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“Hey, Riley. Can you come look at something for me?” asked Suzette.

“Sure. What’s wrong?”

“I don’t think anything is wrong, necessarily. I just found something strange. I’ve been combing through all the data on Stephanie, Marilisa, Victoria, all of our resident geniuses. There’s something really weird in their blood work, and in the tissue biopsies we did of their brains.”

“What do you mean weird?”

“I’m not sure. I mean, I know it’s not normal, but I can’t figure out what it really is. If you look at the tissue samples beneath the microscope, they have a pink, fluorescent look to them. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Riley looked at the slides, then at the sheets of blood work results, and back at the slides. She magnified it, looked at it through multiple microscopes and then backed up from it.

“Did you show Gabi?”

“She did,” said Gabi, standing in the doorway. “What the hell is that, Riley?”

“I don’t know. I honestly don’t know, but it’s identical in every single one of them.”

“Don’t say anything to them,” said Gabi. “I don’t want any of them feeling more different than they already are. It could explain their advanced intelligence and abilities to hear and see things we can’t. It’s like superpower juice or something.”

“I doubt that will make them feel better,” said Suzette.

“No. I’m fairly certain it won’t. It is odd, though, considering they weren’t all always together. There is a significant age gap between them all, and we believe there are more out there. What does this stuff do to them?”

“I’m almost afraid to find out,” said Suzette. “They’ve all been adjusting so well. I don’t want to disturb that, but I also want them to understand any health risks they could have.”

“Let’s keep looking into this,” said Riley. “If we can find something to sink our teeth into, it might help us to find the source. If not, maybe we just let this go. I mean, maybe it’s not something we’re supposed to know.”

“Maybe,” frowned Suzette. “It all just seems like something we need to know.”

Pass Christian, Mississippi, sat neatly between Gulfport and Bay St. Louis. It was a sleepy, quiet little town most of the time. In the summer, it brought in beachgoers from north Mississippi and Louisiana.

As the men pulled within a block of the location where Gideon’s signal had pinged, they stopped to watch for a while.

“We all used to come up here and make a day of it,” said Gaspar. “We’d bring all the kids up here, swim in the warm waters of the Gulf, grill on the beach, eat ice cream, and then drive back. The little ones would be sound asleep in the back by the time we got home.”

“Sounds wonderful,” smirked Nine.

“It was. It was damn sure a simpler time, wasn’t it?”

“Maybe. Or maybe we just make everything more complicated. Maybe if we put away all the devices, all the phones and computers, all the distractions, it would be simpler again,” said Ian.

“Let me remind you all that we are what we are because of those damn technology devices. We couldn’t function without them,” said Ghost.

“That’s true,” said Gaspar. There was a tap on their window, and a man motioned for them to roll their window down. “Can I help you?”

“No. But I think I can help you,” said the man. “You’re waiting for Mr. Hugo if I had to guess. He’s gone. I used to work for him and found out that he was after all of you. I’m guessing it was you that killed all the other bodyguards, so, out of courtesy, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t kill me.”

“Where is he?” asked Nine as they stepped out of the vehicle. The man stared at them, shaking his head.

“You’re all supposed to be senior citizens, easy to take down. Apparently, he was a fool about that as well. To answer your question, or not answer it, I don’t know. I told him I would only help him if he gave me five million. Obviously, I knew he wouldn’t do that, so I left. I was so glad to be out of there I forgot my own things. So, I went back and got my bag, but he was already gone. Everything is out of that little house.”

“Does he have money? Has he really taken money from men in the Middle East to get to us?” asked Gaspar.

“I don’t know if he has money or not, but all he’s talked about is getting to you guys and proving that he’s capable of being what you are. He didn’t think I would notice that his tattoos were fucked up. I think that really pissed him off.”

“Where would he go?” asked Ian.

“I don’t know. That’s the truth. There wasn’t anything left in the house. Not that there was ever much in there to begin with. He kept everything in small storage boxes, I guess to move quickly if he needed to. If it’s true that you destroyed all the stills, he has no money coming in that I’m aware.”

“What about his connections for girls, or any of it?” asked Ian.

“As far as I know, he doesn’t have any. He met with a man three weeks ago. Francis D’Agostino. Some big deal on the East Coast.”

“We know him,” nodded Ghost.

“Well, he was pissed when he left. Told Hugo not to waste his time again, or he’d cut his balls off with a dull knife. He tried to laugh it off like they were friends joking with one another, but I don’t think they were.”

“D’Agostino has no sense of humor, so he wasn’t joking,” said Nine. “Did you get your things out of there?”

“I did. Sir.” Nine tilted his head, looking at the younger man. “I’m ashamed that I went to work for him. I take some solace in that all I did was guard the house and him, but it doesn’t change the fact that I feel like I betrayed my country. I’d just like to ask that you let me live so I can make up for it in some small way.”

“You’ll live,” said Ghost. “You’ve given good information that will help us. If you know where Hugo went, that would be even better.”

“I know he drove south, so I have to guess it would be New Orleans. But that’s all I know.” Gaspar nodded at the man.

“That’s good enough.”