A/N: This whole chapter continues in Castiel's perspective.

"So, you're four siblings in total?" Raphael confirmed. I paced restlessly around the room as they were asking the man, Luca, about his family.

"Yes, Alessio is 29 years old, a year older than Angelia and Violetta. I'm the youngest, being 26 years old."

"So your sister, Violetta, is the one controlling everything? Not Alessio? But how come?" Claudius asked, confused.

"Yes-"

"Can we discuss that later?" I interrupted.

"What?" Raphael asked, frowning.

"I believe we have someone to save right now. Discussion and questions are not the priorities," I said, trying hard to keep my calm. Turning to the woman, Angelia, I asked, "Where is she?"

The woman played with her fingers, showing her nervousness as she avoided my glare. "I'm not good with directions," she mumbled.

Before I could say something, she held up her hand. "B-but, she said something! She told me to pass the message that she has the watch. I don't know what she meant though."

I caught the eye of Raphael, his hand searching around in the small drawer next to the sofa. Raphael nodded at me in confirmation and took out his phone. I ran my fingers through my hair, slightly messing it with frustration and walked to Raphael's side.

"If she said that, then she must have turned on the Tracker. It won't be hard to find her then," Lucio commented as he stood up. "I'll call some of the guys to go and inform Mr Ford of the situation as well," he hurried out.

"Do we really need to hurry there without a plan right away? Wherever she's held, maybe she will be there for a while," Luca inserted.

"We cannot be sure about that, you know how careful Violetta is due to her constantly feeling anxious. The place where they are seems normal, in the middle of a peaceful neighbourhood as well. I don't think she'd risk doing anything there. I feel it is only a temporary place to keep Haelyn," Angelia quipped in.

"It must be a place for smooth transit then. They won't stay there for long," I nodded as Raphael worked on tracking the location. The faster we get there, the higher the chance of getting her back.

I tapped Raphael on the shoulder, motioning him to get up, as Lucio popped in again.

"We're ready to go. I arranged for two cars. You got the location?" Lucio asked Raphael as we all followed him out.

"Yeah, I don't know where it is, but it seems two hours away, uptown. We'll find out the exact location the closer we are," Raphael said.

"Can we come along?"

Castiel turned around to face the nervous-looking woman, raising an eyebrow.

"This is a hostage rescue and can be dangerous. So, we cannot take such risk," Lucio said.

Really? She was the one who led Haelyn into that trap and now wanted to play saviour. Why does no one use their brain when needed?

"Right. We'll wait here instead," Luca said, drawing back his sister back by the shoulders.

Ignoring them, I marched to the first car and got into the driver's place. The rest of the men filled in right after, with Raphael sitting in the passenger seat with his mobile in hand.

"Lead the way," I mumbled, trying to calm my hands that were pressing hard on the steering wheel.

☆☆☆

"Is this the place?" I peered forward, trying to make out the building in the darkness. It was a residential house for sure, with walls high enough to ensure privacy.

"But does it make sense?" Claudius asked from behind. "This is the residential area where so many people live."

"This is the uptown area, what do you expect? They are the ones that hide more things. Some months ago, a socialite in this area had been arrested because he was using his house to keep teenage girls as prostitutes and was also selling them to business partners. Your neighbour does not care what goes on about here," Lucio grunted and got out.

We all followed and I approached the front gate. It was 10 pm and most houses around still had some lights on. But this house bathed in the darkness of the night. It felt deserted and soulless, an ominous silence floating along with the breeze.

"Let's ring the doorbell instead of just breaking in, just in case," Raphael whispered and clicked on the button. We waited in silence as a buzzer alarm resounded somewhere inside. No sign of movement spotted anywhere from inside.

My annoyance kept rising over time. The gnawing thought that we were too late persisted in my mind, despite my best efforts to ignore it.

"Let's go in," I declared, reaching for the gate bars. "Oh, and Raphael, activate the alarm sound on the watch."

With a tight grip, I leapt over the gate, landing with a soft thud. I turned on my phone's flashlight to walk around the spacious lawn around. Soft crumbling sounds of dry leaves resounded under my feet.

The other guys soon followed, faint thuds echoing one after another behind him. Lucio came forward and eyed the one-storey house with scrutiny.

"We should go around quietly. There is no sign of any vehicles of theirs around nor is there any sight of them. There is a high probability they already left. We should not make any noise that will cause a scene around," Lucio whispered, audible enough for everyone around to hear.

The rest of the men passed by me and rushed to surround the house. Raphael nudged me from behind, interrupting my thoughts.  "Let's follow the alarm. I can hear it from a distance," Raphael said, walking forward.

Our boots brushed against the untamed grass, making a rustling sound with our quick movements. The beeping sound echoed louder in the quietness as we moved closer, at the back of the house. Finally, I spotted the red light of the watch, that was usually turned on along with the alarm.

I dropped on one knee and picked up the watch, turning off the alarm. My eyes immediately went onto the closed holler window. Oh, so the house had a basement floor.

Raphael took the watch from his hands, analysing it. "She had turned on the recorder as well. Its time is limited to five hours; it must have turned off after that," he said as he looked at me.

Our eyes snapped to the window, which was being pushed open. We stepped back, peering in. Our eyes met that of Claudius, who saw the watch in Raphael's hand.

"The house was left unlocked. No one in."

My expression hardened, trying hard not to curse. I stood up.

"Then, everyone meet at the front," I said through clenched teeth. Turned around, I rushed to the front, with Raphael following behind.

Damian was at the front gate, one hand on the hip and the other holding his phone as he was talking. The others were looking around for any clue with torches in their hands.

Damian ended the call after a few seconds and turned to Raphael and I. "The house has been somehow left untouched for a while, all furniture was covered. The basement, however, seems less dusty and more empty. I called back at the office, asking for information about who owns this house. It'll take a while to find out," he explained.

I nodded and turned to face the other approaching men. "Half of us should check around the neighbourhood's parameters in case they recently left. And find out if there are any surveillance cameras along the road. There seems to be none here," my toneless voice resounded.

Raphael handed the watch back to me and called some guys over with him. They got in the second car and left. Lucio signalled the other guys to return as well and we filled the first car.

After two long hours, we arrived back at their apartment at 2 am. I got out last, after parking. When I entered the building, I noticed Luca and Angelia in the way, talking to Raphael. Turning to the elevator, I walked away, not in the mood to talk to anyone.

I tiredly sat on my bed back in my apartment and reached for my phone. There was someone I urgently had to inform though.  I scrolled through my contacts, resting my thumb on the name of Mr Carter. I sighed as I anxiously clicked on the name.

☆☆☆

At 5 am, most of the town was still asleep. Except for the special agents gathered in the small office. The windows were left open to allow some chilled air into the stuffy room. But it didn't help in cooling down the tension.

"I called the headquarters to inform about the issue. They'll send a hostage rescue team soon," Mr Ford announced.

"We could take care of it though," Raphael muttered to himself.

Sadly, it reached Mr Ford's ears.

"You guys are specialised as field agents and most of your undercover operations did not include rescuing a hostage. But of course, you will assist and help in any way that you can," Mr Ford said, eyeing Raphael, whose eyes were cast down.

"Meanwhile, maybe Luca could shed some light on this situation about his sister."

We all turned to the outsider of the meeting, sitting at the end of the table. Luca had sent his guilt-ridden and worried sister back to her apartment and proposed to help the agents by providing information. So, he ended up being the centre of attention for the meeting, or the centre of information to be more specific.

I had been scrutinising him for a while, long enough to make Luca feel uneasy in his seat. I was wondering to what extent he could be trusted. Luca was a Verdino after all.

Luca leaned forward so as everyone could see him. He cleared his throat and clasped his hands together. "I am willing to provide any information that I know pertaining to your questions. But I must admit that since I had been keeping my distance from the main organisation, I would not know the real details."

"A clear background information on your sister, Violetta, would be good," Lucio inserted.

"Yes! How could we never knew about her if she has always been involved in the mafia? Like, for Alessio, we knew about him. But how come...," Raphael drawled off as Luca sighed.

"This is a long story. But to cut it short, Alessio was exposed to everyone as Enzo Verdino's son. Though Violetta did operate in the underground network, she got ignored a lot by Enzo, who never revealed to anyone that she was his daughter."

"Why?" Raphael asked, leaning on one arm, listening intensely.

"Well...you could say that sex discrimination is an issue in all fields of work," Luca shrugged. "Enzo concentrated more on my brother, Alessio, who was the one supposed to take charge after him."

"Why is he not the leader then?" Raphael asked again.

"Seven years ago, Violetta disappeared for some months, almost a year. Enzo did not really care about this fact. After all, his other children were just another among his petty workers," Luca laughed bitterly. "But karma hit him later with Violetta's reappearance."

"Why?" Raphael asked with wide eyes. He was too into the story. I kicked his leg as a warning to shut up. Raphael reclined silently in his seat, with his mouth shut.

"Violetta had stormed into one of Enzo's meetings with his important allies, taking them by surprise and shot them all, with the help of some people. She was a skilled sniper since her young age."

All of us held a good amount of surprise on our facial expressions. This was not how we imagined the mafia boss to have died.

Luca continued, "All important high-status members were killed in the shootout set up by Violetta. This must have been a plan she constructed for a while, though nobody knows till date what she had been up to during the time she disappeared. The system structure became disorganised and a real mess. There was no one to take the lead."

"And that's when the organisation went on low profile?" Mr Ford asked.

"Not exactly. Most members simply left and joined other gangs and such. The group that Violetta controls right now is one made entirely by her, very few are from the past mafia. Violetta assembled some trusted and loyal guys of her and founded her own group. The main organisation is tiny, compared to the vast connections she created. Violetta is someone quite insecure and must have been afraid someone else would take her place, perhaps that's why."

"But Alessio and you are the most likely to take her place," Raphael interjected.

"Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer. That's what she follows. She controls us too. Despite what she says, she ain't that different from our father. She controls us and tracks everything we do by keeping us close to her. Our relationship is purely business and that's why I have no problem finishing her off by helping you all," Luca finished.

I sighed and crossed my arms. This story was quite long for a short one.

"I believe you must have had a reason for sticking around then," Lucio commented.

"Definitely," Luca nodded. "With my access around, I was able to analyse and keep track of shipments of drugs and where they go. The more information I have, the more I can hand over."

"Any useful detail then?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Actually, yes. The drug trades and deals are increasing more and more each day, especially internationally. We've sent several shipments to Turkey, India, Madagascar and Thailand these past months. and that's mostly because Violetta has started selling new drugs."

"What do you mean by new drugs? Where has she acquired them from?" Mr Ford asked gravely.

"She's been fabricating them and...testing them. From what I heard, that is. The laboratory is somewhere in Italy. When the drugs are done, they are distributed abroad. Often for further testing too. But I haven't seen for myself so I can't give additional details on that."

"Do you at least know if test subjects were involved?" Lucio asked.

"I believe so. I heard from Alessio about some increase in deals and even getting volunteers," Luca cocked his head in thoughts.

Mr Ford grabbed the laptop that Lucio passed over to him. We stayed silent as he browsed through something, probably to confirm their doubts. He nodded to himself as he closed the laptop.

"I think we can get more information from the group we had arrested earlier. They are still going through trials I think. We should contact the lawyers. I want to know what Dr Sullivan received to test onto his victims. Argan Gregore's reports showed that he had drugs left in his system," Mr Ford commented.

I stayed silent as my mind worked. If the drug testing lab was somewhere around in Italy and Violetta is the one supervising it, and she took Haelyn with her, it was easy to guess where Haelyn was transported to. I clenched and unclenched my fists repeatedly to ease up on the doubts about what could happen to Haelyn.

"I hope Violetta does nothing to Haelyn," Luca exclaimed, voicing out my exact fears. "I think I should go back and investigate around till I get the multiple locations where Haelyn may possibly be held at."

I considered the suggestion and spoke up before Mr Ford. "It's a faster route to get the information so yes, you should do so. But take Raphael along with you as a precaution. He had been working undercover around the port anyway."

The other agents looked at each other and nodded in approval. Mr Ford also mused over the idea.

A knock at the door interrupted us. The door opened slightly and admin officer peaked in. "Sir, the group of hostage rescue team has arrived and there's another-"

Before he could complete his sentence, his head disappeared quickly and a hard thud was heard. The door slammed wide open and I winced as I realised who it was.

Mr Carter, the father of Haelyn entered and he eyed everyone, with a deathly gaze. I usually remained nonchalant by anyone's stare. But Haelyn's father was someone quite intimidating and I found myself avoiding Mr Carter's gaze, though I was the one who had informed him.

"You. Had. One. Job."