HUNTING SEASON Chapter 19

                                    

                                          
San Francisco
                          
Adel almost bounced in with happiness, from her first day at an American College. She smiled and kissed her father as she greeted him. "Bonjour. Comment êtes-vous, père? J'ai eu un merveilleux premier jour à l'université. Merci beaucoup de m'avoir inscrire ici. Les gens sont très chaleureux et les professeurs sont utiles. J'ai fait un ami, Lexi, elle peut parler couramment le français et aider à expliquer ce que les professeurs veulent que nous fassions. [Hello. How are you, father? I had a wonderful first day at college. Thank you so much for enrolling me here. The people are so friendly and the professors are helpful. I made a friend, Lexi, she can speak fluent in French and help explain what the Professors want us to do.]
                          
Marcel Janvier smiled back at his daughter, pleased on a successful first day at college. His plan was going smoothly. He'd asked the professors to find a friend for his daughter, one who could speak fluently in her natural language, so he wasn't surprised at all over hearing about her day. He'd researched Alexis Walker's school file and saw she topped her class in French, alongside every other class she took in her senior year at Half Moon Bay High School. She was valedictorian for graduation back in June and she was expected to do well at UCSF. He had studied the photograph of the girl and saw just how much she was alike her aunt, Amy Callen. He chuckled over the eleven year old's drowning from all of those years ago. It had been easy to deal with the girl, but her brother had been a challenging one. He'd paid his foster fathers a lot of money to beat and emotionally abuse the boy, yet he'd still survived and become one of the country's best federal agents that he'd ever seen. When he met him face to face, he'd been in too much pain to revel in his joy at coming so close to killing him. It had annoyed him immensely at how close he came to being killed by G. Callen. It had consumed him since then to ensure he outsmarted the younger man, although he could see how intelligent he was. His abusive and unloved upbringing hadn't dulled his intuition nor his intelligence. His mother had been brilliant, so he was prepared for a fight. It had turned out more pleasurable to play the game of chess with the youngest member of the Callens. However, he realised that the cerulean eyed agent was very careful in all that he did. It had surprised him when his contacts told him about G. Callen having a family. A son and a daughter from a previous relationship; the son a young man, the spitting image of his father, the daughter a beautiful sixteen year old. The same age as his own daughter. He had almost succeeded in destroying his family, but G. Callen had proved to be one step ahead of him, fooling him into believing he had killed all that he cared for. He'd worked on his plan to escape and destroy his team, the last of who he cared for, in hope he'd destroy the very essence of the man, in seducing him to kill him. But so far he had failed. Now his new plan to lure him out of hiding, from the danger he posed to his children, was proving easier than he'd ever envisioned.
                          
"I am pleased for you, Adeline. My sweet daughter. You will make me proud." He kissed her on the forehead, before she went off to her bedroom to study.
                          
Los Angeles
                          
Every muscle in Sam Hanna's body was tense under his chocolate brown long sleeve Henley. His matching brown eyes were intense as he listened into the information that Eric filled them in, on Janvier's daughter. "One of Sidorov's men must have passed on the information to him, before we killed them all." It was the only explanation any of them could procure, to explain how the Frenchman had discovered that Callen's family was indeed alive. "We've got to get up there now." Sam's patience was running thin. He'd missed his partner too much over the past two months. Not knowing where he was or how he was recovering from his latest poisoning, was having a heavy toll on the former SEAL.
                          
"If we go rushing up there, Mr Hanna, we'll alert Janvier and he'll flee. We need to play this game of chess to the same level as the Frenchman. Otherwise, the life of the Walkers and that of Mr Callen will forever be at risk. We need to end him, but he knows who we all are. After the events in Washington D.C., he also knows whose on Agent Gibbs' team. We need to come up with a plan, to lure him out and end him for good." Hetty had spent the last hour on the phone with Director Vance and Agent Gibbs, on how to deal with the new intel. "We have one member of Agent Gibbs' team whom we believe can help us lure Janvier out of hiding." All eyes were on her petite form as she delivered her thoughts. "Agent Bishop has not been seen by Marcel Janvier as yet. My suggestion is to place her at UCSF as a professor, to keep a close eye on Alexis and Ms de Forest. I very much doubt that Adeline is aware of her father's dealings in illegal arms and his plan. She is only the puppet, he's the puppet master. If Janvier is tapping into the security system at UCSF and spots anyone from the team, our move will be exposed. No one from this team will be seen in the vicinity of San Francisco. Do I make myself clear, Mr Hanna?" Her gorgon stare fixed on her agent in charge.