We rode in darkness for what felt like years but, in reality, was probably only for about thirty minutes. It was taking everything I had in me not to have an anxiety attack, but I knew Melissa was probably struggling even more. I hated that I couldn't reach out and comfort her. I just hoped my presence eased some of her worry.

We would get out of this. We just had to.

"Yes, we have them," one of the nameless men claimed. I assumed he was on the phone. "We're driving up now."

My heart climbed to my throat as I felt the speed of the car shift again. We were slowing down. There was a turn, and then another, then we slowly came to a halt. The pounding in my head amplified and was now deafening.

The door next to me opened.

"Let's go."

I was manhandled out of the car and led through the cold night. I tried to rely on my other senses, but things were silent. The cold masked any scent there may have been in the air.

Then there was an opening of a door, warmth, and then more walking. I still couldn't hear anything but the padding of four pairs of feet. Was that cement floors? Okay, maybe we were in a warehouse of some sort. Maybe we were somewhere in town where there were more people.

But it was likely I was wrong.

Another door closed behind us, and then we stopped walking. My fists were clenched in anticipation. What the hell were they planning on doing with us?

Then the sack on my head was removed and I took in our surroundings. We were in what seemed to be an office, but I wasn't sure.

The room held nothing but a few chairs, a desk, and a computer. The clock on the wall read 1:42. I looked over and saw Melissa standing next to me with her hands cuffed behind her back. She pulled against them anxiously.

One man stood at the door with his hands linked in front of him. He held his gun towards the ground as he observed us.

The other began to take off our cuffs. I quickly began to devise a plan, but knew I would need to be careful. If I made one wrong move, I was sure my life would be ended in a heartbeat.

I dropped my hands to my sides as the metal around my wrists was removed. Subconsciously, I wanted to reach up and gouge this man's eyes out, but Baldy over there by the door was the only factor preventing me from doing so.

If I could just get my hands on a gun...

"Our boss is on his way," the man next to me said.

"Late to his own party?" I jabbed.

The silence in the room was deafening.

Melissa and I watched the two guards leave the room and shut the door. Then the sound of a lock made me realize we weren't going anywhere. For now.

Melissa moved closer. "Where the hell are we?"

"Good question," I said while I looked around. "You wouldn't have happened to grab your lock picks before leaving?"

She frowned. "I was a little busy trying not to piss off the guy with the gun to my head."

"Right."

I quickly wondered once this was all said and done, what would happen to us? The two men had mentioned a proposition, but there was no way in hell it could be anything good. Especially if this had to do with Victoria.

I crept around towards the door and pressed my ear to it. I didn't hear anything for a minute, until two mumbled voices cut through the silence. They were definitely guarding the door.

"Should've figured," I whispered as I pulled back. "These guys aren't amateurs."

"Alexa..."

I turned to face Melissa who was staring at the computer screen. The screen saver was flickering, which was a bit creepy. It was almost mesmerizing.

Then a message appeared and Melissa gasped.

It read: Emergency exit.

I just stared at the message. "Emergency exit?"

That's when the door to the office opened and Melissa and I jumped back. I hit the screen saver to hide the message.

Another man with lifeless eyes and a passive expression entered the room. I peeked behind him and saw his two minions that had kidnapped us. They didn't seem to be leaving any time soon.

"No need to be frightened," the new man claimed. "Unless you plan on pulling one of your escape stunts, of course."

My eyes never left his.

"Alexa Cortez and Melissa Reese," he said. "You two are like a modern Thelma and Louise."

With a twist, I thought.

Neither one of us responded to his comment.

"I suppose getting to the point of this meeting is necessary..." He sat in the desk chair. "It seems as if you, Alexa, have someone to find."

He knew about Paige and Anna? I shouldn't have been surprised. If he had been looking for me deliberately, it was likely he had done his research.

"I want to make a trade," he finally admitted. "You steal back something that belongs to me, and I give you Paige's whereabouts."

Paige. He knew where Paige was? How was that possible? And if he did, why the hell hadn't he told anyone? She was keeping a girl hostage for Christ's sake!

"You know where Paige is?" I asked.

"I know where she is at the moment," he confessed. "But she likes to move. Keeping track of her is a challenge."

I had to do it. I had to agree to whatever he wanted because I needed to find my sister. There was no doubt about that.

But when I glanced at Melissa, the look on her face told me otherwise.

"If you know where she's at, why haven't you told authorities?" Melissa included. "She's holding a little girl hostage."

He smiled. "Well, I figured Miss Cortez would like to find Paige herself..." Those dark eyes bored into mine. "Wouldn't you, Alexa?"

I could feel the darkness inside threaten to expose itself in this tiny room. It was true. I did want to find Paige. I wanted to be the one to end her life. I wanted to watch her eyes lose their fire.

He took my silence as a yes.

"The sooner we get this done, the sooner you can find your sister."

"What do you need us to steal?" I asked.

He leaned back into the chair that sat next to the desk. His hands folded in his lap as he inhaled a deep breath. God, why was he heightening the anticipation?

"I'm sure you're aware that Victoria Van Allen has been working with us for some time now," he revealed.

"You mean is being forced to work for you," I stated.

"She refuses to see the bigger picture." He shifted. "When she had worked for the GIB, she stole something from them before she went into hiding."

I silently gasped. Victoria had some major nerve. I smirked to myself.

"Okay?" I asked. "That was like, ten years ago."

"It's why she was in hiding in the first place," the nameless man revealed. "When she stole that external-drive, she committed treason. So, I guess you can say her working for us is her paying off her punishment."

An external-drive? Was that the external-drive? Suddenly, I wondered if this happened to be what we had stolen for Alvin...

"We found out the drive is in the possession of an agent at the NIA." His dark eyes found mine. "We need it back."

I took a minute to process what I was being told. This wasn't a coincidence. What we had stolen for Alvin... that had to be what he was talking about. But what shocked me was that we were one step ahead of our own government.

And if that's all they wanted in return for Paige's whereabouts... was I willing to steal it back from Alvin?

That's when a loud alarm cut through the thick silence of the night. The blaring echoed around the empty warehouse outside of the room we were in, catching everyone off guard.

"What the hell is that?" the boss of the group asked.

The two minions looked stunned and scared.

He stood. "Well go! Go figure out what it is!"

It was obvious we weren't supposed to be here.

I gave Melissa a quick glance and saw that this could have something to do with that message we had seen on the computer. Was this a distraction? Was this our only chance to get out of here alive?

After that, everything seemed to move in slow motion.

Melissa wasted no time kicking the man straight in the chest, knocking him back into the wall. His body flailed as he grunted in pain.

That's when I saw the gun in the waistband of his pants.

Melissa saw it to and went for it, but the man was already on defense. He caught her arm and twisted it. I decided since it was two against one, we weren't going to lose.

I delivered a swift blow to the left side of his face. The pain ricocheted through my right fist and up my arm. He released Melissa as she grabbed the gun.

She held it up. "Where is Paige?"

The man had his hands up but he didn't say anything.

"Where is she?!" I yelled.

That's when I realized we didn't have time for this. We needed to get the hell out of here while we could.

"Come on," Melissa said.

I quickly followed her out the room and closed the door, flipping the lock.

"There!" Melissa directed, pointing to the neon sign.

We raced past the mile-high shelves as I heard the leader bang on the door and scream for his minions to catch us. If we were caught by them we would surely be killed this time. Jesus Christ, Melissa had just round-house kicked him in the chest! There was no way we would be forgiven for that!

That's when a gunshot erupted through the dark. My heart pounded in my chest at the noise.

I panted as we sprinted across the warehouse. My chest was heaving from the adrenaline tearing through my veins as we cut the corner.

"Almost there!" Melissa yelled.

I looked back and saw the two men race around the corner. They were about sixty feet from us. Hell, even if we made it out before them, what next? We had no idea what waited for us out there!

I faced forward and cut the last corner behind Melissa. Another gun shot. Shit! We needed to lose them!

As I ran I spotted a smaller shelf that didn't look as sturdy as the others. I ran up and jumped onto it, yanking it to the ground.

The sound of falling debris filled my ears. Something heavy hit my head in the process and sent an ample amount of pain through my cranium. Melissa turned and fired the gun back at the two men. They ducked out of the way.

We kept moving as I heard profanities come from behind me. I smiled through the pain. At least I had bought us just a little more time.

Finally, Melissa slammed her body against the emergency exit and the cold California air hit my face. I didn't have much time to take in my surroundings before I heard another order.

"Get in!"

Melissa and I jumped into the black van we had come here in, except it wasn't the bad guys driving.

It was my father.

"Dad?!" I asked.

He slammed the gas down and took off away from the warehouse. He didn't say anything for a good few minutes as he drove us away from the place where we had almost died. It wasn't until then that I realized I may have just ruined my only chance at finding my sister.

"What the hell did we just do?" I whispered.

"Cheated death," Melissa answered.

"They knew where Paige was..." I felt defeated. "They knew and I..."

Melissa's hands found my face. "They did not know where Paige was, Alexa. They were lying. Trust me."

I shook my head. "How do you know?"

"They didn't even know that the drive was no longer at the NIA!" she continued. "They were bluffing, okay? They were going to kill us as soon as we got them what they wanted."

I wanted to believe Melissa, but we didn't know. We just didn't know, and if we never found Anna this decision would haunt me for the rest of my life.

I turned back and spotted a pair of headlights.

"They're following us," I said.

"That's just your friend, Alvin," he answered.

Alvin had followed us here too?

"Those guys won't be able to follow us for a while." My dad looked at me. "I slashed all four tires on their other vehicle."

I moved to the passenger seat. "How the hell did you know where we were?"

"I followed you to that motel and got a room." He responded to the shock on my face. "I'm sorry, I just couldn't ignore the fact that you were being trailed by those guys."

My silence encouraged him to continue.

"When you left the motel, it must've woken me, so I went to check you room," he continued. "Your door was unlocked and you two weren't there, but the car was still in the lot. That's when I knew something was up. Then, this man came up to me..."

The fact that my father had followed me to Avenal Prison had annoyed me, but now I was thankful he had. If not for him, Melissa and I would surely be dead.

We turned onto a dirt road that didn't run for very long, and before we knew it, we had arrived at a decently sized cabin.

"Are we meeting someone?" Melissa asked.

"This is where we're staying," my dad said as he exited the car. "For now, anyway."

"Who's the cabin for?"

"A friend over at the NIA." My dad exited the suburban. "We should be safe here, but I have to ditch this car. There's probably a tracker in it for all I know."

That's when the Hyundai pulled up. Dust danced in the beam of the headlights before the engine was shut off and Alvin stepped out.

"I grabbed your bags," Al claimed. "They're in the back."

I paced over to him. "How did you...?"

He smiled as he reached towards me. I pulled away but realized he wasn't going to touch me. Instead, he reached into the pocket located on the right side of my jacket and pulled out a small tracking device.

"I planted it on you earlier, just in case," he confessed sheepishly.

I was impressed. "Well, now I'm glad you did."

I wanted to talk to Alvin about what we had discovered, but realized I was absolutely drained. But could something like the revelation of the importance of that external-drive wait?

"Al?" I wondered.

He handed me my duffel bag. "Yeah?"

"Do you still have that drive we stole?"

He looked confused. "Of course. Why?"

I felt a sense of relief.

"We'll talk tomorrow," I finished. "Right now, I just want to sleep."

"The key is on top of the door frame," my dad called from the driver seat of the suburban. "I'll be back in a few hours."

Al sighed. "I'll be here tomorrow, around eight."

Melissa and I agreed with a nod.

Then Alvin joined my father in the black suburban and disappeared down the dirt road.

"Let's go inside," Melissa said.

I just nodded and followed her up to the front door of the cabin.