"Keep movin'. Don't stop," The guard growls.

Paul's lip curls up into a sneer. "I wasn't stopping. I tripped." He stumbles when the guard shoves him, hard. "Hey! Don't do that!"

"We've got to get you all back to Edinburgh," Jo says, studying her nails. "The police didn't believe me when I warned them about you. Said they couldn't spare the resources to fetch you themselves. Well, I've done their job for them, and I've got the interview exclusives."

Emma's eyes flare with rage as she struggles with her binds. "Is that what you've done all this for? A story? Get your name in a few more papers?"

"I'm serving my country!" She exclaims, her blue eyes scanning her with disgust. "You're all dangerous terrorists responsible for blowing up Inverness Station."

"We're not, you know," Paul says, but Jo ignores him.

"I knew there was something suspicious about you the moment I saw you." She turns to me, her eyes narrowed slightly and a little grin on her face. My blood roars in my ears as my heart pounds under her scrutinous gaze. "You were just too smooth getting through that checkpoint, Walker."

I blink. Me? Smooth?

I remember what happened very clearly, and I was anything but smooth. I was awkward and stiff, and I don't know how I got Jo to buy my lies in the first place.

"And you knew too much about how to blow up a car, Lawrence."

His jaw clenches. "And that was why you bugged me."

A slow smile spreads across Jo's face. "When I was in Basra, they gave me a panic button. If I were ever kidnapped, I was just supposed to hide it somewhere inconspicuous. Tracking device so they could find me. I activated it remotely two days ago in Edinburgh. Wasn't hard to find you."

"Very clever, except that you've got the wrong people!"

She doesn't so much as blink at his explanation. "You certainly don't seem to be playing well with the others. You were tied up even before we got here."

"That's because we thought he was one the who betrayed us," Emma says. "Well, Walker thought he was innocent, but we all know she fancies him."

She nods. "I do remember she was particularly chummy with him."

My face burns, and I cringe horribly. Was I really that obvious?

"Anyway," She turns to Lawrence, tipping her head to the side. "I thought I recognized your face. You're a PhD student in Inverness, aren't you?"

"Yes," Lawrence answers, looking confused.

"That department's the reason I was in Inverness in the first place. Surprised I didn't see you there."

"I uh, left very early in the morning."

She hums, not seeming very interested in his excuse. "Then maybe you don't know. Your professor, Emmanuel, was found dead just before the EMP took out Inverness."

Lawrence freezes, his eyes going wide in panic. "Jesus... W-what..." He stumbles on his words, looking absolutely horrified.

I wish I could reach out to him and give him a sense of comfort, but my hands are tied behind my back, my rifle taken. My throat closes up, not allowing me to offer a word of comfort, not that there is much I could say that could be comforting in a time like this. Lawrence continues to look aghast, and all I can do is sit and watch.

It hurts.

"I-I can't-" He stumbles. "What happened?"

"Shot twice in the heart, one in the head. Lab ransacked."

Stanton's face darkens. "It was the Burn, the people who are hunting us, who managed to track us down because of the transmitter you planted on us!"

Jo dismisses her with a wave of her hand. "Enough. I know you're lying. The only one I have any doubt about is Lawrence." She looks at him with a raised brow. "You worked with Pro. Emmanual. Did you see anything that morning? Anything unusual?"

He lets out a shaky breath. "I... he must have known someone was coming. That must be why he gave the d... The order to leave the building."

"I have a question that none of us have thought to ask yet," I pipe up, ignoring the annoyed look Jo sends me. "How are you alive? We heard your chopper go down after you betrayed me and Lawrence."

"Ejector seats," She replies casually. "Pilots who've flown over Basra have fast reflexes. We had to walk for three days to get back to civilization. That's when I heard you'd roped a member of the armed forces into your scheme. You're AWOL, Wing-Commander Stanton. There's a court martial waiting for you in Edinburgh, not to mention a trial for murder."

"Murder?!" She exclaims.

"Oh, yes. We found Adebayo. We saw what you did to him. Nasty mess. One shot to the head, two to the heart. Very telling under the circumstances."

My chest tightens, making it hard to breathe. I will myself to stop trembling, since I know looking frightened will only make things look worse. Jo will interpret it as me being upset that we've finally been caught. And if we have any hope of getting out of here, out of the hands of Jo and the eventual hands of the Burn, we have to convince her to let us go.

They've got our guns, and trying to run for it would only result in us being shot. Not to mention we still have our hands tied, meaning even if we did get away, we'd have to work out how to get out of our binds without letting them catch up.

Why didn't Charlie see them coming on satellite?

I suppose I can't blame Charlie for this one. With everything that was going on within our own group, this would have been something she could have easily missed. Still, I'm not at all happy about it.

"Jo, you didn't meet me at the military base, did you?" Paul asks, and Jo blinks, as if realizing that she neither knows who Emma or Paul are.

"No. How did you get caught up with this pack of criminals? Or were you involved from the start and had arranged a rendezvous?" A huff leaves her mouth. "What exactly is it you all want?"

His voice is calm when he explains. "I didn't mean to get involved. They came to the manor house where I worked, and I thought they were there for paintballing. It was only when their enemies showed up and started firing guns at me that I realized they were in trouble. They're the good guys, Jo."

She smirks, looking at him in the way you would look at someone you deem lower than you. "And did you ever stop to ask who the people firing the guns were? Things aren't always as obvious as they appear. I've learned that much from my years in the field. There are plenty of reasons people might be firing known, armed, terrorist suspects."

"But we're not-" Emma starts.

"You can stop denying it. To be honest, it doesn't matter to me whether you did it or not. You're suspects. Walker, I know you were at the train station. Stanton, you've gone AWOL from your post during a time of national crisis. Lawrence," She pauses, "well, I can believe you got roped into all of this against your will. I do at least know that Pro. Emmanual liked and trusted you. I can believe that these people hoodwinked you into traveling with them. Did you they tie you up because you suspected them?"

Lawrence blinks, and I look at him, eyes wide. My shock grows when he nods. "You know what Jo, you're right. They tied me up. They'd already started hitting me, with Walker being the only one to try to stop it. I think if she wasn't here, they would have started torturing me."

"Torturing you?!" Emma gasps at the absurdity. "You conniving little weasel. Snake in the grass. Horrible little man. I always knew there was something weird about you."

"That's rich coming from you," He spits back, before turning back to Jo, who's listening intently. "And Stanton did sneak off two days ago around the time Adebayo was killed. We didn't see her for hours. You know, you're right. She's been the ringleader of this whole thing all along."

I gape at him, my insides feeling as if they're being ripped into shreds. He can't... He can't be betraying us, can he? After everything?

Anger simmers under my skin, although it's not at Lawrence. It's at everyone else in our group for jumping to the conclusion that Lawrence was the traitor. And then Paul had to take it a step further by hitting him! Now he hates us, and I can't blame him! But because he hates us, he's going to ruin everything we've worked for.

There's a similar stinging in my eyes, and while I try to blink away the tears before anyone can see them, Lawrence does when he turns to look at me from over his shoulder. There's a soft, sharp inhale from him, and guilt flashes across his face before it's gone and he's looking ahead again.

I breathe out the words more than say them, but I know she can hear me.

"Charlie," I say softly, "get us out of here."

Thankfully saying it so softly keeps out the way my voice wavers. We've been through torture these last sixteen days, with me and Lawrence being together since the start of it, and this is what he does. He turns his back on us the first chance he gets. I understand that he likes someone else and had no interest in me. I understand that and respect it, but he was still my friend. I believed him to be my friend, at the very least.

And so, his betrayal feels like he's ripped my heart from my chest.

But I can't focus on my mourning for long. As much as it hurts, we've got to think on how to get out of here...

Even if it means we'll have to leave Lawrence.

Just the thought feels like a punch to the stomach.

"I've cut Lawrence out of this transmission," Charlie says. "Just talking to Walker and Emma now. You have to find a way to get away. You can't let yourselves be taken into custody in Edinburgh. We don't have time for that. She only has three security guards. I think I can find a way for you to overpower them."

"Yes, I thought it was a bit convenient that Paul had those wilderness survival skills. And they did all seem to know each other, yeah," Lawrence states. "You're probably right. I-I bet they had prearranged to meet along the way." He glances at Emma, and then me. Although with me, he won't meet my eye. "Oh, yeah, and by the way, Jo, you'll want to take those earpieces away from Walker and Emma. They're being guided by an operative in Geneva."

"You-you-" Emma fumes, and my chest feels like it's caving in.

"Lawrence..." I say, and he flinches as if I'd hit him. Jo doesn't notice it.

"Thank you, Lawrence," She says with praise in her voice. "Very helpful. I hope you don't mind if I take yours too, just to be on the safe side."

"No, of course not. They always cut me out of important conversations anyway." He smiles. "You know, it occurred to me that we should probably search them all. That's what they wanted to do to me. I bet we'll find all sorts of interesting things that they're carrying. They might even be planning even more terrorist attacks."

"Every single one of us knows that you're lying, Lawrence," Stanton growls. "You'll delay out mission and stop us from reaching... our destination."

Jo scoffs. "This is ridiculous. You're clearly not one of them, Lawrence. Here, let me untie your hands." She walks behind him and starts to untie the knot, her brows rising. "These are brutal knots."

Lawrence chuckles. "Yeah. Lots all feeling in my thumbs. Still, at least I know I'm on the right side now."

My chest caves in, and my shoulders shake as I hold back a rising sob.

He really is betraying us.

"I actually want to kill him," Emma whispers. "Or at least, you know, hurt him."

"Hurt him," Paul agrees, glaring at Jo as she smiles sweetly at the tall man.

"Come and walk with me, Lawrence. Tell me. Have you thought about doing a TV special on your experiences? I think channel 4 would be very interested in an hour-long interview, maybe with Jon Snow, about your journey." There's a gleam in her eye as she speaks. "Embedded with Terrorists, we could call it."

He stares at her, looking half amused and half surprised. "You know... I've always thought I had a good face for TV, don't you think so?"

"Oh, yes. Definitely," She agrees. "Good jawline."

"I will actually kill him myself," Paul whispers harshly. "With my bare hands."

•

"Careers have been made by far less than this, you know," Jo rambles on. "Kate Adee-what did she ever do besides stand there, looking grim while planes flew over Bagdad. Didn't capture suspects. Didn't turn them in. I might get a one-hour special of my own. Jo Montgomery, Hero of Inverness."

Lawrence laughs, and my hands clench together tightly in their binds at how casual he sounds. "No. That sounds too old for you, like an old whisky general, you know. 'Admiral Fatheringgame Montington, at your service'" He straightens his back, pretending to look serious as he continues with the older sounding voice. "'What? What? Hero of Inverness!'"

Jo giggles. "'I defeated them all with my shooting stick, I'll have you know!'"

He nods, laughing again. "No, you're more like, Jo Montgomery, Inside Terrorism."

She frowns at that. "That's a Channel Five title. They always go over the top."

"Nut, but-but I think you get to go over the top if you get to take down a whole bunch of terrorists by yourself. And you like, rescued me. That's like, pretty cool, you know."

Pride shines in her eyes. "I suppose so, yes."

Emma nearly gags when Lawrence continues to stroke her ego.

"You might get a whole series, you know. Global terror, New Tomorrow and all those any-tech movements. You'd be perfect to present it."

The blonde simply scoffs. "Presenting's easy money. Do you know how much they get paid just to walk, talk and smile at the camera?"

"They'd need a series on what happened here."

That gets her attention, her eyes lighting up like a child upon seeing a new toy. "A series."

He nods, looking back at us. He stares at me for just a moment, and I stare right back, teary eyed and vulnerably. I don't say it aloud, but he knows what I'm silently asking.

Why are you doing this to us?

He looks back at Jo and doesn't give me a second glance.

"You know, I was thinking. We don't even know who half these people are. Don't you think we should, you know, go through their pockets? See if they've got IDs or something? Then we could start to work out how they fit into the whole story of terror."

"Story of terror," Jo repeats with a grin. "You know, that's not bad."

"So uh, should I..."

"Check her." She jerks her head to me. "Walker. So, so quiet, aren't you?"

She takes a step forward, and I do my best not to stiffen up. Her head tilts to the side, and she looks me up and down. I send her a scowl. She betrayed us at the military base, and now here she is causing trouble for us once again.

Maybe she is like the other versions of her I see in my head.

Amelia Spens.

"I wonder what you're hiding," She hums before glancing over her shoulder at Lawrence. "Yeah. Go through her pockets first. See what's in there. She seems to like you, so she probably won't fight back as much either."

"Yeah..." He draws out the word, and I'm actually grateful my work papers got ruined near the beginning of this trip. Otherwise, they will have found out my name.

He heads around behind me, patting me down, while Emma sneers and Jo.

"Why not just mind probe us while you're at it? That government's got devices that can do that, you know. Why aren't you investigating that instead of this non-story?"

"Walker," Lawrence whispers in my ear as he looks through my pants pockets, "don't say anything. I'm gonna untie your hands but leave the ropes loose around them so no one can see anything. I've put a flashbang in your pocket. use it when I say. We're all gonna get out of this, Walker."

I'm too shocked to breathe. As Lawrence moves over to Stanton, he ignores the deathly glare she gives him. My eyes follow his movements. My shock must look like pain to the guards, and since I've had a similar expression since this all started, they pay me no mind.

And thankfully, none of them notice the quick wink Lawrence sends me when he realizes I'm watching him.

I don't hear him, but I do see his mouth move as he whispers something to Stanton. She stiffens momentarily but does an excellent job at keeping her poker face. She keeps glaring at him once he finishes checking her pockets and patting her down. He saunters over to Jo, who's watching us with her hands placed on her hips, lips pursed before she turns to Lawrence expectantly.

He shakes his head. "I've checked Walker and Stanton. There doesn't seem to be anything amiss there. They've ben clever, I expect."

"That tells a story all by itself," Jo says with a click of her tongue. "Traveling with no identifying objects in your pockets. That's pretty suspicious."

He nods in agreement, playing the part perfectly. "Oh, yeah, no. I mean, you're definitely right. All of them worked together as a group. They made it too obvious really. I just wish I'd been as clever as you to spot it." His brows furrow as he scolds himself. "I can't believe I helped them!"

As expected, it gets Jo's sympathy. "You weren't to know you'd been duped. It happened all the time. These people." She sends a nasty look. "They're trained to be cunning."

He simply nods. "Let me just check Paul. bet he'll have something on him."

When she doesn't say anything against it, Lawrence walks over and behind the brunet, grabbing his arm harshly when he tries to struggle away.

"God, you really are an idiot, Lawrence," Paul hisses, his eyes burning with fury. "You stupid, gullible-" He falters, and while I can't see it, I know he's loosened his bounds. I slowly work my way out of my own loose ropes, praying no one sees it. "I... You won't get away with this."

"No, it's you who won't get away with this," Lawrence replies, and I almost laugh at how that sounds like a line from some corny action movie. But suddenly, the dark-haired man's gaze snaps forward, eyes widening in panic. "Oh, God, what was that?"

Jo tenses in alarm. "What?"

"They-there's no way they could have signaled to anyone else, is there?"

"What do you mean?"

"There's just a-look! There!" He points to something on the horizon-an imaginary something. "Do you see it? Keeps coming in and out of sight. Looks like-ugh, I could've sworn I saw figures out there in body armor."

"Anderson, LaBash, with me! Quickly!" One of the guards yells, and then all three of them are running off into the distance, leaving Jo alone with the rest of us.

"How could they have found out where they were?" Jo asks, and Lawrence stressfully runs a hand through his hair.

"I don't know. I'm not sure. It's all so confusing. I don't know how to-Walker, now!"

At his signal, I reach into my pocket and grab the flashbang, throwing it at the ground.

The world erupts in sound and light. I'm blinded, the sound ofs everyone's shouts turning into maddening chaos I can't understand.

It hurts to think, to breathe, so I do the one thing I know I can do.

I run.

•

"Good doubling back strategy, Charlie," Stanton pants. "We've duped them by taking the path under the bright and not going over it."

"I think we've lost them," Emma says breathlessly, before grinning at Lawrence. "Oh my God! I don't know how you did that, but you were spectacular!"

"When you were flirting with her-" Paul starts.

"'Oh, Jo, you could have your own tv show! Or your own series! Or your own network!'" Emma imitates. "You were amazin'!"

Lawrence chuckles bashfully and rubs the back of his neck. "Did I uh, take you in?"

"Yes!" Stanton exclaims. "I was perfectly prepared to kill you."

A laugh escapes his lips. "Oh, so sweet of you to say. I think you've felt that about me since day one, though." She simply laughs.

"Up until the moment you untied my hands, I thought you were gonna lie about all of us to save your own skin," Paul says, and Lawrence shakes his head.

"A little faith, Paul. A little faith. Ah, I figured I'd got you all into this by somehow stupidly letting Jo plant a tracker on me. Least I could do was get you all out of it. Although you," He turns to look at me, frowning, "almost made me break cover."

"M-Me?" I stammer in shock.

"Yeah! Everyone else was mad at me, ready to kill me, and I could handle that because I expected that. But you were just-you looked like you about to cry! And I felt so bad about it that I couldn't even look at you!"

My eyes widen in surprise, and a little, embarrassed laugh leaves my lips. "Well, you know me. Something upsetting happens and here come the waterworks."

He snickers. "Yeah, which is pretty interesting considering how Jo wrote you." He hands me a piece of paper, although I'm not sure how he got ahold of it. The handwriting is messy, but I can still make out the words.

"Draft for Telegraph piece:

Walker in particular struct me as sinister. Rarely speaking, rarely betraying emotion, only stoically moving forward. Walker appeared to be under guidance of an inner voice no one else could access.
Lawrence, on the other hand, attempted to hide his dark intentions under a veil of chattering idiocy. From the moment I first heard is constant babble, it was clear to me that this was a man disturbed, a man deranged, a man on the verge of utter madness.
I'd seen evil in the water wars, and death in Basra, but never had I looked into eyes so horrifying as those of the man who would only give his name as "Lawrence."
One doesn't like to bring God into journalism, but I can't make myself believe it wasn't a miracle that I managed to get into that helicopter moments ahead of them."

I burst out into laughter.

"That was so dramatic!" I exclaim, and he nods.

"Right? And so not true. You're the most emotional person here." He scoffs. "Stoic."

"She'd obviously written this before she got it into her head that you weren't with us."

"Obviously."

A second after our soft giggles die down, I smile softly at him. "I'm... I'm glad you are with us, Lawrence."

He smiles back, the soft look in his eye melting my heart. "I am too."

His smile drops when Emma speaks.

"Bad news about your professor though. I'm sorry."

The torment in his eyes breaks my heart, and he looks down solemnly. "Yeah... yeah. That is bad news. I-I should find some way to tell Soleil about her father. She might not even know yet." He looks up and forces a smile that doesn't reach his eyes. "But even more reason to get these boxes to where they're going, right? Then we're free."

Paul gasps, his eyes lighting up. "And look! Ahead! There's some good news."

I squint, trying to see what it is off in the distance. The sun is beginning to set, making the sky turn orange and purple, but that's not what Paul is referring to. No, what he's referring to is something way better.

"No way," I laugh in delight. "It's Edinburgh!"

A/N: Here you go, guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Sorry I've been on and off on updating. Life has been busy. Anyway, please be sure to vote and comment! Thank you and have a blessed day!