Is this destiny?

About fifteen minutes later, in the basement of the main villa…

JoAnna checked injuries on unconscious Ivan with a deep frown. The man needed stitches, but his skin was almost shredded, and she didn't know where to start stitching.

'If he wants to resemble a human, he will need plastic surgery...', JoAnna thought when she saw how badly injured Ivan is. Icepacks and painkillers will not help.

"Was there a need to beat him this much?", JoAnna grumbled.

Vasily shrugged. "He refused to talk."

JoAnna took gauze and saturated it with a liquid. While dabbing the wet gauze on the wounds, the bleeding subsided.

Vasily watched JoAnna work with curiosity. Her medicinal bag had several layers that were filled with various gadgets and bottles.

"Is there a need for medical treatment?", Vasily asked when he realized what she is doing.

JoAnna didn't pause her movements while responding: "It won't help anyone if he bleeds to death. He is already weak."

It took her less than a minute to stop the bleeding and she injected Ivan with the truth serum before putting a small bottle with a strong medicinal smell under his nose.

Ivan stirred and groaned heavily.

"Hey, Ivan...", JoAnna called over his unintelligible sounds. "Can you hear me?"

Ivan didn't seem to be mentally present.

JoAnna shot an angry glare at Vasily and injected Ivan with the anesthetic. They need him to talk, not wail in pain.

JoAnna saw many things, but she never approved of senseless violence. In her opinion, beating a man this bad so that he can talk was senseless. Even if Vasily wanted to torture Ivan, it would be better to stick needles under his fingernails or chop off pieces of his flesh from his limbs. It's much more effective. 

A few seconds later, Ivan didn't feel pain and he tried to observe his surrounding, but his swollen eyelids were making his eyes reduced to thin slits. He looked horrible.

"Can you talk?", JoAnna asked Ivan.

"Yes.", he responded with a slurred speech due to broken teeth and swollen lips, but it was understandable.

JoAnna gestured to Sophia and Vasily. "Which one of you will ask questions?"

Vasily balled his hands into fists and made a step toward Ivan, and Sophia extended her arm preventing him from advancing. "There is no need to get physical."

Vasily didn't understand. How can they make Ivan talk without a beating? Of course, he does not know about the truth serum. In his eyes, JoAnna was doing first aid.

"Did you meet with people from the Voronin family recently?", Sophia asked Ivan.

"Yes."

JoAnna and Sophia held their breaths and so did Vasily. They did it for various reasons. JoAnna and Sophia because they feared for their sister and Aiden, and Vasily could not believe that Ivan spoke just like that. Vasily wondered if this is the 'ask nicely' approach. It never worked for him.

Sophia was anxious and she went straight to the point: "Did you tell them something about what we are doing here? Did you tell them anything related to Sarah?"

"Yes. I told them that our new Grand Elder is inside their base, playing games undercover. I gave them a number of photos so that they can make sure that is her…"

Several minutes later, JoAnna, Sophia, and Vasily left the room where Ivan was sitting. They heard enough to know that this is not good.

Vasily wanted to torture Ivan to the brink of death, but he knew this is not the time.

"We need to get Sarah out of there.", Vasily said.

"Yes. We are setting up the bases in the area. They should be ready by end of the day.", JoAnna said nervously, wishing that the bases are already in place.

"End of the day is too late.", Vasily said grimly. "The Voronins know about Sarah for more than twenty-four hours. Are you sure that she is fine?"

JoAnna and Sophia confirmed.

"We guarantee that so far there are no indications that they know who she really is.", Sophia assured Vasily.

Vasily thought for a second while his frown deepened. "I assume that she is not captured by now only because they are waiting for something. Possibly setting up a trap so that they catch her alive."

"Her mission ends tonight and tomorrow morning they can leave that place.", Sophia said.

Vasily shook his head. "There is no way they will allow her to leave that place in one piece."

"How do you know?", JoAnna asked.

"That is what I would do. Observe, set up a trap, and capture her when she least expects it. Ivan told them that she is the Grand Elder. Her death will be slow and painful, and she will not die until they extract all the information from her. No matter how strongwilled someone is, when given enough time and the right methods, everyone cracks."

JoAnna and Sophia shivered.

They had a number of people in the vicinity of the main base of the Voronin family, but only after they found out about the two-day extension Sophia and JoAnna realized that they need more people there.

Unfortunately, people are hours away and it takes time to plan for where to set up their camps, where to send people, and of course, to do all that without alerting the Voronins.

"Forget the bases.", Sophia said and touched her earpiece. "Zack, we need you here. We need everyone here."

JoAnna was also calling people and within minutes, there was a crowd in the living room.

Sophia and JoAnna were joined by Jeff, Felix, Zack, Masika, Ron, Zula, Beck, Allen, Julius, Imani, Jamari, Corey, and Merve. 

Aaron, Ade, Hande, Tejan, Rosa, Daniel, Xiaohui, Nico, and Mishi joined this meeting via video conferencing from Romania.

Michael, Oni, Haru, and Nala joined the video conference from the plane. They were on their way with a number of other kids, currently above the Atlantic Ocean. 

Vasily observed this from the side.

Konstantin entered with his two assistants, Vuk and Bogdan, and that was the signal for Sophia to start telling everyone why they gathered on such short notice.

"We have a good reason to believe that Sarah and Aiden are exposed. They are fine at this point, however, we need to be ready to get them out. Let's treat this with urgency as if they were captured and we are conducting a rescue."

"Did you talk to them?", Zack asked while holding onto Masika whose anxiousness was visible.

Sophia did her best to sound calm. Panicking won't help anyone. Thanks to Eve, they confirmed that Sarah and Aiden are getting ready for their day as usually, and so far, they are fine. Sarah told them that Maksim knows she is not Olga, so the only surprise for JoAnna and Sophia was that Ivan betrayed them. Sarah and Aiden are already on high-alert, considering where they are, and telling them about Ivan won't change their situation other than making them more anxious, and possibly angry for the betrayal.

"We will talk to them shortly.", Sophia said. "We need a plan, or we will rush into trouble like headless flies and put Sarah and Aiden in more danger than they already are in. I want us to do the count of the people and equipment. I need to tell them who is coming and when we can be there…"

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