Mission 2 Part 3

Laz and Ryan couldn’t speak for several seconds. “Kayla? You have got to be joking now.”
“No Ryan, I’m not, believe me I wish it weren’t true, but it is,” Chris sighed again.
“Look, Emmy was a little unbelievable, but Kayla? That’s just preposterous.” Laz protested.
Ryan stood up. “I’m going to the Emperor with this.”
Chris beat him to the door and held it shut. “I wouldn’t do that.”
“Why not? I’m not going to believe this until I’ve at least got the Emperor’s opinion.”
“I was afraid of that,” Chris shook his head.
“What did you say, Chris?” Ryan asked.
Chris laughed evilly. “You know, you keep calling me Chris, you really shouldn’t.”
Laz gasped. “You’re not Chris?”
Chris shook his head. “No I’m not.” He pulled at his chin and tore away his face, which they could now see was a mask.
Underneath the mask was a woman with eyes of cold steel.
“Hey,” Laz said. Not noticing the men creeping up behind him from out of the bookshelves. “You’re that lady that was on the hood of the car.”
“Yes,” she purred. “You can call me M.”
“This is the part where you kill us, isn’t it?” Ryan asked, solemnly.
She nodded. “Yah.” Then she head butted him, knocking him out cold. “Dispose of them and I’ll capture Emmy and Kayla. Tomorrow we’ll frame them so it will look like Ryan and Laz found them out and they killed each other off.


“Me?” Kayla asked. “You must be crazy.”
“Maybe, maybe not, all I know is the evidence points to you and Ryan and Laz. Not to mention some tour guide named Emmy that lives in the palace. You’re all going down.”
“How can you say that?” Kayla protested. “Can’t you see I must have been framed?”
“You can’t be framed that well, Kayla. I wish I could believe you, really I do.”
“No you don’t,” Kayla disagreed. “You’re happy.” She paused. “You’re not Cathy, are you?”
Cathy smiled. “Of course I am.” The smile tipped Kayla off; Cathy would not have smiled in this situation.
Kayla threw herself at Cathy and tried to get to her face.
“Help!” Cathy called. Kayla finally reached Cathy’s face but was torn off of her by strong arms.
“Please, ma’am,” came a strong voice. “Don’t make this any more difficult than it has to be. Now I think you know why I’m here.”
“Officer Nick,” Kayla cried. “You’re arresting the wrong person! Cathy’s an imposter!” She lunged at Cathy but Nick held her back.
“Come now, treason is a crime you know, punishable by death, and you know that’s the way the Emperor always does it. Why did you have to do it?”
“But I didn’t,” she insisted. “It wasn’t me.”
“Trust me Kayla,” came a familiar voice. “I wish I could believe that.”
“Emperor?” Kayla said. “Please, Emperor, you have to believe,” she begged.
The Emperor just waved her off. “Take her away, I need time to think how to execute her.”


Ryan woke up to an unfriendly sight. It was Laz’s face…
“Yuck,” he exclaimed. He tried to jump up but his splitting headache and tied hands reminded him of their situation.
“Got any ideas?” Laz asked.
Ryan pondered for a minute. “Yah,” he said after a while. “You got some gum?”

Kayla sat in a cold dark prison, shivering. How could this be happening? Suddenly the door to the cell opened and figure stepped inside. Kayla looked up at the figure. “Cathy?” she said.
Cathy smiled and laughed evilly. “That’s what you think.” Then she reached for the corner of her face and tore away her mask to reveal none other than…
“Pat?” Kayla said in amazement.
Pat laughed. “Yours truly.”
“I knew you weren’t really Cathy.”
Pat gave a look of fake surprise. “I have to give you credit. You’re not as stupid as I thought.” He grabbed her by the arm and brought her to her feet. Kayla was still cuffed so she couldn’t resist. “You have a meeting with your friends, Laz and Ryan. I’d hate for you to be late.”

Ryan and Laz worked the way around till they could reach into each other’s pockets.
“This is really uncomfortable,” Ryan commented.
“Aha!” Laz said finally. “I got it, apparently they didn’t think to take our gum.”
“All right,” Ryan said, excited. “Let’s blow these chains off.”
“Won’t we just blow ourselves up?”
“Oh yeah,” Ryan was disappointed. “I didn’t think of that.”
Laz sighed. “You got a plan B?”



Pat dragged Kayla outside and shoved her into a helicopter. They took off and headed towards the palace. “Where are you taking me?” Kayla asked, although she already thought she knew.
Pat smiled a wicked smile. “To a nice place, it has a great view.”
That was it then, he was taking her to the Imperial Trade Center. The tallest building in the Empire, with glass windows on every floor, they were going to kill her.

Ryan and Laz sat in their prison, pondering how to get free when suddenly, Ryan came up with and idea so brilliantly obvious, it stunned him. “What if we just tore a piece off of the gum, to make the explosion smaller.
Laz looked at him, shocked. “That’s got to be the most brilliant thing you’ve ever said!” he exclaimed.
“Try it.”
Laz tore a piece off of both sides of the gum and stuck it into the locks on their chains. The gum exploded just enough to break the lock open and allow them to shake the chains off.
“Now for the guards,” Laz said.
Ryan grinned. “This should be easy.”

Two guards stood outside Ryan and Laz’s room. They were supposed to make sure no one went in or out of the doors, but it was late and they had fallen asleep. Just for a minute but it was good enough for Ryan to slip by. He turned around and was about to knock them out when one of them stirred. Ryan leapt into the storage room across from them and Laz went back inside.
One of the guards yawned and shook himself awake. He smacked the other one until he woke up. “We fell asleep,” he growled. “Go check the room to make sure everything’s okay.”
Before he could though, a young female could be seen walking down the hall, it was Emmy.
“Where’d Emmy come from?” Laz wondered. “She’s gonna get killed.”
“Hey, you,” one of the guards yelled. “You’re not supposed to be here.”
As Emmy reached the guards she spun around and roundhouse kicked him in the face, he slumped to the ground.
Laz opened the door at that moment and brought his arm crashing into the other guard’s face. They disarmed the guards and pulled them inside their former prison.
“Nice work, Emmy,” Laz congratulated her.
Emmy shook her head. She grabbed her chin and started to pull her face off, but, you guessed it, it was a mask. Once the masked was off it revealed, guess who, Ryan Cruise. He removed the voice changer from his throat and laughed.
“I think I deserve an Oscar for that performance.”
“Where’d you get the dress, though?” Laz asked, looking down at him.
“Don’t ask.” He looked at Laz and grinned. “Guess what time it is now?”
Laz scratched his head. “Time to get a new watch?”
“No, its time to suit up. M is going down.”
Ryan pulled another piece of gum from his pocket and smashed it together, he smiled and tossed it into the cell where the guards were….

Just as Kayla suspected, the helicopter dropped them off at the Imperial Trade Center. Pat roughly led her into the elevator and they began the climb to the top of the building. Several minutes later, they arrived. M met them at the top floor. “Finally,” she growled. “Tie her up and put her in with the other girl.” Pat threw her into the room that M was speaking of. Kayla landed on the floor with a grunt and looked around. Tied up in the corner was a young girl; she was shaking and trying to hold back her sobs.
“What’s your name?” Kayla asked.
“Emmy,” the girl replied.
“My name’s Kayla. Don’t worry Emmy, someone’s going to come for us. They can’t get away with this.”
Just then M came into the room, laughing. “Oh, but we can, yes we can. Guards!” Just then Pat and four guards stepped into the room. “Keep an eye on these two, will you? Cruise and Dance should be here any minute.”
Kayla’s eyes grew wide.
M laughed. “Yes, we know all about your friends. They never met the real Christophear at the palace. We let them escape from the guards so they could come here.”
“How will they know where to go?” Emmy asked.
“We let them follow someone here,” M replied, eager to share her plan.

Ryan and Laz, now decked out in their combat suits and with all the weapons they could carry, and a few hidden surprises besides, ran down the hall.
“Look,” Ryan whispered. He pointed to one of M’s henchmen sneaking out of the palace. “Let’s follow him and see where he goes.”
“You think this could be a trap?” Laz asked. They looked at each other and smiled. “Nah.”

“That’s right girls,” M laughed. “This whole thing is a setup.” Apparently, Ryan and Laz framed Kayla, with the help of Emmy. When she broke out of prison she came back for revenge. In the shootout you all killed each other.”
“You’ll never get us to do that,” Kayla snapped.
Pat laughed this time. “We don’t need to, I have a few friends that are stellar at forensics, and planting evidence.”
“Why Emmy?” Kayla asked. “She’s just a tour guide.”
M shrugged. “Never liked her, she was too nice for me.”
Emmy glared. Something Kayla didn’t expect, this girl had some spirit. “You’ll pay for this,” Emmy spat. That settled it; the girl did have spirit, a lot.
“You’re as stupid as you are friendly,” M growled, reaching up to slap her.
“Stop right there, M,” said a familiar voice.
“IMF,” said another. “You’re under arrest.”
“Ryan, Laz,” Kayla cried. The guards instantly pointed their guns at Ryan and Laz, who had just burst in the door.
“I wouldn’t do that,” Ryan said, smiling.
M chuckled. “Why not?”
“Because I know all about your plan.”
Laz frowned. “You do?” Ryan elbowed him sharply.
“Yah, the whole thing.”
M scoffed. “You’re bluffing.”
“Dang,” Ryan slapped his thigh. “I was hoping that would work.”
M walked up to him, the guards still had their weapons trained on them, and Ryan and Laz never stopped pointing their Berettas at the guards. “You don’t look very afraid, Cruise.” She bit out his last name and spit it on the ground as if it were rotten fruit. “Why’s that? What are you hiding?”
Ryan grinned. “I know something you don’t,” he said in a singsong voice.
“What?” M growled.
“I signed a three book contract, you can’t kill me.” He whacked her on the side of the head and pointed both his Berettas at the nearest guard.
“Stop!” Pat cried.
Ryan, Laz and the guards froze. Pat was holding Emmy and Kayla by the window, ready to throw them out.
“You have a choice to make, Cruise,” Pat laughed. “Who are you going to save, Kayla? Or Emmy?”
Ryan didn’t appear worried and neither did Laz.
Pat frowned. “Aren’t you worried?”
Ryan shook his head. “No. I’ve already decided who to save.....”