The warm breeze blew her hair, and the necklace with the silver star bounced against her chest.

I knew it was a bad idea to pass through the square, she thought and turned her head in the opposite direction.

The clicking of a camera was heard a few meters away from her. The grey pigeons annoyed by the hasty stranger flew in all directions while her light, brown sneakers tapped against the ground.

Seeing a toddler running in her direction, she changed her course and turned right, altering her original route.

She adjusted the sunglasses on her face, making sure that her hair covered the earpiece, and entered a narrow alley, leaving behind her the cheerful voices and the burbling water of the fountain.

You have memorized the plan, you helped the others create it. You got this, Alba. Neva can't escape.

She entered a smaller alley where there were no cameras on the buildings and no shops with tourists and found a trash can.

This is where we part, she thought and removed the earpiece. She left it by the trash can, knowing that someone from the team would pick it up later. They didn't want to risk someone finding Agent 23 with an earpiece.

The colorful buildings built in the twentieth century started to become scarce. The scenery changed, and the hill appeared in front of her. The castle looked breathtaking from the close distance.

She started walking through the small road, the device in her backpack moving in each step. Her hands had started to become sweaty, and the spring sun made it worse.

You are not a newbie. Get it over. You might die today.

She rubbed her hands on her shorts and looked up. The entrance of the castle wasn't far, but she wasn't heading there. Instead, she left the main road and walked further from the castle. A black, old car had stopped in the midst of trees.

Here we go.

She took a deep breath and removed every sign of worry from her face.

A tall man with blonde hair and a light blue shirt was standing in the middle. Two other men dressed in casual clothing were by his side.

"Hello," she said.

The man stared at her and looked unimpressed.

"I'm zvezda." She tried to look innocent, yet someone who knew what she was doing. However, her instinct told her that she wasn't doing a very good job.

"Id."

She took her backpack in her hands and pretended to search for it.

"Here."

The only real thing on the card was her photo.

Let's hope I've done a decent job.

The man on her left took it while the other one brought a small laptop and put it on the hood of the car.

They scanned the id, and the screen of the laptop lit up.

Neva never left her from his eyesight. The backpack was still in her hands. They were under the shadow of a tree, but the cold breeze she was hoping for never arrived.

"She's clear," one of the men said and returned her id.

Neva extended his arm. "The device."

She raised her eyebrow, and a small laugh escaped her lips.

"The money first."

He looked at his men, and they brought a black bag. They opened it and put it between Neva and Agent 23; It was full of money.

"Now, I want the device." His tone was no longer friendly. His eyes were demanding, and his arms were crossed in front of his chest.

She opened her bag and took out a small black device. She remembered how hard it was to obtain the device B16XTL and how many favors the Chief had to pay to get it in their hands.

She extended her hand, he took it, examined it, and gave it to one of the men.

"It's been a pleasure to trade with you."

She bent her knees, zipped the bag, and was ready to take it with her.

"Who sent you?"

The tips of his black, leather shoes appeared in her view. She stood up with the bag's strap over her shoulder.

"I work for myself."

He grabbed her fast, the bag fell on the ground with a thump, and her body crushed on his, her back facing his chest. His arm was around her neck, stopping the flow of the air through her larynx.

"I don't believe you," he whispered in her ear.

"Are you insane? Let me go. I just want my money." She struggled to free herself from the grip but not too much.

You are still playing. He's bluffing.

"How did you find the device?"

In the meantime, his men were searching her backpack, looking for anything suspicious.

Neva's hand traveled her body, looking for bugs.

"I know someone in the black market. I found out it was stolen from that company, and I thought it would bring me a lot of money."

His fingers trailed her cheek and put a strand of sweaty hair behind her ear.

"You never came in Bratislava, zvezda."

His tone changed when he said the last word, sending chills to her spine. He relaxed his grip, letting her escape.

She glanced at him one last time, grabbed her backpack and the black bag, and started walking down the hill.

Stopping nowhere, she walked relaxed. She saw from the glass of a bookstore window that someone was following her, and the thought made her smile. She found the alley she was looking for and entered a building. The man behind her had stopped in the previous corner, wondering her next move.

She left the backpack behind a pot near the entrance and moved across the dark hall of the building. There was a door at the end of it, leading to a shop owned by the Chief's friend.

"One of his men is following me," she said to the man standing next to the last door. She handed the black bag to an agent and received her gun.

"Stay behind me," Agent 40-S said.

Her stalker had followed her all the way across the building. Seeing the door open, he believed that she had escaped from the exit, and that was why he didn't expect to be hit in the head with the gun barrel.

Agent 23 was still holding her gun, but the enemy had been taken down.

"We are done here," Agent 40-S said. "Here." He gave her the earpiece she had previously left. "Take him to the jet," he ordered the third agent while an SUV was stopping outside the exit.

"Let's go." She put her gun in her belt and wore a jacket to hide it.

Let's have some fun.

Agent 40-S and Agent 23 got into the car that arrived a second later, as its previous driver, a local agent, handed the keys and gave her a tablet.

She started typing fast as he pushed the gas pedal, and soon, the old town was behind them.

"I told you they wouldn't understand my dust. An invisible substance all over the device, traceable only by me and voilà. Neva is on my map." She tapped on the tablet, a huge smile on her face.

"Fine, you are genius. Happy?"

"Not yet." She grinned. "Turn left at the crossroad and then right at the second traffic light. If you go fast, we might reach him before he leaves the city."

"I'm trying, okay? I don't want to drive over the pedestrians."

She ignored his comment. "I sent a message to group B. They'll meet us at the D4R7 Bypass."

Three minutes passed, and the red dot on her laptop was closer than ever.

"I see them. I need confirmation to maneuver."

"Denied. There are houses nearby. Avoid exposure. Team B is behind you," the voice in their earpieces said.

Agent 40-S checked the rearview mirror, confirming the second group's appearance.

"Why aren't they speeding up?"

"What?" He looked at her.

"They know they are being followed. But they haven't changed their speed. Something's off."

"Are you sure Neva is in there?"

"Yes." She checked the screen again.

Everything seems okay. Why isn't he running away?

Agent 40-S pushed the gas pedal harder, diminishing the distance between the two cars. However, the front car sped up a little bit and then kept the previous speed. Team B was following them.

Agent 23 was fixated on the tablet, checking the roads around them, when she felt a light touch on her knee.

He didn't speak, only nodded behind them, and she nodded in understanding. Checking her side-view mirror, she spotted a new car following team B.

She pursed her lips, her skin becoming paler with every passing second. He gripped the steering wheel, his knuckles turning white. They turned off their earpieces at the same time, disabling the handlers from hearing them.

"How?" she whispered. "We scanned everything, and he was alone. Did someone-?"

"Not now." His eyes were on fire, his jawline harder than ever. "Is there a crossroad nearby?"

"Nothing. We have a few more kilometers."

He sped up, and she gripped the seat.

She turned on the earpiece, and the base could hear them again. "Be care-"

A deafening sound covered her voice as team B's car exploded; the wave of the explosion reaching the two agents and creating a buzz in their ears.

"What's happening?" the man from the earpiece asked, but no one answered. "What's happening?" He raised his voice.

"Team B is gone. The car exploded," she said.

"He's not going to escape," Agent 40-S said and removed his earpiece. "Remember your training."

She threw the tablet to the backseat, removed her jacket, and took the gun in her hands. Opening the window and getting part of her body out of it, she tried to hit the front car's tires. At the same time, the bullets came flying from the other car, making her get inside.

He tried to overtake the front vehicle, leading them to a dangerous speed fight. The third car hit them from behind, they moved in their seats, and the tires screeched.

"Do you trust me?" He put his hand on the gearshift, staring for a second at her eyes.

She put her hand on his, and they pushed the gearshift together.

Their car sped up and with a crazy sprint, overtook the front car. Agent 40-S turned the steering wheel, and the tires screeched again as the car changed position and turned vertical to Neva's car. Neva's driver didn't have enough time to stop the car, and they hit hard on the agents' car. The door from Agent 23's side dented, and she hit her head on the doorframe. Blood started dripping slowly from the right side of her head.

She tried to focus and looked at her partner. He was trying to unfasten her seatbelt, his own already loose.

"I got it," she said. He took his gun and opened his door. Their car stopped the two cars, but they had to face the enemy themselves. The man's voice was shouting through the earpiece, telling them to hold and that help was coming, but everyone knew that they wouldn't arrive on time.

She jumped from her seat and got out of the car, carefully moving behind him.

"There are three men in Neva's car," she said.

"And three, maybe four, in the other car. Do you have enough bullets?"

"I'll make them last."

Still behind their car, he tried to peek and see the enemy's movements. The cars' doors were open, the men behind them.

"Stop that nonsense," a voice said. "We all know that you are alone."

"Neva," she whispered to her partner.

"It was nice meeting you, bunny." His eyes were smiling and talking, but she couldn't hear them. She didn't want to hear them.

"The world comes first." Her eyes were glistening. The necklace with the silver star -still on her neck- was shining against the sunset's orange.

She didn't know how long the shooting lasted. All she remembered was taking down the enemy as the bullets were flying all around them.

"I got him," she screamed as she hit her second man that day. It was the third body on the ground.

"I got another one," he said, and the gun made the sound they hated.

She shot one last time before her gun made the same sound.

"It's empty. Now would be a great time to show me the bullets you hide in your shoes," she joked.

Neva's men, suspecting why they had stopped, had started to circle them. The most muscular man attacked Agent 40-S while she had to face her own enemy. She kicked him on the face and managed a few kicks and punches before he kicked her back, made her lose her balance, and slammed her head on the car's hood.

Her vision blurred, and her head screamed in pain. He was ready to hit her head again when she noticed the gun on his belt. She kicked him in his private parts, earning a big gasp from his mouth, as his hands tried to cover the area. The distraction was enough to grab his gun and shot him in the head.

A few loud groans were heard from Agent 40-S's side, but she remembered her training.

Neva is my priority.

He and one of his men were left, guns in their hands.

"I knew you were lying, zvezda."

"I'm an Agent of PROTEA. Throw your guns to the ground, and I might treat you fairly." She was aiming the gun at Neva, the distance between them was around three meters. "Back-up is coming any minute now. You can't escape."

"I like my odds." He wasn't pointing his gun at her, but his man was.

She heard a thud from behind.

Let him be alive.

"I still like my odds." Neva smiled. "You chose the wrong side, zvezda. You'll lose."

He nodded to his man, and after that, everything happened too fast for her to react.

Agent 23 stopped breathing.

Her left hand went instinctively to her body, but she couldn't understand if her hands were red in blood or if she was imagining things. She shot, no longer aiming somewhere specific, when someone pushed her to the ground, and a third bullet flew through the air.

She saw the two figures getting in the only car that wasn't broken. Her head was ready to explode. She turned around, expecting to see him, but instead, she saw a fallen body with a big red spot where his heart was supposed to be.

"Axel..." she crawled to him, the asphalt scratching her bare knees.

His eyes were motionless, a little blood dripping from his mouth. She pushed her hands on his chest, hoping to slow down the bleeding.

Where is everyone? she thought.

"Please, don't die." Tears started running on her face, mixing with the blood from her head injury, smearing her face.

She heard loud voices, but she couldn't focus. Someone grabbed her, and she resisted, trying to cover her friend's wound.

"Look at me!" a man screamed and slapped her. "You're injured. Let me help you."

The man with the blue eyes was talking, but she didn't respond. His mouth was moving fast, but somehow, his words were soundless. He picked her up and carried her to his car as the rest of the agents cleared the scene, removing every trace of the lost battle.