I wasn't quite sure how we'd ended up seated in the small kitchen of the Vögelchen Hotel, but that's exactly where we were. Giulia, Daniel, and I were sitting around a wooden square table that was hardly big enough for the three of us, cups of warm tea and a plate of biscuits in front of us. The older woman kept sneaking glances at me out the corner of her eye whenever she thought I wasn't looking.

I'd explained briefly as Giulia had made the tea how we'd come to find her hotel and that we'd tracked my parents' movements eighteen-years prior to this hotel on a variety of occasions. She'd nodded, accepting that, and had said nothing on the subject. Daniel and I had been waiting in quietude for her to begin speaking ever since.

"So," I said after the silence had become too much. "You knew my parents?"

Giulia regarded me with a cool look. "Yes. And I must confess, I am surprised to see you. I knew that Jack and Elizabeth had a daughter but they were always adamant that you were never to be a part of this world."

"I don't think anything they could have done would have prevented Scorpion from tracking me down."

Giulia nodded, accepting this, and then took a sip of her tea. "You're probably right."

"How did you meet them?"

"I knew your mother. We worked together at the Global Centre for Covert Operatives. I was her handler while she was undercover working with your father. She reported back to me and I kept records of their time together. We met up several times throughout her time in Scorpion. Then," she continued and her voice took on a harsh tone as shadows darkened her eyes, "I was made. Scorpion didn't know who was leaking the intel but they knew that I was receiving it. To this day, I still don't know how they knew it was me."

Daniel and I shared a look as Giulia glared into her tea cup. We stayed silent, waiting for her to continue and, after a moment, she did.

"I had to go into hiding for protection so I changed my name and moved up here. I opened this hotel and I've been here ever since."

My fingers drummed against the table. "My parents came here. To see you."

She pursed her lips. "Yes. Your parents came here many times."

"How did they keep Scorpion in the dark?" Daniel cut in. "They had to have kept them from finding you and since you're still here, I'm assuming they succeeded in that regard."

"They never used their own names. To people who didn't know your parents, the names they chose would've seemed random. I always knew they were coming, though, because they always reserved a room ahead of time using the names of characters from their favourite books. Your mother loved to read. I'm assuming that's how your contact who tracked their movements here found them. Let me guess, you're working with Grace Montgomery? They were always good friends."

Daniel tensed beside me. Montgomery was his mother's maiden name. I could tell that he didn't like the idea that some strange woman knew who she was for, if Giulia knew Grace's identity, then it was plausible that his mother, and father for that matter, were only too visible in Scorpion's all-seeing eyes.

I nodded once, a tight movement. "Yes. She was close with my mother. She's been looking out for me for a long time."

"But you weren't taken in by her after your parents left you, correct?"

"Yes. I was raised by my uncle and his wife until I went to Oaks when I was fourteen. Scorpion murdered the both of them and my kidnapped my brother, um cousin, all within the past few weeks."

"And you're trying to take on the largest, most lethal terrorist group in the entire world to save the life of your brother who's probably already dead? Is that right?"

"He's alive," I hissed. "Scorpion wants me to bring them something that my parents hid. If I do, they'll spare him."

Giulia was already shaking their head. "If you believe that they won't kill him in the end then you're clearly not the agent that your parents were."

Fury stole through me. "If you think I haven't considered that option then you're wrong. But I can't just sit by and let them kill him, either. I have to try. And who are you to tell me what I can and can't do? You've been hiding from them for years. At least I'm trying."

"You think I don't want to destroy them with every fiber of my being?" Giulia snarled. Her green eyes flashed. "When Scorpion found out who I was, they broke into my home. They murdered my husband, my sister, my parents. I lost almost everyone that I loved! The only reason I have stayed in hiding so long is because of my son. I am doing everything that I can to protect him before I lose him too."

"Maybe we should take a breather," Daniel suggested as he looked nervously between the two of us.

Giulia and I glared at each other.

Then, I released a breath of hot air. "I'm sorry," I said. "I didn't know about your family and I didn't realize you had a son?"

She stared at me uncertainly for a moment and then nodded. "He's away in England. He got a job out there after he finished his schooling but I can't risk him getting exposed because of the choices that I made in my life. I won't let them take him from me too." Giulia raked a hand through her graying auburn hair.

"I understand," I said. And I did. The decisions I'd made had led to the deaths of my parents. To the kidnapping of my brother. To Lauer dying and Brent getting shot and Daniel being forced onto the run with me. Everything I did seem to drag everyone I cared about down with me. If going into hiding, leaving my entire life behind, would keep them all safe, I would do it in a heartbeat. Do it and be grateful that I was given the chance to.

Daniel's eyes flashed from me to Giulia and back again, like he was waiting for one of us to blow up. When it became apparent that the two of us were going to act civilized, at least for now, he relaxed, but only slightly.

"Why did they keep coming to see you?" Daniel asked then, effectively reverting back to our previous topic. "If you'd been exposed and were in hiding, why would they risk it?"

"They knew they could trust me. I'd been working with them for a while. I knew their patterns and I still had connections at the GCCO back then. Their head office is here in Switzerland, although it's in Zurich, roughly three-and-a-half hours away. When your parents needed something, fast, they came to me. They didn't trust their new handler. Your father, especially. Jack never trusted a lot of people, but he really didn't like Niall Callaghan."

"Wait, Callaghan?" I asked quickly.

Daniel and Giulia both stared at me with eyes narrowed with curiosity.

"Yes, why?"

"I know his son, Patrick. We went to school together. Assuming it's the same Callaghan, of course."

"Did you ever meet his father?"

I shook my head no. "He'd wanted us to meet but we never did. Pat and I kind of dated for a little while but I broke things off when he graduated and came to work for the GCCO. He was in the year above me so I was staying back at Oaks for another year and I didn't want to do the long-distance thing."

Daniel raised an eyebrow at me. "How'd he take that?"

"Not well." I grimaced. "We haven't spoken in over a year."

"Niall was always a slippery son-of-a-bitch," Giulia said. She leaned forward onto her elbows. "There was always something a little off about him, if you know what I mean."

I did.

"Was Patrick that way?" Daniel asked. He raked a hand through his dyed sandy-brown hair.

"No. He was a good guy until I broke things off. He got really mad and refused my calls. He sometimes passes along pleasantries through some of my other friends whenever he talks to them but other than that I've had no contact with him since then."

I had to admit, it was strange that Patrick's father was the very man who had been my parents' handler eighteen years earlier. It almost didn't seem like a coincidence that we'd met and fallen into a relationship. I just couldn't determine whether this was a good thing or a very, very, bad thing.

I wanted to talk to Patrick, to see if he knew anything, but this wasn't a pressing matter. Perhaps Patrick's father had had something to do with my parents' disappearances and deaths or maybe he was even apart of Scorpion. I had so many questions that needed answering, too many. It was as if the second I thought we were taking a step forward; we were actually taking three steps backwards. We just couldn't seem to get ahead in this game.

"Hmm," Giulia hummed. She didn't say anything else but I could see the thoughts spiraling through her mind.

Daniel glanced at me and then back at the older woman. "Is there a room that they stayed in most often? We think they may have hidden something there."

Giulia regarded him for a long moment. "What exactly is it that you're looking for?"

"I'd rather not say." I kept my tone even.

"You don't trust me." Her tone was lightly teasing but there was a darker undercurrent.

"I can't afford to."

Her lips twitched into a smile, crooked smile and her eyes sparkled at me. "That's a good thing, Melanie Briar." Giulia rose to her feet and her graying auburn hair swung across her shoulders. "Follow me."

Daniel looked at me as I rose to my feet. I nodded tensely at him and he clapped me on the shoulder reassuringly.

I hadn't ever been really grateful for Daniel's presence throughout this entire ordeal. If anything, I constantly found myself wishing that he weren't here. Not because I thought he would screw up or get me killed but because I was worried that he would get himself killed.

Now though, I was slightly glad that he was here. While he couldn't have my back the same way that Lia or Max or Tasha could, Daniel was there for me in a different way. His presence was a calming agent to me and I never felt quite as panicked about our situation when I knew that he was there. I couldn't quite explain it. It was simply as if all of those years growing up and running around together had solidified an undeniable bond between the two of us. It was something that even the test of time or an all-knowing terrorist organization couldn't break.

Giulia led us through the hotel and up a dark set of stairs that led to the second floor. She opened the door to a long hallway that we passed through before turning a corner and coming to a stop in front of a door marked 231 in gold numbering. She removed a key from a chain around her neck that had been tucked into the front of her shirt which I hadn't noticed before and used it to unlock the door. Then, she turned the handle and pushed the door open.

She stepped into the room, flicking the lights on as Daniel and I crossed the threshold. The room was similar to the one Daniel and I had been staying in—same ugly rug and wallpaper that was peeling. There was a television in this room, though it seemed to be newer than the one that had been in our room. There was a single bed that took up the middle of the room and on the far side of it there was a small table with two wooden chairs

"Well," I said as followed Giulia into the room, "it's nice to know that all of your rooms are in shambles and not just the dump you put us in."

Daniel glared at me, clearly not appreciating my tone towards our host.

Giulia; however, didn't seem to mind. "If I kept this place nice, people would actually come stay here. The worse reviews I get, the better it is for me."

"Fair enough."

I walked over to the bed, lifted the mattress up from the frame as Daniel walked into the bathroom. I could hear him shuffling around and opening cupboards.

"I cleared out this room myself after the last time that they stayed here. There shouldn't be much left behind. I do remember grabbing a few of their belongings and putting them in the back room. I'll go see what I can dig up." Giulia made for the door.

"Thank you," I called after her. I bent down, checking under the bed.

She didn't say anything but I managed to catch the flash of the small, timid smile she sent my way as she disappeared out the door.

"Nothing in the bathroom," Daniel said as he walked out of it.

"Or in the bed. Check the closet?" I asked him as I moved over to the bedside table. I pulled it away from the wall, checking behind and around it. There was nothing, no bent nail or screw that could have suggested that something had been removed and put back on. Not a dent or a scratch. Absolutely nothing.

Until the floor creaked.

My head whipped around. Daniel was walking towards the closet. "Did you hear that?" I asked.

"Huh?"

Daniel turned but I was already up out of my crouch and walking towards the edge of the rug where the squeaking had originated. I took a couple of steps, placing my weight down onto certain areas until I heard the squeak again and then I bent down, onto my knees, and pulled the edge of the carpet back. Underneath it was hardwood flooring. It was worn and unpolished, light brown in colour from wear.

"Mel, what is it?" Daniel ducked down beside me.

"Help me take these floorboards out."

I hook my fingers into one, yanked hard and it came out. As I threw it behind me, Daniel pulled out another and I looked down and could see the edge of a small metal box.

"There's something down there. Help me take the rest out."

"What the hell are you doing?"

Giulia stepped back into the room, carrying a cardboard box in her hands. She looked from me to Daniel to the torn up wooden planks on the floor before her eyes met mine again. She raised her eyebrows at me.

"There's something hidden beneath the floor."

"Impossible," she muttered. She deposited the box on the bed and crossed over to us in three long strides.

Daniel ripped out another plank and then, suddenly, there was enough space for me to reach my hand down into the space. My fingers closed around the edge of the box and, with one swift pull, yanked it out of the floor.

It wasn't very large, about the length and width of a DVD case, but taller. It was smooth, made of metal that was black in colour and cool to the touch. It was heavier than I expected it to be as I held it in my hands.

"Oh, my god." Giulia stared down at the box.

She took the words right out of my mouth. I licked my dry lips and walked past her to sit on the edge of the bed. I placed the box on my lap and stared down at with my hand on the lid. This box was the whole reason we had come here. My parents had hidden something here, something they didn't want anyone else but me to find, or so I could only assume.

I couldn't bring myself to turn the latches on the lid. It was as if there was this heavy weight resting on my shoulders, keeping me from moving. It wasn't rational. I knew we had limited time but this box made it all real for me.

My parents weren't the people I'd grown up believing they were. They weren't civilians. They weren't people who went out and lived normal lives and had normal jobs. They weren't mundane. Sure, these were the traits of the people who raised me, and I would always be grateful for them, would always consider them my mom and dad, but it was only now sinking in how little I had in common with the people I'd grown up calling family.

No, my parents were operatives, stone cold and strong to the core. They'd defied the largest, most lethal terrorist organization in the world. They'd kept me safe. They'd left something behind that could save my brother's life. Maybe I had more in common with them than I'd thought. And maybe that was a good thing.

"Melanie?" Daniel asked. He was closer than I expected him to be, only a foot away. He looked at me with concern.

I cleared my throat roughly. I was surprised to feel the sting of tears in my eyes and choked them back. "Yeah. Yeah, I know."

I pulled on the latches of the box and it opened easily, the lid springing free. I gazed down into the box and pulled out another, small box. This one was velvety in nature and smaller than its predecessor. It looked like the kind of box someone would be given jewelry in. I pinched the edges of the box between my fingers and lifted it up and there, nestled between folds of satin was a pendant. It was an intricate thing, a four-cornered Celtic knot that seemed to have no beginning and no end. It hung on the end of a silver chain.

"Is that all?" Daniel asked. He reached for the metal box and turned it upside down. Nothing else fell out of it and there was nothing in the jewelry box except the pendant.

"Seems like it."

"I know that necklace," Giulia said.

My eyes flashed to hers. "You do?"

She nodded. "Your father gave that to your mother. She was always wearing it. I never saw her without it. People have speculated that the meaning of knot is to represent the four elements or the seasons. Your dad heard some rumor that it was created as a symbol of protection. It stemmed from Druidic philosophies or something. He mentioned something about energies or Gods or, I don't know. But your mother never took it off."

"It's a nice sentiment," I told her bitterly, "but it's really rather useless in this situation. I don't see how a necklace is going to save my brother."

"It may be more valuable than you think," she mused. "Your parents were very innovative operatives, Melanie. They often had interesting ways to hide things they didn't want hidden. This could lead you to whatever it is that you're seeking it."

There was a possibility that she was right. But I didn't have the time to track down a possibility. I was down to five days, six if you couldn't today, and I knew that I would lose at least a day travelling to get to my brother, not to mention the time I would need to devote to scoping the place out before going in to get him. There was no way that I could go in blind on a mission like that. Not with Wes' life hanging in the balance.

"We don't really have time to chase down a maybe," Daniel said, echoing my thoughts. "It's too bad that they aren't around for us to talk to them."

"Yeah. Them being dead and all is a major inconvenience," I muttered.

Daniel cringed. "Right. I'm sorry—"

"Dead?" Giulia said. She looked back and forth between Daniel and I, brows furrowed in confusion. "Who's dead?"

"My parents. Jack and Elizabeth Briar. Scorpion killed them fourteen years ago."

"Your mother, yes," Giulia said. "She was killed by them in Rio de Janeiro. Your parents had been hiding out there for a few months when Scorpion caught up to them. Your father though, he's not dead."

I rose to my feet slowly as the meaning of her words really sunk in. "What are you talking about?"

"I assumed you knew," she answered, eyes wide. "He's not dead. Scorpion has been holding him in a secure facility for the past seven-and-a-half months. I'm not quite sure how they found him, especially after all this time, but I hacked their system roughly two months ago and found their prisoner files. He was listed to be held in the base that they have in the Bavarian Alps."

"Why did you hack them?" Daniel asked. Doubt was colouring his tone for the first time. He was beginning not to trust Giulia and I didn't blame him. I was feeling seeds of uncertainty begin to blossom in my stomach.

"I occasionally work freelance for Interpol or the GCCO sometimes. If they need a hacker better than the one's they've got, they call me. There's a few people at each agency who know who I really