Sam burst into the building to find himself in a narrow corridor. Fortunately. This operation was taking too freaking long, and he wasn't even sure they were in the right building. It had been easy to see from above, but from down here, all the buildings look the same.
The others followed behind and he was aware he should let Jimmy or Kyle go first, but he was angry enough to cause havoc on his own. A guard came out of a room to his right, but before he could make a move, Sam elbowed him in the face. The man fell on his butt, holding on to his cheek.
Sam kicked him to the ground and put his foot on his throat. "Where's Tom?"
"Sam, calm down," Jerry said alarmed.
Snitch Gravel's man glared at Sam, but kept his mouth annoyingly shut.
"He's not going to talk. Jimmy, take him out," Sam said, pulling his foot away and walking out by a stunned Jerry.
"What are you doing? Have you all gone mad?" Jerry hissed, once Jimmy rushed to the room to fulfill the order.
"Calm down, Jerry! Take him out means leave him unconscious, not kill him. Gees!" Kyle said rolling his eyes and falling into step beside Sam. "I have a bad feeling about this. I don't think we're in the right building."
"Why?" Sam asked, turning to Kyle and totally ignoring the two men coming towards them.
Jimmy rushed forward, kicked one in the stomach and punched the other in the face, sending them both to the floor after which he knocked them out.
"It's not connected to the main one. I think the guards are just decoys," Kyle answered, punching another man that had come out of another room to their right and sending him to the floor, already unconscious.
"Decoys?" Jimmy asked frowning.
"No," William scoffed. "There are too many guards in this building; it must be the right one." He charged past them and into the room at the end of the corridor.
"William, wait. Kyle could be right," Sam said, rushing after him, the whole group on his heels.
Sam stopped in the threshold, his knees bumping together. The room was filled with armed men and Sam was so terrified, he couldn't even count them, let alone give any order. They should definitely run back and pray they wouldn't get shot.
Before he could open his mouth, William and Jim took their guns out and started shooting. Sam stared stupidly as the guards fell to the ground, bleeding, yelling and cursing. Kyle and Jimmy quickly moved inside the room to knock them out and keep them from alerting more guards. Jerry turned around and ran out of the room.
A few seconds later, the room was left in silence. Sam felt torn by the need to scream and the feeling of relief that they weren't dead.
"What kind of agents are you?" William asked, changing his ammo cartridge. "You would have let them kill you without moving a finer!"
"And your way was better?" Kyle snarled, not even looking at William.
"Why do you look so affronted? They would have done the same if given the chance."
"I think I'm going to throw up," Sam moaned, turning away.
"You're never going to be a good division leader if you get cold feet," William said, disgusted. "You are all horrible agents."
"You know what? Shut up, or I'll make you," Kyle said between his teeth, advancing on William and stopping inches from him.
William measured him from head to foot. "You aren't capable of hurting your enemies and you want me to believe you would lay a finger on me?"
Sam shut his eyes and waited for the explosion. Kyle was furious and Sam was sure William had crossed the line with his snotty attitude. When no yelling came, Sam cracked one eye open just to see William zooming past him and ramming into the wall. He fell to the floor in a tangled mess of limbs and didn't move.
"God!" Jimmy said rolling his eyes and turning away, while Billy and Jim looked at Kyle shocked.
"Kyle, why did you do that?" Sam moaned. "You could've at least held back a little."
"I did hold back, and not a little, believe me," Kyle answered, wiping his hands against each other. "Why does he have to be such a prick?"
"Wait, that was you holding back?" Sam asked shocked.
He remembered thinking about getting punched in the face full force by his brother, but now he wasn't sure he'd actually survive that. He had no idea how strong Kyle actually was. It then came to his mind that Kyle might not know either.
"Great," Jimmy mumbled, "now we have to carry him around with us."
"Why don't we just leave him here?" Kyle asked.
"Kyle, he's Kay's brother," Billy said, shocked.
"I know, I know. And that's the only reason I didn't hit him full force. Might have gone through the wall..." Kyle said thoughtfully and went towards William to pick him up.
"This building really was a decoy," Sam said as Kyle slung William over his shoulder. "This is taking too long. We should just go back to the main building and follow it until we reach the appendix."
The others nodded, so Sam stepped out. He almost tumbled over Jerry who sat on the floor, his head between his knees.
"Come on, Jerry, let's go."
"I'm not sure I can get up," Jerry said in a flat tone.
"Come on, Jerry, I can't carry you, too. I mean I could, but I'd be useless," Kyle said coming up behind them.
Jerry looked up over his shoulder. "What happened to William?" he asked as though not really interested in the answer.
"Kyle punched him. And honestly, he had it coming," Angie answered.
"Yes, he did. I heard what he said about us. But he's right. How are we supposed to survive in this agency if we can't shoot anyone?" Jerry said, looking away from them.
"We can shoot. We'd just rather avoid it. And that doesn't make us horrible agents, it makes us good people," Jimmy said impatiently. "Let's get out of here and get this over with." He reached out his hand and pulled Jerry up.
The group hurried down the hallway, stepped out and moved cautiously back towards the main building. The further they went undetected, the more Sam got an extremely bad feeling. This was Snitch Gravel's main base. It couldn't be this easy.
His thoughts were confirmed when he heard footsteps behind them. Someone shot next to him and he almost jumped out of his skin.
"The bitch shot me in the legs!" a man shrieked. "Sound the alarm!"
Before he could think too much, and not feeling remotely brave, Sam turned around and bolted towards the form on the ground. Once he reached him, he raised his leg and kicked him in the face as hard as he could. The man slumped on the ground, blissfully silent. Sam prodded him with his foot to make sure he was unconscious, then wrapped his arms around his middle and dragged him towards the others. Jim met him halfway and helped him toss the guard behind a bush.
"That was nifty Sam," Jim whispered. "But I think you kicked him a little too hard."
"I didn't know how hard I should hit him to knock him out," Sam said desperately.
They reached the others who had stopped at the corner of the building to wait and Sam ignored Kyle who was sniggering at him. After checking for guards, they rushed inside the building and hurried along another long corridor. Their running footsteps echoed off the walls and Sam got another bad feeling. Where were the guards? Were they in the wrong place?
They reached the only door leading out of this hallway and Sam pushed it open. The room beyond was cavernous, but empty. A cage stood against one of the walls, its door open, and a chair lay tossed on the floor.
"Surprised, are you, to find this room empty?"
Sam jumped so violently, his feet actually left the floor. Ron was leaning against the wall next to the door, his arms crossed over his chest, looking at them disgusted.
He pushed himself off the wall and walked towards them. "It took you three days to get here, and you actually expected him to still be here? They took him away, and heaven knows if he's still alive!"
Sam made a step towards him, but Jimmy was faster. He reached Ron and punched him in the stomach. With an oomph, Ron tumbled to the floor, his arms wrapped around his middle. Sam tried to pull Jimmy away, but his brother seemed to be in rampage mode. He pulled Ron up by the collar and punched him in the gut again. Only when Kyle grabbed his wrist, after unceremoniously dropping William on the floor, did Jimmy stop from beating Ron into a pulp.
"Why are you stopping me? You should be helping me," Jimmy said frustrated, though he made no attempt to hit Ron again. "We've tried so hard to do this right, to get in and save Tom without being detected and still we've failed. And now, this piece of trash comes here to laugh in our faces!"
"Where's Tom?" Kyle asked, letting Jimmy go and helping Ron stand.
"I don't know," Ron wheezed. "Snitch Gravel sent me away from him. They knew you were coming, that's why they moved him. Less than an hour ago."
"Just marvelous," Jerry said, annoyed. "We have no idea where Tom could be and the sun is raising."
"Do you know anywhere we could hide for a while?" Angie asked urgently.
"As a matter of fact, I do know a place." Ron grinned, though he was still doubled over, trying to recover from Jimmy's attack. "I can show you. That is, if Jimmy will stop beating me up long enough for me to take you there."
"Jimmy will beat you up if you don't take us there now," Jimmy snapped.
Ron looked at him between slightly narrowed eyes, but straightened and limped out of the room. The group followed him as he led them to a small storage room. He took out a ladder and charged down the corridor, his steps much firmer.
As they reached what seemed to be the halfway point between the two doors, Ron pushed the ceiling with the ladder. The panel moved out of the way leaving an opening big enough for one person to crawl through. Rom immediately scurried out of sight, and the others followed him. Once they were all inside, Ron, pulled the ladder up and moved the panel back in place.
The room was low and circular. Sam's eyes darted from the old rug in the middle of the floor, to the one bookcase laying on top of it and the lonely lightbulb on the ceiling.
"This is the safest place I know. No one except me and Snitch Gravel know about it," Ron informed them, his hands already wrapped around the ladder.
"Why are you helping us?" Jerry asked finding a comfortable patch of floor to sit on.
"Because if I don't, your twin will beat me up." Ron laughed, but dropped the ladder. "Listen, I can't stay long and explain because Snitch Gravel will be looking for me soon, but Tom already knows, so I guess it's time you do, too. I'm your uncle, your father's brother."
The room felt silent. Sam stared at Ron, his brain trying to grasp what he was saying. It was like a game of connect the dots, except some of the dots were missing.
"Excuse me?" Jerry asked outraged. "We would've known if you were related to us."
Jimmy smiled bitterly at Jerry then turned to Ron. "It would suit us, but that doesn't make it true."
"My name is Ronald Grant, born in Chicago. My mother's name is Grace Hawn, my father was Sirius Grant and I have two brothers, William Grant known as Bill and Freider Grant," Ron recited. "They're both older than me. My father died when I was 13 and—"
"Okay, I see you have our family history correct," Sam cut him off. This was getting way too freaky. He was past the lost relative scheme. "But considering that Snitch Gravel apparently knows everything about us, he could have told you all this, which doesn't make it conclusive proof."
"Wait, Sam," Kyle said, looking as if divine revelation had come to him. "I remember where I've seen you before," he said to Ron. "In Billy's house!"
"In my house?" Billy asked in disbelief.
"Yeah, I saw Ron talking to your housekeeper. He was looking for your dad."
"So, this means..." Jimmy said reluctantly.
Ron sighed. "I don't know how else to prove it."
Something clicked inside Sam's exhausted mind. "I've seen you, too. In one of mom and dad's wedding photos, but you looked really different."
"Of course I looked different." Ron grinned broadly now. "I was twenty one years younger after all."
"You mean twenty two," Jerry said, suspiciously.
"No, twenty one. I was fifteen the year your parents got married," Ron answered joyfully.
"But that means..." Jerry said, looking at Kyle with wide eyes.
"Well, well, someone was in a hurry to get married because someone else was on their way," Sam said, smiling mischievously at Kyle.
"Oh, shut up, brat," Kyle said, giving Sam a light shove that still managed to propel him into the wall.
"Your mom did look a bit chubby at her wedding now that I come to think about it," Ron said thoughtfully. Then, he just froze, his eyes widening to comical proportions.
"What's the matter?" Jimmy asked, frowning.
"Nothing, I just have to go right now," Ron said panicking and raised the ladder again.
"Why didn't you tell us before?" Jerry asked before Ron managed to open the trap door and lower the ladder.
Ron paused again and nibbled on his lower lip before finally saying, "I guess I just forgot who I was, what it means to have a family. And honestly, if I hadn't met you guys, I'm not sure I would've ever found my way again. I owe you for that."
"Will you be coming back here?" Angie asked.
"I'll try to bring you something to eat," Ron answered, once again picking up the ladder. "Unfortunately, this being a corridor, I may have serious trouble returning. And yeah, I'll try to find out where Tom is," he added before Sam could open his mouth to ask.
He opened the trap door, lowered the ladder and was gone before anyone else could say anything else.