The Search for Fiona: End Times Navigation Series Book One

By Kitty Tolsma Anderson

THE COVID-19 OUTBREAK PROVIDES A NEW CLUE TO A STONE-COLD KIDNAPPING CASE

Decades ago, a SCIB bioweapons spy ring operative abducted Detective Benson Purdy's daughter-in-law, Fiona, a young virologist with a promising career in mRNA technology. Circumstances force Benson's clan of detectives into the Witness Security Program. Fiona's husband, Cole, still longs for the love of his life, but has no hope of ever finding her. Until now.

Cole dares to follow a new lead that surfaces during the pandemic. It begins in a Chinese laboratory and transitions to a castle in Tibet. Before the Purdy (alias Anderson) family can react, their Pacific Northwest bunker comes under siege as the enemy closes in to neutralize the threat posed to their international scheme.

OF THOSE WHO ESCAPE, WILL ANY BE ABLE TO RESCUE FIONA BEFORE A NEW VIRAL VARIANT SETS OFF ANOTHER GLOBAL PANDEMIC?

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Sep 20, 2022
• ISBN: 9781663238535

Kitty Tolsma Anderson

Kitty’s published works-to-date include poetry, short stories, and pharmaceutical topics, and clinical research papers (Pubmed). Her creation, Medi-Cog, is a clinical cognitive screen that has been acknowledged nationally with a Foundation of the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists Innovative Practice Award. Making of the Medi-Cog is featured on her author’s blog at KittyAndersonwordpress.com. The picture was taken in an Arkansan butterfly park the day Warren Anderson was promoted to heaven. He’s the patriarch who inspirationally, albeit fictionally, leads the faith-filled Anderson clan in espionage to find “Fiona,” during the COVID-19 pandemic – or was it a plandemic? Interact with the author on her webpage www.pharmacistsinternational.com.

Book preview

Copyright © 2022 KITTY TOLSMA ANDERSON.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic,

or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information

storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in

the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

iUniverse

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.iuniverse.com

844-349-9409

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web address or links

contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer

be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author.

Sketched likenesses of various characters were done by permission.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version

(Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic

Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.

ISBN: 978-1-6632-3852-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6632-3853-5 (e)

Cover Art © 2022 All Rights Reserved

iUniverse rev. date:   09/16/2022

This is brilliant! It belongs on a best sellers list and become

the next Tribulation movie series. – Cheri Clark

"Interesting. Unique, because your thought processes are startling

and different…Science fiction let loose…Characters with all

sorts of rare abilities, slung about with effective exactness. Yes.

What an imagination on view!" – Harry Chinchinian, MD

"This was a creative, fun read with fascinating characters, and I loved

the deeper message about faith in God." – Catherine Brown, PharmD

An action-filled story of faith. – Wilma Peterson

"The Search for Fiona needs to publish now while people

are still processing the ramifications of the pandemic.

And the sequel! I can hardly wait for Skating the Blade

of Wrath to be released!" – Sheila Criscione

DEDICATION

I dedicate this book to the nonagenarians in my life who provide wonderful inspirational impact: Dr. Harry Chinchinian, my favorite author, who insists I keep writing; and journalist, Cousin Robert Loeffelbein, who has achieved 1500 publications at age 98. I am inspired by my Aunt Wilma Peterson, who edited and published her mother’s amazing memoirs in Sara’s Story. Dad Rudy Joyce, at eighty-nine is my perfect inventor required to supply all my fictitious family spies with the extraordinary equipment required to match their exceptional skillsets within the dangerous bandwidth of my imagination. Thank you for living your amazing lives as inspirational examples with much accomplishment.

CONTENTS

Illustrations

Cast of Characters

Prologue

Key Virology Definitions

Chapter 1     The Nightmare

Chapter 2     Cole’s Big Assignment

Chapter 3     A Ninetieth Birthday

Chapter 4     The Demise of the Grand Chandelier

Chapter 5     Eli’s Coming

Chapter 6     For All the Marbles

Chapter 7     Gabe Flies Solo

Chapter 8     Cassie Calls the Shots

Chapter 9     Hank Finds a Way

Chapter 10   Essie in Disguise

Chapter 11   Inmates Running the Asylum

Chapter 12   Blocked

Chapter 13   Josh and Gabe Break a Leg

Chapter 14   Iz Lays Down the Harley

Chapter 15   Perilous Rescue

Chapter 16   Anne in Tibet

Chapter 17   Bats in the Belfry

Chapter 18   Quinn and Gabe Impress the Dalai Lama

Chapter 19   Cole and Fiona’s Rocky Reunion

Chapter 20   Reincarnation versus Resurrection

Chapter 21   To the Summit

Author’s Note to the Reader

Author Kitty Tolsma Anderson

Illustrators Robin Harvey and Elisheva Mechir

Acknowledgements

Glossary

ILLUSTRATIONS

Cover – Robin Harvey

Taking Flight – Elisheva Mechir

SKETCHES

Robin Harvey

1.   In time with the music, Gabriel made his leap to the trampoline and bounced high in the air doing his favorite Mario kicks and landed on Josh’s shoulders.

2.   Cole leaned into the heat and the notecard flamed-up; he dropped it and shut the woodstove door, watching through tempered glass as its secrets to carrying out the dangerous assignment burned to ashes.

3.   The SCIB spy fell over, sprawled out in the road. Gabe aimed next at Asong, but missed and cracked the car windshield instead, alerting the crooks they were all under assault.

4.   Gabriel whispered, Shangdi ai ni, Baba. (Yahweh loves you.) Asong’s eyelids fluttered. See you in the morning, OK? You are going to be OK. A faint smile forged a kinder look to Asong’s face. Gabe continued, Yesu ai ni. Wa ai ni. (Jesus loves you. I love you.)

5.   Lee patted her baby sister and moved her up and away a bit so she could swing her in the mini-hammock within their cocoon. Lyn’s sounds from within the Egg quieted.

6.   Fiona, still wearing her spattered lab coat, crawled up onto the ornate, yet modest, bed of the Dalai Lama.

CAST OF CHARACTERS

(IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE)

Pei Wong (Bat Lady) – lead bioweapon researcher of gain-of-function in bat viruses working for the Chinese Communist Regime (CCR)

Fiona (Chinese alias Huimin) – Kidnapped American virologist who aids Pei in developing bioweapon agents and corresponding vaccines

Geralyn – wife of Warren, murdered by a Sino-Choson-Iranian Bioweapons (SCIB) spy ring

Children of General Ewong – Cora, a Chinese-Filipina teen hired to help as a nanny who is older sister to twin brothers. Their father, Ewong, masterminds and executes Fiona’s abduction

Cole (alias Dan) – blue-eyed, 64-year-old microbiologist-spy tasked with infiltrating the Wuhan Institute of Technology; Warren’s youngest son; sports a long platinum beard for disguise

Warren (alias for Benson Purdy or Pops) – once-famous detective, now a 90-year-old patriarch of a family of detectives and undercover spies; father to sons Hank and Cole Anderson

Hank (alias David) – dark complected, 65-year-old eldest son of Warren; computer applications expert and father to his own detective clan of four grown children: Eli, Iz, Essie, and Josh

Gabriel (Gabe, Tibetan alias Choegyal) – a precocious 8-year-old whose survival instincts serve him well as he outwits the SCIB spy assassination team targeting his great-grandfather, Warren

Cassie – a pharmacist; wife to Warren’s son Hank; Rudy Joyce’s stepdaughter; grandma to Gabe

Essie (Chinese alias Yisitie) – blond, brown-eyed daughter of Hank and Cassie; secret CIA agent; swing dance teacher and choreographer; mother to young Gabe and married to Jordan

Eli – project manager for a large, West Coast construction firm and designer of the family’s secret bunkers; dark and closely cropped, curly haired, brown-eyed like his father Hank; the eldest son married to Anne; father to 3-year-old Lee and infant Lyn

Israel (Iz) – blond, bearded, blue-eyed cardiac nurse and buff semi-pro beach volleyball player; gravitates towards combative scenarios during the family’s more dangerous detective activities

Joshua (Josh) – Hank’s brown-haired, brown-eyed, bearded youngest son; chief builder of the family’s secret bunkers; team lead for Eli’s family’s escape; accomplished swing dancer

Anne (Tibetan alias Gelek) – wife of Eli and mother to Lee and Lyn; grade school teacher and daughter to Annie who resides on Big Island

Dr. Harry Chinchinian – pathologist, surgeon, and family friend; director of emergency bunker medical unit and pathology department associated with the Anderson clan’s detective pursuits

Rudy Joyce (Dad Rudy) – stepfather to Cassie; expert in multiple engineering venues and whose workshop produces state-of-the art armor, weaponry, and novel aeronautic inventions

Rex Morrison – Fiona’s older brother; portly and accident-prone; Hank & Cole’s life-long chum

Ewong Awong – Chinese communist officer and new lead assassin of SCIB operations; skilled in the use of weaponry, particularly in use of knives; an identical twin to brother Asong

Mrs. Sprues – talkative neighbor who is very generous with delicious chocolate chip cookies

Jordan – avid mountain climber; husband to Essie (Yisitie)

Ting – gangly, accident-prone, SCIB spy ring member

Ewong Asong – Gabe’s biological father; martial arts specialist of the SCIB spy ring; identical twin brother to the evil assassin, Awong

Wei Ling – Chinese pilot; aerial specialist of the SCIB spy ring who is highly allergic to ants

Mrs. Olds – nosy, but supportive, long-time neighbor of the Anderson clan

Riley – Rudy’s young aeronautics specialist residing at the Volcano Hawaii vacay home/bunker

Quinn (Tibetan alias Chodha) – nephew of Cassie; provides ground team support for the rescue of Eli’s family; recruited for both flying saucer pilot training and the Tibetan rescue team

Jolee (Tibetan alias Choejor) – spunky, 12-year-old recruited to the Tibetan team to find Fiona

Linnea (Tibetan alias Choden) – outgoing 12-year-old, Jolee’s best friend; raised in a bilingual home, and whose strong linguistic skills prove essential in the mini-monks’ espionage success

JD & Russ – Cassie’s brothers managing the Family Reunion stage show pyrotechnics

Daniel (Danny Boy) – Apache helicopter pilot stationed at Joint Base; served in Afghanistan

Zach – Daniel’s Apache helicopter navigator

Jake, Kyle & Ted – key tunnel support team cousins aiding the evacuation of Eli’s family

Yeshe – seasoned Mt. Everest Expedition Sherpa; grandfather to twin 15-year-old boy Sherpas

Gauge & Caliber – twin Sherpas assisting Jordan’s Everest climbing expedition

Kunchen – Tibetan clothing entrepreneur; sorceress-seer; a long-time acquaintance of the Dalai Lama; grandma to two Tibetan shepherd boys

Abbot (Kushow in Tibetan) – chief monk-in-charge of monastic order located at Potala Palace

Chodrak Dharma – 15th Dalai Lama; exiled Buddhist spiritual leader

Alireza Taherian (Ali) – SCIB Iranian pilot serving CDR Ewong in the Shooting Star Saucer

CAST OF CHARACTERS

CASTCHAR-1F.jpgCastCharFiona2F.jpg

9

Gabe-Josh-Stunt_GS.jpg

In time with the music, Gabriel made his leap to the trampoline and bounced

high in the air doing his favorite Mario kicks and landed on Josh’s shoulders.

PROLOGUE

An aging, but spry Chinese woman in a white lab coat barged into the Wuhan laboratory. This is your lucky day, Huimin. There’s a brand-new lab for us. Pei’s face lit with an expectancy quite different from her usual snarl.

Startled, Huimin, shoved her desk drawer shut, and looked up surprised. Forcing a quick smile to the infamous_2 Bat Lady, she said, How fabulous. Will we be able to continue your ‘gain-of-function’ research_2 and my corresponding vaccine development_2?

Pei sneered, "I’m told it’s a promotion_2 to a remote BSL-4 lab_2. There will be less international focus and we can do what we need to do without all the scrutiny. I’ll be happy as long as the bats come with us."

Will the mice for our research come also?

Of course. I’m in charge, and that’s not going to change, Pei snapped. Take what you need from your desk, laptop, and any warm clothes. Lhasa is icy.

Panic rose in Huimin’s throat. The 64-year-old graying American scientist forced a façade_2 of calm as she replied in perfect Mandarin. Sounds exciting.

Pei pushed close to Huimin, her face inches away. "I can’t go without you. I need your help with the next variant_2. There’s already a name for it, she said, stepping back and slapping her colleague on the back, her voice cackling. Omicron."

Huimin maintained her loyal pretense. So clever. The world is in for another big surprise. Her eyes held a different message. She averted them and began to arrange her desk. What else do I need to bring?

Pei glanced at her cellphone. Just your laptop, she snapped, and hissed with displeasure. Our plane has landed.

Huimin sat stunned as the door slammed. She reopened the top desk drawer. Referring to the alphabet code she recalled from her youth, she rapidly jotted down a few more coded_2 sentences on a small scrap of paper until two armed guards burst into the laboratory.

We leave now, the officer in charge said, in a clipped command.

Of course, Huimin said, keeping her cool, deftly slipping the note into her desk drawer. She pressed the drawer closed as she reached forward, drawing her laptop closer to her to shut it down. Folding the smaller paper scrap with the code over on itself, she casually chewed it as if it were a piece of gum. Swallowing hard, she destroyed her secret.

Readying her worn briefcase, she added a few items, her heart pounding. The guards glowered as she flipped closed the laptop. A hand stopped her before she could slide it home.

Ransacking her case, some dogeared papers on mutations in viral research, a notebook, pens, and calculator were produced. The captain, satisfied, nodded permission. Go ahead.

A bag of personal belongings lay beside her in anticipation of a sudden exit. With many of the other scientists dying from the initial killer virus, she’d considered an evacuation inevitable as the upheaval over COVID-19 escalated.

An alarm went off as she held up her old, beat-up backpack for inspection.

No time, said the Captain.

Huimin swung the bag to her shoulder. Each guard grabbed an elbow forcing her to match their brisk pace. Her mind raced with questions peppering her growing panic.

Will I survive this? Am I still deemed useful to the viral bioweapon_2 research team? Is this where they relegate_2 me to die in a cold, Chinese jail cell?

The abrupt sound of whirring helicopter blades jarred her senses.

Not another helicopter. Huimin’s legs sagged as she fell limp to the ground, like a jellyfish splayed out on the tarmac. A frightening scene from decades past flashed across her mind.

Whut-whut-whut. The sound of an unexpected aircraft led her outside running after the twin boys—looking up in curiosity at the chopper—then, the brutal blow to her head. Darkness. As light returned, an abductor’s rough hands jammed her into a sling. Straps invaded her upper thighs, the bands cutting into her pelvis—tightening with the sudden downward force of gravity as the helicopter yanked her upwards. The pain! The intense, unrelenting forces pulling on a full-term baby—the river water flowing down her legs branching into rivulets_2. I’m losing my baby. Oh no. NO!

The sudden onset of the long-suppressed memory paralyzed her. Huimin lay crumpled after decades of enslavement—empty of everything but fear and the sense of incredible loss. As her nightmare faded, the sharp bite of gravel in her cheekbone rudely attached her to reality. Rough hands jerked her to her feet.

The chill wind sucked away her words whispered in English. Please, Yahweh, help the coded message get into the right hands.

KEY VIROLOGY DEFINITIONS

gain-of-function research – measure of increase in a virus’ pathogenicity (ability to cause disease) and transmissibility (ability to infect). Normally, a cell uses resources to build and repair itself to survive. The goal in viral gain-of-function is to more easily invade a host’s cells and hijack (take over) the cell’s machinery to force it to replicate (make millions of copies of the virus). Whether natural or man-made, mutations increasing viral gain-of-function enhances its ability to cause disease and improves its ability to pass on (transmit) to the next host

immunology – study of the body’s ability to defend itself against viral or bacterial attack; branch of biomedicine concerned with the structure and function of the immune system, innate and acquired immunity, the bodily distinction of self from non-self, and laboratory techniques involving immune responses and interaction of antigens with specific antibodies

mutation – a DNA genetic code change. DNA is the genetic material in each cell nucleus (cell’s guidance center) and decides what a cell makes. During viral replication the code can change by mistake, or by pressure to survive

vaccine – antigens delivered to the body as a weakened virus or bacteria to help make antibodies; biological agent used to increase the body’s ability to fight disease caused by a specific attacker. The body’s immune system defends against foreign invaders by making antibodies specific to a specific protein or proteins of the virus or bacteria.

vaccine development – creating and delivering an agent enabling specific antibodies to multiply to defend a person or animal the next time it is exposed to the infective agent. A vaccine is delivered to the body as a weakened virus or bacteria, or protein piece of the infectious agent. A vaccine can be swallowed by mouth, sniffed up the nose, or delivered by injection using a needle to pierce the skin where it can activate the immune system to fight the invading threat

variant – a virus which has survived a mutation. A successful variant is rare and may evolve when a mutation helps it become more difficult to kill. It passes this survivability to all viruses made from it. Usually, in nature, a mutation makes the virus less functional (strong). If a mutation’s effect is weak the host can prevent replication and the virus dies out. If a viral mutation’s effect is too strong, the host dies, unable to care for itself because it is so busy making millions of viruses, or surviving the damage caused by the virus. The virus might eventually die with the host if it hasn’t infected a new one

viral bioweapon – virus or bacterial weapon used to harm others; a biological weapon used to harm others using a virus with high transmissibility, the ability to pass on to infect the next host, causing serious illness or death

virologist – scientist expert in the study of how a virus passes between hosts. Changes in DNA, called mutations, can be created by manipulation in the lab, enabling a virus to vary in its ability to make the host sick in different ways, affect how easily it can pass to another host, or make the disease more powerful to kill the host. A virologist studies how and why a virus is infectious

virus – an extremely small combination of non-living molecules requiring a host to multiply and make more copies of itself (replicate). It cannot survive by itself. A virus is most successful in surviving when it can invade a host, make millions of copies of itself, and be passed on to other hosts, causing little harm to the new host

CHAPTER 1

THE NIGHTMARE

C ole’s chin hit his chest and the head-bob jerked the length of his lanky frame, knocking over the empty bottle propped against his dad’s reclining chair in the living room.

After an intense workout in the gym boxing with his Viking-like nephew Iz, he hadn’t been able to fall sleep the night before, and when slumber finally came it was fitful. Drifting back into sleep, the obstetrician’s_2 voice returned, haunting him again. It echoed over and over with its terrible message to his beloved: The baby is deformed_2, Fiona. You’ve miscarried_2.

Sweat broke out on Cole’s brow. Tossing his head to one side, in his nightmare he staggered in retreat from more words as his dream-laden eyes filled with the next sad scene: Fiona held his second child in her arms; tears dripping on the wee one’s little nose. Their first boy. The voice, with it’s sickening message spoke again. "I’m so sorry Cole and Fiona. It’s stillborn_2."

A scene change flickered across Cole’s consciousness. His mother’s voice wafted sweetly like the summer breeze coming in through the attic windows of the two-story farmhouse: Oh, who can make a flower? Geralyn sang joyfully in anticipation of the impending birth of her grandchild. Cole relaxed in the pleasant picture of children at her feet in the newly decorated nursery. An Asian teen hired to help with extra housework sang along in rapt attention. Cora’s two little twin brothers crowded next to her. Geralyn, in her element as a schoolteacher, coached the children who sang, Oh who can make a flower? The answer: I’m sure I can’t, can you?"

The children shook their heads smiling, No. They knew they could not make a flower. As Geralyn told the story of Creation with a flannelgraph, her slender fingers lifted a piece of cloth painted with a pink rose onto the easel. Acknowledging God as author of all things, she sang, Oh who can make a flower?...

Fiona whispered to Cole, "With my mRNA_2 research, I might get there." Her brown eyes sparkled out of a lovely face, waves of black hair, beautifully encircling her radiant countenance. Her brazen confidence in her own ability to create troubled Cole.

A restless twin rose and sneaked a peek out the window turning something over and over in his hands. It occasionally glinted, catching rays of sunlight.

Cole stiffened in the recliner, trying to awaken himself. This was the part where people began to die.

The vivid, recurrent dream persisted in living color, as he and Fiona blissfully stood in the open nursery door, looking in on the tranquil scene. He leaned back on the door frame and she rested against him. Both their arms lay crossed over her full-term tummy as he hugged her from behind. Gently they swayed to the song of his mother, the joyous grandmother-to-be. The baby kicked and they both laughed as the creation inside her demanded more room in her womb.

Instinctively, he picked up his mother’s pocket New Testament from the nursery bookshelf as Geralyn completed the verse, her gentle voice reassuring, Oh who can make a flower? No one but God it’s true. The message of the Genesis song was clear: only God can create.

Cole tucked the tiny book inside Fiona’s clothes next to her heart.

She turned her head to kiss him. Their lips barely brushed – the kiss broken off by the sound of an unexpected whirring in the sky.

Fiona and the second twin rushed to join the boy at the window who had lifted it open and leaned forward, his head outside craning for a better look.

He’s here! the restless twin exclaimed, as if he’d been waiting for someone.

Preoccupied by the imminent birth of their long-awaited child, Cole said, The baby comes soon and it will need a bed. He released Fiona to her inquisitiveness and headed downstairs to the garage workshop.

A dagger lay on the window sill. The boy jumped up, placing both knees beside it. Fiona gasped over the potential second story fall. He gripped the slender dagger in his hand.

Geralyn cried out, seeing the knife. Please, let me hold that for you.

Deftly sheathing the weapon, the boy jumped out the window. Five feet away, his arms wrapped around an oak tree limb and he swung his body onto the branch. His twin followed him; likewise adept at aerial primate stunts, leaping and shimmying through the tree towards the ground.

Oblivious_2 to the alarming activity in the nursery, Cole focused on finishing the cradle. Flipping on the table saw switch, the buzz of blade against wood pierced the air and sawdust piled up.

Cole threw his head violently to the other side of the recliner: two severed_2 fingers lay before him; the cold barrel of a gun pressed hard into his skull.

Piercing blue eyes flew open. They focused on a wristwatch, the alarm soon to go off. Cole deactivated it before it sounded. Time to see Pops. Suck it up, he told himself. Recalling how his famous dad’s voice resonated energy the night before meant something new, something different was afoot. It must be a mission—perhaps a reactivation of an unsolved mystery?

Cole stood in slow motion, arms reaching for the ceiling in a massive stretch, twisting side to side. Feeling more wake, he navigated through the dining room to the kitchen, each step reaching forward, longer than the last.

There was time to make a cup of coffee. He shook off the dream and the remaining effects of too much wine from the night before.

So much for the past, Cole reminded himself. I need a new challenge, and Pops has got one for me. He retraced his steps to the dining room. Tapping a secret code on the floor, he activated a secret elevator and disappeared.

CHAPTER 2

COLE’S BIG ASSIGNMENT

G abriel’s curious eyes shone with expectation in his great-grandfather’s computer screen during their weekly video chat. Gabe didn’t know him as the renowned_2 international ace detective, Benson Purdy—only by his alias_2—Warren Anderson. Precocious in all his ways, the active Eurasian boy wriggled about in his chair.

How are the gymnastics going, Gabe? asked Warren.

"I won the last competition and took First in the Regional All Around_2," he answered with an arc to his eyebrow and wry_2 grin betraying his love to win in competitive sports.

Warren’s heart skipped a beat as pride welled up. Pretty amazing, considering you’ll soon be in Junior Olympic competitions. Well done, Gabriel, well done.

Mom says I get my flexibility from Grandma Cassie.

Well, yes, but your momma Essie was an accomplished ballerina before you were hatched and she deserves some credit for your agility, too, said Warren.

Gabe was matter of fact. "We do barre exercises every day. Grandma says every acrobat_2 needs to do ballet and be sure to stretch first." He stood in his chair and flattened his torso_2 against his legs, his head on the chair seat, his rear-end straight up in the air.

Warren chuckled. This is true. Male athletes who embrace the discipline of ballet are far less likely to injure. The elderly man’s face turned pensive_2. Gabriel’s Asian father was an accomplished martial artist_2. Perhaps it was time to tell the boy about him.

Gabriel let’s talk about your father.

Mom said she would talk about him when I turn twelve. The look on Gabriel’s face was telltale. Gabe had lots of questions about his father.

Let me discuss this with your mother. I think it’s time you knew more about him.

Just then, the door to Warren’s study in the family’s secret bunker slid open. Cole arrived on time to the office where his father worked on top-secret detective assignments.

Hi, Pops, said Cole, his grin smiling out of a huge platinum beard, the same color of his mop of hair at birth. You’re hidden away, today. Must be a new mystery to solve.

Warren greeted his second son with a broad, toothy smile. "Welcome. I’m hearing about Gabriel’s gymnastic exploits_2." He grinned, his aging cheeks pitting with matching dimples.

Gabe’s heart warmed to the praise. Uncle Cole, one of his biggest heroes, was a spy in his mom’s bedtime stories. Gabe longed to be a spy like him someday. Except he hoped he didn’t lose fingers. Cole’s right hand looked a lot different than his left.

Did you take All Around again? Cole winked into