Hidden Tracks | ✓

21 | knife to a gunfight

Without looking back, I sprinted round the building, down the narrow lane and right to the other side of the clearing, just in time to see Soler and Miranda raise their guns at the two men.

Kirk and Asimov were clearly taken by surprise. They hadn't been expecting us. I raised my gun at them too, from behind. They hadn't seen me yet.

I heard Soler say, "Don't try to run. If you do, you'll find another agent guarding the back."

The two men turned to look at me, their eyes widening slightly. Slowly they raised their hands in surrender, as Soler and Miranda started inching forward.

I was on high alert as they came near the two men, ready to take them in their hold. But it seemed like the higher powers had other plans for us.

Just as Soler and Miranda came close to the two men, Asimov dropped his hands and tripped Miranda while she was walking. She didn't fall, and regained her balance a second later, but in that one moment of distraction, Kirk had managed to whip out his own gun and aim it at Soler.

I let out a curse under my breath and started running towards them, my gun pointed at their heads. But before I could reach them, Asimov kicked Miranda in the stomach so hard that he knocked the wind out of her and made her drop the gun.

This entire thing was spinning out of control too fast. Miranda was reeling from the kick but she got up sooner than expected and tried to reach for her gun. But Asimov picked it up with ease and aimed it at her.

"Drop your gun or I'll shoot your friends," he smirked at me, his voice bearing a heavy Brummie accent. I kept on aiming my pistol at him and Kirk, my gaze unwavering.

"You shoot them, I shoot you. It's really not a win win situation for you that way," I replied calmly. "Instead if you both come with us and answer our questions, you can be spared. We're not here to kill you, simply to get some answers."

Kirk and Asimov raised their eyebrows at me. "You have some cheek, girlie," Kirk replied. "Trying to negotiate with us."

"Before you can fire one bullet from that gun of yours, both your teammates will be dead. You sure you want that?" Asimov gave me a wicked smile.

I looked at Miranda. She was in Asimov's grasp and was quietly shaking her head at me. Her eyes screamed Don't shoot! Let them go! It's not worth losing two out of three in a team.

My eyes flitted over to Soler, who was watching me intensely. The barrel of Kirk's gun was resting on his head, but his face gave away no sign of fear or conflict. He was just calmly staring at me, waiting for my next move.

I'd never been in this situation before. I'd always worked alone, and I'd never been conflicted about these things. That's why I preferred individual work. Team missions were just asking for too much trouble.

Should I let the men go, or should I keep on threatening them? My area of expertise was undercover work. I wasn't as good at combat as Soler and I didn't think I'd be able to keep them from shooting either of my team members while trying to capture them at the same time.

I looked at the two men again, finally having made my decision. I nodded at them. "Alright, you can go. Free my teammates and we'll let you go."

Kirk and Asimov exchanged glances with each other. "Very well," Asimov remarked, and slowly removed his gun from Miranda's head, turning it to aim at me. Kirk freed his grip on Soler but kept on pointing the gun at both him and Miranda, as they slowly started backing up. I lowered my own weapon and watched them as they walked down the street backwards, with their guns still pointed at us. After they neared the corner, they rounded it and took off running, disappearing from our sight.

I immediately turned to my teammates. "And now we chase them."

I briefly noticed Soler smiling as I took off running like my life depended on it, with Miranda and him following close behind.

We rounded the corner around ten seconds after the two men had, and we could still see them further up the street.

They noticed us chasing them and their pace quickened. Every two seconds, they turned to shoot at us.

We dodged the bullets deftly as we kept on, hot on their trail. Soler fired a couple bullets of his own, but they avoided them too, blindly taking turn after turn through dark, dingy streets.

I willed myself to put in an extra burst of speed and made my legs run faster. Finally, just as we were almost within three meters' distance from them, they reached a dead end. A huge broken-down stone building abruptly blocked their path as it loomed before them, probably as old as a medieval castle.

Helpless this time, they turned around and just at that very moment, Miranda pulled a magical stunt.

She was carrying a few knives on her thigh holster and she pulled one out, throwing it at Asimov. It sliced through the air and struck the sleeve of his shirt, pinning it to the wall of the building and making him drop the gun he'd taken from her.

But the very next second, I felt the whole world slow down before my eyes. Kirk aimed his gun right at me, and fired from close range. I was frozen to the spot, unable to react as I saw it all happening in a flash.

But in a fleeting moment, Soler had me pinned down against the ground in a tangled mess of limbs, his forehead literally touching mine, and blood seeping out of his arm.

a/n: drrraaamaaa!! did marco really just save kaia from a bullet?!