I gripped Niall's elbow tightly as he dragged me through the awaiting crowds. My stomach rumbled and I instantly raised a hand over it, pondering the last time I had eaten or drunk anything remotely filling. It was two days ago.

Niall's beady eyes catch sight of the movement and he narrows his eyes. Flashes of cameras and loud screams from fans reverberate in my ears and I grip more tightly to Niall, fearful I'd lose myself in the immense crowds. It didn't seem as though the sea of people would ever end but we finally made it to the SUV and we both flung ourselves inside.

"We're going to get you something to eat." Niall tells me, buckling in and gripping the steering wheel tightly. "I don't think any of us have had a decent meal since your arrest and we head home tomorrow. Anywhere you fancy?"

"Let's just get a McDonalds or something." I shrug. "And do you have to drive? I would like to breathing and not in a coffin when I go back to the UK."

Niall chuckles beneath his breath. "I am so not that bad at driving. I passed my test didn't I?"

"Barely!" I scoffed.

"There were fans everywhere that day!"

"And whose fault is it being in an insanely popular boyband?"

Niall remains silent as he turns the keys to start the car. I play with my nails as he pulls off, a habit I developed the first time Niall ever drove me anywhere- I think I was scarred for life. His driving is erratic. Think of the worst person that's ever driven you anywhere. Then multiply that by a hundred and throw in a cute, Irish accent. That's how bad Niall's driving is.

"Stop picking your nails. I won't crash you know! The great country of Britain had determined that I am fit to drive and I intend to get to McDonalds in one piece." Niall lays a hand over my fidgeting ones and shakes his head.

"Sorry. Which lead are we going to follow up first?" I ask, tapping my phone's passcode in and scrolling to my emails. "Jennifer sent the files through."

"I dunno. That Tessa gives me a funny feeling but my gut is telling me we don't know the whole story." Niall shrugs. "Just a supposition, nothing concrete."

"Well, we're going to have to come up with something concrete because we're due back home soon and we can't stay here any longer without somebody questioning the reasoning behind it. And duh! If we knew the whole story, this wouldn't be happening right now."

"I guess. Listen, have a look at Tessa's file for a sec. We may as well begin now."

I select Tessa's file from the attached documents and wait for my phone's file service to load it up. After what feels like forever, it opens up and I glance at the number of pages within the document. 6.
The first page up is a general overview of herself. When she was born, routines, parentage, the usual. But the next page was a little more interesting. Titled Background, I began to read and found some interesting stuff out about a supposed close friend.

It turned out, Tessa's parents wanted to abort the baby when they first discovered the pregnancy. But Tessa's grandad had refused to let his daughter do it and they gave birth to a healthy girl. Unfortunately, Tessa's parents had grown to resent her and Tessa was left to fend for herself from a very young age. I gasped aloud as I read and watched Niall throw concerned looks over at me as he drove.

"Eyes on the road." I snapped, fearful that, combined with his stupid driving, one distraction could cause Niall to crash.

"Sheesh. What got your knickers in a twist?" He asked, flicking his eyes back to the road.

"Tessa's background. I can't understand how parents can do that to a child." I'm on the verge of tears now.

"People are cruel and callous Kayleigh. That's what makes the world a world. But it could possibly explain why Tessa is so thick skinned. Like she's built up a resistance to that sort of thing." Niall suggested, pulling into the drive through land of McDonalds. I opened my mouth to tell him my order but he had already told the lady exactly what we both wanted. How the hell could my best friend do that?

"Magic." He said, face serious. It caused me to splutter violently and the lady serving us gave me a disgusted look. I rolled my eyes in response and waited for Niall to grab our order and leave.

"Eat." Was all he said, tossing me the bag and settling back in the drivers seat. "You're going to need all the energy you can get if we're going to interview Tessa.

I don't say anything, tucking into the food like a hungry wolf. I pick up my phone again and read through the rest of the file. I'm half want through and about to write it all off as generic crap when something catches my eye.

'Involved in accidents: One. Was a pedestrian hit by a car. All three people inside car died. Date 27/06/03."

"Shit," I mumble, searching through my bag and plucking out the copy of Angelica Walters' file. "That can't be a coincidence."

"What?" Niall asks me, glancing across, again, and watching me intently.

"Tessa was there when Angelica died. She was a pedestrian hit as the car flew across the road. She was on life support but pulled through- she's the survivor!" I exclaim as Niall's eyes widen in horror.

"You're joking?" He says to me.

"No, no I'm not."

"Well let's go talk to Tessa then."

---

"I thought I warned you to stay out of all of this." Tessa spat as she rifled through the clothes rack attached to the wall. "You've got no idea what this could start."

"Please, Tessa. We just want to find out what happened to Paul- you can help us, surely? We're not in this for any other reason than to find Paul's murderer." I look at her with pleading eyes, watching her visibly stiffen when I say the word 'murderer'.

"Fine. But I'm not telling you everything." Tessa finally concedes sinking down into a seat. "What do you want to know?"

"Everything." Niall replies simply.

"Not happening, Irish." Tessa narrows her eyes at us.

"Fine, then tell us about the car crash and your injuries." I purse my lips.

"You know about that?" Tessa whispers in shock.

"Yes. And we need to know everything you can tell us relating to it." Niall says.

"Well, I was walking home from a party I'd been to. It was late at night and I was a little bit tipsy. I'd come through the back route instead of going the main way home. I was tired and didn't see the car until it was too late. By then it had hit the tree and slammed onto the pavement. It crushed me and punctured my lung as well as fracturing my femur and wrist. I was lucky to be alive." Tessa explains, biting her lip and looking down at her nails.

"Angelica didn't die straight away. I managed to pull myself over to the car and saw her. Her parents were dead and Angelica was close- she was a mess. It was horrific. She said to tell her fiancée he was dead to her but she died before I could reply."

We sit there in stunned silence, glancing at one another. I eyed Tessa warily, cautious as to whether or not she was telling the truth. Niall kept his gaze level with her's and I sat there, glancing down at the file.

"What did you mean by the fact that we shouldn't get involved Tess?" I ask gently. Her wild, green eyes suddenly lock on mine and she jumps up, blonde hair flinging outwards as she towers over me.

"There are people in this world, Kayleigh, that would kill for what I know. There are people that would kill you for what you know. Do not underestimate Anni, because you will die." I watch her fingers trail slowly round to her back pocket, an all too familiar outline bulging in it.

"NIALL!" I scream, shocking them both. "Get out!" Tessa realises I've spotted the gun and draws it quickly, as I slam into Niall's body and push us both behind the sofa in the room.

Loud noises from the gun surround us as the pellets ping around. Some hit the back wall and one comes dangerously close to my head. I press my body more forcefully against Niall's and push us further towards the sofa. The poor lad's paralysed with fear and I'm not doing much better myself, only my instincts remain to guide me.

Tessa isn't stopping but she's not coming closer to us, likely due to the fact the gun she's using is more suited to longer distances. I start to shake and a small whimper escapes my lips. Niall and I are in the most awful place and being shot at. It's not a good day. I pray that somebody will come to our rescue but Tessa is continuing to shoot at us, reloading in milliseconds. She wants us dead, and I can't work out why.
Suddenly, I hear footsteps above us clattering down the stairwell outside.

"Shit." Tessa mutters, stopping shooting. "Roger, let's get out of here. We have company." I hear her swift movements carry her to the window and launch herself out. As I peel myself away from the sofa to peek over the edge, all I see is blonde hair sweeping out behind Tessa's falling body.

The footsteps are getting closer and Niall and I share a panicked look. He extends a shaky hand to the clothes rack and we stumble towards it, immersing ourselves in clothes. Seconds later, people enter the room.

"Source of shots found. No evidence of perpetrator or victim." A man yells into the corridor. "Get Simon Cowell on the line." My eyes widen and Niall and I glance at each other. What the hell has Simon got to do with all of this? This situation is just getting more confusing by the second.

I daren't move the clothes to look out in case I alert the people to our presence but, at the same time, I need to know what's going on. A small crack between a skirt and t-shirt allows me to see some of what's going on but not all. A police officer has entered the room, speaking in rapid French, and is examining the area. All of a sudden, the food I'd consumed earlier began to rise in my throat as bile and it burned the lining. I linked my fingers loosely with Niall's (who was still in great shock) and looked worriedly at the scurrying police officers around us. They were of yet to check the clothes rail but I knew they would eventually.

Niall seemed to know what I was thinking and began to frantically search for an escape route. Finding nothing helpful, he turned to me and shrugged. I leaned back, careful not to let a breath escape my lips and raised my hand to my forehead, rubbing in a circular motion. I grabbed the light handle, that was attached to the wall, to help pull me up and that was when it happened. A small section of the wall slid away behind me and I fell through, hitting my head.

The officers must have heard the noise because the rail was suddenly whipped away, causing Niall to have to jump through and roll on the floor. The police man glares at us both in shock and reaches out to grab my collar but the wall slides back and he has to snatch his arm away to avoid it being chopped off.

The room we were in was pretty creepy, it was like your typical horror movie base,net. Cobwebs were everywhere and the walls were lined with bookcases but, perhaps most intriguingly of all, was the giant chest in the middle. I padded across the floor, still shaking, and tried to remove the lid. It was stuck.

"As lovely as this place is," Niall said sarcastically "we should get moving."

"Where are we though? We can't go anywhere unless we know where we are." I reply, still trying to yank the lid off the chest.

"Here. Let me." Niall walks over and braces himself, pushing the lid of the chest across by a centimetre.

He lets out an exhausted breath and tries again, this time making the lid open up by more than ten centimetres.

"That thing's heavier than it looks." He pants, putting his hands on his hips. I reach inside to take a look but am treated with an expanse of nothingness.

"There's nothing here." I stifle a laugh at Niall's face.

"I did not just lift that thing off for nothing!" He protests, astounded.

"Looks like you did. But we need to hurry up. It's only a matter of time before those officers work out how to get on here and we have to somehow explain what we were doing."

We turn to an arch in the wall and slowly approach it, noting the lights lining it.

"Where do you think it leads to?" I ask, cautiously.

"Only one way to find out." Niall replies, beginning to wall through it.

"Niall, this is like every horror movie I have ever watched- and the person who goes into the creepy, dark passage always gets killed!" I squeal, unsure where it came from.

"Oh come off it Kay! This is real life, let's just see where it leads to." He holds out a hand for me and I grasp it, feeling my fingernails dig into his soft, pink flesh.

He leads me through the passage and up the steps we eventually arrive at, moving stealthily as the ominous drips of water fall all around us. I prod him when he comes to a stop but soon notice we"cd reached a dead end.

"Where do we go now?" I ask stupidly.

"Duh. Up. Through there!" Niall points upwards at a trap door. "Come on!" He says encouragingly, sliding back the dead bolt and pushing against the rotten wood.

It creaks open and daylight spills in, clean oxygen filling my lungs as I absorb every bit of it that I can. After being deprived of unused air for the past while, you can see why I'm happy.

I jump and latch onto the edge of where the trap door closes, catching the metal ledge and yanking myself up. I reach my hand down to help Niall up and he grasps it tightly, allowing me to yank him up.
We both collapse on the ground, panting, and looking up at the blue sky. Niall kicks the trapdoor shut with his foot and then promptly stands up, looking around.

"We're round the back of the concert hall. The car's about a five minute walk from here or a two minute run if you're up to it." He suggests as he pulls me to my feet.

"Let's just walk, I'm a little dizzy." I reply, my world beginning to spin.

"Okay. Let me know if you want to stop."

We begin our walk, stopping several times because I suddenly get a wave of nausea wash over me. I don't know how I'm going to help Niall follow up the three remaining leads like this because I'm a mess.
The trek is slow and laborious but we finally reach the car, hopping in and driving away quickly to escape the notice of the police. With any luck, that officer wouldn't remember what we looked like. After all, he had only seen us very briefly.

Once in the car, I suddenly need air so I wind the window down and rest my chin of the ledge. I suddenly get a shooting pain through my abdomen and place my hand over my side, only to feel something sticky and warm oozing through the sticky material of my t-shirt.

I glance down and suddenly feel a different type of queasy, noticing the magenta blood seeping slowly through the cotton top. As I pull it up, I see I've been caught by a bullet but it's bad and I'm loosing a lot of blood. How I'm able to stand this without screaming is something I cannot comprehend.

"Niall." I whisper my voice hoarse. "Help."

He flicks his attention from the road for a moment and his eyes land on my side.

"Oh Jesus. Kayleigh are you al-"

But blackness suddenly envelopes me and I greet like a friend, feeling tired and wishing to just let it all go.

YOU

That was far too close. What if I'd got caught? Then where would I be?

My heart was beating out of my chest at an extreme speed, my stomach aching. I couldn't believe what I'd just done. Was there really any reason for it?

Oh god, what if Kayleigh was injured?

I hadn't seen any blood but that didn't necessarily mean she wasn't hurt. She was my one chance of getting away with his murder. If the police discovered she was hurt, they'd instantly dismiss her as a suspect and that would put the sole focus of the investigation on me.

But I was protecting her by doing it, surely?

That was what Anni had told me. Right?

Anni was never wrong. I had trusted the system for the past eleven years. I couldn't give up now, all for the sake of my sister. A sister who knew nothing about my situation.

It wasn't like she was even involved with Anni. She would probably grow to loathe it like most people do. But she would be so wrong. She'd regret it as well.

That was the task I was most upset about agreeing to.

I had to kill my sister, Genevieve, and I couldn't do it.

I'm weak and I'm pathetic, I know. But if you had to kill your own sister, would you?

Target practice last week was awful. They forced me to shoot a picture of Genevieve so that, when the time came, I wouldn't hold back.

Anni was training me to be a monster, that's why I joined. But I was conflicted.

Because being a monster meant not having empathy. I still had some left.

After 10 fucking years of hard core training, I could still feel. And I didn't want to feel.

My parents used to tell me that to feel was one of the greatest things the world would ever give you. But Anni has taught me differently.

Feeling will be your downfall, because feeling is what leaves you weak. Feeling is what gives your enemies a chance to attack. Because feeling causes hesitation.

I raise my hand, levelling the gun. I pull but the trigger and jump at the recoil. It's greater than what I've used before and it hurts. A lot.

I can see a multi coloured bruise appearing already but I ignore the pain because pain is a feeling. Instead, I adjust the gun and re-aim.

This time, the bullet shoots straight through the target and I receive appraising nod from Rochelle. I'm doing well.

Next time I have to shoot, I won't miss.

Notes

Heya!

Chapter 10- double digits baby! Whoop whoops!

I came up with an idea for another story today- probably will start writing it once this one's over!

So, whaddya think?

Let me know! :)

Comment, rate, subscribe and tell all of your friends how awesome this story is!

Just kidding, you can tell them if it's shit too :)