing towards them at speed.

The light grey Airbus H145 helicopter came in from the west and turned sharply north before it settled onto the road behind the massed Swiss forces facing off against the not so massed forces of Vengeance. Scorpion alighted from the cockpit of the helicopter the moment she had shut down the engines and disconnected the rotor clutch. Even as the rotor blades wound down, she pulled open the rear door and helped out a tall woman in her early fifties with greying short hair. With her came another woman, of a similar age with a little extra grey in her hair which was pulled back into a smart bun. The two women were escorted by the masked Scorpion towards the Kantonpolizei who parted at the sight of the first woman, Karin Von Gunten. The woman strode directly up to the Kantonpolizei oberstleutnant who was the senior officer present.

"Oberstleutnant! Beib stehen! Vengeance soll passieren dürfen."

"Natürlich, Bundesrat Von Gunten!" the oberstleutnant responded, instantly recognising the government member responsible for his country's police forces and internal security.

The oberstleutnant swiftly began issuing orders and pistols were rapidly returned to holsters and sub-machine guns were lowered. While this was happening, Scorpion led the other woman forward through the mass of Kantonpolizei and Interventionseinheit Skorpion.

"Vengeance," a very British voice sounded out. "You are in the clear, please stand down."

Sleuth stood up as he recognised Her Majesty's Ambassador to the Swiss Confederation, Margaret Bailey.

"Vengeance, stand down!" Sleuth ordered as he stepped out from behind cover and he lowered his weapon.

Everyone followed instructions and all weapons were lowered. Then came the sound of a high-powered engine and a RHIB nudged up against the dock. Chief was at the helm and in the bow sat Goshawk with Laurel laid across her knees and wrapped in a blanket.

"We need a doctor!" Goshawk yelled.

There was a mad scramble as Bones came out from where he had been hiding undercover and he ran forward even as shouts of 'Arzt!', 'Krankenwagen!', and 'Sanitäter!' sounded out all around.

13:55 GMT+2 (11:55 GMT June 24th)

Wollishofen

Lauren was pounced upon by the many Kantonpolizei and carefully lifted from the RHIB.

With care and haste, she was brought to an ambulance where Blake and Swiss paramedics swiftly stabilised the girl before she was whisked away to the nearest hospital for emergency treatment with Blake remaining with the girl. That left Vengeance to leave the yacht and the dead Panther Brigade mercenaries to the Kantonpolizei. The weary vigilantes were allowed to pass unmolested by the massed Swiss authorities as they boarded their vehicles and the helicopter to head for the airport. Naturally, Polaris opted to slip into the helicopter behind her sister while Goshawk took the co-pilot's seat.

"How did it go?" Scorpion asked her protégé.

"It was good," Goshawk confirmed with a grimace.

"You're hurt?"

"Just a scratch – I'll be fine."

"You getter get it looked at when we get back to Cockburn One."

"Are they okay?" Styx asked, meaning Mackenzie and Isaac back at the plane.

"The Kantonpolizei have agreed not to turn the aircraft into a crime scene and Mackenzie will not be held," Sleuth advised from one of the backseats.

"She's only nine – what will killing that man do to her?" Styx asked.

"Only time will tell," Polaris commented darkly.

The rest of the flight was spent in pensive silence.

Later that afternoon...

16:35 GMT+2 (14:35 GMT June 24th)

University Hospital of Zürich

It had been touch and go as the two bullets had taken out the 10th rib on the girl's right side, the shattering bone and bullet fragments lacerating a section of colon and some of her small intestine.

The internal bleeding had been stopped fairly quickly by the Swiss doctors in the operating theatre with Blake watching. But then, one of the nurses had made a discovery as she had been processing the girl's body for further injuries.

"Kommandant," the nurse said, indicating Blake.

The nurse had her fingers inside Laurel between her legs and she appeared to be fishing for something. Blake was incredibly surprised to find the nurse remove her fingers with something grasped in them. The woman passed the item to Blake who realised that he held a condom in his hand. It was not all that unusual to find a condom in a vagina, but usually there would be something inside the condom which would then be removed with the condom. Blake shuddered as he thought that maybe the girl had been raped, but then he found something inside the condom, something hard.

It was a USB data storage device.

That same time...

16:35 GMT+2 (14:35 GMT June 24th)

Zürich Flughafen

COCKBURN ONE

The aircraft was a hive of activity both inside and out.

Outside, COCKBURN ONE, along with ALPHA FOXTROT, was surrounded by armed Kantonpolizei to ensure that no further attempts were made on the aircraft. Inside, everyone was winding down from the successful operation. Kate lay on a couch, wearing just a towel, as Hillary expertly applied some stitches to the knife wound on her right shoulder blade. Hillary had injected a small local anaesthetic to numb the region while he operated. Kate glared at Rylee who sat across from Kate, grinning.

"How many?" Rylee asked.

Kate rolled her eyes.

"Well?" Rylee persisted.

"Ten."

"Not bad, Katie!"

"Do you want to make it ten-and-a-half?" Katie growled.

"Nah, I'll pass," Rylee responded. "Good work!"

"Fuck off, Rylee."

Rylee grinned as she rolled out of her seat to go find somebody else to annoy.

"Rylee, fuck off!" Keira growled as the girl approached her.

"What!? I did nothing!" Rylee exclaimed.

"Yeah, right!" Harper grinned.

"You just look guilty," Tanya commented.

"No, I don't!" Rylee retorted indignantly.

"You do," Simon confirmed.

"Nobody asked you, dickhead!" Rylee growled dangerously as Simon walked past.

"How are you doing?" Keira asked Kate.

"Apart from a raging desire to kill Rylee, I think I'm good."

Rylee scowled.

..._...

In the main suite, Lara and Lily sat on the bed.

Also sitting on the bed was a much younger girl called Mackenzie. The youngster had been crying for hours, ever since she had stabbed the man in the back. The man had died within minutes due to catastrophic internal bleeding. Nine-year-old Mackenzie Morley had barely spoken a word in three hours. On their return, Lara and Lily had taken the youngster to one side to speak to her but had not gotten extremely far. Finally, after hours of the youngster simply sitting and staring at the bulkhead, she had spoken.

"Am I like you now?" she asked, looking at Lily.

"No honey, you're not like me," Lily replied.

"But I killed that man."

"It was a righteous kill – you killed him to save Amelia's life."

"Thanks to you," Lara confirmed, "Amelia is alive and well. Thank you."

"I felt so angry . . . I had to do something."

"And you did the right thing," Lily said. "Well done."

"But I killed that man."

"He deserved to die – he was a bad person," Lily countered.

"He was hurting Amelia; I like Amelia."

Lara was upset. The youngster was always smiling, and Lara had never seen her so miserable. But if the girl had not acted...

"You were amazing, 'Kenzie," Lara said. "You protected your brother and you saved Amelia. I'm not saying that this will be easy to get past, but you will get past this, I promise."

"But I killed that man."

Lily sighed; it was going to be a long road for Mackenzie.

Three days later...
Tuesday, June 27th, 2017

16:00 GMT+2 (14:00 GMT June 27th)

Zürich Flughafen

Nobody had done much more than rest, and nobody had left either aircraft – except to say goodbye.

That morning, they had all said goodbye to Laurel who had left the hospital and was being flown back to London aboard ALPHA FOXTROT under the watchful eyes of Blake. Laurel had a long recuperation ahead of her after two major operations and she needed a proper hospital bed for the next few weeks. Diana had chosen to remain aboard and not return to London – much to Harper's annoyance. Keira had not been happy to say goodbye to her husband, but she knew that Blake had a job to do. Laurel had only been conscious since that morning, but she had been lucid enough to provide Alya with her encryption key which unlocked the first USB device which in turn unlocked the second USB device. Therefore, Alya was to spend several hours delving through all the intelligence which Laurel had gathered – and there was a lot of it! Amelia was recovering from her attack and she had received recognition for her act in protecting the aircraft, the data device, and the children. Mackenzie was still struggling with what she had done, and her nightmares were getting worse if nothing else. Isaac did not understand why his sister was so upset, nor why she woke up screaming several times a night.

As for everyone else, Rylee was keeping her head down as Kate seemed to be gunning for her – nobody was sure why and neither Kate nor Rylee were telling. Tanya and Simon were happily enjoying their friend's impending demise and Harper was actively encouraging Isaac to wind up Jasper which was getting awfully close to ending in tears – for Harper. Above all, tensions were rising as even friends sniped at one another. They had succeeded in their mission to Germany and Switzerland, but it could have gone so terribly wrong, and almost had. Luckily, there were only minor injuries with Laurel having received the worst and Amelia apparently none the worse for her experience. It was past time for everyone to decompress and after making a phone call to a few colleagues in London, Jasper directed Captain Hodges to file a flight plan to the southwest.

Therefore, at 14:00, the Boeing aircraft thundered down the runway with its seventeen passengers before it soared into the sky.