The Phoenix Ghost

First Anniversary

Gabriel Coleman...

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Sean, Silas and Owen sat in front of the computer monitor, once again pouring over the photo shot of the mysterious benefactor they were reasonably certain was also Volto1. They'd decided as a team to agree to Vasily's deal and trade full completion of the assignment for this picture in the hopes that they'd be able to close in on Volto2 and remove the threat to Sang's life. They desperately wanted to prove their commitment to Sang and their children and had thought a solid lead on identifying both Voltos was a good risk.

But when they'd eagerly opened the JPEG file, and afterward the video footage, they were confused - they had no idea who this woman was. She was perhaps mid thirties or very slightly older. She had light eyes, very tall for a woman at around 6'1 and very attractive with sharp cheekbones and a patrician nose. She was a striking woman even in her casual attire and clearly very physically fit.

Victor had shaded the image in black and white as both her hair and eye colour might have been altered by dye, a wig and/or contact lenses. Eight of the team had absolutely no recollection of ever meeting or seeing the woman.

Silas, however, thought the image raised some vague recognition but he could not place where he'd seen her as it was no one he knew well or even at an associate level.

Victor had been running photo recognition in the hopes there were other photos of this woman on the world web so they could at least attach a name to her face.

The team were very demoralised that the risk had not paid off yet. It did not help that today was 2nd February, one year since they'd left Sang in South Carolina. The septs would be five months old on the 21st. But they had not given up hope. Victor was working on gaining access to data bases of information and people which were severely restricted by government agencies. Hacking into government files was not the usual modus operandi for the Blackbourne team, but they were desperate for results.

'I think it's time to fess up to the deal we made with Vasily to the girls,' Victor spoke from the doorway of his office tentatively. He'd brought the subject up twice before to the strategic tier of their team and had been shot down by all three. Silas sighed,

'The three of us have discussed this, Vic. It's only been five weeks. We still have several potential opportunities to figure out who the mystery lady behind Volto1's mask could be. Give us six months,' Victor opened his mouth to protest but Silas' eyes pleaded for Victor to hear them out,

'If we haven't got solid leads on both Voltos by the end of August, then we'll bring in Iris and hell, Skugga too. We are stuck here for another year at least, so let's not be too hasty in thinking we can't solve this puzzle within the Blackbourne team,' It was Victor's turn to sigh. They had a point and they'd agreed a deadline on when to bring in the Ghost team and the Valhalla MC to help unravel this riddle,

'Fine. For the record though, while I accept this is just my gut feeling, I think waiting to bring them in is a mistake. But I concede that it won't get us back any quicker if we wait to tell the girls about the deal,'

Silas stared at the face in the photograph intently. He'd seen that face before... he was certain. Perhaps in a photo while on assignment,

'Vic, do you keep all our past assignment photos?' Victor nodded his head affirmatively,

'Yes, all the surveillance photos and videos from our past assignments are in the secure storage under archive, assignments, by assignment name and date,' Silas stood,

'I need caffeine and then I'm going to go through all those images. I know I've seen her face before!'

Sean smiled at Silas as he left the office for supplies before starting his hunt through the team's archives. This was part of why he knew Silas was meant for strategy, he and Sang were exactly the same when faced with a puzzle. They'd work it over and over until they found the solution,