Dedicated to Rachie_Amaze because her PM simply made me smile so much. There should be more sweet people like you out there. x

Next chapter is going to be dedicated to sophie7887, thanks for the constant comments and votes, girl! Every writer knows how much any feedback means to them so keep the comments coming. x

Chapter 12

I followed the red flashing light on the GPS. The yellow light that had once been flashing alongside it had disappeared about five minutes ago. That means they had found Alex's tracking device.

It's common knowledge between agents that any tracking device found on them will be the first thing destroyed upon being captured, but we still just used them anyway. In case of the bad guy being stupid, I suppose. Then it would make things much simpler when it comes to following our agent and rescuing them. A stupid bad guy always made life much easier.

As predicted though, Miguel and his father weren't stupid. That's why I had decided to risk activating a small tracking program on Miguel's phone when he had handed it to me to put my number in. I was pretty proud of that little moment of genius improvisation I had done on the spot.

The only way for him to get rid of the tracking program would be to delete my contact details- so as long as he still had a reason to be in contact with me, I would be able to track his every move.

The red dot took a right turn and I picked up my pace, feeling slightly at a disadvantage with them being in a truck and me having to follow on foot. With that being said, thanks to my endurance, I was only a couple blocks behind them.

The red dot slowed to a stop and I hesitated before I began to sprint once again.

"Nikky, what building have they stopped at?" I huffed, my breath coming out in short bursts due to all the running I had been doing.

"It appears to be an abandoned factory of sorts," she replied. I took a quick screenshot of the GPS in case I needed it later.

I was only two blocks down from where they had taken their right turn when I caught a glimpse of the truck returning this way. The red light on the GPS was still at the abandoned factory, so they must have left Miguel there.

I dove behind a building just as the truck turned into my line of view. I was only one street down from the street where they had stopped, but I couldn't risk walking down the same road they would be driving towards me on. No doubt they would see me.

So I decided to continue down the street I was already on. Glancing at the screenshot I counted the number of buildings to the one they had stopped at. Five.

I walked casually this time, not wanting to draw any unwanted attention and once I was behind the correct building I slipped into its shadow and peeked upwards, towards a smashed window.

Lucky for me this factory building and the one next to it were fairly close together. Just like the rocks blocking me from my little slice of heaven back on the island, my little cove I had found when completing my very first test. An easy obstacle now that I knew what I had to do.

So just like I did when I was still that inexperienced trainee from a lifetime ago, I wedged myself into the tight gap.

After slowly working myself up the length of the buildings I soon found myself in line with the window I had eyed out just moments ago.

Taking a deep breath I wedged my hand into a large crack that ran along the building and swung my body around the corner, aiming to grab the window's ledge with my free hand.

I missed, slamming painfully into the crumbling building, causing my fingers that were wedged in the crack, the only ones holding me up, to slip slightly.

Crap. The ledge was just a little bit too far.

Hanging on by just my fingers, I kicked at the wall, swinging myself slightly to the side and then back again before kicking the wall once more. I repeated this movement a couple more times until my hand started cramping and the swinging momentum I was building up had grown to what I had hoped was enough.

So with one last painful sidewards swing I let go of the hand that had been holding me up, slamming into the building once again, but this time into the part I wanted to slam into: the ledge.

Scrambling through the broken window I did a quick scan of the area. The inside of this old factory building looked just as bad as the outside had, if not worse.

I spotted Miguel and Alex making their way between the broken down machinery. Alex was stumbling along, a couple bruises already forming all around his body and his wrists painfully bound together.

I couldn't help a small smile forming on my lips at this. Oh, the irony. When I had first met Alex It had been me who was the one who had been bound painfully by the wrist, thanks to the lovely guy I now call my partner. It seemed only fitting now with it being my fault and all that he had been captured, that he would receive some of the pain he had so much joy in inflicting on me in the name of training.

Once my little happy moment faded, I switched back into agent mode. Come on, I scolded myself. You are THE Zero, start acting like it and fix this mess you caused.

I followed Miguel, him dragging Alex through the huge factory hall and me sneaking along the roof beams trying desperately to prevent them from squeaking.

Although being captured and slightly beaten, Alex followed behind Miguel with his head held high and steel in his eyes: a true agent till the end. Even after Miguel threw him down and tied him to a chain like one would do to a dog, he never once looked degraded or any less of the agent he was trained to be. And in that moment I couldn't help but be proud.

After Miguel was satisfied with how he had tied Alex up he stood to his full height and stepped back before he sighed, looking defeated as if he had been the one captured and not Alex.

"How many of you guys do we have to kill before your agency gets the massage?" He asked, his shoulders slightly slumped as if killing agents was an unnecessary burden on his shoulders that he didn't have the time for. "I mean after making an example of the first few guys they sent, you would think they would try rethink their approa-"

"They have rethought their approach," Alex snapped, clearly not happy about where Miguel's little monologue was heading.

Miguel laughed at this. A cold laugh. "Trying to snatch it during a race?" He snorted. "That was their new fool proof plan? Seriously? They're clearly more stupid than I gave them credit for. The only thing that makes you different to any of the others is that you're so young. Why is that? Is it because they've used up all their older agents and are so desperate that they're sending kids now, or is it because they're foolish enough to think that young blood might make us hesitate a bit longer before killing you? Because we won't."

Both Alex and I knew that those weren't the reasons, they weren't what the agency had "rethought" about, they weren't their new fool proof plan. Because I was. I was to become their top agent. If anything, Alex was just a decoy, a backup.

"Are they really not concerned that they're sending all of their agents to their deaths?" Miguel continued. "Do you even know who you work for? Because clearly they don't care about your lives." He said. "At all."

Alex kept a blank face so I couldn't tell with him, but I knew that for me I didn't like where these questions Miguel was asking were making my mind wonder. I didn't like that Miguel was getting to me and I wasn't even the one he was aiming them at. Most of all I didn't like that the questions he was voicing were ones that had been quietly niggling at the back of my head ever since I first arrived on the island and since I first saw Carter and Jolene go off on a mission.

Who gives us our missions? Do they even care if we come out alive or not, or only if we get them what they wanted from us. Who are they to even decide who the good or bad guys in our world are? Who are they to have so much power or the right to take it away from people, to just make us take whatever they want? Who are they? One person? More?

"I have more important things to think about right now, like winning the race tomorrow," Miguel said cockily. "So I'll leave you here to think about all I've just said. Don't worry, I'll be back as soon as I've finished celebrating to finish you off too." And with that he spun around and left.

Once I was sure he was no longer on the property I scrambled my way down from the beams I had been hiding on and made my way to where Alex had been tied.

As I got closer I saw a shadow pass across the doorway. There was a guard at the entrance. He just glanced around the factory quick, glared at Alex as if all the world's problems were his fault, then he continued his pattern of walking back and forth just outside the door.

Once he guard was out of sight I knew I had exactly 3 seconds before he would be walking past the doorway again.

So I ran towards Alex.

1 Mississippi.

Jumped over the chains laying across the concrete floor.

2 Mississippi.

And dove behind the now alert Alex, his large frame hiding my small one from the guard's view.

3 Mississippi. Phew.

I waited the four steps I knew it would take for the guard to cross the doorway before I knew he would be out of sight for another three seconds.

"We have to get you out of here," I whispered, frantically trying to untie Alex's hands.

1 Mississippi.

"Zero," Alex said, trying to catch my attention.

2 Mississippi.

"Zero!" he whisper yelled at me.

3 Mississippi.

I ducked behind his back once more.

1 step.

2 steps.

3 steps.

4 steps.

I pulled out my pocket knife I had hidden on me.... Why I hadn't thought of that 3 seconds and four steps ago... I would never know.

1 Mississippi.

"Zero, listen to me-" just then a small beeping started in my ear- it was the sound assigned to the number I gave Miguel to call me on.

2 Mississippi.

Crapity crap crap. What do I do?

3 Missisippi.

I hid behind Alex once more. I had 4 steps to think up a plan quick and the call from Miguel kept on ringing in my ear.

"What do I do?" I whispered softly enough that only Alex could hear me.

Once the guard's forth step sounded Alex quickly turned to me.

"Leave me the knife and run, I can handle this, Zero. Go!" He whispered in a hurry.

1 Mississippi.

Dropping the pocket knife into his bound hands I made a run for it.

2 Mississippi.

I jumped over the chains.

3 Mississippi.

And I dove behind the nearest machine. I was out of sight. Running, I spotted a door that was on the side of the building where I had wedged my way up. Why didn't I see that when I was outside? I seem to like making my own life difficult, don't I?

With fingers crossed that it wasn't locked and wouldn't squeak on me, I pushed the door. It protested slightly before inching open with a small groan.

Winching at the sound I slipped out into the tight alley, closing the large door behind me.

"Nikki, answer the call."

At that the beeping sound stopped.

"Hey, it's-" crap... What's my name again? "Uh, Jessie here."

"Jessie! Hey, it's Miguel. It isn't too soon to call is it?" He asked and I could hear the slight worry in his voice. I almost laughed at this: he had agents trying to steal something important from him, his dad is the most dangerous guy in the whole of Mexico and he has the biggest race of the year tomorrow yet here he was worrying about how short the length of time he waited to call me was.

I laughed anyway, to put him at ease. "No, not at all. I've been so bored not knowing what to do with myself just waiting for the race, I'm really glad you called."

"Oh, good. So you're at the hotel?"

"Oh, yes, yes," I went along with what he was saying. "This place still looks just as crappy as when I first saw it, if not more." I laughed, looking around at the dump of a street I was currently walking down. The sun was starting to set and I was still about half an hour away from the hotel.

"Oh, great! I mean- not great that the hotel sucks, but I was wondering if you wanted to go out with me for something to eat tonight? I'm like 10 minutes away so I can be there in no time." This time it was a slight trace of hope I could hear in his voice.

Crap. Again.

I covered up my tiny mental freak out with a short laugh, "You checking out your competition here, ey? Gonna try get into my head? I see what you're doing there, Mr. Bigshot." I just hoped my teasing tone came across on the phone.

He laughed. "Yeah, you're right. I shouldn't be getting distracted before the big race." Phew, that was a little too close. "Well then how about you come for dinner after the race? Well, after I win, I mean."

His arrogance could only ever make me smile.

"Because my family always hosts a dinner," he continued quickly. "You know, like a celebratory sort of thing for the winner and all, and since we all know I'm going to win, that means there'll be a spare chair for if the winner wasn't already meant to attend this dinner. So basically- in other words, would you like to have dinner with me, the great winner of the one and only, Daga Negro?" He finished blabbing.

"Uhhh..." I started.

"I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to or anything. Like, no one's forcing you or anything, because, it's just, you know, a huge privilege and all, but whatever."

His insecurities were laughable.

"Whoa, big boy... Calm down. At least give me a couple seconds to reply," I giggled at his nervousness. "Of course, I would love to come to the dinner with you."

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