XIII

November 9, 2016

1023 Hours

Dan checked his watch and sighed. It's been eight minutes since they left, and he was a worried. Dan didn't have a good sense of how everything at this building worked, so he wasn't sure if he should be worried, or he was being paranoid.

"I don't even know Charlie and his sister that well. Should I stay here and wait for them, or do my own thing?" Charlie's plan sounded solid, but he still wasn't confident in it. It was his brother, therefore making it more personal to him. It didn't matter if the plan was the best course of action, Dan was still going to be hesitant.

Dan was about to get up and pace around when he heard a gunshot. It rang throughout the compound, leaving behind a mild ringing. Dan stood there, rooted to the spot. He looked around, not sure what to think or do.

"Alright. So there was a gunshot. This is nice." Dan stood there breathing for a few seconds, then decided to do what his gut told him to do. He quickly left the room, making his way to the hallway where he escaped from. It only took him a minute, as he was a fast walker, and sort of knew the way around the building. He got his handle on the door as soon as a guard stepped into the hallway.

"Freeze!" The guard yelled. Dan lifted his hands quickly, and turned towards the guard with the gun pointed at him. The guard took out a walkie from his waist, and spoke into it.

"Hey boss, found the missing brother," The guard said. He let go of the walkie button, and in response, he got static. Dan looked from the gun in the guard's hand, to the walkie talkie spouting out static in his other hand.

"Hey boss, you there?" The guard asked. Static again. The guard looked around, and sighed. "This is the hallway where you can't use walkie talkies. Great." The guard focused his attention in front of him, but all he saw was nothing. Dan disappeared.

"You gotta be messing with me," The guard said.

"I am." Dan responded behind the guard. The guard nearly jumped, but not before Dan hit him over the head with a pipe he found on the ground. The guard crumpled on the floor, dropping the gun. Dan smiled, and dropped the pipe. Picking up the loaded pistol, he went to James' door, and opened it up.

"James," Dan said. He stood there, looking at James who was being hung by his hands on a pipe. James looked up, and sighed with a relief at the sight of his brother. "James. Bro, let go!"

"I can't," James whispered. Dan was confused, but accepted the fact that he couldn't do it.

"Okay, well. Hold on." Dan made his way to James, but realized he couldn't reach the hands being strung up. "Oh, come on."

"Dan. I know who the killer is," James said. Dan looked up at James with an idea in mind.

"Keep that thought brother, hold on." Dan backed up all the way to the door, got into a runner's stance, and started running towards James.

"Dan, what are you doi- humph" Dan tackled James, disconnecting his hands from the pipe violently. They both landed on the ground with James on the bottom.

"Did you really have to do that?" James said. Dan groaned as he got up.

"Believe me. It hurt me more than it hurt you." James got up with Dan, and they immediately went to the metal door. The left the room without any hassle.

"Which way?" James asked.

"Right. I think..." Dan said hesitantly. James gave him a look that Dan knew too well. "Well I'm sorry, I only escaped this place once."

"Wait. You escaped?" James asked. Dan chuckled nervously, and reminded James to keep moving. They ran right as soon as Jir appeared in the hallway on the opposite side.

"HEY!" Jir yelled. Dan and James looked behind them to see Jir pull out a gun from his pocket. "GUARDS!"

"Run!" Dan yelled. They turned the corner as Jir fired a shot at them. It hit the wall right next to them, leaving a big bullet hole in its place. Jir cursed, and aimed again. It was too late though, as they turned the corner. Jir started to run towards them as guards appeared behind him.

They went left, then right, then right, then left, then left again. No sign of any exit.

"This place is just a huge maze!" James yelled. Dan agreed, but didn't say anything. He knew where to go if he could find the the double doors. He remembered passing by them on his way out. Another shot rang out, causing the brother's to go faster.

"Oh come on you boys! Come on back, I swear we're going to have fun!" Jir yelled, echoing through the hallways.

"That's what he thinks," James commented. Dan grunted in response, and turned the corner to see the double doors.

"There! We have to keep running!" Dan exclaimed. They ran all the way to the end of the hallway, but got stopped when a guard came from around the corner. The two brothers stopped suddenly.

"You wouldn't mind moving out of the way, huh?" Dan asked, hoping for him to say "yes". The guard shook his head, and raised his gun to them. Dan and James turned around to see Jir and two other guards with him.

"Why are all of your guards so big?" James commented.

"Oh, shut up. You're only prolonging your life by a minute. I'm going to kill soon. First I want to know something," Jir explained. Dan sighed, but James raised an eyebrow.

"What would that one thing be?" James asked.

"How do you know Sanine?"

Charlie woke up with his head spinning in circles. He grabbed it with his hand to stop the vertigo, but that didn't work. The shot into his arm was a mild drug that made him pass out, but his training somewhat fifteen years ago involved the art of not getting passed out easily. They tried to make every recruit almost immune to these types of drugs by injecting small portions of the liquid into them. He hasn't done it in years, so it still affected him. Barely.

Charlie got up and immediately looked at the cameras. Dan was not in the same place he told him to be. James was gone from his  cell. Charlie wished that Jir installed cameras for the hallways, but instead, every room had one. He looked around the screens carefully, and one thing caught his attention. In the kitchen camera, the doors were visible. They were double doors that had the push bar on them. He saw silhouettes run past the doors. He knew where exactly they were.

Charlie looked down to make sure his gun was in his holster when he saw Hannah on the floor. He froze.

"Hannah." Charlie said. In the moment of waking up from a drug, he forgot about his sister. "Hannah, I'm so sorry. How could I forget about you?" He knelt down, and closed Hannah's color washed eyes. Charlie seeing Hannah this way only fueled his anger for Jir. He didn't feel like crying about it would help anything. Killing the man who did this to her was the only way Charlie knew how to cope.

Charlie ran out of the surveillance room, and went straight for the kitchen. He turned a few times, and made a few wrong turns on the way. He was still new to the building, but he knew the gist of where it was.

As soon as Charlie arrived at the hallway that was adjacent to the kitchen, he stopped. He heard talking.

"How do you know Sanine?" Jir asked. Charlie raised an eyebrow.

Does one of the brother's know Sanine? Charlie thought. He brought out his gun quietly, and tiptoed to the end of the hallway. All he had to do was turn left, and he faced Jir and the two guards from behind.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Dan said.

"I wasn't talking to you." Jir gestured his gun towards James. "How do you know Sanine?" James looked physically uncomfortable.

"I don't know what you're talking about either," James lied. Jir aimed towards the ceiling, shot his gun, and pointed it back to James. Charlie tensed when he heard the gunshot, but didn't move an inch. He was waiting for the perfect moment to get him.

"You liar. I heard the voicemail you left for your brother. You better tell me how you know, or you're going to die," Jir threatened. James had a confused look when he mentioned the voicemail. He didn't remember leaving Dan a voicemail.

"Here, let me help you jog your memory. Does the word "bug" help with anything?" James started sweating nervously. Dan looked from Jir to James with a puzzled expression.

"James, I thought we lost the bug?" Dan said.

"Oh my. I forgot to tell you! Your idiot of a brother here didn't tell you! He lied to you, just like he's lying to me."

"James, what the Hell is he talking about?" Dan asked, anger rising in him.

"I... uh... lied to you. I found the bug, and I listened to it."

"Then why in the world did you convince me to get off the case? Especially when you had a lead!"

"Because you were getting too emotional, Dan! You were a loose cannon, and you can't let your feelings affect your job! For God's sake, you went to Rogers' house and almost beat up his wife!"

"Wait." Jir said, interrupting the two's squabble. "This is almost unbelievable, you know who Rogers is?"

"Yeah, I do." Dan said. Jir laughed.

"Oh, this keeps getting weirder! Why did you almost beat up his wife? God, this is amusing." Jir lowered his gun, and laughed from his gut.

"Because that b*****d killed..." Dan trailed off as he saw a quick movement from the corner behind Jir and the two guards. It was a shoulder of a person.

Charlie. Dan thought.

"No, no. Please, keep going. This is hilarious!" Jir yelled. Dan felt the cold metal of the gun he picked up earlier on his lower back. If Charlie was going to do what Dan thinks he's going to do, they can escape alive.

"He killed someone very close to me," Dan said, a little louder.  "He broke into my apartment during the time when I was coming home, and the babysitter left. I didn't see him around the corner at first."

Charlie tensed up. Dan said that last comment with extra emphasis, and he knew he was talking about him. Charlie listened closely to the next words Dan spoke.

Jir was laughing his a*s off at the scenario Dan was describing.

"I saw him, and I scared him, making him lower his gun," Dan lied. Jir, with his gun lowered, kept laughing.

"What happened next?" Jir said in between bursts of laughs.

Dan smiled, and said, "Then I shot two of his guards." Jir stopped laughing, and looked at Dan with confusion.

"Rogers had two gu-"  

"Sir, look out!" Yelled the guard behind James and Dan. Charlie came around the corner, and quickly shot the two guards behind Jir. Before the guard behind the brothers could react, Dan took out his gun from behind his back, and shot into the guard. He grunted, then fell backwards onto the floor. All that was left was Jir paralyzed in between the brothers and Charlie.

"Charlie." Jir said, hoping to get his attention. Charlie raised his gun at Jir's head in response. Jir's own gun was still cocked and ready to shoot.

"You can be with you sister if you wanna," Jir said. He then pointed down with his thumb, and smiled at Charlie. Charlie went up to Jir, and pressed the barrel of his gun to his forehead.

"Choose what you do carefully. It'd be a shame if you said something wrong, and my finger slipped on the trigger."

Jir looked at Dan as he walked towards them. He made his decision.

"I'm a dead man anyway," Jir said with a hollow voice. He quickly turned his pistol around, and shot Charlie in the stomach. Dan pulled the trigger on his gun, shooting Jir right through the left shoulder. He fell immediately, dropping his gun. Charlie just stood there, holding his stomach that was pouring out blood. The bullet went straight through, and left a considerably large hole.

James ran up to Charlie as Dan kneeled down to Jir. The shot didn't go through the shoulder as Dan thought it did, but straight through the chest. Dan put two fingers to his neck, and didn't feel a pulse.

"Dan," James spoke out. Dan turned to see Charlie struggling to breath. He looked down at the ground around him, and saw blood pouring out in all directions. "He lost too much blood, he won't be able to make it."

Dan crouched down, and held Charlie's head in his hands. Charlie looked up at Dan in the eyes.

"Is the son of a b***h dead?" Charlie asked, coughing so hard, his body jolted.

"Ye- yes. He's dead," Dan said. Charlie smiled, and fixated his eyes onto the ceiling.

"Good. That's what he gets for killing my sister." Charlie's breathing slowed, and his eyes became more lazy.

Dan looked up at James helplessly. James shrugged his shoulders, and looked down at Charlie.

"I'm coming Hannah," Charlie whispered. He breathed out his last breath. The sense of life in his eyes disappeared. Dan coughed, trying to prevent himself from feeling guilty.

James looked at Dan and said, "Not your fault." Dan nodded.

"I know. I see that now," Dan said. He looked up from Charlie, and saw Chelsea standing there with Charlie. Chelsea waved at Dan, and he smiled in return. James looked at the spot Dan was looking at it, and sighed.

"That's not your fault either," James said, hoping he was looking at Chelsea. The little girl and Charlie turned around, and disappeared into a cloud of mist. Dan hung his head.

"Yeah. I suppose it isn't," Dan admitted. James gave Dan a half-smile, and grabbed his arm to stand him up.

"Come on, let's get out of here."

"No freaking way! You did that?" Rogers asked. The woman nodded her head, and he giggle like a geek. "You know. I've always wanted to start a crime business of my own. Hell, who doesn't?"

"It's quite simple, really," the woman explained. "The first thing you have to have is connections. Without those, you're not going to have a great time starting up your business. Because when you eventually do start, you're going to have a bunch of rivals and opponents. Crime bosses and gangs who don't want change. The trick is, you show them that you're not afraid.  Show them who's boss. Once you do that, everything else is as easy as pie."

"Wow. That is incredible!" Rogers exclaimed. The woman smiled, satisfied that Rogers can be so easily pleased. There was a moment of silence as Rogers looked outside the limo.

"Where are we going, exactly?" Rogers asked. The woman smiled.

"A place where you can get revenge," She said. Rogers cocked an eyebrow as he looked around. They were now surrounded by greenery. A forest. "Believe me, we're almost there."

"Alright, cool." Rogers sat there, thinking of whether or not he wanted to ask the big question. "Hey, what's your actual name?"

"My actual name?" The woman asked.

"Yeah. You know. You go by Sanine, and that's a cool nickname and all. But what's your real name?" Rogers asked. The woman stayed silent for a few seconds.

"Let's stay professional, shall we?" Sanine said. Rogers nodded, understanding what she meant.

"Where's Hank going to be?" Rogers asked, the random thought occurring to him. He knew he resigned that day, but he never told Rogers where he was going.

"I gave him another job to do, that's all." Sanine explained. Rogers nodded his head again. The screen that separated the driver side and the back rolled down.

"We're almost there Ms.," the driver announced. Sanine said her thanks, and the window rolled back up. "Are you ready to face your vengeance?"

"Ready as ever, I suppose." Sanine smiled, and lifted the seat right next to her. She pulled out a pistol from it, and gave it to Rogers. He received it, and gave it a good feel for it. He looked up and made eye contact with Sanine. She nodded, which gave Rogers the signal that he could use it to his expense. He put it on his lower back, and stared out of the window again. He sighed quietly.

A doorbell rang in the middle of silence. Burt looked up from reading news articles from his phone to the door. He raised an eyebrow, as he wasn't expecting visitors. Before he even got up, Alexius came crashing down the stairs to the front door, and immediately opened it.

"Wait, Alexius. You don't know who it is!" Burt tried to warn her. She opened it all the way, and screeched.

"Uncle Hank!" She exclaimed. Alexius hugged Hank around his waist, and Hank chuckled and hugged her back. Burt came around the corner from the kitchen, and sighed with relief.

"At least it's someone we know," Burt said. He went up to Hank, and gave him a firm handshake. Hank said his hey's to the both of them, and came inside.

"So. What brings you here Hank?" Burt asked.

"Oh, you know. I asked Kathy if I could crash here for a day while I'm passing through town. Did you not get a text?" Hank asked. Burt shook his head, and Hank chuckled. "Typical Kathy. I'm sure she's busy doing her work."

"Ah yes. Because being a retailer is such demanding work," Burt joked.

"You'd be surprised, man." Hank said. He looked around, and only noticed Burt and Alexius.

"Is Mary still here?" Hank asked. Burt nodded, and pointed upstairs.

"Yeah, she's in her room. Still grounded."

"Oh man. What happened, again? I forgot," Hank lied.

"Kathy says she broke some very valuable jewelry in her room one day. I never saw the damage, but if she says she did it," Burt shrugged, "then who am I to say otherwise?" Hank nodded his head thoughtfully.

Nice cover up, Kathy. Hank thought. He looked to his left, and saw the door leading to the basement.

"You still have that bed down there?" Hank asked, pointing to the basement. Burt nodded.

"Yeah, we do. But are you sure you wanna sleep down there? We have a guest bedroom and everything."

"No, I'm fine, thank you." Hank said. He went to the door, opened it, and descended into the basement. Burt closed the door for Hank, and went back to the kitchen to read some more news.

"You think you know a guy after a year," Burt mumbled as he sipped his coffee.