Edited by: Waning_Crescents

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After Kristian left the office to dig up the requested tape, Sigal stayed behind to address another matter which weighed on his mind. “There is another issue I realized.”

“What?”

“If Cal had been on a run for a while, how did Axis find him?” He pushed himself off the wall and walked in front of Vince’s desk. “I mean he had been careful, even changed his identity. How was it possible that he knew where to find him?”

“You refer to what we talked about the other day?”

Sigal nodded. “We are still not sure if we have a mole in our midst, but I also couldn’t think of anyone capable of betraying us either.”

“Yeah, and I still don’t want to believe that there is even one. Maybe this is all just a weird coincidence, at least that would be the best case.”

Sigal agreed. “Indeed. It is possible, but we are not the only ones that think that something seems off.”

“You mean Asher, right? He stated his concerns regarding this situation to me as well.”

“Yeah, but he suspected Cal.” Sigal paused for a moment, trying to shut the deep-seated guilt out of his mind before he said the next part, “While his claims were not unreasonable as everything is connected to him in a way, we now know that it is different than he thought.”

“Indeed, but we still don’t know the entire truth either.” Vince looked up, spotting Sigal’s displeased expression. “I am not saying he is at fault in any kind of way, not after what happened, but with his memory loss and the gained knowledge that he did lie to us about his entire identity is a huge problem itself.”

“What are you saying?”

“I am saying if Cal regains his memory, he has some explaining to do. While his reason for all of this is clear, he still violated the regulations when he joined us. I don’t like being lied to as I put my full trust in all of you, so I expect everyone who decides to join us to put their trust into me as well.” Vince let out a sigh. “He could have come to me, I would have understood if he just had talked to me about it.”

Sigal stared at Vince for a while in silence, understanding very well how he felt about this. The chief always had an open ear for everyone. Even if he couldn’t support them on the frontline, what he could give his team was his utmost support and the knowledge that they would be safe in this organization, being able to count on their chief to help them when they were in trouble.

“I understand where you are coming from and I am not saying it wasn’t wrong, but…” He propped his hands on the desk. “Vince, I also understand him, his pain, the burden he carries. You didn’t witness what I did, you don’t know how frustrating it was to watch. He needs our help, and I will provide that help because I, for the first time in the past few years, accept him as my partner even if he wasn’t honest. I know you are disappointed and want an explanation, but right now he needs to know that he is not alone, that he can count on us.”

The speech of his subordinate threw Vince into dumbfounded silence. The past years he tried to get Sigal to trust someone again, pushing him to crawl out of this thick shell he built around himself. And after three years he finally said these words, ‘I accept him as my partner’. After all the hard work that led to this, who was he to refute his subordinate’s wishes even if the situation proved to be rather complicated?

A warm wave washed over Vince, and he smiled inwardly. “I know, I wasn’t planning on abandoning him, especially in his situation. He is still a full-fledged member of our organization, but I also can’t completely ignore the fact that he lied. You understand that, right?”

Sigal nodded. “I am sure he will talk to you when he regains his memories…if he ever will.” He drew back from the desk, his expression changing into a rather complicated one. “Do you think he can handle it if he remembers? Cause I am not so sure.”

“We will have to wait and see.” Vince spotted Sigal’s conflicted expression, the ‘I don’t know if I want him to remember’ written all over his face. “It might not be easy but try putting yourself in his shoes. Would you want to stay without knowing where you came from or what led to your amnesia? Or would you rather want to know even if it caused you pain?”

What Vince said made sense. If he would be in Cal’s situation, even if the answers were more painful than he could endure, he still would want to know. “I understand.” He sighed. “I should head back. I stayed longer than I meant to.”

 

***

 

When Sigal arrived at the apartment, the sound of water running from the bathroom caught his attention and he knocked at the door. “I’m back.”

“Welcome back,” echoed through the door.

“You know you are not supposed to shower with these wounds.”

“I’m not.” The door opened and Cal walked outside, rubbing his hair dry with a towel as he spotted Sigal’s concerned expression. “I was careful.”

Sigal nodded before he let his eyes briefly wander to Cal’s bandaged chest which didn’t escape Cal’s attention and he hurriedly said, “I changed them myself too, it’s fine.”

A sigh escaped Sigal’s lips, “You should let me help with that.”

“Any more help and I’m gonna feel like a toddler,” Cal mentioned in an ill-tempered mood, but then he changed the topic. “How was the meeting?”

Cal’s passive aggressive attitude irritated Sigal for a moment, but at the same time he tried to not pay it too much heed, considering his partner’s special circumstances. “The meeting was fine.” Sigal walked into the living room throwing his jacket over the chair. “Anything happened here?”

“Just Claire came over for a chat, but she didn’t stay long.”

“I see.”

“I wanted to ask you something though.” Cal stopped in his tracks and gazed at Sigal with a rather serious expression. “What happened to the case we were working on? Did we actually find any leads?”

“So far, no, we are still investigating. For now, Asher and Nowe are looking into it with the CIB.”

“And…the one who shot at you?”

Sigal shook his head. “Couldn’t catch em.”

“Oh…”

When Sigal noticed the disappointment in Cal’s eyes, his expression softened, “Don’t worry about it, we won’t give up until we find them and when you have recovered, you will be back on the frontline as well. You are my partner after all, right?”

This was the first time Sigal mentioned him as his partner without any insults or other kinds of unpleasant remarks, yet these words blew past Cal as if they had never been spoken. In return, he only gave a slight nod. Right, what a great partner I am.

“I’m gonna take a nap, I feel a bit tired.” Cal threw the towel on a nearby chair and walked into the bedroom before closing the door behind him.

Sigal let out a helpless sigh.

 

***

 

The next day, as requested by the CIB, Lee waited for his supplier at the meeting spot while Vergil and Elena observed everything from within their car from a safe distance. The dealer had told them that the transaction took place in a more secluded area where people minded their own business and wouldn’t rat anyone out even if they noticed something because they preferred to not get involved in anything dangerous. This was the slums of the east.

“I have a feeling this place is getting worse every time I come here.” Elena stared through the windshield at the poor conditioned buildings and people who here and there walked by in simple or old clothes. “Sometimes that makes me think of why I joined the CIB. I wanted to get rid of the difference between the rich and the poor, wished for everyone to live an easier life; a life where they can be happy.” She sighed. “But in reality, this seems impossible.”

“Maybe so, but we do our best to ease the suffering day in and day out. Even if it is not visible to the naked eye, we do change something little by little. It’s a process, even if it is slow, it’s happening.” Vergil propped his arms on the wheel. “So, don’t get all frustrated. Just have patience and…” He turned his head to her with a smile on his face. “People need you to keep believing and also not lose your positive glowing nature. I am not sure if you are aware of that, but you give people hope.” His smile curved into a slight grin. “At least it gives me energy.”

Elena blinked at him without finding any words, instead her cheeks heated up a bit, which caused her to avert her gaze. “What are you talking about? Watch the target and stop spouting such nonsense, it’s embarrassing.”

Vergil chuckled amused as the bell of a nearby church rang out noisily, indicating that it was two in the afternoon.

“It’s time,” Vergil said, putting his attention back to Lee where a figure slowly approached him.

“That must be the one.” Elena narrowed her eyes and opened communication through their ear plug device. “Did you guys see the culprit?”

On the other end Asher answered, “Yeah, they arrived with a car as expected, we are setting everything up here.”

“Alright, we are counting on you,” Elena said with her eyes plastered on Lee and the supplier.

Back in the interrogation room Vergil had instructed Lee to stall for time as much as possible, so they could set their plan into motion. They had handed him a suitcase with the requested money for the transfer where they fixed a bug in the handle of it. This way they could not only track but also listen to conversations wherever the money would be brought to. While the supplier was occupied with Lee, Asher and Nowe sneaked up to the car to place another tracking device on the vehicle.

After Vergil gave Lee the signal over the earpiece, they used for communication, to hand over the suitcase, he finished the deal. The unknown figure received the money, got into his car, and drove off. Afterwards, Lee was taken back to the police station by police officers while Vergil and Elena, along with some of their special forces team, as well as Asher and Nowe stayed behind.

 

Around half an hour later the tracker of the car stopped at an old factory at the outskirt of east Colst which led to the neighboring town, Leshir. The investigators and Special forces elites waited a few minutes until they confirmed that the vehicle stayed inactive and not moved any further.

Vergil narrowed his eyes as he glanced at the display. Not good, that’s on the outskirts…are they expanding? Vergil contemplated for a moment, but then he glanced briefly from Elena to the others. “Alright, this is where we are heading, but remember to not act rashly. We first need to verify if this is their hideout or just a stopover or even just a warehouse to store their goods. After we confirm what it’s used for, we act. Our main target is their boss, if they manage to flee then everything was for naught, got it?”

Everyone nodded in agreement before they headed out.