The drive was silent and filled with a thick tension as each was lost in their own thoughts. Usually, this would be the part where Jared or Ashton would give them more instructions, but for some reason neither of them did. Instead, the two would occasionally share a glance as if communicating something secret in silence. Summer couldn’t help but notice the way Ashton’s fingers nervously traced the edges of his phone.

  It wasn’t until they pulled up to a warehouse in the Old Town that Ashton’s phone reacted. He scanned the new message for a moment and then sighed.

  “This isn’t the right place,” Ashton announced before anyone could leave the van, “It’s a trap, and a deadly one. Were there any other locations that needed to be covered?”

  Jared frowned and glanced at the phone in Ashton’s hand. “I don’t like how you got that tip, but my gut is telling me you are right. I will take us to the next location.”

  The car had barely pulled out of the parking lot before Ashton got another text. “He wants us to turn left?”

  The car jerked as Jared slammed on the brakes. A moment later an old lamp post crashed to the ground in front of them, just past the intersection where Maskz had just told them to turn. Even Summer could tell that, no matter how old, the lamp post had been tampered with. Summer shuddered as she realized she probably had the same amount of worth to Ned as that lamp post did. Just another tool to make Ashton do his bidding.

  As if to confirm this, Ashton got another message. He grimaced as he read this one.

  “This time was just a warning. Next time we ignore him he will get angry,” Ashton relayed, his voice full of bitterness with a tinge of disgust.

  “Let’s follow his instructions for now,” Jared advised, “If things really get dangerous, I will be able to tell beforehand.”

  After that, Ashton carefully relayed each of the far too frequent messages that MysteriousMaskz sent them. It quickly led them far from their original destination and deeper into the Old Town. They had gone past the warehouses of the industrial district and were deep in the business district when they were suddenly instructed to pull into the parking lot of an office building.

  “This is definitely it,” Jared confirmed to answer Ashton’s questioning look.

  “We need to come up with a plan before we head inside,” Ashton decided, “Maskz mentioned something about the building being unstable so I don’t want to be in there any longer than necessary.”

  “Maybe there is a way for us to not go in at all,” Levi suggested.

  “Smoke him out?” Kai guessed.

  “We can’t risk it,” Jared shot down immediately, “There might be hostages. I still haven’t had a chance to report on what is going on. No one will make a move to do anything until someone else at least knows where we are in case we need backup, or even a rescue.”

  That was a chilling thought. Both of them were right. This was no time to let emotions cloud their judgements. Their lives were in just as much, if not more, danger than the hostages. She needed to fulfill her own task from Maskz as well, and to do it she needed to make sure her part of the plan kept her close to Ashton.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Summer glanced at the building again and froze. Windows everywhere. So many windows. What if it was already too late? She couldn’t afford to hesitate any farther. There was no telling what he would do to Mason if she failed her one simple task. The question was, how could she stop Jargon from seeing Ashton without alerting her own teammates to what she was doing?

  “What if I block the windows?” Summer blurted out, “He will notice something is out here, but he won’t know what if he can’t see us.”

  “Good idea,” Jared agreed, “Make sure you block the cameras too, while you are at it.”

  Summer held back a sigh of relief as her excuse was accepted and quickly draped the building in darkness. It was always harder to remove light than add it, but turning the building into a beam of light would blind her teammates just as much as it would Jargon. The cameras were a bit harder, but Summer felt confident she got them all. Most of all, her phone was completely silent. No warnings from Maskz was a good thing, right?

  While they discussed various plans of approach, Jared got updates on how the other teams were doing. Many hostages had been rescued but it seemed they were all still bound by contract. All of them had to be detained for their own safety. Summer felt relieved until she heard her phone chime. She quickly whipped it out.

  “Well done. The kid isn’t scared of heights, is he? I left him on the rooftop. Someone should probably fetch him.”

  “Mason’s on the roof!” Summer exclaimed before she could think better of it, “I need to go-”

  “Wait, this could be a trap,” Jared warned, “How are you certain the message isn’t from Jargon?”

  Jargon would have no idea that she had been given a task, much less that she had completed it. Unfortunately, Summer couldn’t say that. “Even if it is a trap, I am not going to risk it,” Summer replied, standing her ground, “Are you going to take responsibility if he falls while we are playing it safe?”

  Jared sighed. “Fine, just be careful. Something about this still feels off. Jargon is definitely here, but nothing has happened yet. Take a buddy and an earpiece with you. If anything happens, let us know right away.”

  “I will go,” Kayla volunteered immediately, squeezing Summer’s hand reassuringly.

  “Thanks,” Summer told her.

  Despite the warning, the inside of the building looked sound. That could only mean that Maskz intended to make it collapse himself if anything disrupted his plan. Summer needed to hurry and rescue Mason before that could happen. The problem was, this building had at least nine floors before the roof, and there was no way she would trust any of the elevators to be working. That was going to be a lot of stairs.

  Whether it was adrenaline from her panic or sheer stubbornness, Summer managed to rush up the flights of stairs, barely remembering to pause at each landing for Kayla to catch up. “Hurry,” she gasped, “We don’t have much time.”

  Her voice echoed in the stairwell. On every floor they passed it was like there wasn’t a single other person inside. Jargon had to be there somewhere, unless he was on one of the topmost floors or the roof. Running into the target with just the two of them was not ideal, but it wasn’t like she had taken time to truly inspect each floor either.

  At long last, she burst through the door to the rooftop, freezing at the scene she saw beyond it. There was Mason, cluelessly perched on the lap of the very person who had dragged them into this mess. Ned looked exactly as Summer remembered, including the gentle smile he greeted her with as she stood frozen in the doorway.

  “You made it. Good job. I was worried for a moment there that you would bring Ashton along as well,” he said, patting Mason’s head as he gave him a piece of candy.

  Summer’s hand shot to her earpiece. “He’s here!” she shouted, panic evident in her tone, “Ma-” before she could get the word out she let out a shriek of surprise at the sharp burning sensation. She ripped the earpiece away from her ear to find it short circuiting. Masks was still at least ten feet away from her and it didn’t look like he did anything.

  “There is no need to panic everyone,” Ned assured, as he watched her stare at the broken earpiece in horror, “I called you here so we can have a little chat. It looks like Jargon took care of Kayla, so we won’t have to worry about her joining us either.”