[IC] Breach By Night [M]

[Lady Celeste]

Rated M for content potentially including any of the following:

• Action Violence
• Strong Language
• Possible Suggestive/Sexual References
• Possible Nudity (Partial or Complete)
• Possible Drug/Alcohol Use

Breach By Night

Spoiler: Plot 

Ledger’s trial wasn’t supposed to start until May. For security reasons, the DA had specifically ordered that my involvement in it remain strictly confidential until the trial. Does this “anonymous source” at the Daily Memo even realize what they’ve done?! The Naga syndicate are known to take extreme measures against any attempts to bring them down, and the Ledger Foundation was one of their biggest cash cows in the tri-state area. And thanks to this source, now they know exactly who to target!

I can’t drop the case now; even if I did, it would only open the door for Naga to target my family again and again anytime they want. But to compromise my family’s safety in any way is out of the question. There’s only one thing I can do now.

That’s where you come in, old friend. My family and I need a safe place to stay until this blows over. Somewhere far enough away to stay off of Naga’s radar, but close enough that it won’t affect the case and I can look more closely into this leak at the DA’s office. You’re one of very few people whom I can trust in this matter, and I’ve seen firsthand how top-notch the security systems are at your vacation house. I’ll gladly compensate you for any problems our stay would cause on your end. And since it’s already December, I’ll just tell the kids we’re staying over for the holidays; I’m sure they’ll be happy to hear that.

But whatever happens, be careful. The Naga syndicate are much more than just your ordinary gangsters, and their connections run deeper than I could ever have imagined when I first took this case. And I can’t rule out the possibility that it was a Naga mole who passed on word of my involvement to their bosses under the guise of an anonymous press leak. If such a mole exists, and if anything happens to my family because of what they did, I’ll make sure they live to regret it.

Spoiler: Basic Summary 

A major financing operation led by Jack Ledger for the Naga crime syndicate has recently been exposed and stopped, and the resulting trials are set to begin in a few months’ time. ADA Andrew Kincaid is the prosecutor assigned to the case, but shortly after Ledger and other key players in the operation are arrested, an anonymous press leak publicly exposes Kincaid’s involvement in the case, endangering the entire Kincaid family. In order to protect his family, Kincaid asks an old friend for assistance, and the Kincaid family is secretly relocated to the friend’s vacation house, with the kids being told that they’re there for a holiday vacation.

This RP will begin shortly after the Kincaid family has settled into the vacation house. Despite everyone’s best efforts, the Naga syndicate has found the Kincaid family’s hiding place and sent in a team late one night to eliminate the threat. Now the Kincaid family must work together to make it through the night alive, while the intruders must neutralize the threat to their employers by any means necessary.

---

Spoiler: Rules 

No godmoding, no powerplaying, obey RPA’s Mature Content Rules ... All of these should go without saying on this site, but there you go.

Keep in mind that this is not a fantasy/sci-fi RP. There are no magic spells or superpowers to be found here, and any and all technology should be kept to a realistic level.

Stick to the main plot. If you want to give your characters their own backstories or have them interact with other characters, you're certainly free to do so, but don't let it reach a point where the main storyline is derailed or ignored, because that's not fair to your fellow RPers who are trying to follow the main plot.

Don't hog the RP. This RP will be designed to give everyone a fair share of the spotlight and a fair amount of control over what happens in the RP, so please extend the same courtesy to your fellow players. Again, character backstories and interactions are fine, but it's not fair for any particular group of players to hog a scene in such a way that no one else can get involved or have any reasonable degree of control over the story. Likewise, it's not fair for any particular group of players to start constantly alternating posts among themselves on the IC thread without giving anyone else a chance to post; if a scenario comes up where you must alternate replies in this manner, you may put together a co-op post over PM's and then post the full co-op post when it is finished, provided that this is not done in such a way that other players are not given a reasonable degree of control over what happens in the RP (I.E. Powerplaying, Autohitting, etc.).

Multiple characters per player are allowed, as long as it doesn't reach a point where you monopolize the RP.

Use third-person story format for all posts. This may seem minor, but it's been my experience that using other formats can lead to confusion, or may make it more difficult than necessary to be descriptive with your posts, and for players to use different formats can also get confusing, so I've decided to set a clear standard for everyone's benefit.

Put a reasonable amount of effort into your posts. I won't nag you over every little spelling mistake, and I'm not requiring a full-blown novel in every post. But if your posts are so poorly written that no one can understand what you're writing, or if you don't include enough detail in your posts for other players to be able to write a decent reply, something's amiss.

And of course...
Have Fun!

---

Spoiler: Characters 

RED TEXT means that the position is filled.

+ = Child
++ = Teen
+++ = Adult

Spoiler: Intruders 

• Leader — +++ — Yamimoon
  
  • The main head in charge of the operation.
  • Responsible for planning and ensuring the others do as they’re told.
  • Weapons and specific capabilities are entirely up to the player.
• Hacker — +++
  
  • In charge of the technological aspects of the operation.
  • Responsible for computer hacking and sabotaging tech-based security systems.
  • Spy drone(s) optional.
• Slasher — +++ — Yamimoon
  
  • One half of the main muscle of the group.
  • Weapons specialist.
  • Other specific specialties are entirely up to the player.
• Bruiser — +++
  
  • One half of the main muscle of the group.
  • Specializes in using brute strength on obstacles and enemies alike.
  • Other specific specialties are entirely up to the player.

Others may be added if there is enough interest.

SIDE NOTE: Intruder roles are a bit more fluid than family roles, mainly because they’re defined by main specialties rather than age groups (all of them being adults anyway). So for example, if the leader of the Naga operation also happens to be good with technology, then the same character can count as both Leader and Hacker. Or if your intruder character is physically really strong and also happens to be good with weapons, then the same character can likewise count as both Slasher and Bruiser.

Spoiler: Kincaid Family 

• Mr. Kincaid — +++ — Lady Celeste
  
  
  Spoiler: WIP 

  Name: Andrew Kincaid
  Age Group: Adult
  Age: 43
  
  Weapon Skills: Andrew is licensed and well-trained to use a handgun, and has developed something of an intuition with more powerful firearms from spending time at the local shooting range, though he is definitely less skilled/experienced with the latter. Having worked directly with local law enforcement as a prosecutor, he is also familiar enough with standard non-lethal weapons and equipment (tasers, pepperspray, etc.) to know how to use them in self-defense if necessary.
  Fighting Styles: With how strict weapon restrictions can be, it pays to know how to fight without weapons if it comes to that, especially in Andrew’s line of work. He doesn’t give much thought to fighting styles per se, preferring to focus on the most practical defensive response in any given situation, but can certainly hold his own if need be.
  Tech Skills: Aside from the basics and whatever he may need for work purposes, not much. However, dealing with cyberattacks by the Naga syndicate on the DA’s office servers has taught him quite a lot about how to guard against hacking and the like and minimize his digital footprint to a certain extent. Nevertheless, in order to further protect any especially vital data, he has now developed a habit of storing such data on an encrypted external hard drive, which in turn is kept unplugged in a secure hiding place and only ever taken out when it is needed.
  Other Skills: As a prosecutor, Andrew has developed strong deductive skills in his own right from working regularly with the police department, as well as a general degree of street smarts.
  
  Appearance: Andrew stands just shy of 5’11”, and his build, though slightly on the lighter side, is fairly well-toned for his age. A professional through and through, he is clean shaven and keeps his short dark-brown hair neatly combed most of the time, and tends to dress simply and conservatively in all but the most casual of circumstances, often not bothering with unnecessary accessories. His eyes are dark brown.
  
  Backstory: COMING SOON
  
  Other Notes: Anything else we should know about?
• Mrs. Kincaid — +++ — Lady Celeste
  
  
  Spoiler: Melissa Clark-Kincaid 

  Name: Melissa Kincaid (née Clark)
  Age Group: Adult
  Age: 42
  
  Weapon Skills: Her skill with weapons in general is passable at best, but she knows enough of the basics to be able to use them as a last resort if it comes to that.
  Fighting Styles: She has trained in Krav Maga, enough so to be able to hold her own in close-quarter combat. Also, though it doesn’t necessarily count as a fighting style per se, her past athletic background (esp. in high school) has made her stronger and more agile than most other women her age.
  Tech Skills: She can troubleshoot pretty much any standard household gadget and anything else that she works with on a regular basis, but that’s as far as her tech skills go.
  Other Skills: Being a social worker, Melissa has a certain knack for identifying a person’s needs, dealing with tense situations, and persuading or negotiating with even the most stubborn of people. She’s also considerably well-versed in botany and herbal medicine resulting from experiments with herbs as a child, allowing her to identify the medicinal uses and other unique properties of various plants.
  
  Appearance: Melissa stands at roughly 5’7” and is remarkably well-toned for her age, owing in no small part to her athletic background in high school and her regular use of exercise as a form of stress relief. She has light green eyes, as well as shoulder-length dark auburn hair that is usually pulled back somehow, and she will frequently wear computer glasses whenever she has to deal with computers of any kind. Her choice of attire can range from casual to professional to formal depending on the occasion, but she rarely goes full tomboy-style unless it’s the only practical option (e.g. while doing heavy physical work).
  
  

  Spoiler: Backstory 

  In high school, Melissa Clark had all the classic makings of a stereotypical teenage ditz. She made the cheerleading squad, hung out with friends, and spent much of her time on boys and gossip, barely giving any thought at all to the world outside of her own relatively sheltered bubble...
  
  Until, over the course of her junior year, that bubble finally burst.
  
  It all started that fall, when some college boys started flirting with members of the squad and inviting them to parties. Melissa’s parents were very strict about going anywhere with strangers, but one night, she finally gave in to peer pressure and went with her friends to one of the parties. There was a much older man there, claiming to be the father of one of the boys, but he wasn’t much of a chaperone at all, leaving them to their own devices and freely handing out alcoholic drinks to the girls even though they were all underage. The man’s behavior made Melissa feel even more uneasy, and she refused to accept any of the drinks, but the last straw came when Melissa excused herself to the bathroom and discovered a closet full of tape recordings of past parties, including tapes of the other girls sleeping with the college boys and/or being forced upon by older men while drugged. When she confronted the boys, most of them reacted with shock (some more genuinely than others), but the older man just laughed at her and eventually tried to grab her, at which point Melissa ran for the door and went straight home.
  
  Melissa broke down crying and told her parents everything that happened, and the police were soon called to investigate, but the damage was done. As the months went by, she learned that the older man was a “recruiter” for a human trafficking ring, whose MO was to use the parties and tape recordings to blackmail the ring’s targets into doing as they were told. Many of the other girls disappeared, either running away in shame or being kidnapped outright. A few girls were killed to prevent them from going to the police. One girl died of an accidental overdose on the drugs used on her. And the squad captain eventually killed herself after her tape was leaked to a porn site. Only Melissa and a few brave survivors were left to testify in court, but it would be many more years before the older man was caught, and many of his cohorts remain at large to this day.
  
  The entire case had a profound effect on Melissa. So much had fallen apart in such a short amount of time, and she could no longer stay in her own little bubble and pretend it never happened. By the time of her senior year, she was practically obsessed with preventing anyone else from being hurt like her squad-mates were. To that end, she went on to pursue a career as a social worker, her past experience helping her to identify and protect potential victims and work with the authorities to rescue past and current victims.
  
  It was during one such case early in Melissa’s career when she first met Andrew Kincaid, who was a law student at the time working on an internship at the DA’s office. Despite their separate lines of work, a strong professional dynamic soon developed between them by the time Andrew graduated, each frequently referring their respective clients to the other as needed. However, things became more complicated when, despite their best efforts to keep things strictly professional, their relationship started to develop even further over the next couple of years, leaving them both increasingly worried about potential conflicts of interest in the future. It took several agonizing months for them to work things out, but in the end, they both agreed to break off their professional partnership so they could pursue their romantic relationship with a clear conscience. The two were married soon afterward, and went on to have three daughters together. Even now, although they haven’t worked together in any official capacity in years, the dynamic that had made them such a great team at work has since carried over into their marriage, keeping their relationship as strong and healthy as ever.

  
  
  Other Notes: Andrew and Melissa have worked as a team in the past on cases connected to the Naga syndicate. Melissa no longer works on Naga-related cases in order to avoid any conflict of interest with her husband, but she knows enough about them by now to understand their methods and protect herself accordingly.
• Teen(s) — ++ — at least 1 needed
  
  • SaltyIrishman — Eldest
  • Highland Sniper
• Younger Kid(s) — + — at least 1 needed
  
  • Lady Celeste
    
    
    Spoiler: Rachel 

    Name: Rachel Marie Kincaid
    Age Group: Child
    Age: 10
    
    Weapon Skills: None necessarily to speak of. She has a basic understanding of how guns and other weapons are supposed to work, but has no real practical experience with how to actually use them in a life-or-death situation.
    Fighting Styles: Rachel has taken her fair share of martial arts classes since she was 3, particularly Kung Fu, and has taken up dancing and gymnastics as hobbies with her friends. However, her general aversion to any kind of fighting makes her very likely to freeze up or panic in a real-life combat situation, unless she is absolutely pressed to her limit.
    Tech Skills: Rachel is no computer genius, but she does have a talent for using relatively simple devices in surprisingly creative ways, such as attaching a camera or listening device to a remote-controlled toy car to create a makeshift mobile spy device, or use a two-way audio device to broadcast sounds in a certain location to create a diversion.
    Other Skills: Rachel’s shyness has led her to develop a habit of hiding from others unless she feels safe to show herself openly, making her surprisingly good at hiding and moving quietly in even the most tense situations.
    
    Appearance: Rachel is a bit on the thin side for her height (4’3”), but still within a healthy range. She has hazel eyes, and her brown hair is frequently tied into two pigtail braids at bedtime to keep it from tangling, resulting in a wavy look by day when it is let loose. She usually dresses simply and practically, occasionally including a cute accessory or two within reason.
    
    Backstory: Growing up, Rachel has always tried to act as the peacemaker of the family and get along with everyone she meets, often to the point of keeping quiet about anything that would reflect badly on someone or risk starting a fight. Though this has led to her being trusted to keep others’ secrets countless times, she’s also been known not to tell anyone about a potential problem until it’s already started getting worse. Nevertheless, she maintains a good relationship with her parents and sisters, playing sports with Alex whenever possible and picking up valuable bits of technical know-how from Stella, the latter of which Rachel has learned to apply in unconventional ways.
    
    Other Notes: Rachel has a healthy curiosity about the world around her and a strong tendency to explore and poke around pretty much anywhere if given the right opportunity, even if a particular place would not really hide anything of interest to her. This used to lead to her being chided a couple of times for snooping around without permission, so now she makes a point to stay out of anything that she has been specifically told not to poke around in, though everything else is still pretty much fair game.
    
    
  • Snotgirl

Spoiler: OPTIONAL — The Old Friend’s Family 

If we get enough interest, the old friend from the plot summary and/or their family may also be included among the people staying at the house.

• The Old Friend — +++
• The Old Friend’s Spouse — +++
• Teen(s) — ++
• Younger Kid(s) — +

[Lady Celeste]

---

BACKGROUND AMBIENCE
(BECAUSE WHY NOT)

---

In times like these, it pays to have friends.

Bud’s letter had been neatly tucked back into its envelope, which was now securely in the car's side door. Andrew Kincaid, the moment he’d received it, did not waste another second in carrying out his plan. The only part that had had him worried was having to keep up the ruse of a holiday vacation to avoid scaring the kids, and even now the results were somewhat mixed.

Rachel was excited from the get-go. As soon as they’d made the announcement, she had raced back and forth all around the house, packing anything and everything that she might need, along with a few games for them all to play together in the car. Her energy level had gone down a bit since then, or maybe she had just sensed that not everyone was in the mood right now, but she was still quick to respond whenever anyone expressed interest in doing something together. Right now, she was occupying herself with a round of The Game Of Life 2 on her smartphone, having just graduated from college and chosen Robotics Engineer as a career.

Stella had been more than a little annoyed, as the trip would take her away from what few friends she had - including her boyfriend Ricardo - and make her D&D games more difficult. It had taken quite some time to get her used to the idea, but a compromise was finally reached for her to take along her phone and laptop so she could keep in touch while they were gone. Her time right now was spent mainly on playing games with her friends over Discord, listening to music, and occasionally writing in a document on her phone just for fun.

Alex had the most subdued reaction of the three, leading Andrew to wonder if maybe she had figured out more than she was letting on. Melissa had noticed signs of fear in Alex when Andrew had told the kids about their trip, and they had tried to reassure her, but just how much they’d succeeded was unclear. Rachel had even offered to play a few local-server games on their smartphones to try to cheer her up. In the end, though, Alex settled mainly for texting with her friends and listening to music, then staring out the window whenever the reception went out.

With the kids more or less settled down, Andrew and Melissa sat in the front of the car, remaining focused on the road and attending to any issues or needs that came up along the way. Melissa was currently driving, leaving Andrew free to handle any phone calls that came up and attend to any last-minute work matters. In fact, Andrew had specifically instructed his assistant, Mark McCollum, to call him with any news from the DA’s office, and half-expected a call from the man any minute now.

In any case, there was no turning back now. This was the only way for Andrew to keep his family safe and continue managing the Ledger case at the same time. If this case succeeded, the financial blow to the Naga crime syndicate would be truly devastating, and they would be left wide open to further prosecution for their crimes. But if it failed, it would be a sign to the world that Naga really was untouchable, and that was not the kind of world Andrew wanted his daughters to grow up in.

They were about halfway there now, but the traffic was better than they’d expected. It wouldn’t be too much longer now.

[Highland Sniper]

Stella had been rolling dice and almost shouting in the back seat for almost the whole ride up to this point.
There had been quite a bit of "oh no"s and "oh yeah"s as Stella's character, Fern, a beastkin warlock/rogue had gown through a roller-coast of a D&D session with a few more plot twists than the normal session and many more interesting plot developments, some surrounding her own character and how they were the chosen of their patron out of all the other warlocks of the same.
Many other characters had gotten some very high roles as well.
But, it was the end of the session.

"Whooo," she said as she took off her headset and closed her laptop, "That... was a great game."
She looked over at her older sister Al, and not for the first time and was reminded what this trip might mean. Al's mood didn't help avoid the fact. This might be work for dad, and the needed to be out of the way for something.
She sighed. "Hey, Al," she tried, "where's that smile? Come on, let's play a nice game, uh?"

[Yggdrasil_Hugger]

Alex’s eyes rolled over to her sister’s face like a glacier. She looked at Stella for a moment with hooded eyes and a very dry expression.

“Mhm.” she shifted in her seat, then turned back to the window. Her phone buzzed with a message from her friends, indicating she had service again. She read the text, sending one back almost immediately. Still, her eyes drifted out the window and her mind to the real reason they were going out here. Obviously some Naga Syndicate stuff, in which case she wanted to be as far away from them as possible. It was astounding that Stella hadn’t figured it out yet, and she was supposed to be the “smart one”.

She could feel her sister’s eyes on the back of her head and sighed.

“What?”

[Highland Sniper]

"Jesse, just chill," she said and pulled put her own phone, "I just wanted to play a game with my older sister was all."
She sent a text to Al reading "Hey, a face and attitude like that is only gonna make everyone else nervous. Be on guard, but also try to enjoy yourself."

She understood the reason why she was a bit broody at the moment, but Stella had chosen not to think about it too much. Dad's work was dangerous, and this vacation was the perfect way to go into effective hiding for a short time while things blew over.

"What do you say? Wanna play some among us?" She asked after sending her text. "How about it Rachel. You want in?"

[Yamimoon]

Sitting at a desk in his home Mark was looking over the information that had been left in his care by ADA Andrew Kincaid. It had not been long since he had been informed of the ‘mole’ within the investigation group, and the fact that Mr. Kincaid had been compromised. This whole mess was getting worse by the moment.

It did not take more than a couple of days for his boss to fear for the safety of his family and arrange to get off the grid. Everything was falling apart. Yet Mr. Kincaid had continued with his investigation and his prosecution. If it were him, he would have given up by now, but that was not his boss’ way of doing things.

Mark sighed deeply as he continued looking over the notes. He doubted Naga would come after him since for some unknown reason his name was not leaked. All of this did not make any sense to him, but as long as he could stomach it, he would help Mr. Kincaid to take down Naga.

Some new information had come to light. However, Mark was not sure if it was something he should bother his boss about. Though Mr. Kincaid had told him that if anything had come up to contact him immediately. Grabbing his cell phone, he dialed Mr. Kincaid’s number. He just did not know if this information would be any help to the case or not. It was just a name after all.

[Lady Celeste]

"What do you say? Wanna play some among us?" She asked after sending her text. "How about it Rachel. You want in?"

“Alright!” Rachel said smiling, quickly turning off her current game to switch over to Among Us. “I’m ready as soon as you got the code!”

Andrew could not suppress a smile as he overheard everything in the backseat, and caught a brief sidelong glance from Melissa as she laughed quietly to herself. Stella had not failed to notice Alex’s distress and offered to play a game with her to cheer her up, and Rachel had immediately jumped at the opportunity to play with her two older sisters. With everything going on right now at work, little moments like these were what kept Andrew sane, reminding him of what he was truly fighting for.

Just before the game could start, however, Andrew’s phone rang. He took one look at the screen and saw that it was Mark calling, but he turned briefly to the girls first. Rachel was already looking up at him, unsure what to do, but Andrew just smiled back.

“You girls keep going.” Andrew said. “Just make sure to keep the noise down until I finish, okay?”

“Okay.” Rachel nodded, returning her focus to the game.

With that settled, Andrew accepted the call and held the phone up to his ear.

“Kincaid speaking.” Andrew said, his mind promptly switching to ‘work mode’ as he awaited a response.

[Yggdrasil_Hugger]

Alex gave the long-suffering sigh of an older sibling.

“Sure.” She closed her messages and her photos, then opened Among Us. The jelly bean-shaped astronauts danced across her screen as she joined the room. Soon, she was lost in the game, eyes narrowing and her tongue sticking between her teeth slightly as she unraveled the puzzle of who was and wasn’t a killer imposter. She groaned quietly as the rando crewmates the server had filled the room with chose wrong, again. Soon after, the game ended, and she closed the app and returned to staring out the window forlornly. Her mind wandered as she imagined some sweeping bird or dancing spirit flying alongside the car, swooping over fences and between trees. But that imaginary bird turned to a team of Naga Syndicate grunts chasing after the car, waving guns. Shivering for a moment, she adjusted her position and closed her eyes, hoping to get some sleep.

[Highland Sniper]

"Alright, let me get the server going." She said with a smile.
Her two sisters hopped in. She wondered around, trying to be as clever as possible as she methodically murdered the rest of the crew. She finally won as the oxygen ran out.

It was a great game for her. But as Al left and returned to looking outside, she couldn't resist her own worried frown.
"Alright Rachel, how about another round?" She asked, trying to put a smile back on her face.

She couldn't help but get more worried. Knowing that someone else was stressing over the stupid naga seemed to drag at her mood.
She got a notification, but decided to ignore it until the end of the next round.

[Lady Celeste]

While the girls began their next game, Andrew listened intently as his assistant spoke on the other end of the phone.

---

Mark could only wait as the phone rang the moment he heard Andrew's voice he swallowed hard. “Hello, Mr. Kincaid. Sorry to bother you during your vacation, but I have some information on the case that you were working on. Do you have a moment to talk?” Mark said as he didn’t know who might have been listening to the conversation.

“Yeah, I do.” Andrew replied. “What have you found?”

It was a relief to hear Mr. Kincaid’s voice over the phone. He hoped that all of this was worth him having to take his family away from the city. Taking a deep breath he calmed his nerves and began to speak.

“Well, Mr. Kincade. Afthe looking through the files that you confiscated from the Ledger Foundation. I have found a name that keeps popping up. However, this name is not connected to any of the accounts the business has access to. The name is Arthur LaVell. I don’t know if this has any relevance to Naga or not. But I thought you would like to know sir.” Mark said as he waited to see what his boss thought on the matter.

“Arthur LaVell…” Andrew echoed softly to himself, drafting a quick note on his notepad. “The LaVell crime family was believed to have been wiped out decades ago, but if Ledger was involved with them as well as Naga, it could mean they were trying to make a comeback. I’ll look into this Arthur as soon as we arrive and see what business he may have had with Ledger. Good work, Mark.”

With that settled, Andrew had wasted no time moving on to the next subject at hand. Now that Mark had just called, now was as good a time as any to follow up on the other investigation currently underway.

“Any updates on the leak at the DA’s office?” Andrew asked. The sooner that leak was found and sealed, the sooner the Kincaids could all finally drop the act and go home. Needless to say, Andrew was anxious to resolve the matter as soon as possible.

Mark smiled as he realized he found some good information for Mr. Kincade. He had gone back and forth for a bit on if he should tell the man about it. Well at least the information was good.

“Thankyou Mr. Kinkade.” He said as then the subject changed to the incident with the leak. This made Mark shift a little in his seat. It was bad news that he was about to be brought up.

“Unfortunately there have been no breaks in who leaked the information. From what they have told me that whoever did this left no trail that they have been able to find. However, there was a letter that was sent to the office last night that was addressed to the both of us. I haven't opened it yet." Mark said as he waited to see what Andrew thought.

A letter? That sounded too good to be true, for their mystery mole to risk compromising themselves so soon. It could just as easily be a trap, so best to be prepared.

“Have the letter checked for ricin or any other foreign substances before anyone opens it, then let me know what you find out.” Andrew instructed. “Is there an address, or any kind of identifying marks?”

“Okay, I will get this letter to the DA’s office, and see if they can find anything out. Though there is nothing on the envelope other than our names. No return address, or even any markings. It is just a blank white envelope. However, it is heavier than just a letter should be. That is the only defining difference between it and any normal letter Sir.” Mark said as he looked down at the envelope.

“Then don’t take it to the office yet, but let them know that a suspicious package was just received.” Andrew said immediately. An abnormally heavy letter was definitely suspicious, and even if it did turn out to be just a letter, the risk was too great to leave anything to chance. “Clear the area, call the police, and keep the letter sealed and isolated until they get there. Have anyone who touched the letter wash their hands immediately; that includes you. Do you understand?”

---

Rachel had been too caught up in the game to pay much attention to Dad’s conversation. By the end of the game, however, she did overhear him asking whoever was on the phone to call the police, and there was a definite change in the mood of the front row of the car. Dad was even more tense now than he usually was at work, and Mom was trying a little too hard not to look worried. Rachel wanted to ask what was wrong, but she had always been taught not to talk too loudly whenever Mom or Dad was on the phone, so instead she settled for nervous glances toward her parents and each of her sisters.