When she went missing I

Rachel Sanders tried her daughter's line continuously for a while now but still went unanswered. She stared longingly at the clock hanging on the wall to check the time which read 2:am in the morning.

Kristine wasn't the kind of girl to be this late after leaving home for work just this morning, even though she already told her she was going to be late. But not this late!

A while back, Kristine listened to Rhea with the help of their mother to transfer her work permanently to Textile State at the Walker Empire's branch, to stay with their mom since their dad was away on a mission for the past week and his phone calls home the last time proved it might take another week before he arrives.

However, Rachel was left wondering if her daughter's transfer here meant more work piled up than at her formal workplace. Even though Kristine had been late countless times since she started work at her new branch, she has never been this late.

"What could have happened?" Rachel wondered to herself amidst panic.

Rhea, on the other hand, seemed to have found some peaceful sleep after taking a sleeping pill earlier after their dinner and she was now fast asleep, so Rachel didn't want to wake her up and add to her already disturb state about her sister's sudden lack of absence.

For all she knows, this could only be a temporal adjustment until Kristine adapts to the work here like she did her formal one.

But still, she couldn't help but worry, It was almost 3:00 am, and still no news of her daughter.

Rhea was the only one who knew of Kristine's friends to call and question them about her whereabouts since Kristine wasn't answering any of her phone calls, which seemed kind of weird for her character.

But Rachel didn't want to ruin Rhea's peaceful sleep and get hasty to assume the worse.

Out of desperation, Rachel tried calling the Walker Empire's front desk where her daughter worked to ask of her but it also went unanswered too.

Rachel's worse fears were gathered from Kristine's reaction to the conversation she eavesdropped on between her and Rhea the other night, which kept disturbing her.

An overprotective sister like Kristine wouldn't let what happened to Rhea go unpunished. She could be very stubborn at times, and would put herself in danger in order to find a way to get to the root of everything, which had Rachel more worried than ever.

Rachel's suspicions behind the person who would find pleasure in harming her or her family was Clara Johnson, who was now Clara Kurt after her marriage to Nicholas Kurt.

The thought of Clara harming any member of her family frightened her, especially the situation with Kristine's strange acts when they lived in the Kurt Mansion ten years back.

"Did I make a mistake in overlooking what happened to Rhea and now her daughter Kristine could be the next target?" Rachel began to pace back and forth still trying Kristine's line but it was now switched off.

This alarmed Rachel and she decided to finally contact her husband urgently regardless of the time.

It rang once before an incoming call from her phone distracted her and she cut her call to Steven Sanders to answer the caller thinking it might be her daughter.

"Hello, this is Walker Empire's front desk. My name is Taylor Dray. Mrs. Sanders, I am sorry to inform you that your daughter Kristine was sent on an emergency business trip along with our boss. It came within short notice and there was no one available at that time other than Kristine..." Taylor paused for a minute to think of something more to convince Kristine's mom.

"I just found Kristine's phone here, so I realized she wasn't able to call home when I noticed all the calls you put through to our office. That was the reason I decided to make you aware of the situation since your daughter forgot her phone here due to the urgency. I am sure she would call you directly once she settled the matter at hand. I just wanted to inform you so you wouldn't get worried." Taylor finally heaved a sigh of relief after his sudden excuse turned out well due to the response from the other end.

Kristine was smart enough to have texted him with a strange message, in case he doesn't hear from her until midnight. She told him to reach her mother and sister with a convincing reason if he couldn't reach her phone.

However, due to his weariness, Taylor dozed off and totally forgot until his alarm rang at 2:30 am.

Taylor checked the time and hope it wasn't too late to come up with an excuse for Kristine's mom which had him panicking, but he decided to call anyway.

"Oh! Thank you for calling me, I was extremely worried about her. It's just that she had never been this late before. What time did she leave with her boss?" Rachel questioned suddenly.

Taylor began to stutter on the other end before he replied with the first thought that came into his mind.

"Around 10 pm Maam, she was about to leave home from work when the sudden emergency happened so she didn't have time to call home. I am guessing she thought she would call on the way but unluckily, she forgot her phone in the office. Have a goodnight, Mrs. Sanders...I am about to leave home too. Bye!" Taylor hurriedly hung up the call before another question may arise from Kristine's mom placing him in a tight spot and messing everything up.

"Okay...Thank you!" Rachel couldn't finish her sentence before she heard the peep at the other end of the line signaling the call coming to an end.

After that brief call, Rachel's worries were eased a little even though she was still expecting a call directly from her daughter the next time around.

The second ring of Rachel's phone was picked up right away when she noticed her husband's name as the caller.

"Hello honey, You called...everything okay?" Steven spoke the moment his call was answered.

"I just wanted to check on you...but rest assured everything is perfect dear. I miss you!" Rachel calmed her voice to prevent her worries from being noticed.

"I miss you more. We will have a grand family dinner once I return home. And the girls..are they sleeping?"

"Oh yeah, Both well and sleeping..."Rachel yawned.

"You must be tired too. I would leave you to rest honey...Love you! and kisses to my girls. Goodnight!" Steven uttered.

"Goodnight dear!" The line went dead after, and Rachel finally prepared to go to bed.

She didn't want to alarm her husband about Kristine even though she was still in doubt despite that call with her colleague and a sudden business trip out of nowhere.

"Was that the best lie they could come up with?" Rachel wondered, but at least, she hoped it was true and Kristine was safe.

She had tried over the years to keep her kids from unknowingly getting involved with Clara Kurt or the entire Kurt family, since she was trying to avoid opening up old wounds from resurfacing or getting involved with Clara's dubious ways once again.

But what if Kristine decided to get involved? There would seriously be a course for alarm since Clara wouldn't be a piece of cake.

Especially when she would try to harm Kristine even more than she did in the past.

Rachel began to pray that all these incidents with Rhea wouldn't be linked to Clara in any way or she might be forced to take action to stop her.

It was hard to believe, but Kristine had always been bad at lying and Rachel's worse nightmare might just be coming true.

Concerning Kristine finding out about her past, her forgotten childhood, her abductors, and her real parents. She didn't want to lose her now. She thought Kristine would soon recover her memory when they left the Kurt Mansion with her ten years ago, but until today, nothing could trigger her memories.

The doctor they consulted for Kristine's case advised about leaving it to time since time will heal all wounds, but Rachel realized she had suddenly gotten too attached to Kristine and can't bear to lose her now.

Even though Rachel knew it was selfish of her, especially to Kristine's real parents who might still be looking for her all this time hoping for her return, she simply couldn't help it.

To her, Kristine was her daughter and there is nothing to change that.

Back at Camp;

After Steven hung up his call, the loud announcement from the speakers didn't allow him a moment to ponder on his wife's sudden call, especially this late at night.

For the past week, Steven and his team have been trying to track down a shipment of weapons being smuggled into their country after an intel from an undercover agent who went missing five years ago.

"Target spotted! Target spotted!

"Target approaches the north gate!

"Hold your fire...don't shoot!" Steven ordered into his walker-talkie to his soldiers positioned on all sides of the area they have been camping for a week now.

But suddenly, a gunshot was heard as the target they pointed at fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes...Dead!

There was a continuous movement of soldiers towards the target while others took cover of their colleagues from fire, till they got to the target and placed him on a stretcher as they wheeled him into a tent for treatment.

"I am sorry Captain, but he is dead!" The doctor spoke to a frustrated Steven who couldn't figure out how exactly it all happened.

"I thought I ordered everyone to hold their fire..who shot him?!" and that was the mystery left to uncover since the shooter wasn't from outside but amongst his team.

"Another dead end to this case!... He was our only witness. Now how can we track down the weapon shipment now?" Steven hissed, showing frustration about the turn of events.

"Find that shooter now!!! All of you!" He roared in order to the soldiers inside the tent and everybody left the tent to obey his orders, leaving Steven and the doctor alone.

"His breathing is faint Captain...He needs treatment right now!

"Get down with it! I will make sure no one approaches you while you do your work. Save him, lieutenant!

Flashbacks revealed how Captain Steven signaled an order with their coded eye and facial communication, and ordered the doctor, Lieutenant Luke, to pronounce the patient dead before the soldiers in the tent, since it seemed there was a traitor in their midst.

Right now, there was no way to fish that spy out due to this emergency. So the only way to protect their only witness was when everyone thinks he was dead, hence this plot.

At least, until they have retrieved the important information about the sudden change in the root of the ship and find that spy.