You'll have to wait a little bit longer to see what happens to Misaki... :p

Reminder that underlined speech is spoken in English. Enjoy~

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Chapter Nineteen – The Search

"Where is she?"

"Where is who?" Jacob asked.

"Misaki! What did you do to her? She never came back last night."

"How should I know?"

"She was staying late with Amelia," April informed him.

"Then maybe you should ask her. Now get out of my way."

April stared as she watched him walk off. Misaki had disappeared and he didn't even care... He should since he was responsible for their well-being as they were under his supervision. Storming off to find Amelia, she knew she didn't trust that woman. She was nice, on the surface, but she learned to see beyond that. July followed along.

"Where is Amelia?" April asked as she entered Ryan's office.

"I haven't seen her. Why?"

"Misaki's missing and Amelia was the last person with her."

"Well, her office is to the left from here. Turn right at the second corridor and it should be the fifth one down," Ryan told her. "I haven't seen either of them since yesterday."

"Thanks."

Ryan nodded his head in reply and turned back to his computer. April and July made their way out of his office and followed his instructions to find Amelia's. Without even knocking, April barged in to find her at her desk. She glanced up in surprise, but didn't stop working.

"What can I do for you?" she asked.

"I'm looking for Misaki. Have you seen her?"

"No, I'm afraid not. Why are you asking me?"

"You were the last one with her last night and she never came back to the hotel," April explained. "It makes sense to ask you if you were the last to see her."

"But I wasn't. She wanted to stay later than I could last night. I asked Hayden Wakefield to drive her back before I left. His office is two doors down if you want to check for yourself. I left around 7:30PM."

April watched her for a moment to see if she was lying, but it didn't seem like it. She finally left the room with July and went two doors down. She knocked twice before entering to find Hayden at his desk. He was on the phone, but April didn't mind waiting. She just wanted answers. She had promised the Superintendent that she would look after Misaki and she intended to keep that promise.

"Can I help you?" Hayden asked after hanging up.

"Yes you can. I understand that Amelia asked you to drive Misaki back to the hotel yesterday. Is that true?"

"Partially yes. She did ask me, but I never saw her. I even waited until midnight since I understand she likes to stay late. I checked the data analysis library before I left, but she wasn't there. I figured she asked someone else to drive her since there are a few of us who like to stay late. Is something the matter?"

"No, thanks. That's all."

April left his office, confused. He didn't seem to be lying either. So where did she go? She couldn't possibly have asked someone to drive her as she was always reluctant to use English unless she had to. But who would take her and for what purpose? She glanced at July to see if he had any ideas, but he only shrugged in reply.

***

"What did you say?"

"She's missing. April and July are looking for her, but the CIA doesn't seem to care," Yin informed him.

"Are you looking for her?"

"Of course, but she's not near water. I don't see her anywhere."

"Damn it! They must have made their move," Hei exclaimed. "I'm going out. Let me look around. Do you know where April and July are?"

"Not yet. I'll look."

Yin watched as he stormed out of the door. He was furious and she could understand why. The Syndicate had done something to Misaki-san and neither of them could locate her. She had looked everywhere, but there was nothing. She felt guilty, like she had failed Hei because she lost track of where Misaki was and she knew how important she was to him.

***

Glancing around as he stood on the rooftop, Hei watched the people moving in and out of Misaki's hotel. He thought that he could find April and July this way, but he had waited for twenty minutes and he still hadn't seen them. Perhaps they were out looking for her as well. He growled, angry with himself for not realizing that they would make their move.

He should have known better and given her a warning. They would kill her either way and he was going to go crazy if that happened. No one was allowed to harm Misaki. If they hurt her in any way, he was going to make sure that they paid for it. It was one thing to try and kill him, but completely different to try it on Misaki.

He finally gave up on the hotel and continued on his way. He didn't even have a single clue on where to find her. She didn't know the area and there was no way to contact her. He was positive April would have tried that first. But he couldn't just approach them as Hei, even if Yin did find them.

Cursing the fact that the city was so spread out, he had to comb each area section by section. At this rate, she was going to be dead before she was found. That thought alone spurred him on in his frantic search. Each street and each building was checked carefully, starting with the ones nearest her lodging.

"Yin, can you give me anything?"

"No, I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. We'll find her."

"I haven't found the other two either, but they're not at the hotel," Yin stated.

"I know. We'll both keep looking."

***

April glanced around as she wandered the streets with July. She was frustrated because no one paid attention to her when she told them about Misaki's disappearance. They treated it like it was normal. But this was Misaki they were talking about! The workaholic Misaki who pulled late hours on a regular basis and was still in bright and early the next morning!

It was a risk, but one she was willing to take. Rationally, it made sense to look as she was going to get in more trouble if the daughter of a high ranking official of Foreign Affairs went missing, especially when she promised to watch her, in comparison to escaping from Jacob's watchful eye. That man got on her nerves anyways, so what did she care of what he thought?

July had tried to help, but he still didn't see anything. It was just blank whenever he tried. It never happened before, but she wondered if it was an adverse effect of November's passing. After all, she was particularly grumpy when she recalled that moment and neither of them were supposed to feel anything. Maybe it was his way of coping with it.

"Misaki," he murmured.

"Come on. We'll find her, even if none of those bastards care."

July nodded in reply and they continued to look around. Unfortunately, trying to track a human wasn't as simple as tracking a Contractor. They were stuck with the old-fashioned method of looking where their legs could take them. She thought of asking Kanami for help, as Misaki had passed along her contact information, but she finally decided against it as there was nothing they could do. Instead, it would make things worse, informing them of her disappearance.

There was no distinct pattern or method to their search, but all they could do was hope to cover as much distance as possible. It didn't make sense for anyone to take her, but that was the only possible explanation. Could it be the people BK-201 worked for? After all, Misaki was dedicated to the case and that was the only thing that made sense for someone to want her for. She had never been to America before this, so she couldn't possibly have made enemies here.

In the distance, April heard a siren go off and she quickly pulled July into the darkened path between two buildings. They couldn't possibly have found them already, could they? They had purposely left everything behind, except for the room key. No one had seen them when they left the hotel either; she had been sure of this. Unless she missed a spy for the CIA.

"We'll be fine," April whispered as July was tugging at her arm while she glanced around the corner. "What is it?"

He tugged again and she finally turned around to see a haunting white face glancing at her. Backing away instinctively, she couldn't believe that they ran into him here. There wasn't a single Contractor who wouldn't recognize who that was. But what was BK-201 doing here and what did he want? She didn't honestly think that she could beat him when November had struggled in battle against him.

"What do you want?" she asked cautiously.

His steady gaze shifted to the boy beside her before glancing back at her. He wanted July? But why? Even so, she moved to stand in front of her partner. She wasn't going to let him just take him, especially for no reason. They were in this together. She tried not to flinch as he approached, a white face floating towards her.

"Wh – What do you want?" she asked again when he was a foot away.

"Where is Misaki Kirihara?"

"Misaki?" she asked, stupefied. "Why do you want her?"

"She's my target and I won't let anyone else take her. Now tell me where she is."

"I don't know where she is. I'm looking for her right now."

"Then make him look for her," he answered, nodding towards the boy behind her.

"Don't July. He's going to kill Misaki."

"What did you say?"

"July, d – don't," she said again, even though BK-201 lifted her up by the neck. "We need to keep Misaki safe."

"I'll kill you and I'll kill your friend. Now do it."

"July... Remember our promise..."

"No, stop," the boy said.

He willingly stepped out from behind, so BK-201 dropped April to the ground. Gasping for air, April couldn't believe that July would disobey her. Even if he said he would do it, he couldn't see anything. BK-201 would kill them both anyways. She watched helplessly as July disappeared further down the pathway with the Contractor they were ordered to arrest.

They cleared to the other side and July put his hand to the glass while BK-201 stayed in the shadows. He wasn't sure if he would see anything, but he had to try if it helped April. If she left him too, then he would be all alone. Besides, he wanted to find Misaki as well. The white mask spooked him and he knew BK-201 was watching him carefully to see if he was lying.

"Warehouse," July stated.

"What else?"

"Black car and opened door," he replied, surprised he could have a vision, finally, after so long.

"Where is it?" BK-201 snapped.

"Hamlin Street and 24th."

Next thing he knew, BK-201 disappeared and he was left alone. Pulling away from the window, he made his way back to April's side to see how she was doing. She was still sitting on the ground, but she seemed to be fine.

"Did you see anything?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Thank God..."

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A/N: Aww, I really like July's character. I think he's so cute :) Saves the day~ Just wanted to change the angle on the story so that the chapters can be tied together, so this is kind of like a "flashback" chapter, describing Misaki's disappearance from a different angle. I promise we'll get back to Misaki in the next chapter.