Wrath Of The Butterfly: Rayah Reyes Chronicles Book 1

CHAPTER VI: INITIATION

Benjamin Castle III entered the HQ Main Conference Room with graceful urgency. Dr. Georgia Winters stepped in after him and closed the door.

"Good morning," Castle greeted Vincent, Rayah, three men in suits and a woman in skirt and blazer, all seated in front of a long table. "Sorry if I kept you waiting."

He turned to Jeeno, standing at the left side of the large LED display hanging on the wall. "Jeeno, if you please," he said and gave him his tablet, which Jeeno connected to the big screen. Castle plucked a remote from his breast pocket, pointed it at the tablet and clicked. A slide came into view on the large display, with "Operation Buzzkill" written in large font in the middle.

"Welcome to the initial briefing of Operation Buzzkill, the primary operatives of which are SAGE Agent First Class Vincent Reed, serving on his two hundred and seventeenth mission and SAGE Agent Special Class Rayah Reyes, serving on her first mission."

Castle paced around and glanced at the people in the room. He stopped behind Rayah and placed his hand on her shoulder. "For the record, let it be stated that Agent Reyes had requested to take part in this mission on account of her desire to give justice to her slain family. The primary targets of this operation are the drug lords responsible for the death of her loved ones, so let's all double our efforts in helping her with her quest."

Rayah's lips quivered. The people in the long table, Vincent more so, gave emphatic nods.

"Very well," Castle continued. "Our intel has collected solid evidence that helped us determine the identity of the attackers of Agent Reyes' family.

Castle clicked and a photo of the Alvarado family flashed on the screen.

Rayah pointed at the image. "That's them, the old man and the muscular guy. I'll never forget their faces. But the one in the middle, he wasn't there. "

"That's because your father killed him in a drug bust several days before," Castle said. "That was why they hit your family."

Rayah covered her mouth.

"These are the Alvarados." Castle clicked in more slides with candid photos of Francisco, Tonio and Kiko. "One of the largest, most systematic drug syndicates in the Philippines. Close to forty percent of all illegal drugs in Southeast Asia come from their labs."

Castle clicked and a slide with photos of small white pills came on.

"They have recently concocted a new, dangerous and addictive chemical-- BZB- 21, known as "Busy Bee" in the streets. It's a potent hallucinogen that supposedly makes the user 'see' the things they most fervently desire, so you can just imagine the dire consequences."

He clicked and showed a set of disturbing photos.

"Two months ago, a 21-year-old college student in Bangkok jumped to his death, after seeing himself as Superman. Three weeks ago, a 32-year-old accountant in Manila saw himself as Rick Grimes and bashed the heads of his officemates with a baseball bat because he saw them as zombies. In New Delhi, a 27-year-old waitress drowned because she saw herself as the Little Mermaid."

He clicked for a new set of unsettling images.

"Couple that with the new drug's high overdose rate and we have something that merits this agency's full attention. The objectives of Operation Buzzkill is first, to neutralize the ruthless Alvarado family, and second, to locate and dismantle their BZB-21 laboratories, and put an end to the proliferation of this dangerous substance."

He clicked and the display went black.

"Now, the Alvarados have proven to be quite slippery and we've got no intel on their possible whereabouts. But we do have a promising lead, and pursuing this will be the first phase of this mission."