Cassandra and Zoey arrive at their front door after having gone out to dinner as a sort of celebration for becoming roommates and having finished moving Zoey’s stuff. As they approached the door Cassandra noticed a liquid buildup on the door lock and motioned for Zoey to stay quiet. She determined that the liquid was a lubricant, probably WD-40, that had been used to pick her lock.

With her weapon now drawn, Cassandra swiftly opened the door immediately zeroing in on her target.

“Don’t shoot,” said the man with a thick Russian accent.

“What are you doing in my house?” demanded Cassandra.

“I’m looking for Timothy Miller, we have how you say, mutual friend,” replied the man.

“Who?”

“Nickolai Pavlovski. He send me to ask your help.”

“And you are?”

“Sergei. Sergei Romanov. Nickolai would come himself, but he could not get away, so he send me. Now where is Timothy?”

“I am Timothy,” replied Cassandra in her normal male voice.

“Wow, that is good disguise. You look so natural.” replied a shocked Sergei.

“That’s because I go by Cassandra now. Even if it’s not official yet.”

“What is it you Americans say? Ah yes, whatever floats boat,” Sergei chuckled.

Cassandra giggled and lowered her weapon, keeping it in her hand just in case. “I’m familiar with your work Sergei. What could you possibly need with my help?”

“This job is too delicate for my expertise. Nickolai’s daughter, she is kidnapped. Nickolai believe she is in brothel here in your country,” replied Sergei as he pulled out a picture and handed it to Cassandra.

“I didn’t even know Nickolai had a daughter,” she replied looking at the picture. The girl in the photo looked to be about ten or eleven years old with dark red hair and piercing blue eyes.

“Her name is Nadia. She is his life now he is retired.”

“He did save my life on that mission in Moscow. I suppose you know that though.”

“Yes, Nickolai say you are good friend. He tell many stories of your adventures in Moscow.”

“Alright Sergei, I’ll do it,” she replied still looking at the picture. “I’d probably do it even if I didn’t owe him. You’re coming too. I’ll need backup.”

“Of course,” he replied.

“Wait what’s going on?” asked a scared and confused Zoey.

“Zoey, my job in the army was special ops. Spy stuff. I worked along side and sometimes even for the CIA. In the army my training focused on the weapons and combat aspects of black ops, but for the CIA I was trained in infiltration and social engineering techniques.”

“She is very dangerous lady if you get on bad side,” chuckled Sergei.

“No kidding,” replied Zoey.

“You just stay here and keep up with your schoolwork. We’ll be back before you know it,” said Cassandra reassuringly. She went into her bedroom and grabbed her mission bag, which she kept packed just in case something like this happened.

“Be careful,” said Zoey as the two operatives headed out the door.

“Come, we take my car. I rent with fake ID,” smiled Sergei.

“Do you know where they’re keeping her?” asked Cassandra.

“I have narrowed down to neighborhood in Miami. It’s controlled by Ivanov family. I think she will be in nicer place. Her age make her more valuable.”

“Then maybe they haven’t hurt her too badly yet.”

“They probably waiting for bigshot, how you say, highroller yes?”

The rest of the drive was pretty uneventful as both of them were going over their plans in their minds, trying to figure out the best way to approach the situation. They reached Miami and drove around until they found the neighborhood Sergei had mentioned.

“It’s near here somewhere,” said Sergei.

“There seem to be a lot of brothels in this neighborhood,” replied Cassandra looking around at all the prostitutes that were half hiding in the shadows, half doing their best to attract business.

“I have idea,” said Sergei as he pulled over to the side of the road. “Wait here.” He got out of the car and approached a girl on the corner.

“Hey hot stuff,” she said with an accent just as thick as Sergei’s. “You looking for a good time?”

“I’m looking for great time. Tell me, where I can find more exciting time,” he replied.

“I’m all the excitement you need.”

“I’m looking for something a little younger. I hear your boss have good taste. I can see this is true,” he says motioning to the girl’s body.

“True, I come here very young. You want to go two streets up that way and to the right. You’ll know the place when you see it, but you will need money for what you want.”

“Money is one thing I have, thank you,” he replied and headed back to the car.

“How did it go?” asked Cassandra.

“They keep the young ones up there to the right,” replied Sergei as he drove in that direction. He turned the car down the street. “There,” he said as he pointed to a slightly rundown building. “The pink curtains are sign to people who know. They mean young girls there.”

“We need to get up high, I’ll try to find a tall building or parking garage that overlooks the place,” said Cassandra as she pulled out her droid and started searching through google maps’ satellite view. “Take a right up there.”

“Ah yes that will works very good,” replied Sergei as they approached a tall apartment building. Cassandra pulled her bag out of the car and they went up to the building. She didn’t need to pick the lock, somebody had left the front door open. After a quick but quiet climb they reached the roof. Cassandra pulled her night vision binoculars out of her bag and surveyed the building.

“They probably keep her on top floor, she’s valuable to them,” said Sergei.

“There’s a room with no light on the third floor,” replied Cassandra. “If she’s that valuable, that’s where she’ll be.” She pulled out her phone, hit a speed dial and stuck the phone to her ear.

“Tim?” came the voice of Corporal Jessica Montague.

“Hey Jess, I need a favor.”

“Sure what’s up?”

“I need you to hack into the Miami City Planning database. Find the blueprints for the building at 1123 Elm. I need to know if it has roof access and a back door.”

“I don’t wanna know why I’m doing this. Gimme a second,” she replied as she looked up the information. “Yes there is roof access from the main stairwell, and a back door. What are you planning?”

“No time to explain, I’ll call you later. Thanks Jess,” she replied as she hung up the phone. She turned to Sergei, “You have explosives right?”

“Of course, it’s what I do best. Why?”

“There’s an electrical box on the side of the building. I want you to rig it with a remote detonator, and join me on the roof.”

“How do we get on the roof?”

“The building behind it. We rappel from there, and enter from the roof access. It’s only one flight of stairs to that room.”

“Sounds like good plan. I get explosives,” replied Sergei. While Sergei was retrieving explosives, Cassandra hauled her bag up to the roof of the other building. Once up there, she grabbed her rappelling rope and her tactical vest which contained some ammo, and some improvised flashbang grenades. She tied the rope off to the ladder on the side of the roof. Rappelling without her harness was risky, but it was really the only choice she had. She climbed over the ledge, and slid down to where she had enough slack to swing over the small gap between the buildings. Swinging over she managed to grab the ledge of the roof and pull herself up. She pulled the rope over and tied it to a pipe sticking up through the roof so that Sergei would have an easier time getting over. A few minutes later he came sliding down the rope.

“All set up?” whispered Cassandra. Sergei replied with a thumbs up. “We’re only going to get one chance at this,” she continued, still whispering. “We have to succeed now, or never.” Sergei just nodded in response. They both checked their weapons. Once satisfied Cassandra deftly picked the lock to the roof access door. They drew their weapons and stacked up on the door. Cassandra signalled and Sergei blew the electrical box. Power was instantly cut from the entire building. Opening the door she saw that the stairwell was clear. They could see men running down the stairs ahead of them trying to locate the source of the explosion. Once they reached the landing it was empty. there were only 4 rooms up here, the one they wanted was locked. Not waisting any time, Cassandra kicked the door open. The room was empty save for a mattress on the hard wood floor. In the opposite corner she could make out the figure of a girl who was leashed to the wall by a chain with a leather collar. Her arms were tied bihind her back, and her ankles out in front of her. She looked like other than being tied there, she had not been touched. She was still wearing normal street clothes consisting of a t-shirt, jeans, and she even still had her sneakers on.

“Nadia?” Cassandra called out in a whisper. The girl looked up and even with the gag tied in her mouth, Cassandra recognized her instantly as the girl in the photo. “Your father sent me to rescue you.”

To be continued...