ASAP!

Noah, Steve and the secret service agent had reached Steve's car after Noah's earlier resistance to what the man had to say. Steve used his key to unlock the doors and he had his hand on the door handle when suddenly the agent shouted, "Get away from the car! Get down!". This is when all of them ran away from the car. But it was already too late. A loud explosion followed and the agent threw himself before Noah, making them both fall to the ground.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A few minutes earlier~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Laila and Jake were still talking in the kitchen over the delight of a refreshing yet sweet dessert, resolving some of the anger and negative things Laila was feeling towards Jake and turning it into something more positive. While they were doing this, Maria was keeping herself busy with her thoughts and getting into Jake's phone, which Laila had so cleverly taken away from Jake. As she was zoning out a bit, she was suddenly woken and brought back to reality by a message popping onto Jake's phone.

Somehow a person like Jake had his preview mode turned on for his notification screen and she could see the message that was written. When she looked at the screen she saw that the message was from Harold and when she read what the message said she gasped and immediately ran to the kitchen. She ignored everything she and Laila had agreed on yesterday and planned so extensively and burst through the door as she said to Laila, "We have to go immediately! And I mean right now!".

Maria's face was filled with panic and tears were streaming down her face as she was saying this but neither Laila nor Jake could fully grasp what was going on. Jake's initial response to Maria's words was full confusion as he said, "Maria..is that you??". But Maria didn't particularly care about Jake and just walked over to Laila as she tried to pull her away and towards the door. But Laila too did not really understand what was going through Maria's mind and she was simply thinking about how Maria had jeopardized their plan and that their cover was blown. So, she tried to play it off as if she too was confused about Maria being here. "Maria? What are you doing here? I thought you had gone away for the day". However Maria was in no mood to keep up the sham and responded with the directness she was known for.

"I am not kidding. We need to go right NOW. Steve and Noah are in danger. I just read a message on his phone and it was from Harold. I don't know what they did but it is clear they pissed him off and he is planning on doing something drastic to get even. He was talking about going for their blood since they went after his blood and mentioned that their drive home would be their last. I don't know what those words mean but I am not about to sit here to wait and find out. We need to get over there ASAP!" This was when panic started to set in for Laila as well and she turned fully pale as she tried to follow Maria with shaking arms and legs.

Jake having heard Maria's words as well, seemed to have been overcome with panic as well as he had gotten a pretty good idea of the way Harold operates and knew how far he could go to get his way. Hearing those words, he knew that it was bad and that something big was about to go down. Though he still did not care very much about Noah, it did not mean he wanted to see him dead. But what especially worried him was the sentence of him going for their blood. This sentence could be taken in two ways and he feared that Harold meant both. That he not only intended to make Noah and Steve pay. But that he intended to get even by harming Laila as well.

With an equally pale face and with his heart beating in his throat, Jake rushed to the living room where he expected to find his phone. He saw it lying there with a weird device plugged in but he did not care about that now. He pulled the device out and looked at the message on his screen. It was a message of him venting his anger and voicing his threats, before saying that he too should better get away if he was anywhere near the Stephens' residence. The reason he gave for this was because the person that would be visiting was not one to discriminate or show mercy. He just got the job done and made sure there were no traces leading back to him. Regardless of whether they were living, inanimate or dead.

In a state of panic Jake tried calling Harold and that is when he heard a high pitched screaming from Laila and Maria. This sound was followed immediately by the door, which had been opened just moments ago, being slammed shut again. After that he heard them run away and he heard Laila say something about a hidden panic room, before they disappeared from his hearing range. That is also when he heard Harold pick up the phone while at the same time the front door was opened with much force.

Jake hid behind the couch and saw a large man make his way into the house, saying the most chill inducing words as he assumingly began searching for Laila and Maria.