A Second Chance

Something Is Not Right

Chapter 46

When they reached the destination they were a bit confused. It was a large factory. Caden knew of this place but could not remember what they made. The atmosphere was cold and dusty. The small team stepped into the quiet building. Crates were everywhere and were taller than most of the agents. By the time they reached the middle of the room Amari spoke up.

"Rogers, something is not right here."

Caden nodded knowing what she meant. For once they agreed. There was clearly no one in danger here. Caden assumed it was a prank but had to check everywhere to be sure. He gave orders to everyone as to where to check. Caden would make a great Captain if he would only accept the job. Yet he would not because he did not know that and did not feel he would.

"Shields upstairs with me." Caden gave the last order.

"Copy that." She respectfully replied.

Standing on the metal platform above, Caden looked down over the railing at his team. Everyone had searched but found nothing.

"There's nothing here sir!" One man said, yelling so Caden could hear him.

"I know." Caden said back, almost not understanding.

He has had prank calls before but never had they brought him so far. Something was way to planned about this. Something told him by the look on his partners face she felt the same. He scanned the whole area with his eyes trying to figure out what the point of them coming here was.

Out of no where the factory doors slammed open. A spoke bomb was tossed in making it impossible to see the oncoming people. Though the gunfire was easy enough to see.

"Get down!" Caden ordered. He did not know what was going on but gunfire was a good enough reason to take cover. Luckily there was plenty of places to hide.

Caden tried looking through the smoke but instead of clearing it just thickened and soon he lost sight of the ARRO agents below him. His thought then landed to the other person with him. He looked over at Amari who was ducking down behind a box on the platform with them and was covering her ears. She was not close enough to see well but he thought she was shaking. He had never saw her so.. terrified.

Right then, looking at his partner so afraid, something seemed to snap in Caden. It felt like his heart had broken looking at her and even with the loud ear piercing gunfire nothing else seemed to matter. He wanted to help. He wanted to make sure she was somewhere safe. He wanted her to stop being afraid. He hated that look on her. He felt conflicted, not knowing what he was honestly feeling. He did not want her as a partner, did not care what else she did, now all he could think about was how much he really did care..

Amari took two deep breaths then took her weapon out of her holster. She leaned over the box with her weapon readied and returned fire, shooting blindly into the smoke toward the doorway. There was always the chance of hitting a team member but she was trying to be careful on where she chose to shoot.

She was being brave and something people don't always realize is that being brave is not being fearless. It is having the courage to face your fears.

Amari was being brave but her heart raced. To be honest no one was sure who they were firing back at. They just ambushed them though so it's not like their going to stand back and get killed. What if this was some test? Though Caden knew Anderson and knew he would never put his agents in danger like this. Not even his best ones. Caden helped out his team and the area was still filled with smoke, the smell of gunpowder filled the room as well.

"Caden!" Amari screeched, her voice was unsteady as she screamed for him.

Caden was startled. He looked over to his partner with so many things going through his mind. Why was she calling him with such urgency, why did she sound so concerned, and why did she call him Caden? She never called him Caden and he knew that was his fault, but why now? At first he thought someone might have grabbed her but she was fine. It only took her a few seconds to get over to him she ran so fast.

She roughly grabbed his wrist and started pulling him her way. He looked down at his feet to see a grenade was only a few spaces to his right. When his mind finally registered what was happening he ran with Amari and he was suddenly the one pulling her by her wrist. The explosion knocked them over but hopefully they were both far enough away to keep them safe from fatail injures.

Caden's world went black for a few minutes but he slowly started to open his eyes again. The world around him was still in motion and was still fighting. They were now on the bottom floor again because the metal platform they were on crumbled to the floor below. He could barely hear the gunfire anymore because his ears were ringing horribly. All he could hear was ringing and muffled voices shouting. t sounded like when you are underwater and can barely make out the voices of people talking on the surface. Rubble, dust, and dirt was everywhere now and was really all he could see.

Caden slowly stood up glad to have sustained no injuries other than some scratches, bruises, and that ringing in his ears. That could have completely ruined his hearing and he could be deaf now for all he knew. Still one other person grabbed his attention and filled his thoughts over everything else.

"Amari!" He yelled for her looking around desperately.

His heart was beating faster than he could think.

"Amari!" He called her again.

Was he even yelling? He could not even hear how loud he was talking. He saw Amari laying still next to a box. He shook his head. Her head was turned to him but her face was covered by her bangs that fell out of her ponytail.

"Amari!" He tried gaining her attention to see if she was alright.

No response. His vision was not to well right now. It was slightly blurred and the dust in the air that would not settle did not help either. There was blood on her arm Caden thought. There seemed to be blood on her leg too. Was she ok was she breathing? Caden did not know he couldn't see well enough!

He heard a loud bang and looked away from his partner. Another group of people came in and for a second Caden was about to give up if that was more of the same people but it was not. They killed the people that was after them and the gunfire stopped. A lot of talking, well more like yelling, now filled the room. It was their agency.

Caden was quickly approached by Anderson staring at him concerned. Caden saw his lips moving and knew he was saying something but could not hear him. He just narrowed his eyes trying to focus and understand what he was saying. Anderson said something else and he did recognize it as his name being called. Caden pointed to his ear and shrugged his shoulders trying to tell him he could not hear. Anderson nodded understanding but looked at him concerned.

Caden was slightly suprised to see Anderson here but this just proves how much he cares about his agents, showing up with backup saving them. They had to have known shortly after sending them that it was a setup because how else would they have gotten here so fast? Then that last question sparked another question in Caden's mind. Who wanted to hurt ARRO?

Anderson put his hand on his shoulder trying to move him out of the location. Though Caden did not move. He looked back at Amari, not leaving her, to see someone picked her up. At first Caden was about to panic and probably tackle the person not knowing who he was but just as he put one foot forward he noticed it was James.

He held her in his arms protectively and started to carry her out of the place. Her arm was dangling off to the side but she pulled it on her lap as James carried her. She moved she was alive! Caden never felt more relieved. Anderson saw how Caden's eyes lit up with joy and relief. A look Anderson could not recall ever seeing on Caden.

James leaned down and said something into her ear, Caden was not sure what because if he could not hear yelling he defiantly could not hear whispering. Something that Caden just now dwelled on was the fact Amari had just saved his life. He would have never saw that grenade if it was not for her. It was kind of a waste though because now James was going to kill him for letting her get hurt. Caden chuckled at the thought of the situation. He was pretty sure James would not actually kill him.

*Right?* He thought doubtfully.

Caden knew he was only a goner if Amari got killed. Though James was not the reasoning for his strong desire to keep her safe. Caden turned back to Anderson who had been watching him the whole time. Anderson just looked at him a moment, noticing the way he had just looked at Amari. He decided not to comment, not yet anyway, and they left the place together.

We'll get to see if Amari is really ok in the next update! I really liked how this chapter turned out so leave me a comment to let me know what you thought!