Operation 007 (SpyxFamily)

Chapter Five

 Anya had known.

Loid was sure of it.

Her skittish behaviour. Asking to skip school. Looking for an enemy around every corner. Her actions screamed that something was going on. He should've pressed harder, should've dug deeper. Should've questioned and pestered her until she told him.

But why hadn't she told him? Did she not trust him? Did she think he'd not believe her? She had come off the bus that day so upset, Yor had told him. Why wouldn't she say anything?

He tossed the school nurse's file on the coffee table, tired of looking at it.

Nothing useful.

He suspected it was fake. Susan Hopkins most likely a pseudonym.

He had already called Franky to check up on it. When Franky returned the call to tell him Susan Hopkins didn't exist, he wasn't surprised.

He knew the odds he was wrong were pretty low, but it still hurt. He didn't have many leads to go off of.

Franky then gave him the addresses of the families that Anya had stayed with and the first orphanage that had taken her in. Before the one he had found her in.

He scrawled them down on a notepad.

"Thanks Franky." Loid hung up, studying his writing.

He drew a hand over his face.

There had to be something here. This person specifically targeted Anya, she knew who she was.

There were pieces of Anya's past that he was missing and he was going to find them.

He looked at the piece of paper once more before sticking it in his pocket. He'd have to follow up tomorrow, it was getting late.

Loid glanced at the ticking clock showing the late hour. Yor had gone out for a walk, claiming she needed the air.

She cared greatly for Anya, and this had been a big strain on her. On both of them.

She'd been gone awhile though, he hoped she was alright.

———————-

The man's head reeled back, blood spouting from his nose as Thorn Princess's fist knocked into him once more. His nose was broken along with a couple ribs. His arm was definitely broken, hanging at sickening angles. A slash across his face, left one eye useless.

She had given him a beard soaked in blood, his brow shining with sweat. From pain, fatigue, but mostly from fear.

His suit was done for, ripped beyond repair, covered in dirt and grime.

The punch keeled him over and he struggled to rise to a sitting position.

Yor let him.

"Please." He rasped tiredly. "I don't know anything. Ple-" he gasped for breath, ribs shuddering at the effort. Quiet as his words were, they echoed throughout the warehouse.

The thorn princess knew he told the truth. His men lay dead behind her, he was too scared to lie.

She many have overdone it, she supposed, grimacing inwardly.

'How disappointing.' Thought Yor. This was the third group of kidnappers she had found and still no sign of her dear Anya.

Yor knew Anya was targeted, and it was very possible it wasn't regular kidnappers. But she had to start somewhere. Someone had to give her useful information eventually, and if they didn't, she would bleed it out of them.

She took a great sigh through her nose, terrifying the man even more. She stepped forward.

He whimpered to his great shame, feeling as if he looked at the face of death.

"Where are the children you kidnapped?" She asked, her voice ice cold. She would tip off the police.

"Th-the docks just a kilometre from here, they're sh-shipping out tomorrow morning." He answered immediately, trembling.

Yor cast her eyes over the bodies lay strewn behind in her a mess of blood and gore.

The man flinched when she turned back to him.

"Y-you're not going to k-kill me, are you?" He asked in a small voice.

Thorn Princess cocked her head at him, the picture of deadly grace.

She stood menacingly over him, speckled in blood, her red eyes reflecting what little light there was. They looked down on him from her lofty position, the night steeping her features in darkness. Her elegant gown lending to the impression she was born of death and shadows. Blood and pain. Untouchable for the strength she wielded.

Her overwhelming presence sent shivers down his spine, her eyes narrowing.

Unfortunately, she could not let him live.

"WAIT! WAIT, NO, WAIT!" He shrieked as she procured her daggers, spinning them in her hand.

He had seen her face.