Joe turned to Vicki, "You know him?" he asked, and Vicki nodded, "owHhhHow?" The teenagers along with the Gray Man walked a little further away.

"It’s a long story," Vicki replied, "Unless the Gray Man would like to explain all this. I’ve never met him, but I’ve heard a lot about him."

"Again, how," Joe asked, "What connections do you have with him?"

"Okay," Vicki finally agreed, "If you must know, my uncle is a Network agent. He’s told me about the Gray Man and even though he doesn’t exactly agree with everything the Network does, he still does his job."

"I know your uncle," the Gray Man said, "Why did he tell you about the Network?"

"He had some important information to tell me," Vicki answered, "It had something to do with family problems. He mentioned the Network in the process. Now, can I ask you a question? Why are you here?"

"Doing some research," the Gray Man replied, "I figured that by the time you arrived, the case would be pretty much over."

There was silence among the six for a moment. The next move would have to be drastic. They all figured that they would have to move soon. Vicki glanced over at C. J, who looked a bit confused with the current situation. Vicki hadn’t told C. J. about the Network or the Gray Man.

The people that needed to be captured were so close, but they couldn’t move quite yet. While they thought, C. J. caught sight of something behind them. It was hard to see at first, but another figure of a man soon came into view. When the man spotted the group, he pulled something out of his jacket and raised his arms.

"Get down," C. J. shouted and everyone ducked. A gunshot went off and flew above their heads. The group stayed down low and made their way to the protection of the woods. Several more shots were made, but all missed. Suddenly the shooting ceased and quiet footsteps were heard.

"He’s coming here," Frank whispered to everyone, "We need to split up. There’s less of a chance that he’ll catch us that way. Each of us will go different directions."

Frank headed off to the left, Joe to the right, and everyone else headed in the other directions. The only good thought was that they would be protected by the thick tangle of trees. That’s also what worried them. It could give the gunman the chance to sneak up on one of them.

It was evening by now, and the chill night air was beginning to set in. Clouds began gathering in the sky, blocking out most of the sun, but not enough that nobody could see. The dark shapes of trees loomed everywhere, and seemed like the only protection from the danger behind them. Silence was all around them and the group couldn’t even hear the quick steps of the gunman anymore.

Vicki moved quietly, listening for any sound of the strange man. Nothing stirred because the wind had become quite still by then, occasionally moving the leaves ever so slightly.

She wasn’t familiar with the woods behind the destroyed building yet. Vicki hadn’t even known about the building until a couple of days ago. How was she supposed to find her way when she didn’t know where she was going? Vicki decided to worry about that later. It was the least of her worries right now.

Twigs snapped silently under her sneakers as she walked. The path she made before her showed nothing but trees and leaves. That at least was a relief. Suddenly, a sound off to her right caused her to turn in that direction.

"C. J," she whispered. She knew that C. J. had gone just to the right of her path, "Is that you?" She was also taking the chance that it was the mysterious figure.

The sounds stopped and everything was silent again. Then the footsteps resumed again and were heard getting louder. Vicki stepped behind a tree trunk and peered around it. If it was the figure, maybe she could take him by surprise.

A man’s silhouette appeared in front of her. It was light against the dark sky. Moving as quiet as possible Vicki stepped back and waited. She knew that Frank and Joe weren’t far. She would hate for it to be one of them.