“Ladies and gentlemen, please have a seat,” a man in a dark colored suit announced. The room was very large with several potted plants surrounding a large round table. A projection screen was hung on the wall opposite of the man, revealing different details about the topic that was being discussed. “We are ready to get started. So, as you know, something very big is going to happen two weeks from today. It is going to be the tenth anniversary of the September 11^th disaster in New York City on the World Trade Center, otherwise known as the 'day of silence' in the force.

“To be quite frank, we all knew this day would come. It was just a huge matter of time before it came along. First off, you all must know that there is nothing official planned for the eleventh. There are no special security measures, there are no adjustments to the line of authority, and there is no planned order of how we are going to proceed. Instead, there is one single rule change. Just one. The courts, as we all know, decide the punishment for a given crime if one is accounted as guilty. However, on the eleventh, this will be a completely false fact. On that day, the one day all of us fear the most, each and every one of us in this room will have the authority to sentence someone for their crime at the very moment.

“This means that, should there be even the slightest bit of threat towards the integrity of national security or to the citizens of this country, law enforcement has the will to use any means necessary to stop this threat from succeeding. Don't even think twice about it. If it is simply a gut feeling, go on it! Perhaps, if you are right, you might just be saving millions of lives. This does not mean that you have the will to apprehend any subject at any time you feel. This means that you have the will to terminate a subject when presented with evidence — or anything of the sort — that they could harm a human being residing in this country. Do I make myself clear?” At first, there was barely a response in the room. Every man or woman that was sitting around the table listening had a shocked expression taking over their face. None of them could believe that it was true.

Then, finally, one of them responded. It was a man in the far back. He had piercing green eyes and very long, dark black hair. He clearly exercised every single day and he had what looked like a scar across the left side of his forehead.

“Sir,” he began. “You make yourself one-hundred percent clear. We will not let you down.” The words hung in the air for a moment. Suddenly, as if someone had struck everyone with a charm, the men and women broke into a round of applause. The speaker of the meeting let out a small smile as everyone in the room began to cheer him on.

It was that meeting, that day that had the biggest impact for the future. Anything inside of the United States was surely going to be protected with utmost force, and no one was going to get away with anything.

Everyone in the meeting room separated and exited through the glass doors on the end of the room. Once the last person exited, the doors swung shut, as if putting two puzzle pieces together. Printed on the doors was the seal of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

 “Please, don't do it!” a teenage boy begged aloud. His roommate, who was older than him by two years, stood on a ledge that raised him about half a foot from the floor. Around them, the air was frigid and thin, the wind threatened to end everything in a split second, and the clouds above were half covering the sun. Nothing about the weather pleased the teenage boy. “We still have a chance! You do not have to do this.”

“Still have a chance?” the older roommate struggled to look towards the teenager. “Jess, they saw me! Don't you understand? I have no room in this world anymore. It is you who must carry on the legacy. Besides, the second we go back down to ground floor and exit the building, I have the chance of being caught. I cannot risk everything we have been through.”

“And for what?” Jess asked. He had piercing blue eyes, the same ones that his roommate had, and long, dark brown hair That flopped every which way whenever a stronger gust of wind came through. Only, he didn't care because his roommate would be more threatened by the wind than he was. “Just to plunge off of a skyscraper to your death? There has to be a more logical solution to this. It isn't like this mission was our life!”

“You don't understand,” the roommate said, looking down towards the calm traffic and pedestrians below. From so high up, he could barely identify who was a pedestrian and what was a car. All he knew was that when he jumped, he would find out soon enough. “This means more to me than anything. Promise me.” He looked back towards Jess, their eyes meeting each other in a collision of two ungodly powerful oceans. “Promise me that after I go, you will carry on the mission. Look into it further, because I promise you, it means something that you couldn't possibly imagine.”

“Tyler, stop!” Jess yelled. “What are you trying to tell me? If it has something to do with the medical files we stole, just tell me right now. You do not need to commit suicide over them. It is simple. Perfectly simple.” Tyler just shook his head and returned his gaze to the wide world below. “Don't do it.” Jess was speaking calmly. Maybe, if he had stopped raising his voice, his roommate would listen to him. “Please. Don't jump.”

“I'm sorry,” Tyler said calmly in response. “This is just the way it has to be.”

“No!” Jess screamed. Tyler tilted forward against the wind, slicing through it like he was a gigantic boulder. Jess leaped forward, almost grabbing onto his arm, when he tripped against a pipe that stuck out from the rooftop, causing him to fall face first into the concrete. Then, just like that, Tyler was plunging faster and faster toward the ground.

One month earlier.

The room was darkly lit. Instead of the usual incandescent bulb lighting the room, there were several candles lit, placed strategically so that every corner of the room was found by light. Tyler sat at the desk, writing something on a piece of parchment that looked as old as it could get. He wrote a full page, something that wasn't much of an accomplishment to him, about something he was too afraid to say out loud. Then, he carefully folded the parchment and placed it in an envelope with such ease that if someone was watching, they would have guessed that the piece of paper itself was a bomb. Finally, he closed the envelope and scribbled a name on the front of it. He stood up, grabbed a coat, and walked out the door toward the elevator. As he was waiting, he began to mumble to himself.

“Don't mention her name,” he whispered. “It will only make things more complicated for him.” The beep of the signal above the silver elevator doors indicated that it had arrived. Every time, Tyler knew that it took a couple of seconds for the doors to open before he could get on. Then as if they were right on time, they opened on his mark. He entered the doors and they slowly took him towards ground floor.

“He doesn't have to know. I will just say that it's an alias.” Before the elevator got to his destination, it suddenly stopped to let another passenger on. As the man got on, his slithering green eyes glanced at Tyler's. On cue, a tingling shiver went up Tyler's spine, forcing his hands to nearly let go of the letter. Luckily, he caught it and held it closer to him.

“This is just the way it has to be,” he whispered ever so quietly to himself, making sure the other passenger could not hear. The beep of the elevator indicated that it was about to stop. Tyler took a deep breath and, when the doors opened, rushed out of the elevator immediately. He didn't even stop to look back. He went out the front doors without checking out and hailed a taxi. For a moment, it was like all of them were ignoring him. He couldn't get a single taxi to stop for him. Then, out of the blue, one of the slowly squeaked to a stop on the curb in front of him.

“Thanks,” Tyler said as he sat down and swung his feet into the cab.

“Where are you headed?” the cab driver asked aloud. Tyler dug into his pocket, and with the loud crumplings of a piece of notebook paper, he forced it out and squinted at the messy handwriting.

“Let me see,” Tyler said aloud. “I would like to go to 1126 Richmond Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10314, please. Thank you.” He forced the piece of paper back into his pocket and held the letter lightly between his dry hands.

“A cemetery?” the driver motioned. “Why are you headed for a cemetery?”

“That is — ” he froze, looking for the words to explain the answer. When he couldn't think of anything however, he simply said, “it's complicated. I would rather not discuss it at the moment.” The driver simply nodded and maneuvered his way into traffic. At first, it wasn't that hard to get through each intersection. Yet, as they approached the only entrance to Staten Island, traffic got heavier and heavier. It soon came to the point where the cab wasn't moving at all. The silence inside the cab got a bit awkward, so Tyler looked out the window every now and then for a source of happiness or sanity.

Once he looked out at the sky, he found it. The perfect source. The clouds above had been gathering all day over the city, and it looked like it was finally about to rain. He and his roommate always found the rain to be quite soothing. It made things calm in their mind, the same type of calm that they experienced when they took a sip of warm tea in front of a nice fire, incidentally a tradition that both of them had as children.

“Well, kid, looks like this is going to be awhile,” the cab driver said, breaking the silence. “This traffic is outrageous today. I can't believe this.” Tyler sighed, holding back is annoyance. Every time, every single time someone called him 'kid' or anything along those lines, it bugged him a lot.

“Look,” he said. “I am 21 years old. Please do not call me 'kid' the way you just did.” The cab driver looked up at the rear-view mirror right at Tyler. Suddenly, he chuckled and returned to the road where a long line of cars was still stopped in front of him.

“Sorry, kid,” the driver said. “It is no offense towards you; I call everyone kid. Except for, of course... Well, you don't need to know.” Tyler sighed again, just hoping the ride would soon be over. The cab returned to complete silence, all the way until they arrived at the curb in front of Baron Hirsch Cemetery, nearly a whole hour later. Tyler gave the driver his pay after grabbing his letter from the seat. Slowly, he approached the large iron gates that divided him from all of the graves inside the cemetery. Once he pushed open the gates with a loud screech (that caused him to almost put his hands against his ears), he felt the first raindrop fall from the dark sky.

Better hurry, he thought to himself. I wouldn't want this letter to be ruined. He strode lightly against the medium-length grass until he came up to a grave that was placed luckily under a large tree. It was nearly perfect. He knelled down in front of the grave and, as lightly as possible, leaned the envelope against it so that the name he had scribbled on it was facing out. Then he just stood there with his hands behind his back. He didn't speak, he just simply listened to the rain as it fell onto the tree above. Every now and then, a single raindrop would find its way onto Tyler's head, but he didn't mind.

As the rain intensified, he decided it would be a good idea to leave. So, he moved around all of the graves that were decorated with flowers and other mementos of their loved ones until he reached the large gate. He glanced back one more time at the grave he had come to visit, and left the cemetery at once. After he left, a single raindrop found its way onto the envelope, just a centimeter below the name. That was the only raindrop that would land on it.

The train station that day wasn't as full as it normally was on a Saturday. Instead, there was one couple, a few people waiting next to the tracks, and a security guard. Of course, there was always a security guard so there was only about five people at the station.

The air was humid and the clouds above were heavy and gray. There were a few spots on the pavement that were still wet from the rain, but it had stopped for the moment. From the looks of it however, it would most likely begin shortly. That could make things a bit more complicated for Tyler and Jess since their afternoons weren't exactly typical.

“In and out,” Tyler spoke aloud, appearing to be talking to himself. “There doesn't need to be any trouble at all. We both know that the architect is out on a lunch break, so you should have at least twenty minutes to find those blueprints.”

“What if he notices that they are missing?” Jess' voice transmitted through the blue-tooth in Tyler's left ear.

“He won't,” Tyler said. “He hasn't used those blueprints for a very long time. He just stores them all in the same area so that he never forgets the work he has done in the past.” Tyler stood there in silence for a couple of minutes before he heard his roommate's voice again.

“You said, 'so he never forgets the work.' Doegotisticean he looks at the blueprints every now and then to fulfill his narcissistic, ego-tistical desires to look like a great architect? He will notice that one of his most beloved creations is gone!”

“Look, I never said he was narcissistic or — egotistical? I'm just saying, if you were an architect, you would want to save all of your work to keep it official. It isn't like he literally checks up on every single blueprint to make sure it is there. Remember, he doesn't expect anyone to go stealing something that is already created.”

“Which reminds me, why are we doing this?” Jess countered. “Why can't we just walk into the hospital and ask for a few files? Is it really that hard?”

“They aren't going to give some random guys personal files, Jess. You know that. Just get the darn blueprints before he comes back! We don't have time to argue.” Tyler practically cursed under his breath over annoyance of his roommate. He found that their arguments were always a waste of time, since Jess never really wanted to do something that could threaten their lives or their freedom.

“I'm in,” Jess' voice announced into Tyler's ear. Several miles from the train station, in a fifteen-year-old house that had peeling paint, degraded structure, and faded walls, Jess had made his way into some architect's house. He had climbed through a window in the back, which was a lot easier than he had expected, and landed feet first on a dark blue carpet in a bedroom with tan walls and a cracked ceiling. Oddly enough, for an architect's house, it was not in too good of a shape.

As Jess explored, he found a double bed, a large brown dresser, a desk with the latest work he was creating, and a closet that was stuffed half full with crumpled-up pieces of paper and cardboard. The floor too was covered with a few wads of paper that Jess made extra sure not to step on. If the architect really had a partner, being why he had a double bed, there is no telling where she might be.

“Ty, he has a double bed,” Jess whispered. “You never said anything about him having a wife or a girlfriend. What do I do if she is here?”

“Well, if you see her, do not let her see you,” Tyler said. Jess froze for a moment, a blank expression on his face as if he had just heard something crazy. Then, his eyes squinted slightly before he responded to Tyler's orders.

“Copy that, captain duh!” He made sure to whisper his sarcasm through the device. Slowly, Jess tiptoed forward and grabbed onto the golden-colored doorknob as lightly as possible. The doorknob looked like the only new piece of equipment in the room. Everything else was clearly at least five years old or older. After turning it and pulling it open at the speed of a snail, Jess strode through the doorway. A hallway was revealed, this time with a ruby-red color for the carpet. There were several portraits hanging on the walls but, to his surprise, no foliage at all. On the right side of the hall, there was one door and on the left, two. The hallway appeared to open up to a larger living room that Jess couldn't see completely. Unsure of where to go next, he decided just to open the first door to his left, with such ease that he might be expecting a booby trap to be wired to it.

“What is taking so long?” Tyler asked loudly.

“Shh!” Jess said in response before realizing that Tyler was miles away from the house at a train station and that there is no way anyone in the house could have heard him. “Sorry. I just want to be careful. I don't know exactly where the correct blueprints are and I don't want to run into some crazy ninja with karate moves or something.”

“Just remember,” Tyler said. “You do have a sidearm and a silencer for it. I don't know why you decide not to keep it out.”

“Because what if I am caught? The last thing I need is for someone to think I am here to commit a murder.” Just as Jess got the first door open wide enough to fit through, he heard a light thump come from the architect's bedroom. Nearly instantly, he pulled out his pistol (without the silencer attached) and aimed it at the doorway that led to the bedroom. Right there, just inches tall, was a snow-white colored cat with brown eyes. It looked up at Jess and meowed softly. He lowered his weapon and sighed in exhaustion. After that, he took out the silencer, screwed it on, and decided to keep his weapon out.

Once Jess got into the first room, it was revealed to be a guest bedroom. The double bed and single bed were both made with bland sheets, pillows, and blankets; the windows were covered with a combination of white, long, and dusty curtains; and two closets were installed on either side of the room. Also, the carpet and walls had a matching silver-like color, different from any of the other rooms Jess had explored so far.

“What is up with this guy and color-coding all of his carpets?” Jess whispered into the blue-tooth. “Every other room I have been in so far has a different colored carpet. It is weird!”

“Well, what do you expect?” his roommate responded. “He is an architect with an ambition. Of course he is going to design his house with the same precision he designs every other house with.” Jess just shrugged it off and returned to the hallway, his pistol halfway raised. He opened the next door to the right slowly, but faster than the others, and discovered a small bathroom, nothing quite out of the ordinary. Then, in the last door to the left, he found a room that appeared to be nothing but storage. On one of the shelves, however, Jess found a small safe. He closed his eyes in disappointment before telling Tyler.

“We might have a bit of a problem,” Jess said aloud. “You know how you said people like to keep their greatest accomplishments as mementos? Well, is it possible that he found it so important that he kept it in a safe, locked away so it couldn't be taken by anyone else, including a partner perhaps?” Tyler was silent. Clearly, he had been stumped by Jess' discovery and didn't know how to proceed. But, right when Jess thought he had finally stopped the great Tyler from being the smart-alack that he is, he came up with another idea.

“Continue searching the house,” he replied. “If you don't find the blueprints, then we are forced to assume they are in the safe. If that is true, we are going to have to return with proper equipment to open it up.” Jess groaned in exasperation, wishing that the mission would just come to an end already. Yet, if the blueprints they were looking for were actually in the safe, they would surely be back in the house another day.

Jess continued to the living room, quickly scanning the room with his pistol before searching more thoroughly. Nothing. Besides the white cat that had found its way onto one of the couch cushions, not a single soul was in the room. Jess lowered his weapon and took in the furniture arrangement. The front door was to the right, and in the center, two three-cushioned, velvet couches and a loveseat created a cater-cornered design that faced an entertainment center with at least a 26-inch television set. The whole arrangement was on top of a striped rug that laid flat against the carpet. To the left of it all was the rectangular dining room table with four seats and a large window covered with a fancy white curtain that actually reached the floor. The architect had clearly worked a lot harder on the appearance of his living room than of his bedroom, proving that Jess may have been correct on his narcissistic personality.

He searched the living room and dining room quickly and not very thoroughly, and as expected, didn't find the blueprints. Instead, he had to move on to the last two rooms of the house. The kitchen, and then the basement.

“Almost done,” Jess said into his blue-tooth as he got closer to the kitchen door. “So far, nothing. I'm really afraid that the blueprints are going to be in that safe.”

“Well, that would be better than if they weren't there at all,” Tyler mentioned.

Jess nodded in response, but when he realized that Tyler couldn't see him, he replied with, “true.” Once Jess reached the door, he opened it with caution and scanned the room upon entry. Once he found no one was there, he lowered the weapon again. He searched cupboards, cabinets, the counters, the small table, the island, and found nothing. “Maybe we are searching in the completely wrong place.”

“If the blueprints aren't in his house, then where would they be?” Tyler questioned. Jess took one last look around the kitchen before responding.

“Maybe he actually got rid of them,” Jess said. “I mean, sure it is his job to create and design structures, but that doesn't necessarily mean that he would keep them.” Jess paused for a moment, thinking about what he just said. “Okay, never mind. His closet is filled with rejected ideas, and his living room is gorgeous even though his bedroom doesn't look that good. He is clearly self-centered.”

“Check the basement,” Tyler reminded him. “You haven't gone down there yet. And I must warn you, there is only ten minutes left until the architect is supposed to get back home.” Jess maneuvered over to the basement door and turned the knob. To his surprise, however, it wouldn't budge. Upon one more trial, he came to realize that the door was locked.

“Oh no,” Jess said aloud. “We have another problem, Ty. The basement door is locked. I can't get down there.” Jess heard silence for a moment before Tyler responded.

“Could you check the nearby area for a key?” Tyler asked.

“Why did it take you a bit to reply?” Jess questioned. “You normally reply back right away.”

“Oh, relax. The security guard came over and asked why I was talking to myself. So, I muted the blue-tooth and quickly explained I was having a conversation. Now, look for the key!” Jess nearly jumped when Tyler shouted the last statement.

“I didn't know you could silence these things,” Jess mumbled to himself as he searched the kitchen and then the living room for the basement key. He searched the drawers and cabinets, in window sills, under the couch cushions, under tables, chairs, behind portraits, he even checked the walls for any possible secret hiding places. He found absolutely nothing.

“Jess!” Tyler nearly yelled. “We are running out of time! You are down to six minutes. Did you find the key yet?”

“I've checked everywhere, Ty!” Jess began to panic, and Tyler knew it. “I can't find it! Look, maybe we should come back another day. This whole mission thing isn't really that important and — ”

“Break the door down,” Tyler interrupted. “This mission absolutely is important. We need to get into the hospital and find those medical files. I promise you, I know I may seem like I am being mysterious, but there is a huge reason behind all of this. If I told you what it was, you might not want to do it anymore. Believe me, it is huge.” Jess hesitated for a moment. It was never a good thing when his roommate told him he might not do something if he knew the truth behind it, but Jess knew either way he would end up going along with it, so he just decided to follow Tyler's orders.

Suddenly, Jess held up the pistol as if he were a secret agent and then pumped his leg as hard as he could against the basement door. Right away, the door flew open with a loud crack against the wall, revealing a deep staircase leading into a dark, cold room. Jess aimed the pistol down the stairs and turned on the flashlight attachment that was right beneath the barrel of the weapon. The blue-ish colored light revealed that there was a slight leak coming from the ceiling onto the stairs, but it was nothing big. Other then that, there was nothing unordinary about the basement.

“I never thought his flashlight would come in handy,” Jess said into his blue-tooth. “And to think, years ago, we would never have even thought about robbing a place. And now, we have all these devices and — I mean, we are so prepared. We really have evolved from our old selves.” Slowly, after hearing no response from his roommate (figuring that he was trying not to waste time), he descended down the stone steps, taking each step as light as possible. He didn't expect anyone to be down there since the room was completely dark, but he was always taught to be safe rather than sorry. So, once he reached the bottom, he vigorously scanned the room for any people before searching for the blueprints. Once he found it was safe, he lowered the weapon.

The first thing he did was look for a light switch. When he didn't find anything, he began quickly but quietly seeking the hospital blueprints. The basement, being nothing but concrete, wasn't as styled as the living room. However, there was a small couch (which was obviously able to be turned into a bed), a crank-up television, and a rug in between the two. Other then that, there were a lot of boxes, heavy equipment, and old furniture that looked completely useless. Jess took in a deep breath and began taking the boxes down, searching each and every one of them. He tore through everything he saw. He even found a few other blueprints, but upon further inspection, he realized that they weren't to the hospital, and tossed them off to the side.

“Two minutes, man! Two minutes!” Tyler warned. “If you don't find the blueprints within 50 seconds, you must get out of there, or risk being caught!”

“I've found all his other blueprints,” Jess explained, his breath a little bit heavier than before. “I know they are in here. I just need to find the right ones.” There were only a few boxes left and no sign of the hospital blueprints.

“Just warning you,” he said. Jess grabbed one more box, literally tore it open, and finally found it. The hospital blueprints, which were actually written on blue pieces of paper, were in between his hands. Sure, it took up a few pages, but if they taped it to a wall and put them side-by-side, it would be much easier to read. And to his surprise, there were several entrances and exits, some not so easily seen than others. Getting in and out shouldn't be too much of a problem for them.

“I got them!” Jess finally exclaimed. “I can't believe it! They were pretty much on the very bottom. And I think he — ”

“No time!” Tyler cut in. “Get out of there! Right now! Don't you remember? You have extremely limited time at the moment.” Jess dashed for the staircase, but just before he began climbing them, he heard something. At first, he couldn't pinpoint what or where it had come from, but then it made sense. He heard the sound of a door closing.

“Ty!” Jess freaked out, and this time, he was whispering. “Someone just entered the house! What do I do?” His last question was almost a sob, as if he knew there was no way of getting out of the house alive and with the blueprints.

“Just stay calm,” he explained. “Try to get out of the house without being seen at all. Just go through a window, or wait in a secure spot until — ”

“No, you don't understand,” Jess explained. “When I searched for the blueprints, and that stupid key, I looked everywhere. And now, the living room looks like a total mess. I never got to clean it up! I know he his here, and now, he knows I'm here too.”

The pistol in his hands was shaking nervously as Jess slowly tiptoed up the stone stairs. Before he even thought about leaving the basement, he had shut off his flashlight to make sure the architect had no clue he was coming. Halfway up the stairs, there was still no other sign that someone else was even in the house. Could it have been that cat again? Or maybe a gust of wind pushed the back bedroom door closed? No way. That kind of stuff always goes through a character's head in scary movies, and it is usually never true. Jess proceeded up the stairs, his heart racing, pulse beating, and sweat pouring down his forehead and the sides of his face. Could he make it out of this situation alive?

Once he reached the top step, he took one long, deep breath. The second he walked out the door, his life could come to an end. However, he tried not to think like that. Stay calm, he repeated in his head, remembering his roommate telling him to do so. Ever so slowly, he pushed open the broken basement door, keeping his pistol aimed outward for any unexpected appearances. Nobody. Then, he stepped onto the tile of the white kitchen floor and, using the unhinged door as cover, waited for a moment. Slowly, he turned around the door to examine the kitchen. To his luck, it was just as messy and just as empty as he had left it before going into the basement.

Quickly and with ease, he rushed to the door that led to the living room. At first, all he wanted to do was just stand there forever and not even think about going into the next room. But he knew that he had no choice. Sooner or later, the architect would go into the kitchen, and then what would he do? Jess had the blueprints stuffed in his back pocket and he constantly checked it every ten seconds to make sure it hadn't fallen out.

Suddenly, without warning, he opened the living room door quickly and scanned the whole room with his pistol in just over a second. No one was there. It was like nobody had even come into the house. It was just him, and the cat who was still laying in that same spot on the couch.

“Clear,” Jess said into the blue-tooth, nearly scaring himself with the intensity of his own voice. “I don't know what it was I heard, but there seems to be nobody in the house.”

“Wow, that's a relief,” Tyler said, exhaling a large breath. “I was worried with all of that silence. I couldn't bare it if you didn't make it out of there. That would be stuck on my soul forever.” Jess chuckled a bit before realizing something. He wasn't out of the house yet, which was what Tyler was assuming. Quickly, he strode toward the front door before being stopped.

Out of nowhere, something huge and heavy landed on Jess' back, causing him to bend over and drop his weapon. The world suddenly spun out of control as he slammed into several pieces of furniture, the walls, and the kitchen door (which was still open, of course).

“What are you doing in my house?” Jess heard a woman squeal. “And why do you have a gun? Were you trying to murder me? My husband? Both of us? Were you trying to rob us? Huh?” The woman dug her finger nails into the side of Jess' neck, drawing blood and causing him to squeak. Without thinking, he grabbed the woman by her arms, tore her off his back and right onto one of the counters. Then, he made a dash for the living room only to be stopped by the woman diving foreward and grabbing onto his right leg. Before he knew it, Jess' face came into contact with the tile floor, staining it red.

“Let go of me!” Jess shouted, struggling to get into the living room. “Trust me, this is for a good cause! Let's just pretend none of this ever happened.”

“For a good cause?” the woman repeated mockingly. “I don't think so!” She crawled forward, clawing Jess' back before he retaliated yet again. Without thinking, he balled his hand into a fist and swung it foreward, right against her nose. Now, both of them were bleeding from their nose.

For the few seconds that the woman let go of him, Jess rushed to his feet and pushed through the living room door. Shortly after, the woman came through the door chasing him. To Jess' luck, however, he was able to pick up his pistol in time and force her to stop moving.

“You take one more step and you won't see the light of day again,” Jess said aloud, making sure she could hear him. “Ty. Ty, what do I do? There was a woman in here and now she has seen what I look like. I can't just leave her here.”

“Who are you talking to?” the woman asked.

“Shut up!” Jess yelled, jerking the gun in his hand and causing the woman to force her mouth shut. “Ty, I need an order.”

“I'm sorry, Jess,” Tyler responded. Jess knew exactly what was coming. “You are going to have to kill her. If she saw what you look like, our mission could be completely ruined. Maybe it would have been smart for us to bring a mask of some sort.”

“I can't do that, Ty!” Jess replied, starting to panic again. “You know I don't kill people!” The woman nearly shrieked. Suddenly, she had her hands in the air and she slowly got down to her knees, tears beginning to come out of her eyes. “There has to be another solution. Ty? Are you still there?”

“What do you want me to do?” Tyler was yelling now. He was clearly frustrated, but there was something else behind his anger. Almost like he was blaming Jess for being seen. Or maybe it was something else...

“This is exactly why I told you not to be seen!” Tyler explained. “Look, if there is any other way you can think of to get her to stay quiet, go ahead and try it. But I seriously don't want everything ruined just because of one stupid mistake on a simple mission that was supposed to be a damn robbery!” Jess felt ashamed. His roommate wasn't very pleased that he had gotten himself in that situation, so he knew he was alone in it.

“Please, don't kill me,” the woman cried, sobbing her words as she spoke. “I won't tell anyone what happened. Please.” The cut on Jess' neck began to sting, but he didn't dare go out of his way to cover it with his hand. “I promise I won't tell anyone what happened. Just go. It's that simple.” But it wasn't that simple. Jess knew there was no way the woman could keep quiet.

“Here,” Jess said, finally coming up with an idea. “Take all of the money in my wallet.” He holstered his weapon and pulled out his wallet (which had three 20-dollar bills and two five-dollar bills). “Take it. All of it. And I know this may not be enough to cover the damages on that door, so maybe we could make an arrangement.” Shock filled the woman's face, which wasn't surprising since most people wielding a gun don't make deals like that quite often.

“Tell her to meet us at Conoco in east Brooklyn tomorrow at 2pm,” Tyler said, listening to the entire conversation. “There we can finish off the full transaction and she will never see us again.” Jess repeated Tyler's orders and the woman finally looked calm for once.

“Why?” the woman asked, which was all she could manage to get out. Jess was frozen for a moment. He didn't know exactly how to answer the woman's question without telling her that he had one of her husband's blueprints in his back pocket. So, he decided to tell part of the truth.

“We are going through tough times,” he explained. “It isn't very easy to explain. My partner and I, we have suffered a heavy loss recently and, well we aren't exactly able to move on on our own. You wouldn't understand.” The room fell silent. For once, Jess didn't fear being in the house, but relaxed. “Here. I'm sorry for everything I have done.” He tossed the wallet in her direction and left out the front door, jogging down the street and out of the neighborhood. The woman, knelling alone in her messy living room, said, “thank you,” and grabbed the wallet tightly.

The door flew open and both Jess and Tyler stormed in, carrying pistols with silencer attachments engaged. As they searched the room, it was clearly empty except for the two of them and all of their furniture. Both of them lowered their weapons and then holstered them once they were sure that no one was in the room.

There apartment was standard issue just like the rest in the building. There were two windows opposite of the door, both covered by dark red curtains. There was a brown couch with an old, dirty rug lying in front of it and a small cabinet with a television set on top. They had a square table with four wooden chairs, a kitchen that was divided from the living room only by two counters that bet at a corner, creating an L-shape. The only other rooms were the bathroom, which was very small, and the closet which just had a lot of coats and a small safe on top of a shelf close to the ceiling. The room was very dark since the light wasn't on and both windows were covered by their curtains. However, once Tyler sat down, Jess turned on the light switch without warning.

“Thanks for letting me know you were about to do that,” Tyler said sarcastically as he leaned forward and covered his eyes with both of his hands. “Nearly blinded me with that darn light.”

“Sorry,” Jess replied. He just stood there while Tyler sat with his eyes covered. Both of them weren't sure exactly what to do next now that they actually had the blueprints to the hospital. So, to ease things a bit, Jess grabbed the blueprints out of his pocket and tacked them side-by-side on the wall next to the door. “So we have the blueprints now. Are you going to explain what exactly we need them for? Or are you going to continue to be Mr. Mystery again?”

Tyler revealed his face and glared at Jess for a moment. Right away, Jess thought that he might stand up and just smack him for being sarcastic, so when Tyler did get up, Jess flinched and covered his face.

“What's the matter with you?” Tyler smirked. “You act like I'm going to hit you.” Jess just glared back as Tyler approached the blueprints. “So, now we have the blueprints. Here is what we are going to do with them. We are going to find a way into the hospital, which is the easiest part, then hopefully we can smoothly get those medical files. However, getting Lizzy's — ”

“Don't call her that!” Jess shouted angrily. “You know how disrespectful it is to address the name of a p — ”

“They might have us under surveillance!” Tyler growled back. Jess just rolled his eyes, knowing that he didn't really believe they were under surveillance, just that he didn't want to call her by the appropriate name. The room fell silent. Both of them, breathing a little bit heavier than before, just stared at each other, clearly fighting back their own will to lash out. “Anyway, if we are to get her files, it won't be easy with the fact that she's — with the state that she is in. I can almost guarantee that using aggressive force will be necessary.”

“What is with you and using aggressive force?” Jess asked, annoyed at Tyler's ignorance. “You wanted me to kill that woman back there. All we had to do was make a deal and we would be fine. Notice how we didn't find any cops or feds in here when we got back? She hasn't told on us...”

“...yet,” Tyler finished. “Look, in this world, if you are going to get what you want when you know they won't give it to you, you aren't going to be able to be all nice about it. You need to show them that you mean business. We don't need to kill anyone. All we need to do is make them think that their lives are at stake. That way, they cooperate with us.”

“Will you just continue explaining?” Jess groaned. “I still don't even know why you want her medical files.”

“Okay, just listen,” he began. “First, you know what killed her, right?” Jess just nodded lightly. “Okay. This plays an important role in finding out who is responsible. Sure, it was just an accident, but my gut tells me it was something more. Something much bigger than what the cops are telling us. I mean, she was a skilled marksman for crying out loud. There is no way an accident is the thing that took her out. I'm telling you there is more behind this.”

“So, this is all about revenge?” Jess asked, more puzzled than outraged this time. “And you aren't even sure about who could have done it?”

“It's more than that, Jesse,” Tyler said. “You see, the person who came up to us and told her she had died didn't really go into detail about how she did. Don't you remember?” Jess nodded, a bit more interested. “You would think the feds would be giving us details left and right, but no. They were being all vague about it. Trust me, I know when people are lying, and you know that's true.” Jess was suddenly wearing a look of suspicion. “What?”

“I have a feeling you aren't telling me everything,” he said. “What are you hiding?” Tyler froze, not sure how to respond. “What are you hiding!”

“Nothing!”

“You know that isn't true!” Jess was getting even angrier. “You know something, don't you? Don't you?” Tyler stared back into Jess' eyes, defeated. “I can't believe this. If you don't tell me the truth right now, and I mean the whole truth, I am walking out of here and never coming back.”

“Okay! Okay!” Tyler took a deep breath. “The truth is, I made a promise with someone not to tell you what truly happened that day. The day of Lizzy's death.”

“So you are saying that it wasn't a car accident that killed her?” Jess asked in shock. “What really did happen that day then?”

“Someone was responsible,” Tyler said, choosing his words very carefully. “But I can't tell you what actually happened. Partly because I don't know, and partly because of the promise.” Jess sighed in frustration. “Just listen! All of those questions will be answered once we get that file. I can't tell you what happened, but I can show you.” Jess returned his gaze to Tyler's.

“We can't just go in and rob a hospital anyway, Ty,” Jess said. “We would have cops on us immediately.”

“Well, if you listen to my plan, I can explain it. First, we are going to commit different crimes throughout the city. Small ones, but noticeable ones. We can start out by robbing a grocery store or something, nothing that involves violence, but something to attract their attention. Then, we will find a way to give them names, only they will be aliases. Every week, we will commit two crimes, each crime less significant than the previous. By the end of three or four weeks, we will have gone all the way down to simply spray painting graffiti or something like that. Then, right after that, we hit the hospital. Since they will be expecting an even smaller crime, they won't be prepared for something so major.” Jess just gave him a look of disbelief.

“Are you kidding me?” Jess asked aloud. “That will not work! What do you think will happen if we walk into that hospital with weapons? That's right, headshot on both of us. We can't just force them to look up some files at gunpoint and expect them to cooperate. We need tactics, a plan, equipment, preparation, exersize, anything.” Tyler looked dumbfounded. “The only thing your part of the plan is good for is to make them expect less out of us so they get their profiles wrong.”

“Fine,” Tyler said. “You come up with the plan if you think you are such a genious.” Jess just grinned and pulled down the blueprints.

“I will do that,” Jess replied excitedly. “But you have to give me some time. An expert plan doesn't just come out of nowhere you know.”

“You have one day,” Tyler said.

“Fine. You better go buy some coffee then.”

When Tyler walked through the Starbucks entrance, the bells that were hung at the top rang with a high-pitched sound. The double doors were made of glass and glided open instead of just swinging open. Inside, the tile floor was made of two alternate shades of green on a checkerboard design. Several tables and chairs were placed efficiently around the shop along with the long counter where the cash register and other goodies were located. Tyler dragged himself over to the line of customers and waited for a few minutes. Finally, once it was his turn, he examined the menu on the back wall.

“I would like two tall cups of your regularly brewed coffee, please,” Tyler said. The cashier typed a few things into the cash register before replying.

“That will be four dollars and seven cents,” the cashier said. Tyler dug into his pocket and pulled out a five dollar bill with some lint on it. After wiping it clean, he handed it over to the cashier. “Your change is ninety three cents, please wait while we get your order finished.”

“Thank you so much,” Tyler smiled. After the cashier smiled back, he walked over to one of the tables that wasn't occupied and sat down, in the perfect position to see the clock. It was about five-thirty, which meant that the sun was going to go down any time soon. For the next twenty four hours, he really would have nothing to do with Jess doing all the planning, so he wasn't sure why the time worried him so much.

Abruptly, not even after a whole minute, a man took a seat across the table from Tyler. At first, Tyler tightened up, afraid the man might be onto his and Jess' plans. However, he just sat there quietly, straightening his tie. Then, when he looked up, Tyler noticed the green eyes. That was when he realized he had seen the man before.

“Do I know you?” Tyler asked aloud. “You seem pretty familiar to me.” The man just looked at him blankly, confused at why he just decided to start talking. “I think I saw you on the elevator in the apartment complex a few blocks down. Do you remember?” At once, the man's face lit up.

“That's right,” the man said in a deep, soothing tone. “You are the one who was talking to yourself. I remember now.” Tyler's cheeks slowly turned red. Until then, he hadn't realized that anyone heard him talking to himself. “Don't worry about it. I find it very effective in making decisions and figuring things out. On the contrary, I could use a little bit of that right now.”

“I understand,” Tyler replied. “These days simplicity isn't just around the corner. You have to work for it, which alone isn't simple at all.” The man nodded in agreement and then the two fell silent. Being that they had never officially met each other, they weren't sure what else to talk about. After the silence became a bit deafening, a waitress came over to the table and put two coffee cups in front of Tyler. “Thank you,” he said. After she walked away, the man looked curiously over at the two cups.

“Two cups?” the man inquired. “Are you here with someone or are you just really thirsty?” Tyler held back from chuckling at his question.

“Actually, this is for my roommate,” he explained. “He is working on a project and only has a day left to finish it, so he asked me to go get some coffee to help perk him up. Nothing very special.”

“I see,” the man said after clearing his throat. After another minute of silence, the man tried to make more conversation, but with a different voice. It was like his mood suddenly changed, and it didn't quite comfort Tyler. “My name is Fulvius.” He stuck out his arm to shake hands with Tyler and held it there until he responded.

“Tyler,” he finally said after lifting his arm and shaking Fulvius' hand. “Nice to meet you.”

“So, do you live in that apartment?”

“Yeah. My roommate and I — well we moved there recently and have just been trying to make sort of things. Life hasn't been that easy lately and I think it is going a bit harder on him than it is on me. Just glad we can both sort it out with each other instead of alone on opposite ends of the city, which we were just a few weeks ago.”

“What made you two meet again?” Fulvius asked, strangely getting more interested in Tyler's story. Tyler paused for a moment, trying to come up with something that wasn't a lie, but didn't reveal the whole truth.

“We — I — well, both of us actually, but I was the one that experienced it; anyway, we suffered a loss recently and, being that we were both in New York, we made plans to meet so that we didn't have to go through it alone. My roommate, he doesn't exactly understand the whole situation quite yet, so I have to be there to help him understand it.” Fulvius nodded, indicating to him that he could continue. “At first, he thought I was just a close friend to the family, but I explained to him that I was actually his cousin, so — yeah that's it.”

“Well,” Fulvius said, looking down at his hands, “I am very sorry for your loss. I hope that it wasn't too devastating. You seem like a fine young man.” Again, Tyler became lost for words. He was somewhat shocked that he had just given away so much information, vaguely the truth, to some random stranger in a coffee shop.

“I really have to go,” Tyler said as he stood up. “I need to get this coffee back to my — my cousin. I'm sure he is wondering where I am.” As he began to walk toward the door, Fulvius jumped up and grabbed his arm.

“Wait,” he said calmly. Tyler started shaking. He knew then that something definitely wasn't right. “There is something I need to show you.” Tyler looked into Fulvius' eyes and he could swear he saw a glint of red shine through them.

The hospital was five stories tall, had about fifteen entrances and exits (counting fire emergency exits), had two roof access entrances, and a single entrance to the parking lot. Jess marked every entrance/exit on the blueprints in red pen so that he wouldn't get confused. Then, he marked roof access in green, since he knew it would be helpful to know how to get up there. Then, he started working on how to get out of the building in case of any emergency or mistake. Given that there were four fire exits, that gave them eleven different choices to escape the building, six of them being on the two sides that face major avenues. Two more faced directly towards a diner in which he had previously learned had a lot of windows, so that was out too. That gave only three exits in which they could possibly escape without being seen. Given that their timing is at least almost perfect, it should work out well enough.

He then worked on their entrance tactics. They couldn't just walk into the building with weapons, armor, and demand that the clerks look up the files they were looking for. That would create emmense panic and then alert the police right away. Instead, Jess found an entrance that led to a small lobby which didn't look like it held a lot of people. This would be there go point. There, they could eliminate any communication with the rest of the building from the west wing and block the entrance, hopefully without any warnings sent to the police. The only problem was, it was on the side facing an avenue. So, they would have to block the entrance with an unmarked vehicle to decrease any suspicion or possibility of being seen.

There was the other option as well. Given that they could find a way to get on top of the building from the outside with the right equipment, they could break into one of the roof access parts, get in quietly and maybe find a way to disguise themselves as part of the hospital personell. That way, all they had to do was find the files on their own. This was very risky, however, because it depended on too many variables that could easily change if they didn't get in at the right time, especially since they didn't have eyes inside the building (unless they found a way to hack the security cameras).

So, all together, they had to entrance options, and neither one of them were solid enough to be completely risk-free as Jess had hoped. That still didn't even cover their getaway. Assuming they got the files and made it out safely without detection, they would still have to make it to a secure location without being seen by many pedestrians and without alerting the hospital that they had been robbed. For a nineteen and twenty-one year old, that wouldn't exactly be a piece of cake.

“J,” someone said aloud. Confused, Jess looked around to find the source. Instead, he only found that he was alone in the room. Then he finally realized that it had come from his blue-tooth. “What are you doing? You can't just go barging into that apartment.” Jess went wide-eyed.

“Tyler?” he asked. “Is that you? What are you trying to say?” No response. Just when Jess was going to repeat himself, he got interrupted by Tyler.

“So you were trying to distract me so that some henchmen could break into my apartment and kidnap my cousin?” Jess nearly squealed before realizing that Tyler had to be talking to another person. He only activated his blue-tooth to warn Jess that some people were on their way. “That is insane! Besides, your henchmen won't find him. Jess is working in the same spot where he lost his baseball a few weeks ago.” Another message! Tyler was trying to tell him to hide behind the broken panel in the closet. So, without anymore hesitation, Jess dropped everything and charged for the closet. He dug through clothes to get to the back wall where he quietly took the panel out and squeezed his way into the very tight space. After fixing the clothes to look normal again, he grabbed the panel and covered it back up. Just in time too, because once he stopped moving, he heard the door burst open.

“Where are you?” a man asked loudly, his voice echoing in the room. “Sir, we can't find him!” The man must have been using a blue-tooth or some other communication device. Then, after a few moments of silence, a voice filled Jess' left ear, one that he didn't recognize.

“I have your cousin, Jess,” the unhumanly low and distorted voice said. Clearly, the person on the other end of the line was using a voice modulator of some sort. “And if you don't come out from wherever you are hiding, you will never see him again.”