Connecting hallway after connecting hallway, mixed with elevators in between – not a single one led her to Sebastian. Feelings of confusion as to how quickly he disappeared soon turned into panic. As she continued looking around, asking for his whereabouts to unfamiliar faces to no result, she kept remembering more and more vividly how he snapped the day he lost the last inkling of what he called home and a stable sense of life. But that was only losing the Galeano Family. This time it was losing his real family on top of what he must have seen as Sam abandoning him to boot.

  For the third time, she tried reaching his mobile but likewise to no avail, finding herself dizzied by the number of times she turned about the accessible level of the compound. She now realized how much of a mistake she made not hearing out Sebastian just a minute longer. There had to have been some compromise to make but she was too stubborn to have any of it, and it ate her up as she wearily gave up. Face buried in her hands, leaning against the wall, she slid down to a crouch, feeling her own assaulting fears of self-caused isolation kick in full strength once more. And despite the noise of busy machines and scurrying feet, she felt completely alone.

  A vibration pattern from her phone snapped her out of it, immediately picking it up without a glance to shout out: “Sebastian?!”

  “Samantha,” spoke a familiar voice she least expected to hear as a sickening flash of cold ran up her spine.

  No, Samantha immediately told herself as she felt herself facing the same dilemma in a stomach-turning manner. Not this time.

  “I don’t have time right now!” She whispered a shout as she hung up on Rex and stood up with a heavy but relieving huff. After a few breaths and a pressing of the call silence on her watch to ignore the repeated incoming calls, she felt the approach of someone behind her.

  “He left,” Kaylen spoke out to her as she walked up beside her. “I just asked for you and they said he went up top.”

  “But isn’t that dangerous for us out there?!” Sam asked, concerned but not surprised. “I’m even more worried he’s about to go drink or do something he’s going to regret.”

  “That’s why I came to find you. I need to go find him, and I know my way around this area enough to stay out of the wrong eyes,” Kaylen continued with a reassuring pat on her shoulder before pulling her towards the elevator Sam just walked past earlier. “And I need you to stay below and stay safe.”

  “But why not me!? Why just you?” Sam immediately responded anxiously.

  Kaylen dropped her soft approach, quickly resetting her face to a more serious one with a short huff. “Sebastian being up and out there puts us at risk, and he in turn is putting you at even bigger of a risk.” She saw Sam’s expression change accordingly at the thought as she continued with a tougher tone: “And if you go up, it’s ten times the risk. Are you not thinking straight or what? What if this all ends up for nothing if someone dangerous jumps you?”

  “I see…” Sam quickly gave up, realizing Kaylen couldn’t have been bluffing about her being the best to go look, knowing she’d survived all these years. Even remembering how well she spoke Argentine Spanish was enough to drive her point home. “Can you please keep me in the loop as you look?”

  Kaylen too had taken some of her edge off, realizing her point had been received. “That’s what I wanted to say before I went up. I’ll keep you posted. Do you have any idea what he tends to drink?”

  Sam only took a second to recall the last time she joked about his handling of drinking back in Bogota. “Tequila.”

  “Got it,” Kaylen quickly and confidently responded, much to Sam’s surprise. “Here,” she then spoke as the elevator opened and she motioned her in. “I’ll see you down, and I’ll go up from there, alright?”

  Once they got in the elevator and the doors closed, Sam felt safe enough to reveal what she just did a minute prior. “Hey, real quick- I need to tell you something unrelated.” She fumbled around with her mobile’s screen nervously before showing her the screen displaying the last incoming calls. “This was Rex, and I hung up on him- I even ignored the calls coming in after.”

  “That’s fine,” Kaylen once more surprisingly replied without hesitation. “We got enough going on besides hearing the obvious from someone out to ruin your life in a way.”

  “Wait, ruin my life?” Sam asked in deeper confusion. “I thought we were all on the same side, now.”

  “Rex never wanted anything for anyone other than himself, and he’ll seek anyone’s ruin in order to obtain it, especially from those who serve him best.” Kaylen took in a long breath before finishing as they arrived at the bottom floor. “Just like Bishop, just like Enrai, Tyrus, you name ‘em. Just like every other person you’ll work for in this realm.”

  And as the door opened, Sam reluctantly stepped out. Looking back for a second, she saw Kaylen already looking at her watch. “So, I should keep ignoring him, right?”

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “You can talk to him if it makes you feel better,” she curtly replied without looking back, triggering Sam to stick to the original plan as the door closed.

  .

  .

  It was a long walk back to the room where she was staying, having nowhere else to go. But despite how much Sebastian’s whereabouts and concerns for him ravaged her conscious, one name did sail through as she took her mobile out, quickly searching up “Dad.” Closing the door, she quickly ran over to and fell on her bed as the other side rang, already feeling the roaring back of the memories of her lost mother. She knew her father would still be there for her, but at this point, the thought of him being the last one left for her was overwhelming as tears began welling up again.

  “Sam, thank God,” her father spoke the instant he picked up, triggering further choking up and hotter tears from Sam.

  “Daddy,” she whimpered through her sniffling like a lost child, spending almost a minute through tense, teary, but understood silence as she fought to find the words to convey even just one of the millions of thoughts storming through her conscious.

  “I feel so alone.”

  “Sam, I’ll always be here,” he quickly but calmy replied. “We’ve made it together tough times before, and I’ll see to it we do the same this time as well. Are you in a safe place right now?”

  “Yes,” she replied after trying to calm herself and catch her breath. “I am.”

  “I have to cut the call short for now to avoid overexposure but I’ll say what I need to. Your mother had me promise to tell you something if anything happened to her.”

  Sam froze in place as that line brought her conscious back over to the moment where she kneeled over her body, feeling as if she were waiting for her father’s words to come out of her mouth as if to leave a parting goodbye.

  “Run if you can, but if you won’t, don’t hate your brother.”

  Sam and her mother’s opinions rarely aligned, hence the familiar sting, although dulled through her numbness, still struck deep. “Why?” she asked as if still speaking to her.

  “He’s been driven to his state of desperation by someone or something. Stop him but don’t hate him for his mistaken path,” Al’s voice trailed before adding one last statement: “Sam, you remind me of myself. The machine calls, and you risk everything and lose everything yet you can’t turn away. I saw this coming, and promised I would protect you in every way I can- and I will.”

  Sam felt he was about to hang up as her voice cracked: “Wait! Where are you?”

  “You know I can’t answer that just yet, but be sure to call any chance you find yourself on a fully encrypted line,” he calmingly replied as the call ended.

  Sam slowly turned her mobile’s screen off and put it by her bag before rolling over, curling up into a ball.

  I wonder what he meant when he said he couldn’t tell me where he was… at least he’s contactable unlike Mom, who never was, She thought as she gripped her knees tighter.

  And over the next few minutes her mind would continue to race back and forth between sorrow, regret, and anger before her mind fluttered back to Sebastian. She had her mother ripped from her life, but Sebastian was still out there. Grasping what hope she could, she quickly rolled out as she ignored Kaylen’s words of caution from earlier.

  Right. I still need to fight for what I can, and I have to make things better before it’s too late.

  .

  ▽　▽　▽

  .

  Kaylen sat impatiently at the bar of a small pub and restaurant with her eyes glued to her watch. She had no one nearby, allowing her to type a response to a chain of communications on screen: [I thought he was confirmed to be here. Even Ella expected it.]

  A ping and a response quickly showed up, reading: [I told you. He got out between waves of interference. You know we’re still not clear of all the jammers Bishop had put out.]

  With a frustrated huff, she stood up and left before the barista could even have a chance to come check back up on her. And after leaving and finding a quiet alleyway a block away, she walked up to a set of posters tacked on a bulletin board and began to feel around for something on the bricks below. Pulling back one brick, it revealed to be a case covering as she pressed the switch inside, opening a heavy, windowless door nearby. Slipping in quietly, she then found the light switch, revealing the now lit room to be nothing more than a storage closet of sorts.

  [Enrai,] she now openly spoke into her headset. [I know you have some kind of lead on him. He’s a massive liability to us being out in the open like this.]

  [He’s leaving, let him return to grieve in peace.] Enrai’s signature digital voice was quick to respond, almost as if they were expecting such a request. [He contains no valuable intel, either. You were there during the briefing- why do you carry such urgence?]

  [He’s actually…] Kaylen trailed off before taking in a slow breath and letting out a troubled sigh. [I’m not worried about him personally, to be honest. It’s him being collateral that will derail Vrey’s plan to get the Arondight in Knight’s hands.] She shook off whatever hesitation she had left inside her as she continued: [I want them both gone, to be honest. Tell me you don’t agree.]

  Enrai paused, leaving Kaylen in an awkward wait. [You want our best pilot asset to walk away? Are you not serving the same mission as the rest of us?]

  Kaylen was already prepared mentally for that exact doubt, however. The bomb she dropped was long on her mind, and this was her only time to make sure it hit. [I only need to survive long enough to get off my cool-down period, which is only five days away. If I get back in the air with Reign, this whole damn thing is over, I swear. Knight and her recent losses- and also her upcoming boyfriend problems are only going to be a liability and you know this.]

  She took the even longer pause from Enrai as perhaps a sign she went a bit too far. [Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against them personally, and I wish them a happy life outside of this. But you know I can’t let anything get in the way of me ending this mess once and for all for myself. This was my job, my mission from you originally, and my mission from Vrey himself. Am I wrong?]

  [No, Emilia, to answer your unnecessary question. Furthermore, I rather dislike your emotions playing a part in any of this. Stand down and return to protocol. We will handle the rest.]

  The sudden disconnecting sound had Kaylen jump, leaving her with crushing radio silence she would remain sitting through for a long minute before finally stirring from her spot.