Chapter Twenty-Three

Harry

Chills went down my back as Ethan's urgent eyes encouraged me to speak. To say something - anything.

"W-what are we going to do?" Hugh shrilled, pacing the room frantically and ensuring he stayed well away from any doors or windows.

My eyes followed his pacing distractedly. I was gone weirdly numb. It felt like I was inside in a protective sound proof bubble while all of the chaos happened around me. But I knew my little bubble wouldn't last long.

"Harry! Talk to me!" Ethan demanded, shaking my shoulders. It felt weird to be touched by him after all these months. By the sounds of what he was saying earlier, we were over for good. I hadn't anticipated him laying a finger on me anytime soon.

"Harry!" Hugh shouted, coming to stand beside Ethan, poking me hard in the arm. My dazed eyes snapped to where he had poked me and once my eyes landed on his frantic ones, it seemed to break the spell I had been under.

My scrambled mind urgently tried to piece itself back together - I didn't know how they had found us, but they had. We had no time to lose - I needed to get a grip.

"We need to get into positions," I murmured. I looked at Ethan and knew that the more information I threw at him, the more likely he would hate me.

"How do you know about our positions? We only decided on them two months ago." He wasn't even shocked. It seemed nothing more I could say would shock him, at this stage. He was done with being surprised at my antics.

"Harvey and I discussed it weeks ago - we didn't leave a stone unturned. I didn't go into this mission half-arsed," I replied, my eyes saddening again. I couldn't help it - the sickness that went through me whenever I tried to explain myself to Ethan was fucking me up. I didn't want to look pathetic or weepy in front of him, but I physically couldn't help myself.

He took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay. So where's yours?"

"I'm with Hugh."

Hugh looked as confused as anything. "What are you talking about? What positions?"

I sighed and rolled my eyes, walking to Hugh. I hadn't noticed Ethan's hands had stayed on my shoulders until I moved and they fell off. I tried to catch Ethan's eye as a tiny bit of hope ignited in me, but he remained stubbornly unresponsive.

"Remember, Hugh? I told you this ages ago! Don't tell me you forgot!" I chastised. I was lying. I had never told Hugh about our positions.

The confusion didn't lift from his face but he pretended to suddenly remember. Always the people pleaser. "Oh! Yes! I remember. The two of us together - righty-oh. You lead the way, then!" Hugh smiled uncertainly. I could tell he was trying to mask how scared he was. And that was why I was doing this.

I started walking down the corridors I had known so well, turning at every corner until I got to the room I was looking for. It was located at the very back of the windiest corner - Harvey had it specially made for me. Ethan and Hugh followed close behind me.

It was disguised as a large portrait painting of the mansion taken from high in the sky. The only way to open it was to place my finger in the exact spot behind the 'frame'. It was a finger-print device. It opened automatically at my touch.

It was hidden incredibly and even to those who found the finger recognition would fail at opening it - only myself, Jennifer and Harvey could open it.

"After you!" I smiled broadly to Hugh, tears filling my eyes. I looked away quickly before he could see them. I could see him grin and nod, walking into the room ahead of me.

"Ooh, this is a nice room! Jennifer, what are you doing here?" he proclaimed before I shut the door behind him. I heard him shout when the door slammed followed by frantic poundings against it. He was trying to open it but it was futile - it couldn't be opened inside. At least not by Hugh.

There was another finger recognition device in the room that only Jennifer could use.

"Harry! What the hell?" he shouted. It was muffled through the walls but I could hear him clearly.

Tears slipped down my cheeks as I walked away, back the corridor we had come.

"What are you doing?" Ethan questioned lowly, not budging from the door/painting and looking extremely bewildered.

I glanced back, wiping my eyes. "I told Harvey to have this 'safe room' ready if anything like this was to happen. Jennifer will explain everything to Hugh and calm him down. Only her finger print can open the door from the inside but Hugh doesn't need to know that right now."

Ethan walked to me, still not understanding. "Why is he in there?"

"Because he's not strong enough to be out here. He isn't a trained agent like us - he's just a normal, soppy, emotional guy. He wouldn't stand a chance. Jennifer will be with him, it's okay. Now let's keep moving. My position is actually with you and Harvey in the control room."

I kept walking down the corridor, sniffling and wiping my eyes roughly. I would see Hugh again - there was no time for tears. I couldn't dwell on the fact that I may not make it out alive.

There was a vent inside in the room that led to a secret tunnel out of the mansion. They would be okay, even if the rest of us demised.

My big brother would be okay.

Ethan followed wordlessly. I could nearly hear his mind racing, full of questions to ask me and full of accusations to hurl at me. But now wasn't the time.

The control room was located ten minutes away, down the electronically lit corridors of the underground centre, built beneath the luscious grounds of the mansion. It was a silent walk the entire way. I kept sneaking looks at Ethan, trying to read his face but to no avail.

He was gone back into his former self - it had taken me years to get that constant stoic look off of his face. I had never been able to read him before, back when we first met. And I felt that way again. It frightened me that he was being serious. That our future was over.

The dreaded feeling of what could happen today was sinking in, though. With every passing second of our silent walk to the control room, my mind was racing. The last time I had encountered Michael Taylor, it was in a collapsing warehouse. He would have shot me dead if Georgie hadn't pushed me out of the way and taken the shot himself.

Today would end with another death - either mine or Michael's, my daddy dearest. Nobody else would die for me. This was another thing I had spoken to Harvey about. If it came down to it, I would be the one to face Michael - nobody else.

People did what Harvey said. And if Harvey told people to back down from killing Michael so I could, they would do it.

"How do you think they found us?" Ethan asked. We were two minutes away from the control room. The corridors we were walking now were sickly white and illuminated with bright, blinding lights. It was a big change from the old-style historical mansion we had left.

"I'm guessing the double-agent told them. I don't know. I don't really care, either. I've been waiting for this day for a long time - might as well happen today," I said, biting my lip anxiously. I was anxious, but I was ready.

Ethan didn't answer but I could tell his stance had gotten stiffer as we walked.

The door to the control room loomed at the end of the corridor. It required a finger-print to enter so Ethan went forward, pressing his finger against the high-tech looking screen on the wall. The double doors immediately opened.

Inside was a room full of screens, laptops and computers. They were linked to every single camera in the place and every single alarm on each door and window. Harvey sat at the main operating table, his eyes flickering to every screen in concentration.

He didn't budge his attention when Ethan and I walked in. I gazed around at the monitors, seeing every room in the mansion deserted. There were various stations around the mansion in which every agent was designated.

The sniper tower was on the roof of the mansion, with a full 360 view of the grounds. Every floor had a team of agents, ready to pounce at the quietest of movements, situated in the most conspicuous of places.

There were agents with us here in the underground centre too, who controlled electronic weapons outside on the grounds. They were in various different rooms which held various different functions. One room primarily focused on the minefields that were placed around the grounds. The agents within that room decided if or when those minefields should go off

"Strange..." Harvey murmured.

"What is?" Ethan asked, staring at the screens Harvey was looking at too.

"They're not getting out of their cars," Harvey frowned.

On the screen that showed the area outside of the main doors, seven black jeeps were parked there. And nobody was budging from them.

"What are they waiting for?" I said angrily, scoffing and pacing the room when I grew tired of squinting, trying to see who was behind the blacked out windows.

Harvey and Ethan were distracted by the screens and I knew this was my chance. There was a small room off of this room that I walked quietly through. Ethan didn't even notice I had walked away.

I went over to the steel cupboards that held the weapons Harvey promised would be there. He had been true to his word.

I started putting on the straps that would hold the guns all over my body. Some around my ankles, which would be hidden by my pants and the rest around my torso that would be hidden by my suit jacket that I had worn to Georgie's funeral. I did it as quietly and quickly as possible.

I had always wanted to be like James Bond and at least now I looked the part. I didn't feel as brave as I had envisioned, though.

"What are you doing?" Ethan said from behind me.

I jumped as I slotted the final gun into its strap and quickly buttoned my suit jacket before turning around to face Ethan.

"Nothing - I just wanted to grab one gun just in case."

"Do you think I'm an idiot?" Ethan's eyes narrowed. He had probably been standing behind me for a lot longer than I'd thought.

I signed and walked past him, out of the room. "I'm just being precautious. You can never be too careful, eh Harvey?" I nudged Harvey jokingly as I stood beside him again. His eyes didn't waver from the screens.

"Tell him the truth, Harry," Harvey murmured.

I glared at Harvey. He couldn't take the time to look away from the screen but he could manage to fuck shit up even more between Ethan and I.

"For once," Ethan said acidly, walking to stand directly in front of me, his eyes fixed on my face.

I tried to ignore my heart thumping as I imagined his reaction. My throat went dry but I knew that if I prolonged answering him any longer, he would just get even more annoyed than he already was.

"No agent is allowed to kill Michael. Once we have reliable confirmation of his location, I'm going there. If he dies, it's only going to be by my hands." It wasn't so bad once I'd said it - I had been so terrified of his reaction but now, I felt sort of free. And besides, Ethan didn't want anything to do with me anymore so I had probably built it all up in my head for noth-

"Well you can forget about that," Ethan said simply, walking back to Harvey and staring at the screen.

My mouth dropped open in outrage and it took me a few seconds to recover.

"What the fuck do you mean by that?" I argued, striding over to him, my hands on my hips.

"I mean that you're not leaving this room until they're all dead," Ethan didn't even look at me as he spoke so coolly. I was getting more agitated at how calmly he was telling me what I could and couldn't do.

I took a deep breath to calm down. I had the upper hand, here.

"Harvey has given me permission and told all the other agents, so you don't have a choice in the matter," I said. I wasn't trying to piss him off and to be honest, I was surprised that he even cared. I was more than surprised, really. I thought he despised me now - surely he would get a kick from seeing me shit my pants on the monitors, trying to take down the biggest bad guy I had ever faced.

Ethan finally reacted, breaking his cool exterior, and snapped his eyes down to Harvey accusatorily. "Is this true, Harvey?" Ethan was already furious at Harvey for keeping my mission a secret from him. This wouldn't help. The shit was beginning to hit the fan.

Harvey sighed tiredly and rubbed his eyes as he finally looked away from the screens. "Yes."

I tried not to smile smugly because this was a serious matter, but I couldn't stop my lips from twitching. It seemed my brain hadn't realised that I was smiling smugly at the fact that I was going out to face my biggest fear and probably had a fifty percent chance of living.

I hoped my brain would never realise that fact - otherwise, I was screwed.

"Let me guess, you decided this weeks ago amongst yourselves? Another decision made that affects my life but hey, who gives a shit what I think?" Ethan threw his arms in the air in anger, striding over to the other side of the room and kicking a dustbin for good measure.

"I thought our future was non-existent anyway, so I don't get how this affects your life?" I threw back at him. Okay, so I was acting like a dickhead. I knew I was - but I honestly couldn't stop myself. I was too hurt and heartbroken over the prospect of him literally never forgiving me.

Forgiving me for something I had thought was the right thing to do.

I understood that he had a right to be angry - I had known he would be. But I never thought he would be this angry. I had lain awake at night in Australia, thinking about when we could be reunited. I daydreamed about how his anger would turn to passion and passion back to love and he would see why I had done this mission.

It wasn't as if I had done it to hurt him - I would never want to hurt him. And it was difficult to take his anger towards me gracefully when I had been through such hell over the past few months for us.

I was a loose cannon as it was - my restraints in social situations were nonexistent and they were starting to evaporate right now, too.

"How can you say that? Are you listening to yourself?" his voice was thunderous and he looked like he could kill me, "Can't you see that I hate you so much for what you've done because I can never stop loving you? I'm hurt, Harry. I'm so fucking hurt and angry that I can't get passed it - not right now. Not when I just found out that you were on a mission that I knew nothing about! Not when I'm still so heartbroken over the person who left me here all alone!"

"I -," I began to speak.

"Don't interrupt me."

"Sorry," I squeaked, my throat getting tighter as I listened to his agonised voice tell me the feelings he had bottled for so long. I had wanted this - I had wanted him to open up to me. But I didn't think it would hurt my heart this fucking much. This wasn't the time for this conversation... but I was afraid to stop him. Afraid we wouldn't get another chance.

"I hate that I can't stop worrying about you... I want to find out every detail about what happened in fucking Australia and kill anyone who hurt you. But I know I can't. Because you won't tell me. And I hate that you could lie to me so easily. I hate that you drove away, even when you saw me running after you crying. I begged you not to leave me - and you didn't even flinch. I know it was all an act - I know that. I know you did it for 'us'. But I wouldn't have been able to do it. Not when I saw you breaking down in front of me. Not when I saw you lie awake at night beside me, wondering what you were doing wrong. I could never have left you."

I bit my lip hard as the tears I had been holding in threatened to undo me. My hands were shaking as I tried to maintain control. Now wasn't the right time to have a fucking breakdown. I needed to get a grip. I needed to understand that what he was saying to me was true.

I did a bad thing. And I was having a really tough time determining if that made me a bad person.

My lips were trembling as I tried to put a sentence together but I couldn't. I felt like my head was going to explode from trying to keep the tears in and Ethan's eyes were on me, expectant and sad and waiting for me to make things better.

"Harry cried every day during our 'extra meetings' and threatened to tell you at least three times a day. He had to get four counselling sessions a week before he left because he was becoming depressed from doing this to you and every day I had to convince him that he was doing the right thing. After his arguments with you, he would come to me and have panic attacks, breakdowns and sometimes I had to give him something to calm him down. The day he told you he didn't think your love was 'real', I had to bring the counsellor to sit with him all day so he wouldn't back out. The day he drove away from you, he pulled in once you were out of sight and had another panic attack. Hugh had to take over the driver's seat and drive him to a location in which I brought a doctor and his counsellor. He was determined to drive back to you so we did the only thing we thought was best and drugged him. Hugh consented, but after many tears. We all knew it was for the best but Harry couldn't see that - not after seeing you so upset. He gained consciousness in Australia and once he was overseas he knew he had to stay. That is, until he began ringing me every day and begged me to let him come back. When I refused, he cried until he had no more tears. Jennifer often took over the calls at those points. She became a sort of agony aunt. Harry received updates on you every week and I'm sure it was just as painful to him to see you so hurt as it was to you. So if you're going to take it out on anyone, take it out on me. Because I essentially forced him into doing this. He never had a choice."

Harvey spoke simply and quietly. My both gaped open, shocked at how frank he was being. I felt some form of gratitude towards him but I knew his speech was futile - I had still made the final decision by not telling Ethan. He would never see past that.

Ethan's eyes were on me and I couldn't read them. He started to speak, this time in what seemed to be a softer tone, until noise from the speakers of the camera we were watching erupted into the room.

We all jumped, running back to the monitor and staring at it. We had the volume up to the highest so as to not mishear one single word.

"They're getting out of the cars," I murmured, my chest tightening. But I was also beginning to feel riled up - I wanted to put a bullet between my father's eyes - the same way he had done it to Georgie.

"Who's walking out to greet them? There's someone..." Ethan stopped speaking when the person walking out of the mansion doors to greet the cars came into view. "Nathan. That fucking bastard!"

I vaguely remembered Nathan from when I lived here full time - I had never liked him. He sucked up too much. And I never liked the way he looked at Ethan - no matter how many times Ethan told me Nathan had a girlfriend.

He had opened up all of the doors and windows - the fucking asshole had given them a one-way ticket in. Harvey started jabbing a button, obviously trying to put the place into lock-down once more but I knew that it wasn't working.

Nathan had disconnected and possibly destroyed any means of security in this place. It must have been months of planning.

Harvey shook his head sadly. "What a waste of young talent." He saw all of his agents as family and I'm sure it killed him to know we would have to take out Nathan at any chance. He was an enemy now.

The people emerging from the cars were all strangers to me until I started realising I had seen them all at some stage in my life. Some had been waiting staff at the party Ethan and I had thrown the night Grant Jefferson died. Some were bar staff from Hugh's club's opening night.

One person who stood out to me in particular was a woman with an extremely familiar chest. She had been at the club opening all those years ago and also at our house the same night Grant died. I remembered her fondly from the two assets located on her chest. She was dressed in all black now, though. It seemed they all were - they were all dressed for battle.

I caught Ethan's eye and knew he was recognising everyone, too. It was killing me to know how close we were to all of these people and had let them get away.

I gasped as the next few people emerged from cars and stood with the group who were gathered under the balcony by the main doors. They were concealed from every sniper in the area standing underneath that balcony so obviously Nathan had filled them in on that.

Kyle and Stephanie Brant stood amongst the group except this time their normally happy, dopey smiles were replaced with menacing looks. My heart was beating so loud I could feel it in my ears.

"Holy fucking Jesus," I whispered at seeing them.

Ethan grasped onto the chair Harvey was sitting in. He had gone very pale.

"They were working for Michael and Dawson all along..." Ethan murmured, in shock.

I didn't know how things could get much worse until they did.

Kim, our trusted and loyal friend, stood proudly next to a stressed looking Captain Alaric Dawson. It was quite funny, seeing the fifteen or so of them all huddled like cattle beneath a tiny jutting of balcony.

"But where is -," Harvey began to question impatiently until the man of the moment, Michael Taylor, came into view. None of them spoke. Nathan must have told them about the voice recorders in the cameras.

"Permission to engage minefield 14," a voice suddenly emitted from the microphone in the room. We were connected by voice and hearing aids to every agent with us. It seemed there was a bomb set up directly underneath the beautiful stones of the main entrance.

Harvey looked to me. I gulped. As much as I wanted to kill Michael myself, I knew that if there was a chance he could be blown to bits before this even started, I would take it. If I could possibly spare the lives of my fellow agents by not putting them through a war, it was my duty.

I nodded to Harvey. It couldn't be this easy, though. It surely couldn't.

And it wasn't.

After a couple of strained seconds where nothing happened, the agents voice came back onto the microphone but this time a lot more panicked.

"All minefields have been disconnected - I repeat, all minefields disconnected!"

Harvey slammed his fist against the table. I jumped at his movement - it was unexpected of Harvey to have such a fiery physical reaction.

As if on cue, the group in black on the cameras all seemed to rearrange themselves into groups. I couldn't find a pattern.

"What are they doing?" Ethan muttered, standing closer to me.

Once they all stopped moving, they were still. Until Michael eerily stared straight into the camera with a nasty, creepy smile on his face.

"Daddy's coming for you, Harry."

He lifted the gun he was holding in his hand and pointed it at the camera. Bang!

Blackness. He had shot the camera down. We had no visuals on them. The security cameras dotted around the place were virtually invisible unless you stared really hard to find them - they blended in to their surroundings effortlessly.

I knew then that they had an upper hand - Nathan had told them literally everything about the place.

It seemed Ethan had realised this, too. "I want to be the one who kills Nathan."

I scoffed. "You won't get a chance - you're not leaving this room!" It stated clearly that Ethan's place for the entirety of breeches of security was in this control room with Harvey. No leaving allowed.

"If you're going so am I!" he retorted.

I looked at Harvey, urging him to back me up.

"I can't stop him from doing this. I'm sorry, Harry."

I squared up to Ethan, my eyes narrowed. "If you die and I don't, Moore, I will fucking kill you. That is not an option. You're not leaving me behind - so don't follow me hoping to be the big hero. Because I don't need heroes anymore - I need justice and sweet revenge."

Ethan clenched his jaw, staring me back. "Whatever happens, happens."

I started to fight him back until movement was picked up from various cameras around the room. Their screens would light up if any movement was detected and at this stage, four screens were lit.

They were making their ways into the mansion from different directions. How weren't the snipers getting visuals?

"Get a visual report from the snipers," I commanded Harvey. It felt odd to be telling him what to do, but he complied immediately.

"Sniper One, please confirm your position and visuals," Harvey said into the microphone.

No answer.

He paused and tried again. Still no answer.

"All snipers report your positions!" he commanded into the microphone, his voice getting shriller.

No answer.

He turned to face us, his face going slack. We knew what this meant. They were probably all dead or unconscious. But how?

I took a deep breath and knew that we had been too calm about this - we should have known they would have the upper hand. They wouldn't have charged onto our property with such cockiness otherwise.

We checked on each floor of the mansion, getting confirmation on people's positions. Thankfully, we got a reply from each of the leaders of those groups. The agents out on the field, waiting in the shadows, were still okay.

We still had some defence left.

I couldn't get enough monitors and cameras into my viewing range and every time I looked away from one camera, I felt I was missing something vital on the ones behind me.

"You look at this wall; I'll look at the other one," Ethan said calmly to me as I began getting panicked. I nodded and took a deep breath, trying to remain as collected as he was.

I got visuals of four of the enemies on the first floor, headed for the hospital wing. All of their hoods were pulled up and a bandana pulled over their faces, revealing just their eyes. We had no idea who was who.

I suddenly worried for Dr. Rushman. Where would he and his two nurses hide?

Before I could ask Harvey, gun shots ran through the microphones. The noise was becoming too much so Harvey controlled it using the large keyboard in front of him. He was able to pull the volume up for one screen at a time and listen to that one only, muting all others.

There was too much chaos going on around us, though. We couldn't mute for long - the roaring of gunshots and shouts would be something we needed to get used to.

My eye focused on one particular screen. There were people shooting in the main hallways of the mansion. The area we all gathered in most frequently... The place that welcomed people into our home.

"We need to get out there," I breathed, watching as one of our own sprinted down the hallways after an enemy, firing his gun. I felt like a pathetic wimp staying in this room while all of the rest were out there, risking their lives. It wasn't just to kill Michael, now. I was going out there to help my fellow agents.

"Not yet. Wait until our people have taken out a few more of theirs. We'll have a better chance of getting Michael, then. He wouldn't make the mistake of getting killed - not before he got to you, anyway. He'll be waiting for you - trust me." Harvey was being brutally honest and I was glad. We didn't have time to beat around the bush anymore.

We waited a further fifteen minutes, watching as the mayhem played out. I recoiled and punched the wall or whatever I could get my hands on when one of our agents was shot down. But it was a lose-lose situation since I didn't feel any better when an enemy was killed. Death and destruction was still happening to those who were essentially being caught in the crossfire between me and my father.

I felt a sense of responsibility for all that was happening but I didn't need to voice it since I knew myself that I was being ridiculous. Michael Taylor and Alaric Dawson were the puppeteers of this charade. They were the ones with all of the blood on their hands.

"Okay, I think it's time," I couldn't stand it any longer - I had to get out there and help, "There's seven of them left, including Dawson and Michael! We're needed out there - too many of ours have died. They won't be able to take them alone!"

Although eight of the intruders had been gunned down, the seven that remained were just as ruthless and our numbers were waning. I didn't want to think about how many of us had been killed. I was certain that Dawson and Michael were still alive - I could just feel it.

I was already walking towards the door while I was talking. At this point, even if Harvey told me I couldn't leave, I wasn't going to listen.

"Fine. But wait a second."

Harvey got up from his chair and walked towards me. I frowned, wondering what he was up to.

He handed me an earpiece. "Put this into your ear. I'll be on the other end. I'll be able to see everything from here - I can help you two."

I nodded and took it, putting it into my ear.

He enveloped me with a tight hug. It only lasted about five seconds but I could feel how much he cared for me. How much he feared for me.

"Don't be too reckless," he said with a wobbly laugh - he was getting emotional.

I just nodded, not answering him verbally. Because I couldn't promise anything - not once I was out there.

Ethan had walked to the door too, his hand on the handle. He had strapped weapons to himself in the last ten minutes. I had tried to argue with him again but he wasn't listening.

"Be safe, Ethan," Harvey looked to Ethan with sad eyes.

Ethan nodded solemnly, not moving from where he was standing. He was too angry and betrayed to get all sentimental with us now. And that was probably the worst thing - that if I were to die today, we would end on such bad terms. I worried that if I did die, Ethan would never forgive Harvey.

I was surprised at how easily I was thinking about my own potential death. I wasn't afraid of death anymore, though - I was afraid of living this life for a second longer. My father's hold over me, Ethan and everyone else had been worse than death these past few years.

I patted Harvey on the shoulder once more before turning to walk to Ethan at the door, a solemn look on my face, too.

"Is there anything I can say to get you to stay here? Anything?" I pleaded for the last time, knowing myself it was futile.

"For the last time - no. Now, let's go."

I turned and winked at Harvey with a smile as I followed Ethan out into the hall. I wanted Harvey to think I wasn't shitting my pants. I wanted him to think I was ready. That I was my normal confident self. That might hopefully give him some peace of mind.

We crept along the halls, ensuring to keep to the same side, our guns in our hands ready for action.

I led the two of us. I was making it clear to Ethan that if he was insistent on coming with me, I was calling the shots. Thankfully, he didn't argue with me. I was able to think of my own death without any qualms or fears but the mere notion of Ethan dying was enough to make my hands shake. I needed to keep my mind clear - if I thought of Ethan getting killed or hurt, I wouldn't be able to keep walking.

As we neared the mansion from the underground tunnels, it was eerily quiet. Too quiet. It was worse than the gunshots.

I motioned for Ethan and me to turn right at the next junction of corridors. We were leaving the white, windowless halls and coming back into the old mansion again. Left would lead us to the main hallway. Right took us the long way around.

We didn't make a sound as we crept, making sure to check every room we passed. Most of the doors were open so it was easy to look into them. The ones that were closed were riskier, but we hadn't come into any trouble. Yet.

We came to another junction. Left led us to the hospital wing and right led us towards the dining room.

"There are two gunmen holding Rushman and his nurses' hostage in the hospital wing," Harvey's voice suddenly burst into my ear. I jumped slightly, causing Ethan to instinctively block me with his arm, coming to stand before me, his eyes wild looking ahead for the source of my fright.

I hit his arm, pointing to the earpiece with a glare. I had made it clear to him that he wasn't to act the hero. If there actually had been a shooter, Ethan put himself directly into the firing line.

I gave a thumbs up, knowing Harvey would be able to see it through whatever camera he was looking at. I wasn't going to risk being found by speaking.

I looked at Ethan, pointing left. "Hostages," I mouthed to him. He understood immediately, following my lead.

Dr. Rushman and his team had brought me back to life two years ago when we first came here. It was my turn to save their lives, now.

We moved quickly down the hall to the hospital, knowing that there would be no enemies down here to attack us. There were no other rooms down here apart from when we got to the end of this corridor into the hospital wing. If there was danger down here, Harvey would tell us immediately from the cameras.

There were no cameras inside in most rooms but they were out in every single hallway.

"Take your time - they're all inside in the cafeteria," Harvey instructed. I kept jumping whenever I heard his voice - it would be hard to get used to this fucking earpiece.

"Cafeteria," I whispered to Ethan. He swallowed hard and nodded. He was feeling just as anxious as I was.

We gently pushed the swinging doors into the hospital wing open, ensuring they closed again quietly.

There were several rooms in this hospital wing but all doors were open and unlike the rest of the mansion, there were cameras everywhere here.

The cafeteria was a large square room to the right. We passed the nurse's station and came to the closed door of the room in question.

I took a deep breath, counting down from three with my fingers, my eyes on Ethan. We both knew the drill.

Keeping our eyes locked, we only broke contact when my fingers reached 'one'. I immediately opened the door, launching myself into the room, my gun raised and ready.

It seemed they had been waiting for an ambush. Two people in balaclavas and black hoodies were standing behind two chairs. Sitting in the chairs was Rushman and a petrified looking nurse.

There was dead nurse lying to my left. I recognised her immediately as the nurse who had helped me two years ago. Her eyes were still open, staring right at me. Blood was stained on her uniform. It was as if she had dressed up for Halloween or something - it was hard to believe she was dead.

I halted immediately. The two balaclavas had guns pointed at the remaining hostage's heads.

"Stop, Ethan!" I said quickly as he tore into the room behind me, his gun raised too. Once he saw the situation he immediately stopped moving.

We both kept our guns pointed at them, though.

"Okay, this doesn't have to end in a bloodbath," I said slowly, raising my free hand in what was meant to be a peace gesture. Rushman was breathing heavily but I could tell he was trying to act brave.

"Yeah, just put the guns down and we can talk through this," Ethan added. His voice was hard and menacing, though. It seemed he was too far gone to be peaceful anymore. Maybe it was because he didn't owe Rushman as much as I did.

The poor nurse was crying. She looked no older than forty. I wondered if she had kids and a family.

The two intruders started laughing. It was quiet evident that one was a woman. I recognised her eyes. I recognised the other intruder's eyes, too.

"Kyle and Stephanie," I breathed in shock. I had known they were part of this when I first saw them on the monitors but seeing them in person, terrorising and murdering innocent people... These were the two airheads with their adorable twin girls. It was tough seeing them as monsters.

How could we have overlooked them?

They didn't remove their balaclavas. Maybe they were actually as stupid as I had thought and hoped we wouldn't be able to see right through them.

Finally, the taller intruder who I assumed was Kyle sighed, using his free hand to reach up and remove his hood and balaclava.

The all-American, blonde, handsome boy who I had come to actually like stared back at us with cold eyes. It wasn't long before Stephanie removed hers too, her eyes just as cold.

Ethan took a slight step forward. I didn't think he meant to but the shock and anger at seeing their faces seemed to drive him forward.

I was having a very tough time not shooting them right in the face myself.

But I knew that if I shot one of them, the other would shoot their hostage before we got to them. And I wasn't willing to risk someone's life like that.

"Okay, okay, you got us!" Kyle laughed cockily.

"It only took you about three years!" Stephanie added with a shrill of laughter. My blood was beginning to boil and my gun, that was still raised towards them, started to shake as my hand did in anger.

"Did you kill this poor woman?" Ethan's first question came out like a snarl as he gestured towards the dead nurse on the ground.

A giggle slipped from Stephanie's mouth. "She wouldn't stop fucking screaming so we... silenced her..."

The living nurse let out a sob but I could tell her was using all of her strength to stay quiet. She didn't want to end up like her friend. Rushman was staring at the ground, a grave look on his face.

Kyle started laughing too and something about his voice resonated with me. I urged my brain to give me the answer... It was on the tip of my tongue...

This was typical - I couldn't think of the answer but I would remember it later on -

"You killed Grant Jefferson," I said automatically to Kyle. I had barely heard myself say it but once I said it, I knew it was true.

It was Kyle's voice that had been on the recording Georgie had brought to us, all that time ago. I couldn't believe I'd remembered it but it seemed as if my brain had actually worked for once when I wanted it to.

It was all making such sense now.

"You're right," Ethan said incredulously, his eyes widening with remembrance too.

Kyle sighed. "I didn't mean to kill him. I just wanted to scare him! It wasn't my fucking fault - Michael told me to go to extreme measures if I had to but I guess I don't know my own power." His cockiness was driving me insane.

"How did the two of you get tangled up in this? You're just two young idiots in love, for fuck's sake!" I was having trouble controlling the shakiness in my voice too - the pure lividness at seeing their smiling faces was having an almighty impact.

"We've known Michael for years. He's a good friend of both of our parents - a very good friend. He offered us a couple of million to move to the shitty neighbourhood and on top of that, he started training us up to becoming the awesome spies we are today!" Kyle had a face so cocky and self-assured, shooting him wouldn't be enough. I wanted to beat the actual shit out of him.

"You're not fucking 'spies' you absolute dipshit. You're retards with guns, no morals and too much money."

My words didn't resonate well with them as both on the smiles on their faces dropped marginally. Kyle, in particular, was having trouble with my lack of respect for him.

"Look at you," I began, not being able to help myself, "you're a fucking pathetic loser whose trying to make up for his tiny dick by holding a big gun to innocent, defenceless people's heads."

"Harry," Ethan warned quietly. Kyle was getting riled up. He had the gun held to Rushman's head but I knew he wouldn't shoot him. Not yet, anyway.

Kyle's cheeks went red with anger. "I should have fucking killed you when I had the chance, you asshole! If I'd known you were wearing a bulletproof vest I would have aimed for your stupid fat head!"

"Oh, great comeback, Kyle! What are you, five? Did you seriously call my head fat and stupid? You're fucking moron!" I retorted. It was becoming an insulting match rather than a hostage standoff and Kyle's words hadn't hit home with me. I was too focused on insulting him that I hadn't realised what he'd said.

Ethan had, though.

"Everyone quiet!" Ethan roared as Kyle and I bickered. I think Stephanie even piped up to call me an 'English prick'.

I snapped my mouth shut, my eyes still narrowed and focused on Kyle's. He was giving me evils, too. Stephanie was attempting to give me a dirty look but she just looked like her eyes were drooping from too much Botox.

"Repeat what you just said," Ethan snarled at Kyle.

I frowned. "He just called my head fat and stupid, Ethan. I've heard worse." I didn't know why he was wasting time on this. We needed start negotiating or else, working out how we were going to kill these sons of bitches.

Ethan's eyes were stuck on Kyle's, a murderous look on his face. Kyle had paled slightly as if he had said something he shouldn't have and I was really not getting it. Even Stephanie was flickering her eyes nervously to Kyle.

I thought back to what had just happened and it suddenly hit me like a tonne of bricks. A gasp even left my mouth and my narrowed eyes at Kyle turned into shocked ones.

"It was you who shot me at Hugh's house that night... You've been a busy boy, it seems..." I was in shock that I was facing the person who had come so close to killing me. I never would have thought Kyle would have played such a deadly role in this charade. First Grant Jefferson and then, me.

What the actual fuck.

Kyle tried hard to look proud instead of the wimp he was. I could tell that Ethan was beginning to scare him. They were such amateurs, it was obvious. You never look weak in front of your enemies. They were forgetting that they actually had the upper hand, here. They had hostages - we had nothing but guns pointed to their heads that we weren't willing to use.

Not until we ensured the safety of the hostages, anyway. Or so I thought.

"Yeah. It was me. And you weren't so confident then, were you? You were shitting yourself! It was so funny to see how scared your little face -,"

BANG!

A shot fired from Ethan's gun and the bullet went straight through Kyle's head.

I'm seriously getting goose-bumps from writing this chapter; it's so weird seeing it all come to this explosive end for some people... So - what are your thoughts?

Well, two questions have been answered by Kyle! Himself and Stephanie have hidden in the shadows for most of this so I wonder if any of you are shocked?

Anyway, I've come to the conclusion that Chapter Twenty-Five will be the final chapter of this book... so sad :( But all good things must come to an end, eh? ;)

Please, pllllllease comment as I do love reading them and if you enjoyed, vote!

Thanks so much to everyone who's reading - I really do love seeing how much people enjoy reading something I created!

Lots of love,

-O.