Clandestine

Chapter 22

    For years the two watched the family that lived across the street, noting every pivotal moment in their lives; from the birth of the children to their every firsts. They noted each child's personalities and friends, how they interacted with their family members. Every week they reported their information back to the red-stained lip woman who added every bit into a database; all of them having their own folder. What was interesting was the second daughter had the biggest folder.

    While the two other siblings had fallen into a rhythmic routine, this young girl hadn't. The two other siblings did the same thing each day; they would go to school, go to their sporting events or other activités, hang out with their friends, then go home and spend time with their family. The second daughter would do the same except she would interact with different people and approach situations differently every time. It was obvious that she was advanced for her age when she held conversations with the two 'military' women. She was strong and intuitive, not crying when she broke an arm, yet also fight extensively to her moral beliefs. This concerned the red-stained lip woman. She knew the parents like the back of her, but that child was unpredictable.

    This didn't stop her from scheming. She had located the rest of her teammates around the U.S specifically in places for the next phase. It would take a few years, but she planted her drugs in these areas, she made her people the witnesses and victims. Every piece of evidence, she planted, every link connecting that family to the crime, she placed. Every piece was aligned perfectly.

    It was a week after every piece was placed that she decided to wait for the perfect moment in time to proceed with the final phase, but in the meantime, she continued to watch. For it being such a small town it was surprising that she hadn't bumped into her former workers, though she was very careful about that. She wasn't careful enough to not bump into the children, however.

    Autumn was beautiful. Even though the town was far south the leaves changed colors adding a burst of life to the usually quiet town. It was on a Saturday that she had run into the second daughter, quite literally, on the street. At the time the girl was no older than eleven, but the town was safe enough for children to roam alone. When she turned around to meet the body that slammed into her the young girl seemed frazzled, yet youthfully beautiful. Her medium brown hair was in its, old, natural form of tight curls that flew around face in the wind. Her emerald green eyes shined bright in the daylight while her pink lips parted in slight surprise. The trademark beauty mark on her lip noticeable since she hadn't started wearing lipstick yet. She wore a green and white boating jacket with light blue jeans and converse.

"Sorry!" She exclaimed, "I'm supposed to meet my mom at her shop, but I lost track of time at the library".

"It's quite alright," her smooth, deeper voice reassured. "Where's her shop?"

"A few blocks up. The little cafe on the corner."

"I know the place. You know I was walking that way anyway, would you mind if I joined you on your walk?"

"Not at all." So the too trekked down the street. It was the first time she had an actual interaction with anyone from the family since she moved to the town and took the opportunity to gain more details.

"So it must be cool having your mom own a cafe."

"Oh, it is! I get to help her bake breads and cakes and don't tell anyone, but I sneak snacks and drinks from there all the time."

"My lips are sealed," she replied miming locking her lips with a slight smirk.

"If you don't mind me asking, what do you do?"

"Oh, I am the CEO of an international company. I usually work from home."

"That's cool. What's your office like?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you said that you usually work from home. That doesn't mean always. I assume because it is an international company that you go on business trips from time to time, but you have to have some branch over here or else you wouldn't be living here." The woman faltered in step for half a second. She finally understood the extent her teammates were talking about, the girl was very smart. She had picked up on small pieces that normally go unnoticed and the woman feared she would potentially be a problem in her plan.

"I have a small office in New Orleans."

"Oh how nice. My family loves New Orleans. We always visit there, especially for Mardi Gras."

"Sounds like you have a lot of fun."

"We do." There was a beat of silence. "So do you have kids?"

"Why would you ask that?"

"Well, you have a light tan line where a ring used to be and considering you are roughly my parents' age and living in a boring family town I assume you aren't here alone." Another thing to note.

"You are a very smart kid."

"No just observant." The cafe came into view, "this is my stop. It was nice talking to you."

"You as well." She continued to still down the street, discreetly looking over her shoulder, through the window of the cafe to see the young girl greet her mother. She pulled out her phone a dialed. "Hey, it's me. We're gonna have to update our plans. Why? Because their daughter is a lot smarter than anticipated. Keep a close eye on her, something tells me she's gonna be a problem."