Arcane Sequence: 1994: Never Stop Running... (WLW)

Chapter Eleven: Tybee Island, Georgia, June 28th, 1994

After spending the last few days recuperating from her gunshot wound, Kirah sat on the porch of the vacation beach house the remaining team had acquired and looked out at the water. She thought of the brief, yet meaningful meeting of Berry's much younger brother and all that transpired in the following days. Saul and Regis had called to let them know they had successfully gotten Tuck to Texas and the moment Berry heard this, she'd begun finalizing the plan Kirah had put forth. She hadn't expected them to go with what she schemed, but Berry was insistent on it after spending a night thinking it over.

In Berry's words, she knew the only way to maintain not only the safety of her brother, but also her team and Kirah, certain things must be sacrificed and they needed to hunt Nadia down. That meant she couldn't be around Tuck, the others of their small knit unit were in the same predicament as them and Kirah wouldn't be getting back to her life any time soon. As much as it bothered her before she was shot that they couldn't just run, now she was just as ready as the others to have all of this over and done.

That being said, none desired their constant barrage of obstacles to end more than Berry. Kirah turned her head from the water and glanced at her deep in conversation with the boys as they all hunched over a map, discussing which part of her plan to carry out first. In Kirah's mind, remaining in the country was pointless. Nadia played around here for only a handful of months, if not weeks a year at this point and the only place where she could be locked down was Sicily. The issue with that was just how dangerous it would be to go after the mafia in one of their homelands, but short of somehow managing to remain under the radar in the US long enough to catch her when not even the DEA could, it was their only real option.

That was until Kirah noticed an overlapping consistency in her trips. The others had just equated it to her gaining more drugs or arms and hypothesized the DEA could already be there investigating the situation. However, when they asked Regis for information and he contacted Captain Brenor, he'd found out they weren't there just yet. They planned on sending people there, but it would have to be when Nadia wasn't in the vicinity. Verifying the information, Kirah probed they might venture to Islamorada, Florida and catch her when she'd be there.

If they left within the next couple of days, they could do some much needed surveillance and get a layout of wherever she was holding up there during each of her visits. If they couldn't get her this time around, they would keep a watchful eye on her hideout until her return and take her out then. Either way, they wouldn't leave their position until they had her in their cross hairs. Now all that was left to decide was whether or not they should make their base in a local vacation home on the island or in one of the many motels.

Kirah watched as Berry rubbed the back of her neck and slowly lifted her head as Javier and Ethan both talked amongst themselves. She turned around and gazed at Kirah, catching sight of her watching her. After mumbling something to the guys, Berry made her way over and got down on the floor of the porch beside her. She laid her head in her lap and sighed as she immediately began running her fingers through her long, wavy locks. Kirah patiently waited for her to voice whatever warred in her mind and tenderly gazed into her eyes as she turned her head to face her.

"They guys think we should wait to go to the island until Nadia is gone, so we can spy on whatever operation she has there for a while before she goes back. What do you think?"

"Well, I'm injured and refuse to be left behind." Berry's eyebrows shot up and she fondly sent her a crooked, tired grin as she kept up her soothing caresses along her scalp. "So, I think waiting for her to return another time may be for the best. The only issue is if the DEA will be involved in Islamorada by that point or not. Without knowing for sure, can you safely say you'll have another chance to get her other than in the next few days?"