Is this destiny?

~ Los Angeles, LA Medical Center ~

September 7

7:03 AM

Sarah peeked into Oni\'s VIP room and saw that Michael and Oni are sleeping. Their two beds are next to each other, and the two of them are facing one another with their foreheads touching.

Sarah decided not to wake them up for now. She will follow up with the doctor in charge (aka JoAnna) first.

JoAnna is there in the early evening and comes in the morning, taking advantage of her irregular sleep pattern.

Emma is at the LA Medical Center during usual work hours (from 9 AM to 5 PM), and she comes a few times to check on Oni and Michael when her work at the rehabilitation center allows it.

When JoAnna and Emma are not there, one of the two nurses will respond to the buzzer to help Oni and Michael to whatever they need. These two nurses are associated with the White foundation, and JoAnna trusts them. Other staff does not have access to this level and Jeff\'s men are stationed at the elevators and staircase exits to ensure no one else comes here. They learned their lesson when people working under King disguised themselves as medical workers and attempted to kidnap Sophia.

"How are they?", Sarah asked when she sat on the chair in JoAnna\'s office.

"Both of them suffered a lot.", JoAnna said with a voice full of emotions. "Michael\'s every finger on his right hand has at least one fracture. Cast will come off in five weeks. He lost four out of five nails on his left hand due to electrocution, and there is obvious nerve damage. Oni\'s left hand has a broken middle finger. The reattachment of her ring finger was successful, and we will find out the amount of function she has in about four weeks."

JoAnna ended her summary and gave detailed reports to Sarah.

Sarah read through the files and gritted her teeth. The reports contained x-rays and photos of injuries. She is not sure how much training Michael had with Shadow Ravens, but she knows that Oni is not a hard-core operative who went through training to resist torture. No matter how many moves Oni learned at the Cliffside Villa, nothing could prepare her for this nightmare. Sarah can\'t imagine how terrified Oni was… tied up to that chair and brutally tormented.

Sarah reminded herself to focus.

"Michael has nerve damage? Are you talking about sensation or about movements?"

JoAnna indicated that she is not sure. "At this point, I suspect both. We will know more after tests. No sooner than two weeks from now."

"Do you have a prognosis for Oni\'s reattached finger?"

"The finger was severed for a long time and I don\'t expect more than sixty percent of functionality returned. She will be able to use it, but it will be close to a miracle if she can flex her finger completely."

JoAnna took a deep breath before adding: "But this is the normal prognosis. Emma has her ways to get the muscles moving. The rest are cuts and bruises which will heal. I lost count on how many stitches each of them has."

Sarah remembered that Oni told her that she wants to study computer science. And keyboards are designed for ten fingers. And for a fighter like Michael, lack of sensation or movement in hands will be a big disadvantage.

"Both Oni and Michael need their fingers. Sixty percent will not be enough. What do you suggest?"

JoAnna understands what Sarah is saying, but she does not have a magic wand or a mystery body-healing potion. "I suggest that we let Emma do her rehabilitation for three to six months. If the outcome is not acceptable, we can try something similar to what we did for your hand. However, that is experimental, and I can\'t fully guarantee success, but it is an option to consider."

Sarah nodded in agreement. "Let\'s go with that. When can they go home?"

"They are both stable and they can take antibiotics and painkillers on their own. You have staff that can help them out with food, and kids in the house have enough medical training that they can alert us if Michael\'s or Oni\'s condition gets worse before their next checkup." JoAnna paused before confirming: "Michael and Oni can go home anytime. Tell your kids to check on them often for the first two days…"

…

While Sarah and JoAnna are talking in JoAnna\'s office, Jeff and Aiden are in one of the not occupied VIP rooms…

Jeff is reading the documents that Aiden brought with him.

"You found this in the files owned by Shadow Ravens?", Jeff asked.

Aiden confirmed. "They specialized in espionage. We found a number of locations with servers and ended up with a massive dump of data. It will take us weeks to sift through everything, even with Eve\'s help. But I found this, and I believe that we should investigate as soon as possible."

The documents are a communication trail from fourteen years ago when Oscar was picking a training camp for Aiden. Aiden ended up in the Orosia training camp where he learned fighting moves from Master Voronin.

Based on the documents found, that camp was recommended to Oscar by Troy Reedus, and that is not suspicious because Mr. Reedus is Oscar\'s long term associate. Mr. Reedus is also one of the senior people in the White foundation, working under Mason in the area of information gathering.

However, the documents show that Mr. Reedus found out about the Orosia training camp from a person named Tommy Cerny. Mr. Cerny is not associated with the White family, but he is with the Voronins.

Jeff agreed that it should be investigated. "If this is correct, that means that someone from the Voronin family picked you to go there and that probably they have people within the White foundation. Let\'s talk with Mr. Cerny and see what he has to say."

"He will not say much." Aiden said while shaking his head. "Based on the records I found, Mr. Cerny died four years ago."

"You don\'t think that he is dead.", Jeff noticed Aiden\'s tone.

Aiden confirmed. "It is convenient that a man who wanted me in that camp died the same year as Master Voronin, without leaving any traces. Mr. Cerny had no children and didn\'t leave a single photo behind. Honestly, the man is so clean, that I don\'t think that was his real name. It was probably an alias he used to communicate with Mr. Reedus. I found out about his connection to Voronins thanks to a few emails on an old backup which was not wiped off."

Jeff agreed that Aiden\'s conclusion makes sense. "I will talk to dad and see what he has to say about this. Mr. Reedus is his friend. And maybe Mr. Reedus can tell us something about Tommy Cerny."

Aiden didn\'t object. "You take care of that. I will let you know if we find anything else."

"Can you give us a list of known people who are associated with Voronins?", Jeff asked Aiden. "I will ask Mason to double-check all our files and to see if anyone else from Eastern Europe is in our ranks."

"You trust Mason?"

Jeff paused. Aiden has a point. Even if Mason is loyal to them, that does not mean that someone is not using Mason without his knowledge. "Can you cross-reference the list?"

Aiden confirmed. "I will be back in about a week and then I will work on it. In the meantime, you can talk with dad and Mr. Reedus. Also, we should find out why the Shadow Ravens collected this data. They didn\'t act unless they were paid to do so. Someone wanted to know how I ended up in that summer camp…"

Jeff listened to Aiden and his mind was a mess. He knew that there will be spies in the White foundation. Their Uncle Marcus had his spies, and many others do. But these are Voronins, because of them JoAnna got kidnapped and they even had people in the White corp. watching over Aiden.

Anxiousness swelled inside Jeff while he wondered, how deep are Voronins rooted inside White family and their affairs? What is the probability that this incident with Mr. Reedus is an isolated case? Is it possible that someone is watching over him and JoAnna?

Jeff remembered that Evalina was working at the White corp. for three years, and they didn\'t think much of her other than how she is jealous and unstable, but it ended up with her working for Voronins, and shooting at Aiden and Sarah.

The more Jeff thought about this, the more he realized that this is urgent. His babies are going to be born soon and he can\'t allow himself to be ignorant about dangerous things like these.

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