A/N: And I'm BACK!!! So sorry for the wild delays! Things just trying to get back to some sort of normal here, although people are still very, very cautious! Yes, theaters have opened up to about 85% capacity, as long as performers have had their COVID tests done, preferably vaccinated as well. Audiences must still wear masks, as are all backstage personnel, seats are blocked allowing for social distancing to take place comfortably. Being a makeup artist and hair stylist for performers, whether actors or singers or musicians, I may be exhausted after a long run, but I love it!!! If only my allergies wouldn't kick in every now and again, to remind me how fragile I am, haha! 

Anyways, we last left our young hero finally discovering where his friends have disappeared to, thanks to underground intel, and now, the task force is approaching the warehouse, in order to free the young captives! Will they succeed? 

Shout out to fellow authors Zachsilver26 and hasnoshamexx JosefinaFAAD Aaron_Ledgers filosofieke for brilliant stories and to 12MidnightBlue12 for astoundingly uplifting quotes to get us all through hard times!!!

And a special thanks to dear readers /followers who have become friends, and new readers/followers who are very supportive, You ALL Know Who You Are!!! BIG HUGS to YOU ALL!!! 

Damien POV

Randy's aunt and the two guards were found, bound, gagged and semi-conscious in the hospital's pantry as were some of the staff who worked on the same floor. They were all checked for their symptoms due to inhalation of the sleeping gas that was pumped through the air vents on their floor. Apparently, it was only the floor that Randy was on which was affected.

Thorpe's men meant to get Randy, now that Egon was dead, and since the boy seemed a perfect candidate, he was deemed as one of the chosen few to be sold off as chattel to one of the Middle Eastern rich moguls as a sex slave.

I was shocked upon hearing such news. I had come across horrifying YouTube videos of young men as young as the tender age of fourteen, being lured or even abducted to be brought up as sex slaves for the rich. Middle Eastern men apparently liked their boys a lot, but such subjects were deemed as taboo, and certain transactions took place always behind closed doors.

These young men were trained by others before them to dance, be courteous, similar to that of a courtesan, and of course entertain the men through dance and song and eventually sex during the night. Their trainer, well, he acted as the 'pimp' during the process, and would charge a hefty fee especially if the boy was beautiful. The fees would rise according to the physical attributes of the boys.

No way in hell was I going to let Randy and the others fall into the seedy, filthy hands of some grubby Middle Eastern mogul, rich or not! My father, General Adams and Commander Bryant began coordinating the mission to save them. Zack aided in the investigation as well, since ARTURO was also abducted.

This mission was going to be a breeze. ARTURO looked so humanoid that no one would suspect him of being an AI Unit. There was a plus factor in that ARTURO was equipped to get innocents out of trouble if necessary and could instantly go into battle/rescue mode under the watchful eye of his creator...Zack, and he had a tracking device embedded underneath his skin.

The men deployed for the mission already knew where they were and were on the way to the designated location for the Extraction of Innocents, as they called it. We would be on rendezvous with them soon.

"Okay, boys. I know what you're capable of but I refuse to let Damien take part in the extraction. He's not yet a fully-fledged agent and I need to keep him safe..." My dad started speaking when I interrupted him abruptly.

"No way in hell am I sitting here on my ass while you guys get to go in. I'm coming with you! You've already trained me to use weapons and all my Sifus have given me nothing but praise for my marksmanship in all levels of combat and weaponry. I think I'm more than capable, dad!" I spouted, determined to prove my mettle as a budding, young, upcoming agent.

"Alright...but God help me if anything happens to you, I will personally kill the bastard! So, you'd better stick closely to both Nik and Felix as they will keep you safe!" He nodded sternly, while strapping his own weapons on. He handed me a small firearm which packed a deadly punch, a hunting knife with a serrated edge, that discreetly hid in a pocket above my combat boots, a couple of Shuriken that fit neatly into the side pockets of my bullet-proof vest.

We all were suitably dressed in nothing but black: black hoodies, black cargo pants, bullet-proof vests and sturdy combat boots since it was under the cover of darkness that we would commence the attack. As soon as all of us was each outfitted with our chosen weapons, we were whisked high above in another Black Hawk to a field not far from the location.

"ARTURO has found an outlet for which he has been able to use in order to contact me. He knows what we're going to do. He's mentioned that they're one level down, which I assume is the basement of the abandoned warehouse in four padded cells" Zack concluded, as he checked his PAD. "These are the exact coordinates from ARTURO's beacon" Zack added, which he synchronized to our watches.

"Did you say four padded cells?" My dad asked, with eyebrows raised.

"Yes sir, four – Mick, Randy, ARTURO...and Alonso!" Zack exclaimed.

"Well, well...so it looks like the little rat wasn't in it at all!" My father smirked. "Okay, we'll give the boy the benefit of the doubt. Ready? Let's go in!" My father commanded, since he was head of the operation.

We were quickly dropped off into some bushes outside the perimeter of the warehouse which was surrounded by a chain link fence. The forces had already broken through and quietly engaged the enemy, disabling their security systems from the outside.

Zack had managed to hack into their computer system, thanks to ARTURO, who had inadvertently used that output socket and sent a false outer perimeter image into their tracking cams which surveyed the outer area surrounding the warehouse.

Then we found the steps to the cells below but to our dismay, they were empty! We then heard voices coming from another chamber, leading into the adjacent building. There was music being piped through, a tinkling of glasses, laughter and aromas of food wafting in the air.

As we hid in the darkness, people dressed in evening wear were walking around, chatting with others. The entire floor was set up like a formal auction, with rich, famous patrons from all over the world gathered in one spot, wearing masks over their faces so as to remain anonymous.

We hunkered down, listening to the Master of Ceremonies welcoming the audience beckoning to them to be seated in the next room, which turned out to be a huge auditorium. The stage had a large red velvet curtain which remained down. The 'objects' for bidding were most likely behind the curtain.

Since they were seemingly distracted by the proceedings, our men tentatively crawled around the seating areas into position. Each patron had a paddle which they would raise when making a bid.

The curtain was now raised, and young boys and girls were revealed, cowering inside a steel cage. Their ages ranged between 11 to 18 and were huddled together in the massive cage. I strained to see if I could find Randy among them or even Mick for that matter. But no, they were not amongst them.

Dammit! Were we too late? A man walked up to another patron who was seated towards the edge of the last row in the auditorium. The man got up and followed him into another area which was reserved for private auctions.

We followed them while the others remained in the auditorium. Our men had already sealed all exits so that no one could leave. The man was led into a much smaller room, along with a handful who, judging by the clothing they wore, were Middle Eastern in appearance. They gathered around a table.

"Okay, you first!" A huge, man bearing such a menacing look entered shoving Randy towards a spotlight while leading the others: Mick, ARTURO and Alonso into place. He looked great despite his incarceration. They all did! I thanked God that at least all of them had been treated well so far.

The 'buyer' stood and came around the table towards Randy. He examined him like one would examine an animal. Firstly, he inspected his teeth, his face, turning his head from left to right. He peered into Randy's eyes and Randy being Randy was taking none of it. I could see the internal struggle as he tried to push the man's hand away with his head.

The first thing he did was head-butt the guy who reeled back, uttering a series of expletives as he held his head. The man looked at his hand. Randy had smashed the guy's forehead so hard, that he had managed to split apart the skin surface causing some bleeding in the process! Way to go, Randy!

But then, the huge man who had brought him in was angered by his action so Randy was punched in the gut for what he did, but I couldn't have been prouder! Randy doubled up at first but mustered all his courage and stood as straight as he could just before he kicked the guy squarely in the balls! Attaboy!

We took that as a sign for attack and dad jumped up, releasing several shots into the air with his semi-automatic as some of our team surrounded the men, again sealing off the exits. They had nowhere to run to now. There were shouts and screams as pandemonium ensued from within the other room. My guess was that our men had finally made their presence known.

Soon, everyone had been rounded up while medical personnel checked and took care of the poor kids in the other room as well as checking up on our guys. I hugged Randy and he held onto me so tight that we were literally inseparable.

"Are you okay?" I asked him as he seemed slightly out of breath from that punch to the stomach. He nodded silently, leaning into my arms as I sliced off the cable ties that held his wrists together with my knife.

I offered him a drink of water from my flask which he accepted gratefully. Once he had taken a couple of well-earned swigs, he spoke up "I was beginning to think for a moment that I was never going to see you again! I hadn't even been able to ask you for forgiveness!" He grounded out.

"Don't be silly Randy. I'm afraid I'm just as much to blame for all the confusion. You must understand that having a relationship is new to me and well...there's still quite a number of things that I've got to figure out for myself. But one sure thing I know is that I care for you very much. That hasn't changed" I blurted out, feeling Randy getting nervous around me. I felt that I owed it to him to reassure him of our love together.

We then turned around to see Nik and Felix hug Alonso who was so relieved that he started to cry quietly. They held onto their sibling as he broke down in their arms, speechless from the ordeal. They then pulled Mick and ARTURO into their embrace as well.

"If anything happened to you, I swear I'd start shooting someone!" I confessed afterwards, as military personnel whisked the perpetrators away to stand trial for their heinous crimes. Dad coordinated with the General and Commander Bryant in trying to find the parents or guardians of the kidnapped kids who were rescued from the steel cage.

General Adams took it upon himself to get in touch with the parents of some of the children. He had always displayed a tough exterior but I grew to learn of his silent wish to have children although his lovely wife could not bear him any, and eventually when she passed away, the more difficult it had become for the man's wish to come true.

Over the next few weeks, we all took turns in doing some research on the human trafficking situation which was highly prevalent in Asia and the Middle East, where orphaned or abandoned children were lured into sex dens with promises of a better life and means to earn their keep. Some families had even gone so far as to sell or barter their children for food and shelter.

Thanks to Dr. Akachi and Project Eden, we were able to reach out to these people, help their children get back to them and also aid in the promise of a better future for all involved. The entire operation became highly successful, much to our delight.

It was a traumatic experience especially for Alonso, as if he hadn't had enough pain in his life for having been misled for so long, drugged and turned into a killing machine. But for what it was, it seemed to have shocked him into finding himself again, which brought everyone great relief to seeing him greatly improve, hopefully for the better.

But somehow, I had a feeling that more was to come and that we would have to brace ourselves for the unknown...