The Road to EGOT Season 03 Pt. 10

"About time!" I heard the distorted voice as I slipped back into consciousness. I tried to move my head but stopped short once I felt the blistering pain. "Welcome back to the world." The voice continued to taunt me. I quickly realized I had been handcuffed to a very uncomfortable old chair. "Take your time." The voice continued as I gulped down a few large deep gulps of air. I attempted to take a look around me. The room was small and very dark, there were no windows. The air was thick and stale.

"Cole." I finally said my voice hoarse.

"What was that?" The voiced said with clear amusement.

"Cole!" I said again this time louder.

"Oh you mean your D.A friend?" The voice said as it moved around to the back of my chair. It spun me around where I could see Cole grumbled against the back wall. "Oh don't worry, he isn't dead yet." The voice reassured me before I saw the handcuffs that linked him to a pipe.

"Who...who...the hell are you?" I was finally able to say.

"Who I am doesn't matter." He replied as he grabbed me and forced me to look at him. He was still wearing the same mask he wore during that broadcast. This was the son of a bitch that had been threatening my company and my clients. I grit my teeth and tried to lunge at him but was held down by my restraints. "None of that now." He said before hitting me across the face. "I've been dying to do that for such a long time. Get me a chair!" He said to someone that was out of my field of vision.

"Why?" I asked as I saw him slipping into a chair that had been given to him. I took a glance at the man who had brought it, my attention zeroed in on the machine gun that he held.

"Why what? Why did I try to take down your agency? Why did I kidnap you? Or why have I not killed you yet? There are so many questions that must be running through that head of yours. Gracious as I am, I will answer them."

"Lucky me!" I replied trying to regain my composure and throw him off balance. I heard his distorted voice chuckle before he nodded to someone behind him. The man who had brought him the chair stepped back into my view and punched me hard in the guts. The air was knocked out of me and I winced with pain.

"Keep the smart mouth out of this." The voice said menacingly.

"Why do you want me gone?" I asked through the pain.

"Hah Duncan! Not everything is about you." He said leaning in towards me. "Have you ever heard of "The Order"?" I shook my head. In my confused and tired mind, I tried my best to look for any clues or hints to who this man might be. Nothing on him gave anything away. "You must not know the name, but you've had dealings with them before."

"The group, the one that Stamp worked for. That's what they're called?"

"Yes. And they've been around for much longer than you know. This group is made of businessmen, politicians some of the wealthiest and most powerful men in the world. Together they control everything. From which cars we drive to what movies we see. Hell I wouldn't be surprised if they choose who won the Super bowl." He said smirking at his own joke. "The Order doesn't care about anyone, it's an organization set up to keep the powerful in power and the wealthy even wealthier."

"What the hell does any of this have to do with this? With my clients? With my friends you goddamn son of a bitch." I said feeling anger swell in my chest.

"You rose so quickly Duncan. A few years ago you were nobody. You wrote scripts for sitcoms that could barely be greenlit. And now look at you, the biggest agent in the world. We targeted you because we believed you were one of them. We didn't see any blowback from them, which made us realize that you were on your own."

"Exactly. I have nothing to do with them and neither does Cole. Just let us go!"

"I wish it were that simple." He took a beat. "Actually I don't. See I've been watching you Duncan. You may not be one of them, but you're not much better. You walk around the entire world thinking you're a hero, thinking you're some sort of good man, hell you might even think you are yourself. But deep down, you're a fraud. A horny pathetic man that's led by his dick and his own sense of grandeur. Today you may still hang on to these ideals, but I've known men like you, it never lasts. You'll be one of them sooner or later, and I intend to stop that."

"Who are you?" I asked again, shocked at this revelation. He simply chuckled once more, the sound even more menacing than ever.

"Who I am doesn't matter. What matters is that we will face The Order and we will win. But before that, I will destroy you and all you've done. We are currently preparing all the files we have on your clients. Quite a lot to be frank. Once they are ready we will send out all of their secrets to the world. All of their lies, all of their pictures, all of the nasty dirty things they do behind closed doors, and some of them, are QUITE nasty. Shall we have a look?" He nodded to the guard again who handed him a tablet.

He turned it on and scrolled through it. He turned the screen towards me and I was looking at a video of Tom Ackerley, Margot's boyfriend, holding a little girl in his arms. There was a woman not too far behind him and she looked on at them with joy.

"Recognize him? Of course you do, you've been boning his girl. Right in your office! At a gym! Why Duncan have you no shame?" They had been watching me. For quite a long time it seems. "He has a daughter! He didn't even know about." He continued to explain the video to me. "Hasn't had the heart to tell Margot as of yet! I mean can you blame him? He might lose that fine piece of ass forever. And you would know how hard that would be to pass up."

"SHUT UP!" I shouted trying to take him, but I couldn't move.

"You're right!" He said continuing to scroll through the tablet. "Who needs words when a picture can say a thousand of them?" He turned it back to me and I was faced with a picture of a topless Victoria Justice. She had clearly taken the picture herself in her bathroom. I would recognize them anywhere. "She does have some great tits. Not the biggest but a great handful! Lovely nipples. Oh does this upset you?" I didn't say a word. I kept my mouth shut and closed my eyes, hoping that this was just a bad dream that I would soon wake up from. "You can't hide from this." He said as I heard his chair moving. I opened my eyes to see him standing before me. "The files will soon be ready and then uploaded, once that happens and you've realized that you've failed, I'll kill you myself." He punched me once more for good measure, "How long before its ready?" He asked his guard.

"Within the hour." The guard replied.

"Keep a close eye on them." The masked man said before stomping out of the room.

I hung my head. I focused on the hard floor below, trying desperately to think of a way out of this mess but to no avail. Less than an hour to break free, takedown god knows how many guards and stop the download? I wasn't meant to do anything like that. I took a few deep breaths to steady myself when I caught movement coming from Cole.

He was wide awake. He looked at me reassuringly. I nodded at him. The next moment he began to cough. I could hear the guard walking towards him to check on him. Once the guard had gotten close enough, Cole's leg swept one of his. The guard fell hard on his back, before he could even move, Cole had wrapped his legs around his neck and was squeezing hard. The guard tried to fight him off but to no avail. I watched in shock as his body went slack. Cole readjusted him so that he could search him with his free hand. He pulled out a key from his right pants pocket and used it to unlock his handcuffs. Cole stood and removed the guard's machine gun, he searched him until he found a handgun as well as a phone.

"Got it!" Cole said excitedly as he walked towards me. He walked behind my chair and unhooked the handcuffs.

"Is he?" I asked as he began to unbind my feet.

"Dead? No. Just unconscious." Cole answered as he helped me out of the chair. "You okay?" He asked me as he patted me down looking for wounds of any kind.

"I'm good, you?" I asked him.

"Head hurts worse than any hangover I've ever had but I'll live. Here." He said handing me the phone. "Call Holcomb." I nodded and dialed the number from memory.

"Holcomb!" He answered on the second ring.

"Hey, it's me." I said as I watched Cole walk towards the door and make sure no one was coming.

"Duncan, where the hell are you? We've been searching for you for hours."

"We were taken, Cole and I, the same people responsible for the leaks. I don't know where we are."

"That's fine stay on the line we can triangulate your position. Are you both okay?" He asked breathlessly as Cole began to tie up the guard.

"We're fine, but Josh, they're going to release everything within the hour. All the photos, files everything they have on everyone. You need to get here quickly." I told him. I looked over at Cole who was standing guard by the door.

"Duncan, we have you, you're on the other side of town. We're going to send a tactical team to get you. Can you tell us anything?"

"They want info on what's going on here." I told Cole handing him the phone.

"Holcomb, its Cole. When we were being dragged in I counted half a dozen guards well-armed. Machine guns and pistols." He took a beat to listen to Holcomb. "Alright." He finally said before hanging up.

"What's going on?" I asked him.

"We're getting you out of here." He answered.

"No! What if they don't get here in time? We have to stay and stop them."

"Duncan, these guys are well trained and well-armed, you think you can go up against them and live?"

"I think I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I knew I had a chance to stop them and didn't take it." Cole took a deep breath that was filled with frustration.

"Fine, but stay behind me." He told me handing me the handgun. "You use one of these before?" He asked. I nodded. "Be careful and remember what I taught you during our sparring sessions. Clear your mind." We looked at each other for a second, both of us knowing this was a ridiculous task to take on. "Let's go!" Cole finally said before slowly stepping out of the door.

I followed close behind him as we walked down the hall. When we got to the corner, Cole took a peek to make sure no one was around it. We repeated the pattern time and time again through the maze like basement. We finally found a staircase that led us towards the main area. We took it slowly, step by step praying none of the steps would make noise.

Once out of the basement, we realized we were in an old warehouse. The sun was still out, making me wonder just how long we had been trapped here. I followed Cole who hid behind a crate. He looked around the corner before looking back at me and holding up two fingers. I understood, there must have been two guards around the corner. He held on tightly to his gun and I repeated the motion on mine. We were about to spring into battle, and my stomach was in knots.

"No word from Avery?" We heard one of the guards say to the other causing us to stop and take a beat.

"Nothing, want to go check?" The other responded.

"Yeah, I'll go, you stay here." The first guard said before heading off in a sprint towards the basement we had just left. Cole already looked much more relaxed knowing we would only have to deal with one instead of two guard. He gestured for me to stay put before leaning away from the crate. I watched him as he moved easily and quickly towards the guard, so quietly in fact that he didn't even hear him. Cole wrapped his arms around his neck and put pressure on him. The guard quickly got over the surprise and began to fight back. He kicked his legs and used his body to push Cole against the wall.

This knocked the air out of Cole, who lost his grip on the guard for a moment. This was just enough time for the guard to throw an elbow at Cole's face. He took the blow before regaining his hold on our captor's neck.

"Ty! Avery's been knocked out." The other guard came running back from the basement. He saw the hold that Cole had on his partner and lifted his gun. He hesitated, knowing there was no way he could hit Cole without hitting his fellow guard. This hesitation cost him. I quickly ran out from behind the crate and tackled him hard. He was completely taken off guard which gave me the necessary time to hold tightly to his waist and drive him straight into the wall. This knocked the wind out of him and I quickly began to punch him in his sides. I threw plenty of punches that connected hard against his ribs. I threw a right hook at his face and hit him across the chin. My next punch he caught and swiftly kicked me to the ground.

He aimed his gun at me and I saw my life flash before my eye. The gun was loud, filling up the entire room with its thunderous sound. I waited for the pain, but none came. I opened my eyes and I saw the guard clutching his arm. Quickly without thinking, I used the same move i saw Cole using before and swept his leg. He fell on the ground near me. Cole was there and hit him hard, instantly knocking him out.

"Thanks." I told him as he reached his hand out to me.

"I owed you one!" He answered. "We should get moving. They definitely heard that." He told me as he helped me up to my feet. We were soon on the move once more. We could hear the guards moving around trying to find us. I followed Cole step for step. It proved to be the right idea, he seemed to have a feel of where the guards would come and where they would be headed. I held my gun tightly, feeling the adrenaline pumping quickly through my veins.

"Through here." Cole said guiding me. I walked in front of him as he watched my back. I kept the gun pointed ahead and I walked into a room. There was a glow coming from computer screens. I turned the corner and almost jumped out of my skin when I saw the mask. I pointed the gun at it before realizing that no one was wearing it.

"We're close." Cole said coming up behind me. We walked side by side further into the big room and saw two men standing in front of the monitors. One was a guard, the other was obviously the man in the mask.

"Ready to send sir." The guard said. Cole nodded at me and we sprang into action.

"Stop now!" Cole said pointing the machine gun at the guard, meanwhile I kept my handgun pinned on the man. "Put your hands up and turn around now!" Cole said with authority. The guard did what he was told. The man took his time. Slowly lifting his hands over his head, before turning to us.

"KEVIN!" I said in utter shock as I was face to face with my assistant. He smirked at me and somehow, for the first time, everything clicked into place.

"Well, I guess I've been caught!" He said not the least bit even worried about having a gun pointed at him. "Took you long enough."

"What the hell Kevin?" I asked him.

"Doesn't it make sense? How else do you think we got all of your client's phone numbers? How else do you think we knew that Kara had a sex tape? I've been so close to you all this time, and you had no clue."

"Kevin..." I said still shocked.

"Yes Kevin, yes ME! I will bring you down once and for all, and then I'll take down The Order."

"No you won't." Cole said. "If you hadn't noticed, we've got guns pointed at you."

"Oh wow. I would be much more worried, if we didn't as well." When he said those words, I felt a weapon against the back of my head. "You really think you could have done this by yourself? Stopped us? I've always thought you were an arrogant little shit, but this takes the cake. On your knees! NOW!"

The guns on our back pushed harder. I glanced at Cole and followed his lead as he dropped to his knees. We were outnumbered and outgunned. I could see Cole in my peripherals trying to think of a way out of this. I also noticed the resigned expression when he couldn't find one.

"Well, looks like everything is ready! Files are good to go, and you're already here! As soon as we send these out, and you've realized just how much of a failure you are, we will end your ridiculous, pitiful existence."

"Kevin!" I said. "You don't have to do this. You're better than this. The Order, they're bad, but there has to be a better way. You won't be punishing them, they're innocent."

"INNOCENT!" Kevin shouted at me. "None of them are. They all play a part in this game. Now they too must pay."

"Kevin, I'm sorry." I said trying to keep him talking, keep him distracted. "I don't know what I did to you, how I hurt you. I don't know what I did to cause so much anger and hatred but I'm sorry, it was never my intention. I just wanted to..."

"You just wanted to cement your place. You wanted the entire world to look at you and think you were special, but the truth of the matter, you're not. You or the rest of this goddamn town."

"You're right." I said hanging my head in shame. "You're absolutely right about me about everything. I'm sorry. Give me a chance, please Kevin, give me a chance."

"It's too late." He said coldly. He turned to walk towards the computer. He was about to send the files, I needed to move, I needed to do something. Anything.

"Kevin, Don't!" I said before the earth shook and my eardrums blew. There was yelling and confusion everywhere. Cole grabbed me and pushed me against the back wall.

"THE FEDS!" Kevin shouted. "Keep them out of here until I send the files." He shouted to his men who ran off to follow his orders. We heard shouting and gunshots coming from outside. Kevin was headed for the computer and I launched myself at him. I tackled him to the floor and held him to the ground. I hit him hard across the face. "You can't stop this!" He sneered in my face.

"Watch me!" I said before punching him hard one more time. I stood from him and made my way to the computer. I could see the files and was about to delete them when Kevin sprang from the floor and jumped on my back. He was stronger than I had expected and I did my best to stand my ground. He threw me against the nearest wall and was quickly in my face.

"You're an arrogant prick! And you'll die here." He said pulling a knife from his pocket. I couldn't move, he used his weight to pin me against the wall. "Go to hell!" He said before the room was filled with the sound of a gunshot. I saw Kevin's eyes widen in shock, before the life was drained out of them. He fell hard on the floor, the sound of the knife clattering. It took a moment for what just happened to sink in. I looked up and saw Cole holding the gun pointed right at Kevin. I ran to the computer and deleted all the files.

"Duncan! DUNCAN!" I heard Holcomb scream.

"In here!" I yelled back. Soon Holcomb came rushing into the room wearing body armor and his handgun drawn.

"You okay?" He asked Cole who was closer to the door. Cole simply nodded seemingly in a state of shock. "Isn't that?" Holcomb asked noticing Kevin.

"Yeah. He was behind everything, from the beginning." I answered.

"Damn. You okay Duncan?" He asked me.

"Yeah." I told him looking down at my assistant. "Can we please just get the hell out of here?"

"Let's get you two to a hospital."

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The ride to the hospital seemed to last forever. I was laying down in the back, with the EMT's running around me. I was tired. Really tired. Cole had been put in a separate ambulance, leaving me alone wondering if he was okay. He really seemed shaken after shooting Kevin. I'd never forget the look in his eyes as he passed.

Arriving at the hospital, it didn't surprise me in the slightest that it was surrounded by the press. The ambulance slowed as we tried to get through them. They were doing all they could to get a look inside and take pictures, luckily they couldn't get much of anything. The car finally pulled to the hospital doors and I was quickly slid inside. The doctors quickly came to shot orders. On my way to my room, I saw my friends waiting for me in the hallway.