บท 43: Chapter 43 "The Red Right Hand"

"Your father once worked for the Foundation?" asked William. He was a bit disbelieved that someone like her would have a close relative who worked for the Foundation.

Grace continued, "He was. He didn't tell me about it for a long time when he worked for the Foundation, only knew that he had always been away from home most of the time when I was a child."

She gazed at the sky, "An innocent child like me always thought that my father was a busy person. But it gets pretty lonely to know that he wasn't always around, and I have to take care of myself."

William asked, "Where's your mother at that time?"

"She died when she gave birth to me. It has always been my dad and me the whole time."

Seeing that was the case, William replied, "Sorry to hear that."

"That's okay. I wasn't sad in the slightest knowledge that I never met her in my life because I was grateful to be in this world."

She took out a locket from one of her pockets, "What was more concerning for me was regarding my father. Even though he was away, he always sent me money to take care of myself when I was alone."

She opened the locket, and there was a picture, "And just by that, he never returned for a long time. No messages, no letters, no anything. As if he was gone from this world, and I was only 17 back then."

"To me, my father must have had some troubles in his own workplace. He was really busy and couldn't do anything until his job was done. But that wasn't the case." She looked at the picture that was inside the locket. It was Grace and her father.

"But then someone came to my house after a few weeks with no information about him, who claimed to be one of my father's colleagues. Informing the situation about my father to me."

There was a pause for a moment, and she continued, "Informing that my father had been killed in action. This was because he worked for a Federal Agency, and he disclosed his job to protect the only family member left to him, and that was me."

William was a bit familiar with this modus operandi that the Foundation used as an excuse to hide their true identity, telling their families that they worked for the government, just like Owen to his family.

"At that moment, I didn't know how to feel. There were a lot of emotions happening at once 'till I didn't know what was happening anymore. The only person I had left had died, leaving only me alone."

She put the locket back into her pocket and closed her palms, "The man told me that he'll take care of everything regarding my living condition, as he was given the task to do so by my father."

"That was when I set my mind up. If I want to survive in this world, I have to be strong to the point I could be on my own without the need of anyone's help and set my own journey, which would be the longest journey I would need to endure."

The grip in her arm became tighter, "Join that Federal Agency and find it myself what could be the cause of my father's death."

William listened carefully to her stories, while drinking his bottle of water bit by bit throughout the story.

"Joined the military at a young age and asked my caretaker, who was my father's colleague, to let me join the Agency. Following his steps might not be the greatest idea, but I don't have anything else to lose."

William then asked, "So, did he comply? and that's how you joined the Foundation?"

She shrugged, "No, he won't let me at first. But I insisted and knew the risk that I would face later. He knew that sooner or later, I'll find some way to join here, so he made a recommendation to the Foundation. I got in, but I'm still under his watch."

"Why?" He was curious about it.

"I don't know, but the good thing is that I'm finally here. I'll do my job to keep serving the Foundation while personally finding out what had actually happened to him." Grace gazed her attention toward William.

He then took a sip of his water and asked, "Any progress or finding about your father until now?"

She shook her head, "There was only a little information about him. Either my clearance is too low, or the information was too confidential that it was lost. But one thing for sure, his name was mentioned to be part of the Red Right Hand."

—-

Mobile Task Force Alpha-1, "Red Right Hand".

A group of privately selected personnel that were considered the best and the most loyal officers in the Foundation. Their primary mission was to protect, serve and carry out orders from the O5 Council itself, a group of individuals that has the highest control of the SCP Foundation around the world.

Consisted of 13 members that maintained the most prominent anomalous organization in the world, mysterious and powerful with each power and influence they had. Red Right Hand served as their personal servant while The O5 Council was around. Any information regarding them was very limited to the highest level clearance in the Foundation.

—-

Just by hearing its name, William could tell that Grace's father indeed had a high rank in the Foundation. He didn't know much about the Red Right Hand, but he knew that it was the most elite Mobile Task Force in the Foundation.

To think that even the most elite Mobile Task Force member like her father would die while carrying out his mission, it was something that William himself couldn't comprehend what they were facing back then.

"That was the only lead I could find regarding him. When I asked someone in here any information regarding the Red Right Hand, they didn't know a thing about it."

Grace continued, "Asking wouldn't help since it was no use. I needed to climb up my rank to get the highest clearance as possible to gain more information regarding him. I'm pretty sure it was somewhere, and I don't have the resources yet."

The door leading to the hallway and the indoor garden opened just as she was finishing her sentence. Just as they were discussing a personal matter between the two of them, someone entered the garden.

Grace and William both noticed the person approaching them as they tried to get a glance at the person who was interfering with their talk. However, it was a person that they were both quite familiar with.

"Good evening, you two. I hope I didn't disturb and ruin the moment for both of you this time." said Dr. Erik with his hand behind his back, looking at them on the bench.

"Well, you kinda did. But it was nothing anyway. We're just enjoying our free time before we go back to our routine." William huffed, "What brings you here, doctor? Pretty unusual for you to be here."

Dr. Erik answered, "I was looking for Captain Grace here. Both she and I have a matter to discuss privately. If you don't mind, I would need to borrow her for a moment to discuss something."

Without sparing any more time, Grace stood up from the bench and said, "We were just finishing our talk for tonight. How can I help you, doctor?"

"We'll talk about it in my office, since there are a lot of things that need to be discussed privately." replied Dr. Erik.

Both of them were walking through the door, leaving William, who was still sitting on the bench and seemingly curious about what the topic could have been, especially at this time.

Dr. Erik looked back at William, "Oh, before we go, one more thing. Be prepared for tomorrow morning, Alpha One. A delegation from Site-19 will visit us and provide you some information to discuss later."