A split second before Agent 24 pulls the trigger, Kayla fires another dart, but this one strays off course and sticks in her father's arm. I didn't notice it as the hulking assassin stared me down, but the wind must have kicked up and knocked it off its trajectory. Her father stumbles forward, his shoulder sinking beneath Agent 24's line of fire. The bullet misses high as the mayor collapses to the asphalt with a thud, unconscious. It happens so fast, my mind piecing together the rapid replay of events as they occur, realizing it when I see the dart imbedded in her father's upper arm.

Agent 24 scowls when he realizes Kayla tranquilized the mayor. He points his gun up at her position on the plateau and squeezes off a pair of shots.

She yelps and rolls away, disappearing over the crest of the hillside.

"Kayla," I say, loud enough for Agent 24 to hear. "Are you okay?"

She doesn't reply, but after a long pause, she says in my ear, "Yes, he missed me. I'll try to get lined up again."

"No, stay down. I've got this." I glare at Agent 24.

"Oh, do you?" he replies. "We'll see about that."

He returns his gun to a holster inside his coat and then cracks his knuckles. "I'm going to enjoy beating you to a pulp."

As he stomps toward me, I question what I just said. Without a doubt, I don't have this. This is David versus Goliath. Mr. Universe versus someone who wouldn't even win Mr. North Coastal High at school. But gym workouts have toned my body. Also, I have youth on my side, but Agent 24 towers over me, a mountain of muscle bulging beneath his Kevlar layered sweater and suit jacket.

I wish one of Kayla's darts would peg him in the head. But then again, it might ricochet off his titanium plated skull.

But I also have speed and agility on my side.

As he swings at me, I duck. Twice.

That's a start. If he can't hit me, then he can't hurt me. But how long can I play this game? Hopefully long enough for Kayla to find somewhere on his body to place a well-aimed dart.

"Come on," Agent 24 says. "Fight like an agent."

"I'm not an agent. I told you before, I'm a sophomore in high school."

"If you kill me and turn your dad in to The Collective, I'm sure they'll reconsider and take you back into the fold." With a grumble, he rushes toward me and drops his shoulder like he's about to deliver an upper-cut, but at the last second, he pulls back and launches a kick. His foot sinks into my abdomen with breath-stealing power.

The air expels from my lungs as I careen backwards from the force of his massive foot. I land several feet away, groaning with excruciating pain, clutching my stomach with both hands.

My gun slips from my waistline and skitters away from me.

"This is going to be easier than I thought." He glances down when a dart bounces off of his boot. He grins, reaches for his gun and fires off another volley to keep Kayla pinned down. "Steel-toed shoes. I figured they'd come in handy, especially when I use them to kick your face in."

Agent 24 holsters his gun and then starts toward me.

"Kayla?" I say through gritted teeth. Fortunately, his boot didn't nail me in the ribs. I want nothing to do with broken bones or a punctured lung. After a brief pause, I catch another wind. "Are you okay?"

"Yes. Get out of there, Aiden. He'll kill you."

Agent 24 interrupts our conversation, bends over and grabs me by the collar, and yanks me off the ground. He holds me in the air, his dark eyes drilling into my psyche, his pupils threatening and menacing.

"Aiden," Kayla says. "Do something. Fight back."

I'm thinking she should do something, like shoot a dart into his jugular vein, which I imagine throbbing under his skin, exposed right above his turtleneck. But she doesn't act quick enough.

Agent 24 slings me through the air. As I crash into the asphalt, my shoulder absorbing most of the impact, I hear him say, "Get up and fight me, or I'm going to kill your girlfriend after I finish you."

The threat drives me to my hands and knees. It's then I realize I lost the earpiece as I hit the ground, which means I can't communicate with Kayla anymore.

Agent 24 walks up to me and kicks me in the gut, his boot picking me up off the asphalt and spinning my body into a roll across the parking lot. As I struggle to breathe and crawl away, I glance back as he plucks a dart from his arm and tosses it aside.

"Good thing my sweater has long sleeves." He reaches down, pulls me up from the ground, and stands me up. As I heave in a breath, he dusts off my shoulders and grins, placing me between himself and Kayla's location on the hillside. Somewhere behind her, a car drives by up on the road that runs along the coast. But from my vantage point, I don't see its headlights as it passes by. To me, it signals help that won't come our way.

Agent 24 crooks his head down and stares at me. "I said, if you don't kill me, I'm going to kill your girlfriend. And if you don't make it interesting, I'll take my time doing it."

He shoves me backwards.

As I stumble away, I hope Kayla can get off another shot, but nothing happens. I assume she's out of darts or her rifle has malfunctioned.

"What's it going to be? Your girlfriend or me?"

The moment the words leave his lips, something happens inside of me. It reminds me of the vision I had in the museum's basement when I saw the outline of the hidden doorway behind the storage shelves. It's like the moment on the bus when my brain preconceived Agent 24's plan of attack, but this time it's somewhat different from each of those events. This time it reminds me more of the moment at Lattes, right before I sat down to talk to Kayla. As I size up the assassin standing before me, my confidence and determination soars to new heights, a level I've never experienced previously.

I raise my chin and stare into his dark orbs. My jaw hardens like granite, and my gaze burns with fire.

"That's more like it," Agent 24 says. As he shifts his stance, one foot forward, fists up, he gestures with his fingers for me to advance toward him.

I feign like I'm going to hurtle a right hook toward his head. Instead, I whirl around and ram the sole of my shoe into his ribs. It's a move I've never done before, but I do it with bone crushing force.

Agent 24 stumbles back on his heels.

Unfortunately, my well-placed kick doesn't break any bones.

The assassin cracks his neck to prepare himself for the battle to come. "Looks like your girl ran out of darts, too bad for you."

Before he gets close, I race up to him, jump into the air, and front kick him in the chin. When I land, he wipes the blood from his lower lip and grins. "I'm going to break you in half."

Agent 24 ducks and unleashes a powerful uppercut, but I fade to the side and only feel the wind off his fist as it sails past my cheek. With his torso exposed, I spin and smack my elbow into his ribs, the same side that my foot hit moments ago. Body blows might be the best way to weaken the giant.

As he recoils, I spin and tag him in the chin with my other elbow.

The big man staggers, raising his arms for balance to keep from falling on his backside.

Pain knifes through my abdomen. I don't think the kicks to my stomach broke any ribs or damaged any organs, but the aftereffects pierce through me. Luckily, adrenaline rushes through my veins, masking most of the agony.

With an arm holding his ribcage, I see an opening to take a shot at his face, but as my fist arcs through the air, Agent 24 blocks it with the same arm he used to clutch his side. Then, with a growl, he straight jabs me in the chin.

The punch rocks my head back, forcing me to scramble to stay on my feet.

From his grimaces, I doubt he was faking the pain in his ribs to lure me in. Instead, I think he was reacting in defense on the fly.

He shakes his body as if he's trying to rid himself of the lancing blows to his side.

If the giant feels pain, he can go down. As I think this, I wonder where Kayla is, and if she's run out of tranquilizing darts like I pondered before, because I'd much rather take down Agent 24 that way.

But I need to fortify my mental toughness.

I release a steady barrage of jabs which land perfectly on the assassin's chin. As I finish the series of punches, I strike with a right hook that jerks his head sideways.

Agent 24 backpedals and halts his retreat with his foot planted in the asphalt.

When I launch a follow up hook, he blocks it and counters with a jab. I falter from the blow, feeling the warm trickle of blood streaming from my lips and nose. As I regain my defensive stance and brace myself for what comes next, I remember his weak spot.

With great satisfaction, but as fast as lightning, I kick him between the legs.

This time, a sharp pain races through the top of my foot.

Agent 24 offers me a lopsided grin. "This time I came prepared."

I can't believe he's wearing a cup for protection.

I yank my foot back, hopping backward from the pain. As I'm backing away, the assassin lands one of his vicious uppercuts that I've avoided the entire fight. The impact lifts my body off the ground and sends me flying. I strike the asphalt, the back of my head cracking against the hard surface.

Lights streak around the edge of my vision as Agent 24 picks me up off the ground with one hand. The strange lights take on a blue hue as I sway on the verge of passing out. It's then I twist my neck and see a police cruiser with strobes flashing on top of the car. I think I'm saved—until Officer Tate steps out with a stern glare. He yanks Kayla from the back of the vehicle with her hands cuffed behind her back. Then he shoves her toward Agent 24 like the officer has been on the assassin's side the entire time and is just now delivering on his end of the deal.