The Agency

XLIV. blame

The boss smiled fondly, looking at the picture of his little flower on his desk. It was a photo from one of the photoshoots she had done when she was pretending to be a model. Her brilliant smile always brightened up his day. He leaned back in his chair, wondering what he should do next. He had finished most of the paperwork for the day and he hadn't heard of any new cases to approve. They already had so many. The Agency was having a very good quarter.

It was all because of Raven. She completed her missions quickly with great results. She got along well with every single person she worked for. Her customers gave the most referrals due to their positive experiences with her. She was his highest earning agent and he was proud to say that he was the one who brought her in.

The shrill ring of his phone interrupted his reminiscing. He picked it up with a jolly smile on his face. "Hello?"

"Sir, I have some bad news."

He hoped they didn't lose an agent. They hadn't lost one for the year and it would put a real damper on his day. "What is it?"

"It's about Raven, sir. She's been kidnapped."

The boss sat upright, his heart still. "By who? When? Where?" Thousands of questions were racing through his mind. He couldn't imagine her being kidnapped. How could she let them do such a thing? She was strong enough to fight off 20 men. What could have stopped her?

"The tracker in her bra let off a distress signal a couple of minutes ago. The GPS shows that she's rapidly moving south. We're not sure where they're going. My information says that they like to put their torture houses in places in the middle of nowhere, by rural communities and in farmhouses. She was kidnapped from Blue Hill restaurant in Manhattan. Police were called to the scene. How would you like to proceed, sir?"

The boss was now shaking. He could barely keep the phone by his ear. He needed to know one more thing before he proceeded. "Who was it? Who took her?"

"It is a little bit early to tell, sir, but I'm quite sure it was Les Joueurs."

"Those bastards! Why couldn't they have come after me?"

"I don't think this was an order from the top, sir. That's not their style. He would've just killed her then. I think someone ordered for her to be killed."

The boss grinned. He enjoyed a good hunt. This person was going to pay dearly. They weren't going to get off as nicely as their comrades did either. They were going to suffer. No one messed with his little flower and got away with it. "Okay, contact Starfire and let her know what's happening. I know she will want to be on the scene right away. I will handle finding out who ordered this egregious deed."

"Will do, sir."

"Once I find them, I will contact you with further instructions on how to proceed."

"Actually, sir, we have someone hot on their trail right now. After an incident in Jamaica, Raven asked for a small security detail and they are following the van."

The boss narrowed his eyes. "What incident in Jamaica?"

"Uh, I thought you were informed about this, sir."

The boss rolled his eyes. "Obviously, I wasn't so please get me up to speed."

"Raven was the victim of a failed drugging attempt. She ended up catching the culprit, as expected from her, and he killed himself. But not before giving her some intelligence. She found out that she was the subject of a hit as well."

Why couldn't she just tell me? Does my little flower not trust me? "I don't know why she wouldn't just tell me this herself. We wouldn't be in this situation now."