“How am I going to get into this place?” Sarah whispered through her mic. She was perched on the top of the Caldwin house. Her tight leather suit was lined with something soft and warm, protecting her from the midnight air. A blast of icy wind sent her hair swirling around her body.

Nick’s voice rang out near her right ear through her earpiece. It was connected to a headpiece that strapped around the back of her head. “You’re not invited. Sneak through a window to his room.”

“How do I know which one is his room?”

“I don’t know, Ebony. I’m you information; your mind. You’re my body and eyes. Tempest out.” His end went dead.

Sarah-known as Ebony when she was out- sighed to herself. How was she going to do this? She was nervous but she knew she had to keep her cool.

She grabbed onto a gutter, and pulled it to make sure it was secure. It was. She held onto it and peered over the ledge of the home. The blood rushed to her head as she looked into the dusty window.

The home was much better looking inside than outside. This guy had some serious bank, and for a minute she felt a twinge of jealousy. She was so much a material girl. But then she laughed to herself, thinking that of course A.j. had more than that.

She shook those thoughts out of her head and concentrated on what she was doing. This window was at the end of a hallway. She let herself down onto the long windowsill, balancing herself there. Although the house was old, it was also two stories high. If she fell off that window ledge…she nearly gagged at the thought.

Her glove-covered hands led themselves to the bottom of the window, and she tried to pull up, but it was locked. She began to tremble. What would happen if someone caught her and got the wrong idea?

She grabbed her necklace. It had a mic in it that she used to talk to Nick in, but above it was also a huge, sharp diamond. She took it out and used it, very cautiously, to cut a small hole in the glass. The process was amazingly slow, but she wasn’t exactly itching to get in the mysterious place as soon as possible. Once the crude circle was made in the glass, she got another tool out. It was a flat metal thing Nick had shown her, which she forgot the name of. She used it to pry the glass out towards her. Soon the hole was made, and it was big enough for her finger to pass through. She did so, and very carefully unlocked the window.

After lifting the window up, she crawled through. Her first step on the floor seemed to boom through the walls. She turned around to close the window.

“Turn around slowly,” an angry voice called from behind.

Sarah jumped a foot and raised her hands. She used her chin to press her necklace, which let her talk to Nick. “Ok…I’m turning around like you said.” She said, more to Nick than to the person behind her.

It was a woman behind Sarah, to her surprise. She held no gun.

“Why did you break into my home?” The woman asked.

Sarah gazed, wide eyed. “I’m looking for Rudy Caldwin.”

“I am Mr. Caldwin’s sister. He is away on business at the moment. What do you need?”

Ebony stood for a minute, undecided of what to do.

“Tell her you need to speak to Rudy,” Nick informed her, to her rescue.

“I need to speak with him,” Sarah told the woman. “I need information on Intergang.”

The woman frowned. “Intergang is a crime gang. Very dangerous people, indeed. This notion you have of my brother being involved with such a thing makes me angry. I have decided you are not welcomed.” The woman turned away.

“Run.” Nick said through her ear.

“She just turned-“

“I said RUN!”

Ebony was about to reply when someone grabbed her from behind. She kicked them and their grip loosened for a second. She was grabbed again and shoved into a room at the end of the hallway. Her face landed on a red rug and she could taste the salty blood foaming inside her mouth, and she spat it out.

“Tempest sent you, didn’t he?”

Aching, Sarah turned around to see a tall man looming over her. He had a gun at his side.

“Tell him no, Ebony,” Nick informed her.

The man squatted near Sarah and took the headpiece off her head. “It doesn’t matter what he tells you to say, I know it’s him.” Sarah looked up and nodded. He knew.

He stood up and threw the headpiece out the window. “I am Rudy Caldwin…and I know who you are, in a way. I know you are another one of Tempest’s girls. I thought he would learn after the death of his last one.”

Sarah stood up quietly.

Rudy continued. “Sapphire was a beauty. Sometimes, I thought, maybe Nick and her were even in love. What is your name, girl?”

“Ebony,” Sarah replied.

“Ebony-don’t you worry about all of this. Tempest is just going to get you killed. Do not try to interfere with Intergang.”

Sarah stood tall at the thought of that name. She brushed herself off. “Actually, that’s what I’m here to talk to you about.”

“I know.” He smiled. “I know. But it’s a secret, you must come closer to me for me to tell you.” He held his gun out.

Of course she hesitated, but did she have a choice?

“You’re new,” Rudy whispered when she got close. “So I’m going to let you off easy.”

“Who killed Sapphire?” Ebony asked.

“I did. Now leave this place, and do not return. Next time you really won’t be welcomed, and it’ll be the last place you’ll ever be. Get out.” He cocked his gun.

Ebony sighed again, disappointed with herself. She had achieved nothing, and had almost gotten killed doing it. She backed away from Rudy and his gun.

She took a few steps, and a horrifying BAM! cracked through the air. He had shot the gun. Sarah almost fell backwards, the thought of his gun going off was enough to nearly make her faint. She grabbed her stomach, and realized, he hadn’t hit her. He hadn’t hit anywhere near her. She turn and ran, not looking back. She ran wild down the hall, crying and screaming to herself as more shots boomed like thunder through the house. Every time she heard a new sound she thought she knew for sure that she was dead, and soon she’d be a ghost somewhere in heaven, but it never happened. She leaped out the window and glass shattered everywhere. She grabbed onto the windowsill’s ledge to prevent her from falling to her doom. The bullets stopped as she hung there dangling. She pulled herself off and scrambled back up onto the roof, crossed it and climbed down the lattice she used to get up onto the roof in the first place. At the base of the lattice were some bushes, and in it was her headpiece. She took it while running and put it back on where it belonged. “Tempest where are you! They’re chasing me!” It was true, she heard more gun shots coming from behind her.

“Run down the street at your left, jump the fence at the blue house, go through the yard, and I’ll be waiting on the other street. Don’t look behind you.”

How did Nick stay so calm? This time she took his orders. She ran down the streets and she felt her cheeks and stomach starting to burn. She found the blue house. She took an enormous jump and lifted herself up and over the wooden fence. She landed in a yard that was complete with a swing set, and she used it to help her up the next fence. Sure enough, Nick’s car was waiting for her with the door wide open. She plunged through the door and the car’s wheels screeched as they rode off.

She slouched in the passenger’s seat, almost in a laying position. She grabbed Nick’s long sleeve as if she had claws, and she cried and endless river of tears. She was still scared for her life; she had an evil paranoia in the back of her mind, teasing her, saying that they were still after her. Saying they would send a bullet to her head and she would witness her brain oozing out as she fell into the depths of hell. “I’m alive!” She yelled while sobbing and wailing louder and harder. “I’m alive!” She screamed at her paranoia, and they grew quiet. Her lip kept foaming that familiar blood taste, and it dripped onto Nick’s shirt and mixed with her tears.

Nick kept driving and never looked down to comfort her with his eyes. A few minutes later, he looked out his left window, and said almost in a whisper. “I’m sorry.” Sarah never found out why he had said this.