*Jaxon's Point of View*

"Dude, what time is it?" Drake yawned.

"How should I know?" I asked, turning over and holding my pillow over my head.

"Wake up! You have to come out here! You guys! Wake up!"

I rolled out of bed, pulling the gun out from under my pillow and aiming before my eyes were even all the way open. When my eyes finally focused, I saw Taylor standing in the doorway, a paper clutched in her hand. Her eyes were frantic and there were tears streaming down her face.

"Taylor?" I questioned, putting my gun down. A snore interrupted from above me and I looked up to see Drake face down, half hanging off the bunk bed, and completely asleep. I took a step forward and thumped him on the back.

He looked up, his curse dying on his lips as he caught sight of Taylor. "What happened?" He asked, worry clouding his features.

"It's-" she began, a hiccup cutting her off, "Jaycee."

"Jay!" I asked, running passed Taylor with Drake close behind me. I looked around the main room, worry threatening to consume me. I didn't see anything which confused me.

"She's gone," Taylor whispered. I was still looking around the room for Jay, so what Taylor said didn't register.

"What?" Drake exclaimed.

A pile of boxes and envelopes sitting against the wall caught my eye. Slowly, I walked over to them. I vaguely registered that Drake and Taylor were talking, but I was too focused on the envelope with Jaxon written on it in Jay's perfect cursive.

Kneeling down, I picked up the envelope, running my thumb over the delicate writing. I turned it over and opened it. Pulling out the silver chain, I let it fall into my open palm. A tear rolled down my cheek as I looked at the diamond encrusted J sitting in my hand. It was the necklace I had given Jay years ago on our first date. A note fell out of the envelop, gliding to the ground. I picked it up and opened it, reading the single line of cursive written.

You should have asked.

I crumpled up the paper and the envelope, throwing both at the wall. Clenching my fist around the necklace, I march away from the wall. I ran a frustrated hand through my hair. "Dang it!" I shouted. "Why did she do this?"

Taylor put a hand on my shoulder and said, "She'll be fine, Jaxon."

I looked up at her, tears still running down both of our faces, "You sound like you're trying to convince yourself of that."

"You've got to be kidding me," Drake said. Taylor and I looked over to see Drake laughing.

"Drake?" I asked cautiously, slowly walking over to where he was kneeling by the stack of boxes and letters.

"Eight years. She took this from me eight years ago, saying it looked better on her. We argued over who it actually belonged to for weeks. In the end, I gave it to her just so we could stop arguing over it." He turned around to face me, a hat clutched in his hand. "Eight years later, and she gives it back to me with a note that says 'It still looks better on me.'"

"She was definitely a sentimentalist, got to give her that," I said while tightening my hold on the necklace in my hand and trying to make it a joke because I couldn't handle how serious it was getting.

"What's going on?" I looked up to see Jennifer and the other recruits coming out of the dorms and watching us.

"Didn't you hear? It's a good bye party! Jaycee went on a suicide mission and left us with presents," Drake said cheerfully, even though the tears on his cheeks gave away his real feelings.

"Carter did what?" Aaron asked, shock covering his face.

"She left each of you something as well," Taylor said sadly, pointing to the rest of the envelopes lying on the ground.

Jennifer was the first to move, slowly walking over to the pile and picking up her envelope. She pulled opened it, taking out the piece of paper. "Careful, your suit has a wrinkle," Jennifer read, her voice empty even as she laughed at the joke.

Aaron and Stacey picked up their envelopes after Jennifer had moved. They pulled out their letters and read them, laughing sadly as well. Josh and Anna followed, pulling theirs out. Josh read it and his face instantly flamed from embarrassment. Anna shyly followed, blushing as well, though I did see her hold her head a little higher.

Victoria and Austin just stood there watching everyone. After a minute, Taylor cleared her throat and said, "So, are you planning to pick up the good bye letters my best friend wrote you as her final act, or are you just going to stand there?"

Harsh, but apparently what they needed because they walked over and picked up their letters. Austin read his out loud first, "Contrary to popular belief, if you look away from the mirror, you don't disappear." Victoria muffled her laugh before opening her own. "Taking off your mask of makeup won't kill you," she read, scowling when she finished, making Jennifer laugh.

Jennifer quickly sobered, seeing that this wasn't a laughing matter. "She's really gone?" she asked quietly. Taylor nodded. "Where did she even go?"

"She went to face Trujillo alone," Drake answered.

"Why though? She promised us that she wasn't going to go alone," Taylor exclaimed, confused.

Drake sighed, "She didn't actually promise us that. All she said was that the plan had changed."

"Why wouldn't she let us help her? She's going on a suicide mission without us!" Taylor said, still not understanding.

"Because she didn't want to come back." We all looked up to see Wallace standing in the doorway to the stairwell.

"What do you mean, Wallace?" Drake asked.

Wallace explained, "You know she didn't do well after you all left. However, you don't know HOW bad she was. She has been battling depression for the past two years, part of which she spent in a hospital after attempting suicide. Recently, she had promised me that she wasn't considering suicide anymore, which was why I allowed her to continue on this."

Taylor started crying again, and Drake went over to comfort her. "Don't take this the wrong way, but that actually explains so much about her," Jennifer said.

Taylor exclaimed, "I still don't understand why she wouldn't let us help her with this, even with the depression."

"She went without you on this suicide mission because she doesn't want to come back," Wallace answered quietly.

Everyone was silent for a minute, thinking over what Wallace had just said. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. "No," I stated.

"No what? It isn't exactly a question of whether or not Jaycee doesn't want to come back," Aaron asked.

"No to this!" I shouted, shaking the fist that still had Jay's necklace clutched tight. "She might be ready to say goodbye, but I'm not."

"None of us are, man, but that's not going to stop her," Drake consoled.

"I already walked away from Jay once. I am not walking away again," I said.

"What can we do?" Taylor asked, desperate for a way to save her best friend.

"I'm going to Trujillo's and hoping that it I'm not too late," I answered.

"All right, I'll grab my gear," Taylor said, instantly agreeing.

"No," I said, aghast. "There is no way I'm letting you anywhere near Trujillo's."

Drake scoffed before saying, "You and my sister are so alike it's almost scary." He walked over and stood behind Taylor, continuing with, "My sister trying to take on Trujillo alone got us into this mess. We are all going."

"Great!" Jennifer exclaimed. "When are we leaving?"

"No!" Drake, Taylor, and I said at the same time. "You guys aren't coming," I said.

"Really? That entire speech about everyone going and you are going to try to leave us behind?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Drake replied.

"Well you can't tell us what we can or can't do. We are coming with you to rescue Carter, whether you want us to or not," Aaron said, looking me straight in the eye and practically daring me to say no.

After a while, I sighed, "Fine, but if any of you get killed, that's on you. We leave in fifteen. I suggest you take the time to make peace with whatever demons you have left and grab as many weapons as you can."

With that, I walking into the boys' dorm and over to my locker. As quickly as I could, I changed into a pair of dark jeans, a t-shirt, and combat boots. I paused, looking at the necklace I had hung on my locker door, the diamonds shimmering in the light. I ran my finger over the J, tears threatening to spill from my eyes.

I looked at it a second longer before putting it in my pocket. I grabbed my leather jacket and threw it on before walking passed the other boys and heading back into the main room to collect my weapons.

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"Alright, get down and stay quiet," I commanded. The recruits all dropped down onto the ground, hiding behind the brush. Taylor sat with them, instructing them to get as far into the shadows as they could. Drake came over to where I was crouching a little bit further up, looking through binoculars at the area surrounding the warehouse.

"You're sure Trujillo is here?" Drake whispered.

"Positive," I replied, handing him the binoculars. As he looked, I said, "Approximately ten guards patrolling outside the gate, ten more inside. Who knows how many are inside the actual warehouse."

"Piece of cake," Drake said sarcastically, handing the binoculars back to me.

"Three retired agents and seven under trained highly unqualified recruits going in to rescue an agent that doesn't want to be rescued against an entire army of men who want to kill us." I paused, thinking about everything I just listed off. "I like those odds," I joked.

Drake just rolled his eyes. "Okay, how do you want to do this?"

"So, this is what I'm thinking," I started.

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I groaned, opening my eyes. Looking around, I saw that I was sitting in the middle of a dark warehouse with my hands tied behind my back.

"Great plan, Steele."

I looked over to see Drake staring at me with a smirk on his face. He was tied up as well, along with Taylor and all the recruits. I chuckled, blood running down my chin from the blows I received earlier. "It would have worked brilliantly if I hadn't had to pick up your slack," I joked.

"Sure, blame it on me," he replied.

"Oh, would you two just stop joking around for five minutes?" Taylor asked.

"Sorry," Drake and I both said, hiding our laughs.

"Good, now we just need to figure out how to get out of here," she said, looking around the dusty warehouse for anything we could use.

A/N: the final chapter is approaching!!!