Rogue Ghostbird

Chapter 12 - Gone

Owen

The meeting with Dr. Roberts was basically useless. He was a stuttering fool. I am now seeing him in a whole different light. Nathan, Silas and North spent the entire meeting glaring at the doctor which could be the reason for his stutter. I admit that they are intimidating when necessary.

It was a little bit funny when the Toma Team stormed our meeting and resigned from the Academy. Raven was being his usual self as a professional Russian. Dr. Roberts realized that he was dealing with a very well-trained group of individuals that now hate him. 

It killed me to see Sean though. He looked up to Dr. Roberts as a mentor and a father figure. It hurt for that all to be a lie. I hadn't seen it coming at all which bothered me the most.

It was my job to protect my family even if the damages are purely mental. I had failed. Sean was silent the car ride back home. Back to our children. I never thought I would be able to say that. Thinking of our children, I felt a smile come to my face. Who wouldn't smile at their own children?

Sean interrupted my thoughts, "Is that a smile I see, Owen?"

Immediately, I stop smiling, "You were mistaken, Dr. Green." 

I had dropped the formalities soon after Sang left, but I still use them to tease my family. Right now, I was just happy that Sean was pulling himself out of his depressed state. I think that the arrival of our children had a good effect on the Team. Ever since Sang left, the Team has been on the edge of splitting up.

We had taken different cars to the hospital. North was on his motorcycle and Silas on his. Nathan, Gabriel and Kota were in one car with Luke and Victor in another. Sean and I were one of the last cars out. 

I was surprised to get a phone call from North which I put on speaker, "North, report!"

It was actually Luke who spoke up, "The kids are gone."

I braked hard, "WHAT!"

Luke repeated himself, "There are signs of a struggle and the kids are gone."

Sean yelled at him, "Are you serious? This better not be a prank, Luke!"

Luke says, "It's not, I swear."

Sean looked at me grimly, "Luke hung up. Get us home."

With a curse, I start driving again. I disregard the speed limits and nearly crash the car to get home quickly. A thousand different possibilities are running through my head. Did someone kidnap them? Did the Academy get them? Did they leave on their own?

What happened? 

In no time at all, I pulled the car up our driveway. Sean was out of the car before I even stopped. I quickly followed, just as anxious as everyone else. Sean and I stopped short at the front door and observed the scene in front of us. 

North was punching the wall repeatedly with Silas talking to him in Greece to calm him down. Nathan was nowhere to be seen while Luke appears to be lost in a day dream. Kota was examining the dead body. Gabriel came out of the kitchen as we arrived with Victor on his computer. 

I demand, "What happened? Report!"

Kota looks up at me, "Victor is pulling up the camera feed now. I think that whoever kidnapped Sang came after the kids. Nathan is checking their rooms, but it seems already that our kids did not make it easy for them. As you can see, there is a dead body here, but several different blood traces." I could hear the pride in his voice at our kids' success.

Nathan entered the room, "I checked their rooms. It appears that there was a struggle in the gym. I see blood. In Vincent's room, we have broken computers and it appears that Vince smashed them on his attacker's heads. There are signs of small struggles everywhere. I can say that this was definitely a kidnapping."

Victor called us over, "Take a look at the video."

We saw 15 men in black masks enter the house. Mel is down first with a dart in her. The group splits into three. Neal, Sam and Noah are in the gym. The group of five catches Samuel by surprise. Neal breaks a guy's nose before going down. For Noah, I think he breaks one man's wrist and another's arm before losing.

Up in his room, Vincent is on his computer. He sees three men enter his room and reacts. At one, he throws his computer and at the other a knife he had. Vince attempts to lunge at the third before getting hit with the dart. 

Oliver and Dallas were in my office actually. Dallas is hit first because his back was to the door. There are only two masked men. Oliver ducks under the desk and takes my gun. He comes up and shoots both men in the stomach. He gets one in the neck, killing him, before losing. 

Nathan comments, "I hadn't checked your office, Owen."

Victor switches the feed to Gale. He is in the bathroom doing his hair. Gale was humming a tune when five masked men came in. He stiffens when he hears them and gets to his knees. I wondered why until he pulled a gun hidden underneath the sink. 

Gabriel makes an approving sound, "That's my son. Damn good job!"

Gale hides in the shower and waits for the men to come to him. The first comes alone and he shoots him dead. The four others come together and he manages one shot in a man's arm. They knock his gun out of his hands and Gale pulls out a razor, slicing another's leg up before going down. 

Out of the fifteen, there are 2 dead and 6 injured. That leaves 7 in top shape to go after Leif. I see them drop the nine other kids in the parlor where Mel was. 

One of the injured masked men says, "Boss is going to be pissed when he hears what happened."

The other adds, "Two dead and six injured. Yeah, he'll be mad. I just hope me being injured means that he won't be mad at me."

A third comments, "Those fucking kids are only ten years old. How the fuck are they doing this?"

The conversation is cut off as another orders, "Find the last one!"

Victor switches the feeds as we follow the men's search for Leif. Luke laughs at loud with pride in his voice. It was Leif who is making it a pain in the ass to be found. When he is finally found after the better part of an hour, he makes it hard to be taken. Out of nowhere, Leif is pulling out ninja stars and knives. I count three more injured and another dead before he is darted too.

When the masked men return to the parlor with Leif, I see Mel moving. She creeps up behind them and hits one with a vase. The men are shocked and she takes advantage of it to keep fighting. She stabs one with a vase shard and hits another in the balls. Frankly, I am very proud of our children.

Once Mel is down, the leader orders, "Put them in the van! Volto wants them." 

I hear Gabriel curse, "Shit, it was Volto!"

Silas comments, "At least the children got four dead and nine injured. No one was left untouched."

I nod my head, "We need to find Volto. Why did this attack happen? He had Sang. Why does he want the kids?"

Kota thinks, "Maybe Sang did something to provoke him."

"Like what?" questions Victor.

North offers, "Escape."

As we continue to discuss the possibilities, someone knocks on the door. Aware that this is how it started with the children, we all pull out our guns. Gabriel goes to answer the door and it's . . .

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"Sang!" 

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Word Count: 1354