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Mia and Nick just finished their sushi and were enjoying fried ice cream.

“So how do you like working at The Firm so far?” asked Nick, taking a bite of ice cream.

“I like it,” Mia said, hesitantly. “It’s sort of temporary…”

“Temporary? You mean you’re not staying long?” asked Nick.

Mia hesitated. She obviously couldn’t tell him why. “Well, I don’t want to intern for long…and I’d like to branch out and do other things.”

Mia’s watch suddenly beeped. She quickly glanced at her watch which was also a communicator and saw Ken’s icon flash on the screen.

“What was that?” Nick asked looking around the restaurant for the source of the beeping sound.

“Oh it’s just an alarm on my watch. I forgot to turn it off,” Mia said and discreetly turned off the “alarm.” It was an urgent call, but she knew that if she answered right away it would give her secret away to Nick. It would also reveal to Ken that she lied about the dinner and was actually on a date, which she was forbidden to do.

Her cell phone rang. She gave Nick an apologetic smile and answered her phone.

“Hello?” she answered as if she didn’t know who was calling.

“Mia, we have a situation,” Ken’s stern voice greeted her on the other line. “It’s urgent.”

Mia noticed Nick looking around absently as she took the call. She felt relieved he wasn’t listening carefully to her conversation.

“What is it?” she asked.

“The CIA just contacted us. They say that Agent Davenport’s been missing for the passed three hours. He was supposed to meet with Ryu here at APO. Agent Rochester is also M.I.A. We need you to come in immediately.”

“Okay, I’ll be there as soon as I can,” she said and closed her phone getting up from the table.

Nick turned back at her urgent tone and furrowed his eyebrows inquisitively at her when he saw her stand up.

“Is everything alright?” Nick asked, his voice full of concern.

“Oh…my friend was taken to the hospital…he was…in an accident. I’m sorry but…I have to go,” Mia said, digging into her purse for her wallet.

Nick stood up as well. “Did you want me to take you to the hospital?” he offered, immediately grabbing his keys.

“No, it’s okay. I’ll just catch a cab,” Mia said, putting fifteen dollars on the table. “Here’s my share of the bill. I’ll see you tomorrow. I had a great time. Thanks for dinner.”

She quickly left without waiting a reply from Nick. Mia felt guilty for lying to him and leaving him at the sushi bar, but she knew she had no choice.

She dialed Ken’s number.

“Ken, I just got out of…dinner. What’s going on?”

“Director Gordon just found out that Agent Davenport is buried near Regina’s warehouse. I don’t know how long he’s been there or whether he’s still alive. She also assigned us the task of rescuing him since Agent Rochester is M.I.A. I’m sending you the coordinates,” Ken informed.

“Got it. I’ll meet you there,” Mia replied as soon as she got the coordinates. She flagged down a taxi cab and instructed the driver to take her to Nick’s apartment so she can get her car.

After picking her car up at Nick’s place, Mia raced down on Highway 395 and headed for the desert to where Regina’s abandoned warehouse stood. She reached the warehouse and saw Ken’s blue Toyota Prius parked near the side of the warehouse and saw him shoveling dirt from a mound. His black, shoulder-length hair was tied back in a ponytail and there was dirt all over his jeans and dark blue shirt.

Mia parked her car and quickly got out. She ran to where Ken was digging and grabbed another shovel on the ground and helped Ken dig up the mound.

“I wish we could have gotten here sooner. Who knows how long he’s been under there,” Mia said, digging frantically. “Where’s Ryu and Drea?”

“I sent them on a little assignment, so I couldn’t call them for back up,” Ken said.

“Alright. Hey, this is just like the old times, huh?” Mia said, trying to calm her nerves down.

Ken didn’t reply but simply nodded.

They finally unearthed the buried casket that entombed Agent Davenport. Mia and Ken both threw their shovels aside and broke the locks and busted open the lid. Inside Agent Davenport lay unconscious. His handsome face was bruised and nicked. His dirty dress shirt was stained in his blood, and his wrists were bruised from the ropes. Mia immediately felt for any vital signs from him and felt relieved when she felt a pulse, but his breathing was shallow.

“He’s alive,” she said with relief. “He needs medical attention quick. He looks like he lost a lot of blood.”

Ken helped her take him out of the casket. They laid him down gently on the ground so that Mia could perform rescue breathing on him. After a while, Agent Davenport’s breathing returned to normal but he still remained unconscious. Wasting no time, they hauled him to Mia’s car and drove back to APO.

Mia stood in the medical facility at the APO headquarters watching as Agent Davenport was lifted onto a gurney and being attended by APO’s medical staff. She watched as they bandaged his wounds and cuts. Whatever physical torture he went through, he was lucky to be alive.

How could this have happened to him? And where was his missing partner? Something didn’t seem to add up to Mia.
She left the medical lab to find Ken. She found him in his office. Ken noticed her come in.

“How is he?” he asked.

“He’s stable. Stats are doing better. They hooked him up to an oxygen tank just in case,” she said with relief. “How could this have happened to him?”

“My guess is he was ambushed by Regina’s men,” Ken replied grimly.

“What I want to know is where the hell Agent Rochester was in all this? Don’t they work together?” Mia asked.

“I don’t know the answer to that question. I’m sure the CIA is working hard trying to figure out what happened to their agents.”

Mia snorted. “You mean, they’re having us working hard trying to figure out what happened to their agents. It’s like they don’t even care about their agents, and losing a fellow agent is worse than anything.”

“I’m sure they’re pretty busy and doing the best they can to investigate this matter.”

Mia snorted again. “Yeah…right. I’ll go see how he’s doing.” Mia left to go see Agent Davenport at the medical unit and found him resting on the bed. He looked better than when she found him in the casket. He had bandages on his head, arms and legs, and his face was still bruised and cut up. The monitor beeped in sync with his heartbeat.

Mia saw him wake up.

“Oh sorry if I disturbed you,” she said apologetically.

She turned to leave when Agent Davenport let out a groan, indicating that she could stay. She turned back around and approached his bed cautiously. She sat down at the foot of his bed carefully so that she didn’t sit on his foot or his leg.

She thought about what she was going to say, when he suddenly took her hand in his. He let out a gurgle trying to say something. She felt him squeeze her hand and she understood he was trying to say “thank you.”

“I’m just glad you’re still alive after what you went through. I’m glad we got to you as soon as we did,” Mia said.

Even though she had a deep, personal hatred for the CIA, she had sympathy for Agent Davenport. He wasn’t like the cocky CIA agents she had come in contact with in the past.

Agent Davenport tried to smile despite having tubes and a breathing apparatus attached to his mouth and nose.

“We will do whatever it takes to find out who did this to you,” she declared. “We are working with your agency to crack this case. I hope that your partner isn’t in the same position.”

Mia got up.

“I’ll leave you to rest.” Mia wasn’t sure how she was going to locate Agent Rochester but she was sure that she will get to the bottom of this eventually.