Previously in International Agents:

"Adrijan?" I whispered into the dark, I almost jumped out of my skin when I felt something soft grab my hand.

"Yes?" I shone my torch into his face and he squinted his eyes because of the brightness.

"Should I use some of my blue energy to light our path?"

He began to look uneasy at the thought as we shuffled deeper in the dark.

"Is that a good idea? Doesn't James want you to save it for when we get to the base?"

I sighed, he was right but we had to travel for 10 days, I could recharge during the day and at rest periods and light our way at night.

"Look, were not going to get very far if we can't see our path." I said as we continued to shuffle into the dark.

"Do it but you will have to explain to the others." I nodded and gave him a small smile. He back away a bit and I crouched small on the ground, pressing my palms onto the broken twigs, feeling each individual particle. I thought about a small glowing light, blue in colour but with every breath I took it grew brighter and brighter until it flooded my vision.

When I opened my eyes the trees were basked in a soft glowing light, accompanied by the shocked faces of Pierre, Giovanni and Pepe.

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"I'm still so confused" He said rubbing his temples. "How the hell did they get the radiation in you?"

We had stopped to rest and take a nap for a few hours and I was busy answering Giovanni's questions. I had told the others my whole story, how I was kidnapped, met Adrijan and became an agent. I knew it was a lot to take in but I was trying to help them understand.

Giovanni was leaning against a rock, looking confused. I'm not sure if the others understood me either but they kept giving me sympathetic looks.

"Ok so, When I was trapped I was given a meal of chicken or something. I can't quite remember but it was drugged with what I now know to be Atracrim. It shut down my muscles but I was still awake. I could still hear them talking. They knew I was awake, but they didn't care, they wanted to see me in pain."

"Bella, you don't have to continue..." I could feel the tears well in my eyes as I explained the pain and hurt I had been through, the torture, the stress it caused me. Giovanni reached into his rucksack and handed me a tissue, I wiped my eyes and tried to continue.

"I remember what happened in that surgery room as clear as day. I was wheeled in on a bed and my arms and legs strapped down. A bright light was shone in my eyes but that wouldn't hide what I saw. I couldn't even scream, I was paralysed. The only thing I could do was cry. I remember seeing a lot of people, they were dressed all in white lab coats and surgical masks. I remember seeing the first scalpel being inserted into my skin. I was trying to scream out but all I could do was cry, tears of agony, pain and fear all mixed on one as one of the scientists grabbed some metal forceps, pushed into my skin and levered it open. I could hear the peeling of my flesh, the crack of bones as blood was suctioned away from my body then I passed out Giovanni, I just hoped and wished it was a dream but it wasn't. I woke up, back in the cell that I came from, but this time with a scar and a glowing heart."

I never thought I'd ever see this but I swear I saw a few tears spring to his eyes. He blinked a few times and then pulled me in for a short hug. Even though he had been a bit horrible to me in the past I think that we needed to move forward as friends.

"You've been through hell and back haven't you Bella, but your alright now, your safe."

I smiled at him and walked over to Adrijan who was busy filling bottles with fresh water from a small waterfall that was cascading slowly down the mountain.

"Jesi li dobro Elizabeth? Do you want a hug?" He said reaching a hand out to me.

"No I'm not ok Adrijan and yes I need a hug." I said as he pulled me into his chest. We just hugged and it was nice, just listening to the sound of his heartbeat made me relax a little.

"Come on lovebirds, we need to travel 50 miles today" Shouted Pierre as he threw us our Rucksacks.

I chuckled and put on my Rucksack. We had to walk 50 MILES today, my muscles don't get sore that often but I was already feeling the burn from yesterdays walk. We woke Pepe up and made sure we took everything with us so we couldn't be traced by anyone who decided to follow us. We had a long journey ahead and couldn't afford to waste time.

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5 Days. That's how long we've been walking for. 5 Bloody Days. That's 250 miles and we are all feeling tired. Not just tired. Exhausted. I have been trying to recharge my radiation as best as I can but using it at night is wearing me out and I'm losing so much energy that it's becoming difficult to function.

We were still walking after a 9 hour rest. It seems like a long time but I could easily sleep for a week after this journey.

"Liz? Did you get your radio working yet?"

"Yeah Pepe, I'm going to try and radio James and Becky."

We hadn't heard from them since we got here and it was day 6 of this journey. We only had four days to travel another 250 miles.

"This is Echo Hotel trying to reach Juliet Mike and Bravo Whiskey. Do you copy? OVER"

Nothing, the line was completely silent. I tried again, waiting for a bit longer this time.

"This is Echo Hotel trying to reach Juliet Mike and Bravo Whiskey. Do you copy? OVER."

This time there was a loud screech and then a slight crackling before the line went silent again.

"Do you think it's your radio? They could be in trouble." Said Pepe as he tried to use his radio to call them but he couldn't connect. We were getting closer to the sounds of water and I knew that we'd be nearing the river now.

"I'll try one last time." I said holding the button down on the radio.

"This is Echo Hotel trying to reach Juliet Mike and Bravo Whiskey for the 3rd and final time. Do you copy? OVER."

This time there was a huge crackling noise and then the sound of a faint voice which grew louder and louder until I could make out what they were saying.

"This is Juliet Mike hearing you loud and clear. We lost connection briefly. What is your location."

It was odd because it's almost like he had no emotion. He voice was bland and it didn't really sound like him.

"Where is Bravo Whiskey?" I needed to hear Becky talk. Just to confirm that James was alright.

"Lizzie! I'm fine. We couldn't connect for some odd reason. Are you ok?" she seemed her calm and happy self and I felt slightly relieved.

"Yeah I'm fine. We are nearing the amazon river. What direction should we be travelling?"

I heard her whisper to James.

"Ok so James said you need to travel north, up the river for 150 miles. He want's you to complete it in 2 days as you are behind schedule. Good luck cause w... ar... con..." and the line went completely dead.

"Guys we lost connection but we have got to go now. We need to travel 150 miles in 2 days." I yelled to the others as I ran to the riverbank. They followed as I opened my rucksack and pulled out a yellow package.

"What did they say?" asked Pepe as he started mimicking my actions.

"We've got 2 days to travel 150 miles on then river so we better get moving."

I pulled the chord on my inflatable boat and pushed it into the water. I tightened my rucksack on my back and climbed into the boat. The others copied and our boats were connected with a long piece of cording so we would all stay together.

We were pulled along by the currents and used the motors for extra power. They would go 60 miles an hour so if we kept going it should only take hours. Except we weren't that lucky. The boats motors were solar powered so at night we needed to paddle ourselves.

As it grew dark our visibility began to fade and our torches couldn't function in the extreme conditions. I decided to light our way with my radioactive energy so we could continue to see our route. Soon the swampy water was basked in the soft blue glow of the Cherenkov radiation that was deep inside of my heart.

"You know, I'm never gonna get used to that." He said shuddering. I looked at Pierre as he said that and let out a small laugh.

"You know what? Neither am I."

"Ok I have one more question. Please answer it Bella."

I groaned. Giovanni was eagerly looking at me from the boat that was next to mine. I nodded for him to ask the question. It reminded me of how Becky was when she first found out about my 'gift'.

"How did you find out that you could use the radiation to your advantage?."

"When Adrijan helped me escape I was followed by one of the scientists who experimented on me. He tried to re-kidnap me. I just lost it and this rage boiled up inside of me which activated the radiation and allowed me to use it to protect myself. I then learnt to control it eventually." I explained to him as our boats were lapped at by the rippling waves of the river.

It was nice to have an honest talk with the lads. I wasn't that good at explaining my feelings to other people so this helped me a lot. It was quite quiet out on the amazon, It had started to lightly rain by now and we were getting closer to the heart each day.

"This sounds like a therapy session doesn't it?" Mocked Pepe, Copying the tone of an upper-class phycologist.

"You Lad's want to play 20 questions?" I asked. It was actually quite boring out here and we needed to find a way to entertain ourselves.

"Okay I'll go first. " Coughed Pierre as he cleared his throat. "Elizabeth, when was your last relationship and who was it with?"

"My last relationship was about 5 years ago with the man who is sat in the leading boat."

That man was of course Adrijan. He just looked straight ahead concentrating on the journey ahead. He was paddling hard and was taking all our boats with him.

"Seriously? I can't tell if your joking or not." Said Pepe, scratching his head. "Adrijan, did you date Elizabeth?"

Adrijan turned to face me and nodded then went back to guiding us along the river. I smiled to myself and then thought about a new question.

"Pepe, Have you ever worked with someone that you hated?"

"What kind of a question is that? Of course I have and I have no shame in mentioning who it is. When she was a singer I worked with Paris Hilton on a song for her album. Her singing was so bad that the track was never released."

We all burst out laughing and I think that I even heard Adrijan let out a small chuckle.

"Are you joking? That's the funniest thing I Have ever heard" I was crying with laughter and rolled over in my boat. "I didn't even know she was a singer!"

"Yeah, she sounded like a baby goat on crack, I honestly though it was a joke when she started to sing. She didn't like that very much." Pepe Cackled with laughter and wiped his eyes. I was starting to enjoy this when I noticed a small rippling in the water. I was moving against the rippling waves and was sending small bubbles of water to the surface.

Adrijan seemed to notice it to as he stopped paddling so we had slowed. The others were still laughing and didn't really pay much attention.

"Guys, Be Quiet!" he shouted to them. They still giggled and laughed like 12 year old school girls but I could tell Adrijan was getting angry.

"Guys shut the hell up!" He bellowed in a rather authoritative tone. They looked at him shocked and shut right up. Considering Adrijan was younger than them he managed to make 3 grown arse men shut their mouths.

He pointed to the rippling of the water and I leant over the side of my boat so I could get a better look. It was silent for a moment.

Then their was a deafening snarl with a long hiss. I held my breath and slowly crawled to the back of my boat as fast as I could, trying not to anger the beast.

All I could here was the beat of my heart as we listen do the silence of the jungle.

Just silence.

A huge crocodile jumped out of the water absolutely terrifying me. I let out a scream as it landed in my boat and bit a huge hole in the side. My boat was filling up fast with swampy water and the crocodile was staring straight at me.

"Elizabeth! Grab my hand!" Yelled Giovanni as he reached out an arm. I tried to grab it but as the boat sank the cord which I used to inflate it wrapped around one of my legs dragging me under the water and deep into the depths of the river.

The crocodile lunged for me as I was being pulled to the bottom of the riverbed. I swayed to my left, managing to dodge the oncoming predator. I looked down and rapidly moved my legs, trying to untangle my sunken dingy but the movement alerted the crocodile to my escape attempt which caused it to turn around and lunge at me again.

This time I wasn't as lucky. As it lunged for me it's enormous body weight sent a rippling current towards me sending me further into the chasm below. I was starting to feel lightheaded as the lack of oxygen starved my organs and the drowsiness feasted on my brain.

I needed to get out of here but I had completely run out of energy. I needed to recharge badly but I didn't have anything to protect me now.

Well, I thought to myself, This is it.

I can't escape my impending doom now. The crocodile was rushing towards me again and I was to worn out to think. I just shut my eyes waiting for direct Impact. I thought about letting myself drown as that would be a much quicker, less painful death.

I never got the chance.

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**Another chapter! I can't believe we are at chapter 26 already!**

**I will try to update soon!**