WARNING: This chapter contains violence scenes and death.
(Jenny's POV)
The room starts spinning. I nearly fall over.
Daisy is still crying and Blane is standing in the corner of the room, his fists clenched, trying not to cry.
Rose is dead.
No, she can't be dead. This isn't real. This can't be happening. I have to be dreaming. If I close my eyes tight and then open them really really wide I'd wake myself up.
I close my eyes. The room stops whirling. Daisy's not crying anymore and I can hear Rose's voice. It is a dream.
I open my eyes wide. But Rose isn't in the room with us.
I gasp. My eyes are filled with tears. Some start dribbling down my cheeks.
I can't believe it. Rose is… dead.
But how can she be? I just can't get my head around it. She was always so bloody brilliant. Rose can't be dead. She can't be. She just can't be…
I gasp again – this time in realization. "That's because she's not," I whisper, and then loudly. "She's not dead. Rose is not dead!" I do a face palm and groan in frustration. "Agh, how could I be so stupid?"
"Huh? Jenny, what's wrong?" Blane asks.
"Guys, Rose isn't dead," I say.
"What? Wha-what are you talking about?" says Daisy, her voice still cracked. "Of course Rose is dead – we just saw a bunch of men shoot the vent she was hiding in!"
"Daisy, I'm telling you, she's not dead. Know why? Because of this." I point to the lapel pin on my catsuit.
It's now Blane's turn to gasp. "The Shield Pin! I've forgotten about that."
"Of course. Rose must have activated her pin and it hardened her clothes, and any bullets that hit her would have bounced off," Daisy realizes.
"Exactly. Guys, I'm pretty sure that Rose is very much alive," I say.
"For now," says Blane. "Remember, the pin only protects parts of the part that the clothes are on. They can still shoot her in the head."
"Which is why we need to save her. I think it's time we came out of the woodwork and show these pricks why they shouldn't mess with us. Who's with me?"
"We're in," Blane and Daisy chorus.
"Then let's do it. Get the Quick Slick and follow me."
Daisy grabs the weapon and follows me and Blane out of the workspace and down the corridor.
We take the stairs rather than the elevator as we wanted to give the guards the element of surprise. As we dash down, I tell Blane and Daisy the plan on how to get the men – and hopefully Phillips – away from Rose's hiding place.
After making our way down two flights of stairs, we carry on pounding along the corridor, silently ducking and dodging the armed men as we do so. However, we come to a stop and take a step back when we come across a large group of men patrolling the intersection.
"What do we do now?" Daisy asks.
"You let me worry about that," I say. "You and Blane get yourselves set up. And be careful."
The two nod in reply and take off to where they need to be. As for me, I take out a small grenade, the size of a ping-pong ball, from my utility belt. I press the button in the centre of the device and roll it on the floor to where the guards are. After five seconds, the grenade detonates, releasing globs of black substances on the men, forcing them back into the walls, which they are then stuck to.
"Argh! What is this stuff?!"
"I can't move!"
"Someone get this thing off me!"
With them encased in the goo, I turn the corner and dash across the intersection, past the goo-covered men and down the corridor where the vault, the guards, Phillips and Rose are.
I turn the corner and there at the end of the hall is Phillips, with his men, tracing the vent with the handheld device. It makes a blip sound. He picks up the reading as the device keeps blipping – along the duct, over the wall… until he points the device at me.
"Er, hey, guys," I say, giving a small wave. "I really don't want to sound childish when I say this but… nah nah nah nah nah, you can't catch me!"
I blow a raspberry and shoot off in the direction I just came from as Phillips orders his men to go after me.
I fly past the goo-covered men once again and race down the long corridor, my feet clopping like crazy on the uncarpeted, polished floor. The guards are not that far behind. I can hear their feet pounding loudly, sending vibrations through the floor.
I keep running until I turn a corner and skid to a halt. It's a dead end. I go to one of the office doors and tug on the handle, but it's locked.
"Come on – open!" I mutter, rattling on another handle.
"There she is!" says a voice.
I look up to see the armed guards, standing at the corner I just turned, blocking my path – and exit. I get into a combat stance hoping I can open a can of whoop-ass on them, but it's really hard to do that when there are guns pointing at me.
One of the men, who looks much older than the others, smirks at me. "We've got you now, girlie," he says. "Get her!"
The guards move fast, advancing towards me. But suddenly, the men start to slip out of control and skid across the floor… and towards me!
"Uh-oh!" I say – but with startling quickness, I leap upwards and both my legs kick out like snap kicks in opposite directions, holding me between the two walls as I watch the guards slide across the floor and crash into the wall behind me.
"Uuhhnn…" the men groan as they lay on the floor, covered in oil slick that Daisy sprayed on the floor with the Quick Slick after I ran past one of the empty offices she's hiding in.
Just then, Blane emerges from one of the office rooms and sprays the Instant Freeze Cologne on the men, freezing them solid.
"What the…?" The leader of the guards starts – and stops when Daisy comes out from one of the offices and grabs him by the shoulders and knees him in the stomach. She then spins around and elbows him in the stomach and flips him over her shoulder – despite being half the guard's size! Finally, Blane finishes the guard off by coating him in ice with the Instant Freeze Cologne.
"Nice work, guys!" I say. I drop from the ceiling and land on the ground in a crouching position before standing up, being extra careful not to slip and fall. "And nice ass-whooping, Daisy," I tell her.
"Thanks!" she smiles in response.
"I hope this has given Rose enough time to get away," says Blane, slightly worried.
"Me too. Let's head back to the workspace – that's where she'll probably go," I say.
We start running, away from the guards, all the way down the corridor, with me leading the way. I spot the large EXIT sign hanging over the door and we head towards that. But as I reach out to push the door open, something whistles past my face – missing me by about two inches! – bounces off the wall and clatters to the floor. A few cut strands of my hair blow around in front of my face. I look to the floor to see what very nearly hit me.
A knife!
I look up to the other side to see one of the guards who threw the weapon coming towards us.
"My hair! You snipped my hair! Son of a bitch!" I bring out the Paralyzing Stun Gun and fire. The guard gasps as the bullet hits him in his forehead and he falls back.
"Whoa!" Daisy exclaims.
I hear heavy footsteps. More guards. The gunshot must have alerted them.
"Let's go!" I say. We shove the door open and start dashing up the stairs, two at a time.
"Remind me to never ruffle anyone's hair again!" says Blane.
We clatter up the two flights of stairs – and then suddenly stumble upon a guard coming through the door. Unlike the last guard, this one pulls out his pistol. He points the gun at us, ready to shoot.
I run towards him.
Blane is quicker. He whirls his arm and chops him hard on the shoulder with the side of his hand. He swayed, dropping the gun, his mouth open. I take the guard's gun and I knock him out with the butt of the pistol. Blane and I catch the guard before he falls down the stairs. I take out the zip ties that he has on him and restrain his hands together with it.
"Hands – hold hands!" I tell Blane and Daisy after I place his unconscious body in the corner.
The two spies do what I say and hold hands. I take hold of Daisy's hand and activate the cloaking device. After our bodies become invisible, we go through the door and run down the corridor, dashing past the guards.
The three of us skid to a halt when we arrive at the door to Zeke's workshop. I quietly open the door and we creep into the room.
"Deactivate cloaking device," I say, and our bodies become visible. I heave a sigh as I press my back against the closed door and slide down to the floor. "That… was a pretty close call. We very nearly got caught there – twice! Anyway, that we're safe and sound, let's find out if Rose is…"
We hear a noise above our heads. Sounds like crawling sounds. It's coming from the vent. I hope it's Rose but you can never be too sure. I draw my Paralyzing Stun Gun and slowly approach the duct, pointing the pistol at the open black square. If a guard comes poking his head out of the vent, I'll silence him with the gun. I just hope he doesn't make a noise as his body crashes to the work desk below.
The crawling is getting closer. The person's breathing is ragged as they stick their head out of the duct.
"Activate torch," I say, and the watch-communicator shines a light straight into the person's face.
"Ah, get that light out of my face – it's blinding me!" the person says in a familiar voice, their eyes closed and ducking away.
Daisy gasps. "Rose!"
I shine the torch away from Rose's face and to the ceiling, turning it in an arc as she climbs out of the duct and lands in a crouching position on the work desk before jumping off it.
"Hi!" she says.
"Rose!" The three of us rush over to her and we hug her so hard we nearly fall over.
"Hey, watch it!" she says.
"Oh, Rose!" I say, tears brimming and then spilling down my cheeks. "I'm so glad you're OK."
"Me too."
"So what happened?" Blane asks. "We saw you escape into the vent moments before Phillips and his men arrived, next thing you know he orders his men to start shooting!"
"It was kinda my fault. I tried to stay still for as long as I could after barely getting away. I must have shifted and the scrambler clattered out of my pocket. So I activated the Shield Pin and laid flat on my stomach, with my hands protecting my head, as the men started shooting. Then suddenly, I heard Phillips telling his men to go after someone."
"It was me," I say. "I suddenly remembered the Shield Pin that you've got on and I thought up a plan to get the guards away from you so you could escape."
"And I am forever grateful. Thank you, everyone, for risking your lives for me."
The four of us have another long hug.
"Right," I say, wiping my tears away, "now that we've scrambled the code, we need to find the locations of the C-4s and deactivate them before Phillips' men open the vault door the old-fashioned way."
"I'll hack into MI9's mainframe to see where the locations are," says Rose, and she immediately gets to work on her Spy-Pod. After a few minutes, she says, "The C-4s are located in the sub-basement."
"Then that's where we'll go," says Blane.
The four of us nod and get on the desk and climb into the vent, crawling away from the workspace to the sub-basement.
(Frank's POV)
It's been ten minutes since Phillips left for the vault. Carrie has calmed down a bit since her near sexual assault. Oscar has been comforting her, but she's still pale and jittery, with mascara all down her cheeks.
Director Fairchild is still slumped in her chair. She looks OK, but she's still weak and delicate, and every once in a while her body keeps twitching and trembling uncontrollably – an after-effect from being electrocuted.
Just then, Phillips and two of his henchmen – Cruella's brother and the pirate man – come back into the room. Phillips looks annoyed.
"I take it the vault didn't open?" Casey says drily.
"Some cool customer went and scrambled the vault combination," Phillips retorts. "And if that's not bad enough, we've got another person running around the building like some headless chicken. And when I get my hands on them, they're gonna be sorry." He gets out his walkie-talkie. "Calling all units. It seems we have some uninvited guests roaming around the building. I want you to find the person or persons responsible and I want you to destroy them." Phillips puts away the walkie-talkie and turns to the two men who came in the room with him. "So how long will it take you to open the vault?"
"The sooner we get started, the sooner we'll know," Cruella's brother replies.
Phillips puts his hands together and bows. "I need, like, awesome good news," he says quietly.
"We know you do." He and Pirate Man leave the room.
"You know I totally respect what that person did there," says Phillips. "Scrambling the codes, that was cool. Seriously, that's what I would've done. So yeah, part of me is pissed, but part of me is like… empathetic. But that person's not stopping anything here – they'll see that, they'll check it out, they'll dig it out."
He puts his hand under Director Fairchild's chin and forces her to look at him.
"As bad as you feel right now… All that pain… that was shocking your miserable body… that's just the pudding next to the pie…" Phillips says.
Director Fairchild is still tired, but she uses all of her inner reserved strength to say, "It's so easy to blame me… when you know the truth…"
For just a moment Phillips is genuinely shocked – he can't believe Director Fairchild has the courage to spar with him.
"…that you got your own men killed," the director continues. "That helicopter waited for you."
"I had a man down, I was saving Harley's life, you knew that!" says Phillips.
"At the expense of all the others. They were counting on you to lead them to safety, they trusted their lives to you… and you led them to slaughter."
Flickers of self-doubt wash over Phillips, but he steels his resolve and reaches for the duffel bag. From the duffel, Phillips pulls out a box. It doesn't look very special, could be a cigar box – or a sardine can! It looks well-worn – it's been around. He opens the cover of the box and looks inside. He takes pleasure in looking at what's inside – at seeing what Director Fairchild doesn't. And the director can't help it. Phillips holds the box in front of the director and she glances at it… naturally curious.
After milking it for a moment, Phillips pulls from the box a string of needles – all connected by a red-threaded 'belt'. There are twenty or so of these needles. They're big – like the thickest syringe needles you can find. And they all have small red bulb handles at one end, and a razor sharp point at the other.
"I don't know if you've ever regretted being born," says Phillips. "I mean that's a real heavy thing to experience: the regret of having emerged from your mother's womb. I had some dark days, but nothing close to regretting the day I was born… Until I met Ahgneh-niyeh Eeg-li. That's Russian. Means 'Needles of Fire'." He pulls a single needle out. "There's this curry house in Brick Lane, East London. A little Indian restaurant called The Shafi. Nothing special, just an eatery tucked away down in a narrow alley – but they're famous… for making people cry. You know what makes 'em cry? The hot and smoky vindaloo. Seriously, you go to the doctor's after that place. No-one even knows how they make that crap so hot – the lore goes that the Devil drops by once a month to spit in their frying pan. I tried a touch of it on my tongue once… I've been knifed in the gut and kept my act together – this spicy curry had me in tears for three days.
"My point is… The Shafi's hot curry – extra-hot variety? That's a fluffy vanilla ice cream cone compared to what's in these needles. Each one feels like you took a bag of red chillies, threw 'em in a blender and used it for an enema. These needles… are a whole lot of no fun… And you're gonna get to know 'em."
Phillips moves the needle close to Director Fairchild's neck. The armed men – the ones who are supposed to be the tough guys – look squeamish. Phillips pushes the needle into the director's neck. Her body jerks against the restraints. She doesn't scream – but there's a look of terror on her face I've never seen before.
"The powder takes a few minutes to kick in," says Phillips.
And it seems that he's true to his word. After a few minutes, Director Fairchild lies in the chair, in ultimate pain – the needle protrudes – muscles twitch – it's all she can do to keep from howling. Phillips leans in for a close inspection of the contents inside the box and withdraws another needle. Director Fairchild watches this, trying not to beg for mercy.
"The second needle's the worst, I think," says Phillips. "It's like turning up the heat from simmer to high flame."
He skilfully applies the needle into Director Fairchild's arm. We can only watch as the she clenches her fists tightly, unwilling to let Phillips break her.
(Jenny's POV)
After spending twenty minutes crawling, climbing and crawling some more through the vents, we finally arrive at the sub-basement. Blane kicks the grille open and climbs out, followed by Rose, Daisy and then me.
"The first C-4 is down this corridor," says Rose, and darts off towards the location, with Blane, Daisy and I following close behind.
We hurry down the corridor, making a left turn and as we turn the last corner… we suddenly stop dead.
"What the hell?" I say.
"No way," says Blane.
"Rose, are you sure you followed the directions right?" says Daisy, folding her arms.
"I'm positive," she retorts. "The C-4 should be right here."
"But there's nothing here!"
And Daisy is right – there is nothing here. The corridor is a dead end. In the middle of the wall is a metal plate, attached to the wall by eight steel bolts. On the plate is a warning sticker that reads: CAUTION: WATER UNDER EXTREME PRESSURE. DO NOT REMOVE.
But something looks a bit off here. I step closer to the wall and put my ear on the steel.
"What are you doing, Jenny?" Rose asks.
"Shhh," I say. I rap on the panel with my knuckles and I hear the sound echo through whatever is behind the panel. "Do you hear that?"
I knock on the panel again.
"It sounded… hollow," says Daisy.
"Exactly – there's no water pressure behind here," I say. "The explosive is behind this panel."
"But how do we get in?" Rose asks.
"I've got something." Blane gets out the Instant Freeze Cologne and aims it at the bolt and whoosh! The bolt is covered in frost. Then crack! He hits the bolt with the butt of the cologne. It crumbles.
"Well, that's one down, seven to go," I say. "But we can't use the cologne to whack the frost-covered bolts – the bottle might break."
"How about this?" says Daisy, grabbing a fire extinguisher. She pulls the pin, aims at the bolt and freezes it. Then she knocks off bolt number two with the butt of the extinguisher.
I check to see if anyone is around. There's no-one.
"Keep going," I tell Daisy.
She repeats the process – aim, freeze and whack, aim, freeze and whack, aim, freeze and whack. Three bolts down. Then bolts four, five and six. Suddenly, when Daisy gets to bolt number seven… fsssss. The extinguisher has run out!
"Oh no, no, no!" Daisy cries as the last few foams drip from the nozzle.
"Now what?" Blane says.
We look around, trying to see what we can use to loosen the bolts.
"I've got it!" says Rose. I look at what she's staring at – two one-inch metal pipes going up the wall, floor-to-ceiling.
Rose kicks the pipes – one… two – and they break away from where they'd been welded. As she takes the metal pipes, Rose rips some telecom cables from along the ceiling.
"What is she doing?" Daisy asks.
"Beats me," I shrug.
The three of us watch Rose use the pipes and the cables to twist and loosen the last two bolts. We stare in amazement as the bolts drop to the ground and Rose removes the panel from the wall and sets it on the ground.
"Ta-dah!" she says.
"Nice going, Rose," says Blane.
"Yeah – great thinking with the pipes and cables, MacGyver," I say.
"Who?" Daisy frowns.
"Never mind. Let's see what's inside."
Rose and I look inside the hole in the wall… and our eyes widen. We go through the open panel into an attic-like room.
"Activate torch," I say, and the light on my watch-communicator shines on the floor, which is covered – every inch of it – with C-4 charges.
"Ho-lee shit…" I whisper.
"Oh, my God," Rose murmurs. We're surrounded by explosives.
I examine one of the cellophane-wrapped C-4 charges. Carefully, I tear open one piece of cellophane to reveal a brick of C-4. One brick – out of, maybe, a hundred. Just then I hear a noise in the corridor. I turn to Rose and jerk my head to the corridor. We move out to investigate.
As we peek out of the panel opening, Rose and I see Pirate Man arriving. Before either of us can even blink, Daisy and Blane spring into action. Blane delivers four wild kicks to Pirate Man, disarming and stunning him. He makes a grab for his walkie-talkie, but Daisy slams into him hard. He tries to fight back, but she floors him super quick. He's down and out.
"Wow," I say. I come out of the opening and walk up to Blane and Daisy. "Good work, guys." I squat down besides Pirate Man and take his walkie-talkie that's attached to his belt. "I'll be having this. Daisy, you tie him up and keep a watch over him. Blane, you'll be lookout."
"Got it," says Daisy.
"Yes, ma'am," says Blane, saluting. "The Watch Blane Patrol is ever alert and ready to report."
Daisy shakes her head as I leave them with their tasks. Rose and I head back through the opening in the wall. I swing the torch on my watch-communicator around the room.
"There must be fifty pounds in here," I say. "That's enough to level the building."
"It's part of the failsafe," says Rose. "Phillips has three of them rigged to the vault. If the vault door opens, they all blow."
"How long until they hack the code?"
"Soon. Jen, look."
Rose is pointing at something in the far end of the room. I aim the torch at it – and gasp.
"The charge," I whisper.
We gingerly walk over to the bomb. We study it, figuring out what to do. It's a tense moment.
"What do you know about deactivating a C-4?" I ask.
"I've deactivated a few bombs… but nothing like this," says Rose. "You?"
"I know much about disarming C-4s like I know about the Higgs boson – nothing."
Rose lets out a sigh as she stares at the detonator. "What are we going to do?"
That is a very good question…
A burst of radio noise startles the both of us.
"Yo, Wylie! What's up with the power surge?"
It's Phillips.
My heart races as Rose and I stare at the radio. We can't have more company down here.
"What do we do?" Rose asks.
I hand her my watch-communicator. "Wait here, and shine the torch down," I tell her.
I hustle away and run like wildfire back to Wylie/Pirate Man. He's lying in an alcove under the watchful eye of Daisy. He's still unconscious; he's tied up with cables and has duct tape covering his mouth.
"Jenny – what's wrong?" Daisy asks.
I wave the walkie-talkie. "Phillips." I rip the tape off Wylie's mouth and slap him across the face with great force.
"Seriously, Wylie, where the hell are you?" Phillips asks over the walkie-talkie.
The slap has awakened Wylie. He looks up me with half-mast eyes. I grab him hard by the balls, making him grunt in pain.
"Tell him everything's cool, you're still checking it out," I tell him. I hold the walkie-talkie up to him, but Wylie just stares at me, refusing to cooperate. Frustrated, I squeeze harder. This kills him, but I'm not fucking around.
"Do it, or your voice is gonna get even higher," I threaten.
Then, in a high-ish pitched, strained voice, Wylie says, "Screw you."
I sigh. "I'm disappointed." I let go of his balls and elbow him hard in the face – knocking out some teeth as I render him unconscious.
I drop the walkie-talkie on the ground and stomp on it with my foot, smashing it to pieces. Then I walk briskly back to Rose and the explosives, concerned and frustrated. My mind is racing – what the hell am we gonna do?
"What happened?" Rose asks.
"Pirate Man was being an uncooperative prick, so I knocked him out," I say. "But forget about him, we need to find out how to disarm this piece of crap."
"OK – let's just calm down and take it one step at a time. This is a C-4 charge, right? So the blasting cap's in the middle on the detonator, that's what we have to disable…"
We just notice four corner mirrors affixed to the charge itself. It seems to serve no purpose at all.
"What's with the mirrors?" I say.
"I don't know." Rose leans closer to study the sides of the charge. "But I think there's more than one lead spliced to the firing wire."
"Probably in case one of the leads has a break in it."
"Take a look at this."
I glance to what Rose is looking at on the side of the bomb. It looks like a small receiver.
"What is that?"
"It's a radio receiver. Must be how opening the vault triggers the C-4…" Rose stops. "Wait."
"What?"
"This thing's here to protect MI9. The last thing Director Fairchild would want is for it to go off accidentally."
"What are you saying – it's like a standard demolition bomb?"
Rose nods.
"So all we have to do is pull out the blasting cap?" I say.
Rose has a look that says I think. I raise my hand to reach for the bomb, but she suddenly grabs my wrist.
"But… Director Fairchild would want to know if someone's trying to deactivate the charge," she says.
"So there's gotta be some kind of tamper alarm."
"But what?"
"Hmmmm. Oh!" I reach into my utility belt and pull out a small aerosol spray – very handy for finding invisible laser sensor grids.
I look to Rose, and she nods. "Go ahead."
I spray the aerosol… revealing a laser grid emanating from a ceiling source (See what I mean?). The laser is reflecting from corner mirror to corner mirror around the blasting cap – a formidable deterrent.
"Look at that," I murmur as the grid starts to disappear.
"Now we know what the mirrors are for," says Rose. "Spray it again."
I spray again and the laser grid reappears.
I narrow my eyes. "I think I can pull the blasting cap without touching the lasers…"
"My hands are smaller," Rose interrupts.
I stare at her. She's right.
"Make sure your hand stays equidistant from the two side mirrors," I say.
"One more spray – on three," says Rose.
I nod and exhale. "One…"
"Two…"
"Three!"
I spray again, as steadily and quickly as possible. Rose reaches through the laser and plucks the blasting cap from the C-4 charge. She carefully – carefully – retracts her hand as the spray dissipates and the grid disappears. We both exhale in relief.
"One down," I say.
"Let's hurry," Rose replies.
The two of us edge our way carefully back to the exit, and then we climb of the opening and return to Blane and Daisy.
"We've deactivated the first C-4," says Rose.
"We need to move to disarm the other three," I say.
"What about him?" Daisy asks, pointing to Wylie.
"I've got an idea." I grasp Wylie by the legs and drag his unconscious body to a series of lockers that we passed earlier. I open the door one of the lockers and stuff Wiley in it. "There – problem solved," I say, dusting my hands. "Now let's hurry and deactivate the other C-4s."
The four of us race down the corridor to the next location of the explosive, Rose leading the way.
"The C-4 packages will be located behind steel plates that are bolted to the wall," she explains. "There'll be fire extinguishers at the regulation points. We'll use the CO2 from the extinguishers to freeze the bolt, but we'll have to go easy or we'll run out."
We sprint through the corner and race around a corner… only to be confronted by a large group of armed men. We start backing up, but the men have already spotted us.
They're coming after us.
"Run!" I yell. "Run!"
We run. We run for our lives. I don't know where we're going but we know it has to be far away from these gun-toting men as possible.
I gasp and duck my head as bullets whistles past me and ping around us. They're getting closer. From the corner of my eye I can see that the men take out their assault rifles and aim it at me and the young spies – but we manage to avoid the firing squad by turning a corner.
Then I hear a scream, and I turn. Daisy is on the ground – she must have tripped when she rounded the corner. I stop and run up to her.
"I've got you," I say, my fingers tight round her wrist when I pull her up.
"Quick! I'm OK," she gabbles, and she starts running again, we both do. We catch up with Rose and Blane and the four of us run – and run and run and run… until we reach an intersection at the end of the corridor.
"Split up!" I shout.
We do exactly that – Rose and Blane go left, while Daisy and I go right.
"So, what's the plan?" Daisy gasps.
"I think you'll find that this is the plan," I puff. For now. It's hard to think of a plan while you're running but in situations like this, you need to think of something that you can do to lose these jerks.
My heart is banging in my chest and I have a stitch and my mouth tastes of mouth but I keep on running.
We turn around the corner – and gasp in shock when we see more armed guards at the corridor.
"Quick, back up," I say. But as I turn, the men that Daisy and I have been running from have caught up. I turn again to see the other men have spotted us and start to come towards us. The same goes to the guards that Daisy and I have been running from.
"Now do we have a plan?" Daisy presses.
"Huh… Oh, uh, ah…" I stammer – but then… "Oh, I know! Daisy, I think now would be a good time to bring out those smoke bombs."
She brings out two smoke bombs. "Take this!" she cries, throwing the bombs at the guards' feet.
But nothing happens!
"Huh?" Daisy and I both cry out.
The guards glance at the bombs then back at us. Twisted smiles appear on their faces as they continue to make their way over to us. Suddenly, the bombs open up. But rather than releasing smoke, razor-sharp darts pop out from the device.
"Oh crap," I mutter when I hear beeping sounds. "Daisy, activate your Shield Pin, get down and cover your head."
Our clothes harden when we press the pins. Then we crouch down, our backs away from the bomb, and cover our heads as the beeping sound stops and the darts launch from the pads. I can hear the guards scream in terror and pain as the spikes protrude from the ball and penetrate them, followed by the sounds of thuds as their bodies fall to the ground.
After a minute or so the screaming stops. And for a few seconds after that, Daisy and I don't move.
I'm the first to move. I take my hands away from the back of my head and I slowly sit up. I deactivate my Shield Pin and I turn around to see what damaged the darts have done to the guards – even though I knew what has already happened.
The guards who surrounded Daisy and me lay on their backs and stomachs – lying very still. Their eyes gape straight up at the ceiling. They look frozen with surprise as the sharp spikes pierced their bodies.
"They're dead," Daisy murmurs. "Oh, my God – they're dead."
"Yeah. They are," I say. I stand up and walk gingerly over to one of the dead guards and pick up the empty ball that the darts launched themselves from and examine it. "Hmmm. It looks like some sort of dart trap. You must have picked it up by accident thinking it was a smoke bomb." I notice four small red holes on the sides of the ball. "This explains how the trap opened up – it's motion activated. Still, better them than us, eh, Daisy? Daisy?"
I turn to her and see that she's still sitting on the floor, looking wide-eyed and pale.
"I killed them. I killed them," she whispers, her eyes filled with tears.
I go over to her and crouch down to her level. "Daisy. Daisy." I catch hold of her by the shoulders so she had to look at me. "Daisy, listen to me. This is not your fault. You didn't know that this would happen. You weren't to know what this gadget did. But you've got to understand it was them or us. Either we did something or they would have taken us and Rose and Blane would have been on their own. OK?"
Daisy doesn't say anything for a moment. Then she takes a deep breath and nods.
"Good girl," I say, and I give her a big hug. "Right, come on. Let's find Blane and Rose so we can deactivate the bombs."
Daisy wipes away her tears and gets to her feet. Then I take hold of her hand as we step carefully over the dart-covered men, making our way over to a clearing in the corridor where it's not riddled with spikes – or dead guards. I don't let go of Daisy's hand until we are safely away from the darts.
I can see that Daisy is still looking dishevelled. I try to think of something to take her mind off those guards. And I've got the perfect one.
"So, er… So what's up with you and Blane?" I ask.
Daisy turns to me, very red in the face. "N-nothing," she stammers.
"What do you mean nothing? You can't kid me, Daisy. I've seen how you are with him – how jealous you were when he told that story about Irena, when he teased you about liking him, and I bet you wanted to thump him good and proper when he was ogling at me when we were introduced on the yacht. It's so very obvious that you like him, Daisy. And he likes you too."
She blushes furiously. "Blane… likes me?"
"You know he does. You've known that for a long time, yet you've done nothing about it. And neither has Blane. God, you two are like the Ron and Hermione of the spying world!"
I turn to Daisy, only to find she's not by my side. I look back and see that she's stopped walking. She's staring at the floor, her hands clenched.
I go over to her and put my arm around her. "Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say what I said like that."
Daisy says nothing. She doesn't look at me.
"Look – I've only met you and Blane tonight, but I know that you two are just perfect for each other. But you got to make a move and tell Blane that you have feelings for him. Because if you don't… there's gonna be some girl who's gonna come by and win Blane's heart, and he'll be riding off in the sunset with her rather than with you," I say. "And you don't want that now, do you?"
Daisy shakes her head. "No," she says quietly.
"Good. So when this horrible night is over, you're gonna pull Blane to one side, tell him how you feel and you're gonna place a big, slobbering wet kiss on his lips."
"Ew, Jen, don't be so gross," says Daisy. But I can tell from her voice that she is grinning!
"Nice to see you smiling again. But I am serious about what I said about you telling Blane you like him. Because if you don't, I'm gonna bash your heads together. OK?" I give her a nudge.
"OK." Daisy gives me a little push.
"Good."
We start walking again, in silence, being extra vigilant about what could be lurking around the corner. After about five minutes, I see a doorway opening twenty feet in front of me. I turn to Daisy and nod. She nods back, and we charge to the doorway. Just as the person walks through, Daisy slams the door, I grab the person and I throw them onto the floor, whipping out my gun and aim it at them – just as the person whips out theirs and aims it at me. But the penny drops when I find out who I'm pointing my gun at.
"Blane?" I say, out of breath and in horror-shock. I lower my gun.
"Jenny?" he says, with the same expression as me.
"Hey – what's going on?" a voice behind the door asks. Daisy opens it… to reveal Rose. "Why was the door slammed on me like that? You could've broken my nose."
"Oh God, I am so-o-o-o sorry," I say. "Daisy and I thought you were a guard and we just… I'm sorry."
"That's OK." Blane puts away his gun, gets up and dusts himself down. "Anyway, I see you two got away from the guards."
Daisy winces. It's down to me.
"Er, yeah – we managed to put them in their place," I say, and then I rapidly change the subject. "So anyway, are we gonna disarms some bombs or what?"
Rose brings out her Spy-Pod. "Yes, let's."
"So what are waiting for?"
We begin running. We head back to the path we were on before we ran into the guards and when we get there, we dash across to the adjacent corridor and head down the new path.
"God, I feel like I'm in a twenty-four-hour marathon aerobics class," Daisy puffs, when we're right down the hallway and round the corner. Nice to see that she's back to her old self.
Rose leads the way down the hall, with her Spy-Pod guiding her, while the rest of us follow along behind. Within a few minutes, we reach the second steel panel.
I don't waste any time – I take a fire extinguisher, point the nozzle at one of the bolts and fire, freezing the bolt. Then I knock loose the bolt with the butt of the extinguisher. I do the same process with the other bolts. I take away the steel plate and go into the opening, with Rose following behind me, and Blane and Daisy keeping watch.
Rose and I approach the second detonator. It's exactly the same as the bomb we already deactivated. I spray the aerosol, revealing the same laser grid as before. Rose moves her hand towards it. She steadies herself and… she reaches for the blasting cap.
Steady…
Steady…
She's got it.
We sigh in relief.
"Two down, two to go," I say.
"Let's go," Rose replies.
We leave the bomb and head out of the opening. With Daisy and Blane, the four of us take off again.
"The next set of C-4s is along this corridor. We need to cross through the engineering sub-level – over to electrical," says Rose. "It's far, so we have to hurry."
Daisy lets out an exasperated sigh, but she keeps on running. We sprint along, following Rose as she leads us through the corridor… and suddenly stopping dead. The rest of us come to a halt and see what Rose is staring at. Another large group of armed guards, conversing with each other. They haven't spotted us yet, so the young trio and I slowly and silently back away, hiding in an alcove.
"OK. It seems we have a small, or should I say large, problem in our midst," I say, my voice hushed. "As you saw there's a large group of men, with guns, standing between us and the next location of the C-4. And we need to do something to get them out of our path. Any ideas?"
"We could use the cloaking device to get past them," Rose proposes.
"Too risky. Someone could bump into one of us or trod on our toes. And a broken foot is something I do not want. Next."
"What about the plan we used to lure the guards away from Rose?" Daisy suggests.
"Uh, we might actually have a bit of a problem there," says Blane. "I used up the Instant Freeze Cologne when Rose and I were outrunning the guards from earlier."
"Same goes with the Quick Slick," says Rose. "Sorry."
"And we can't use the Paralyzing Stun Guns in case one of those meatheads calls for backup," I say. I give a long, weary sigh. "I guess we have no other choice – someone is gonna have to lure those guards away. And I think it should be…"
"Me," Blane cuts in. "I'll do it."
We turn to him. Has he lost his mind?
"Blane, wait, you're not doing this…" I start.
"Yes, of course I am," he tells me.
"No, you're –"
"Jenny! You're needed here. If you get caught, we'll be on our own. We need you to keep Rose and Daisy safe, and to stop Phillips from opening the vault and killing our friends. Besides, even if I do get caught, I know that you and the girls will save me as well as everybody else. So I'm doing this – no arguments."
I look at Blane. The look on his face shows courage and determination. He's willing to risk his life for MI9. I did say back on the St Katherine that I had faith in him – as well as Rose and Daisy. And he's not let me down, so…
"OK. OK, Blane, you lure the guards away," I say. "But for God's sake be careful."
He nods. "I will, Jen."
"Good luck, Blane," says Rose, giving him a hug.
"You ready?" I ask him.
He glances at Daisy. "Just a sec," Blane says to me, and he goes over to the blonde. "Daisy… you are the most irritating, stubborn and bossiest person I have ever met." She opens her mouth to speak, but then he continues with, "However, you are also the nicest, smartest, sweetest and most beautiful girl I have ever met. What I'm trying to say is… is…" He takes a deep breath. "Daisy, I like you. I've always liked you – since the first day we met. And I was wondering, when this night is over, if you would like to go with –"
Daisy cuts him off with a kiss. It's a long slow kiss, stunning Rose.
"Whoa," Rose murmurs, raising her eyebrows.
I quickly take a picture of the couple with my watch-communicator to show to Frank for later, after I save him. I look at the time. It's coming up to midnight. I've won the bet!
When the kiss ends, Daisy brushes back her hair and smiles. "Wow. You have no idea how long I wanted to do that," she whispers. "And to answer your question, Blane, yes – I would love to go out with you."
He grins at her, a goofy, lopsided grin. His cheeks are strawberry pink. "Cool," is all he says.
As much as I loved watching a romantic moment between two people, we really don't have time for this. We are on a very tight deadline. "All right, Romeo. Let's get our heads out of the clouds and back to reality," I say, giving his shoulder a little shake.
"Huh? Oh yeah!" says Blane, remembering what he has to do. "Yeah, yeah, I'm ready. Let's do this!"
"I would suggest you use your Paralyzing Stun Gun on the guards. The last thing I want is Phillips to take the gun away from you and use it against us. Also, take this." I hand him the Cat Tracer. "This tracker will be able to pinpoint your location if you're captured. At least then, we'll be able to find you, Phillips and the hostages easier."
"Gotcha."
"OK, Blane. Good luck."
"You too." He takes a deep breath and leaves the hiding place. He gets the guards' attention by giving a loud piercing whistle. "Hey, dumbasses! Bet you can't catch me!"
And he's off in a flash, down the corridor and round the corner. Me, Rose and Daisy stand silently, keeping close to the wall of the alcove while the guards' heavy footsteps thunder after Blane as they chase after him. We wait until the footsteps are at a distant – and then nothing. The men have gone.
I poke my head out to check if anyone is still around, but thankfully the hallway is empty. I come out of the recess, followed by Rose and Daisy.
"I hope Blane will be OK," says Rose.
"He'll be fine – Blane's a trooper," I say. I look to Daisy. "You all right?"
She nods. "I'm feeling even better now that I've kissed him," she says. She claps her hands together. "Anyway, enough about me – are we gonna save MI9 or what?"
My face lights up in a cocky smile. "Let's do it."
And with that, Rose, Daisy and I set off down the corridor to the location of the third explosive.
(Frank's POV)
The last half an hour has been quiet and tiring. Oscar and Carrie are fast asleep on the floor, tumbled into each other. Director Fairchild, who while still in agonizing pain is still, impossibly, defiant. Phillips on the other hand is seated on one of chairs with his feet on the table, reading a book, only to speak when his henchmen tell him how far along they are.
Phillips gets out his walkie-talkie. "How're we doing?"
There's radio filter, but the person replies, "That's five numbers down. Seven to go."
"Copy." Phillips, self-satisfied, looks over to Director Fairchild. "It's almost over."
The director tries to speak – to offer up some smart remark – but she can't. She's in too much pain.
There's a knock at the door.
"Come in!" says Phillips.
The door opens and three guards enter the room… dragging Blane in with them! His hair is a riotous mess, almost like they are rebelling from his scalp. His nose is bleeding, he has a black eye, and like the rest of us he's handcuffed with zip ties.
"Hey, boss. Look who we found running around the building," says the dark-skinned guard, shoving Blane to Phillips.
"Well, well, well," he says, closing his book and standing up. "If it isn't another juvenile delinquent who thinks he's James Bond. What the hell happened to your face, homeboy? Did the bad men hit you?"
Blane stays quiet.
"So where are the rest of your friends, boy?" Phillips asks. "I know they're here because one of them distracted my men so she could let her partner get away through the ducts."
Blane doesn't answer.
Phillips leans in close to Blane's face. "Where. Are. They?" he asks through gritted teeth, but Blane remains close-mouthed. Phillips sighs. "You know… I'm not one for doing this to someone as young as you, but…" He punches Blane in the stomach.
"Oooof!" Blane puffs. He doubles over and trembles with pain.
Phillips grabs hold a fistful of Blane hair and brings his head up. "When I get my hands on your little spy friends… I will take the extreme pleasure in putting a bullet in their heads, before I put a bullet in yours." He lets go of Blane's hair and turns to the guards. "Put him next to his misfit friends."
Two of the guards each take hold of Blane's arms and half-drag him to where me, Oscar and Carrie are sitting and viciously throw him to the floor, making Blane is groan in pain.
The sound causes Oscar and Carrie to instantly wake up. "Huh?" Oscar mumbles, looking around the room. Then he sees Blane. "Oh, my God! Blane!"
"What?!" Carrie sits up, wide awake in a moment. "Blane! You're here!"
"Yeah," he groans. "In the flesh."
"Er, may I need to remind you people to shut the hell up? Unless you want me to you shoot you out the window," says Phillips. He turns to his men. "Anyway, guys, keep up the good work. And if you do find any of the brat's friends, bring them up here." As the men turn to leave, Phillips calls to them. "Oh, by the way, have any of you guys seen Wylie?"
"Not lately," says the dark-skinned guard. The other two shake their heads.
Phillips sighs. "All right. You're dismissed."
The guards salute and leave the room.
"Man, I feel like a mother at Lakeside Shopping Centre," says Phillips. "Wylie said he was going to the sub-basement. I don't know if his walkie's out of range, if he's on a coffee break… I don't know!"
Casey stands up from her chair. "We've got five numbers; seven to go – the code program's running. I'll go get him," she says.
"Casey, my dear, you are the absolute bomb! Here – take these." Phillips hands the blonde girl a walkie-talkie and a pistol. "Keep me abreast of events. OK?"
"Count on it."
Then she lets herself out of the room and clatters away down the corridor.
"That girl is truly something special," says Phillips. "Sweet and reliable, if not dull. Kind of like my twin brother, Jasper. Still, like father, like daughter."
Everyone in the room except the guards gasps. A look of horror comes over Director Fairchild's face as she looks to Phillips. I'm dumbfounded.
"Oh, didn't you know? Cute little Casey is my niece," he says to the director. "And I know what you're thinking – if she's my niece, why is her surname Adams? Well, I'll tell you. About eighteen months ago, Casey married a City banker called Steven. They wedded back in June. It was a beautiful ceremony – I mean it would have been if I was there to see it. I could've walked her down the aisle. And I'm saying me rather than Jasper because… two years ago… my brother… my dear, sweet older twin brother – older by just five minutes… died in a freak car accident. A drunk driver rammed into the driver's side of Jasper's car at night when he was coming home from a business trip." There's a slight pause. "I didn't even get to say goodbye – so thank you, Frannie. Thank you for making me miss my brother's funeral, and my niece's wedding."
He takes out a third needle and sticks into Director Fairchild. Then Phillips takes a seat and returns back his book while the guards watch over us.
"Are you OK, Blane?" I ask quietly.
"Except for my nosebleed and the black eye, yeah," he says.
"Who else was with you?" Oscar asks.
"Rose, Daisy and Jen. You don't have to worry about them – they're fine."
"Where are they?" Carrie asks.
Blane peers around the room to make sure that no-one's looking. He leans in. "They're disarming the C-4 charges that are hidden throughout the building's sub-levels."
"But why?"
"A failsafe might have been activated," I reply. "If the vault's opened, it'll detonate the C-4 charges."
"They've already deactivated two of the charges and they're on their way to the third one as we speak," says Blane.
Just then, Phillips looks towards the spies and me. The four of us make it look like we haven't shared a word to each other. Phillips narrows his eyes, and he goes back to his story.
"Just hang tight, guys," says Blane. "After they disarm the bombs, they'll be up here to stop Phillips and rescue us."
Carrie, Oscar and I nod, now feeling hopeful knowing that someone is here to save us – and MI9.
(Jenny's POV)
Rose wasn't kidding when she said that the next location of the C-4 was far. After dashing through the long corridor, we go through a door that leads us down some stairs to another door that leads us to a wide sub-level that looks primarily like the London Underground tunnel. We decide to walk the rest of the way because as much as I love running, I was bloody knackered! So we walk, at a swift pace, down the tunnel, past the group of rotary converters… and hey presto! We've reached our destination.
The process is the same as before, I grab a fire extinguisher, freeze the bolts and whack them off with the butt of the vessel. Rose and I climb into the detonation area and approach the explosive. I take out the aerosol spray, but Rose stops me.
"We don't need the spray – I've memorized the laser grid," she says. "Just shine the torch on the detonator."
I nod and focus the torch on the C-4 charge. I watch with bated breath as Rose reaches out… and with quick movements, she removes the blasting cap from the bomb.
I'm incredibly impressed by Rose's high speed movement. "Nice," I say.
"Thanks," Rose replies. "Only one more to go."
"Then let's go."
We leave the detonation area and join Daisy who has been keeping watch.
"We are on a roll here, Daisy. Just one more charge to go and we can start planning on how to save the hostages," I say.
"Mmmm," she says. She has her arms folded across her chest, hands gripping her elbows as if she's trying to hold herself in.
"Hey," I start. "Blane is gonna be OK. He's a tough kid – he can handle himself. I'm sure he's knocked those guards on their arses before he got away from them. He's probably hiding in a safe place until we come and collect him, so try not to worry too much."
Daisy nods, but she doesn't look convinced. I'm certainly not – while I was pointing the light at the charge, I looked at Blane's current location. Either he's hiding… or he's been caught. Either way, we'll save him – and everybody else.
"Anyway, let's keep moving. We've still got one more C-4 charge to disarm," I say.
We set off once again to the next location. Just hold on, everyone – just hold on for the next thirty minutes. Once the girls and I disarm the last bomb, we'll stop Phillips and save you all.
The three of us run through the corridor, as fast as our legs can go. We run and run and run. We just spin around a corner – and we run smack into another person, and we all scream.
"Ouch!"
"Oooh!"
"Kyaan!"
"Waaah!"
Rose, Daisy and I are on the floor, groaning, rubbing our sore spots and wondering who the hell we literally just ran into. I spot the person first. It's a girl – or should I say woman. She looks a couple of years older than me. Her golden blonde hair is short and tousled, and she's wearing a strapless full-length off-white satin gown with a fitted bodice and sweetheart neckline. She's accessorized herself with glittering jewellery, and like me, she too is sitting on the ground, rubbing her backside.
"Oh, my God – we're so sorry!" I say, climbing to my feet. "We didn't mean to run into you like that. I take the girl's hands and pull her up
"No, I should be the one apologizing," she says. "I shouldn't have run into you like that."
Rose and Daisy get to their feet. Daisy spots the girl. "Hey, I know you!" she says. "You were on the St Katherine tonight."
"She was?" says Rose.
"Who can forget a romantically glamorous gown like that? Not to mention that she looked nervous and shy and she didn't speak to anyone. She's one of us."
"Really?" I say. "So, if I were to say 'life is short'…"
"Then I would say 'but the years are long'," the girl replies.
Rose, Daisy and I nod to each other. She's definitely one of us. "So, you're MI9, huh? Well, so are we," I say. "I'm Jenny Brownstone, and these are my teammates – Rose Gupta and Daisy Millar."
"I'm Casey Adams."
We all say our hellos.
"Wow – I can't believe you managed to get away from Phillips and this men. I mean how?" I ask.
She's about to answer when Rose says, "She didn't." She points to the floor. "Look."
I look to what Rose is pointing at. A walkie-walkie. And a pistol.
Daisy gasps. "She works for Phillips."
I look to the blonde and my eyes go dark.
"I-I can explain," she stammers.
"You traitorous bitch!" I say, and I punch Casey hard across the face. She's a lot taller than me but my arm reaches up of its own accord and my fist catches her cheek. Her lower lip is bleeding slightly at the corner, but it's not enough. I pick up Casey's pistol and slam her face in with the butt of the gun.
Daisy and Rose jump. Casey falls down screaming. It's a fierce hit – blood is squirting out of her nose and drips down to her crisp white gown.
"Argh, my nose!" Casey weeps. "I think it's broken!"
"A broken nose will be the least of your problems when I'm done with you," I say in a tight, angry voice. "How could you do this to us? How the fuck could you stab MI9 in the back like that? You make decent wage and they give you a flat and a fancy car and this is your way of repaying them? How much is Phillips paying you, huh? Is it six figures? Seven figures? No amount of money in the world could pay for what you have done, you backstabbing piece of shit!"
"Casper is not paying me anything! He threatened me!" Tears are streaming down Casey's cheeks.
"Huh? He threatened you?" Rose repeats. "Why would he do that?"
Casey sniffs. Bubbles of blood come out of her nose. Daisy gives a little squeal. "Casper came to me a few weeks ago. Just out of the blue, he appeared on my front door. He said he needed my help with something – but I didn't think it would something as insane as this!"
"But why you?" Daisy asks.
"And why do you call Phillips by his first name?" I question. "Do you know him?"
Casey subconsciously bites her lip and winces, but she nods. "He… He's my… u-uncle."
Rose, Daisy and I stare at the girl, our eyes wide. "What?" we exclaim in unison.
"He's your uncle?!" I explode.
Casey nods again. "Yes," she quietly admits. "But just because he's my uncle doesn't mean I'm anything like him – I'm not. Anyway, as I was saying, Casper came to me about four weeks ago saying that he needed my help. I thought it'll be something like setting him up with a place, considering that he just came back from the dead. But when he said he needed my help with getting back at Director Fairchild, I told him no. There was no way I was going to do something as horrible as that."
"And that's when Phillips blackmailed you?" Rose asks.
"Yes. He told me that if I didn't help him, he said he would make my family… disappear. If I didn't do what I was told to do, Casper would come after my mother, my husband and his two daughters… and then me."
The girls and I stare at Casey as she sobs harder. God, I feel incredibly guilty now. I've got to do something to make this right.
I kneel beside Casey. "Listen… It seems that I totally misjudged you into thinking that you were working for Phillips and I apologize for that. I'm a complete and utter tit. And I, along with my friends, will do everything to make this right. We are gonna make sure that Phillips doesn't hurt you, your family or anybody else ever again. OK?"
"OK," she says, scrubbing at her eyes with the back of her hand.
"Good. All right, first of all, we've got to find something to tie her up with…"
"Tie her up? We can't do that – we've got to let her go," says Daisy.
"She right," Rose agrees. "If we don't let her go, Phillips will send someone looking for her. He'll know there's someone else here and they'll find us…"
"And if we let her go looking like that, Phillips will send an army of men down and it'll be game over."
"Jenny's right," says Casey. We turn to her. "It'll be better if you tied me up. Then when someone finds me, I'll tell them there's only one of you. Give you a fighting chance."
I turn to Rose and Daisy. They hesitate, but they nod in agreement.
"All right, then it's settled," I say. I spot a nearby cable and grab it. I tie Casey's hands and wrap the cable around a pillar. "Once again, Casey, I'm really sorry I jumped to conclusions."
"It's cool," she says. "I can see why you did – I'd probably done the same."
I get the duct tape that was near the cable and tear some off. I bring it towards Casey's face – to gag her – but she turns away.
"Just one thing," she says. "When you face Casper… nail the bastard for me."
I smile. "That I will certainly do," I say, and I place the tape on her mouth. Then I stand up and turn to Rose and Daisy. "Come on, girls. We've got a bomb to deactivate."
And the three of us set of once again down the corridor to the location of the last C-4 charge, leaving behind the bound and gagged Casey.
xxoOoxx
We arrive at our fourth and final location of the bomb less than ten minutes later, and we immediately get to work. I grab the fire extinguisher and start my handiwork – aim nozzle at bolt, pull trigger and fire, covering the bolt in frost, and then I use the butt of the extinguisher to knock the bolt off the plate. I do the same process to the other bolts.
While doing this process, Daisy asks, "So do we have a plan about how we're gonna stop Phillips?"
I pause and have a think. I've got to be honest; I haven't really thought of a plan for that one. "I sure we'll think of something," I say after a long silence. "But I'm sure Lenny is contacting a SWAT team and they'll be making their way here as we speak."
I continue with what I'm doing. I really do hope a SWAT team do come, because I seriously have no idea how we're gonna stop Phillips. There's, like, fifty of him and there's only three of us. How the hell can we pull that off?
I only have one bolt left. I spray it with the extinguisher and crack it off. Then I remove the steel panel – but a sound makes me turn. The same goes to Rose and Daisy. We're alert, yet afraid at the same time.
"What was that?" Rose whispers.
The three of us listen again. There are footsteps, heavy ones, like a man's shoes. "It might be Blane," Daisy says.
I place the steel panel on the floor, throw Rose my watch-communicator and draw out my gun. "You two stay here. If anyone comes here, use your PSGs," I tell the girls. "I'm gonna investigate. I'll be right back."
I stroll cautiously down the corridor, gun in hand, finding out who is down here with me, Daisy and Rose. Part of me is wishing that it is Blane, but I know it's not him.
A sudden blip sound makes me stop in my tracks. I hear another sound. Footsteps. I glide down the corridor toward the noise. The blipping sound is getting louder. I press my back against the wall as I edge my way around a corner. And that's when I see him – well, from the back that is. He's wearing a black leather jacket and black jeans, and carrying an assault rifle. He's too tall to be Blane. And he's not dressed like an armed guard, so that must be Phillips' henchman, Benny. He's holding something in his hand. It's a small hand-held device like Phillips had earlier. That must be where that blipping sound is coming from. Benny is looking down the device. Nothing – it doesn't make a sound. He moves in the direction of the sound. Blip. He follows the signal around a corner. I need to take down this lackey before he finds Rose and Daisy. It's time to run. I tuck my PSG in my belt and I sprint down an adjacent corridor.
I can tell my plan is working when I hear footsteps behind me. Benny is hot on my heels. The chase is on.
As I run, I activate the Shield Pin, making my clothes hard as steel because I know Benny will start shooting – which he does! A bullet whistles past my head, narrowly missing me by inches. I weave as I hurtle down the corridor, giving Benny less to aim at – but that doesn't stop him from not giving up the chase.
I glance over my shoulder and see that he's getting closer. He's ready to take aim. There's a red laser light pointing square at my head… but I manage to cheat death by turning a corner. Heading down the corridor where the team and I disarmed the first explosive charge – and where I kicked Wylie's arse!
I turn the corner again and find myself at the hole in the wall where the plate was moments before. I can hear Benny's footsteps as I silently dive into the hollow recess in the wall nearby. Benny stops running. I hear him moving slowly and carefully down the corridor. I keep close to the wall of the alcove. I feel my heart going thump thump thump underneath my catsuit. I need breaths – huge, heaving ones – but I have to keep perfectly still. I can hear Benny getting closer. If only I had my watch-communicator with me – then I would turn invisible and kick this guy's arse. But he might detect me with that device he's got.
Blip. Blip.
Oh shit – he's found me.
Oh God, it's over. I've let everyone down – the team, Frank, Casey, everyone back on the St Katherine and everybody else held hostage upstairs. But most of all, I've let MI9 down.
I'm sorry. I'm so very sorry.
I can hear Benny approaching as the blips get faster. "Gotcha," I hear him say.
There's nothing I can do. I close my eyes. So long, world.
Benny opens fire.
Then silence.
I open my eyes and look down, expecting to see blood. There's nothing. I can't feel anything. Oh, my God – I'm alive! Benny didn't see me! But… if he didn't see me, who was he shooting?
"Who… the hell… is shooting?!" Phillips demands over the walkie-talkie.
I hear Benny open something up. It sounds metallic like… a locker. I hear something fall out of the locker and land on the ground with a thud.
"Benny… Wylie… does anyone copy? I need status!" Phillips says over the radio filter.
"Phillips… Wylie's dead…"
"What? How?! Who the hell killed him?!"
After a slight pause, Benny says, "I did."
I creep out of my hiding place and come out from the corner. I see the back of Benny staring down at the zip-tied, mouth-gagged and now very much dead Wylie. Benny must have thought I was hiding in the locker, not knowing that someone else was in there – Pirate Man.
I move in behind the tall, thin man – stalking like a predatory cat. I clear my throat. Benny turns. I kick him in the jaw. As he reacts, I kick the rifle from his hands. Benny tries to retrieve the weapon, but I swipe it from the floor and I use the butt of the rifle, powering it into the man's abdomen with such force that he doesn't even have time to cry out. His eyes bulge and his mouth half-open in surprise. Then I swing the rifle round and up to hit him, hard, under the chin. Benny crumples to the ground, gasping for breath.
I step over him and his dead companion to make my way back to the girls, but I stop when I hear Benny wheeze out, "You… little… bitch!"
I let out a sigh. "Oh honey, you are so gonna wish you never spoke now." I turn and walk over to him and whipping out my PSG, I shoot him in the middle of the head, rendering him unconscious. I examine the body, prodding it with my shoe. Satisfied, I nod to myself, tucking the gun away, and I make my way back to the girls.
xxoOoxx
"Jenny, you're back!" says Daisy, rushing to me. "We were so worried!"
"Yeah – what happened?" Rose asks. "We heard the sound of gunfire echoing through the corridors."
"Phillips' henchman thought he had me," I say. "But he actually shot and killed the man that I stuffed in the locker. I still kicked his arse, though."
"Well, we're just glad that you're OK," says Daisy.
"So am I. That was somewhat of a close call. Anyway, you disarmed the bomb OK?"
"All four C-4s are all deactivated," Rose says proudly. She hands me back my watch-communicator. I strap it back on my wrist.
"Excellent. Now that we saved MI9, let's figure out how we can stop Phillips and –"
But as I say these words, I hear the PA system being switched on.
"Dear person beating up my men. I assume that you are an employee here."
"Phillips!" I growl.
"Now I'm currently standing in the main area of this fine office," he continues. "And I want you here, in front of me, in ten seconds… or I'll start executing your friends."
The colour starts to drain from my face. Daisy's breath is coming in short, fast gasps, and Rose is standing beside her looking like a deer in headlights.
"Starting with your precious head of MI9… Director General Francine Fairchild," Phillips finishes.
The three of us stand in the corridor, looking at each other, frozen in this horrible moment, with one question on our minds: what the hell are we going to do?