A/N: It's my birthday today. Huh. I 'm not really celebrating it this year but I thought it would be cool to put here as a way to mark the time.  I literally turned 18 in the middle of writing this chapter lmaoo #priorities 

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In all the time we'd been attacking this base, I hadn't even thought once to question the whereabouts of Andrei Bulgakov. The man that was leading this all. 

Thankfully, I didn't have to play hide and seek to locate him.

The downside was that he was holding a gun to my head. 

It only took Eric the blink of a second to draw his own weapon as an automatic defense, but he immediately paused at the sight of Andrei pressing the gun harder against my forehead. 

"Drop it," he sneered at Eric. 

Eric briefly looked me in the eye before slowly raising his arms up. The gun dropped from his hands and fell to the ground in an instant. 

"Done. Now I'm not a threat." 

Andrei laughed from beside me. A loud, chilling sound filling the room. "Nice try kid, I know exactly what you're capable of. The other gun too."

Eric tensed before giving a look of defeat and pulling out the other gun he had stored out from under his vest. It hit the ground and he kicked it away from him with a pained expression on his face. It wasn't like him to give up this easily. He would have kept his gun and shot back at Andrei - even if it meant killing the person being used as bait. But that was where things changed. The bait was me. 

I suddenly realized why Eric had done so much to keep away from me and not form a relationship. 

It was because of this. 

Because now we were in this situation. He wasn't going to risk me for a stack of RFI files. I was standing in the way of him doing what he was trained to do.

"Don't look so sad," Andrei teased, his eyes drifted to the bodies lying on the floor. "You certainly had a good run. But unfortunately, all things must come to an end." 

Eric's eyes glowered in rage, not looking the slightest bit amused at Andre's dark sense of humor. 

"Let her go," he said through his gritted teeth. 

Andrei's grip on me tightened, obviously another attempt by him to anger Eric even more. He was enjoying keeping us both in this torturous state and was going to bask in the moment for as long as he wanted.  

"Here's what I want from you loverboy," he began playfully twirling his gun next to my ear. "Since torturing you for answers didn't seem to work, I'm going to torture your girlfriend here instead." 

The gun was back on my forehead. Its cold touch made my heart skip a beat but I refused to flinch.  

"It works simple. Either you tell me what I need to know, or I put a bullet in her brain." He explained in a light tone. 

"Eric," I spoke calmly, focusing only on him. "It's fine."

My chest panged at my words because I was already confirming what I felt inside. I would die if it meant he got out okay. I wanted him to know it too. The last thing he needed was guilt over my death. 

Any information he gave them about the RUA could compromise everyone. Captain, Turner, Cassie, Mackenzie, and every other agent. Not to mention all the people they protected. 

I couldn't stand in the way of that. 

"Don't tell him anything," I continued. I could feel my eyes watering and my breathing became harder to do. "I'm not worth it." 

Eric's face softened at me. He only looked at me for a second before his eyes returned to Andrei. 

"What do you want to know?" 

My stomach dropped. If he did this, it would set off a change reaction of bad events. It would destroy the biggest part of his life and blow up in his face.

Blow up. 

Oh my god, the bomb.

In all the madness I'd completely forgotten about the fact that a bomb was due to be set off any minute. If we all stayed here, we'd be killed instantly. 

Eric needed to leave. He needed to run out of here before anything bad could happen to him. Sticking around for a Q & A was not going to help his chances of getting out in time. 

I wanted him safe more than anything. If I went down in all of this, at least I would be taking Andrei and his men with me.

"I want the identity of your leader," Andrei spoke. "Your...captain, as you call him. An agent as high rank as yourself would surely have access to that information." 

Eric tensed as his eyes lowered in thought.  I clenched my teeth trying to remain as calm as I could. He had already been put in the worst position possible. Now they wanted information on the man that had taken him in. The man that he viewed as a father. 

"You want...his name?" he asked slowly, obviously stalling for time.  I hated this. It was now between Captian and me - a choice Eric would never want to make.

"I want to know everything about him." Andrei clarified. "Full name, family connections and whereabouts." 

"Eric," I spoke up again, ignoring the gun from the corner of my eye. "Don't tell him anything." 

I knew I was risking my life by speaking up but I didn't care. I was focused only on him. This was torturous enough for him and I wasn't going to acknowledge Andrei. I was only going to focus on him so I could let him know it was okay.  

It was okay. 

Eric's eyes moved past me, focusing on Andrei. "His name is Geo Tholl. He's been running our organization for thirty-two years." 

My eyes widened in horror. Oh no. He was going to tell him everything. He was going to risk it all for me. 

"I know how long he's been running it," Andrei growled. "He took over when your old leader died. When we killed him. You tell me where this Geo is,"

I felt the gun turn clockwise against my head.

"Okay, okay," Eric moved his hands back defensively. "I'm just telling you what you need to know." 

My eyes widened as I focused on my breathing. The clock was ticking. How much longer did we have until the bomb went off? Three minutes? Two?

I'd lost track of time but I knew it wasn't far away. This confrontation was pointless. Eric needed to leave before it was too late. Otherwise, we'd all be dead. 

"Eric shut up," I said to him. "You need to get out of here." 

This wasn't going anywhere. He was weaponless and  Andrei was in complete control of the situation. Things were starting to look hopeless. 

Eric looked at me with despair, obviously coming to the same conclusion. But I could tell he wasn't going to leave me here. He was trying to find another solution. I wasn't sure there was one.

I looked up at Andrei, glaring at him with complete despise. My thoughts were jumbled but they all were directed towards my pure hatred for him. If I had to be taken down by someone, I didn't want it to be him. He was vile, arrogant and evil. 

"Go on," Andrei urged Eric to continue. "The whereabouts of your agency." he prompted. 

Eric opened his mouth slowly but was cut off by the sound of a distant booming noise. It caught everyone's attention as we all turned in surprise. It wasn't from nearby but it was enough that we could still feel the vibrations under our feet. Something had been set off. 

Andrei turned his head in confusion and Eric used the moment to quickly lunge at him. I instantly moved out of the way, leaping to the side. 

Andrei quickly went to point his gun at Eric but was interrupted by the punch being sent directly in his face. The gun went flying across the floor and I instantly dove for it.

It stopped skidding as it went into my hands and I gripped it firmly. Andrei was already trying to reach for the other gun on the floor but Eric was holding him back, trying to twist his arms. 

I stood back up, pointing it in Andrei's direction. Eric had him held back firmly now and was using all his strength to keep him in place. 

"How long?" I asked him, gesturing to the device he still had attached to him.  I kept my eyes on Andrei as I moved to the side where the files were. 

Eric hooked his arm around Andrei's neck, using his spare hand to unclip the device next to him. "Just over a minute." 

"We need to go," I looked at him in worry. If we didn't leave now, we were going down with the rest of this base. 

Andrei quickly made a move, catching Eric off guard. He turned around, grabbing Eric from behind and pulling him back. Eric barely had a chance to react before he was being restrained

I immediately raised the gun, moving it closer towards Andrei.

"Let him go," I warned. My hands were visibly shaking and not helping my image of trying to come off threatening.

Andrei noticed my nerves and immediately began to laugh. "You don't have the balls, little girl." 

I moved closer, trying to ignore his words. He was playing on my weakness. I'd never shot anyone before. In practices, it had only been with targets. This was an actual human being. 

"Just let him go," I pleaded again. 

Andrei smiled at me, enjoying my hesitance to shoot him. "The weak will always do their best to come off strong."

I clenched my jaw, glaring at him in anger and hatred. 

He was enjoying taunting me and gleefully continued. "But the moment it really comes to show what they've got, they always fail. That's what you are. A liar. A fake. You think you can enter in a dangerous man's game and even be on the same level? That's not how this works."

He tightened his grip on Eric, grabbing at a fistful of his hair to pull his head back. Eric's jaw tightened as his neck was exposed. The grin on Andrei's face wouldn't go away. 

"You made a mistake getting involved in this line of work," Andrei told me. "See what happens?" He pulled Eric's hair tighter making him jolt to the side. "This is the result of your mistakes. Someone who couldn't even muster up the courage t-"

The loud gunshot cut him off. 

His shoulder moved back with the hit as he fell to the ground. Eric stood back looking at his body on the floor. He turned back to me with his eyes widened in complete shock.

I shakily removed my finger from the trigger. I couldn't breathe.

Oh my god. I'd shot him. 

I'd shot the bastard. 

My entire body seized up in shock. Eric grabbed the files quickly, piling them up in his arms while I stood frozen on the spot. 

"Becca, we need to go now," he told me softly. I felt his hand on my back and started to snap out of my dazed state. 

The gun dropped out of my fingers as I followed Eric as quickly as I could.

There wasn't any time to process my emotions and the shock had left me being unable to feel anything. I let my feet take control, dashing with Eric out of the tent. I didn't even take one last look at Andrei on the ground. 

I was running was fast that every part of my body felt like it was screaming out in pain. There was a burning pain in my legs and my chest was rising up and down with my heavy breaths. 

Tents continued to pass us so quickly to the point where everything on each side was just a white blur. I looked ahead, focusing on the forest. It was nearly in reach. 

Eric was right alongside me also running at an incredibly fast rate. I tried to calm myself with the thought that he was right next to me. I knew he was safe...for now. 

We only had seconds left. 

As we approached the end of the open camping ground, our speed only increased. It was right in view and we would make it if we were fast enough. 

Almost there. 

Eric quickly grabbed me, moving me with him towards the bushes. We dove into the greenery just as the sound of the explosion erupted behind us. 

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A/N: YOU GUYS HAVE TO STOP BEING SO NICE TO ME IN THE COMMENT SECTION OMG IM BLUSHING. IM SO LUCKY TO HAVE AWESOME READERS THAT CAN GET THROUGH MY LONG ASS UPDATE WAITS, CLIFFHANGERS AND CRINGEY MOMENTS FILLED WITH SPELLING ERRORS.

And I wrote this as a joke bc I like to amuse myself when writing chapters: