Empire of Blood

IV

Five years later

There is a misconception that undercover agents cannot be good people. In a book Milan had once read about undercover agents, the author wrote that the moral law for an intelligence officer was justified by the results; meaning no matter what wrong they did, it would be justified if they achieved desirable results. Milan would have loved to meet the author who said that to shake his hand. He couldn’t have been more wrong.

Milan was a good person. As were her sisters who took the same path as her. They never had to break a law to complete their mission. It was all completed with grace. The worst they did was lie but was it really considered lying if it benefited everyone? Everything they did was to better their world and rid it of evil.

“Virtue Kindles Strength,” Alia read out the slogan she had created to the young girl who had returned back from her mission, tears streaming down her face. “What are the three virtues we must always abide by?”

The young girl simply cried harder, feeling ashamed by her action.

“What are they?” Alia repeated her question, her voice even rougher than earlier.

“W-Wisdom,” she sniffed, “courage and j-justice.”

“All three of which you failed.”

“I-I am sorry!”

“Sorry?” Alia bitterly laughed. “Your stupidity almost landed an innocent person in jail for the rest of his life. As if that isn’t bad enough, you gave a false testimony on purpose because you were afraid that you would get in trouble. You do not deserve to be my student. I want you out of here as soon as possible.”

“B-But I d—”

“Out, NOW!” Alia growled. The young girl’s eyes widened before she ran out of the meeting room.

“Weren’t you a little too harsh?” Milan asked, after letting Alia cool off for a few minutes. “She’s still really young, she has a lot to learn.”

“Our mission is to achieve justice for those who can't have their voices heard. She almost sent a man who needed our help to prison. That is not forgivable.”

“I understand,” Milan began, “but she rectified her mistake. Is it really necessary to kick her out?”

“Our agents are the best of the best,” Alia sighed. “We’re not open to hiring every woman out there who simply wants to save the world, they can join the police academy. Our goal and mission requires only the absolute best. This line of work isn’t meant for her.”

Milan didn’t respond to that. It had been about four years since Alia had built this organization and in those short four years, it rose to become the number one intelligence agency in the country. They were so big that they were now being assigned world-wide crime cases. What was most impressive was that they only had six field agents, including both Alia and Milan, who actually worked on the cases. It was only that year that Alia had decided she wanted to expand and as a result had opened up an academy for females who wanted to work in law enforcement. The young girl who had just been kicked out was one of the first graduates and now Alia needed to change things to avoid a mistake like her to happen again.

“How is the case going?” Alia suddenly asked, changing the topic.

“Summer said that the package was placed last night. She’s expecting the dealer to pick it this afternoon.”

“Great,” Alia said, “gather Stella and Leilani and wait outside the store. I don’t want any mistakes to be made. We have been chasing him for too long now.”

Milan nodded before she left the meeting room to look for the two best field agents in the agency.

Leilani was the same age as Milan and the two had met Alia during the same year. Milan felt that had she had a sister, it would be Leilani. The two barely had much in common and they constantly fought with one another but just as quick as the fight would start, it would end and they would act as if it never happened. As much as they fought, they really just couldn’t hold a grudge towards one another. They complemented each other well and they worked excellently together. They did a great job at playing good cop, bad cop too and when it came to interrogations, the duo were the ones to always crack the suspects.

As for Stella, she was a complete badass. No one ever took her seriously because she was like a perfect miniature barbie doll, however, the moment she began to fight, it was game over. From judo to taekwondo to just boxing, she had mastered all sorts of martial arts and fighting sports.

“I swear to God, if this ends up being another false alarm, I will kill that stupid b*tch,” Stella said referring to Summer, causing both Milan and Leilani to laugh. To Stella, Summer was what Leilani was to Milan. Only, Summer and Milan’s fights were a lot more brutal. Little Summer was just a ball of sunshine whereas Stella was like a stormy afternoon. They barely ever got along but Stella still needed Summer to really shine. Stella was more of a hands-on fighter whereas Summer had the ability to get into her opponent’s head with just a few words. She was excellent at learning her opponent’s weakness and then using it against them.

“I don’t want to kill the girl,” Leilani began, “but I agree. I’m sick of chasing these bastards only to fall into a dead end each time.”

Milan nodded her head in agreement as she parked their van into the curbside of the bookstore Summer was situated in.

It had been almost three months since they were assigned the drug-trafficking case they were currently working on. Their supplier, X, had introduced a new drug to the market and unfortunately more and more teenagers were being found dead due to an overdose. However, each and every time they found a clue, it ended up being a dead end. This time however, Summer was confident that she had a lead and the girls were really hoping for it to be true. They really didn’t want to see news of another dead teen because of the drug.

“Suspect is on the right, next to the science fiction books,” Milan said into the intercom as she watched the suspect rummage through some books a few hours after their stakeout had begun.

According to Summer, the bookshop was a hot spot was trading bags. Although they usually exchanged drugs, Summer had intel which claimed that they were exchanging a new substance which the dealer needed to give to their supplier. It sounded like a tacky plan but Summer was certain that the dealer would meet with the supplier they have been tracking for the past couple of months.

“Got it,” Summer whispered into her hidden microphone as she walked towards the burly man.

“Excuse me, Sir,” Summer chirped brightly at the man. “Is there anything I can help you with?”

He dismissed her without bothering to even look at her. Summer rolled her eyes before she walked forward and tripped over her own feet – well, made it look like she had.

“Oh my God, I am so sorry!” she cried as she practically climbed the man in order to help herself up. She slyly dropped a miniature digital tracker in the man’s pocket before she tripped over again, only this time for real. The man glared at the young bookstore attendant but helped her up nonetheless.

“Thank you so much,” Summer said as batted her eyelashes up at the man. “I don’t know what I would have done without you. The books may have crushed me into pieces!”

The man grunted in response and went back to rummaging through the books as if he was looking for gold.

Summer looked visibly annoyed at the lack of response from the man but she quickly covered it.

“If you need anything, I’ll be at the counter,” she said as she tried to gain his attention one last time, only to fail once again.

The three women in the van all chuckled at Summer’s performance.

“Good thing she didn’t decide to become a seductress,” Stella grinned, “she would have been jobless.”

They all laughed, causing Summer to turn to the store’s CCTV and show them her middle finger without the customers noticing.

“Now that we have the tracker on him, we can relax,” Leilani said. “Let’s hope he’s the real deal though.”

“I’m pretty sure he is,” Summer whispered into her microphone as she watched the man urgently leave the store. “He took the package, make sure you don’t lose him.”

Milan quickly turned to the screen that showed the suspect’s path.

“He’s heading towards the harbor,” Milan told the girls.

“I’ll follow him on foot,” Stella offered and everyone else nodded in agreement. Her stealth and strength outdid the rest of the team.

“Be careful,” Milan said as she handed her a headset and microphone. “I’ll tell you which way he’s headed.”

Stella nodded and quickly began to walk in the same direction as their suspect. She followed his steps, not once being noticed by him until he reached the end of his route.

“Suspect has stopped moving,” Milan told Stella just as Summer entered the van.

“I’ll hack the closest CCTV near the harbor so we can keep track of the scene,” Summer stated as she quickly worked her magic. “And voila!” she grinned as the screen of one of their many computers displayed the scene at the harbor.

“Remember, don’t make an appearance no matter what. The goal is to track the identity of the supplier. We don’t need to arrest him today, we just need to find out who he is.”

“Got it,” Stella said as she stayed hidden.

The girls then watched the scene unfold before them. Each of them held their breaths, praying deep down that this would not be another dead end.

“He’s boarding a yacht,” Stella groaned, “I’ll try to get on board as well.”

“Wait!” Milan stopped Stella. “I think I may know who our suspect is.”

Leilani and Summer both turned to Milan expectantly.

“Who?” Stella spoke.

“Look at the name of the yacht,” Milan directed everyone’s attention to the large writing on the rear of the yacht. “Andiamo.” She read out loud.

“Andiamo,” Leilani repeated. “Why does that sound so familiar?”

“They’re the branch of the mafia that is in charge of drug and women trafficking,” Summer stated, matter-of-factly. “Makes sense honestly. The Reaper is the biggest drug in the market at the moment, if the Andiamos didn’t create it then there would have been a drug war already. We haven’t heard anything of the sorts so it has to be their doing. It’s crazy that I didn’t think of this earlier!” Summer reprimanded herself.

“Don’t be so harsh on yourself,” Milan consoled her friend. “None of us figured it would be them. They had been pretty dormant for the past couple of years.”

“Must have been preparing The Reaper,” Leilani sighed.

“What now?” Stella asked through the microphone.

“We need to let Alia know.”