Chapter 3

By now, Tristan had reached the address that was on the magazine. He had expected to see a similar building to the one he just came from, old looking and abandoned. But this building was none of the above. It was a huge house; with the tan paint on the exterior of the house looking as if it were recently painted and the building as a whole seemed newly constructed. 'I'd love to know where these guys get their hideouts from,' He thought to himself.

Tristan surveyed the building, analyzing for any doors and windows high or low. There were no windows anywhere near or level to the door, so Tristan assumed that the first level of the building had no windows. Cautiously, he crept towards the door. Once there, he hugged the wall.

'Now what?' He thought. 'This building seems like it's at least five floors. How am I possibly going to get in here unheard and unseen?'

Then he remembered there was a window on the building's left side with a fire escape. Quietly and quickly he moved towards the fire escape. The ladder was down, which surprised Tristan. 'Whoever took Mokuba sure is sloppy.' Just as quietly, he climbed up the ladder, and cautiously approached the window to which the fire escape linked. Then he cautiously looked inside. No one was there.

'Good, now I just have to hope this window isn't locked.' Tristan tried opening the window. It opened. 'Okay, this is too easy.' He then squeezed through the window and looked for the door to the next room or hall. It was on the opposite side of the wall. Cautiously he crept and peeked through the open door. The door led to a hallway which extended to his left and his right. The right direction led to a door a few yards away. The left side led to another doorway with a long stairway not far away. The right side was clear, but the two men were standing guard in front of a door to his left. 'Great, just great!' Tristan backed away before he could be seen. 'How am I possibly going to get passed these guys?'

"That kid sure had spunk," one of the men said, interrupting Tristan's thoughts.

"You ain't kidding. He's definitely Kaiba's brother." the other man replied.

"You think Reginald will get Kaiba to cooperate willingly?"

"He'd better if he wants his brother back."

Tristan grinned. He had an idea. He took a peek through the door again. The two men were looking at each other, not towards him. Tristan took out a quarter from his pocket and threw it at the stairway. It hit the stairs with a bang.

The two men looked in the direction of the stairs. "Someone's here," one of them explained.

The two men slowly walked down the stairs, wary of who dared to intrude their building.

When the two men were halfway down the stairs, Tristan quietly crept to the door. Once there, he opened it and went in, closing it once he entered.

"Hey!"

Tristan jumped. 'I'm busted.'

"What are you doing in here?I told you guys to guard the kid."

Tristan sighed with relief. Only one man was in this room with him, and he was facing the opposite direction. But the relaxing didn't last long. The man heard Tristan sigh and turned.

"What the-? Intruder!" The man reached for a walkie talkie, but like lightning, Tristan was upon him. He kicked the machine out of the man's hand and pressed him against the wall the man had been facing earlier. "What do you want?"

"Where's Mokuba Kaiba?"

The man gave a short laugh. "Hah, I ain't telling you nothing boy,"

Tristan pulled the man forward and pressed him again. "Where is he?"

The man didn't stop laughing. "You're pressing me isn't helping. I'm sure the others have heard the sound of my crashing into the wall and are on their way."

Tristan groaned. Then he asked, "Who are you guys?"

"We're the Breakers,"

Fear almost overtook Tristan. "The Breakers? As in the gang?"

"Way to go Sherlock."

Tristan pulled him forward and pressed him again. "How many of you are here?"

"A lot." The man grinned. "Even if you did somehow get past me, you won't reach Mokuba without being seen."

'Lovely. They probably have him on the top floor.'

The man took advantage of Tristan's hesitation. He broke free and aimed a hooker at Tristan's chin. Tristan dodged, and like lightning, punched him in the face. He flew towards the wall, and hit the floor, lying unconscious.

Seeing no use to staying around, Tristan was about to leave. Then he stopped. He walked over to where the walkee talkie had landed, retrieved it and stayed put. He then noticed a closet, so he opened the door, put the unconscious man in and blocked the doorknob with the chair the man had been sitting on.

Tristan waited. He waited for someone to say something worthwhile about Mokuba's location in this huge building. Then he heard voices coming through the walkie talkie.

"Jeremiah, where are you?"

"I'm on the third floor guarding the kid sir."

'Third floor!' Tristan wasn't happy. He was sure he was only on the second floor. He still needed to get one floor higher.

"Good. Stay there, something doesn't feel right."

"What do you mean sir?"

"Never mind. Just stay there."

"Fine sir, I'll just hang out here, at room 368B like you said then."

'Yes,' Tristan almost screamed with happiness. 'A room number.'

But reality soon hit Tristan. Even though he now had an exact room number, he still needed to reach the next floor of the building. Not to mention that even if he did get to the third floor unseen, he had no idea how to get to the room. 'Now I just have to get up there and reach Mokuba before they move him and I lose him.'

Tea had been searching for help for a number of minutes now. But so far, the search was in vain. She had seen very few people on the streets, and those she did see either didn't trust her, didn't believe her, or just simply thought she was mad. To make matters worse, whenever she knocked on the door to someone's house, she was outright insulted and told to get away from their homes, some even threatening to call the cops on her. 'I hope these people aren't this untrusting to the people who actually live here as well,' she thought.

After fifteen minutes, Tea had to stop. Going around like this was getting her nowhere. She needed to come up with another plan to get help for the others. But time was running out, she needed to come up with something quick, otherwise who knew what what happen to her friends. She sat down on a bench near a bus stop. 'Come on Tea, think!'

"Is something wrong?"

Tea turned to her right. A boy about her age was standing next to her. "You look like you're about to pass out," he said.

"I need help," Tea tried hard to hide her desperation, but she could tell some of it was slipping through her voice. "I need to call the police. People have been kidnapped, and my friends are trying to help them. They need help!"

Genuine worry filled the boy's face. "Well, finding help here isn't going to be easy. People in this town aren't exactly trusting."

"Do you have a cell phone I can use?" Tea asked.

The boy shook his head. "No, I lent it to a friend of mine. He lost his phone, so I'm letting him borrow mine. I'm sorry."

Tea looked down at the sidewalk. 'Great, just great. I can't believe no one will help me.'

"I got it!"

Tea jumped. The boy had caught her off guard.

"Sorry about that," he apologized. "I live a few blocks away; you could use my phone to get some help."

"Oh thank you," Tea leapt from her seat and hugged the boy, catching him off guard. Once she realized what she was doing, she quickly let go. "Sorry."

"No worries. Anyway, I didn't bring my car, so we'll have to rough it on foot. You think you could handle it?"

"I can handle it alright." The two started walking to the east. 'I just hope by the time I get the police, it won't be too late.'