"W-who are you?"
I furrowed my brows. "What are you talking about? Come on we need to get out of here" I said.
"Stay back," she said.
"Ava...,"
"How does Scar know you?" She asked.
"What? He doesn't," I said. We really don't have time for this.
"I saw the way he looked at you Kayla, he knew you. And the way you killed that man," she said grimly.
"Ava about that I wasn't thinking but can we please do this at a time where we're not gonna get shot at,"
"I saw you Kayla, and when he told you he had kids you fucking smirked. You looked so out of it, almost like a fucking psychopath,"
"I-I...," I can't believe this. I ran my shaky hands through my hair in frustration. "I'm not...," a psychopath. My head started spinning. "Ava y-you have to understand, I...I don't..." I fell to my knees. No no no not again. All the sounds and gunshots were fading.
"She's an obsessive killer," a voice said, "you turned her into a fucking psychopath!"
"Kayla! Kayla! Are you okay?!" I faintly heard Ava's voice.
"My head...," I groaned. Shit not now.
"Oh god I'm so so sorry, I shouldn't have said those things. We need to get out of here," She said as she draped my arm over her shoulder and tried to pull me up. One of the men busted through the door and raised his gun at us. Ava stiffened as we heard a shot. He dropped on the floor. I raised my eyes towards the door.
"Cole?" I furrowed my brows. What is he doing here? I didn't have time to think on it as I could barely get my bearings. I collapsed, grabbing my head.
"Makayla," I heard his footsteps as he came closer and scrunched down, "what happened to her,"
And I couldn't hear the rest of the conversation, only the fading sounds of gunshots. I don't know why those men haven't found us yet. It must be pretty intense outside. I felt muscular arms under my neck and knees, pulling me up.
I fluttered my eyelids open. We were in a different, smaller room. Cole was at the door, shooting.
"Stay with me Kayla, stay with me" I turned to look at Ava. She looked different. There were few cuts on her forehead, like she had been in a fight. I was no longer wearing my coat, and so was Ava. I was just in my black sleeveless vest. How long was I out?
"You both need to get out of here," I said weakly. She scoffed. Cole came beside me, on seeing me awake.
"You wake up just to say something stupid. Like I'd ever leave you here,"
"Ava listen, we won't make it out of here alive, not when I'm you guys. I'll only slow you down, so please go. Cole, get her outta here,"
"She right, I can't hold 'em off longer," he said. Ava looked directly at my eyes, searching.
"Are you sure?" She finally asked, softly. I didn't have the strength to nod so I hummed. "Alright, but I'm coming back, with backup,". Cole looked at me, before placing a gun at my hand.
"Don't go down without a fight," he said. Then they both stood up and walked towards the door.
"For the record," Ava said, turning back, "you're one exceptional partner I've ever come across Makayla Reyes," I smiled.
"You too Ava, you too," I said. Then they both left. I gathered my strength despite the splitting headache I was having and staggered towards the door. I leaned by the side of it and sat down. I checked my ammo. I still have a few bullets left. Then I struggled to stay awake for a few minutes, until my brain couldn't hold it any longer. I slowly felt my consciousness slipping away. I heard footsteps and voices but I was too tired to open my eyes.
"Don't worry love, it'll all be over soon," I felt someone caressing my face.
"A-Ariel?"
"Shhh, don't fight it, just let it take over. Sleep tight mi amor," and like a drug, I gave in to the darkness.
--------
Ava's pov
I felt a drop of sweat glide down my forehead as I ran towards the woods. Bullets were flying through the air as Cole and I took cover in a fallen tree. Cole raised the gun he snatched from one of the gunmen and was about to shoot when I stopped him.
"What?" He whispers, panting heavily. I motioned towards the building. They were still shooting, just not at us. In fact they were shooting anything that shot at them since it's dark and they couldn't see clearly, not to mention the woods where we were.
"I have to call for backup," I said and tapped the earpiece. It made a high pitched noise. I flinched and took it out of my ear.
"I'm afraid you can't," he said.
"What?"
"They fried all communication system, using an EMP. The agency won't be able to contact you for a while," he told.
"Damn it," I cursed. Hold on. "No but they can track us down,"
"Your trackers don't work. Like I said, all linked devices are also down. Somehow, they knew you were bugged so they cut off the links. I'm afraid you both have been on your own since the minute you entered that vehicle," he said. They must've figured that out when they searched us. I distinctly remember one of the guys eyeing my watch. Wait that means....
Oh no.
"Kayla," I whispered. We both looked at the building as a black van pulled up. Most men were on the ground, some still trying to escape but the shootings have stopped. We saw as some men in black carried a body into the van. I gasped as I recognised the ring on her finger.
"No no no no no," I said. Then I saw Ariel walk out of the building with two more men. My blood boiled. I'm gonna kill her. "Fucking bitch," I cursed and snatched Cole's gun and stood up, almost making my way over there before being pulled down by him.
"Let me go!" I gritted and I struggled. He easily took the gun from my hand while pinning me down.
"You're gonna get us killed. And even if you go there, Kayla won't be saved and neither will you so calm down," I stopped struggling and breathing heavily as I realised he was right. "Thank you," he released me and sat down beside the fallen tree.
I sat up and looked at the van again. They made a U-turn and drove off. I sighed as I placed my hand on my forehead, rubbing it. This is all my fault.
"Hey hey it's okay, stop crying," Cole said coming closer.
"No it's not!" I yelled, I didn't even realised I was crying, "this is all my fault, I shouldn't have left her in there,"
"She's a fighter, she'll get through this,"
I looked at him, "She was taken by the Mafias, she's basically in a lions den. They're gonna kill her,"
"Look I don't know that, but I do know Kayla and she's stubborn. She would never give up," I sniffed and chuckled. Yeah she won't.
"Besides," he continued, "if they wanted her dead, they wouldn't go through the trouble of kidnapping her,"
He's right.
"They want something else, but what could that possibly be?" She's just an agent.
"I think I have an answer to that," he said, "but first, let's get the hell out of here,"
We eventually made our way out of the woods, into a highway. I spotted a car few metres away. That must be how he got here. We walked towards it. I could see the broken drivers window as I got closer, there were no licence plates.
"Did you steal this?" I couldn't help but ask.
"There wasn't any better option so," he simply said as he unlocked the car. The FBI in me was criticising while the tired part couldn't care less about it. We both entered and he...hotwired it? I should've expected it though, not that there was going to be a key lying around while he conveniently stole it. He drove off.
"So, mind telling me who you are?"
He looked at me for a while contemplating, before saying, "My name's Cole, Ex military officer. That's all you should know,"
I scoffed, "Alright listen, you may know Kayla, but that doesn't make me trust you. So unless you don't want me to go full on FBI mode, I suggest you start by telling me who you really are," I looked around, "and where we're going,"
"Look...," he says extending his hand towards me.
"Ava," I said.
"Okay," he said, "Look Ava, you don't have to trust me, but you should trust Kayla. And although her being kidnapped wasn't what we planned or what anyone planned. But I guess they just found us sooner than expected. I told her not to go on this mission,"
"W-wait wait...hold on, wh...what are you talking about. What do you mean by they found us sooner than expected. Were they after us?"
He looked at me confusedly before his eyes widen a bit, "Oh shit you didn't know, you were not supposed to know, I shouldn't have said that," he said to himself. This is starting to get on my nerves.
"Cole, what is going on," I asked.
"I can't tell you, it's too risky to get involved," he said.
"Well guess what? I'm already involved in whatever this is, because I don't think those people that took Kayla are gonna stop there, they might also come for us. So like it or not, I'm in,"
That seemed to convinced him. "Okay, but you're not gonna like this,"
"I don't like any of this so," I shrugged.
"Yeah but this is different, it's way deeper," he said. And I felt a chill. He's right, I am not going to like this.
"Go on," I said.