Denver, Colorado

America was such an interesting place.

We made it into Salt Lake City in Utah and drove the rest of the way there, not wanting to do right into Denver in case we were going to be seen or exposed. We made it through TSA, hopped onto a red-eye plane blending into the barely half-empty plane, and hopped from Europe to America. Since it was a red-eye, most of us fell asleep on the flight as we landing first in New York and quickly hopped on another private plane that took us instantly to Salt Lake.

Of course, being true to his word, Copley had everything arranged for us. Two black cars were reserved as soon as we made it to car rental, directions to the hotel he reserved two rooms for us, and the schematics to the buildings he was guessing Kozak was working in with her mysterious affiliate. Once we landed and were driving in the rental cars, we were mostly on the road for several hours until we reach Colorado, hoping to come in from the side and not be noticed.

Copley explained that their security was not as tactile as the Nazis were, but they were on their toes none the less. We didn't know if their hired security were mercenaries like us, or from a private company that would work for the wealthy. The same thing happened with Merrick, Copley diving in a bit more to see what he knew about the hired guns that could be there waiting for us.

On the drive through the landscape of America, Oliver was the one who volunteered to drive the car this time, as I was sitting in the passenger seat and Nile was tucked in the back. Nicky, Joe, and Andy were in the second car, following us carefully and wanting to have their own conversation. It was nice to have both Nile and Oliver in the car, the three of us could somehow unwind and relax together.

"It's beautiful out here," I said out loud as we were still on the almost deserted highway, seeing the mass mountain ranges and the rolling plains that were going fast past us, "You don't get to see a lot of this out here in Europe,"

"America the Beautiful," Nile said in a hum as she too was watching the landscape go by us. I looked over at her briefly, seeing how she was leaning her head against the headrest and her eyes were glazed over almost, maybe feeling far away from where she was in the car.

"You alright, Nile?" I asked her, seeing her do nothing for a few moments before I saw her release a breath that maybe she was holding for some time, deflating her shoulders and her chest. In a way I could feel her heaviness, it was almost floating all around the car.

"I just miss my family," She replied, having me grimace a bit. I briefly looked over at Oliver, seeing how he was still driving with his eyes on the road in front of us, but he too hard it and almost felt it as well. I saw him show me a small look, having me see he was feeling it too as I then gave him a small smile and looked back at Nile. She was zoning out, but I read it all over her face and in how she was sitting in the seat.

Carefully and without interfering with how Oliver was driving, I reached through the armrest and grabbed Nile's hand since there wasn't too much space in our car. I placed my hand on her own, seeing him look over at me. There was wetness on her face, and it made me see that she was on the verge of crying.

"It'll be okay," I said to her, thinking that it was the only thing that I could say to her at this moment. I felt her lace our fingers together, not in a tight grip but gently and carefully, "Sounds like an empty promise from me right now, but I know it'll be okay,"

"I know that," She said to me moving her fingers over her eyes to get some of her tears out of her eyes so that I couldn't see, "It's just hard, being back here in the States and knowing that I can't go back to Chicago and see them. The others…they don't understand it so much,"

I felt a twinge go guilt, knowing where Nile was coming from. Nicky, Joe, and Andy had no idea what it felt like to leave family behind. I didn't know either if I was going to be honest, it's been far too long since I felt that pain and that remorse. I wanted to know what it was like to console with Nile, but it was no use. I was too far down the road in my Immortality. The only other person that knew what that felt, who was closer in age to Nile before Oliver came in the picture, was Booker. Maybe he gave her some insight into how to deal with it, but I wouldn't know since Booker was long gone. All I could do, as well as the rest of the group, was be present for Nile and also for Oliver. Especially for Nile, since she was crumbling.

"Well, we're here with you and for you," I explained softly, seeing her nod her head and squeeze our fingers together, "I'll always be here for you,"

I didn't know if Nile knew that talk I had with Andy back at my home in France. That early morning when I vowed to Andy that I would take care of Nile when Andy was no longer alive, and her mortality would run out. I was already thinking of that promise, and I did plenty of times. Mostly when I stopped one of the soldiers to shoot at Nile back at Bern in that building we were all stuck in. It wasn't that I was doubting that I could protect her. I knew I could, but it scared me to think that Nile was going to have to rely on us more than ever in more ways than just physically protecting her. I was more than willing, for the sake of Andy and for Nile too.

"Thanks, Eleanor," She said to me, giving me a soft smile. I smiled back as I retrieved my hand from her and looked ahead again at the scenery, "I can't honestly talk to the others about this, I feel like I bother them when I do.

"They don't think like that about you, Nile," I reminded her, pausing and biting my lower lip, "But I do know what you mean,"

"And you have me too," Oliver piped up from his spot in the driver's seat, "I don't mind our talks. They make my day,"

Nile had to grin from that compliment from Oliver, in which I looked over at Oliver with a raised eyebrow.

"What do you two talk about?" I asked him, almost in a coy manner. Oliver passed, looking over at me briefly with a smirk on his lips as he finally shrugged.

"Nothing for you to concern your 600-year-old head with," Nile commented in a smirk as Oliver started to chuckle.

"I'm not that old," I argued with her.

"Oh no, of course not," Nile said sarcastically, "If you're not old, then the other three in the car behind us are ancient artifacts….and don't make me mention Andy when it comes to age,"

"You wouldn't dare," I warned her playfully, having me not look at Oliver, "All of them are good things, no doubt?"

"Of course," he replied without missing a beat with me. I smiled so widely at him from how smooth it sounded. Nile chuckled from the back seat, her usual spirit was back now.

"You've used that on ladies before, haven't you?" She asked him, though now I could see a small glimpse of a blush on his neck from that remark. He chuckled, looking at Nile through the rearview window before he looked ahead again. I could tell that all three of us kind of knew what was going on with Oliver and me, which made me worry that Nile found out about the talk Oliver and I had back in Berlin. Did she know? She had to have known since her intuition about these things were mostly on point.

"I plead the fifth," He replied, giving me one look over before I grinned back at him. The mood might be light with all of us there in the car, but I knew it was going to have to change as soon as we made it into Denver.

When we made it into the city, we made out way to the hotel and got our things unpacked within the two rooms that we had for us. The lab we were aiming for was on the other side of the town, and we planned to get to go along with our plan late into the night so that we wouldn't be seen from citizens or police.

The security system that was hired for the lab was made up of at least 50 men, according to Copley they all had military and mercenary backgrounds and were rather ugly and lethal with their hands. It was a bit intimidating to think about what we were going to up against, but none the less we were ready for it. The schematics showed the offices were on the upper floors and tucked behind some massive security protocols, the labs underground in some kind of basement structure. We had to make a split plan in what we needed to go and where we needed to go.

Half of us would go up for the offices and the other half to the basements.

Once night fell over the town, we went on with the first half of our plan. Nicky was going to be perched from a building on the other side of the lab, using his snipe rifle to take out at least three guards that would be doing a perimeter sweep. Once we were in the clear, we would be able to get in from both the rooftop but also from one of the side service doors that were used for truck deliveries.

Oliver was going to steal one of the service trucks that was en route to the lab, bringing in a delivery that night, right around the same time iIcky would be taking out the guards. Nile and I would hide in the truck, leaving Joe and Andy go come in from the roof. Once we were all inside, we would divide and conquer to not just find the information on us, but Kozak herself and her so-called affiliate.

So far, the plan looked good on paper. It was just a matter of executing it.

Nile, Oliver, and I were waiting along the side of a deserted street, waiting on the delivery truck that was due to arrive within the next two minutes. I was on one side of the street with Oliver, Nile on the other side, pretending to be texting on her phone. Oliver had headphones in, leaving me to be reading the newspaper on the bus bench. By my leg I had a black duffle bag, inside was al of our weapons stored away and ready for use. The lab was a few miles away, which gave us enough time to not only get the truck. but to switch into the uniforms briefly and then getting the proper ID's ready to use.

We were all in our mercenary attire, once again, under our street clothes. My hair this time was in two french braids but then swirled into a dutch braid at the lower part of my head. I chewed a small amount of bubble gum in my mouth, blowing a bubble as I briefly looked up and down the street, seeing the sleek black delivery truck coming our way. I blew one big bubble, leaning back a bit and popping the bubble with my tongue.

That was the signal.

Nile, on the other side of the street, had her hands in her pocket and took her hand out, showing that she had a fist full of spikes within her closed hand. Oliver did the same within his own pocket, getting it ready for us to use against the back of the truck. I blew another bubble, making it bigger as the truck was coming closer and closer to where the trap was that we had set.

Once my bubble pop against my lips, they both threw the jacks along the backside of the truck to break the doors.

The little jacks stuck to the back doors, waiting a few seconds before the backdoors burst open from a small explosion. The truck immediately came to a screeching halt, skidding on the semi sloppy street from the rainfall as all three of us started to walk over to the truck. There was a small sense of silence amongst the three of us as we all drew out our concealed guns that we had hidden in our jackets.

I drew out a small pistol from behind me against my lower back and jeans, cocking it against my side as Oliver went for the driver's side and I went for the passenger's side. As soon as I saw one of the guards pop out of the door from the passenger's side when I was in a close enough shot, I shot at him once as he dropped dead in his seat. Oliver did the same to the driver's side while Nile threw open the back doors with both hands and hopped into the back of the truck.

After we grabbed the ID's from the two guards we too out, Oliver and I placed the bodies in the back of the truck with Nile. She slammed the doors shut and locked them shut as Oliver started the truck and we were on our way. Nile and I were stripping off our street clothes and gearing up with the mercenary gear that was in the duffel bag. It took only a few seconds, getting my bulletproof vest over my head and my arm protector and then my own fingerless gloves on quickly. After everything was set, I threw on the hat the delivery guard had on, then slipping on the silencer for my gun to rest it in my lap.

"One minute out," Oliver said to both Nile and I as we were turning down another street, having me each over to steer for him as he stripped off his street shirt and was getting the jacket that the guard was wearing over his mercenary gear. I did the same thing as soon as he had control over the wheel again. Nile was handing us the jackets as we went and re-dressed as fast as we could before we could see the building coming into view. Both of us in the front, dressed in the guards' jackets and a hat to cover most of our faces, were good and ready to go.

The building was in plain view, though most of the lights have been turned off and it looked almost deserted. But we knew better, seeing the exterior lights on to give it some kind of anonymous glow. Oliver was taking us over to the backside of the lab, seeing the service driveway that was winding around and directing us in the right place. Nile stayed in the back, though I saw her poke her head out once or twice to see the building itself and what we were about to do. We were about to arrive at the security gate that was on the side of the building

"It's a big building," She muttered as Oliver was about to pull up to the gate,

"Keep calm," I reminded her, and also to Oliver too as he was coming closer and the security guard was poking his head out at the side to see our upcoming truck, "Once we get inside we go to the security room and shut down the camera recordings,"

"Heads up," Oliver said to the both of us as he was slowing the truck down, Nile tucking back in the darkness as Oliver was now coming to a full stop. The guard at the small kiosk walked over, Oliver flashing his ID to him without even showing most of his face. I stayed still looking away from the guard but showing my hat to him as I heard nothing for a few solid seconds. Were we caught?

No, he nodded his head at Oliver and the gate opened.

Oliver waved thanks briefly before he lurched the truck into drive, going through with ease. I looked back over to him, seeing how he was about to break into a sweat from being so calm. I gave his arm a quick squeeze as he was approaching the loading dock, getting the truck ready to do a K turn and reversing into the dock perfectly.

"You're doing fine," I reassured him as he was backing the truck up carefully. He nodded his head as we were about to get the truck perfectly in place against the dock.

"I know," He said quickly, having me look back at Nile and see her cock her gun.

"You ready to go?" she asked, having me carefully climb into the back of the truck without disturbing Oliver and his parking. Once I was in the back, we unzipped the rest of the ruffle bag and I got my holster with arrows, my bow to unfold it perfectly, and my thigh holster. Nile was getting her equipment on and cocking her guns, the both of us feeling the truck coming to a full stop.

"Okay," I said out loud so that Oliver and Nile could hear, "We have a one minute window to get into the security room and make sure we stop any recording from here on out while we're here,"

Oliver turned off the truck, looking back at the both of us to see if we were ready. I nodded at him, seeing him slowly move to hop out of the truck and walk over to open up the backdoors for us. Grabbing Oliver's gun that he was going to use, Nile and cocked our guns and we were getting low in our stance, aiming right in front of us at the ready.

The doors opened, both Nile and I coming out to step onto the dock and I handed Oliver his gun with ease. The three of us stalked over to the back services doors, opening it and crouching down low with guns out. We were in what seemed to be the kitchen, though it was rather empty and no one was in sight. We had to be quick, moving around the kitchen island and over to the swinging doors that would lead to the back hallways. Once all three of us were in position, I kicked the swimming doors opened and we were in.

Nile instantly went to take out two cameras that were perched in the corner up high on the walls as Oliver was covering me while I moved down the hall and over to the left, peering down very briefly to see that no one was around. I knew the security room was here along this hallway, and we were down to 30 seconds.

Oliver tapped my shoulder once, showing me that we were clear from behind. All three of us were going down the hallway, Nile once again taking out the cameras that were perched in the hallway. Oliver and I stay against the wall as I was approaching the security room, pulling out the ID that I had in my pocket and swiping it against the door to get me inside. Once the doors were opened and all three of us were right inside, we instantly went into fight mode.

I rammed my gun against the side of the guard's head that was near the wall as Oliver walked over to grab the guard that was at the security desk, knocking him out cold with one punch. It was all over within seconds as Nile made her way into the chair and looked at the screens in front of her. It was just like Bern, having me see all the angles and on all the floors. It even showed the exterior, and we say at least two bodies that were sprawled out on the floor, thanks to Nicky and his sniper skill. The camera that was showing the rooftop was about to show both Joe and Andy, which was the perfect timing.

"Kill the recording and fry the hard drive," I said to Nile as Oliver was locking the door in case we were going to be bombarded or ambushed. I moved over to one of the closets that were in the room, opening it and looking inside to see if we could anything in there.

Of course, there would be batons and extra firearms that were ready for the taken. I grabbed at least one baton, strapping it to my thigh as I got two guns that seemed usable for me.

"Where are the others?" Oliver asked as he was looking with Nile, over her shoulder, at the screens. I started to grab a few things that we could use, including a walkie talkie that was charged and ready for use.

"Joe and Andy are on the top floor, Joe is killing the alarms, and Nicky's about to come through the back," Nile explained, "Some of the guards are picking up that something's up,"

"Can we kill their radios so they don't contact each other?" Oliver asked, looking back at me as I was then looking around to see if I could. It took a moment or so, hearing the chatter on the other end already fo the guard talking to each other. Oliver made a good point and move, now having me see a mega command board of the walkie talkies that were currently in use. At least 35 of them. I saw the main switch at the bottom that was showing the color green, having me click it and the button went from green to red.

All the communication went dead.

"Found it," I said, walking back to the other two and we saw the guard trying to talk into the walkie talkies, looking a bit convened and frantic, "Now we need to leave, they'll come back here and try to reset them."

"Nicky's heading to the third floor, leaving us with at least 15 guards on the ground level and into the basement," Nile explained, taking the hard drive with the last recordings of us and shoving it in her pocket as she looked up at me. I nodded at her, then heading over to the door with Oliver and Nile in tow, "The main basement elevator is near the second hallway on the right.

I kicked the door open, sweeping the hallway and motioning for the others to follow. We were going down quickly and carefully. We were moving fast, ready for anything that could pop up and in our way from getting out in one piece.

One turn to the right and we were going down a smaller hallway, just the three of us for a few seconds before we saw at least 4 guards coming around the corner. As soon as they saw us, I knelt to the ground, Oliver was perched right over me and Nicky was slight to the right as we got three of the guards within seconds.

The fourth one was shot in the arm as we were approaching him. He fell to the ground, having me pass him with Oliver as Nile then took him out behind us. I turned the corner, moving out of the way from the second round of gunfire just in time since it sounded like at least 3 guns were going off at the same time. I waited for a moment, giving Oliver the signal to wait since I knew they would have to pause I've done this before, and I saw Oliver giving me a questionable look as cement from the wall was shooting out and everywhere around us.

Once it paused, I moved.

I punched out the first guard, ducking a jab from the second guard as I got him square between the eyes as the third got me in the shoulder with his gun. It was a small sting, nothing I wasn't used to before, but before I could get him back, he was shot in the head from someone behind me. Once he fell to the ground, I looked around and I saw who it was.

Oliver.

"You okay?" he asked, having me nod and give him a quick smile. The bullet in my shoulder pushed itself out, having me squint through as the bullet fell to the ground and Oliver watched the bullet with his eyes. He nodded then, taking in a shaky breath. This was the first time he really dove into this, and maybe it was going to be a bit much for him, yet I couldn't see it in how he was composing himself.

"Let's get going," Nile reminded us, walking past us as we were heading over towards the main lobby. Oliver and I were following, dodging the bodies that were on the floor while we were about to go into the lobby. The seocnd hallway that had the elevator that we wanted was on the way,

"You think the others are okay?" Oliver asked me, almost in worry as we looked out into the lobby. Not a soul in sight, only the extremely expensive furniture in the waiting area, the reception area, and the main elevators. The opening that showed the second and third floor right above the waiting area showed a modern chandelier that was dangling.

"If I know the others—" Nile was starting, but a sudden shattering crash of the chandelier slammed into the ground floor, glass falling everywhere and we intently covered our faces in case we were going to get impact from it. it all happened so fast, but once the noise died down, we all looked back at the now destroyed chandelier.

There was a guard's body perched, actually impaled through the top pole.

"Andy's a piece of work," I muttered as we made it over to the second hallway not wanting to waste any more time. Plus we knew this kind of crash will lead more guard to come our way and make things a bit worse. I could ever hear some shouting from up above, our existence was clearly known now.

Time was of the essence.

The elevator was at the very end of the hallway, Oliver running over to push the down button and Nile staying in the back to make sure we were covered. Once the elevator doors opened, we all went inside and pushed the button to take us to the basement. When the doors closed, I felt like all three of us sighed in relief. I looked at the other two, seeing that they were still intact and all in one piece.

"You know," I said, almost in a joke, "We're doing okay as a trio,"

Nile gave a dry chuckle as she cracked his neck, 'We can give Nicky, Joe, and Andy a run for their money,"

Oliver gave a smile, almost chuckling at that moment as he was tapping his fingers against his thigh, almost in nervousness, and maybe riding an adrenaline high as we were going lower and then stopping right at the floor that we wanted. All three of us looked at one another, silently knowing what to do. We knew the blueprint of the basement, studying it sometime before we came, so we knew where to go

"I'll go straight," I explained, getting a good grip on my gun, "Oliver you go left, and Nile, you go right. Keep an eye out for anything that could involve Nicky or Joe," I explained to both of them, seeing them all nod their heads while the doors were opening.

It was game time.

Our guns were out, ready for any rapid gunfire that could come out way. Nothing and no one was there, all three of us than going out one by one and we finally separated from each other. I was going down the hall, looking to see that there were at least four heavy doors on both sides and they seemed more like metal and steel than a regular door.

I had a gut feeling that this could be the spot where we needed to be. As I was passing the first door, I could see there were chains along the walls, having me pause for a brief moment in confusion and also in fear. It made me think that they were holding someone in there or something in how this was all set up. I then went to the next door, seeing the same thing, but this time, there were small splatters of blood along the wall and floor and the chains looked broken at the hinges. Now I was a bit petrified.

All of these questions were going through my head at a rapid pace, mostly was why this Kozak scientist was wanting a pie of our lives for herself. Was she trying to really get our Immortality for herself, or was she going to something in a sinister fashion with it? I could feel there was more behind this, and it wasn't going to be good on our end.

I made it to the very end of the hallway, about to briefly look in and walk on, but there was something in there that made me stop. A body, hunched over in the very corner at the back of the room. It was a male, curled up almost in the fetal position with no sign of movement. What got me though, having me feel my gun drop down to my side and my eyes going wide, was the jacket. My blood went cold and my eyes went wide.

I knew that jacket. No…it can't be…..

"Oh no," I said, starting to go in a panic as I felt like this was not real. I had to have been dreaming, not seeing who it was in front of me and begging to myself that I was being tricked. This was one of my worst fears, seeing the dry blood around the tan skin and the body not moving. it made me move so fast, throwing the door open and rushing over with a slide on my knees to make it to the body in time.

I reached over to grab the arm and side, rolling the body over to have the body rest against my legs. I was hunched over, almost to burst into tears from the sheer shock of how it was in my arms and in my lap. It was a face I never thought I would see this time around, let alone in this place. But he looked skinny, beyond skinny, which made my stomach churn. Dark circles were under his eyes, his skin looking unhealthy and patchy in some places on his body. He was out cold as I gasped out his name in agony. No, not him.

"Booker."