"I believe you have something that belongs to me," he said in a low voice.

It wasn't right. There was no snark, no hate in his voice. Not even the note of humanity that he'd used against her before. It was just him, his tone unaltered by any feelings that escaped the empty, dark room they were in.

Kay couldn't answer. The fear had stolen her voice, her ability to do anything but sink her fingers into the fabric of her rucksack. Would he hurt her? Kill her?

He frowned, his head tilted slightly. His fingers around her arm sent too much heat through her body and she cringed. She had to get away.

"Give me back my research."

"No." The word was a mere whispered, but it sent an amused smirk to his lips. It ignited a fire in the pit of her stomach, heat that battled the clammy cold of her skin. And she hated herself so much for it.

"Really now?" His grip tightened and he pulled her towards him.

Kay put the rucksack between them. She didn't want to touch more of him than absolutely necessary. If it were up to her, she'd just bolt and get as far away from him as possible. Away from his too familiar eyes, from the heat and the disgust, from the fear and the fascination.

"Are you stalling?" he asked in disbelief and his grasp loosened. "Are you using the same trick as your boyfriend?"

Kyle. She needed to get to Kyle. To him. Away from this... this monstrous imitation.

A devious smirk twisted the features of the man before her. "Are you waiting for him to come and save you? Is that it? You think he'll come for you?"

"I know he will!" she snapped and yanked herself free.

He just laughed, a contagious, rich sound. "And why's that? Because he loves you?"

Ice chips filled Kay's veins. This wasn't conversation she expected to have with Snitch Gravel. He was up to something and she had no idea what.

"Come now, answer me." His smile was frightening in its simplicity. "Do you expect Kyle to die for you because he loves you?"

"I don't expect him to!" she fired back. But she knew he would. "I'd do the same for him."

Snitch Gravel just stared for a second before he burst into laughter. "You youngsters are adorable with your stubborn obsession with love. Love doesn't lift you. It destroys you."

"What the hell do you know about love? It's not like it's something you've ever touched."

His laughter died abruptly and he turned narrowed eyes to her. The chill in his gaze made her wish she'd never opened her mouth. In a flash, he pushed her against the wall. The rucksack slipped out of her hands. He propped his forearm on her collarbone and leaned over her, stopping with his face inches from hers.

"You have no idea what I've been through, little girl," he spat through his teeth. "Have no idea about the true destructive power of this whim you call love."

Kay had no idea what to do. He was so close. She could feel the heat of his breath on her face. The hairs on her neck stood on end. A part of her wishes he'd just break her neck instead of keeping her like this. Her breathing became laboured and her chest heaved. Oh God, I'm having a panic attack.

The frown on Snitch Gravel's face receded, leaving room to a curious expression. His eyes moved away from hers to her lips and his other hand took a strand of her hair. He turned to analyze it as if he'd never seen hair before. And it made her so nervous.

"The resemblance is disturbing," he mumbled.

She couldn't agree more. Against her will, a whimper left her lips and tears drew lines in the dirt and sweat on her cheeks.

"Why are you crying?" he asked, his attention still on her hair.

"Stop touching me," she whispered.

"Why? Because I'm not Kyle?"

She nodded, swallowing her tears, trying to block out the words and the crazy world they opened up.

"You really love him? I wasn't convinced after our last encounter."

"What do you care?"

"Knowledge is power, sweetheart."

The word sounded so sick coming out of his mouth. So wrong. Corrupted. "Shut up. Kill me if you want, but stop this."

He leaned even closer to her. "Stop what?" he whispered in her ear.

No. Enough. She cupped his cheeks and pushed his face back. It was her turn to lean towards him, but she knew he'd take it as what it was; a warning. Though it didn't seem so. He stared at her in surprise, a hint of anticipation and curiosity in his eyes.

"I'm not going to lie down and take it," she said through gritted teeth. "I'm a fighter, not a victim. And if you want Kyle, you'll have to get through me."

Snitch Gravel's shocked expression turned into one of satisfaction. "Good to know."

He pulled out of her grip and grabbed the rucksack off the floor. He rummaged inside and took out the folder containing his research. Then he tossed it at her.

"Go."

Kay caught the rucksack in midair, her eyes wide with surprise. "You're letting me go?"

"Yes, but there's a price. This--" He pointed from him to her. "--stays between us. The moment I find out you broke our agreement, you're dead. And Kyle's dead. And I will know, got that?"

Kay just nodded and turned to run out. She had no idea what had just happened, but she wouldn't waste a chance to get away. The moment she stepped out, she expected fingers to wrap around her, to pull her back, hurt her, punish her. Because she had no idea what had just happened.

Nothing happened. She kept running, dodging stray men, until Kyle appeared in front of her and caught her in a hug. He spun with her in his arms and put her down facing the direction she'd come from.

"What happened? I was worried sick," he said, hugging her even tighter.

Kay didn't answer. Her eyes stayed fixed on Snitch Gravel who came out of his room. He watched her and Kyle for a moment then turned tail and headed towards the ceremonial chambers.

When he disappeared from view, she finally turned her attention to Kyle. "I'm okay. Now let's get out of here." And she took his hand and ran down the corridor, hoping against hope she could outrun her mind.

⭐⭐⭐

Sam tightened his grip on Angie's arm to make sure she wouldn't dart off again. There weren't many men left and it was obvious that both she and Tom were exhausted. Even with their wounds, they'd done most of the fighting. Poor Billy was barely standing, so it was time for Sam and Jerry to pick up the slack.

It had been a shock for Sam to actually see Jerry hitting someone. His brother wasn't as defenceless as Sam initially thought, but it was also obvious that fighting was hard for him and he's rather take punches than dish them out. Honestly, Sam wasn't a fan of brawls either, but without the fighting part of the group there, he'd had to step in.

Stepping in had led to bruises galore and a few superficial cuts. Tom and Angie had fortunately both avoided the knife, but were panting so hard, Sam half-expected them to drop dead from sheer exhaustion.

"Just a handful of them left," Tom said between breaths, holding on to his side. "We can do this."

"Where are the others?" Jerry asked, voicing Sam's fears. "We've been here forever."

"Do you think they found another way out?" Angie asked, looking towards the open door behind them. It led outside, into the budding day and thunder.

"I don't know," Sam answered, taking in their remaining adversaries.

They closed in warily, all of the holding knifes, their eyes trained and Tom and Angie - the dangerous ones. Sam should've felt embarrassed that the goons found Angie more dangerous than him, but at that moment he was way too exhausted to care. He just didn't want anymore punching and kicking and hurting. His entire body felt like a used up punching bag.

"I say we leave these guys flat," Tom said, waving towards the men. "What?" he asked when he noticed both Sam and Angie glaring at him. "I'm just trying to demoralize them."

"Well, it's not working. They're just grinning. So you made them happy."

"I know something that would demoralize them," Jerry said, nodding towards the entrance into the room.

Kyle, Jimmy, Jessie and Kay charged in, scattering the remaining goons like frightened chicken. Unfortunately, an avalanche of henchmen followed them in.

"Run, idiots!" Kyle called just before he and Jimmy both turned to face their followers.

For a second Sam was stunned by their wounds, the blood dripping from them, the state of exhaustion Kay and Jessie were in. But when he noticed the goons stopping their advance and pulling back, he finally realized what they were doing. They didn't want to fight anymore. All they were doing was buying some time.

So Sam turned tail and rushed out into the jungle, the others on his trail. The exit was well camouflaged in the vegetation and much closer to the beach than the actual shrine. It took mere minutes for the muddy earth and leaves to be replaced by wet sand.

A fleet of rubber motor boats awaited them, together with a rough, clumsy wooden boat which looked more like the carcass of a tree.

"Get in the wooden boat," Kyle called from behind.

Sam turned to him, ready to ask if he hadn't had enough almost dying for one day, but the words died on his tongue. Kyle and Jimmy had both taken their guns out and started shooting the rubber boats.

Without a peep of protest, Sam flung his rucksack in the wooden boat and helped the girls climb in before scurrying inside himself. It took seconds for Jimmy to jump in, too. Kyle pushed the boat away from shore and climbed in as well, and they were off.

A thin line on the horizon indicated the sun was about to rise. Sam leaned his elbows on the edge of the boat and looked towards the island. Snitch Gravel's men were gathered around their useless boats, yelling at each other. They were stranded for now. Sam was sure they had helicopters, but it would take a while to call then over and they might just have time to escape. For a moment, he wondered what had happened to the monks. He prayed they were safe, maybe just tied up somewhere.

As they sailed further, the only sound remained the roar of the engine and the sloshing of waves against the boat.

"Is it over?" Jerry whispered.

Sam turned back to the others and sat down. "I'm afraid to say until we actually get on a plane and out of here."

"Totally agree," Jimmy said, leaving the steering to Tom and taking a pair of binoculars out. Blood still dripped down his elbows from the cuts on his arms.

Jessie and Jerry both started fumbling in their rucksack and took out their med kits. Sam watched the cloudy sky, his limbs shaky and his breathing uneven, because there was no way this could be it. It was just a breather until the chase restarted and they'd have to figure a way to get out of the country. And even if they did, would they even be safe?

Apparently not. Jimmy swore profusely just as the sound of revolving propellers filled the air. Sam didn't even have to look towards shore to know that their break was over and Snitch Gravel's helicopters had arrived. A surge of adrenaline sent a painful jolt into his heart. His stomach churned and his eyes stung and he fought the impulse to start crying like a baby. He didn't want this, not anymore.

"Oh, wait," Jimmy said, playing with the dials on the binoculars. "Those are our helicopters."

Jerry frowned and lifted his gaze from cleaning Kyle's cuts. "Ours?"

"Yeah. It says CII all over them."

Sam got to his knees and grabbed the binoculars from his brother. Jimmy was right. The soaring eagle seal and the abbreviation was visible on the sides of the helicopters that were now landing on the beach.

It was over.

"Yay, our heroes," Tom said with fake enthusiasm. "They showed up right in the nick of time. I mean it's not like we were getting our asses handed to us literally fifteen minutes ago."

Sam didn't care. He crashed on the bottom of the boat and stared at the sky. It was over.

The tension in the boat eased and only then did Sam realize that he wasn't the only one still nervous. Kay moved past Jerry and cuddled into Kyle's arms, hiding her face in his chest. Kyle kissed her hair and leaned his face on the top of her head. Jessie wrapped her arms around Jimmy too and he hugged her back.

Angie squeezed Sam's shoulder, then Billy's forearm before retreating to the safety of Tom's arms.

Sam shut his eyes, wishing Christine was there because he needed someone to hold him, too, someone to comfort him, to whisper that everything would be alright and they'd gotten through this, too. Because he was still tense, still nervous. They would get home, sure, but then what?

"I need more than two weeks," he said to the sky.

"I know," Jerry answered. "We all do. Let's just hope we'll have a longer break before the next mission."

"How many stones are there anyway?" Billy asked.

His question was greeted with a collective shrug. More than three, that was all Sam knew.

"I have a question," Angie suddenly said. "Because I never really understood. Why does Snitch Gravel want to kill you guys?"

"Revenge against our father," Jerry answered.

"Okay. But why? What did your father do to him?" Jessie asked.

Jerry opened his mouth, but closed it. Sam thought about it too, back to the conversation they'd had three years ago. It had seemed pretty satisfying at that point. Some old grudge, Freider exposing Snitch Gravel. But now when the agency came into the picture, Sam wondered if there was more.

"Honestly," Jerry said, "we don't really know either."

"Maybe it's time you found out," Kay mumbled in Kyle's chest. "We need to know what we're up against."

Sam agreed. It was time he had another nice chat with his father about it. The thought just made him nauseous, but he didn't have a choice.

"It's weird that he didn't turn up this time," Jessie said. "I mean how much confidence does he have in Von Crooken?"

Jessie was right. It was weird, because Sam knew Snitch Gravel didn't trust Von Crooken anymore. The others seemed to be thinking along the same lines as they exchanged confused glances. All except for Kay who dug her fingers deeper into Kyle's shoulders and refused to look at any of them.

"Can't say I miss him," Tom muttered. "But it is confusing."

"I think we should dissect this later," Sam said. "We've had a rough couple of days, to put it lightly. We deserve a break."

The others smiled at him and nodded.

And as the boat neared the shore and safety, Sam let the tension leave him and the tears run down his face.

🌟🌟🌟

There it is! The end of the climax. I hope you had a good time with it.
Needless to say, there is one more chapter left. So I'm really hoping you've enjoyed your journey with the gang.

Any and all thoughts are appreciated. Especially about Snitch Gravel and the terrible awkwardness which took place in this little chapter 😅

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