We high-jacked a tour bus.

My mind was once again clouded, but the thoughts of Luna were pushed out of my head as I tried to decided what profanities would work best with this particular situation. Civilians tried to see through the highly tinted windows for a view of the celebrities that weren't even in the van at the time.

Aiden stood beside me as I watched the outside world interact without a hint of what was happening at the moment. Without warning I turned toward Aiden and he took a step back from our close proximity. "It's done, Aiden. TrianOut's going to get their way on this. I know it."

His passive face wasn't see through unfortunately, and that only happened when he was debating with himself. I couldn't get a feel about what he was thinking or know what his response to my statement was. Surprisingly, he turned and walked up to the front of the bus without giving an answer, getting in conversation with Gene Perkins.

I sighed, rubbing the palm of my hand on the back of my neck. I knew Aiden's expressions like he knew mine. Like how to shoot a gun. We knew the triggers to each other's emotions and how to pull them for our own use. But we also knew what the end results were by clearing away the debris left behind our trail of emotions.

I turned back toward the window, noting the few shops that alerted to me to how close we actually were to the school.

Tyrone's threat could have been done anytime. She could have even shown up personally. But an explosion means either a bomb or a grenade. I doubt a grenade could be used to blow up a school especially since it would attract more attention then a regular explosion. But she also would have gone early because as soon as the information came our way it was obvious that she was going to try to get there before us. She probably shot at our jet because we were getting ahead of her.

The bus stopped, leading with people jumping out before it even parked. I stepped outside along with Aiden who had returned to my side. We stopped a block away from the school which means that Zack decided to take evacuation protocols into affect.

I wanted to sigh but there was no time. Civilians were being pushed off the streets and told to hide in their homes or to ride their car the other way. We legally had the right to say we were FBI but identified ourself as special unit forces today. Whatever that meant.

I stood there as Aiden jogged toward the fence nearby, trying to get a good view of the school and shouting something unrecognizable to me. Half the agents moved with him, jogging toward the school along with him as half stayed for the evac.

Rebecca stood behind me. I knew it was her because her plaguing scent of flowers made me die a little inside. I wasn't one for flowers or even chocolates, though I did eat a few pieces when I was stressed or confused. I guess she was there to make sure that I didn't try and go out into the field. I wouldn't try. Until I needed to.

And Rebecca seemed to sense that, because she stepped in line with me. It was silent encouragement, in a way, to stay where I was knowing that I wasn't the only one being kept out of action. I felt her light eyes land on me, a calculating stare burning the fabric and getting under my skin. Rebecca sure knew how to make someone seem uncomfortable.

I turned my head slightly to meet her stare with my own. Her eyes held nothing but a deep emptiness that evacuated her different mix of emotions as soon as she wanted to. I wondered what Rebecca did that took her off the field and put her on babysitting duty.

Before I got the chance to answer, she interrupted with raised eyebrows. "Aiden trusts me," she said simply.

I waited for her to continue on with whatever but she didn't, instead looking like she expected a response from me. I sighed, rolling my eyes and dropped into a crouch on the ground, observing the scene in front of me without a word. She crouched alongside me, brushing her hair out of her eyes and then sitting flat on the ground. I watched her with my head craned, a heavy sigh building up in my throat.

"He trusts me enough to make sure you're not going to do anything rash," she continued. I released a sigh and a silence blanketed over us as we watched the streets clear until no one but agents were scattered across the area openly.

A single shot ruined the perfect evacuation. Rebecca gasped as my ears perked up, immediately trying to find the source of the shot. My eyes shot up until I stopped at a cracked window in a white apartment building, a shadow narrowly escaping from my view. "West side, white building!" I yelled as agents turned and brought up their loaded guns. The group split into two again. One stayed for safety precautions and the other went to take out the shooter.

But who was the victim?

My head shifted to Rebecca who was silent excluding her gasp at the shot. Her eyes were wide open, a horrified expression etched onto her deadly still face. Her hand was clutching her bleeding stomach but she was completely limp. My fingers raced to the side of her neck, hoping a heartbeat was evident somewhere. I stood up, my emotions struggling to break out onto my passive mask as I came to a conclusion. "Agent down," I said to no one in particular.

Agents ran to where Rebecca was, the years of training they had picking up on my silent message. I cursed silently as she was carried away into the van.

I snipped a ear piece from one of the male agents, who unsurprisingly didn't notice as he aimed at the apartment doors from where we were set up. My hand went up to activate the comm and my senses were instantly filled with shouting and loud orders coming from different orders in group A. "Thompson?" I hissed.

"Ryder?" Zack whispered. "Aiden's somewhere- Place the injured near the fence area! Those who can fight follow my lead," he ordered, cutting himself off.

A click following a herd of shots made the metal on the gun tucked in the waistband of my jeans press harder into my skin. I ignored the looks half the agents who weren't really occupied with anything gave me as they listened from their comms.

Shots rung on my side of the comm and the shouts that ceased started again. I raised my gun, loading it and firing from where I thought the shots were. Screams filled the comm line and agents in Group A repeatedly called my name along with the other agents as they battled it out on their side. Pain bloomed on my right leg making me sway a little, my grip on the gun still tight. I ignored it as I shot at the windows of a shop on the right. Civilians previously told to run back into their homes rushed out and ran toward the end of the street, hearing the shots being fired blindly.

My eyes scanned the area around us until I eliminated spaces where TrianOut agents were shooting from. Judging by the bullet wound placed on my right leg, I concluded they were higher and closer.

A shot found it's way toward me but I ducked in time, hearing it hit the fence behind me with a bang. I ran backwards toward the van until I found what I needed to reload the gun. I huffed and walked toward the back window of the van, ignoring the sour taste left in my mouth when I passed Rebecca's dead body, which was facing the buildings that I suspected they were hiding in. I shot the window and aimed, shooting until the shots ceased.

I slumped underneath the window, just in case they were waiting for the perfect opportunity. I waved over my comm, activating it from it's dormant state and heard the shouts for reports from Group A. "Team B," I whispered, addressing the group that took part in the mini battle with me, "I'm in the van. Get in here. And Perkins, give a report before the Director blows one of our heads off."

Agents slid in quietly, trying not to attract as much attention from their dormant positions. They also ignored Rebecca's body, succeeding in keeping away thoughts of her death from their faces. "TrianOut," I said, more like a statement. They nodded and their eyes misted over, telling me that someone was calling for them through the ear piece.

I sighed and activated my ear piece. "-and come over here."

"Thompson," I greeted.

"Ryder. I see you've gotten your groove back."

"Ryder," Zack hissed, interrupting us. "I don't care where you got the gun or the comm from. Get your butt, along with everyone elses and get over here. We've taken out the agents and they're definitely TrianOut. You've got Team B?"

I looked around seeing Team B but Team C was absent. "I've got Team B but we split. Lemme try calling them. Team C?"

I waited for a response and when I didn't get when after a few tries I brought out my phone. 553 had tracking for their comms as well and the software was downloaded onto my device. "Their still in the apartment," I said to no one in particular.

"Apartment?" Aiden asked. "Never mind, split into two again. Team D will get C and then all of you head to the school ground."

I hated taking orders from anyone - even Aiden - but I didn't argue, instead watching the group of twelve split up again without sharing any words. The door slammed shut behind Team D and I moved toward the drivers seat, pulling out and slamming my feet onto the gas pedal making the car lurch forward. There were yelps behind me as agents scrambled to find their balance as I drove like a maniac toward the school.

"Relax guys," I reassured, a laugh bubbling out when one of the adult female agent screaming about her nail polish. "553 wouldn't have let me become an agent without one driving lesson."

"I'm wondering how you passed," Aiden whispered in the comm, laughing slightly before realizing that the situation didn't call for it.

The car stopped abruptly as I pressed on the breaks. I was the last to get out and view the scene in front of me.

The agents were crowded around my sister's elementary school, attempting to get in. I could hear the ear-piercing alarms blaring from the inside of the school. The window were shut and the blinds were closed. Judging by how the agents weren't inside yet, the school was on lockdown from the shots they must have heard.

Aiden jogged up toward me, silently leading me to Zack who looked as calm as always. He was on his tablet, swiping and typing in random orders. I swiped it from his hands and got a look at the screen. He surprisingly didn't take it back and let me view the police data of communications. I would have smirked but my thoughts prevented me from doing anything of the sorts. I shoved it back into his arms and surveyed the roads and skies for any sight of TrianOut.

"Ryder," Zack called. I barely heard him as Team C and D returned to our group of agents. I turned around when Aiden tapped my shoulder twice to distractedly look at Zack.

"We can't get into the school," Aiden said. His expression was slightly panicked and it worried me for a few seconds before the feeling washed away.

I rolled my eyes, getting agitated. "Just tell them you're local police."

"No Amber, look." Aiden pointed at the school where children and teachers were pounding on the windows and doors. Agents were trying to break down the doors and crack the windows but they weren't budging.

My breathing quickened. That was why TrianOut wasn't here yet. The bomb was inside the scho-

My mind was frozen, my limbs weak and unmoving as I fell toward the ground. Searing hot pain spread everywhere. My right leg felt like it someone was dissecting it and my body felt like it was burning. I screamed, the sound mixing in with the ringing my ears were producing.

Tears filled my eyes involuntarily, the pain whispering things in my ear. My eyes opened hesitantly as my lungs hacked up coughs. Fingers tangled up with mine as I was pulled up, grunting when my weight shifted to my right leg. I leaned on Aiden, breathing heavily as my vision cleared and the immense pain I felt died away to a bearable state.

There in the middle of a sea of dead, injured and barely alive agents was nothing. Because the school my sister was in was nothing but little pieces of ash and bodies.

I stood silently along with the other surviving agents. I felt like there was no one but Aiden and I standing in place where TrianOut had just declared all out war between me and them. My knees gave out, my mind confused. It was a dream, I hoped. But it wasn't. Aiden dropped beside me and I buried my face into his chest, refusing to look at my sister's deathbed and burst into tears.

My only family was gone. And TrianOut was going to pay for it.