Daryl answered the phone as Carol and Scarlett looked on.
"What did you guys get figured out, Sasha?"
"We have confirmed that Merle, Philip and Gareth all boarded a plane a few hours ago and are headed in your direction. Our plan is to have Carol in the secure house by this evening. There will be five agents inside the house with her and five more on the outside monitoring the perimeter. It happens to be a property that has cameras installed, which will be an added bonus for us. We will wait for the three men to make their move and then go in for the arrest."
"I will be the agent on Carol herself," said Daryl firmly.
"Agent placement will be discussed when the team arrives prior to Carol showing up."
"That very well maybe, Sasha, but I'll be the agent that's on Carol. I'm not taking any chances with any slip ups or surprises. If Rick has an issue with me being on her, tell him to give me a call. Has there been any luck on finding out who the leak was on the inside of the agency?"
"They believe they have it narrowed down to Agent Rhee."
"Glenn? I can't believe that!," said Daryl with total surprise in his voice.
"Nothing is confirmed yet. We are trying to finalize the information that we have been given. Okay, Daryl, I'm going to go and get the transportation lined up. We will call you back in a little bit to let you know when we will need you and Carol to meet us at the secure house. I will also be sending you an email that will provide you with the complete background of these three gentleman and what we will be able to arrest them for besides going after Carol."
"Okay, thanks again, Sasha."
Agent Romanov spoke, "First, it sounds like they are pretty well prepared for this mission. Hopefully, this can be taken care of tonight and then Carol can breathe a little easier and worry more about raising her daughter then having someone come after her."
"That would be nice," said Carol as she stood up and went over to him. "I am so glad that you are going to be there with me."
"Always," said Daryl. "I told you that you and Sophia are my priorities now."
Tucking herself into his side, she turned and looked at Scarlett. "Sophia should be waking up shortly and then I will be able to introduce her to you." She no sooner said the words when a thump came from overhead. "There she is now," said Carol as she began to make her way over to the stairs. "We'll be right back."
"I got the email from Sasha," he said as he clicked on his inbox. "Let's take a look at what these guys have on their records, which will give us a better indication of what we are dealing with." Daryl and Scarlett sat down at the table as Daryl's emails begin to upload.
After a few minutes Scarlett realize that Daryl had hundreds of emails that he had not opened up yet. "Good lord, Dixon, when is the last time you cleaned out your email? This is taking forever because of how much crap is still in there!"
"You know I don't use my email," mumbled Daryl.
"Well maybe it's time you stepped into the 21st century. I wouldn't be surprised if you're still using AOL dialup."
"Smart ass," said Daryl as he clicked on the email.
They we're both laughing when he suddenly felt arms wrapped around his knees. Looking down at his side Sophia's two big blue eyes staring back at him.
"Hi Arro," she said as she smiled up at him.
"Hey there sweet pea," he answered as he scooped her up and put her on his lap.
Sophia stared at Scarlett and then turned to Carol who had taken the seat at the table next to him. "Momma, who is that?"
"This is my friend Scarlett. Can you say hi to her Soph?," replied Daryl. Sophia became suddenly shy and tucked her face into Daryl's arm. A soft mumble of 'Hi Carlet' could be heard.
"Hi Sophia, it's so nice to meet you. I love your curly hair."
"Tanks," Sophia said as she peeked out at her.
"Sophia, Scarlett is going to stay with you because Daryl and I have to go out to do a few errands tonight."
"I can't go with you?," said Sophia is she looked hopeful at her mom.
"Not tonight, love, we have some things to take care of at places where only big people can go. Scarlett will give you dinner and she will make sure you take your bath and tuck you into bed."
"I want to go with you! I don't want to stay home," said Sophia as her eyes begin to fill with tears.
"Don't worry Sophia. We won't be gone long and when you wake up in the morning, we will both be here," said Daryl as he gave her an extra hug.
Carol wearily looked at both him and Scarlett. Scarlett knew she needed to put her mind at ease so they could both focus on what they needed to do.
Getting up from the table Scarlett held out her hand to Sophia and said,"Sophia why don't you show me your favorite toys you like to play with while mom and Daryl get ready to go?"
Sophia looked nervous for a moment before she tipped her head back and looked up at Daryl.
"Go on, Sweet Pea. Go with Scarlett and show her your dollies that you like to play with all the time."
Sophia slid down from Daryl's lap and grabbed Scarlet's hand. "Momma said I could play snowballs when I got up from my nap. Can we do that now?"
"Snowball sounds fun," said Scarlett as her and Sophia begin to walk up the stairs. "Why don't you show me your dolls first and then we will get our winter clothes on and go outside to play?"
When Merle push the hotel room door open he gagged on the stale urine smell that wafted out of the room.
"Damn that's nasty," said Philip as he put his hand up to his face.
Merle shot daggers at him as he grumbled, "We cannot stay at some big, fancy hotel where they can trace and find us. I picked this place because it is off the beaten path. I can pay cash for the rooms no questions are asked. We need this kind of anonymity if we're going to nail that cunt and get her daughter in the process. Quit whining like a little baby, grab your bag and get your ass into the room. I don't want hear another word about the condition of this place. We won't be staying here that long, so suck it up!"
Gareth struggled in behind them with his bag falling off one shoulder while his laptop wiggled precariously in his hands. "Now that we know where she is and we are here, what is the plan, Merle?"