F I N N

The phone rang two times before I picked it up. Looking at the caller's number, I saw that it was Mr. Hunt. Ever since I'd called him asking him to contact the Romanian officials three days ago, he'd been silent. I'd begun to worry that he wasn't getting through to them.

"Hello?"

"Finn," he answered, sounding like he was in a hurry. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there in person."

I shook my head, though I knew he couldn't see me. "You're busy. We understand."

"I spoke with the Romanian officials. They've declined to have a meeting with us. Even after contacting the President, I couldn't get through to them. They used the excuse that he's away in Serbia until the end of the week."

No. "But isn't this a matter of national security? Shouldn't they have to answer?"

He sighed. "Technically, no. The United Nations had a secret meeting after the fall of Imperium a year ago. After all of the investigations of the area, the site was able to be legally controlled by Romania. The land is within their borders, after all."

"Yeah, but-" I trailed off, not having a good argument. I rested my head in my free hand and was surprised to feel how hot my hand felt. Any hotter and it would burst into flames.

"What should we do?" I asked, hating feeling helpless. "That was our one shot at proof that Imperium is really back. I believe Delphinium but a few of the others doubt her."

He was quiet a moment before answering. "That wasn't the only shot, it was just the easiest one."

"What do you mean?"

"The assassin that attacked you at the Los Angeles airport and then again in the forest would be proof, if we could get the truth out of him."

I held back a scoff. "He's come close to killing us several times. How are we going to get answers from him?"

Mr. Hunt answered, "He's a known affiliate of Adiago Hundsen, so our investigators are searching for him as well. When we get Hundsen, we'll have the assassin as well."

"And how close are you to putting Hundsen behind bars?" I asked, trying to prove my point. It was getting hard to stay positive in the situation we were in.

I heard him exhale slowly. "We've brought in a few people that may have been associated with him but they won't talk."

"Well," I said, "I'll go tell the others the news. They won't take it well, but they need to know."

"We'll be in contact," Mr. Hunt concluded before ending the call.

Slowly putting the phone down, I thought about how to break the news to the others. Given her reaction back at the ONNT headquarters, Delphinium would take the news the worst. I knew that this was personal for her.

I walked downstairs, forming what I would say in my head. They'd blame Mr. Hunt, I already knew it. Sometimes I felt pity for the man when I heard the others expressing their anger at him. He certainly hadn't made the right decisions at times but I believed that he genuinely had our best interests at heart. Deep down, he did care for us.

After calling everyone into the living room, I stood before them all as they watched me with curious eyes, wondering what I had to say. I caught Delphinium's gaze on me and I knew that she was hopeful for good news. They all were.

"Mr. Hunt called," I spoke slowly, choosing my words wisely. "He said that he tried to contact the Romanian officials, but they declined to speak with him. He even tried the President himself but apparently he was in Serbia for the week."

"They declined to speak with Hunt? That's suspicious. It makes it seem like they have something to hide." Riley glanced over at Delphinium as she realized her suspicions were in line with the assassin's.

"If we can't speak with them then we can't get the truth," Gigi said, leaning back in the chair and crossing her arms. "We have to talk with them somehow."

I shrugged, feeling helpless. "They've said no. I don't think there's any way to change their minds."

"There might be," Delphinium said, staring off into the distance pensively. Her eyes snapped to mine. "You said that their President is in Serbia until the end of the week?"

"Yes." I spoke uneasily, already foreseeing how this was going to go.

"We need to somehow get him alone," she said, standing up and beginning to pace across the floor. "I think we need to go to Romania and wait for him to get back."

Kane wore an expression of extreme skepticism. "And what then? Even if we find the airport he's going to land at, he's going to be accompanied by an entire entourage of people. We can't just walk up to him and ask."

"Kane," Delphinium drew out the word as she formulated the thought. "See if you can check the emails of every large Romanian airport. If he's landing there, no one else will be allowed to fly nearby. It should say when and where they're not allowed to take off, which will give us an idea of where he will be."

"Okay." He still sounded uncertain. "It will take a while but I think I can do it."

"You sure can," said Riley, flashing him a toothy smile as she patted his arm. Kane got up quickly to get his computer.

"There's no saying if he'll actually talk," Jaxon pointed out. "Especially if he's surrounded by people."

"We have to get him alone," Gigi said, reaffirming what Delphinium said earlier. "If only Mr. Hunt could be convinced to come with us."

"He would not be for this insane plan," I said with upmost certainty.

"I know," Delphinium said. "That's why we need to lie to him about where we're going."

"This sounds highly illegal," Arlo said suddenly. "I'm in."

"He's got a point," I realized and Arlo nodded his head once in acknowledgment. "There is no way that this is legal."

"Almost all of us are known criminals anyway," Jaxon waved his hand as if it was no big deal. "What's the worst that could happen?"

"We could go to jail," Riley deadpanned.

Jaxon shrugged, unbothered. "We'll just get Jake to hatch an ingenious plan in that brain of his and break us out." Jake narrowed his eyes at Jaxon, though we all knew that's exactly what would happen if we were in that situation.

I buried my face in my hands. "This is such a bad idea."

"Ten dollars says he still goes anyway," Arlo stage-whispered.

"I'm still going," I corrected him, bringing my head back up, "Because you all are going to get yourselves locked up for international crimes if someone doesn't keep you out of trouble."

"We're not going to get locked up," Jake spoke up suddenly. "Not if I'm there."

"Someone has a high opinion of himself," Jaxon said humorously, an easygoing grin on his face.

"I have faith only in myself, not the rest of you," Jake stated bluntly. "And I won't be wasting time in prison when I could be on Hundsen's trail."

Kane came back into the room, holding his computer. "I got the email. It says that President Huard is landing in Romania in two days. I even have the location of the airport he's scheduled to arrive in."

"Our hero," Riley commented, looking up at Kane with a playful look on her face.

"So that's where we're going," Delphinium said with certainty. "Better pack your bags."

I stood up and sighed as I walked up the stairs to my room. This was not going to end well, I already knew it.