Chapter Forty-One

I've never seen Brandon drive like this before, he was zipping us around corners so quickly that I thought the car would tip over. I didn't complain though, because of the annoying rouges back at that place, we were about two minutes late. I know that didn't seem like that many minutes, but when it comes to Richard, every minute counts. I didn't have a clue what we're about to pull into, but also I did have a little suspicion, yes I know I'm contradicting myself there. Over the years we've become familiar with the way in which Richard likes to operate, but there's been times when he's just hit the ball so far out of the park that we have no idea where it came from. Take for instance the threats on Lukas, when we learnt that he was operating outside his normal location between the two packs, we were absolutely stumped on what the heck was going on. It's now we know what we know, the picture has become more clearer over time. Hopefully my assumptions about his next steps are correct, with Richard there's little room for error. I didn't know why but I felt like it was all down to me to solve, especially after the letter he left for me at the lake. I didn't know if he was toying with me or was actually serious, that's another thing you can't predict about Richard, whatever goes around in his mind we may never understand. It was getting around twilight when we speed down the road, we'd literally been away from the alliance since 4am! In the back of my mind all I could think about was Toby, this has to be the longest we've been apart since we found each other. Which just further validates the fact that I can't just let him leave without me, it would kill to be away from him for any length of time. Through the dark sky I start to see orange lights, within that the air was starting to get really smoky. "Either aliens are about to land or there's some kind of fire" I say rolling down my window, as soon as the air enters the car you smelt the smoke. Memories of the mansion start to fill my brain, me bolting in the burning building to get everyone out. Than me having to run under a table to stop the roof from falling on my head, the smell of thick smoke filling the air as I struggled to get out. I snap out of my trance and look over at Brandon, who was just staring worried right back at me. Okay Taylor, pull yourself together, this is your job. As we turn the last corner to our destination, that's when we see it. The whole factory building was up in flames, barrels of smoke just pour out of each window and door. Brandon stops the car just outside before I jump out, how hasn't anyone else noticed or reported this?! "We need to be smart about this, I'll radio through to Morgan-" Brandon starts to say but I begin to hear something, I tell him to shush a moment so I could hear better. Through the loud sound of the fire and the building slowly breaking, I hear a man's muffled voice shouting from inside. Someone's in there! I take a look around to Brandon who shakes his head at me, he knew what I was about to do. "I have to, there's someone inside" I say taking steps backwards closer to the building, this is the last thing I wanted to do but I really didn't have any other choice. "Taylor you can't, I'll get Morgan!" He shouts but it was too late, I had already turned and raced towards the main doors of the building. The door was already wide open as I ran through, Brandon kept shouting my name but that was soon muffled by the noises of the blaze. I could hardly see where I was going due to the smoke, which also didn't help the cough that kept leaving my lips. I begin to focus so I could figure out where the voice was coming from, I continue down the corridor where the voice began to get louder. "Please! Someone help me!" The man's voice pleads, which was actually the first time I could fully make out what he was saying, this just proves to me that I was going the right way. I run at full speed down the hall until I arrive at a metal door, which was also wide open. As I walk through the door I have to stop, this was probably where the fire started as the smoke in this room was triple the amount that filled the hall. I cough once again trying my hardest to distinguish what was in this room, it takes a few seconds before I spot a man tied up to a pipe shouting help. "Please can you help me, Richard tied me up and set fire to the place" the man begs as he spots me too, in seconds I had ran down the little metal steps and was standing in front of him. "It's okay Jared, I'm gonna get you out" I say looking behind him to discover his hands were tied, he appeared to be secured to the pipe by black wire. "How do you know my name?" He asks as I begin to try and untangle the wire, but the knot was far too knotted and if I pulled too tight, it would probably dig into his skin. "I'm an alliance agent, this is why you should have came in when we called you" I say whilst scanning the area around me, I needed to find something sharp to cut this wire. "Since the attack, all you people have done is call me in for multiple interviews, I was trying to put what happened to me in the past and move on" he coughs out while I spot a glass bottle on the floor, I run over picking the bottle up and smashing against the wall. It shatters into pieces but I managed to hold into the biggest part, I run back over to Jared and try to saw at the wire with the piece of glass. It immediately, starts to cut into my hand but I also see that it's cutting the wire, I put my own pain to the side and start to saw even quicker. "He jumped me out of nowhere, he said he had to make up for what he did in the past and I was gonna help him do that" he starts to explain, while I finally cut through the wire where I can drop the piece of glass. I help him untangle his hands while something on the wall gets my attention, a white piece of paper was being held up by blue tack. It was pretty obvious that this piece of paper didn't fit in with the factory, which means it was placed there deliberately. I pull the piece of paper down, only to discover it was addressed to me. I definitely didn't have the time to stand and read it through, I slip the note into my back pocket before taking Jared's arm and pulling him towards the exit. Both of us were just coughing our guts up as we ran, my eyes even began to sting from the amount of smoke that engulfed us. The exit door soon comes into view which just tells me we're at the home stretch, flashing lights were well flashing as we make it over. Once we were outside in the fresh air, I spot many alliance cars filling the little area. I continue to cough as Brandon runs over to us, I've never been so happy to see him in my life. "That was stupid" he tells me but wraps both arms around me, I hold him back tightly as agents start to run over to check what's happening. I honestly didn't know myself.