Chris wakes up and grabs his clean clothes and heads to the bathroom. He opens the door and glimpses someone already in there. He pulls back out of instinct.

  “Oops, sorry.”

  “It’s okay, Chris. It’s just me. I’m dressed.”

  Chris goes in and sets his clothes on the counter, while Elle brushes her teeth. She still wore those baggy pajamas. Silly Elle. He picks at the one in her left hand. “You and your baggy PJs.” He snickers.

  Elle flops the end in his direction. While still brushing her teeth.

  “Goofball.” Chris ughs.

  He goes and turns on the shower. Elle finishes with her teeth.

  “So, did your dad say anything about today?” Elle asks.

  Chris smiles. “Yeah. Guess your dad talked with my dad about today, huh?.”

  “The talk!” They say in unison.

  “Guess we weren’t sly enough.” Elle says.

  “Yeah. But I’m sure they were gearing up for it, anyway. We did have sex education back in March.”

  “I know. That video had to be older than us.” Elle ughs.

  “And the announcer was way too happy.”

  “Flower power, man!” Elle mocks. And holds her fingers up. “Peace, dude.”

  Chris busts up.

  “I’ll leave you to your shower. And hurry up, too.” She says, then wipes her mouth of stray toothpaste.

  “Yes, ma’am.” Chris says, watching her strut out like she’s fancy, her long pant legs dragging behind her. He cracks up. Damn, she was so awesome.

  After the shower and breakfast, Detective Moore makes a visit. He first tells them that the footprints are from two women. Approximately, five foot five to five foot eight. Weighing around a hundred to one hundred twenty-five pounds. They found some hair on one bush. Long reddish blond. The dagger found only had the fingerprints of Simon and Chris. Whoever it belonged to had to have worn gloves. But there was something more gruesome was that they found traces of blood residue on the bde. Not enough for a match, but enough to suggest someone had used it before.

  Elle grips Chris’ hand.

  “And as far as this, Mr. Vega? Nothing. We checked all the databases in the country. We called customs, US and Spain, nothing. Whoever this guy is, he isn’t Antonio Vega.” The Detective tells them.

  “I figured as much.” Larry says as if the Detective just stated the obvious.

  “I’m having my people look into flight records for anyone who might have booked a flight from Spain.”

  “What if he had his own jet?” Simon asks.

  “That is a possibility. May I use your phone?”

  “Go ahead.” Simon shows him where it’s at.

  After informing his people about private jets nding in all the surrounding airports, big and small, the Detective says goodbye and he’ll let them know when anything comes up.

  “Now we wait.” Larry says.

  “What do we do until then?” Elle says. “What if they come back?”

  “Don’t worry, Elle. Nobody is going anywhere.” Larry says. “I think we learned our lesson st year with the Director. Huh?”

  They sure did. Chris thinks, they got caught, three times?

  Simon and Larry have a look at each other. Chris thinks he knows what’s coming next.

  “Okay, since we have time. Elle? Melissa? Come with me, please.” Simon says.

  “The talk.” Chris tells Elle in air speak.

  All Chris gets is an air speak sigh.

  “Uh, oh. Busted.” Jerry says.

  “It’s all right, boys. Cause you two will be next.” Melissa says.

  Chris snickers.

  “What’d we do?”

  Elle and her parents disappear upstairs. That’s when his own parents take him away.

  **********

  Early in the morning, Garcia sits in his hotel suite, sipping his third gss of wine. Where were his girls? Why haven’t they reported back, or come back by now? It was getting te. These were the ones who shut the Director down and defeated his pet project. Perhaps he underestimated them. Obviously, talking with them did no good. Or perhaps he didn’t offer them a good enough deal. At least they suspected nothing.

  That girl. The Director’s daughter. He had to get her. Wait. Perhaps he didn’t need her. If he got the schematic from the b…

  A knock on the door.

  “Autumn.” he snaps his fingers.

  Julia and June walk into the hotel suite, dripping wet. Their bck face paint running down their face. Garcia raises an eyebrow.

  “Decide to take a swim?”

  “Forgive us, sir. We failed in our mission.” Julia informs him.

  Garcia just sits on the sofa, rolling the wine into his gss. “Apparently, we all underestimated our target. Go clean yourselves up, you smell like fish. Then come back and…give your report.”

  “Yes, sir.” They say and leave.

  “Autumn!”

  Autumn comes to his side immediately. “Yes, sir.”

  “I want you to go to Stinger and the Twins. Give them this message.”

  Autumn pulls out a notepad and pen. “Ready, sir.”

  “Go to the TalCorp site and scout out the perimeter. Report back any increased activity, as well as any modes of entry.”

  “Yes, sir.” Autumn bows and leaves the suite promptly.

  Garcia yawns, then curses. Soon as Julia and June give their reports, he was going to bed.

  His girls get done a few minutes ter and come out to the living room. Garcia tells them to give their report.

  “Sir.” Julia starts. A tall, voluptuous woman in her te teens. Long brown hair, athletic build, master of Garcia’s own brand of fighting. Like Stinger, she is very adept at espionage. “We located the target as per your orders. But, sir. They found out our location and…” Julia appears to struggle with finding the right words.

  “Just say it.” Garcia tells her.

  “A wall of water raised up out of the stream and smmed down on us. Sir.” June tells him.

  Garcia stares at them, but his mind wanders. The Director’s daughter was more powerful than he thought. Maybe they did defeat Tetra and kill him. Of course, it has been about eight months since then.

  “Sir. We did everything right. They should not have been able to hear us.” June says.

  Garcia holds a hand up. “It’s all right. I won’t punish you. Actually, your failure has been very insightful. What was the target doing right before they hit you with the water?”

  “The target was engaged in sensual py, sir. They were…making out.” Julia tells him.

  “And after?”

  “The children and their fathers investigated the area.” Julia shifts, uneasy. “Then the authorities arrived and inspected the area.”

  Garcia stands. “Is there something else, Julia?” Garcia goes and hovers. This always made them nervous.

  Julia swallows. “I…lost…my dagger…sir.” Her face tightening, ready for her punishment.

  Garcia crosses his arms. “Is there anything else?” He says sternly.

  Julia stutters briefly. “N-No, sir.”

  While still eyeing Julia, Garcia tells June to leave and rest. He sees her bow out of the corner of his eye, then leave. When he hears the door shut, he backhands Julia. She staggers back a step, bringing a hand to her face. Then standing back upright. He then gives her a straight punch to the face, then knees her in the stomach. She doubles over, clutching her stomach, coughing and moaning. He shoves her to the floor with his foot. He didn’t want to do that with his hands. Not humiliating enough.

  “Those daggers are our symbol. They represent the Hive.” He walks around and puts his foot on her head and presses down. “Are you still one of us? Cause if not, you know the alternative.” If not death, worse.

  “Y-Yes.” Julia struggles. “Please, sir. Forgive me.”

  Garcia sighs and takes his foot off. Then kneels down and grabs a handful of hair and twists it so her face is looking at him. “You know that when a bee loses its stinger, the bee…dies, right?” He runs his free hand gently across her face, caressing it.

  “Y-Yes.” Julia’s voice was breaking. He loved it when they whimper and beg.

  “Good girl. If you can get it back within, say…forty-eight hours? I’ll let you live.”

  “Y-Yes, sir.”

  He lets her go and stands up. “Your forty-eight hours start now. Get out of here.”

  Julia gets up and slowly leaves, still clutching her stomach. Perhaps he won’t kill her, he thinks. Maybe making her the Hive’s personal sve, or a measly house girl back home, would do the trick. Oh, well. Time to get some sleep. He’s got a boratory to pn for tomorrow.