Riley

"Sorry, man." I said, standing in front of Luc. "Things got out of hand. We didn't mean to make you feel bad or anything. Are you still angry?"

Luc, at first, looked angry, then smiled. "Nah." I put my hand out and shook Luc's hand. "So, what should we do?"

I was about to ask what everyone thought when Luc's phone rang.

"It's Sid. I'll put him on speaker." Luc said, and soon we heard Sid's voice.

"Hello?" Sid asked.

"We're here." Luc said.

"What's up?" I asked.

"A man was assaulted. He was a newspaper editor, and had a front page saying Xan was the bomber." Sid said. "We want you to talk to him. We've got some guys who patched him up, and they say he's wanting to leave, so you'd better hurry."

"We'll be there." I said. "Thanks."

"Bye." Kylie said, and Luc hung the phone up.

In the newspaper office.

"Jeez. You sure Xan's innocent. This guys looks like he was beaten with the ugly stick," Luc said, seeing the editor was out of earshot. "And guess who he's saying was holding it."

"You don't sound very convinced." I said.

"I'm not. I mean, why would Kid lie?" Luc asked.

"Well, Xan and him were friends." Kylie said.

"Do you have an opinion, Eva?" I asked.

Eva blushed. "Whatever you think."

Kylie rolled her eyes, and Luc sniggered. Eva immediately started shouting at him.

"Guys!" I said. "We gotta talk to this dude."

"Right." Luc said, standing military straight. We walked over to the guy (after I told him to stop acting like a soldier; it'd freak out the editor) and I sat beside him.

"Oh, great, other kids!" The editor said.

"Editor, we need to know what you told Xan." I said.

"My name is Gustavo!" The editor shouted.

"Gus-" I began.

"I'm not telling you anything!" Gustavo said.

Luc

"Then we can't keep you safe," I said.

Gustavo suddenly went silent. Good. My ears were hurting.

"Xan's gonna come back, Gustavo. He blew up a lot of your fine city here, and I'm sure offing another person isn't a problem." I said. "After all, you're just another loose end."

Gustavo suddenly jumped up, grabbing me around the neck and slamming me against the wall. I kicked at him, to no avail.

Then, Riley ripped him off of me, shoving him into a bookshelf. How cool is it that this giant seventeen-year old was my friend?

Very, very cool.

"Tell us what you told Xan." Riley asked.

"Or make sure to bury a six-foot hole." Kylie said. "Save Xan some trouble."

Gustavo sat back down, and sighed. "Moscow. I told him to go to Moscow."

"Russia?" I asked, rubbing my neck. "Why?"

"Are you going to give me protection or not?" Gustavo asked.

I smiled crookedly as the others walked out of the room.

"We're teenagers. We don't control whether you get protection or not." I said, then left Gustavo to his rage.

Inside the car.

I was listening to 'For Whom The Bell Tolls' by Metallica when Riley asked for my phone. I gave it to him, turned off my iPod, and put my bandana over my eyes to get some sleep.

Riley

"Sid?" I asked.

"Yes?" Sid asked. I could hear voices in the background. I think it was Patti's.

"We need some plane tickets to Moscow." I said, then told Sid everything that had happened.

"Is Luc okay?" Sid asked.

"He's asleep right now." I said.

"Alright. We'll get you the tickets, as well as some parkas." Sid said. "See you at the airport."