An update in less than a week (pats myself on the back haha). Well, enjoy!

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"Is the job done, Jacob?" To me, his voice sounded akin to nails scraping against a chalkboard or the sound of metal scratching against metal. It sent a shiver down my spine but I didn't dare show how much his voice was affecting me. I kept my appearance calm and collected while I started typing away at my computer, trying to get a location on our enemy from this phone call.

Alexander didn't answer and the rest of us held our breath.

"Who am I speaking to?" The man asked, coming to a conclusion from the silence that he wasn't speaking to 'Jacob'.

Alexander opened his mouth to respond when he was rudely interrupted.

"Wait, let me guess." The other side of the phone was silent for a moment. "Am I speaking to Alexander Blades?"

"Yes. Who am I speaking to?"

The man from the other side let out a loud laugh. "It seems that I underestimated you. I probably should have sent a group of my men to exterminate you, not just one." The humor in his voice disappeared. "As for my identity, you figure it out. Until you do, I would like remain mysterious."

I glanced over at Alexander and saw that his fists were clenched tightly.

"Actually, if you ask Vita, I'm sure she could tell you who I am. If she forgot me, I would be very disappointed."

I didn't tear my eyes away from my laptop, but I could feel the eyes of everyone on me.

"Is this all about you two?"

The man laughed once more obnoxiously loudly. "Just all a wonderful coincidence that her father was the one that knew the location of the USB when I was searching for it. Luke Simmons seems to be very smart and I almost missed the fact that he escaped to send a message. When I found out, I made sure that he was never going to be able to escape me again."

His voice was smug and sinister. I could almost see the sadistic smile forming on his face from the pleasure of inflicting pain.

"What do you want?" Alexander let out through gritted teeth as it physically seemed to pain him to ask this question.

"The USB." The man answered back with no hesitation.

"I don't know where it is," Alexander lied back icily.

"Well, I know Mr. Simmons here sent out some kind of message. It must have been a clue to where he put the USB, so solve the code and find the USB. After that, a deal can be put on the table, don't you agree? Because at this point, you have nothing that I want."

"If you want a deal, I need to know that they're alive."

"They're alive. I didn't hurt them... too much," he snickered.

My brain started pounding as my body froze over, scenarios of what might have happened to them running in my head, horrific images flashing behind my eyes.

There was a shuffling in the background and his voice was muffled as if he was standing away from the phone. "Alexander's on the phone." A groan filled with pain filtered through. "Heard that, Alexander? That was Luke and he says hello."

It felt as if someone ripped my heart out of my chest and I quickly bit my bottom lip hard to stop it from quivering.

"Well, I have business to attend to. It was wonderful to hear your voice." He let out another bone-chilling laugh. "Call this number when you find the USB and we can talk about an exchange. Anything other than that, I will change my number and you will never reach me ever again. Goodbye, Alexander Blades and if you see Vita, tell her I said hello."

"Even if you kill one of them, the deal is off," Alexander threatened

"Find the USB first, then we'll talk further."

The phone call quickly came to an end and as soon as it did, everyone stared back at me. I stopped typing. "I couldn't find their location. They've made it impossible track."

"The Viperidae Clan knows you?!" Victor cried out in shock with widened eyes.

I pulled my lips into a grim line. "Apparently so."

"You... you don't remember?"

Anger flamed inside me but I calmed myself down with a deep breath. "The tattoos seemed familiar, but no, I don't remember. If I did, we wouldn't be stuck here in this situation at such a disadvantage while my parents are being tortured. I definitely heard his voice before, but I don't remember a name or even what this guy looks like."

Victor's face pulled into a frown and the expression in his eyes were mellow. "Okay, tell us if you do."

"Now what?" Emmaline's voice was soft and cautious.

"He knows we're going to try and find the USB so he understands that he needs to keep both agents alive." Alexander's dark grey eyes stared dead straight into mine. "If you see their faces, you think you can remember who the Viperidae Clan leader is?"

"Probably."

Alexander narrowed his eyes at me. "Yes or no, Simmons."

I steeled myself and didn't waver my eye contact. "Yes."

We stood like that for a little moment before Alexander conceded, taking my answer. "We wait until tomorrow. Katrina has nine faces and names, and Simmons can use those to identify. For now, we find out everything we can about the Viperidae Clan, dig deeper." He looked at me as he said my name. "Vita, get into the USB. We need to know exactly what's inside."

I gave him a firm nod in understanding.

"Let's get to work."

With Alexander's last words, Victor and Emmaline went to their desks. Alexander however, remained standing next to me.

"You have something to say?" I raised an eyebrow as I looked over at him.

He opened his mouth, looking like he wanted to say something, but he quickly closed it.

"Good. Now shoo, I have an insane encryption to crack."

Alexander looked down at me and put his hand on my shoulder, giving it a tight squeeze before going back to his desk.

As soon as everyone was at their desks and absorbed into their work, I couldn't keep up the nonchalant facade up much longer. I forced myself to keep my face impassive and my body language relaxed, but my hands shook fiercely from behind my computer screen.

*

Time quickly passed and it wasn't until Victor noticed that Emmaline was barely able to keep her eyes open that we decided to continue tomorrow. We all agreed that our work would become sloppy and we will miss important details if we're too tired, so headed to our separate homes to catch some sleep.

By the time Alexander and I arrived home, all the lights were out, signaling that Mrs. Blades was already sleeping. We quietly ate a little dinner before going into different bathrooms to take get ready for the night.

I took the ensuite connected to Alexander's room while he went to another. When I finished, I quickly changed into sweatpants and a loose t-shirt before plopping myself onto the middle of the bed like a starfish, obnoxiously taking up most of the space.

Alexander came in dressed for bed with a t-shirt and pyjama pants. He closed the door while staring into his phone and balancing a towel over his wet hair.

"Do you have chocolate?" I covered my eyes with an arm, blocking off the bright lights.

When there was no answer, I took a peek at Alexander. He wasn't looking at his phone anymore, instead, he was eyeing me with curiosity. Slowly, he made his way towards the bed and placed his towel on the nightstand.

"Hot chocolate?"

I shifted to my side, facing him with an arm under my head. "No, something cold. Ice cream?"

Alexander sat down on the bed and faced me with a small frown on his face. I didn't say anything and remained absolutely still as he began to reach forwards to lightly brush my hair away from my face, lingering his touch every once in a while.

There was a soft, tender look in his eyes as his fingers traced down my cheek. "What's wrong?"

"I want chocolate."

"Okay, let's go." He turned to stand up.

I quickly grabbed his wrist to stop him from moving further. "Where are you going?"

Alexander seemed even more confused. "Chocolate?"

I tried hard to bite back a smile but I couldn't hold back a small one as I got up to a sitting position. "You going on a chocolate run for me in the middle of the night, Red?"

"Yes?"

Letting out a chuckle, I got up to the edge of the bed so that I was sitting next to him. "It's fine, I'll go."

Immediately, the frown returned to Alexander's face as he looked unhappy at my words. His eyes were telling me either he goes or we both go.

I rolled my eyes at the unnecessary worry that took over his features. "I'll carry my gun."

There was a stormy look in his eyes and he looked like wanted to protest but before he could, I planted a quick kiss on his lips and bolted towards the door. Alexander stiffened and froze from what seemed to be shock.

"I'll be quick," I reassured him as I quickly jogged my way towards the garage just in case he decided to tag along.

When I sat in the driver's seat and saw that Alexander wasn't running after me, I let out a deep sigh of relief. As my phone buzzed in my pocket, I took it out and it was a text from none other than Alexander.

'Be safe. Hurry.'

I couldn't help but smile as I read it.

Was he always this sweet?

Deciding not to text him back, I started the car and drove away from Alexander's home.

*

In the silent park, I sat down on a bench and placed the chocolate milkshake I had just bought from a nearby 'always open' fast food place next to me. The lamps on the sidewalks lit up the abandoned park just enough for me to see where to walk without tripping.

I leaned backwards against the back of the bench, looking bitterly at how brightly the moon was shining in the sky amongst the stars.

Knowing that I needed to quickly return back home so that Alexander wouldn't get too suspicious, I quickly pulled out my phone. Not the one I always had on me, but a burn phone I picked up at a random store while waiting for my milkshake.

I dialed the number I had memorized hours ago and waited for the call to go through.

"Have you found the USB?"

His voice sent a chill down my spine.

"Am I wrong to assume that this random number is you, Alexander?"

When I remained silent, the man on the other side became furious. "I warned you what I would do if you called me for no reason."

I waited for a second before replying. "Efren."

The other side of the line came to absolute silence, then suddenly, laughter filtered through. "Well, well, well, there's only one person this could be. Did Alexander tell you I said hi, Vita?"

"I was there during the call."

"Really? Why didn't you say anything? You know, I never thought I would ever be hearing from you again. What an interesting coincidence that our paths cross yet again."

I squeezed my eyes shut and clenched my jaw. I wanted to puke from just hearing his voice again.

"You look quite like your father I must say. His light blue eyes and all." Efren let out a sinister chuckle. "Though, not quite as tall as him, more like your mother."

I pulled the phone away from my ear as I clenched and unclenched my fists, trying to calm myself down.

"I am curious, why are you calling?"

Taking a silent, but deep breath in and breathing out steadily, I put the phone back against my ear to hear and talk to him.

"I'm here to offer you a deal."

"Like I said to your dear friend Alexander, a deal isn't going to be made until you have the USB."

"I figured out the code and I know where it is."

"Oh?" There was curiosity in his voice and I seemed to have captured his attention. "Do the others know?"

"No. For now, only me," I replied calmly to make sure he couldn't catch my lie.

"Hmm, I see. But no. You don't have it, so no deal," He said matter-of-factly.

"I'm not here to talk about the USB." I steered our conversation in a different direction because I wasn't going to offer to give him the USB anyways, I had something else.

"Really? What do you possibly have to offer me, Vita?"

I looked up at the night sky, hoping to find my bravery. "I know what you want more than the USB, Efren."

Efren let out a mocking laugh. "Alright then. Tell me, Vita, what I could possibly want more than the USB?"

"Me."

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Ohhhh. Well, that concludes chapter 23. Hopefully I'll be able to do another update in less than a week.

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Toodles,

InvincibleBunny