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You could hear a pin drop in the silent room where the four boys resided, tired, worried, and frustrated. So it was no wonder that the sound of a sniffle didn't miss their ears. All eyes shifted towards the source of the sound; Kruz. The boy, seemingly coming out of his state of shock, had tears running down his cheeks. His hands were shackled behind his back; a few men had come to chan him up hours ago, assuming he'd come out of his state of shock soon. 

They weren't wrong.

"Kruz, look at me" Dennis whispered in the direction of the dazed boy who'd been staring at a speck of air ever since he had been placed there. Yet Kruz remained unresponsive. Dennis tried again, calling his name a few more times before finally getting an answer. 

"She's gone" the boy croaked. Tears soaked and reddened his cheeks, his face stiff with salt as he barely moved his lips. "Sh-she's dead...she's gone, they killed her"

The boys pursed their lips as they shared a look with each other. Ryder decided to speak next. "D-did you...did you see her Kruz? Did you see her die?" He knew it was a bit insensitive to ask such a question given Kruz's state, he didn't want him to have to relive such a terrible memory, but he wanted to know. He needed to know if she truly was dead.  

Kruz didn't answer for a while. A few minutes passed before the broken boy lifted his head slowly, tears falling from his chin. He looked at Ryder, eyes wide and dull as if he was still in a daze. "No"

It took a second for Ryder to realize that he was answering the question he had asked minutes before. "No? You didn't see her?" He questioned. No answer. "Kruz did you see her body?" He was more persistent this time. He needed an answer.

Kruz squeezed his eyes shut. "I-I...I heard it. I heard her-I heard the shot...they shot her"

"But you didn't see her body"

"N-no but I heard- I heard the shot, they shot her...she-she was shot...they-"

"Kruz" Ryder interrupted, his voice gentle but firm. "I need you to listen to me okay? We need to get out of here. Your mom, she-she might still be alive" He tried. "You didn't see her die so-"

"B-but she did...she did d-die"

"We don't know that, okay? Ryder reasoned that "they didn't let you see her, which means they were probably just using it as a scare tactic" Ryder reasoned. "They probably just wanted you to think she was dead because they knew it would render you useless. What other reason would they have to not let you see the body? These men aren't the type to kill behind your back to make a point. They'd want to shove it in your face-"

"You're wrong" Kruz shook his head, a never-ending stream of tears marrying his face. "They k-killed her, wha-what reason would they have to keep her alive?" his voice cracked, along with the hearts of his friends as they saw the grief-stricken look on his face. 

"Kruz-"

"Stop" he whimpered painfully, his eyes squeezed shut. "Pl-please don't give me f-false hope. I c-can't handle it" He didn't need to hear it from Ryder. He knew that John hadn't been bluffing. He knew that his mother was dead. "Not everyone is like your father"

Kruz was right. Growing up, his father had always taught them to always be true about their intentions and to always be honest with their kills. Killing someone as a threat only makes sense if the other party is aware of the fact that the person is dead, which means they'd have to see the body. If you can't show the body, it's only safe to assume that there is none. But his father wasn't like most other gang leaders, and even though the tactic was basically common sense, he shouldn't expect that everyone else did their business the same way.

Ryder released a pained sigh. His heart clenched inside his chest. Never, in all his years of knowing Kruz, has he ever seen or heard him sound so dejected and hopeless. His once bright, happy eyes were dull and empty, and not because of the poor lighting in the room. His once bubbly voice was cold and detached. His once proud stature was now slumped and dejected. All with good reason. But still, it wasn't something they were used to, and Ryder feared that he'd be seeing much more of it. 

Tears pricked his eyes but he blinked them away. His throat burned, and a cotton ball settled there as he made the realization. With that, he heaved a sigh. "E-even if she is really gone," the lump in his throat grew as he spoke. "We still need to find her body. We can't stay here and do nothing like they expect us to. You had a plan Kruz, us getting out of here all depends on you, do you understand? We need to get out of here for...for her at least"

"She deserves a nice funeral" Dennis mumbled, his face dripping with tears. 

Kruz choked on a sob. "With a pretty white c-casket with g-gold patterns"

"And her favorite white dress, can't forget that" Kai sniffled. "She'd probably take us down with her if we send her down in anything but that white dress" Everyone chuckled sadly at the thought, trying to hide the severity of their grief at the loss of such an amazing mother figure to them. It was a hard pill to swallow. 

"She'd want us to get out of here Kruz" Dennis mumbled, casting a sorrowful and pleading expression his way. He needed the sobbing boy to focus, or they were all damned.

A few moments passed before Kruz's sobbing and shaking calmed enough for him to focus on the task at hand. Ducking his head, he used his teeth to reach for the chain of his necklace, which proved to be a difficult task- considering his hands were tied so tightly behind his back that it hurt to move his head forward- so he had to use his tongue too. "My skin tastes salty" he sniffled as he continued to focus on the task at hand. The boys rolled their eyes at him. Leave it to Kruz to say something completely random and abstract in a life and death situation. 

After a few tries, the despondent boy finally achieved his goal; the pendant on the necklace lodged firmly in his mouth, between his teeth. He looked at the three boys again, all of them having expectant but confused expressions. Without hesitation, he clamped his molars down on the wooden pendant, the item completely breaking to pieces under the pressure.

The three boys blinked at Kruz. "Nothing's happening"

Kruz spat the remaining pieces of wood from his mouth with a grimace. "Just wait for it" he rasped as he continued to spit and cough the wood from the back of his throat. The three boys just stared confused at each other.

Then they heard it.

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Micah was pacing. Waiting. And pacing.

"Omega team, what's the status?"

"Negative sir" he received the response from his in-ear. "The bird hasn't left the cage"

Micah muttered a string of curse words under his breath as he continued his pacing. "All teams report. What's the status on your end?" All four teams replied with a similar answer. Nothing yet. Micah counted to 10 in his head to calm himself down. 

It had been a day and a half since they'd been waiting. Ryder, Kai, and Dennis had been in the building for a day and a half. The signal should have been sent by now. They should have found Kruz by now and he should have sent them a sign, or, in coded terms, 'release the bird from the cage'. The fact that it was taking so long made Micah worried. 

He had been against the plan from the very beginning. Their leader, hell, their inner circle shouldn't have been walking headfirst into danger like this. It would be so easy to execute them. It would be so easy to put a bullet through their heads. Then where would that leave the gang? It would cripple them for sure. He hated the plan. But Kruz had left a video, asking them to trust him and to follow his instructions. And the little bastard was smart too, he knew that he would have already been captured by the time they saw the video so it wouldn't have left them much time to come up with another plan. 

Micah sighed for the umpteenth time. It was nerve-wracking not knowing what was happening. Micah wasn't the type to sit around and wait. He wasn't the Head of Operations for nothing. He was used to being on the battlefield and taking action. He was used to walking into danger headfirst, but he's never had to sit and watch someone else do it, especially not the rest of his inner circle members. It was too dangerous. Especially Ryder. For the infinite time since he'd been there, he asked himself what on earth Kruz had been thinking. He knew the boy was smart, brilliant even, but he just couldn't see the logic behind the split between the inner circle members. 

He should be in there with them. Not outside watching the building trivially, like dogs, waiting for something to happen. They should have gotten the signal ages ago and as much as he didn't want to admit it, the wait made him nervous. Despite the fact that Kruz stressed the importance of following the plan step by step, Micah decided that if there was nothing from the inside by nightfall, they were going to attack. 

He had his teams stationed near different entrances of the building, hiding and watching John's men patrolling. Whenever the signal was given, one of the teams would notice and would be able to alert the others. And if no signal was given, they had enough men to be able to attack from all sides. He just prayed that he didn't have to take that route. He had no idea what the signal was that Kruz was supposed to send, but apparently, it was supposed to cause a diversion, which would alert John's security to the scene, thus giving Micah and his team little time to enter from another entrance, unnoticed; a surprise attack. He hoped it would work because without the element of surprise, he was uncertain how a head-on attack would turn out. 

However, whether or not the plan does work out, he couldn't help the unsettling feeling of dread that coiled in his stomach. He couldn't help but wonder if they would all escape unscathed. 

He looked at his wristwatch once more. Two more hours before nightfall. He released another sigh. "All teams prepare to attack at nightfall" he voiced through his in-ear. "I repeat, we forfeit the plan at nightfall and will proceed to atta-"

Just then, a loud explosion went off, interrupting him. From where he was standing, Micah could see the smoke rising from the south side of the building. 

"Sir? What do we do?" He heard one of his men ask from behind him. 

A smile graced his lips as he looked at the rising smoke. "The bird has been released. I repeat, Einstein has released the bird from the cage. We move forward with the plan"

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