The sirens and emergency lights kept thundering. It was almost impossible to run on the stairs. Nothing was visible. Brute could walk only with the support of the person beside him.

"Okay," Brute said, panting. "I should introduce myself. I'm Brute Coyle."

"You've already said that", Duke said. He had brown hair and had a small noddle. He looked just a few years younger than Dhawan.

"Okay," Brute remembered. "What's yours?"

"I'm Duke Stain," Duke introduced. "Look, we're here. The ground floor."

Brute whirled around, but could barely see anything in the red and black lights.

"Krystene?" he shouted.

"Hey, hey," Duke stopped him, "what're you doing?"

"Calling her name," Brute replied. "It's a way of finding, right?"

"Shshhshhh!" Duke hushed. "There are bandits here too, remember?"

Suddenly they heard a panting voice. "Brute.........is it – is it you?"

They rushed towards the way of the voice. They stopped near a counter where they saw a female adolescent with jet–black hair in a pony–tail. Brute recognised her. She was Krystene.

Brute felt a high level of joy but it didn't last for much time. He saw a cut on Krystene's wrist.

"Oh gosh, you're bleeding!" Brute screamed and rushed towards her.

"The guy has cut her vein", Duke declared.

Dhawan and Dunkirk were having a silent tip–toe walk on the stairs before they reached the seventh floor. Although they knew that the killer was aware that they were before him, they wanted to attack without any warning.

They both stopped on the last stair before the seventh floor. Dhawan whispered into Dunkirk's ear not to kill Stephenson. Dunkirk nodded.

They both stepped on the floor together. They immediately whirled around, but didn't see anyone.

They both were unaware of the bandit following them on the stairs. He was just behind Dhawan. Daniel Hank, the last male bandit in the group had just raised his knife above his long pointed nose when something fell on his back. It scratched his T–shirt and inserted its teeth on his back. Hank fell down with a shriek.

Dhawan and Dunkirk immediately turned back and saw Crunchy scratching Hank's back in a wild way.

"Hey, Crunchy!" Dhawan exclaimed. "Calm down, dude. It's enough."

Crunchy stepped off the bandit's back and walked towards Dhawan. The bandit was still badly screaming and bleeding.

"Okay, another bandit's busted", Dunkirk declared.

"Thanks to my bro", Dhawan pointed towards Crunchy.

Duke Stain had inserted a needle inside Krystene's wrist attached to a bag of saline gripped by Brute.

"So, you're a doctor too?" Brute asked.

"We're trained for such emergency situations", Duke replied.

He was cleaning the blood flowing from Krystene's wrist with a cotton cloth from a first aid box below the counter. Krystene had fainted and had lost a lot of blood.

Brute was now thinking that he didn't do anything wrong by telling those men about the secret mission. The mission was still classified!

Dhawan and Dunkirk were inspecting each and every corner of the seventh floor. Dhawan was away from the glass-walls for all the time. He did not want to vomit again.

Dhawan kept checking his cell–phone regularly for any new message from the killer. Dunkirk kept whirling the tip of his pistol in all the directions. They both stopped.

"I think we've checked the whole floor two times", Dhawan said.

"Yeah", Dunkirk nodded in affirmation.

Suddenly, they heard a sound of breaking glass from their back. They both whirled their heads back to see the glass-wall broken from a corner with a thick rope tied on a hook attached to the ceiling with Stephenson Mal holding its other end. "You're afraid of heights, aren't you?"

Stephenson threw the rope down from the broken glass–wall.

"No!" Dhawan and Dunkirk hurried towards him. But before they could do anything, the killer jumped down.

Dhawan and Dunkirk felt a pinch of unsuccessfulness which faded as soon as they reach the rope. They could see Stephenson climbing down the rope.

"I am cutting the rope!" Dunkirk took a knife out.

"No," Dhawan stopped him, "I need him alive."

Dhawan gazed down. The height was enough to faint him, but he had to stand.

"I'm going down via the rope, and you go down by the stairs", Dunkirk said.

Going by stairs would take a lot of time. Dhawan didn't want to lose his target this time.

"I'll go by rope too", Dhawan declared.

"But-"

"It's my mission", Dhawan said.

"Okay," Dunkirk said after a second, "just don't look down at the ground."

Krystene opened her eyes and saw Brute's face right above her. "Brute?"

Brute turned his gaze down at her and smiled with relief. "Krystene!"

Brute helped Krystene to pull her body up. He saw tears flowing from her eyes. She was crying.

"Don't cry," Brute said, "you're safe, as I said."

Krystene tried to control her tears and hugged Brute. Her eyes fell on the person behind them, controlling his chuckle.

Suddenly, they heard a gunshot. Everyone stood up.

"What was that?" Brute whirled around.

"I don't know", Krystene was equally scared.

They both turned their gazes towards Duke.

"Are you both okay?" Duke asked. He was alarmed by the gunshot too.

He soon realised that the kids weren't looking at him. They were looking at Duke's stomach's right portion. He gazed down at his stomach in slow–motion. He saw a bullet–hole at the right side of his stomach above his waist. The bullet had completely pierced through his skin.

He looked at the horrified faces of the two adolescents before he fell down and a female bandit became visible behind him with a pistol.

"Aaagh!" Brute and Krystene rushed behind the counter.

Chloe Grey, the only female bandit in the Baddits, laughed. "You know kids, I don't know whether other of my pals are still alive or not. In such times, I use to kill someone to reduce my anger. Right now, you both can help me in reducing my anger."

Chloe was just walking towards the counter when she felt something on her ankle. She gazed down and saw Duke pulling her. Duke pulled her and she fell down. He tried to stand up with a bleeding stomach. "Kids, run!!"

Brute and Krystene held each other's hands and started running blindly. They stopped when the voices of Chloe and Duke faded. They were panting heavily.

"I think I should make a call", Brute said, taking his new iPhone out of his pocket.

"Then do it", Krystene said.

"Actually...." Brute sighed, "I don't know how to use an iPhone.

Krystene eyed him and snatched the iPhone from his hand. "What's the number?"

Dunkirk and Dhawan were climbing down the rope and the killer was just a few metres below them. Dhawan wasn't looking down. He had to look up so that he doesn't faint after watching how high he was.

"You okay?" Dunkirk asked.

"Yeah", Dhawan replied.

"We're just a little away from ground," Dunkirk said.

"Okay", Dhawan said.

The killer had to be fast or he could be caught.

Dhawan was thinking that they had almost reached the ground. Suddenly, his cellular phone started ringing and vibrated out of his pocket. His eyes gazed down in slow–motion along with his phone. Soon, when he saw the ground, he realised that he was at the height of a little less than two floors which was enough to faint him. 'How the hell this guy could say that we're just a little away from ground?' he thought.

Dunkirk gazed up at Dhawan. "Holy."

Dhawan felt his body becoming weak. Soon his vision faded and his grip on the rope loosened. He felt himself falling down from the rope and then silence..........

"What happened?" Brute asked.

"He's not picking the call", Krystene told him.

"Try again", Brute said.

Suddenly, they heard footsteps. Loud footsteps. They couldn't locate the direction of sound because of the thundering sirens around them.

They started stepping back in horror. Suddenly they felt something behind them. They whirled back to see Chloe Grey behind them.

"Having fun, kids?" the bandit sneered.

Krystene immediately pulled the pepper-spray out of her pocket and sprayed it on the bandit's eyes.

"Aaaaagh!" Chloe cried in pain and pressed her eyes with her fingers. She pointed a pistol towards them.

"Run!" Brute cried and they vanished from there before Chloe shot blindly.

Dhawan had closed his eyes for not more than a few seconds. After that, he opened them. His first sight was a masked man with massive shoulders almost two metres away from him, and then, the massive shouldered man started running away from him.

Just after that, he whirled his head to his left and saw Dunkirk hurrying towards him. "Dhawan, you okay?"

"Yeah," Dhawan, somehow, pulled his body up, "go catch him!"

Dunkirk nodded and started running towards the direction of the killer.

Dhawan stood up, panting in pain. None of his bones or muscles were fractured or sprained. However, falling from the height Dhawan had fallen isn't like you stand up just after you fall and start running. It still pains.

Dhawan started jogging towards the direction through the light mist. He caught up his regular speed within a few seconds.

Brute and Krystene were panting heavily in a chamber like section at the end of a corridor. They didn't know where they were. They just knew that they were far away from their previous location.

"We can't run further", Brute said, looking at the wall behind them.

"So, should we go back?" Krystene asked.

Brute remembered that the bandit had followed them for a few seconds. He was sure that she had reached the corridor till now. Going back would have been insanity.

"I don't think so", he shook his head. "We should wait here until Dhawan comes for help."

There was silence for a few seconds.

"You know?" Krystene said, holding Brute's hand. "I've a secret. I've heard that by sharing secrets, the fears in our mind can fade. Should I tell you my secret?"

"Your name?" Brute didn't give any expression.

"No," Krystene said. "That's not my biggest secret. By the way, my name is Krystene only. I fooled the whole orphanage by telling them that it's not my name. I'm clever, no?"

Brute wasn't surprised to know that. He didn't actually have any interest in that.

"First, tell your secret", Krystene said. She tried her best to stop the fear of the bandit coming out.

Brute hesitated a little, and then blushed, finally he said, "My secret is that my favourite T.V. show is Peppa Pig."

Krystene stared at him in disbelief. 'This was his biggest secret?!'

"Okay, now it's my turn," Krystene said. "My biggest secret is that.....I've a crush on you."

"I know that!" Brute told her and stared her as if she were mad.

"What!" Krystene was surprised. "How do you know that?"

"I know that since we were five!" Brute chuckled. "What else could I guess if a girl keeps staring at me all the time? In the playground, in the classroom, and even when I'm on bed!"

"Do I do that?" Krystene crossed her eye–brows.

"You're still doing that!" Brute told her.

"Oh," Krystene sighed and frowned, "so you don't like me."

"I never said that?" Brute smiled.

"What?" Krystene immediately turned to him.

Before Brute could speak further, an angry feminine voice was audible.

"No more tricks!" Chloe Grey the bandit was in front of them.

The moment they both looked at her finger on the trigger of her pistol pointed towards Brute, they understood that one of the worst nightmares any person may have, was coming out real. Brute turned his horribly widened eyes up at the bandit's face in slow–motion. Her eyes were red with dark nerves bulged out. The thundering sirens and emergency lights made the scene more terrifying.

The bandit's finger started pulling the trigger in slow–motion. Suddenly, a gunshot was audible.

Brute closed his eyes. 'I'm dead', he thought. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes again. He expected to find himself at Heaven, but he wasn't. He realised that he was still alive. He looked straight at the bandit. There was a bleeding bullet-hole on her head. She fell down, dead.

Behind her, the panting figure of Duke Stain was visible with his right hand on the right portion of his stomach where the bandit had shot and the left hand holding a pistol.

Brute turned towards Krystene, smiling. They both came closer to each other, and kissed.

After a few seconds, Brute wasn't able to breathe.

Krystene stepped back. "You're asthmatic?"

"No," Brute said, panting. "It was just a little difficult for me as it was my first kiss."

"Really?" Krystene eyed him. "This kiss was my fourth...fifth...or sixth, I don't remember."

Duke chuckled.

Both of the adolescents turned to him. "You're bleeding. You need a doctor!"

Dhawan and Dunkirk were racing through the mist which was becoming darker with each passing moment. Crunchy was behind them too and the killer was very close to them. He was visible in the mist.

Dhawan was faster than Dunkirk and was the nearest to the killer that moment. He managed a jump and landed on the killer and pushed him down on the tarred road.

"Aaagh!" the killer shrieked as his cheek rubbed on the newly tarred road for a few seconds.

Dhawan pulled his face towards him. "Who appointed you and why?"

He pulled the mask off the killer's face.

Dhawan stared at him in disbelief. He looked like a young–adult who was probably a few years older than Brute. He had blue eyes and had thick black hair. He wasn't bald at all, neither had he had brown beard. He wasn't like Stephenson Mal at all!

"I'll tell you everything. Please don't arrest me", the young–adult pleaded, panting.

Dhawan stood away from him.

"I–I'm Christopher Smith," the young-adult said. "I take drugs. A massive brown bearded man saw me taking drugs and said that if I don't do what he says, he'll complain about me in the police station."

Dhawan did nothing, but stare. He was behind this man for more than a few hours, and the conclusion is that he was behind the wrong man!

A whatsapp message beeped in his cell–phone. He checked it.

TRICKED?

"Dhawan!" Dunkirk's voice came along with a loud horn behind Dhawan.

Dhawan immediately whirled back and saw a Benz bolting towards him in a great speed. It was just a few metres away from him. The car hit Dhawan and went on.