All Alex could hear was Lily's breathing and his own, the darkness that surrounded them seemed to suck any other noise away from them. He gripped onto Lily tight, unsure even if it was the best thing to do, but he didn't want to be separated from her; it'd be too difficult to find everyone again. She was shaking he noticed, but then he was shaking too; he'd never come so close to shooting someone before. Would he have done it? Could he have done it? And why did Lily want it to be done anyway? He was glad the power cut happened when it did; he had time to grab Lily and throw themselves into a side room. It was the nearest door to them but that meant Pedro would check here first, but at least 3 minutes had passed and the boy had not come looking. Perhaps he'd got new orders? Alex's head hurt but then he had to think straight; they had to find everyone, the bags and then get out. It was such a simple plan but it was taking so long. Which way would he go to find them; maybe Lily knew her way around-
"Alex?" She whispered and Alex looked down to where he thought her face might be.
"What?" He whispered back.
"Sorry," she took a deep breath, "for pretty much everything." Alex felt fairly ashamed when she said this; Alpha Force had come into her life and taken down all the illusions her father had placed around Lily. Alpha force was the reason she was messed up in all this, the reason her life was falling apart. But Alex didn't know how to articulate any of what he was feeling to her; it was too complicated to put into words. But then he wondered what would happen to her; her father would go to prison and her mother was in Europe, would she continue going to her school in London? The unnerving and horrible feeling or guilt rose up inside of him; she had no idea what was happening in her life and yet he'd been angry with her for something so trivial.
"No, Lily." He whispered defiantly, "I'm sorry." The lights came back on and he saw her looking confusedly at him. He finally built up the courage to look at her in return; he brushed a strand of hair away that had fallen in front of her lips. He took a deep breath and leant in-
"Guys!" Li shouted and Alex and Lily turned around to her. "Oh, sorry." She said, realising she'd ruined the moment.
"Oh good." Lily stood up and Alex did too, "we're all here, so let's find your bags-"
"Not all of us are here!" Hex sounded offended and Lily looked around the room.
"Amber?" Alex asked them all.
"I had to leave her!" Li said desperately and Paulo put a hand on her shoulder, "I had to get help!"
"We know Li," Paulo said.
"Help?" Alex asked, "what for?"
"Come on!" Li shouted before Alex had even finished his question.
The girl showed them the way back to the room she had left Amber in. They moved stealthily through the building but were surprised to find no men pursued them here. They reached the room and Li pushed the door open before taking a step back.
"What is it?" Hex asked apprehensively in response to Li's face, she shook her head.
"This is the room…she's not here!" Li wailed and looked at the group, "I'm sorry!" Paulo wrapped an arm around her although he did not look entirely reassured.
"We've got to find her." Hex said and was about to walk away when doors at the end of the corridor opened and they all turned to face him.
"I'm getting rather tired of this game of cat and mouse." Lily's father said with quiet anger. Alex put his hand behind his back; hiding the gun, Lily took a step forwards.
"Where's Amber?" She asked and her father gestured behind him. Amber was sat in a chair behind him, her hands and legs bound to it, her head was lolling to one side, her eyes were closed. Hex took a step forwards but Lily held an arm out to stop him.
"This isn't a game anymore papa," everyone was surprised to hear her call him that but she had merely said it out of habit. "She's a diabetic." Lily said, her father knew what this meant, she could see his eyes working it out.
"And?" Her father replied, "you think that'll stop me from getting what I want."
"Her life's in danger; you leave her like that…it's murder-"
"Murder?" Li whispered.
"She's in a diabetic coma most likely," Paulo talked loud enough for Lily's father to hear. "It happens when there's a combination of high blood sugar, dehydration, shock and exhaustion." Paulo took a breath, "she's got all of those symptoms tonight."
"And it can result in…?" Hex asked and Lily picked up the story, but she kept her eyes on the figures in front of her.
"Death." She said simply, "the longer she stays in that state, the more damage it'll do to her body. It'll damage her kidneys, her retinas, her main brain arteries, her coronary arteries-"
"That's enough!" Everyone shouted at lily, Alpha force and her father. She hadn't intended to upset Alpha force but she wanted her father to change his mind, it seemed to be working. She could see him weighing up the options, was he ruthless enough to let a teenage girl die?
"Let her go!" Alex said and this time, with more confidence, held up the gun at Lily's father. He cocked the gun and hoped Lily wouldn't think bad of him. "Let her go." He said again and took a step forwards. Her father looked the British boy up and down, wondering if he really would shoot. Many men came out of rooms, at least twelve men, all with guns pointing to Alpha force.
"Alright!" Hector shouted to the group, "you," he pointed to Paulo. "Take the girl upstairs, leave everything else, and call for an ambulance." No one was more shocked than Lily to hear her father say this. Alex began to lower his gun; knowing resistance was pointless. Paulo did not hesitate to move, he knew the seriousness of Amber's situation, he'd read about it. He let go of Li and ran down the corridor to Amber. "Once you get up there," Lily's dad said, "if you even think about calling the police I'll kill all your friends before you get the chance." Paulo nodded, some men undid the binds on Amber and one man helped Paulo carry her. "Here," Lily's father handed Paulo a phone. "One of my men will keep an eye on you." He and the other man carried Amber up the stairs and away from sight. Hector seemed to immediately regret his decision, he swore quietly in Spanish. "The rest of you!" He shouted at the kids, "get here." He pointed to a place near him and the group moved slowly towards him. "I need to leave." He said nonchalantly as they reached him.
"Sir?" Pedro stepped out of the shadows, "I could watch them here if you like." Hector seemed to contemplate this, "you can go back to the house for your meeting, take your guards," Pedro nodded towards the armed men.
"Are you sure?" Hector asked nervously.
"Of course." Pedro said, snatching his gun back from Alex.
"Last time I left you alone with one of them and she managed to break your phone, bruise your stomach and steal your gun." Lily grinned triumphantly, much to the fascination of the rest of Alpha force.
"I'll be fine. I underestimated…" His voice trailed away as Lily's father had already begun to leave. Men bound alpha force's and Lily's hands, sat them all on the floor against a wall and left. Lily's father took one last glance at her before shaking his head and walking out of the basement. There was silence for about six minutes, Pedro stared at each of the teenagers in front of him; not knowing what to make of these tourists. He stood up and walked to Lily, she suddenly began to shuffle back against the wall, writhing to get away from him.
"You've already searched me." She said, the tone of desperation did not go unnoticed by the other three around her. Pedro stopped in front of her; he could see the fear mounting in her eyes as he reached out a hand to her face.
"How did you get that Lily?" He whispered and wiped her cheek. When he withdrew his hand she saw blood there. She had no idea when she had been cut; she couldn't even feel the pain. He stretched out a hand again and Lily closed her eyes, fearful of what he might do.
"Don't touch her." Alex said and Pedro looked to him. Alex had no idea why Lily was so scared, she seemed fine before but whenever Pedro got to close Alex could feel her begin to shake against him. Pedro turned to him, his hazel eyes looked deep into grey ones before sighing in a bored manner and turning away. Lily hung her head, relieved nothing had happened.
"You know you guys really should learn," Pedro took his gun from a workbench nearby and pointed it at Alex, "that when someone has power over your life you shouldn't tell them what to do." But Pedro was distracted by something, he looked over to Li, for once he looked concerned. "What is it?" He asked her and everyone turned to her. Li had silent tears rolling down her face.
"Is she gonna be ok?" Li whispered, more to herself than anyone else. No one needed to question who she was talking about. Lily, who was sat in between Hex and Alex, looked past Hex to glance at Li. "Lily!" Li said as if she had found some sort of comfort. "Is she going to be ok?" Li said with more conviction. Lily honestly had no idea; she had no clue how severe anything would be on Amber.
"I'm sorry Li, I don't know." Lily said quietly, Hex swore softly. Li tried hard not to break down, she kept her sobs caught in the back of her throat. "I have to go to the bathroom." Lily said suddenly and looked to Pedro. Everyone saw he was angry with himself when she said this; everyone had completely overlooked the idea that the group could split up. He contemplated this.
"Alright, I'll take you." He said finally, deciding there was no where for the others to go. He help Lily stand and walked behind her as she passed Hex and Li. She glanced back and as she did her foot caught the strap of one of Alpha's bags that had been placed there, she fell to her knees. As Pedro helped her up she kicked the bag away from her in an annoyed way, she was glad when Pedro kicked it out of his way too. They left the room.
"She fell over on purpose!" Hex exclaimed as quietly as you could exclaim something.
"Why?" Alex said, he was nervous about leaving Lily alone with that guy, but his question was answered by Li. When Pedro had kicked the bag he had kicked it towards Li, she hooked her foot around the strap and brought it closer to her.
"Don't worry guys; I'm an expert with this now." She smiled at them.
Lily and Pedro walked in silence down the corridor, neither had anything to say to the other. Lily still felt uncomfortable being alone in his presence, nevertheless it had to be done. Although she could sense his eyes on her at all times; it was unnerving.
"I take it you know where we're going?" Pedro asked. Lily's heart leapt; Pedro didn't know his way around the museum and she did, she'd been in here often enough. She just had to buy the others that were tied up more time.
"Of course," she whispered. She had no idea. She'd never been in the basement before; it was not used by the museum because they were told activity in the basement would destabilize the foundations of the building. She led Pedro through the entire basement's lay out, he merely followed and she could tell he wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention. It had been about ten minutes before Pedro got angry, he turned her around and shook her.
"You have no idea where we're going!" He shouted and she smiled, "why would you…?" He thought for a moment before whacking the side of her face with the back of his hand. "You bitch." He said before running off in the direction of the others.
Upon entering the room he shouted in frustration; the other three where not there. They had left behind cuttings of the rope that had bound their hands. He swore loudly. Something collided with the back of his head so hard small squares of white light obscured his vision. Before he knew it he was pinned to the floor. His arms twisted back painfully, someone removed the gun from his hands.
"How on Earth did you get your job?" Li said as she sat on his arms. "You're rubbish at it."