In the Blink of an Eye

Chapter 31: The Merciless X's

*Siayla's POV*

I make it to the house and I see that no one is standing in front of the garage. I smile. I then look at my tracking device and I see that Liel is closest. He is actually in the forest right now. Interesting. I have just enough time to grab myself a drink.

I walk into the house and I go straight to the kitchen. I get a beer from the fridge and then I walk back out. I look at my tracking device again and I see that Liel should show any minute now. I sigh and I hide behind a bush.

Liel runs out two seconds after I am safely behind the bush and he looks around. I carefully step out and I move behind him, making sure he doesn't see me. I sip on my beer and I stand behind, him waiting to see if he will notice me.

Getting bored, I clear my throat and I Liel tenses. He then slowly turns around and he grimaces when he sees me.

"Fake victory?" Liel asks and I nod with a fake sympathetic look. He curses and I smile.

"But at least you almost beat me? If you got here one minute earlier, you would've beat me." Liel rolls his eyes and he snatches my beer. He then takes a large swig of it and I gasp dramatically. "How dare you?!"

"You'll be fine." Liel hands me the almost empty beer can and I peer inside, only seeing as small sip left. I then look at Liel and I glare at him. "There are more in the fridge, Princess."

"I didn't want another one, Lee." I look around and I notice the others still aren't here yet. I sigh and I grab my walkie-talkie from my waistband. "Where are you at, guys?" The only answer I get is static. "Guys?"

Liel looks at me with questioning eyes, the same question racing through our minds.

Just then, a car comes racing up the drive-way. It's Twelve and Mr. Wilkins. They park without turning the car off and they get out, running up to us.

"The others were taken," Twelve says in a deadly tone and I growl lowly before I run into my house. I race up the stairs, through the halls, and straight into the security room.

I put a tracker in our suits and outfits so if something like this happened, then I can find anyone who has been temporarily lost. And I made it to where if I was taken, then the others can easily track me, too.

I hear heavy footsteps running closer but I pay them no mind as I track where the guys are. In two minutes, I find their signals in an abandoned building on the outskirts of town. It used to be an old factory but due to an explosion, that building became too dangerous for people to be in there... Apparently we were wrong...

"I found them. They're in an abandoned building on the outskirts of town. It's the one that blew up three... years... Shit, that explosion wasn't an accident. It all makes fucking sense now. I got a threat the day before that building blew up. Said something about feeling the burn. The threat was from the gang looking for me. Oh, and I found the gang's name out. They call themselves 'The Merciless X's'. Stupid name."

The three men stare at me in silence as I rant and work on everything that comes to mind. I set a timer for thirty minutes for the security system to be heavily loaded, meaning if anyone not welcome tries to step foot on my property, then they will be blown to smithereens. I then make sure all my defenses are strong. I check to see if there are any fails in the system and when I see none, I sigh in content.

"Knowing what kind of gang we're working with, the guys are just the bait to drag the fish in. The fish being me. But that doesn't mean they won't get hurt." Liel opens his mouth to speak but I give him a look, telling him not to speak. "They've been getting stronger. But every strength has its weakness. Their weakness is... They don't have a lot of resources. The only people they have, are the people they recruit or force into their gang. Only a few members chose to join. The others were threatened into it."

"How do you know all of this?" Twelve asks and I freeze, almost smiling when I think of her.

"I have someone on the inside. She is telling me everything. So that means, we are always one step ahead."

"How can we trust the person you have on the inside?" Mr. Wilkins asks and I smirk, glancing at Liel for a quick second before I look back at my screens. I hear Liel gasp from behind me and I guess he caught my glance.

"Please tell me I am thinking the wrong thing," Liel says.

"You're thinking the wrong thing," I say bluntly with a shrug.

"Siayla! Why would you let her do this?! She's supposed to stay out of harm's way!" I roll my eyes and I turn to Liel, looking him straight in the eye.

"Homeless people don't get the luxury of "being safe," Lee. She was targeted, pursued, now she is a part of the gang. But that doesn't mean she is helping the bad guys. She is actually forming a group within the gang. A group that will rise against the gang and help us bring them down once and for all."

Leah is my person on the inside. She contacted me two days after being taken. She also told me Eli knows and he is gathering as many people from the streets that can help. She said he is training them the best he can.

"Is she safe?" Liel asks and I sigh.

"No one is safe, Liel." Liel looks down; his expression unreadable for the untrained eye. But I can tell he is scared. Not for him. But for others. I am scared for the others, too. That is why I am wondering if I should do this on my own instead of dragging them into this. Too many people have already been hurt because of me. This is my problem and no one else's.

"Well, if we're going to get those boys back safely, we need a plan. And a solid one at that. What do you got, Kid Wassim?" Twelve asks, showing in his eyes that he knew I was thinking about going in alone. He glares into my soul and I know that there is no way I will be doing this alone.

"We need to go back to school, Lee. Twelve, tell Jacobs to come up with some sort of fight he can give us. Something that involves him threatening to kick us out of his school. We need to cause the biggest scene ever."

"Why?" Mr. Wilkins asks and I smirk at him.

"If they want to catch a fish, they're going to catch a pretty big fish. One they can't handle."