Escape

Chapter 16

"Close all the exits. Cover every side." Daniel said. "No one leaves. No one. You hear me?"

"Yes, sir," A guy, heavily armed replied while he ran off. His hands in continuous movement talking with his guards and us slowly observed everyone coming into position.

"We have our target inside. Now, I need you four to go inside. You will be monitored by us here and my men will be standing at a safe distance in case she tries to do something. You got your headsets on?" Daniel asked.

"Yeah," Brian replied for all of us.

"Alright, we are going to instruct you, and when we tell you to leave, you leave. If you sense something dangerous just you lift your palm. Slightly, with your ring finger down. Got it?" Daniel continued.

"Wait, right hand or left hand?" Micheal asked. We all turned to look at him. Noah looked like he wanted to smack his head on the floor. Brian just stared at him, contemplating the possible chances of getting killed because of him and Daniel looked like he made a mistake.

"Sorry," He mumbled and stared down at the floor. My lips twitched a smile. Brian shook his head and whispered under his breath which sounded something like save us. I chuckled softly.

"Alright, once you give us the signal, we are going to extract you out, anyhow. I know you're far from ready for this, but this could be our only chance. Go to the van and get your gear. Don't blow this," He said, his voice stern. A shiver went down my spine at his tone and the reality of the situation settled in. My mind and body felt like it was working on its own. I looked around and saw various guards taking their place. The people or in other words the civilians looked panicked while some insisted on leaving which the guards stopped them to do so. Car exits were blocked and slowly the whole place was covered by the organization's personnel.

"Here, take this." I snapped back to reality and saw Brian handing me over something. I looked down and saw a watch and what looked like a knife and a dart.

"What's this?" I said taking it.

"That's a tranquillizer dart. Just in case she is uncooperative and that's a knife for self-defence. Be careful. If you need any help, press this button on the watch. It will alert me with your location." He said and showed a matching watch strapped on his wrist.

I nodded and fastened the watch on my wrist. Keeping the dart and the knife in my pocket I looked up at him. His green eyes stared at me for a long time before walking away with the rest.

Taking a deep breath I started walking behind the guys to the main entrance of the mall. I looked around once we entered. The people inside looked calm as if they are not aware that they are surrounded by the heavily armed guards. Something felt strange inside. It was too calm. Why was Maria here of all places? It's highly unlikely she came here for shopping. I tried to point out the odd but everything seemed normal. Shrugging, I paid attention to my surrounding. I looked up and saw the floors of the mall. It was not full-sized but a rather big shopping complex. There were three floors above the ground floor which all looked over to the ground floor.

"Can you guys hear me?" Daniel's voice ringed through our headset.

"Yeah," Brian replied.

"Yep," Micheal said.

"Crystal," Noah said.

"We can," I replied.

"Good, now scatter. Mix in the civilians. Micheal, you cover the entrance and the ground floor of the mall. The rest take one of each floor. Go!" He yelled at us. Without wasting a second we moved to our respective spots. I took the top floor and quickly ran up the escalator. Some people looked at me like I had grown two heads. Not having much time, I moved swiftly, dodging people, I ran up. As soon as reaching the top floor, I looked around to find a suitable spot where I could have the maximum view of my surrounding.