Joste''s POV


    (*) +28 BONU


    The next few days pass in disappointment, with no new leads and no sess with Sage. Raff suspects the rogue faction has gone deep into hiding after they discovered we had found Annie, L and the children. Which makes sense, but it only makes it harder for us.


    The only real good news was that the food given to Annie and L hade back clean, so hopefully, that means there is no mole in our military. As a precaution, Raff had screened most of his team withpulsion and only allowed cleared personnel to work on anything to do with the rogues.


    I have more hope for today though. Archie is ready to attempt Mason''s n and I have a good feeling about this. A tracker has been nted under Archie''s skin. The team that did it has assured us it will be undetectable, and it is the best technology in the world at the moment.


    OT


    Archie''s parents had said a tearful goodbye to him before we had ported near our first assessment office. We had been unable to identify the mole within the assessment office ranks because either our records were incorrect, they had been tampered with.


    "Last chance to change your mind," Raff says as we set ourselves up in a building across the road from the assessment office to watch.


    "I''m not changing my mind. I can do this," Archie says with determination.


    and I


    I go to him and wrap my arms around him. "Thank you for doing this. I can''t tell you how grateful we are, know how proud your parents are. Harper will be so pleased to see you, you''ll be her hero, as well as ours," I tell him, and a huge grin spreads over his face.


    "Okay, show me one more time how you can make your eyes glow," Raff says to him.


    Archie takes a breath, closing his eyes with a frown, and when he opens them again they sh blue for a split second.


    "That will do just fine, Kid," Raff says, squeezing his shoulder affectionately.


    Usually, we would teach our teens to try and keep the eye re under control if they''re going into the human realm, but with Archie, he''s been trained to show it onmand. He needs to prove he''s a Grey to get past the


    will assessor. It''s a strange situation sending him in for the assessment. A huge part of me hopes that a roguee and pick him up, but another part of me hopes we get the call to pick him up, meaning my staff are not


    rogues.


    "What makes you think you''re a Grey?" Mason asks.


    "I just knocked a wall down by kicking a football at it and my friends said my eyes shed blue," Archie answers without hesitation.


    The guys ask him a few more questions about his fake human life, and he answers each one easily.


    "He''s ready,” Raff nods, “Now remember, when you find Harper or need immediate extraction, you must tap your head exactly where the tracker chip is with the pattern you were shown."


    "Four rapid taps, four seconds pause, then four taps one second apart," Archie nods.


    "Perfect, good luck, Kid," Raff smiles.


    We all wish him luck and then Luke ports him to the end of the street in a quiet alleyway. Luke returns, and we all


    ddle around the window walling to see Archie. A minute Asses before hees into view. He heads straight for the assessment office, without ncing our way,


    "He''s good. If he takes the millitary career path, I''ll not he ate to offer him a ce on my team when he graduates from the academy, maybe even before he graduates if I need him," Raffments.


    "He might change his mind about joining the military after this. I remember thinking I was invincible at his age," Deacon says with augh.


    "Yeah, me too," Theo agrees,


    The tension in the room builds as we wait to see what happens. Ten minutester Deacon''s phone rings. It''s a call toe and pick up a Grey from the Somerset assessment office. We have one of Raff''s men working in the call centre today, directing any pick-ups that could be Archie to Deacon. They have our nned route of offices so that no one else is identally sent to pick Archic up.


    Deacon leaves and returns a few momentster with a disappointed-looking Archie, and we mark the assessment officer off of our suspect list.


    "Don''t worry, treat this as a practice run. We might not even find the right office today, but we won''t stop until we do," Mason reassures Archie before we move on to the next one.


    We repeat the same process at six more offices with the same result. After a short break for lunch, we head out to the Denbigh assessment office. We watch Archie enter the building and ten minutes pass without a phone call to pick him up. It''s almost thirty minutes before there''s any movement on the tracker. Raff''sputer res with an rm that the tracker has gone out of range, which is normal during a teleport. When it reappears in Mn, we know the rogues have him.


    Raff instructs a team to go in and apprehend the assessment officer and secretary inside the office whilst we stay glued to the screen that shows Archie''s tracker. I can barely breathe as I wait for something to happen, but the track blinks a steady red light on the map on the screen.


    It''s so tempting to go there. We know there must be rogues there, but if we go in too soon and Harper is not at that location, we will likely jeopardise the mission.