I'm so sorry for taking this long in updating this story. I'm aware it's been more than a month but this hasn't been exactly an easy month I believe for anybody.

I have to admit to you guys there was a day when I even contemplated not finishing the story. That's how down I was feeling, but it was only a day.

Rest assured: I WILL FINISH THIS STORY, no matter how, no matter when, but it will happen. I will never abandon my babies or my readers. Thank you as always for your ongoing support.

Now, as you can imagine, this chapter was a struggle to write because I wasn't feeling up to it, so I'm not sure about the result. I'll let you guys decide if you like it or not. I will say there is a surprise here, so make sure to make it to the end.

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Chapter 12: The deal wasn't supposed to go like this

Not twelve hours into their plan and things had already gone incredibly wrong, thought Alex from the trunk of the car where he found himself in his current situation. Blindfolded and alone.

When he managed to yank the black hood from his head and was met with darkness either way he questioned the necessity of having used the hood at all in the first place. He couldn't see where they were going anyway.

He sighed.

Talk about things getting out of hand fairly quickly.

Alex tried to think back to the moment they'd lost control of the situation, if they actually ever had any, just to entertain himself on this ride to who knew where.

He had contacted Villanueva to let him know he'd found the information his uncle had stolen from him and the other man had set up a meeting just like they'd anticipated. The first test he'd had to pass was the other man asking how he'd been able to acquire it so quickly.

You're the one who wanted me properly motivated. Well, I am.

Those had been his words and the man had let out an amused laugh before setting up a time and a place.

Alex had tried to bargain on the place of the meet, trying to get the man to agree on one of the places Eagle had scouted out but there had only been so much the blond could've insisted before his request seemed suspicious. They decided to adapt.

Don't worry, we knew this could happen. We still have a couple of hours to investigate the place.

They'd also decided on the distress signals Alex would use to call for help. One wave of his hand a certain way would have the cavalry storming in ready to get both him and Vict to safety.

But the problem had been apparent the moment BlackJacket had stepped out of the car. Villanueva hadn't come to the meet, and neither had Vict.

The man with the leather jacket and shoulder lenght black hair hadn't come alone though. There had been at least two other people with him, plus the driver.

They hadn't been outnumbered but without Vict in the equation it would have been useless to fight these men and avoid being taken, because hopefully they were taking him back to Vict.

Or they were just driving somewhere to the outskirts of town to take the flashdrive, kill him and dispose of his body.

Alex figured there was a fifty percent chance of being either option.

So he hadn't used the signal because any chance, no matter how small, of being reunited with his boyfriend was worth the risk. It was also worth the rough treatment, the hood over his head, being cramped in such a small place. The last time he'd had to hide in a vehicle like this, the space hadn't seemed as tight as it did now. But he'd been fourteen at the time so he guessed if he'd wanted proof that he had indeed grown up at least a bit, it didn't get any more real than that.

He would endure anything though, as long as it got him what he wanted.

There had been a moment when he'd feared his... partners? Teammates? He wasnt' sure how he was supposed to call them under the circumstances, were going to just blow the whole operation off because BlackJacket had gotten a bit violent towards the end of their conversation.

Alex had been acting bolder than he should've, probably, and he'd demanded to know where his boyfriend was. He'd wanted some proof of life. He'd wanted to know why Villanueva wasn't there and why they were talking about taking him to a secondary location.

But all he'd managed to do was piss BlackJacket off. The man had covered the distance that separated them in two quick strides and punched him in the stomach.

This wasn't the deal, Alex had argued between clenched teeth. He'd doubled over craddling his stomach and the only way he managed to stay on his feet, gasping, was because of the tight hold the man had on his arm.

It is now.

After that, the man simply produced the hood from his back pocket and made Alex's vision go black.

Before he'd been forcefully shoved into the trunk, Alex had made a particular hand gesture that indicated the others to just stay put. To not interfere. If they were in fact taking him to the same location Vict was being held at, then he couldn't have the others rescuing him before that.

So there he was, legs cramped and body stiff while he reasured himself that he'd been in this kind of situation before and he actually knew how to handle himself. All he had to do was remain calm and keep his eyes on the prize.

He didn't have his phone with him.

He'd left it at home seeing there'd be no point in taking it with him if the bad guys were going to search him and probably dispose of it. He'd rather not have to buy a new one after having this one smashed to the floor. He could only hope Ian, Eagle and Ben didn't lose track of him.

When the car drove over a pothole and his body jumped awkwardly inside the trunk, Alex berated himself when his thoughts got so ahead of him he lost track of how many turns the car had made.

I really am rusty.

The meeting had taken place in a not so unfamiliar part of town so the blond should've payed more attention to where they were going, given he might have actually known where they were headed but now that he tried to remember the last couple of turns, he kept mixing them up.

Was the last turn a left or a right? How many times had they stopped due to traffic lights?

He tried to reasure himself that the situation wasn't as dire as it seemed. Sure, right now it looked small and dark but what were a few minutes inside a trunk?

If Ben, Eagle and his uncle didn't lose sight of him, then the moment he found Vict they could make their way out from within while the others helped them escape from outside.

If only things were ever easy for him.

After a while Alex felt the car slow down and do a few more turns before stilling completly. The engine was turned off.

His heart rate picked up in speed as footsteps could be heard getting closer to the trunk. One of the men opened it, and if he was surprised or angry about Alex taking the hood off his head, he didn't show it.

They hadn't tied his hands anyway, what had they expected?

The blond manouvered himself out of the tight space before anyone got close enough to roughly do the job for him and he stood with his shoulders hunched and his head slightly bowed. He was supposed to pretend he was compliant and terrified so the people surrounding him would think he wasn't a threat to them. Not that he actually wasn't terrified but the reason had more to do with how the rescue mission would turn out than with whatever harm might come his way. At least physically.

The building that rose in front of him was nothing out of the ordinary, except for the fact it was half built. It couldn't have been more than three stories high and it was also wide enough to make Alex believe they weren't being built to house apartments but maybe offices and work spaces. A quick look around the street confirmed his suspicions when Alex saw they were near the industrial part of the city, a few factories standing merely a block away.

His eyes landed on a colorful sign that advertised the new compound would be functional by the end of the year. Glancing back to the structure that rose before him, he reached the conclusion that it was, indeed, being built up instead of down.

He was led inside.

He was taken aback by the amount of activity there. People were going up and down a flight of stairs that led to the first floor. Armed men talking quietly among them. The ground floor was spacious enough to hold the construction machinery and lots of crates and rubble. Doors lined the walls at different intervals around the middle open space and Alex could see some of them had lights on inside with people quietly going in and out. For the amount of people present, the place was actually pretty quiet.

Apart from the soft murmur of the people around him, the one noise that was strong enough to pick up on was an accented voice coming from a room to his left, which is exactly where they were headed. A light push from BlackJacket's hand on his shoulder had him crossing the threshold and coming face to face with Carlos Villanueva himself, his features and elegant clothes distinguishing him from everyone else.

The man was on the phone.

"Yes, yes. The motion needs to be approved" Villanueva said to whoever he was talking to "Make sure she's on our side"

Alex tuned him out in favor of inspecting the place and his stomach sank when he realized they had slightly misscalculated how many people they'd have to face. As opposed to the three or four they'd originally counted, the number now reached the dozen, at least.

They were inside what would continue to become an office in the future but that so far only held a wooden run down table turned into a desk and the chair Villanueva was currently sitting on.

"The date can't be pushed back any further. I don't need to remind you the importance of your work... Excellent! Keep in touch. Alex!"

Villanueva ended the call and Alex's attention was sharply brought back. He was motioned to walk closer to the desk. The blond regarded him with cold eyes.

"I knew you could make it. You're a smart boy. So where is it?" his hand automatically started towards the front pocket of his jeans but halted before completely reaching in.

"Where's Victor? Is he okay?"

Villanueva's eyes narrowed slightly in annoyance "You'll see"

"The deal wasn't supposed to go like this. I got you what you wanted, but I'll give it to you once I see him" Alex wasn't liking how much they kept postponing it.

"Is it?"

"Is it what?"

"What I wanted?"

A confused expresion took residence on his face "What are you talking about?"

"Alex, Alex. Before I make good on my promise I have to make sure you made good on yours. Uh uh uh..." Villanueva added almost cheerfully when the blond began to protest, his tone a definite contrast with the heavy tension around them "You're not in a position to bargain" Alex inmediately shut up "Now, if you will" the man extended his hand in a waiting gesture. Alex finally reached into his pocket and gave the small flashdrive a squeeze before surrendering his only hope to the man.

"Let us go" he half ordered half pleaded once the device left his hand. He hoped his features were set enough to conceal his nerves and not reveal anything suspicious. He needed to get to Vict before Villanueva realized the drive was a fake.

The man seemed to ignore him while he turned the small device this way and that in his hand but then glanced to BlackJacket "Marcus, reunite the lovers would you?"

Alex's heart skipped a beat. Finally!

"And you'll let us go, right? That was the deal"

Villanueva's eyes flashed with something dangerous when he regarded Alex not with the annoyance from before, but with a deep seated anger that betrayed his cool demeanor. Alex was reminded of Ian's words when describing the man. Villanueva was smart and calculating. Would he be able to fool him? "I'm going to make sure the information is legit. If you actually delivered what you were supposed to, I'll see about getting rid of you"

Somehow getting rid of them didn't sound like being released never to cross paths again. Alex had to accept the dubious explanation though because he didn't want any more detours on his way to Vict. He had to go back to playing the compliant hostage.

He hunched his shoulders in resignation.

Before he was guided out of the room by an uncomfortable hand hooked at the back of his neck, Alex saw one of Villanueva's men approaching the desk with a strange looking laptop. The computer wasn't thin and smooth as they tended to be these days, but sturdy and heavy looking. It looked like someone had taken parts from different devices and assembled them together to create a new one. Alex figured it must have been rigged as a powerful electronics device for these people to be using it.

But Alex filed the thought away for later consideration when they began the walk up the stairs. Anticipation kept building in his stomach like a brick weighting him down and suddenly he was very aware of the inminence of the reunion with his boyfriend.

He'd avoided thinking about the actual moment, fantasizing about it, since before calling Villanueva to set up the meeting. Vict's betrayed and angry expression still haunted him at the edges of his mind from the night Crawley outed him as an ex spy. Would Vict be relieved to see him? Or would he still feel angry, betrayed... scared? Would he be scared of who Alex actually was?

The thought made uncomfortable nauseated butterflies appear in his stomach. Still, he walked forward. They arrived at the third floor and deviated to their right where a door at the end of a long hallway waited closed for them.

Someone walked ahead with a set of keys in hand.

Alex was almost trembling with anticipation.

The hand at the back of his neck tightened marginally and Alex risked a glance at its owner "By the way…"

BlackJacket was looking at him with a satisfied glint in his eyes that made apprehension take an unwavering hold of his mind "… beware the smell"

"What?"

"Corpses tend to rot"

Alex's brain short-circuited. No.

He inhaled sharply. His stomach- no, his soul dropped somewhere all the way down to the first floor and his legs were threatening to give out under him.

No no no nononono. NO!

It couldn't be. He was lying. Vict couldn't be- he couldn't be.

The hand on his neck pushed him forwards towards the now unlocked door, but this body refused to cooperate. There was no way he was going into that room. His legs came back to life first and he pushed back against the weight pushing him forward, his feet locked on the ground to halt his advance.

"Go on" he was tauntingly prompted by the same man that had just shattered his world completely "You wanted to see him"

"No. No, stop!" he was backing away now. There was absolutely no way he would survive seeing Vict's dead body, much less being locked inside with it. His struggling increased and someone else had to join BlackJacket in his efforts to get Alex through the door "Get off! Let me go! I can't- I can't go in there. Stop!"

Somewhere in the back of his mind he was registering the sharp pain of fingers digging into his arms to carry him forward, but the sting didn't even begin to compare with the absolute terror of what awaited him beyond that door. He couldn't see Vict dead. He wouldn't survive that.

Alex fought tooth and nails to free himself but he could feel panic blinding his senses and the door was getting closer and closer. He was gonna die. He was sure he was gonna die.

Finally the men won the battle and Alex was pushed inside the room. He tripped and fell to the floor with a grunt in his haste to run back to the men but before he could reach them, the door was slammed shut in his face and Alex pressed himself forehead first against it, banging his fists raw out of desperation.

"Come back! Let me out! Hey!"

Laughter was all he heard coming from the other side of the door.

"Alex?"

The blond audibly gasped and stiffened.

If he hadn't been so consumed by panic, he would've noticed upon entering the room that there was no smell. His chest was heaving and his clenched hands were trembling and for a moment he believed his mind was playing tricks on him because he had seen a body, at least the shadow of it out of the corner of his eyes when he was being pushed inside the room. But it was a corpse, right? That's what BlackJacket had said and Alex hadn't thought twice about keeping his eyes cast downward and away from the potencially fatal image of Vict's dead body before turning away from the dangerous shadow.

But another tentative call of his name had him slowly turning around to see that what he'd taken for Vict's dead body was actually the boy himself slowly getting to his feet against the far wall of the room.

Relief almost made him pass out.

It also made him push away from the door with a desperate sound tearing from his throat while he shortened the distance between them.

A very much alive and breathing Vict got in motion as well to meet him half way across the room in a bone crushing hug that left Alex breathless and desperate for more.

"Alex. Alex. Alex"

Vict was hugging him back and chanting his name against his neck where he'd buried his face while Alex fisted the back of his t-shirt and breathed into his shoulder.

Vict was alive. He was here and he was breathing and sqeezing Alex back for all he was worth and he was alive. Alex tightened the hug.

He wanted nothing more than to stay glued together like that forever but the blond had to find the strength to keep his weak knees standing and also unclench his fists from Vict's back. He needed to make sure this was real.

But real or not, Vict wouldn't let him go and Alex had to put his hands against the older boy's shoulders and push to peal him away. All he managed was a few inches of separation, just enough to see his face.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere? Vict, are you okay?" he decided not to think about the fact he didn't recognize his own tight voice. He was being pulled into another hug but Alex's mind wouldn't be deterred. He shook the other boy hard in his arms "Victor!"

"I'm not hurt!" the answer was every bit desperate as it was suspicious. Not being hurt and being okay were two very different things. Alex took it upon himself to run his hands all over Vict's body in search of any hidden wounds.

Vict was content to let him do so as long as their embrace was renewed.

Alex couldn't find any obvious signs of injury. There was no blood in his clothes or any complains of pain when he ran his fingers over his skin. But when he broke the hug again to stare properly at his face, the dark bruise on his temple from the car crash of less than a week ago was staring back at him.

Somehow the sight of it finally made it real and he let out a nervous laugh that soon turned desperate enough to make him want to hide his watering eyes from Vict. He was supposed to be the strong one in this situation, the emotional support but, as always, it ended up being the other way around.

"He said you were dead. I thought I was too late" he hoped Vict's shoulder was able to hide the waver in his muffled voice "He said your body was here. He said-"

"He likes to play games" Vict was the one to break the hug this time and interrupt what would have surely developed into a panicked rant and he stared Alex unflinchingly in the eyes "I'm fine"

If this was how it felt when Alex himself used that word on anyone else, he was sure gonna make an effort of taking it out of his vocabulary. None of this was fine.

But Alex cleared his throat and accepted the dismissal for now. He brought a hand up to craddle the side of Vict's neck and lifted himself on his tiptoes to put their foreheads briefly together "Okay"

He wanted nothing more than to close the remaining distance between them and bring their lips together to kiss the light out of them but he wasn't sure the gesture would be welcomed, so he reluctantly let go and dropped back to his feet. Then for a moment he didn't know what to say. He didn't know what to do. He let go of Vict entirely and took a step back. He avoided Vict's gaze by doing a sweep of the room and noticed the place was completely empty. It was just a square of dusty floor surrounded by bare walls.

Vict called his name and the uncertainty in his voice made Alex's eyes snap quickly back to him "What are you doing here?" he asked and then answered his own question with a dreadful and defeated tone "They got you too"

At the sound of Vict's own wavering voice, Alex's thoughts finally settled enough for him to remember the plan and his role in it, so he took a deep reasuring breath. It was time to act.

"I'm going to get you out of here"

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Surprise! They're back together again! I know the reunion was a bit short but next chapter it's gonna be all about them, and the plan, and surviving said plan. Maybe I'll even write from Vict's perspective because I haven't written a chapter from his PoV in which Alex and him are actually on scene together. I think it'll be interesting to se how they operate from his perspective.

Again, I'm sorry for the long wait and I'll try not to take so long again.

Thank you for being patient and for always offering me encouraging words. Make sure to leave a review with your thoughts on this chapter and maybe what you would like to see happening next. Ideas are always welcomed!

Be safe and stay healthy people!