"I wanna follow where she goes
I think about her and she knows it
I wanna let her take control
'Cause everytime that she gets close, yeah."

~ There's Nothing Holdin' Me Back by Shawn Mendes

Time dragged on and on. It felt like Adalynn had been in her 'prison' for hours; surely someone would have noticed her absence by now?

But then again, they probably wouldn't have. The Eagles' first match of the season against the Hawks was waging and all her friends would most likely be too preoccupied and excited to notice that anything was amiss. Even if they did realise she wasn't with them, they'd probably come to the conclusion that she was elsewhere amidst the massive throng that had packed the school's stadium.

Perfect.

Weak, exhausted, and thirsty, Adalynn slumped against the far wall of her cell; the cool hard rock digging into her back. She lent her head back and sighed, a few tears squeezing their way out from beneath her dark lashes.

Judy and Eric hadn't returned to the cave as of yet and Adalynn was worried. Why was Eric going to the Woods' house? What was he planning to do there? And what about Judy? What evil scheme was cooking up in her mind as she sat and watched her son play basketball?

Jason had hung around the cave for a bit, but, along with some other man Adalynn didn't recognise, he had returned to the Academy to help shut off the school's power. Ethan and Marcus slipped in and out of the room on occasion, but most of the time, they were busy on their computers. The bearded guy, however, didn't leave his spot outside of Adalynn's cell. He must've been worried that the second he turned his back, Adalynn would try and make a break for it. So he didn't move. He just sat there, his gruesome looking weapons sprawled on the floor beside him.

Adalynn's gaze wondered over to where the magnetite was securely locked behind the glass pane. It was a work of wonder and Adalynn couldn't believe that Ryan was the one responsible for it's discovery ...

She bit down on her lip so hard she tasted blood pooling in her mouth. She no longer cared what happened to her; she just wanted her friends to be safe.

Finally, after a few hours of agonising stillness, the door leading into the room burst open and Jason stormed in, a look of fury on his face.

"You - you won't believe what's happening!" he yelled, addressing the bearded man by Adalynn's cell. "H-her stupid friends are going to ruin this entire thing!" he pointed a shaking finger in Adalynn's direction.

Adalynn straightened up and stared at Jason in shock as he continued to rant, "I caught two of the Ravens in the basement, playing with Dad's old computing set."

"So?" the bearded man questioned, sounding a little bored.

"So?" Jason repeated incredulously as he glared at him. "They were trying to bring Ryan's satellite back online!"

The bearded man jumped to his feet and stared at Jason in shock. "W-what?"

"I told you those kids were smart! They must've figured out why we wanted the satellite off orbit and are trying to ruin our chances of money-making by bringing it back into the vicinity of NASA's servers!" Jason blurted.

"Shut your mouth!" the bearded man ordered furiously. "Are you going to stand here or are you going to do something about it?"

Jason's look of anger transformed into a smug expression. "I already did. I shut down the power and not only that, but I boarded the two snooping Ravens in the basement."

"WHAT?" Adalynn yelped.

"Yep. They're locked in there with no reception and no way of getting out in time," Jason smirked, "Not until the game's over at least."

A sudden wave of realisation seemed to hit Adalynn square in the chest. She staggered back against the wall, trying to control her rapid breathing. She glanced over towards the magnetite than over towards Jason and the bearded man, flashbacks of previous events flowing through her mind.

"I can't believe we didn't know about this launch sooner ... It's a sizeable, magnetite research satellite! It monitors magnetite fields to help scientists predict earthquakes. Once it launches, it'll be in direct orbit over our coordinates!"

"I'm sick of all this 'Ryan Woods' publicity. You know, she wasn't the ONLY one who discovered that meteorite ... She stabbed me in the back."

"I found Marcus snooping around in your desk today .... he took your computer."

"Max ... I lied to you and I'm so sorry for that. I helped bring down the satellite and I did all this from your laptop."

"Max's laptop connects to encrypted sites that normal laptops can't."

"Jason told me that he was working with the government on a classified project but I know that he's lying ... I don't know who he's working for but I know that he's not alone ... Trust no one."

"Our client wants us to proceed within the hour."

"NO!" Adalynn gasped, a hand flying up towards her mouth.

It was as if a veil had been lifted and Adalynn could see the entire picture:

Judy, Eric, Jason, Marcus and everyone else who was involved in the plan was working on a classified project for a client; a client who had promised them millions of dollars in return for using Ryan's magnetite to cause earthquakes in the location of the client's choice! The earthquake that had hit the Greenhouse all those months ago was a trial experiment that must've gone awry. Their mission? To cause an earthquake, one that couldn't be controlled once released, one that would destroy the entire Greenhouse and the factories and beach houses located along the coast. For some reason or other, they wanted Louis' life work destroyed. And they had wanted Ryan's magnetite research satellite offline because they hadn't wanted it to be able to monitor all of their illegal activities!

They had used Emma, a supposedly shy and introverted girl, to help them. They had used Ethan, blackmailing him with a secret he didn't want revealed, to get them information. They had used Adalynn's laptop to probe into her background and to snare her in their own little game. They had been going around, laying little traps. Like the 'missing-park-ranger's-taser' incident? They were trying to get people, like Jackie and herself, out of their way.

And why were they doing this? Mostly, because of the enormous amount of money they'd receive from their client, but the other reason? Because Judy wanted revenge on Ryan for taking all the credit for the magnetite's discovery! She was determined to destroy what Ryan had built up by taking down NASA's reputation and bringing Ryan's local high school to the ground in a heap of disaster. Even though Judy was working under someone else, she was the real, evil, twisted master-mind behind this plan.

Adalynn had to warn her friends! If she didn't, the earthquake that they were about to cause would kill them all!

Adalynn launched herself off of the wall and towards the cell door. "HEY!" she yelled, banging on the bars. "Let me out! Let me out! You sick, twisted, evil bastards! How dare you do this to everyone! To Ethan, to Emma, to me! I know EVERYTHING! You're gonna use the magnetite Ryan found to cause an earthquake! She was trying to keep information from you because she knew what you would do if you had it! You're the ones who brought down the frickin satellite and you're the ones who exploded the Athena spacecraft! Oh my god! You're sick, sick, sick! LET ME OUT!"

Jason and the bearded man seemed taken aback by her outburst. For a moment, they stood there, evaluating her, then the bearded man scoffed and stepped forward. "Like hell we're letting you out, kid. When the earthquake DOES hit, you're going to die in it just like the rest of your stupidly naive friends ..."

Adalynn's gaze traced over to Ethan who had stiffened in his seat. Swivelling around in his chair, he glowered at the bearded man, "That wasn't the plan, Barnard, now back off."

Barnard whirled around to face Ethan and sneered, "If you contradict me ONE MORE TIME, I'll chuck you in here WITH your little girlfriend! Let's see how YOU like it when BOTH of you die."

Before Ethan had a chance to respond, however, an sharp rapping at the door sounded. Jason stepped forward and unlocked it just as Eric came barging into the room in a whirlwind of urgency and stress.

"We need to launch it NOW!" he proclaimed breathlessly.

"Why now? I thought we were waiting until after Judy got out of the basketball stadium," Jason's brow furrowed in confusion.

"I've already rang her and she's heading back here as we speak," Eric answered. "I've dealt with Carter, but unfortunately I didn't sign up to deal with Hayley and Alex too."

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that someone's tipped us off to the police and the FBI are heading here ... right now! We need to launch this thing before they can stop us."

"Understood," Barnard turned on Marcus. "Power it up."

"Y-you know that once I do that, the action can't be undone?" Marcus questioned hesitantly.

"I said POWER IT UP, you dumbass!" Barnard shrieked with fury. "Do it! NOW!"

Marcus glanced at Barnard before looking over his shoulder towards Adalynn. "No."

"What did you just say to me?"

"I said, no."

Suddenly, Marcus jumped up and charged Barnard. He punched him in the side of the face and attempted to snatch his pistol away from him, but he was too slow. Barnard quickly ducked and moved to the side, removing the weapon from his holster as he did so.

BANG.

"MARCUS!" Adalynn screamed in shock as she watched the older man collapse to the ground, a pool of blood gathering beneath him. "WHAT DID YOU DO?" she shouted at Barnard, tears of anger streaming down her cheeks.

"Shut the hell up or you'll be next!" Barnard growled. "Get that fatso out of the way!" he barked at Jason. "I'll have to do this myself."

"No, no, please, don't," Adalynn blubbered.

"Stop your whinging," Barnard snarled as he sat before Marcus' computer.

As Adalynn's gaze swept the room, her eyes widened in disbelief. Ethan had disappeared.

What? He's not seriously leaving me here with all these maniacs?

"Uh huh!" Barnard hooted in triumph. "I've gained access to the kill switch. Now all I need to do is just press this button and we're ..."

VVVRROOMM.

The computers suddenly switched off, their black screens reflecting the shocked and horrified faces of the perpetuators.

"WHAT? NOOO!" Barnard screamed, thumping his fists down on the table. "NO, NO, NO, NO! NOOO!"

Eric quickly crouched down to examine the influx of cords connected to the power socket in the nearby wall. "They're fried," he said, huffing. "There's no way we'll be able to fix this in time."

Barnard's face screwed up into an ugly scowl as he whirled around in his seat and glared at Adalynn. "Your friends are gonna regret crossing the line with me!" he spat through gritted teeth. "It's a good thing that Judy thought of a Plan B."

A Plan B? Oh no! You've got to be kidding me, Adalynn inwardly groaned.

Barnard leapt up from his seat, stepped over Marcus' body and stomped towards the door. "Come and help me, Eric!" he snapped.

The two men left the room, only to return moments later with a massive object, covered with a dark material, weighed in between them.

"Set it down over here," Barnard ordered, pointing to the glass panel that was protecting Ryan's magnetite.

Eric and Barnard lowered the object to the floor. Barnard whipped off the cloth covering it and smirked in satisfaction.

Adalynn's breath caught in her throat as she realised what it was.

It was a bomb.

~~~~

Gif: Eric looks at the fried cords.

A/N: Hey, I'm sorry for the long chapter guys, I hope you can put up with me, lol. Not many chapters left to go now! I'm soooo excited! Where do you think Ethan went off too? What about Marcus? Do you think he deserved to die? Don't you just hate Barnard? I dislike him - very much. Will the FBI get to the school in time or get blown up with everyone else? Does the entire evil plan make sense now? If anyone has any questions they can always ask! I'd love to hear from you guys. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed and thanks so much for reading! xx