A/N: Here comes the next chapter. Thanks for your support and reviews on the previous chapter, and let's try to hit 35 reviews on this chapter. I would really, really appreciate that.

Chapter 6

It was a lazy Saturday for Gru and his family. He was sitting cross-legged on the living room floor with his three girls, and Jerry and Stuart the minions. Instead of an indoor campfire (a modified portable version Dr. Nefario invented), a complete tea set was laid out.

"Would you like more tea, Gru?"

"Thank you very much, Agnes." Gru held out his teacup. He carefully clinked his cup with Margo, pinky held out to the side.

"Eh, eh!" Stuart raised his cup. Gru obliged, clinking their cups together.

Setting his cup down, he eyed a plate of iced cupcakes. Before helping himself, he held out the plate. "Could I interest you in these cupcakes, Edith?"

Edith gratefully accepted, as did Agnes and Margo. Gru then took two for himself. Jerry and Stuart went for the sugar biscuits instead.

Gru straightened his napkin and prepared to bite into his cupcake. His phone chirped in his pocket. The girls all looked at him. He dug into his pocket before pulling out his phone and flipping it open. The caller ID read 'Anna Bailey'.

Gru sighed. "Well, girls, I have to go now."

"Aww…" they moaned in unison. "We didn't get to finish our tea party," Agnes said quietly.

Gru leaned over and kissed her gently on the forehead. "I know, kitten, and I'm sorry. I thought I would have at least another half an hour before they called."

"Why are you so busy now?" Agnes asked with a trace of sadness in her voice.

"That's just the way it is, Agnes. But don't worry about me coming to your performances, because I made sure of that. My bosses know I will be attending your events, and I made sure they will not bother me during that time."

"Pinky promise?" Agnes looked up with wide trusting eyes.

"Pinky promise." Gru solemnly locked pinkies with his three girls, and pushed himself into a standing position.

"Who was it?" Edith asked.

"Ms. Bailey."

At that moment, Lucy came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel. "Anna Bailey?" she asked Gru.

"Yep. She's in charge of this case." Gru replied. He drew Lucy into his arms gently, and they shared a fond embrace and a brief kiss.

Margo hastily averted her gaze and covered Agnes' eyes. With an accompanying 'Ew…', Edith rolled her eyes.

~0~

"Gru, thank you for getting here so quickly. Things are picking up fast, and you need to be in the loop." Without any fuss, Ms. Bailey jumped straight into her briefing.

"We believe Sergeyevitch is a shield for the real mastermind. Our suspicions point to one of his business partners, Alessio Montolivo. That has pushed back our attack schedule slightly, and we are running observations on both of them. I have received the information from Director Ramsbottom about your daughters' events, and I will tell the strategists to plan around that." Ms. Bailey paused for a moment and continued more slowly, "I just wanted to let you know that you are in a very unique position."

"Am I inconveniencing you?"

"No, Gru. You see, the director rarely, if ever, gives his consent to such an unusual arrangement. He must value your services highly." Ms. Bailey replied. She smiled at him. "Now, I wanted to ask you for your help on identifying the Southeast Asian base of operations. The local authorities haven't been able to help us as much as we'd like. However, there are a few locations we've managed to scout."

Gru nodded. Behind him, the door opened. He turned to see a diminuitive young man stride in. He was distinctly Chinese, with almond eyes and jet-black hair. He was bespectacled and dressed semi-formally, with rolled-up shirt sleeves and an unbuttoned collar. Three more analysts followed him into the room

"Ah, Jia Le. Gru, may I introduce you to Jia Le and his team. He's our Southeast Asian intelligence coordinator. Jia Le, this is Agent Gru, one of our best field agents and the main man on this case." Ms. Bailey made the initial introductions.

"A pleasure to meet you, sir." Jia Le cordially greeted Gru.

"The pleasure is all mine." Gru replied. The two men gripped each other's hands and shook warmly.

Jia Le also made a brief introduction of his team: Sherlyn, an Indian lady, Yashana, a lanky French girl, and Nicholas, a genial Korean man.

"Let's get down to business, gentlemen and ladies. Jia Le, the stage is yours."

With a few keystrokes, Jia Le pulled up several map layouts. "Our intel tells us the main corridor the children pass through is the Malaysia-Thailand border. We've corresponded with local authorities, but they haven't given us very much. My guess is that some of them have been bought off by the gang. Anyway, we've still managed to pinpoint several locations. Gru, we're hoping that you, as a former criminal mastermind, will be able to bring some insight to help our analysts and speed up the process."

Gru nodded. With a gesture of his hand for Jia Le to begin, he leaned forward in anticipation. Jia Le ran through the details of twelve different possible locations, and the information that led to the conclusions of these as suspected bases. Along the way, his teammates filled in further details about each location. Gru listened carefully, firing questions at them. Over a grueling four hours, they managed to narrow down their focus to three different locations.

Jia Le smiled, weary but satisfied. "Thank you for your input, Agent Gru. You may have saved us a week's worth of work."

"Not a problem at all. You and your team had already laid the groundwork. All you needed was a touch of evil genius." Gru grinned and winked.

Ms. Bailey chuckled. "Thank you, Jia Le."

As his team filed out, Jia Le winked back at Gru and gave him a salute. He nodded to Ms. Bailey before closing the door.

"Pleasant young man," Gru commented.

"Indeed, and a sharp mind, too."

"Anything else left for today?"

"Nope. We're done. Unless you have questions." Ms. Bailey said.

"I do, actually. It's about your identification of kidnapped children from the homes." Gru said. "Specifically, my daughters."

Ms. Bailey stiffened slightly.

"I find it odd that there's been no word, no information, about my girls." Gru continued.

"Rest assured, Gru, we are working on it." Ms. Bailey replied.

"That's what you've been saying for the last two weeks." Gru furrowed his brow.

"Gru-" Ms. Bailey was abruptly cut off as Gru rose to his feet.

"Tell me honestly now, you do have information on my daughter, don't you?" Gru's voice rose slightly.

Ms. Bailey met his eye and waited for him to continue, as she mentally prepared her reply.

"I've just saved your analysts a week's work, in their own words. I'm working my butt off for the AVL; don't I at least deserve some honesty?" Gru asked. "And don't give me the standard reply that you're working on it."

Ms. Bailey sighed. She knew she couldn't hold it from him much longer.

"Come on, Anna, you told me you knew my wife, my girls. Please, tell me what you know." Gru asked in a softer tone. A note of cynicism crept in, "Or has Ramsbottom forbidden you to tell me?"

"This goes against my professional judgment, but…" Ms. Bailey readied herself for the plunge.

"I'm going to make the decision the director allowed me to. Ramsbottom actually advised me against telling you anything about your daughters. He was concerned that you'd lose focus and insert your personal emotions into this case and the operation."

"But I can't withhold it from you anymore. Heaven knows I would hate to be in your position and not know about my child. Look, we found your oldest daughter listed as a kidnapped child under the name 'Andrea Millen'."

Gru's heart began beating faster.

"We found your younger two daughters' names on the regular list of residents of Miss Hattie's Home, with no special indications."

Gru waited for more, but Ms. Bailey shook her head. "That's all we've found. I wish I had more, Gru."

Gru covered his mouth with a fist. He slowly processed what Ms. Bailey had told him.

"Thank you for telling me, Anna. I hope you won't get in trouble."

"You're welcome, Gru. And don't worry about me; Ramsbottom told me I could make the final decision whether or not to tell you." Ms. Bailey smiled. "But please, do maintain professionalism on this case. We're not over the line yet till we capture the mastermind."

A determined look in his eye, Gru replied, "I'm working to take down the mastermind behind my daughters' suffering in the past. What more motivation do I need?"

Ms. Bailey nodded in satisfaction. Pressing the intercom button, she spoke into the two-way speaker. "Michael, please bring your team to the meeting room now."

"Yes, ma'am." A gruff voice responded.

"The attack force?" Gru asked.

"No. Your bodyguards." Ms. Bailey replied.

A minute later, a tall bearded man strode into the room, accompanied by four equally hulking and intimidating men. Two steely-eyed women completed the team.

"Gru, may I introduce you to Michael Woods and his team. They have been assigned to protect you and your family for the final stage of this mission."

Gru shook their hands one by one. "My deepest gratitude to you and your squad."

"Just doing my duty, sir."

"Another team have been operating covertly until now, but with the operation about to take place, we have assigned Michael's team under the detail of 'full alert'." Ms. Bailey explained.

"They will be armed and on plainclothes patrol 24-7 around your house. Also, they will alert you and prepare your gear when we call you in for the mission. I will be with them to brief you at the beginning of the operation."

Gru's phone chirped loudly in his pocket. He recognized the emergency ringtone reserved for urgent family matters. Hurriedly, he picked up the call.

"Lucy? What's the matter?"

"Come to the hospital. It's Margo. There's been an accident."

A/N: And another cliffhanger to finish up... I'm having a lot of fun writing this story, but what's more important is how you, the readers, are feeling about it. I want to thank those of you who have taken the time to review and let me know what you think about the story thus far, and I will try to improve accordingly. See you soon and God bless!