Chapter 1

Raiden Augustus Carnell was born to Andrew and Kathy Carnell on August 15, 2000. Andrew and Kathy were CIA undercover operatives working out of the US embassy in China. Raiden was, oops, baby, and when Kathy discovered she was pregnant, they decided to have the baby there. Once Raiden was old enough to fly, Kathy brought Raiden to her parents’ house to raise. William and Martha Hunt were ecstatic at the opportunity to raise Raiden.

William and Martha Hunt owned a pharmaceutical company with a specialized genetic research section. They were disappointed that Kathy didn’t pursue a science degree and join their company. When they discovered that Andrew and Kathy worked for the CIA, they gave up hope of having a grandchild. Then Kathy called and turned their lives upside down. William and Martha were in their late forties and had plenty of time to plan for Raiden’s arrival.

When Kathy arrived with Raiden, she acted like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders. William and Martha could tell Kathy didn’t want to be responsible for raising Raiden. So they went to their attorney’s office and had paperwork drawn up to make them Raiden’s guardians. Once the paperwork was finished and notarized, Kathy returned to China without kissing Raiden goodbye or thanking her parents.

The next morning, William and Martha took Raiden to Hunt Pharmaceuticals. They had a daycare area set up next to their offices so they could visit Raiden anytime. Martha hired only the best instructors to teach Raiden. When Raiden was six months old, his treatments started. Raiden’s genetic makeup was changed under the careful supervision of William and Martha. The treatments lasted several days and were done only twice a year. Raiden would also get shots with his monthly checkup.

When Raiden turned five, William and Martha knew they were on the right track with Raiden’s treatments. His IQ and Raiden’s height, weight, and reaction time were off the charts. Professor Grace Leeds, who was in charge of his education, recommended that Raiden take martial arts for exercise. William and Martha hired Sensi Zhang to train Raiden in private sessions at their offices. Another area was set up for Raiden’s martial arts training.

Raiden’s progress was thoroughly documented during his monthly checkups. He cooperated with their surveys but didn’t tell the doctors or his grandparents everything. At ten, Raiden discovered he could read minds and kept it to himself. His body was growing rapidly, and he didn’t want any more tests performed or for people to freak out at his mind reading.

His grandparents always devised courses for him to take outside of regular school. Raiden graduated from high school when he turned ten years old. So, he started taking college courses online and excelled in math, languages, computers, and the sciences. That made his grandparents happy, and they surprised him with a two-week survival training course on his tenth birthday. He’d already taken a first-aid and acupuncture course taught by Sensi Zhang.

On Raiden’s eleventh birthday, his grandparents told him his parents wanted to see him. Raiden asked why after eleven years of no communication. William and Martha said they were suspicious of Andrew and Kathy’s motives but thought going was a good idea. Raiden’s parents were now stationed in Germany, and he needed a passport. Martha took care of the passport, and Raiden asked Sensi Zhang for special training in case he was kidnapped.

Sensi Zhang showed Raiden special pressure points to incapacitate or kill an attacker. Then, Sensi taught Raiden special maneuvers to avoid multiple attackers. When the time came for his trip, Raiden felt confident and ready to defend himself. William and Martha had arranged for his treatment before his trip so there wouldn’t be any issues.

When the time came for his trip, Raiden was 5’8” tall and weighed 155 lbs. No one would suspect he was eleven unless they checked his passport. William and Martha took Raiden to the airport, and he hugged and kissed his grandmother goodbye. Then Raiden shook his grandfather’s hand and entered the security line. Once cleared, he waved them goodbye and went to the boarding gate.

It was the first time Raiden had traveled alone, which was exciting for him. When the flight started boarding, a flight attendant escorted him to his seat in the business section. Raiden read the minds of the people around him while the rest of the passengers went to their seats. Once all the passengers boarded, the plane pushed away from the gate and took off. It was a seven-and-a-half-hour flight to Berlin, Germany.

Upon arrival, the flight attendant asked Raiden to wait until the first and business class were empty to deplane. Then, the flight attendant accompanied Raiden to customs, where a representative from the US embassy met him. Introductions were made, and his name was Roland Carr. They gathered Raiden’s luggage, exited the airport terminal, and walked to the parking structure where a town car was parked. Raiden read Roland’s mind and knew he was going to be kidnapped.

Once they settled in the town car, Raiden knocked Roland out from the back seat. Then he took the keys and put Roland into the town car trunk. Raiden took Roland’s wallet, car key, and his luggage to the taxi stand and hailed a cab. The ride to the embassy took forty-five minutes, and the driver dropped Raiden off at the gate. The guard checked Raiden’s passport and then called his supervisor. Then the shit show started, and he was escorted into the embassy and a secure room.

A man entered the room and introduced himself as Curtis Brooks. Then he asked Raiden what had happened at the airport, and he was shocked by his story. Raiden gave Curtis Roland’s wallet and the car keys and said he’d find Roland in the trunk. Curtis made a phone call, and then a man entered the room, took the car keys, and left. Then Raiden asked where his parents were, and Curtis said they were on an assignment.

Not believing Curtis’ explanation, Raiden read his mind. His parents weren’t in Germany, but in China, and Curtis’ instructions were to detain Raiden. Raiden told Curtis he was tired and wanted to take a nap. Curtis escorted him to a guest room and then locked the door. Raiden called his grandparents and told them what happened. His grandfather asked him if he could return to the airport unnoticed. Raiden said yes, and his grandfather told him a ticket would await him.

Two hours later, Curtis returned and took Raiden to dinner at the staff kitchen. He read Curtis’ mind, and he put a sleeping drug in his glass of water. Raiden distracted Curtis and switched the glasses of water. Then he continued reading Curtis’ mind and found the location of his office, safe, and code while they ate. Curtis fell asleep during dinner, and Raiden picked him up and put him in a nearby closet. He removed Curtis’ ID and went to his office.

Raiden opened the safe and emptied the contents into a backpack he found in the closet. Then he returned to his room, gathered his bags, and left the embassy. Raiden walked several blocks until he came to a restaurant and called a cab. On the way to the airport, Raiden had the taxi stop at a FedEx office and shipped the backpack home. Upon arriving at the airport, Raiden checked in and had to wait two hours for the next flight home.

He was worried Curtis would wake up and discover he was gone. Raiden breathed a sigh of relief when the plane took off for home. He slept the entire flight except for dinner and breakfast. It was 3 a.m. EST when they landed, and Raiden cleared customs and took a taxi home. His grandparents were awake and waiting for him. Raiden got hugs, kisses, handshakes, and pats on the back, welcoming him home. Then he went to his room, unpacked, and returned to the kitchen.

Raiden told his grandparents what had happened from when he arrived until his departure. They couldn’t believe their daughter would allow someone to kidnap Raiden. There had to be some other explanation, but they assured Raiden he would never have to visit them again. Then his grandmother said you know, it could have been an attempt by your parents to gain custody of you. Raiden said he didn’t care what his parents wanted. He was staying here, making his grandparents happy.

Curtis Brooks woke up in a closet with a severe headache. He was confused about his whereabouts, and it hit him like a sledgehammer. Curtis realized the last thing he remembered was eating dinner with Raiden. He got up and opened the closet, but no one was in the kitchen. Curtis thought about Raiden and went to his room. The room was empty, and Curtis said shit and quickly went to his office. Then he realized his ID was missing, and Curtis couldn’t access the secure wing of the embassy.

It took Curtis thirty minutes to find someone with clearance to gain access to his office. Once inside, Curtis discovered his ID on the desk, but he had no clue how it got there. Then he called Andrew and Kathy Carnell Raiden’s parents and told them about the botched kidnapping attempt. Everyone knew they had one opportunity to get Raiden out of the US and into their control. The botched kidnapping at the airport royally screwed their plan then their backup plan failed too.

The CIA had been watching Kathy’s parents and Hunt Pharmaceuticals for several years. They suspected the genetic research went further than publicly known. The CIA tried to plant spies in the company but found nothing. The only thing the spies reported that was strange was that the Hunts’ grandson, Raiden, went to work with them every day. So the CIA assumed the Hunts were treating their grandson, and the only way to be sure was to test him.

Kathy tried calling her parents, but they wouldn’t answer her calls. She realized that her parents knew she and Andrew were involved in Raiden’s attempted kidnapping and didn’t want anything to do with them. Kathy felt bad, but they had helped the CIA the best they could. Now, it was out of their hands, and she felt relieved that nothing serious had happened to Raiden.

Curtis didn’t discover the theft of the items from his safe for two weeks after Raiden escaped their captivity. He didn’t suspect Raiden’s involvement in the robbery and performed a thorough internal security review. The missing cash wasn’t a problem, but the digital files were highly classified, and if his superiors found out, he’d be fired. The package Raiden sent to himself from Germany arrived, and he checked out the backpack’s contents. Raiden loaded the files onto his computer to check out later and hid the cash in his closet.

After the kidnapping attempt, William and Martha Hunt went to their attorney and changed their will. They made Raiden the sole beneficiary of their estate and put all their assets into a trust. Then, they updated the security at work and home. William and Martha installed a safe room with an escape tunnel to a garage behind their property. Finally, Raiden was instructed on firearms and defensive driving.

On Raiden’s twelfth birthday, he discovered he had another gift from the treatments. Raiden could sense people in other offices at work and other rooms at home. His range was somewhere between 75 and 100 feet. It was another skill he kept secret from his grandparents and the doctors. The last thing he wanted to do was to subject himself to more testing.

Another thing Raiden started doing after his twelfth birthday was assisting his grandparents and the doctors with their genetic research. Raiden began as a lab grunt doing menial chores. But he quickly advanced to performing advanced tests on the computer and using the lab equipment. His grandparents were extremely proud that Raiden showed an aptitude for their work. Little did they know that Raiden didn’t want to do that type of work, but he felt he should thoroughly understand it.

Raiden also took time off from studying and work to practice shooting at a nearby range. Long-range and close-quarters shooting had caught his interest, so William, his grandfather, hired an instructor for Raiden. Joel Rias was an ex-Navy SEAL, and he provided Raiden with the necessary training to make long-range shots and calculate wind and elevation. Joel also taught Raiden close-quarters shooting with handguns and an AR-15.

Joel was so impressed with Raiden’s grasp of his training that he trained Raiden on the other aspects of being a military sniper. Raiden absorbed the training like a sponge, and soon, Joel taught him everything he knew. For graduation, Joel gave Raiden his own ghillie suit and camouflage paint for his rifle and face. He also gave Raiden camos for hunting and a tactical straight-edge knife.

Raiden kept shooting at the range after Joel’s instruction ended. That’s where the next kidnapping attempt took place. Raiden had just finished his twelfth half-year treatment and went to the rifle range to practice. He sensed a man in the bushes by the range and then read his mind. The man had a tranquilizer rifle and was going to shoot Raiden and then kidnap him. Raiden set his rifle and supplies on the shooting bench, then went into the bushes to take a leak.

He circled behind the man and knocked him out. Then Raiden shot the man with his tranquilizer gun and searched him. All the man had on him was the tranquilizer rifle, a tranquilizer pistol, and a set of vehicle keys. Raiden took the keys and pressed the key fob. A minivan was backed up to the rifle range, and he searched it. There was nothing but a duffle bag full of items to restrain him, a laptop, and a throwaway phone. Raiden carried the man to the minivan and put him in the back.

Then, after storing the rifle and shooting supplies in his locker, he drove to an industrial area and parked behind a warehouse for lease. Raiden wiped down the areas he touched, broke the man’s neck, took the duffle bag and laptop, and walked to a nearby restaurant. Raiden ate lunch and ordered a Lyft ride back to Hunt Pharmaceuticals. Upon arrival, Raiden told his grandparents what had happened. They were pissed off and said they would discuss it during dinner.