By Chance

ch 25

Gabriel

We pull up to the same spot we did yesterday. Raven gets out first leading the way, I guess she kept track of the turns yesterday. I follow behind her with Cole behind me, which kinda makes me paranoid and suspicious. I don't trust him.

After about ten minutes of walking we reach the recognizable warehouse. The broken door opens with a creak when Raven pushes it. One light above the desks in the corner is on. I see three people over there. one looking at a map, one typing at a keyword, and the other flipping frantically through a book. I recognize the one looking at a map as her father. We walk over to the tables. "We've found a blueprint of the warehouse. Also, we've managed to figure out which room the girl is located. It's in the very middle, with four to five rooms between it and the outside and there's no direct path to the room." Her dad says without looking up at us. We both nod.

After a few seconds he finally looks up at us. Cole walks up beside. "Move." He says to the guy at the computer. The guy immediately moves without asking why. That's way too much power to give a guy like Cole and the scary part is that the guy who moved is twice Cole's size yet he still followed his orders. What's wrong with that picture. Cole types in a few things then waves hand hand motioning us to come over and look at the screen. he points to a red dot in the map on the screen. "That's where we thin the girl is." He says pulling up another page. It's a image a girl sitting in the middle of a giant room. Ropes binding her hands behind her back and her legs to the chair. from the horribly pixelated picture you can only make out dark long hair like Raven's. I look over at Raven to see what she has to say but when I look over she has her mouth open in shock not saying anything. "I think that's her." I say speaking for both of us. Raven just nods staring intently at the picture. "This is a screenshot taken from the cameras 2 hours ago." Cole says going back to the map. "And this is the room that girl is in." Cole says pointing to dot again. We both nod. "Every hour on the dot, two guards walk in and out of the room making sure everything's the same." He continues. "We need to find a way to get to her without going while the guards do. Also we need to make sure that we attract as little attention as possible." He says looking away from the computer and facing us. "Who will going?" Raven asks. "Me, Your dad, and a few other gang members." He smoothly. "I want to come." I say. "Me too." Raven says. Cole shakes his head. "No, neither of you know how to fight and it would be better to keep our numbers down."He says. "Then tell the two gang members they're not needed and teach us fight." I say sharply. Cole opens his mouth to oblige but Raven's dad cuts him off. "That's arrangable. Cole, go tell James and Tyler they aren't coming." He says turning back to his map. Cole glares at me and stalks away into a side room.

The guy that was flipping through the book stands up suddenly and looks from me to Raven. "So, you want to know how to fight? Well, I can help you with that. Follow me." he says and starts walking away. I wait for her dad to say something but he just keeps on staring at the map. I follow him with Raven close behind me. The guy leads us through a door on the left. I look around as we walk through. Six punching bags hang from the ceiling on the left, mats are laid out next to each other on the right a plastic fencing surrounds a small boxing ring in the middle. "Over here."The guy says walking over to the punching bags. "Try to copy me by matching your stance." He says next to the bag. Raven copies him standing at another punching bag. I stand at another and try my best. "Okay so lets start with your hands, keep them up at all times. Don't let them drop to low or you expose your head and if you let them get to high you expose your ribs." He says pushing up Ravens elbows. "Always face your opponent and never turn your back to them. I don't want any of that I-can't-kick-a-man-when-he's-down crap. Their gonna play dirty and so will you. I want to beat him tell he's stopped moving then beat the hell out of him some more. Got it?" He says. We nod hesitantly, exchanging worried looks. "Good. Throw a punch. I want to see how bad you are and what we need to work on. Starting with the lady." He says. Raven throws a relatively strong punch but the bag doesn't budge. "Okay now you." he says facing me. I throw a punch. The bag swings. "Okay so your about the same skill level he's just stronger. Twist your waist with your hand. It'll put more power behind it." he says. we both try again. "Better, okay you've hands drop every time you trow a punch. Always put them right where they were before you did." He says to Raven. "You've stronger so this will be easier for you but strength wont help if you get hit in the ribs. Bring your hands down." he says to me. We both do as he says. "Copy me." He says. He punched the bag three times. once with his right hand and twice with his left hand. We copy him.

"Weak." A voice echos through the larger room. i turn around to see Cole leaning against the wall on the other side of the room. "Oh, really?" I say raising an eyebrow. "Yep." he says. "Well why don't you come over here and show us how it's done then." I say challenging him. He leans off the wall and walks towards us taking his time. When he finally reaches us a smirk plastered on his face he purposely steps on my foot. Oh, so that's how your gonna play. I twist my heel. He catches on it and trips, catching himself his face an inch away from the concrete floor. "Oops." I say smirking down at him. He glares at me. I shrug. He gets up. "I've got this you can leave." He says to the other guy. He nods and walks out. "Raven! I need to show you something." A voice that sounds like her dad says. She glances from me to Cole and back to me. She looks worried but walks out of the room.

"This should be fun." Cole says smirking. "Back at you." I say. He laughs. I look down at him smiling. He stops laughing. "You're either really stupid or have terrible memory." I say thinking back to when we were kids. "Whatever." He says. "I'm just saving you from having to listen to all the crap that Adam was going to tell you. Since you already know how to fight." He says. "That's not what you thought two minutes ago. Actually that was one of the reasons that you didn't want me coming." I say smirking. "But I don't think that was the real reason was it?" I say. He doesn't say anything just glares at me. I smirk. "No, you know how to fight, you're just not very good at it." He says. "I'd like to see you prove that." I say. "Okay." he says and starts over to the ring. I follow him knowing what he's planning. "Three rounds, 2 out of 3, Person who wins gets the girl." He says. "No one 'gets the girl' she's not property jerk." I say glaring at him. He smiles at me. "Always a gentlemen. So whoever wins gets dibs, if I win you cant stop me from stealing her. If you win, I won't try to." He says. "Leave her out of this." I warn. "Or how about-" "Just drop it." I growl. He smirks. "So the great Gabe has a weak spot. Interesting." He says. "She's not a weak spot, I just don't want you betting on her like she's a prize to be won." I say glaring. "Oh, but isn't she? You won her, now it's my turn." He says. "What part of drop it do you not understand?" I say. His smile just widens. He's doing this on purpose I'm not stupid but at this point I'm not sure I care. He gaze drifts down to my curled fists. He smiles and it takes all the will power I have not to wipe that smile off his face.

"Boys, lets go." A shout interrupts our argument. we both look at the door. Raven's dad is standing there. "We'll be there in a minute." Cole says. Her dad nods and walks out of the room. "Good self control. You've passed." Cole says walking past me. "We'll finish this later." He says. I follow him still wanting to kill him.