Ty was not pleased with the turn of events. Not at all. There wasn't the slightest sign of resistance to their presence, Dari had not hacked the security system, and Xara had gone in alone. Alone. Just thinking about it made Ty feel sick. How could Xara have done that? She had to have sensed at least a little bit of the danger that I'm sensing.

"Agent 30," Ty said quietly into his radio. "Come in Agent 30."

"I read you, 52," Dari sighed. Normally, Dari would have snapped at him for radioing her every two minutes. But right now, she just sounded exhausted—completely and utterly worn out from the situation. She prided herself on her tech skills, and yet she couldn't come through when Xara needed her most.

"I haven't hacked the system yet," she stated. Behind her monotone voice, he could hear the concern. She was just as worried as he was, along with Finn and Jax.

"Well, keep trying. I'm still keeping a lookout here. I'm sure that Xara will come out soon, but it's much better to be safe than sorry. Besides, there may be enemy agents inside the building that we can catch once Xara gets back. If we hack the system, it will help us find them."

"Ty."

"I'll keep a lookout here. I can actually see pretty far from where I'm seated, and I haven't seen any signs of WAOIC. I'll bet that we did such a good job keeping this meeting a secret, that they didn't even have a chance to find out about it. Xara's probably..."

"Ty!"

"What?" he asked, quite startled and confused.

"You do realize that we had this exact same conversation we've had for the last few times you radioed? I may not have Xara's memory, but after five times, it gets a bit repetitive."

This situation must be really messing with Dari's head. It's not like her to be so polite to me, Ty thought.

The fact that everyone else seemed to be just as nervous as him made Ty even more uncomfortable. It's easier for one person's gut to be wrong than for four people's guts.

"Alright, I'll stop radioing. But tell me if you see anything more."

"Of course, Ty." Dari hung up.

After doing a sweep of the perimeter, Ty turned his attention back to the old warehouse, gluing his eyes to the place where Xara had entered. Without looking up, he reattached his radio to his belt.

How long could it possibly take to enact this exchange? Ty fretted. Something must have gone wrong.

Deep down inside, Ty knew that Xara could take care of herself. But he couldn't shake his instincts. Lately, he'd grown very protective of Xara.

It was undeniable that Xara had skills, especially in intuition and in picking up on small details. The only thing that she never seemed to notice—or at least, never acknowledge—was that fact that Ty cared a great deal for her. Ty never bought her flowers or asked her out, that would be too obvious. Instead, he tried to spend as much time with her as possible. He kept hoping that maybe if they grew to be close friends, she would come to realize that he was good enough for her.

The problem was that Xara was married to her work. Espionage was all she knew. She didn't grow up in a cutesy family where she was dressed up in princess outfits and given teddy bears. As a child, she was dressed in leather, played with toy guns, and trained relentlessly. She lived at the IIA headquarters, and went weeks where she never saw her parents, who were on missions. She was taught to be tough and show no weakness. If Ty was honest, he wasn't sure if Xara even knew what the word "love" meant.

And now, here he was—stuck in the worst possible position he could ever imagine.

If something went wrong, Xara would change the plan, Ty tried to console himself. She would radio me right now, and I would come running to her rescue. Everything is perfectly fine, the dealer was probably just...late! Yes, he was probably just late. Nothing to worry about, Xara can take care of herself.

Unless...she had been picking up on the hints that Ty had given. And now that she was in a tough spot, she wanted to prove her self-sufficiency by getting out all on her own.

But she wouldn't be stupid enough to not call for help when she should...right?

Ty could feel his palms sweating. Nervously, he wiped them on his pants. Ty's eyes began to dart between the bricks and rubble. What is going on in there?

Suddenly, a figure came running from the building. Ty squinted. It was the contact, holding a folder in his hand.

A million thoughts raced through Ty's mind. Where's Xara? What happened?

I should have gone in with her, I should have protected her!

"What happened?" Ty yelled.

The man's eyes darted frantically about as he came to a halt in front of Ty. He paused a moment, his breathing coming in short, shallow breaths.

"T-they g-got h-her," he panted. The man shoved the file into Ty's limp hands. "Y-you need to g-get out of h-here."

"What do you mean they got her?" Ty demanded.

"She was ambushed," the contact explained frantically. "I was running late to the meeting because I thought that I was being followed. When I arrived, I saw Agent X surrounded by agents in the warehouse."

Ty stared unblinking for a moment. They got Xara? How was that possible? She'd never been captured before. Why hadn't she changed the mission plan?

"I need to save her," Ty spoke to himself.

"You can't, they're trying to blow up the warehouse," the contact blurted out.

Ty's fiery gaze met that of the contact—a scared little man in the suit. How dare he even suggest that they just leave Xara to be captured by WAOIC? But when Ty forced himself back to reality, he realized that there really was no way that he could help Xara—at least not now. The most important thing right now was getting that file back to headquarters. It's what Xara would do.

Right, it's what Xara would do. She wouldn't care enough about me to put my life above the success of a mission.

Ty shook the thought from his mind, forcing himself to be stoic—like Xara. He would at least attempt to emulate the force that held the team together.

"You need to get out of here," the contact stated, once again breaking Ty from his thoughts.

"Y-you're right," Ty agreed, though quite reluctantly. "Come on, the plane is this way."

The dealer's eyes went wide. "Oh no! I couldn't do that."

Ty paused. "Why not?"

"I need to get back to my work. I have a meeting in an hour. My car is over there." He pointed into the woods

Ty's eyes narrowed, but he didn't second guess it. "Alright, godspeed."

"Godspeed," the contact whispered.

Ty turned and broke into a run across the field. The warehouse was a ticking time bomb, and he did not want to be around when it went off. The force of an explosion could rip apart his organs and break his bones. And if that didn't kill him, the falling bricks surely would. The thought spurred the adrenaline in his body, the blood pumped his legs faster and faster. He needed to get out of the area, he had to get back to the plane. He had to survive, if for no other reason than to save Xara.

Time seemed to stop as he ran. All he heard was his heart pounding in his chest. Adrenaline pushed him onward, forcing his limbs to move faster than when he did track. For a moment, the rhythm was soothing, just him and the breeze in his brown hair.

His trance was soon broken as the helicopter came into view in the distance. His lungs burned, his muscles ached from the effort, yet he pushed himself harder. He was racing against the deadliest clock in the world. The door opened as he drew near, allowing him to scramble up the steps without stopping the movement. With one final, forlorn glance as the warehouse, Ty shut the door.

Red and blue sparks flew into the air, culminating in a deafening boom. The ground shook from the force, knocking Ty from his feet to the floor with a thud. His bones rattled from the impact, his body numb.

Ty wanted to get up. His brain told his legs to move. But his body had just gone through tremendous effort, ending with being thrown onto the floor. Ty's brain was in a haze. His ears rang from the noise, his mind was blank, unable to process anything around him.

At least I made it to the helicopter before the explosion, was all Ty could think. The helicopter was equipped with shock absorbers and was made with protective material that was both light but highly durable. Ty would never understand how the scientists back at headquarters had invented such a brilliant substance.

Slowly the fog cleared enough for him to hear a faint voice exclaim:

"Ty!"

He felt someone roll him over, though he didn't have the strength to open his eyes.

"He must have hit his head on the floor when the bomb exploded," a concerned voice said.

"Where's Xara?" another asked.

Xara! Xara, she's...she's...

"Gone," Ty croaked.

"Ty!" The voice was louder now. He could make out that a female was speaking. "Ty what happened?"

"He needs to rest," a deeper voice countered.

The female ignored him. "Ty, where is Xara? What happened?"

Ty's eyes cracked open. Blood pounded in his head. He opened his mouth, trying to form the words.

"Captured," he groaned. "Get file to U.L."

And then, everything went blank.