At Lync and Sid's warehouse near Bayview's western harbors, the BBS employees arrived outside just after the two criminals entered the building. With their own internal communication earpieces, Mira asked Ace, "Do you have a clear view inside of the warehouse?"

"About that... I have no other place to look inside from other than through the ventilation fan. All the windows have newspapers taped over. I was able to slow the fan blade a little using chewing gum, but there's no way to stop it completely unless someone cuts the power. Were you guys able to get inside?"

"The rolling steel door up front is open, but there are several people patrolling outside. Joe had to pick the lock on a northern side door to get us inside. Alice, how much more wax paper do you need to place?"

"I'm almost done. Give me another minute."

With Ace being the only person outside the warehouse, that left Mira, Joe, and Alice inside as they hid behind several crates and observed the suspects. "So far, all I see are the stacks of C-4 explosives covered by large pieces of tarp," the editor-in-chief commented. "No apparent firearms, acetone, hydrogen peroxide, or anything else in sight. We can't exactly open all these wooden crates while hiding, either."

"Acetone and H2O2 are required for synthesizing TATP, so maybe all that is stored somewhere else that has a laboratory setup," Joe hypothesized. "Maybe there was a change of plans due to Jesse Glenn's unexpected death."

"Either way, Lync and Sid aren't doing anything productive right now. They're just walking around and counting boxes. Only one other person entered and exited since we sneaked inside."

"Maybe they want to double check that their inventory counts are correct. This is one of the rare occasions where I actually see Lync in person to help with hard labor, even if it's just counting things."

"And our job is to make this is his absolute last—hold on, where's Alice?"

"I swear she was just—"

Suddenly, the sound of screeching tires outside attracted the attention of every single person on the premises. Police sirens later resonated as well. Several DSP agents exited their vehicles and aimed their service weapons at the people standing in front of the rolling steel door. "Federal agents! Freeze and put your hands up!"

To nobody's surprise, the patrolling assailants fired their semiauto guns as all law enforcement officers took cover behind vehicle doors and shot back. "Sid, go check on what's happening up front!" Lync screamed.

"How come you never get to do anything yourself?"

"Do you want these explosives to blow up right now?!"

"Fine!" The blond man made his way to the rolling steel door but ducked after seeing one of his henchmen fall to the ground. "Federal agents, huh? I dare you to follow and shoot me inside!"

Baron lowered his pistol while his colleagues handcuffed the assailants up front. "Master Dan, who do you want to go inside versus stay outside?"

"Let me check the floor plan again..." The brunet literally took out a folded piece of paper from his pockets and opened it. "The search and arrest warrants give us authority to search the whole warehouse plus next door if needed. Paige and Rafe will put these suspects away in the police vehicles, then canvass the back entrance. Shun, Runo, and I will explore the warehouse while Baron and Jake cover us from this front entrance."

"Got it!" everyone replied.

The three senior agents entered the warehouse silently on high alert. "This warehouse is larger than I thought," Runo whispered. "Not only was the driveway empty except for maybe two cars, but I don't see any obvious explosives inside. You can't exactly hide big items in between wooden pallets and flattened cardboard boxes."

"Now it's starting to look like a maze the closer inside we get," Dan complained. "I saw the two commercial SUVs in the parking lot too, but that's not enough space to transport the amount of C-4 that Julie predicted."

"Or maybe not all of it is supposed to go out today. Anyway, now this place is starting to look as messy as Shadow Prove's warehouse." Realizing that her other teammate hadn't said a word, the bluenette asked, "Is everything okay, Shun?"

"I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

"You've been extremely quiet since we got here."

"I just want to finish this assignment as soon as possible. After several fruitless BOLO alerts from at least three different cases, we finally found Lync when he's not hiding."

"I know how you feel. This guy has been dragging on our open cases for longer than I can—" Runo ducked and hid behind a stack of cardboard boxes after hearing a gunshot. "What was that?!"

Sid fired his pistol again at the DSP agents' direction. "Like I said, I dare you to shoot back! You don't know what's inside each container, but I do."

"If we shoot back, then we might hit the explosives by accident," the raven-haired agent concluded. "If these boxes and crate contain any explosives, then he could take us out with one shot."

"Who cares!" Dan jumped out and shot back in Sid's direction, but the blond suspect dodged and disappeared behind several other boxes. "I'm going after him!"

"That's exactly what he wants you to do!" the bluenette lamented as she followed her colleague. "You don't know what else he's hiding!"

Shun sighed and pressed his earpiece. "I need backup. Dan and Runo ran after Sid Arkale, but we still have no idea where the explosives are hidden unless we open every single box and crate. If you could send reinforcements in to mark which areas are safe, then that would be great."

Baron was the first to reply. "I'll let everyone up in the front know about that, Master Shun."

"Sorry, but Paige and I are still stuck at the back entry because each new door reveals a series of smaller rooms," Rafe informed.

Instead of following his friends, Shun took a different route that eventually led him to stacks of larger-sized wooden crates. After seeing a figure sprint past, he aimed his pistol but froze after seeing the unexpected. "What the...?"

Much to his surprise, Alice was standing a few meters away from him while aiming her own revolver pistol at Lync, who aimed his Glock pistol back at her in return. They were staring each other down furiously that they didn't even notice the DSP agent at the side. "What made you finally decide to step out from working behind the scenes this time, Lync?"

"And what made you finally decide to go on offense and aim that gun at me, Alice? You think you know everything about your grandfather and me, but you don't know anything at all."

Meanwhile, Mira and Joe remained in their hiding place the entire time. "This was not part of the plan," the latter whispered under her breath. "Ace, can you hear me? I need you inside immediately. Alice somehow encountered Lync in the warehouse, and now they're pointing guns at each other. Sid ran off somewhere and hasn't reappeared yet."

"How much did she say to him? Do you think we've been exposed?"

"Joe and I just discovered her here. Anyway, do you have a clear view of Lync from where you are?"

"Nope... but I can try getting on the roof. That's my only other option."

Alice gripped her revolver more tightly as she continued to list all of Lync's wrongdoings. "You set up the illegal laboratory for Barodius Meunier to synthesize counterfeit medications that have no therapeutic effects at all. You helped Klaus von Hertzon clean up his mess in Canada after the art auction scam went awry. You gave Hydron Lyons the resources to hide his connections to his mother's fast fashion sweatshop business. You referred Jesse Glenn to dangerous terrorists for him from which to buy illegal firearms and explosives. You then ruined the reputations of all the other withdrawn election candidates by recruiting Gus Grav and Volt Luster to find incriminating information for extortion. The police are still investigating all that, but I will never forgive you for killing my grandfather to lure me back and then stabbing me nearly to death."

"All that is ancient history! Once the money's been paid out, then it's time to complete the next task. If you, your grandfather, and all your friends just stayed quiet and never started digging deeper, then none of you would get—"

"Lync Volan, drop your weapon!" Shun interrupted as he ran over to cover Alice. "You have no idea how long we've been chasing you for."

"Oh hey! You're the DSP agent who was first to arrive at the scene after I stabbed Alice. I wouldn't shoot if I were you. I hid the C-4 in several different crates. Some of these crates also contain firearms, grenades, gunpowder, and more items that Jesse Glenn wanted but couldn't keep because he died. Everything here is meant to blow up."

The raven-haired agent whispered to the reporter, "Where did you get that gun?"

"Just one of many things in Grandfather's storage unit. Where's everyone else?"

"I'll explain later when—"

Instead of listening, the redhead walked forward while still aiming her revolver at Lync. "I assume you have an escape plan. Since you really want me gone because of my investigative work overseas, then go ahead and shoot me."

"Alice, what are you thinking?!" Shun exclaimed.

Meanwhile, Ace finally landed on the roof as quietly as possible and looked down through a rooftop ventilation fan. "I can see Lync and Alice now, but this view isn't any better because there's another spinning fan blade. What do you want me to do, Mira?"

"Because if Ace or I were to shoot, we'd risk exposing our locations and covers." Joe added.

The editor-in-chief stared at the dire situation in front of her. "Ace, hold your fire. I want Joe to shoot instead. No one will know that the rest of us are here as long as we're careful."

"Let me go to higher ground then." The sandy blond reporter climbed up some crates carefully and aimed at Lync's right leg. "I missed! Mira, I'm going to try again."

"Who's there?!" The loud gunshot distracted Shun as he looked up behind himself. "I don't see anything behind—Alice, get down!"

Just as the raven-haired agent dragged the redhead onto the ground with him, Sid appeared from nowhere and fired a shot at the pair. "Lync, what's going on here?!"

"This place has been infiltrated! We need to run!"

"But what about the explosives?"

"Call for more backup!" As Lync was about to run away, Joe took a second shot that landed in the former's arm. "That hurts!"

Dan arrived shortly after to see the pink-haired perpetrator. "How lucky of me to find Lync here!" However, Lync quickly took a detour. "And he's running off again. Runo, let's arrest Sid first."

"Right behind you!"

Alice ignored Shun's advice to stay back and ran after Lync. "Aren't you tired of hiding wherever you go? You saw what happened back there. The entire warehouse is surrounded by law enforcement. You have nowhere to go after this other than a maximum-security jail cell."

"Well, I sure made a huge mistake by helping Sid with this assignment. I'll get you next—"

"Are you afraid to do anything because I'm fully aware of your presence right now?" the redhead suddenly taunted. "I'm not the only one with a diverse network. If I die today for any reason, then a series of emails, files, and packages will be sent to certain recipients because I wouldn't be present to delay the scheduled delivery queue. These recipients will all have the resources to piece everything together and tie you to everything." Suddenly, Alice's phone received an incoming call from her supervisor, which she answered anyway despite her current situation. "Mira, this isn't a good time."

"Alice, I have so many questions for you that I don't even know where to start. What are you doing? This wasn't part of the plan. You were just supposed to—"

"Lay wax paper from the doors to the center of the warehouse? You know I have a personal vendetta against Lync. I won't sit back and do nothing. With all due respect, your actions are making our profession less credible by executing targets from behind the scenes and dragged me into something that I never wanted to be a part of. Everything needs to end today."

"Are you making this a suicide mission now?"

"I never said—" The redhead suddenly lifted her phone away from her face and looked around. Now I lost Lync again because I answered my phone. I was so close to catching him, but his arm was bleeding, so he couldn't have run far. "I believe calling this a 'murder-suicide' mission is more appropriate."

"What are you—" Suddenly, a gunshot echoed near Mira, and she saw her sandy blond colleague fall down the stack of crates with bloodstains on his chest. "Joe! How did that—"

Lync hopped down and aimed his pistol at Mira. "I know this warehouse better than anyone here. Looks like the DSP agents aren't the only rats that sneaked inside." He fired a shot at the editor-in-chief, who fell to the ground just like the sandy blond reporter. "Thanks for calling Alice just now. That was a much-needed distraction."

After debriefing with the agents about how many people were arrested so far, Shun followed the gunshots and found where Mira and Joe were lying in cold blood. "I need medical assistance immediately. There are two casualties here."

"Shun, there you are!" Rafe and Paige finally made their way inside after navigating through endless back entrances. "What do you want us to do?"

"Thank goodness you're here. I haven't checked if these casualties still have a pulse or not. Can you stay with them until an ambulance arrives?"

"Of course!"

While looking for Lync, the raven-haired agent found Alice wandering around instead. "There you are! I know you went after Lync, but he somehow escaped and shot two people back there. Where are you going?"

"I know where the bulk of the explosives are, and I know Lync won't leave unless he transports everything out of here."

"Is this really what you want out of this? I know you want revenge, but you shouldn't risk getting yourself or anyone else killed over this."

"Follow me, and you'll see. And for the record, this revolver doesn't work. It's old, rusty, and can't properly hold any bullets in the barrel."

"I... no comment." Shun followed Alice through the maze of boxes until they reached their destination, where Lync was uncovering large sheets of tarp to reveal crates of C-4. "He's still here even with a bleeding arm. How do you know this?"

"I placed wax paper all over the building as a fire accelerant, which was Mira's original plan. I wore gloves and left no prints behind. You'd better approach Lync now."

"What about you?"

"I just told you that my revolver is useless. Mira's plan was to ignite all the C-4 now before anyone else could use it. I don't even know what I plan to do anymore."

"I see. Let me handle this." Shun stepped forward and aimed his pistol again. "Lync Volan—for the second time—drop your weapon!"

"Or what? You can't shoot me without setting the explosives on fire."

Suddenly, Alice's phone received an incoming call from her mint-haired coworker. "Ace, what now?"

"Listen up. I saw what happened to Mira and Joe, and I'm fully aware that they might not survive. Right now, I have a clear view of Lync and all that C-4 from an air vent that has no spinning fan. I could shoot now and set the whole place on fire."

"Ace, you're on the roof. The potential explosion will ascend, and you'll get hit too."

"It doesn't matter anymore. Just get yourself and your boyfriend out of there."

"Shun is not—" I don't have time to argue right now. "Give me five minutes at most."

"You'll get email from me in a couple hours with the information that he needs to close the case," was the last thing Ace said before hanging up.

Alice ran back to Shun and whispered hastily, "Whether you believe me or not, these explosives will explode in a few minutes."

"What do you mean? Are they on a timer?"

"Not a timer, but Ace will shoot at the explosives in a few minutes. We need to leave."

"You can't let him do that. This is all evidence."

"I can get you all the information and evidence you need as long as you leave this warehouse with me right now." The redhead then faced Lync and gave him a stern warning. "I'm done looking over my shoulder and worrying about whether I'll still be alive tomorrow or not. Just look at everyone that you've ever crossed paths with. They're all dead or incarcerated. You chose this path, which is why fate has you scheduled to die alone helplessly. Shun, let's go."

The raven-haired agent took a deep breath before shooting once at the wall behind Lync instead. "That should distract him. We'd better run."

With that said, Ace shot down through the ceiling vent. The immediate area inside the warehouse exploded into smoke and flames, and debris flew everywhere like fireworks. Even the agents outside furthest away from the warehouse building felt the impact and fell to the ground.

"Runo, are you okay?!" yelled Dan as he tried to regain his balance. "I can't believe the building exploded."

"I'm fine, but my ears feel kind of weird." The bluenette held onto a car door for stability and squinted at the fiery sight before her. "There goes our entire crime scene. How's everyone else?"

"We're good!" replied Jake. "Baron's a bit dizzy, and both Rafe and Paige already left to accompany the casualties to the hospital."

"We all need to get checked out later too. Shun, what about you?" the brunet asked as he took a seat on the asphalt. "Dude, can you hear me?"

No response.