Chapter Thirteen

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My head whipped towards the door. Heart pounding in my chest, I slowly moved my hand over to the drawer that held my extra weapons, and silently pulled a hand gun out.

I strained my ears, seeing if I could hear any noise from the doorway, but there was nothing. For a few anxious seconds, silence crept through the house. Then came another knock. 

Well, crap. I scrunched my brows together. The only person who would bother me or know that I was here, was Henry. But Henry would call and tell me that he was coming. Wouldn't he?

I silently crept closer to the foyer, ignoring the voices talking on the T.V., until one particular noise rang out, and I swirled around, sucking in a breath at what had just taken place. 

There Jeremy lay, on the ground, pressing a hand to his side where a moment before a bullet had gone into. The other news anchors were screaming, calling for a paramedic, and a man, who I assumed was a staff member, based on the lanyard around his neck, was running off-screen with a gun in his hand.

 One lady was screaming, "He's dead! He's dead!" Over and over again, and my face paled, remembering what he said about how he protected his mother from the police. Now who would take over that job? But wait, hang on, how'd he get away from my father?

Suddenly the sound of gunshots surrounded me, and I flinched, diving behind the island as glass came cascading down around me. Breathing heavily, I looked wildly around, trying to catch a glimpse of whoever was trying to kill me. I heard a meow, and Catsby came limping around the corner of the island, a shard of glass stuck in his paw. 

"Oh you poor thing," I murmured, gently grasping his paw, pulling the shard out and then pushing him towards the direction of my bedroom, where he gladly ran to. My eyes snapped in the direction of the entrance way as I noticed that the sounds of voices had replaced the gunfire. 

Making a decision, I carefully crawled towards my bedroom, gun in hand, avoiding the glass. Reaching the room, I shoved my feet into my black combat boots, and my arms into my dark grey jacket. Hearing someone coming in though the broken window in the living room, I rushed over to my floor length windows, grabbing my emergency backpack on the way. Inside was an extra suit, weapons, a burner phone, a water bottle, cash, and an assortment of dry foods. Shoving Catsby out, I watched as he ran in the direction of the woods before re-gripping my gun in my hand and heading off into the woods in the opposite direction.

I knew when the others had finished searching the house and came up empty handed, because that was when the yelling started. I was almost to safety when I heard a voice that made me stop in my tracks. Crouching down behind a tree, I immediately grew pale at what I saw.

There, standing right on top of the flowers that I had painstakingly planted, was Psycho and Insanity, the two main doctor-scientists who had experimented  on me in that hell place. My fingers curled in as I restrained myself from shooting at them. Not here, not now. As much as I wanted to take them down, I needed to wait until all the scientists were together. I would  take them out, all of them, when the time came. 

I prepared to take off again when another face came into view. My heart plummeted into my stomach. Standing in-between Insanity and Psycho was none other than the director of my agency, Henry.  Rage swirled in my chest as I realized that this entire time, he had been working with them. Sending me off to bring in the drug dealers? Just a ruse so he and his friends could get three more human people to experiment on, or, as they liked to call it, perfect. The same ruse that he had given me and my old teammates. My nose scrunched up in disgust. Why hadn't I realized? 

"I can't believe it," I spat quietly, glaring at the man who I had gone to for everything for the past three years. I swiveled around, ready to get out of there, when I heard a snap from underneath my foot. Gingerly looking down, I saw that I had stepped on a branch, breaking it. And I wasn't the only one who noticed.

Psycho spun around at the noise, his white lab coat swirling with him. My eyes widened with his, though mine showed fear, his glee. I felt a rush of vertigo as I stared at him, remembering the first time I had ever laid eyes on him.

---

The cell was filled with the quiet sobs of my other teammates, while I just stared blankly at the wall. Today was the day. When one of us would be chosen for perfection. I narrowed my eyes at the door of the cell as it slowly creaked open. In the doorway stood four people, two men and two women. I slowly got up, not bothering to brush off all of the dirt and dried blood that coated me and my suit. The others came and stood next to me, and we stood shoulder to shoulder, glaring defiantly. 

"Well, well, well. Look at the little heroes, trying so desperately not show their fear. Isn't it adorable, Delirium?"  The woman with pitch black hair, and who was very pale, glanced at the other female, who looked like her total opposite, with stark white hair and dark skin. 

"So correct, Insanity, as always. They'll be a fun bunch to work on." The woman grinned widely, baring her pearly white teeth at us. 

"Ladies, ladies. I do believe that we are being very rude. After all, we haven't even introduced ourselves." The first man gave us a short bow, his silvery hair shining dimly in the low light. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Psycho, these lovely ladies are Delirium and Insanity, respectively, and this, at last, but certainly not least, is Mania." Mania just stared at us, only going so far as to dip his shaved head in our direction.

"Now, now, children, let's get to the fun part." He tapped his blue latex gloved hand against his chin. "Who to pick, who to pick?" 

Jake stepped forward, ignoring the hand that I had stretched out to pull him back. "You're not taking anyone."

Insanity threw her head back, cackling. "Oh my dear boy, we certainly are. And there isn't one thing that you can do about it."

Jake took another step forward, but this time I managed to pull him back. "What are you doing?" I hissed. "They are going to take one of us, you can't stop that, Jake, no matter how much you want to."

Jake's eyes softened as he looked at my face, which was evidently showing my panic. "Ben, I have to try."

I glared at him. "No, you don't. You'll just get yourself killed."

Delirium tsked at us. "Sorry to break up the party, lovebirds, but we're leaving, and bringing her with us." She stretched out a white manicured hand towards Taylor, who shrunk back behind Liam, her black hair covering her face.

My chest squeezed in panic. No. "No." I pulled away from Jake, who's arm was wrapped around my waist, and swallowed, taking a step forward. "Take me."

"Oh, plot twist," Mania rasped in a broken voice, pale eyes meeting my own. 

Psycho tilted his head, shrugging. "Very well. You'll do, I suppose. Come forward, and please,  don't make this any worse than it has to be." He grabbed handcuffs from the inside of his coat pocket, and I walked forward, ignoring Jake's voice.

"Ben- Ben, come on- no- take me instead." Jake made to move forward, but Psycho had already clicked the handcuffs into place around my wrists. 

Insanity shrugged, grinning. "Too late." They turned to go, dragging me with them. I twisted my body, glancing behind me to see Mania locking the door of the cell once more, my group staring after me.

Right before we turned the corner, my eyes met Jake's and his mouth whispered the words that broke my heart.

I love you.

---

I snapped back into reality, my eyes narrowing into slits as I flipped him off, and then took off, sprinting into the forest, jumping over the rocks and fallen trees.

I looked up at a loud noise, and, just as I thought, a helicopter was following me from above, a man with a machine gun perched at the ledge of the opening, strapped in so that he wouldn't plummet to his death. Pity. 

He must've spotted me, for soon enough, gunfire spewed up the earth around me, and I started running in a zigzag pattern, becoming a hard target. A bullet hit the tree right beside me, and I turned away, now running in a different direction. Soon, the sound of rushing water filled my ears, and I gulped, knowing what was up ahead. 

Sure enough, the river appeared, the white water rapids pouring over the jagged rocks. I took a big breath, shoving my gun, safety now on, into my backpack and sent up a quick thanks that my backpack was waterproof. Then I jumped in close to the edge, gripping the ledge, and tucked myself into the overhang. Fifteen seconds later, the helicopter appeared, circling the area. After two minutes, they gave up, turning around and heading back in the direction of my house.

I emerged from underneath the water, gasping for breath. They were testing how long I could hold my breath, that was for sure. Coughing, I dragged myself up onto the dry land, shivering in the lukewarm temperature.

After catching my breath, I stood up, walking along the edge of the river until I reached the spot where a big oak had fallen across the river. Resettling my backpack on my back, I stretched out my arms to either side, and began to cross, catching myself once or twice. 

Once I was safely on the other side, I began to make my way once more to my original destination; the town. I was in much deeper trouble, now that I knew Henry was working with the scientists. Going back to the Agency was out of the question, as none of the other directors would believe that their associate was working with the people who had supposedly killed five of their agents. I wondered if they knew the truth that my old teammates were actually alive. Probably not. 

The only people in that agency who for sure knew was my father, me, and Henry, since he was working with the scientists. They would've told him. But then why didn't he tell the other directors? Probably because they would've questioned him, Ben, that lovely little voice called common sense whispered. I shook my head. I needed a change of clothes and coffee before I could figure that out. It was only ten o'clock in the morning, after all. 

Soon I reached the town, ignoring the weird looks that I received from people, wondering why a soaking wet, muddy girl was walking though town with a backpack. You'd think I would have dried off by now, but no. 

I made my way to the hotel, where my old teammates were staying. Staring at the entrance, I took a deep breath. Sure, I ran away from them only yesterday, but that was when I wasn't ready to face them. Now, I didn't have a choice. If I was going to fulfill my mission of taking the scientists down, I needed help. Their help.

Pushing open the door, a warm interior greeted me, and I immediately sighed in content. The lady at the front desk looked up, and smiled at me. "Hello, Bentley! How are you doing? I haven't seen you in forever! The internship in Colorado going well?" 

I smiled at the woman. "Yes, Mrs. Brinks. It's going great. My boss recently came down with a touch of betra- a bad cold, so I got the week off."

Mrs. Brinks laughed, the wrinkles around her eyes making an appearance. "Lucky you! I'm stuck here, and more busy than ever, I must say."

I grimaced sympathetically. "I'm sorry. But business must be good, right?"

"Oh very! And so many nice, polite, young people, too! You should get to know them, dear. It would do you well to have friends your age, instead of hanging around an old lady like me."

I chuckled, coming over to stand by the potted plant near her desk. "You're delightful company, Mrs. Brinks! I wouldn't trade you and your blueberry scones for anything."

The lady grinned, smoothing back her silvery hair that was in it's usual bun. "Oh dear, now I'm blushing. But, speaking of scones," she reached under her desk, and I automatically straightened, fingers twitching for my gun, even though I knew that Mrs. Brinks wouldn't hurt a fly. She pulled a bag filled with scones, and I relaxed, the tension fading from my shoulders. "These are for you."

I walked forward and took the bag, mouth watering. Mrs. Brinks always made the best scones. I told her such, and the woman smiled. "Thank you, dear. Now, I've kept you waiting. Did you need something?"

I finished tucking the bag of blueberry scones into my backpack, and zipped it up, slinging it onto my back. "As a matter of fact, yes. I would like to meet this group of young people. You said they were staying here?"

Mrs. Brinks looked down at her computer screen. "Yes, in room 13. Would you like me to show you the way?" 

I smiled in thanks at her. "I think I've got it. Thanks, Mrs. Brinks!" 

"Anytime, dear. Have a good day." Mrs. Brinks turned back to her computer screen, and I made my way down the hallway, walking until I found room 13. 

Pausing outside, I listened to the voices inside. "Jeremy, Kara, and Tom were targeted? But why? This makes no sense!" The voices murmured to each other as I stood, shocked, fist paused midair.

Kara and Tom were hit, too? I frowned. So that answered my question if they were working with the scientists or not. Embarrassment flooded through me, as I recalled my actions. There would be time to apologize later, though, if they didn't meet a similar fate as Jeremy. Right now, I had a mission to focus on.

Steeling myself, I took a breath, and knocked on the door. Silence came from the other side, and I stood, dripping with water, until I heard footsteps nearing. My breath caught, and I braced myself as the doorknob turned, pulse quickening. The door opened slowly, and I smiled weakly at the person who stood still, mouth gaping open, staring at me.

"Hello, Liam."




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