It doesn't take long for the sound of propellers to pierce the air, and I rush towards the parking lot, which is the only place the helicopter has space to land. I shield my eyes as the sun glints off the white metal bird, dust and pebbles flying up from the ground at the wind that is being caused by its descent. I wave my arms back and forth, hoping they will see me, and before it has fully landed on the ground a figure clad in black jumps out, followed by four others. I squint, trying to make out their faces, and I recognize Daniel almost instantly. He walks up to me, a large gun strapped to his front, and a scowl set firmly on his face. He walks with a purpose, tattooed arms hidden by a bulletproof Kevlar suit that covers him from head to toe. I look to his right, where the four other figures are walking behind him, and find myself staring at none other than—

"Jack?"

He chuckles, black eyes glinting in the sunlight. He and his team are wearing the same suits that Daniel has, minus the gun, each of them opting instead for their own weapons. Jack is carrying something that looks similar to num-chucks, but smaller, with spikes surrounding the large metal ends. He walks up to me, smiling at my stunned expression.

"What's up weirdo, you didn't think we would miss out on this did you?"

Even though he hides it well, I catch the hidden meaning behind his words, the underlying emotion that causes him to tense his shoulders and scan the factory as if something would jump out at him at any minute. I forgot that he had been in this situation before, and it did not end well. Which is how I can tell Jack is vibrating with pent up rage, his teammates looking just as energetic as he does. They are here to avenge their friend, to catch the man that took her away from them, from all of us.

Daniel claps me on the shoulder, and I look up at my mentor, awaiting instructions.

"It's good to see you again Brianna, though I hate for it to be under such circumstances."

He glances behind me, as if he were looking for someone, and he turns his questioning gaze towards me.

"Where are Kalen and Mara, weren't they coming as well?"

I don't miss the underlying concern in his voice, and I nod, trying to reassure him.

"They're here. One of the Kriff trainees was attacked, she was out here alone before we could call for help. She's still alive, but she's hiding somewhere inside the factory. We don't know if her attacker is still inside with her, so Kalen, Mara, and Asher, the boy you met back at the base, went inside to look for her."

Daniel squares his shoulders as he looks past me at the crumbling building, probably thinking about his other two students. He turns around, waving at the pilot and making some weird hand gesture, and the propellers stop moving. Once the wind dies down it's easier to hear him, and so I listen as he tells us what his plan is.

"We need to catch this man before he manages to escape. Hopefully we made it here in time and he is still here, so we need to check the area. Look in every room, search every corner. Team A, you will head inside, split up and search the different levels. Miss Acero and I will stay out here and keep watch. Hopefully he will hear the four of you inside and come out, and we will catch him as he tries to escape."

Jack nods and ushers his team into the old factory. A part of me wants to go with them, to see why Kalen and the others haven't come out yet, hoping it is because they are having more trouble finding Anna than we anticipated and not because they ran into trouble. I press a finger to my earpiece, the whirr of the mechanism telling me it's turned on, as I wait for one of my teammates to answer.

"Guys, how's everything going in there?" I ask, waiting anxiously for a reply. Daniel watches me, keeping an eye on our surroundings at the same time.

Some shuffling on the other side of the earpiece alerts me to movement, and I only have to wait a second longer before Mara's voice comes through the little device.

"Yeah, we're here. She's not on the lower level, so we are heading up. Hopefully we find her before, well, we just hope we find her in time," she says, and I notice how she keeps her voice low, just in case it does turn out that they aren't alone.

"Alright, have you tried contacting her through her earpiece?"

I can't believe we didn't think about doing that before, and I mentally slap myself for letting stress get the better of me.

"We did, for some reason the connection couldn't make it through. She may have lost it, or it might have broken. All we know is that when we call her the only thing we hear on the other side is static."

Damn it, that makes things harder. I hit my leg in frustration, taking a deep breath and closing my eyes before I remember that I should probably tell Mara about Jack and his team, lest they think they are someone else and accidentally attack them.

"Hey Mara, just so you know, Jack and his team are in the factory with you."

Silence, and then another voice cuts into the connection.

"What? What are they doing here?" asks Kalen, but rather than sounding pissed like I'd expected he just sounds surprised, maybe mildly irritated.

"Yeah, they are the backup that Daniel came with. Anyways, get back to searching for Anna, Daniel and I are out here waiting."

I ignore the muffled "well that's some backup" and cut off the signal. I look at my mentor, waiting for him to ask me about the situation inside, but instead I find him staring at something in the distance. He notices me staring and turns his head to look at me, before quickly jerking it in the direction he was looking at before.

I follow his gaze, and my eyes land on something silver glinting in the sunlight. A car? What is that doing here? The place is abandoned, and the vehicle clearly is not. It's very modern-looking, all sleek edges and smooth finishes. It's parked a few feet away from the factory, and I can make out a figure standing right next to it, besides the driver's side. I feel adrenaline course through my veins as my heart rate speeds up, looking at my mentor for confirmation. He nods, eyes never leaving the man or the car.

"Stay close," he tells me before pointing his gun at the lone figure, inching closer to the factory, as we use its wall to stay out of sight.

Slowly, we make our way towards our target. I take my stun gun out of my mission pack and hold it out in front of me, the familiar feel of its weight in my hand easing some of my nerves. We stop when we get as far as the wall will take us, carefully coming around the edge, behind the figure, trying not to give away our position. I can see him more clearly from here, a man dressed in a black suit, sunglasses set firmly over his eyes. He looks like he's just standing there. Waiting. What is he doing?

That's when it hits me.

"Daniel!" I hiss, getting my mentors attention.

He turns to me, keeping an eye on the man in black from out of the corner of his eye.

"What is it?" He whispers, trying to be as quiet as possible so as to not give away our position.

"Jayson called us earlier today. He said that the president and one of his bodyguards were going to be going to an unknown location, no one knew why. He also told us he overheard the two of them talking about the old factories surrounding the Mar," I wave my arms around us, "which happens to be where we currently are. What if that's the bodyguard?" I say, pointing to the man, who is still looking the other way.

His outfit surely fits the part, it's almost identical to the one Jayson had to wear the day he went in for his tryouts at the Mar.

Daniel's expression betrays nothing as he stares at me blankly, but I catch the way his lips press together when he turns around to face the car once again, which is all the sign I need to know he isn't pleased by what I just shared with him.

"If that's the case," he says, "then what we all feared has come true. We need to catch him now, lest we risk him getting away. This is as close as we are ever going to get, because once he's back at the safety of the Mar no one will believe us." He struggles with his thoughts before crouching down, feet planted firmly on the ground.

"On the count of three we are going to run and try to catch him by surprise. Understood?"

I give a small jerk of my head to show him that I understood, copying his movements and crouching slightly, waiting for Daniel to give the word. He waits, watching as the man checks something in the passenger's side of the car.

"One."

I feel my heart rate speed up, and I clutch the stun gun so hard that the metal bites into my skin.

"Two."

The man opens the door, turning completely away from us.

"Three!"