I'm glad that most of you liked the cliffhanger for the last chapter. And sorry for not updating yesterday but I just got busy and couldn't find the time. Anyway, here's Chapter 25.

I spread out the papers before me, looking over the maps and reports. "Okay, so we know that she's most likely in this general area." I pointed out our area of interest to the west of the palace. "They disabled her tracker before we got an exact location but I want planes over this area right now. If they see anything suspicious, I want an immediate report and at least twenty soldiers sent to search the area. Once suspicious areas are searched, we'll decide where we'll be going so that we can check it out ourselves."

Justices, Edmund, Lucifer, Hiccup, and Jason–the rookie–all nodded along with my plan.

"Well?" I snapped at the men surrounding me who would deliver the messages to the necessary people. "Make it happen!"

They all managed to squeak out a "yes ma'am" before running out of the doors. I rubbed my forehead and sighed. How had this happened?

Edmund placed a hand gently on my shoulder and squeezed. "It'll be okay. We'll find her soon."

I nodded but I didn't really believe the words. I'd find Kriss; I just wasn't sure what kind of a state I'd find her in–alive, dead, or nearly dead. I was hoping at least for the latter. The King would kill me if she died.

"I just don't get how this could happen." I shook my head in wonder. "The only people who know of the trackers are the royal family and us, as well as a few other trusted advisors and such. It is a well-kept secret and I doubt the rebels just suddenly noticed it. Those things are well hidden so…"

"So, she must have taken it off herself?" Jason asks.

I nod. "Unless they somehow found out about it–which I highly doubt–then she took it off willingly. There were at least two trackers on her so I somehow doubt that they managed to get both off of her without her consent."

"Are you suggesting that she went with them willingly?" Justice asks, sounding thoughtful as he considered the possibilities.

"It's a possibility. I'm thinking that she took it off because they pointed a gun to her head and she was scared–which would be really stupid of her if that did happen. I don't really know what to think about this whole situation."

I yawned as I went to my laptop to check my e-mail–a private network that the King had set up for the important people in the palace to communicate. There wasn't anything new yet.

Edmund squeezed my shoulder again which caused me to turn to him, giving him my full attention so that he could tell me what he obviously wanted to.

"You need to get some sleep. You got out of the infirmary before it was recommended that you leave and I know you're exhausted. Stitches are a pain and I'm sure you're worn out and sore. Just sleep for a little while, we'll make sure to wake you up if anything interesting happens."

I open my mouth to protest but the rest of the team agrees with Edmund and they shove me into a makeshift bed–cough, a couple of blankets on the floor, cough–which I had set up in the corner.

"Fine," I huffed as I settled down, "but only for a few hours. And if anything happens, you wake me up immediately."

They all nod and I lay down on the blankets, it wasn't exactly comfortable but it would do for now.

"Good, because if anything happens and I don't know about it when I wake up, I'll chop off all of your balls and force feed them to you."

Jason laughed, thinking it was a joke, but the rest of the men just nodded with a little fear in their eyes. They knew I didn't bluff–as I'd proven when Justice had joined the team. He'd had a nasty mouth and after a while I got really sick of it. I'd told him that the next time he cursed; I would wash his mouth out with soap and make him swallow some of it. I had to wash out his mouth three times before he finally got the message and stopped.

I closed my eyes and drifted off.

It felt like on seconds had passed when I was suddenly thrown onto the cold, hard floor.

I gasped as I clutched my stomach, my stitched area screaming in pain. That had freaking hurt. I look up into the face I'd been avoiding all day.

I sighed and look over to my men, waving them out of the room.

"How could this happen?" The King snapped angrily once we were alone.

I rubbed my forehead, pinching the skin a little as a headache started pounding around inside my skull. I stood after a minute so that we were eye-to-eye. "I don't know. I'm doing my best to find her, Your Highness."

"Because sleeping is so productive!"

"Listen," I snap at him, "I needed the rest. I put my team in charge while I got some sleep. I trust them with my life so that means by default that you do as well. I told them to wake me up if they received any news and obviously they haven't. I'll find her soon, but this stuff takes time and I need you to show a little patience with this."

I looked over to the clock, it read as five in the morning. I groaned quietly, I'd only gotten about an hour's worth of sleep.

"You stupid child!" he shouted. "I'll–"

"With all due respect, Your Highness, I won't be able to work if I can't move. Punish me for this later, but right now I have a lot that I need to figure out if I'm going to bring Kriss back."

He glared at me. "This conversation is not over. If you don't find her by tomorrow, you'll regret ever being born."

I rolled my eyes when his back was turned and told my men to come back inside as soon as the King pushed the door open and left. They all shuffled into the room and looked at me as if they were sorry.

I waved the situation off. "Any news?"

Lucifer shook his head. "No. None at all."

I nodded and rubbed my temples. "Can one of you get me a coffee, please? I have a massive headache right now."

Justice left to get my coffee while the rest of them helped me look over my papers. In truth, very little had been discovered. The only news was that there was none. Kriss hadn't been seen anywhere and neither had the rebels.

Justice returned with a mug of coffee and handed it to me just as the phone rang.

"Talk." I snapped as soon as I picked it up.

"We're tailing a group of three men. They look like rebels and they are talking about a 'new royal toy'. How do we proceed?"

I shot up from my chair and began pacing. "What's your location?"

He told me and I nodded. It was less than an hour away by car and less than twenty minutes by air. "Follow them, do not engage. Turn on your trackers so that we can locate you once we get there. Do not lose the tail and turn your radios to station four. We'll communicate with you through that channel when we land. Jessica, out."

I clicked the phone off and quickly chugged down my coffee. "Suit up, guys. We're going to be flying today."