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A Whisper in your Mind - Chapter 1

The Rundown

The 141 had recently had a pretty good string of luck in the past few months, and considering the shit that went down in Mexico last fall it was certainly needed. They get assigned a classified mission from Laswell, one that they have a great deal of trouble believing. A young woman who has been on the run since she was a child when she escaped from a lab. She had been an experiment that developed 'powers' that can't be explained, and had been living peacefully in Italy until a mole in the CIA put her location on Makarov's radar.

A/N: Hey so this Chapter drove me crazy, it was a lot of dialog that I didn't plan until I got going. I reread it so many times and I don't think I'm ever gonna be happy so I'll just post it. I'd much rather move ahead to the more interesting parts.

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Chapter Content Warnings: Brief Mentions of Gore/Violence/Murder, Brief Mention of Child Death, Brief Mention of Drugging, and Probably a Shit Ton of Military Inaccuracies.

Image: View towards Ariccia and the Palazzo Chigi and S. Maria dell’Assunzione Thorald Læssøe

March 17th, 2023

"Absolutely not Kate." Price said bluntly as he slapped the folder that contained basically a blank briefing in it straight back onto the table. "I told you yesterday I am not sending out my men with zero details. You want to give us a target, but you won't give us any information? I trust you but you need to give me something here."

Laswell currently stood in the 141's briefing room, hands crossed across her body with a pained look painted on her face. She sucked on her teeth a moment and sighed "John, you don't have clearance and I don't have permission to divulge."

"Well then get me clearance." the Captain said as he leaned back in his chair. He jerked his thumb towards the other three members of TaskForce 141. Ghost and Soap sat on a ratty brown leather couch glancing at each other, but staying silent. Gaz, however, was standing behind the couch, leaning on it casually, but he was calmly watching the interactions. All three men looked slightly uncomfortable and awkward, likely since disagreements between their Captain and CIA Station Chief Laswell were rare. The two of them were good friends and rarely got into such arguments. Price grumbled at the older woman "Get them clearance too because I am not sending them out uninformed."

The blonde woman pinched the bridge of her nose, it had become pretty clear that Price was not going to give in "Is that your official stance, Captain?"

Price leaned back gave her an incredulous look and nodded "That it is."

Gaz glanced over at Soap sharing a look and shifted quietly. Both Sergeants had accidentally dressed nearly the same in light-wash jeans and blue t-shirts, earning various 'twin' comments from Price and Ghost all morning. But neither of them would relent and go and change and were now in a childish standoff about it. It was a far different mood now than when Laswell had first arrived at the briefing and laughed at them good-naturedly.

This was the third briefing they had sat in about this target this week. The first was with Alex Keller on behalf of Laswell but… he wasn't told anything either. Just that there was a 'concern' in Italy and it needed to be brought in. Then yesterday Laswell had tried with Price during a private meeting, it had ended with Price storming out… and now she was trying again.

The masked lieutenant sat up on the couch a bit straighter and crossed his arms as he watched the interaction. He didn't bother hiding his frustration, his furrowed brows quite visible even in the balaclava. "Listen, Laswell, you know us. We're trained not to talk for god's sake, we'll sit through torture if ya need us to. We have before. What the fock is this all about?" He had been up half the night with Price trying to figure out what she had been on about. It was incredibly rare nowadays that they got jerked around like this. The Taskforce was now well-established and considered quite trustworthy.

Kate Laswell glanced over at him "I know that Ghost. And I don't trust anyone else handling this. It needs to be you four… I just-" She paused a moment, exhaled deeply and looked back at Price "I'm sorry John… Let me make a phone call"

Price nodded and untensed his shoulders, he trusted Kate, with his life many times over. But for her to hide mission information from him wasn't something she did. And if she had to, usually it was something like a name or location. But right now she hadn't shared anything. He spoke a hair softer this time "Use my office if you need."

Swiftly Laswell left the briefing room as she looked down at her phone. The door clicked shut behind her and her footsteps could be heard walking towards Price's office.

"Fuck… what's up with her? We already have top-secret clearance? What more could she want." Gaz wondered aloud shoving a hand in his pocket and rifling around. Eventually, he pulled a pack of gum out of his pocket and popped a couple of tabs out.

Soap put his hand out, reaching behind him and wiggling his hand expectantly. There was a mumbled insult from the older Sergeant but needless to say: two pieces of gum were dropped into his hand. The Scot looked at Ghost for a moment and then over to Price as he tossed them in his mouth "How high up does it come from if she can't tell us then?"

The Captain shrugged and leaned back in his chair: "Maybe presidential or international orders? Or something far too sensitive for the normal chain of command…"

Rolling his eyes Gaz immediately snorted "Don't I feel special."

The group of men chuckled at the sarcastic comment. Honestly, it wouldn't be the first time they had been sent to take care of things by world leaders or an organization outside their normal chain of command. A few months ago they had been requested by a friend of a friend who worked for the UN, to step in and assist in a hostage situation.

Price had immediately accepted the job the second he cleared it with Command and Laswell. It had been in rural Spain and the situation had been going on for days, they had needed help badly and lacked resources. The 141 had quickly managed to do an excellent job solving the situation. They had saved a classroom full of children and only needed to neutralize one of the hostage takers, taking the rest into custody and handing them over to the Spanish authorities.

The UN afterwards sent them a nice little letter of thanks and then a page that all the kids had signed. Price had immediately had it framed and put up in their briefing room. It had been nice to get recognized for their work for once, it had left them all with a very satisfied feeling. So the fact Kate was now hiding shit from them was starting to drive a wedge between her and Price, which was making Soap and Gaz very nervous. The two younger men glanced towards the door in anticipation for her return.

It was an agonizing ten-minute wait. Filled with awkward shuffling and silent scrolling on phones. Soap accidentally played a video out loud, something with a car engine and an explosion, which earned him a lazy smack on the arm from Ghost.

But finally, her footsteps could be heard in the hallways once again. The door opened back up and this time her face looked marginally less tight. The blonde woman was holding multiple file folders clutched to her chest.

"Alright, John. I got permission for you four but…" She trailed off as she started placing folders down on the grey table her blue eyes carefully looked over the four men in the room "I'd like to make it very clear that less than 100 people in the world know anything about this. It's extremely sensitive information. Classified except for exclusive permission."

That caught even Ghost's attention, and he sat up straighter on the couch, briefly making eye contact with the Captain. The men in the room quickly gave the CIA Station Chief their full attention. Laswell sighed heavily, pulled out one of the chairs and sat down as she pulled some

A jammer was turned on and tossed onto the table, scattered across the surface loudly, which caused Price to raise an eyebrow. They had top-notch security at their headquarters already, for Kate to take this many extra steps did mean she was serious… or she didn't trust them. But he didn't react and simply nodded.

"It has to do with an experimental project run from 2001-2009 by four psychiatrists, six scientists, and another dozen medical doctors. It was located in rural Kentucky, up in the mountains in a very small town. That being said, the project was not approved by any government or regulating body. It was done completely off the books."

"Alright…" Price said, he sighed as he sat on the other side of the table from Kate looking down at the folders in front of her. "What exactly are we looking for? What was this project?"

She slid the files across the table towards Price and the other three soldiers quickly got to their feet and approached the table. The sergeants pulled out the metal folding chairs and sat themselves down, each on one side of the Captain. While Ghost hung back a little. The masked man stood behind Price and gazed down in interest.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you. That's why I brought the paperwork." Kate said with a heavy exhale as she absentmindedly rubbed her thumb on the folder "You may read the files, but you are not permitted to make any type of copy or pass them on."

Adjusting his hat Price nodded towards her "Understood. This information won't leave this room, Kate. I can assure you."

Kate sighed "It was human experimentation." She said bluntly. "These are copies. The originals were destroyed years ago, along with 99% of the documentation from the work they did. This was all that was left that was able to be salvaged."

Sighing heavily Price muttered something under his breath about needing a smoke, then picked up the three file folders and quietly began to spread the contents over the table. Gaz watched silently his eyes scanning the documents. Most of it was blacked out as expected. The first few pages gave some insight into what she said. Human experimentation. But it didn't say what type. Were they hunting down a doctor or something? That would make sense.

"I'm going to need you four to bring someone in for me." Laswell bluntly stated "Alive and unharmed. Do I make myself clear?"

"Listen we don't go around just snatching people up." Soap protested slightly but trailed off for a moment as Price gave him a stern look before continuing, "Aye…ok we aren't above it, but there's got to be a good reason. Is this one of the doctors or something?"

The massive lieutenant leaned back slightly in his chair and rubbed his nose through the balaclava he was wearing "You need all four of us on this, Laswell? Really?"

All four men watched her glare at him in mock-annoyance "Yes Ghost. I want all four of you."

Price sighed and opened the last file folder but froze slightly and Ghost who was watching had the same hesitating body language. Gaz sighed and leaned over, pulling the file down so he could see. He let out a small sound of disbelief and his eyes flickered to Laswell and then back down.

The file was a subject file for a child, a black-and-white fuzzy picture of a young girl. Again most of the information was blacked out including her last name and birthdate… but her first name was there. There was some unredacted handwritten shorthand at the bottom but who knew what it meant? Probably codes relating to the project.

Finally registering what he saw Gaz immediately stood up and glared at Laswell. "Nuh-uh! No way. We don't do kids!? What the fuck Kate? Government-sponsored kidnapping now?"

"If you just give me a few minutes to explain first, Kyle. The picture is from around 2008, she'd be in her early twenties now. Last living test subject." Laswell did her best to explain to the group and calm them down.

The four men glanced at each other and relaxed. Bringing in an adult wasn't an issue with them. Price shifted a bit as he glanced over the papers. Kate had said they were copies… that the originals didn't exist anymore. So this was all they had to go on. Considering how much was blacked out… it wasn't much.

Soap looked at some of the papers and back at Laswell for a moment as he muttered "Figured we'd be lookin' for one of the doctors…"

"The girl… a test subject then?… So… she's been experimented on then? What'd they do to her?" Ghost asked Laswell, the tension and curiosity in his voice were apparent.

"We don't know exactly what happened with her or what they did to her… but yes, last living test subject. To get to the gist of it, she essentially developed mental powers-" Laswell started but Price immediately interrupted.

The Captain turned to Laswell, disbelief written all over his face "Kate that's a crock of horseshit-"

A tired look crossed Laswell's face as she immediately shoved a couple of papers into Price's hands. "Not superpowers as in those dumb movies you all watch. Have you ever heard of a sixth sense? Well, they found it. Test subjects showed various abilities from mind-reading, and mental manipulation, to minor telekinesis. As I said. All documentation on how it was achieved has been destroyed. We don't know what they did. But it certainly was brutal on the test subjects, half of them didn't survive the first few months of testing. The girl we're looking for was their first and most successful experiment. Kept separately from the rest of the children for… safety reasons."

All four men looked over at Laswell, staring hard before looking back at the papers. Gaz slowly looked down at the file of the girl and then over at Soap, the expressions on both of their faces conveyed deep uncertainty and hesitation. It wasn't like Laswell to pull their leg like this… but she had been reluctant to share in the first place… it so had to be true, at least to some degree.

A few quiet minutes passed as the information was slowly digested. Papers were shuffled back and forth as four sets of eyes skimmed through the information. The air in the briefing room was slightly stuffy and uncomfortable, not exactly helping the mood.

Laswell began speaking again. This time in a less rushed manner as she tried to explain her point "We're not actually that concerned about her potentially hurting anyone or causing problems. The girl's been on her own since she was around 8 or 9, managed to escape all on her own. But hasn't harmed anyone since she escaped from what we can tell. We know where she's lived for the past year and a half. I've had a few of my most trusted agents observe and check on her regularly. She knows that we know where she is but hasn't been combative or anything… seems she's pretty happy where she is, and lives a quiet life and stays out of trouble. The problem is that the intel with her name and location was stolen two weeks ago. We heavily suspect one of Makarov's men… Andrei Nolan. He was spotted on security video of a hotel in Washington two days before that."

Soap immediately groaned in annoyance at the mention of the Russian. The Scot passed the papers to Ghost and sarcastically grumbled, "Just what we fuckin' need…"

"I already have an investigation going on my end. I need to find out how such critically sensitive info was leaked… we're thinking someone got paid off or there's a mole." Laswell sighed in frustration as she gestured to the file "But I need her moved. Now. Before Makarov gets his hands on her."

Raising an eyebrow as he read over the papers carefully, Gaz muttered in a low voice "This almost sounds like science fiction. Course Makarov is involved. Bastard has his fingers in every single pie, the piece of-"

Ghost read over Price's shoulder now, looming over the table and his brown eyes squinting slightly skimming the pages. He immediately interrupted Gaz before the younger man could begin ranting "Do we have any idea where she is now? Keller mentioned Italy?"

The blonde woman leaned back in her chair and adjusted her brown jacket "Alex was right… Seems she's been living there for the past three years or so. She probably used the Covid Pandemic as a cover to settle down there."

Soap was carefully looking at the page with the girl's old photo on it attempting to make sense of the handwritten notes. He sighed slightly "Aye… so Makarov wants her then… for sure?"

The CIA station chief nodded at the men and explained "I imagine so… and I don't want to risk it otherwise! If Makarov or anyone else questionable for that matter gets their hands on her, they'll likely try to get the information on how she got these powers out of her. I don't know much about her… if she'd be able to withstand torture or escape from them if captured. Because we all know that Makarov isn't above such things, and it would only be a matter of time before he'd try to replicate the results. Someone very deliberately stole or leaked the information about her and now people know where she is. I will say, if she's willing to come into protective custody willingly then that would be the most ideal situation. But I can't send just anyone in to talk to her. She does have a history of violence."

"Not going to lie… mental manipulation you said… And gettin' in people's heads… makin' them do who knows what." Soap murmured as he looked at Price and then back at Laswell "If she actually can do stuff like that, then yeah… I can see Makarov chasing her down. Imagine if the bastard got it out of her and tried to use it…"

"It'd be a fuckin' disaster" Gaz finished, wincing at the thought.

Laswell sighed and nodded "We do know that somebody has already looking for her, that's what's making it so urgent. My agent spotted one of Makarov's known men in a few towns north of where we've spotted her. It's how I was able to get the four of you clearance. We just had another spotting of him yesterday too, so they are actively trying to find her. Makarov has likely sent someone in to try and make her an offer… to get her to come to him willingly. So if we don't get her first, Makarov will."

The room was suddenly filled with an impressive amount of colorful language. But Laswell didn't sen bothered in the slightest. She simply continued the briefing her voice getting a hair lower "Now I will warn you all. You will want to stay on your toes around her. But not the way you think. She isn't a physical threat. From the notes and talking to my agents who observed her and attempted to interact with her. She is apparently… from what I've been told, actually very nice. But she can be a master mental manipulator. She can quite easily mess with your head, and there's no way to stop her. Agents who were given permission and talked to her one-on-one told me they were left in a state of mental confusion wandering around and didn't realize what had happened until she was long gone. That said, she hasn't hurt the agents we sent in to observe her in the recent year and a half. She just seemed to… redirect them. But we can't ignore what she can do… And has done in the past."

"Lass sounds dangerous," the Scot said, "don't get me wrong… She doesn't sound like a bad person… But messing with your mind like that shouldn't be something to take lightly."

The Captain turned to Soap and sighed "It's beyond dangerous. From what I can tell… it seems we don't even know the actual extent of these powers. That's why we need to keep her out of Makarov's grubby little hands. Imagine if he figured out how to manipulate people and they couldn't resist."

Laswell was in the middle of opening her bottle of water and nodded "That's precisely why, our advantage though is our intel on her wasn't enough for them to pinpoint her location. Aside from my agents, Only my supervisor and I know which town she's been spotted in, and that information has only ever been shared verbally. And even we don't know exactly where she lives. So Makarov's men are missing a piece of the puzzle…"

"Well, that's good news… " Gaz murmured "So where is she located? We'll need to know if you want us to find her Ma'am?"

'She likely lives somewhere near Reggio Calabria." Laswell explained, giving them the information they needed. "We don't know where she lives but I suspect it's not in the city. She's always given agents the slip quite easily. So we don't have a lot to go on. Thankfully Makarov's guys are off by at least 50 miles, they were spotted in Gioia Tauro"

"Alright well… we've had less info before and come out on top" Ghost said, "any intel on what she has for protection?"

Price looked over at Laswell with a raised eyebrow. Kate barely glanced at a file of recent notes and then looked up "Nothing. Looks like sometimes she has a purse when she's out and about… But it seems she isn't a fighter. Honestly, she doesn't need to be."

Laswell pointed out some photos in the file that Price was holding. Some polaroids fell out the bottom and scattered over the table. Flipping them all over properly Price grimaced as he looked at them "Bloody fucking hell! so that's what she can do…… Lovely …"

They spread out the seven polaroids on the table. Each one was a photo of a body. Three women and four men, huge pools of thick, coagulated blood under each of them… Some of them… their heads were just… non-existent and their limbs contorted in unnatural ways. Two women were lying together crushed under what looked like metal and glass. A vending machine? The most worrisome one was the security guard… dead on the ground with a pool of blood under his head where the bullet hole was obvious.

"Jesus… Who are they?" Ghost asked, his voice a little hesitant."How the 'ell did she do that?"

Adjusting his cap slightly Gaz leaned over and looked at the photos and made an unpleasant face, they didn't paint her in a very nice light. It was an incredibly gruesome scene.

"She killed in total: a security guard, 3 nurses, one of the doctors, and 2 of the scientists when she escaped… I want to make you aware… she did this as a child. Probably 8 or 9… And to give you an idea of the lengths she can go to with mental manipulation… She likely made the security guard shoot himself, by manipulating him, the gun was never recovered, and two were crushed by a vending machine that had been slammed onto the ground. With a worrisome amount of force… and the rest she ripped their heads off with telekinesis… She did not like the people who experimented on her." The CIA Station Chief explained as the four men looked at the photos, varying degrees of disturbed painted on their faces.

Soap exhaled loudly looking a bit stunned "She was just a wee bairn when she… steamin' bloody Jesus. Okay, so she's dangerous if she wants to be then. But… she hasn't been violent recently? You said she… essentially just redirected your agents. Messed with their heads a wee bit."

Looking a bit heartbroken Kate nodded and confirmed "Correct. These photos were from about 14 years ago. I hate the idea of having to disturb her but… she's in a very risky situation right now. We all know Makarov doesn't care about the word 'no'."

"And we know 'bout the things he does to people who do say no." Ghost said, his thick voice trailing off a bit. While he was wearing his balaclava it was still easy to see a pained look underneath. Just last month they had discovered a small mass grave behind one of Makarov's abandoned warehouses. Seven bodies, all Russian men in varying degrees of rot, old 'employees' of his.

Gaz thought for a moment a piped up "If she knows what Makarov is capable of, then hopefully she'll come with us as long if she knows it'll keep her safe."

"And if she doesn't?" Soap asked vaguely glancing at Price.

Their Captain exhaled "Okay, We can do this but Kate, you understand if something goes wrong with her, my men, the 141, we can't afford to deal with any of the possible consequences or any lose ends, The photos more than prove she's dangerous… and especially with Makarov being involved."

The other three soldiers all shifted slightly. It wasn't exactly something they were too happy about… but if the situation went south…

Her voice quieted a moment but Laswell calmly stated "Permission to terminate her if she becomes too volatile has already been granted by Command."

"Understood. Hopefully, the girl knows it's for her own good. We'll try to solve this peacefully first of course. The lads an I will bring her in Kate." The Captain smoothed over though he saw Gaz wince slightly at the statement. The last thing they wanted to do was to kill their target, especially considering it seemed like she'd been living peacefully and they were much more interested in protecting her than taking her out.

The two unfortunately matching Sergeants looked past their Captain who sat between them at each other, then up at Ghost behind them who met them with his usual 'well this is our problem now' look. Well, the Captain had made his decision and accepted the mission.

"Thank you John. You'll have my backing the whole mission." Laswell leaned back in her chair which creaked slightly and stayed quiet for a few moments before speaking "If we need to give her something: Information, deals, I.D., money, preference on a safe house location. I'll do it. A goddamn puppy. Anything. I don't care what it is. If it gets her to cooperate, then I'll arrange it. Feel free to negotiate on my behalf. If you can persuade her to come willingly and without any trouble, it will be better than any other option."

"She's already possibly turned down Makarov's offer," Soap said, mostly mumbling to himself, "if she's as dangerous as Laswell here says, then the only reason it hasn't been a blood bath is because she's letting it be."

"We need to make sure she knows we are doing this to keep her safe. Not because we want her powers like he does…" Gaz said in a firm voice as he looked hard at Kate. "Otherwise I don't know if we can convince her…."

"Agreed. I've pushed back on Command about this too. They want her interviewed but I told them I'm not forcing anything on her. Honestly, I don't think she wants anything to do with anyone and I don't blame her. Makarov included." Laswell assured him and she could see Kyle raise his eyebrows slightly but he nodded. Which at least makes the job somewhat easier. But we know the man is persistent. He's shown an interest in her now. I don't know if he's going to give up until he has her."

The youngest Sergeant was now looking at some of the handwritten notes on one of the pages in one of the files. "Aye, we'll read up on these before we go. See if we can make heads or tails of the notes or figure out what was going on."

Leaning back in his chair Price exhaled and started to pull out his cigar case. Well… this wasn't how he was expecting the meeting to go. A girl who could read minds… He glanced at the polaroids again… and apparently kill people easily if she truly desired it. The Captain looked at his three soldiers "Alright. Make sure your gear is ready to go to Italy. Pack mostly civvie disguises. We're going to have to be as subtle as we can-Ghost I mean it this time, you can't stick out."

Ghost in return plopped his ungloved hand on Price's hat and gave him a light playful push, "I got it, boss."

The sound of shuffling papers filled the room for a few moments Price sat there silently trimming his cigar into an ashtray. After pulling up a map of Italy on a tablet and putting it down on the table Gaz looked up to Laswell "Have we got anything on where Makarov's men could be?"

Kate patted a folder next to her and opened it, handing them another couple of papers with a few photos, a report from her agent, and a map with some circled spots in red and blue. "These documents you may keep and bring with you to Italy. There have been four sightings of men who are known to be associated with Makarov in the past week, including Nolan. We don't have enough trusted agents on the ground right now to track them properly, but I have one person there who's been working her case with me for quite a while. The blue circles are areas where we've spotted our girl pretty regularly over the past year. She's usually selling little pieces of jewelry and trinkets to tourists. Sometimes she's been spotted at the beaches or local markets. There's no clear pattern to her appearances, and she isn't around much at night. So it might take you a few days to spot her."

Price looked carefully at the map and the most recent report "Makarov's men are a risk for sure. But it looks like they have been trying to keep a low profile. I have a feeling they probably know what she's capable of. Can you get your agent out on surveillance right now if they're on the ground there?"

Picking up her phone and pressing a few buttons to open her emails Laswell replied. "I'll get on that immediately. If he can track Makarov's men then it frees up you guys to track the girl. I'd like it if you lot could try to keep this all very quiet. Getting the local authorities' attention is going to cause a lot of problems."

Gaz began taping the map down to the briefing table so they could get a better look. "We don't want that agent to be seen with us then. Dead drops only then Laswell."

The 141 hadn't engaged in an manhunt mission for some time, and this one required more subtlety than they were used to. It sounded more like Laswell had contacted them for help because of Makarov's connection, his men already trying to contact the girl. It was … entirely possible if they were polite and honest with the young woman, tried to be friendly with her and show her they weren't interested in her powers… It might not be too much of an issue.

Leaning back and looking at Kate and his three men Price firmly made his decision as he pulled out scuffed metal lighter "Once we get eyes on her I don't want to approach her right away. I want to observe her first for a day or two. Get a feel for her personality. We want to be polite and honest with her. Believe it or not… This is a mission that's going to depend on social graces boys. So get your manners in order."

"Yeah… I have a feeling that this is going to be a little different than what we're used to." Soap said, looking at the pictures of the circles. He gazed at the map and appeared a bit anxious… these abilities she supposedly possessed were unsettling him.

Price stood up and patted the Scot on the shoulder in reassurance, he then lit his cigar. "I'm fine with taking our time on this, but I'm not sure how much patience Makarov and his men will have."

Laswell looked thoughtful for a moment "Well hopefully we won't find out. We can afford to take it slow as long as Makarov's men don't make any sudden movements. Getting surveillance started and watching her is a good idea, John."

The group of soldiers began pulling out notebooks and laying out all the papers for easy viewing while Laswell finished typing a quick email on her phone then pulled out her laptop and began to boot it up. She was more relaxed now after getting everything out in the open. Hee blue eyes caught Price's and her voice fell to a more casual tone "I offered to go there to speak with her myself but that was rejected instantly. While I am a field agent, my superior is forbidding it. I know too much confidential information. If she can read minds and she suddenly decides to side with Makarov. Me meeting with her is an extremely poor idea. I've been advised not to meet with her until we confirm she is cooperative. I wouldn't ask you and your men to do this if I didn't have to John. I'll still be on the ground in Italy but I'm going to stay separate from you until I'm needed."

There was a moment of understanding and Price sighed a little and nodded "No I understand, Kate. I'd much rather go than you. But can you at least tell us what you're going to do with her after we bring her back? She's going to want to know."

Laswell answered confidently. "Protective custody. If she is cooperative and willing to work with us, we can find somewhere else for her to live. As I said before, I'm happy to give her preference within reason too. It won't be the Italian countryside… but I can hopefully find her somewhere nice. She would be under observation. Closely for the first few weeks and then we'd back off, though that does depend on Makarov's activity. I'd also be personally keeping in contact with her to check up on her, but we have no interest in utilizing her powers or questioning her on how they achieved it. The government would honestly prefer that knowledge ends with her…."

Ghost looked over at the photo of her as a child again. She must of been very young when they got a hold of her the experiment started in 2001… she probably would have been 1… 2 maybe? His voice was quiet "Did you ever find out what happened to her parents?"

Laswell wrung her hands and sadly shook her head "We don't even know her last name or birthdate. Not sure if she does either. We don't know where the program got the children they experimented on. None of the children's bodies were ever identified and never matched any missing persons reports, DNA was a bust. We suspect they were taken from the foster care system… possibly runaways… possibly homeless. Kids that wouldn't be missed… There were only 25 subjects."

Gaz sighed heavily and thought about what Laswell had just said, and looked at the photos again. "We don't have a name… Or even a birthday. And I'm honestly not sure if that she'll want to come along with us. She's been living her life fine and dandy it seems, and now we want to ruin it by taking her from it…"

"Do we at least know what happened to the other 24 subjects?" Ghost asked abruptly.

Tucking a stray hair behind her ear Laswell just stared at him for a moment and sighed deeply "I said last living test subject Lieutenant Riley."

Dead silence filled the room as it quickly became apparent what she was implying. Ghost muttered a soft "right." Under his breath.

There was the sound of uncomfortable shifting, but she continued "It seems that none of the other children survived the testing, even when they started showing results…. And believe me Kyle. The last thing I want to do is bother her. She's not hurting anyone and seems to be fine on her own. But we know that if Makarov gets to her…."

The older woman trailed off. The 141 knew better than what Makarov would do to her. They had seen the results of his work firsthand before. Without any hesitation, he'd likely have her tortured a thousand different ways until she revealed how she got her powers… And then he'd take advantage of that in the worst way possible.

As he pulled out a bag of candy as stealthy as he could Soap spoke up. "What about the other nurses? Doctors who worked on the program? I know it's not exactly related to finding her but if Makarov is looking for her… He'll probably be looking for them too."

"The ones she didn't kill? Unfortunately in the wind. FBI wasn't able to catch them. They did their best to cover up the crime and fled, bodies weren't found till about two weeks later. Many have escaped internationally almost a decade ago. But I'll update Interpol and put out critical warrants for their arrest." She said as she began typing on the laptop.

Price looked at both Laswell and then his group of soldiers, "Alright lads, we have our mission. We go in, we find her, and we do everything we can to convince her to come with us. Kate, do we have a takeoff time?"

"Wheels up morning at 700, you'll be landing at the Naval airport. I'll arrange for a car you four can use for the operation. I was going to set you up with cash and a list of places to stay that don't require credit cards. My agents had a couple of recommendations for quiet motels that don't ask a lot of questions."

Looking down at his watch as Gaz cleared his throat "It's not even dinnertime now… plenty of time to go over these files and prep for tomorrow."

So that's what they did.

For the next three hours, they looked over the files carefully. with at least two more cigars in the ashtray and a half dozen or so cigarettes between Laswell and Ghost.

They had been able to piece together a few things from the very little information Laswell had access to. According to the files, none of the other test subjects had shown even 10% of what their target could do. Most of them had basic telepathy or could read the minds of an unaware person. Some were able to move small objects around with telekinesis or cause painful sensations in others.

The 141 wasn't able to quite figure out what she could do exactly, her powers weren't listed but the handwritten notes on her file, once Price had managed to decipher them into their full meanings, were unsettling.

-Recently been suffering from depression? No. Anxiety. Various mental health symptoms

-Do not speak with her alone. 3 people minimum. Can read minds.

-Daily sedative mix. Instruct nurse: Call them Vitamins.

-> Chapter 2