"Wait… pardon? What did you say again?" Bryan asked Elle, confusion was written all over his face.
Bryan didn't know if his ears were just playing tricks on him. 'Did she really mention that she was Elle? That Elle was alive and Aliyah Ross was Elle?'
A deep sigh escaped from Elle's lips while Erick looked at Bryan helplessly. They already saw this kind of expression before. It was the same expression when they told Bryan about Elle's identity as Catseye.
"Bryan… It's me… Elle… Catseye, the devilish assassin… The wife of your best friend Erick." Elle told him the truth repeatedly.
"Elle? Catseye?"
Elle nodded her head and said, "Yes."
"She's Elle, my wife whom we thought died two years ago. She survived. She didn't die." This time Erick spoke up to support Elle's statement, convincing Bryan to believe everything he had just heard.
When Bryan heard that, his mind finally absorbed everything. His shock was just temporary as it was soon replaced by joy. He also became emotional.
With misty eyes, he called her name "Elle!" before pouncing on her to hug her. "You're alive! Thank God! You're alive!"
Elle let out a soft giggle after seeing Bryan's joyful but emotional reactions. She hugged him back.
"Thank you, Bryan. Thank you for looking out and watching over Erick when I was gone. You did a great job of protecting him." Elle said, feeling grateful to Bryan.
"You don't have to thank me. I'm just doing my job as his best friend and at the same time, keeping my promise to you. I know you don't want something bad happens to him." Bryan responded to her with so much sincerity.
"Alright. We have to move now. Let's talk more about this after we finish this mission." Elle said, breaking the hug.
The two men just nodded in agreement. Soon, they slowly and cautiously moved towards the back of the facility, seeking an alternative way to go inside. The front side was heavily guarded. There were five to eight people lurking around and three people staying on guard at the front entrance.
At the back, there were two guards roving around the area. Elle and Erick brought tranquilizer to knock down and made their opponents sleep. Bryan watched their backs while Erick and Elle charged towards the two men on guards.
The moment the two men noticed their presence, it was already too late. They were injected right away by tranquilizer on their necks while Erick and Elle were covering their mouths to avoid them from making any sounds.
After that, they signaled Bryan to come over. There was a big door made of steel at the back of the facility, the only way to go inside. Elle tried to deactivate the CCTV camera installed on the backside of that facility.
Once she was done, Bryan and Erick tried to unlock the steel door. Fortunately, Elle and Erick had anticipated this so they brought some tools that they could use to unlock doors.
After ten minutes of trying, they finally opened the door. They brought the two unconscious men with them so that if ever the roving guards would go to that area they would not see the unconscious men.
Upon entering the facility, Elle Erick and Bryan were surprised to see what's inside. It was completely empty.
"Huh? Why is it we can see nothing here?" Bryan asked in confusion. They were expecting to get something useful as evidence but to their disappointment, they saw nothing but an empty facility.
Elle and Erick could not also believe it. Before coming here, they were certain that this was the bio-weapon facility. Suddenly they had a bad feeling about this as if the Dark Knight organization knew that they were about to infiltrate the facility tonight so they cleaned it up and removed the evidence.
"Damn! They knew that they were coming. This is a trap." Elle said in her worried tone. She immediately contacted Charles and Phantom.
"Father… pull out! We need to retreat! This is a trap! They knew that we are coming. The facility is empty!"
"What? How come? How they would know?" Phantom asked her from the other line.
"I think there's information leakage. We need to warn others. Bryan, call officer Kim." Erick said, requesting Bryan to inform Officer Kim about the situation.
Bryan immediately complied with Erick's request. The moment the communication line with officer Kim got connected, Bryan already heard the sound of gunshots. There was an on-going shootout happening outside the compound.
"Officer Kim? What's happening? Why am I hearing the sound of gunfire?" Bryan asked him with a worried tone.
"The guard had noticed our presence. They started shooting us. You need to get out of there now! There are lots of them. We are outnumbered. We have no choice but to retreat." Officer Kim told Bryan with urgency.
"What happened?" Erick and Elle asked Bryan.
"Officer Kim and his men are being attacked by now. We should move and retreat. F*ck! I think there's a traitor who tipped our enemies." Bryan mumbled through his gritted teeth.
"Alright. We are moving out now." Phantom informed Elle.
Then Elle turned to Bryan and Erick. "Tell officer Kim to leave and do not wait for the two of you. You two will come with me."
The two men didn't oppose her idea. They informed Officer Kim to leave right away before someone would get injured.
Upon leaving the facility, they could still hear the exchange of gunshots nearby. Phantom henchmen were already waiting for them. They managed to avoid the guards because they were focused on chasing after Officer Kim and his team.
Bryan was surprised when he met Elle's brothers. Their voices sounded familiar to him, especially Brother Yan's voice. He was the one who spoke to Bryan in the MB Athena while they were trying to rescue Elle.
"You are one of the people who helped us two years ago on our mission on South Carolina's coast?" Bryan asked Brother Yan.
"Yes, Nice to see again, Brother Bryan." Brother Yan greeted Bryan cheerfully. He was delighted to see him again.
"[email protected]! This is Catseye's team!" Bryan exclaimed with amus.e.m.e.nt and enthusiasm.