"I've found out where the third bomb is. It is at your current home."

After hearing that, every thought drowned out of her head except for one. Crypto. I have to go to Crytpo...

Crypto was the technologically-savvy staff's workplace, and hidden deep down in the basement of the Agency. With good reason, Valesque had ordered it to be built there as the Crypto contained their sensitive, confidential information that they've accumulated over the years. Crypto was estimated to be about a good six hundred metres deep and it occupied at least three quarters of the basement.

Technically, the remaining space belonged to them too, but it was used for more technical matters such as constructing and designing parts of vehicles and weapons.

In her state of distress, she had forgotten that the Crypto was a very chilly place, only remembering it when the cold bit her exposed skin. Since she made her way down via a secret passageway only known to elite agents, the coolness of the passageway shocked her. She looked down, surprised to see herself barefoot and wearing a sleeveless dress.

When she reached the Crytpo, she was greeted by her friends. "Are you mad, woman?" Gabriel scolded, shaking his head when he saw how under-dressed she was.

"Alara. I know there's a bomb in your house, but this isn't it. You must stay strong. Don't kill yourself over this," Keyla rushed to her side, helping her feet into a pair of warm sneakers.

"I-" Alaa started, only to be cut off when Gabriel draped a wool coat over her shoulders. "If Maren was here, he'd kill you before the cold did."

"I- geez, guys. Thank you for this, but please. Get straight to the point. Why would the third bomb be in my house of all places? If that's the case, my mother would've called the Agency." Alara reasoned when she remembered why she was here in the first place.

"I don't know why it's there either. But if it's there it's clearly targeting you and Renald."

"My gut instinct, which is always right, tells me that it is never there. It's somewhere else in my hometown, but definitely not my home. Never that."

When Gabriel began to open his mouth, she added, "my mother was currently staying with Jonek. There is nobody in my home."

"Alara. We've located a bomb in your house, so it is there, okay? The third bomb is already found. Our team and the Forensics Department will scan your list and see if the explosives are at those places. We let you know." insisted Keyla unbudgingly. "So stop this fuss and let us do our job."

"Fine. But if the real last bomb turns out to be at a fishing port... for one, it's not my fault and you'll be taking full responsibility." demanded Alara. Keyla rolled her eyes and sashayed off. Gabriel flashed Alara an apologetic grimace but chased after Keyla hurriedly.

I'm so annoyed. I've just established where it is after so much hard work, and was it all for nothing? Is it really there?

Shooting the Crypto one last look, she walked up the stairs and decided to practice her boxing to take her mind off her troubles and stress.

Yes, I am nothing like Alara. But it will not harm me to do some research.

Grittie Market. Exicidium Forest.

The one thing they have in common? Should a bomb go off, there would be mass casualties and victims.

At least fifty people would die and ten would be injured if it occurred in the forest. From what Alara had told him, several illegal farmers farmed and harvested plants there in order to survive.

Since it is almost spring, they will began to collect the fruits of their labour... and if anything horrid happens.... Maren shuddered at the thought. He couldn't wait for his friends at the Bomb Squad to inform him that they had successfully defused the bombs.

Perhaps maybe even at least a thousand people would be horribly maimed and a hundred dead if it goes off in the popular market. He knew that the weak economy of her hometown would collapse if such a terrorist attack occurred there. It was already unstable enough as it is.

Suddenly, his phone rang, startling him. "Hello?"

"Maren, it's me, Elioenai Seibert. Newly relocated to the Bomb Squad and the Crypto since the year-"

"I know who you are, Eli! Come on, man, I've known you for like, since I arrived here. We've been through thick and thin, and even when you were promoted." He suppressed a laughter that was trying to escape from his throat.

"Ha, you know me. I'm the most extra person you know." Eli's voice was cherry, and it probably meant that things went well.

"I guess it's safe to assume that you found the bombs and defused them all?" queried Maren anxiously.

"Yes, I did. There will be no casualties at all, and the terror attack supposedly scheduled tomorrow? Not going to happen, my friend. Not on our watch!" declared Eli pompously.

"Don't be so arrogant, Eli. You may end up jinxing us. I'm merely kidding," he chortled when he heard Eli mouth a vulgar word. "You'll never get a girl with your filthy mouth!"

"I'm a gentleman to them, not to you," sassed Eli. "Jokes aside though, I sensed something fishy about the last bomb. The one in Alara's house? Way too easy to defuse. The others- at the Grittie Market and Forest? I sweated so much but I didn't for the last one. Isn't something unusual?"

"Yeah... you're right. But all our intel clarified and assured us that only three bombs were planted, though." Like a light switch, his mirthful mood turned to a broody one quickly, and when he hung up with Eli, he paced around the room, considering the possibility of a fourth one.

"Sir?" When Maren couldn't stop tossing in his bed, he had headed to Valesque's office as he had finally resolved to notify Valesque of his theory.

"It doesn't make sense that people with intent to hurt and kill innocents would plant a bomb that would do no harm at all. Could there be a-"

"A fourth one?" continued Valesque. "I agree with you, but our workers in the Bomb Squad are of the cream of the crop, and if I doubt them again, we'll be at loggerheads, and we can't have that. What our doubts tears the Agency's trust apart?"

"You're right. Another internal conflict may ensue, and we can't have that." Maren thought back to the time when Valesque had persuaded the Chief of the Bomb Squad to stake-out and keep an eye on a more dangerous situation.

Back then, he too had a hunch that things may go awry, and the Chief had been convinced by him enough to heed his words. Yet when nothing happened, it had caused the departments to quarrel and there was a marked strain ever since. Provoking them would only escalate tensions within the Agency itself, and that was something that they could never afford to happen.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking straight," explained Maren, and when Valesque pardoned him, he felt that a hefty weight had been taken off his shoulder.

"It's fine. Now go and rest soon. Tomorrow, you have a five-hour training session with Alara and Tania, and have to check on the quality of the armour. Go off now." shooed Valesque, and Maren, giddy with fatigue, agreeably headed back to bed.

Today, he was sipping champagne instead of the bitter red wine he usually favoured. In his opinion, champagne was fruitier, sweeter and lighter than red wine and the day's success called for a beverage that had a more celebratory vibe.

He sipped it whilst watching the footage of carnage where the wide-eyed civilians flail their arms and tried to keep their children safe as sheer pandemonium erupted near the riverside.

It had been Vequam's favourite place as a child- as well as his well-kept secret. Nobody had ever known that as a child, he would sneak out there at the dead of the night to catch grasshoppers as Vequam had feared being berated by his overprotective family if he was ever caught.

Now, the riverside was a place for the community to fish and for more recreational businesses. Originally, he had wanted the fourth bomb to be planted at the fishing port, since it would destroy ships, goods and traders too- but guessing that the Agents may watch out there, he had chosen the riverside.

Both were quite similar, but the riverside was more for families and children while fishing ports were for money-making. If only the Governors had established the riverside as a legal trading hub, the Ascendancy Agency may have won this round.

However, he was satisfied to know that the silly riverside would bring about at least a death toll of five hundred. It wasn't really a lot of people to sate his bloodlust, but this piece of news would surely devastate Vequam.

It was now a place where Vequam's dreams of being a world-renowned fisherman had just become a grave-site for his loved ones.

He chuckled, feeling vainglorious and took another pleasurable sip of champagne.

Oh, how smooth and rich it is.

Piercing screams and chaos filled the streets of her hometown. Limbs were covered in bright, crimson blood and had littered the lush grass and gravel paths. The stench of death lingered in the air and the previously cheerful atmosphere had transformed into a sombre one. Survivors hugged each other tightly while paying their respects and whispering words of prayer reverently.

She hated this, this feeling of hopelessness and knowledge that it was her fault. Her fault that she had not analysed every piece of every evidence she had. Her fault that she had even more blood on her hands.

She seethed, and a raging fire of hatred arose in her. She wanted death and pain on the Amorals, and she would love nothing more than to have them die by a ruthless and merciless hand.

I will wreck vengeance when I find you, or I will die trying.

It had been a disastrous failure. A successful mission is only one without any casualties. Yes, three bombs had been deactivated. But a bomb still went off, didn't it? Worse still, this tragedy had resulted in a staggering death toll of a hundred people and even ninety more severely injured, some even paralysed.

He knew his agents had tried their best, but they definitely hadn't given their all. If they did, all of this would never have happened. This was preventable!

He slammed his fist on the mahogany table and sighed heavily. He felt so pressured- there were eyes everywhere, scrutinizing his every move, every of his agents' fails and successes.

There was once when he had been under the Governors' radar. And that had cost him everything he had back then.

And it won't happen again.

I'm not going to lose anymore, nor am I going to gain any more unnecessary losses again. I get what I deserve. Just wait, Lilla, just wait for me. For my promise.

He removed the tattoo feverishly, uncaring that his delicate skin would redden and bleed. What mattered now was that he needed to get it off him- he couldn't stand another moment in which this cruel lie was etched into his skin. He'd even irresponsibly cancelled the training session with Alara just for this.

Her sweet smile; gorgeous brown eyes. Those golden flecks in them sparkling whenever she bantered with me. Her sincerity that caught me off my feet. Her determination made me fall.

Drops of blood trickled down, interrupting the precise pattern of the flooring. The tattoo had been designed with admiration but was now tainted with painful secrets and lies.

Fondness and admiration had made it but betrayal destroyed it.

Maren glanced at the red patch of skin and smiled. It seemed fitting that the tattoo's demise occurred on the day when the truth was revealed.

He gingerly placed the laser back to its container and left Alara's bathroom, feeling lighter than he had in a long time.

She landed a string of punches, her muscles flexing slightly and she fought back feelings of fatigue. Launching a spinning kick, she kneed pitiful Gabriel in the groin. I wouldn't be surprised if he regretted helping me train on behalf of Maren, who had matters to attend to- what exactly, I'm not sure, but I'm delighted to have another training partner.

In her opinion, everyone had varying levels of pain and physical limits, therefore the more the people she dueled with, the more experience she'll gain. After the incident, Alara had promised herself to throw herself into every aspect of her training so that she can prevent it from ever happening again.

The only sign Gabriel felt the merciless blow was a stumbling slightly. Being the macho guy that he was, he mimicked her movements while trying to sneak a punch.

The instant he spotted a weakness in her stance- which was that she had recklessly left her shoulders unprotected- he roughly grabbed them, flipping her quickly onto the wooden floor.

"Urgh," Alara groaned, rubbing her shoulder where a blue bruise was already forming. Narrowing her eyes at him, she decided not to hold back on her blows and unleash all her inner turmoil on him.

Massive blows rained on both fighters as they deflected, parried and attacked. Soon, two hours flew by and by the end of it, both were sweaty as pigs.

"Good work," acknowledged Gabriel once both of them got up on their feet by themselves. Smiling, she fist-bumped him.

Yet really, she was just acting.

Her role? To play the perfect actress.

I'm biding my time to get my revenge.