Chapter 41

"Do you two know who Josh is?" Jean asked, suspecting that the two might be in the same group as Josh. If not then she might just have found the other terrorist group that he and Jackson had been telling her about.

"Josh?" The two men looked at each other.

"Do you know a Josh?"

"No, you?"

"If I knew, would I be asking?"

The two men turned back to Jean and they both shook their heads. "Why? Should we know him?" one of them asked.

"Um... No, never mind." So they aren't in the same group as Josh, meaning that these two are part of the group that was responsible for blowing the building and also blowing up the bus. These two are actual terrorists, unlike Josh and the rest who were terrorists by name but didn't do anything yet that could even classify them as terrorists. She needed to get out of here before some bad happened. She also needed to report these people to the authority.

Jean tried to look around for a way out, which probably wasn't the best idea as the two men were watching her. "What are you doing?" They caught her looking around and questioned her about it.

"Uh... I'm-"

"If you're thinking of stealing things, I can guarantee you that there is nothing valuable in this place other than this," one of the men tapped his finger against the black card.

"No, I wasn't thinking of that," Jean told them, but it didn't sound very convincing.

*Sigh* "Man, why did they have to send us a thief for all things?"

"Hey, could be worse. At least this one isn't like the last one."

"True... I don't want to deal with someone like 'that' again."

Jean had no idea what the two were talking about but it looked like they were suspecting that she was a thief or something.

"Anyway girl, if you try something funny, you can bet all your money that we'll be on your a*s in minutes," they warned her. "So you better just do as you're told. It's not that hard. You give us what we want and you get the money you were promised."

"Okay," Jean meekly replied.

"Good. Now listen up. We have our men stationed all throughout the building. If you're in trouble and need help, just cough three times, like this," the man demonstrated by coughing twice and then passing for a second before coughing a third time. It was a very weird way of coughing and could easily be distinguished from a normal cough.

After showing Jean how their secret code worked, the two men then proceeded to explain to her the rest of the details for her mission. It was rather simple. All she needed to do was follow the instructions they gave over the radio and she would make it to the top floor without alerting any of the guards. After that, she was to collect the black folder and leave the floor. There would be a spy on the first floor who would take it from her. She was then to come back to this house and collect her pay.

"Do you understand what you need to do?"

"Yes." Jean had no choice but to say yes. If she said no then she would get into trouble with them. She was pretty sure that they would force her to do it anyway if she said no.

"Okay, then let's get started." The two men got up from their seats and handed the card to Jean who hesitantly accepted it and the three of them left the building. The moment they stepped foot out of the door, Jean looked around for a place to run to. The I.C.E. building was close and easy for her to run to, and it was also where the terrorists wanted her to go. Even if she went and reported them to someone in there, she had no clue of whether or not they were spies or not. And even if they weren't she wasn't sure if they would believe her.

The only other choice she had was to go back to the building where her dad was working at, and tell the people there. They were more likely to believe her but it was too far away for her to run to. She had no way of making it there without getting caught by the two men. Even if she faked going to the I.C.E. building and changed directions midway, she still wouldn't make it. The only choice she has is to go to the I.C.E. building and hope for the best.

"Oh, and before I forget, I have something to tell you. In case the worse happens, we have a couple of snipers in the area to assist you. I hope we can do this stealthily, but you never know what might happen," they told her.

"Snipers!?"

"Yes, snipers. They have big guns, you know, those ones with big scopes and can shoot from far away?"

"I know what a sniper is. I'm asking why you guys have snipers."

"Oh, so you're worried that people might die? Is that what you're trying to ask?"

"Yes."

"Well, that black folder is extremely important to us. We need it. Whether or not someone ends up dying all depends on you. If you mess up and get caught, people are going to get shot so you can escape. If you do it right, no one gets shot. Sounds simple, right?"

"Um..."

"Say yes and let's get started. We really don't have much time," the man told her. He didn't care how she felt about the idea of someone dying because of her mistake. "Look, you knew what you were getting yourself into when you agreed to take this mission. Now stop asking questions and giving me that look and go!" the man shouted angrily at her.

This frightened Jean and she didn't know what to do or say. Realistically speaking, there was only one thing she could do, and that was to listen to the terrorists and do as they said. She couldn't escape. They had snipers all over the place and she would get shot if she did anything funny.

Jean didn't say anything and walked away from the two men. She walked towards the building like she was told to and didn't look back. She could hear them talking about her as she did so and it wasn't anything pleasant.

"God, my head is hurting again. I really don't get why we have deal with the newbies."

"Just close your eyes or something. It'll be over soon and we can finally go home for a well deserved rest."

Jean looked around her surroundings and tried to spot where the snipers could be stationed. They could be anywhere. Or maybe not. There weren't many tall buildings around and there was really one a couple where they could be hiding. None of the buildings nearby came even close to the same height as the I.C.E. building (as it stretches all the way up to the ceiling) but there were a few places that would give the snipers a nice view of most of the floors of the building. Jean counted five different buildings that the snipers could be in, and there could be one in all five of them.

They were all different heights and gave the snipers view of all the floors from the ground floor all the way up to the around the seventieth floor. It also covered the building from every single angle which meant that they would be able to help her from every angle. This wasn't some small operation. This was a big operation with a lot of people involved. Whatever was in that folder, it was important.

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