RYDER

Kota ran ahead through the back door of the house before he did. Going through the door that had been left open—not by him, mind you—most likely to let in some of the fresh air.

If they want fresh air they should go outside, he thought to himself begrudgingly. Just another reminder of his unwanted 'house guests'.

Of all the things to do after cutting ties with a mafia syndicate and Maize just had to go ahead and sign up with the cops. His second least favourite group of people, next to those higher ups in the military. And damn did he hate the higher ups in the military.

He heard conversation taking place between three voices as he neared the living room.

"Has anyone seen Alec?" The male one, the FBI agent Maize had explained was the root of their mission. And also the one who seemed to have an odd lack of seriousness that agents of the bureau tended to possess.

He heard the most recognizable voice as Maize. And from the tone of her voice he could guess she was frowning to herself in thought. "You mean he hasn't come back yet?" She usually didn't let emotions slip when she spoke, but to the trained ear he could tell that there was troubling in her voice as though she was worried this was something to be concerned about.

Only if the detective has a fear of heights, Ryder thought to himself. Though from how he had behaved, he doubted that was the case.

The female FBI agent—the more closed off one—carried on. "I don't think I've seen him since he went to go find you," she said. "And your friend is not back either..."

And just like that Ryder saw it as his cue to walk into the room. Pretending as though he hadn't heard a thing of their short conversation as he walked casually up the the connected kitchen and sought a glass to fill with water from his cupboards. He could feel each pair of eyes as they followed his movements. In turn he shot a glaring look over his shoulder which was only returned by one.

"And where've you been?" Maize asked with her arms folded over her chest.

He thought for a minute. "Out," he replied, taking a leisurely sip of water to hydrate his slightly parched throat.

Maize tilted her head to the side considering. "Out working a quick job or something?"

He hide his mouth behind the glass of his drink as he smiled to himself. "Or something," he replied.

"Hey dog-wrangler, you haven't seen West have you?" The male agent asked. Ryder hadn't bothered to learn any of their names—and he didn't regret it seeing how they seemed incapable of learning his as well.

He didn't need to feign his disinterest, it was genuine, and he didn't let anything give away on his face. "Why do you ask?"

They didn't seem to notice that he hadn't exactly said 'no'.

"Because he hasn't come back in a while," the same agent asked. "None of us have seen him anyway."

If only I had that luxury, Ryder thought to himself with a mental roll of his eyes.

"I wouldn't worry too much," he replied indifferently, without much concern showing on his part. It was true, he wouldn't worry too much. Because he just didn't care.

The loud FBI agent sighed forcefully, obviously to his disinterest towards the subject. "Yeah but where could he be? We checked the training spot he and Maize had been at and the woods around the property. He's just gone!" The man exclaimed, a tad too dramatically in his opinion.

Ryder's expression didn't show anything as he was looked to for an answer.

He merely shrugged. "I'm sure he's hanging around."

Now at that he had to bite back a smile.

He hadn't yet noticed the way Maize had been frowning at him.

A sigh.

"What did you do, Ryder?" she finally asked, shaking her head at him with a knowing look as if she could see through every little give away he was trying to hide. She had always been able to do that, and it was unnerving.

Still, he feigned innocence. Or some semblance of it anyway.

"Who says I did anything?" he questioned.

She shot him an unamused look. "Unfortunately I know you well, too well, enough to recognize that look," she acknowledged with an sigh that was borderline on the word exasperation. "Where is he?"

Damn. And here Ryder though he could have kept the charade up for a little bit longer.

He shrugged. "Tied up at the moment."

"Ryder I'm serious," Maize snapped impatiently.

He replied simply, "So am I."

That made her to pause for a long moment as she studied his unwavering expression. "...Please tell me you didn't," she began, with a narrow-eyed look at him of both dismay and knowingness.

He smiled. "5 kilometres away, tied up, a few dozen feet from the ground."

His (proud) statement was met with exclamations of appellation, disbelief, and utter bewilderment.

"WHAT?"

Ryder thought to himself; what? Is this not how they do things back in the States?

Dull.

"H-how the hell...Are you serious? How in god's name did that happen?" The male agent burst out loudly, his head shaking as he stared unblinkingly at him.

Ryder shrugged again. "Me."

He turned when he felt a prickly at the side of his head and saw the look Maize was giving him, a look of of exasperated frustration and anger that said 'you agreed you would behave'.

He frowned at her in response, trying not to enjoy the trouble this was causing. "What?" He said. "I was only doing what you told me."

"When did I ever say to tie him to a tree and leave him in the middle of the woods?" She exclaimed incredulously.

"When you told me the next time I want to do something childish to take it outside."

He could practically feel her urge to wring him by the neck and strangle him to death in that moment. It wouldn't be the first time she tried either.

So maybe he had purposefully had a misconception with the true meaning behind her words...but he wasn't about to apologize for that now. His stunt took nearly all morning to set up.

Suddenly a thought occurred to him; was she currently armed?

The last time he had pissed her off, literally that morning, he had nearly had his head cut off by her and her flying knives of death. He never could figure out how she fought so well with those, and every time she used them to make a point, he wondered what would happen if she didn't purposefully miss. That was enough to send a shudder through even his steeled spine.

Though if it was any reassurance to himself, he figured that if she did have something in her, she would have already tried to stab him by now.

However, whatever small assurance that provided him, he still felt it would be better if he tried to lighten up of the aggravating and try to smooth things over.

"Don't worry about him..." he tried to sound positive, which by all means, wasn't his strong suit in the slightest. "He's fine. I told him I'd be back by sunset..." Ryder finished. Maybe, he added silently.

"You are not waiting until sunset!" She snapped at him forcefully.

"I'm not?" He tilted his head to the side. Somehow he felt as though his plan to smooth things over had gone south, and he was digging himself into an ever deeper chance of one of her cursed blades finding its way into his back.

"No!" She stated strenuously.

He supposed that meant there was no room for negotiation then...

Ryder groaned. "Fine then." If you have to ruin my fun.

"You're going to let him go," she demanded without missing a beat. Now this wasn't even an order, this was a straight up if-you-know-what's-good-for-you-you-will-do-as-I-say imposition.

He sighed reluctantly, giving in. "Oh alright," he muttered begrudgingly as he took another long sip of his glass. He didn't move from his place though.

She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Now," she ordered with barely contained vexation boiling well past its danger zone peak.

"Fine," he grumbled, keeping up the mask of indifference but resisting the urge to suddenly back away out of strangling distance from the woman, because that's about exactly what she looked bent on doing.

For the sake of self-preservation, he sighed and went back out the way he came without another word of argument.

* * *

He trudged begrudgingly through the woodland path that he had walked not even a few minutes ago. Just when he thought he would get a break after all the preparation he had set up in order to extract his unique method of payback and already he was on his way to undo it all. And for what? In his opinion, he would have been fine to leave the aggravating detective hanging in that net all damn night and he wouldn't have lost a second of sleep on it.

What a waste of time and energy...he thought to himself. He made a resolve in his mind then; the next time he decided to suspend someone from a tree he would make sure not to tell anyone about it that could ruin it for him.

Namely, Maize. Who speaking of...was trailing only a short few paces behind him. Like a shadow following him as he walked towards some sort of fortune demise.

He had to say it was quite the bother that she didn't quite trust him to go alone. And of course Kota seemed much ore obliged to walk with her rather than at his side. The traitorous mutt. But then again, that dog always did have a soft spot for her.

"So you followed me because...?" He began indignantly, shooting her a look. "I said I'd let him go didn't I?"

Maize responded, "And I'm here to make sure you actually follow through with it."

He didn't necessarily have a response to that that would warrant him not to get punched in the face, so he looked away and muttered a very words under his breath that he both hoped and feared she would hear.

He would have been happy to lead her in a few circles, just out of spite, but his traitorous canine did not seem to get that idea, and instead made sure Maize knew the right way to go every time.

They came upon the very spot Ryder had been not even an hour and half before, with walking back and forth as he did. The giant spruce tree that he had chosen, with a trunk thicker than two of himself put side by side, was still easy to pick out among the rest with the bundle of thick ropes hung wrapped around the thicker branches. Only Ryder instantly noticed one (possibly minor) problem; there was no one in it.

The net was empty, hanging half open. That couldn't have been a good sign.

He was studying his trap with a perplexed frown, when he felt the heat of Maize's direct stare burning into the back of his head. He turned to meet her eyes and answer her look.

"I swear he was hanging up there when I left..."