It was like a waiter in a tranquil restaurant had just dropped a tray of crockery. Erin and Young stood there, motionless, immobile, paralysed in the darkness. Decker sat on the bed staring at the repeating tormenting message that illuminated the screen. Decker always wondered how long they could evade the people that trained him. A third booming knock rippled through the deadly silence making all three of them jump with shock. Young's silhouette stood next to the bed, Erin's bag still dangling by his knees in his hand, his eyes were wide and bright like an alerted gazelle. Erin's silhouette shook with pure fear against the ghostly blowing net curtains.

"OPEN UP!" the voice commanded sounding artificial and unnatural. Young came to his senses and felt for the small pistol that Erin kept in her bag. He threw the bag to the floor whipping out the pistol and firing randomly at the doorway. The bullets bit violently through; punching marble sized holes into the wooden door that cracked and splintered. Screams were heard from downstairs, Decker darted up from the bed throwing the laptop to the floor, which still scrolled the teasing message. Cursing quietly Decker fiddled with his bag trying to find his sidearm.

"Out the windows! Now!" Young shouted turning around.

"They're barred!" came a whimpered cry from Erin who was pulling at the windows underneath the net curtains.

"What?" Young cried puzzled.

"They've got FUCKING SAFETY BARS OVER ‘EM!!!" Erin scream hysterically climbing the ornate barred grills that covered the bay window.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" Young screamed angrily throwing his hands up in the air.

Decker found his weapon and scrambled across the bed to aid Young. The door was violently kicked in; it swung wilding on its hinges embedding the rounded doorknob into the plastered wall. A single man stood in the doorway, nearly the same height as the doorframe, standing around six foot six; he was dressed in a black suit, which was dotted with bullet holes form Young's gun, white shirt, and a thin black tie. Decker emptied his pistol as the man who reeled back with the force of each bullet, but still, he stood.

"Fuck me." Decker exclaimed standing in awe trying to reload his sidearm. The Man In Black walked into the room and grabbed Decker around his cheeks, squeezing his jaw with his massive hand that engulfed Decker's small head. Decker let out a muffled whimper as the man's palm squashed against Decker's nose and his thick fingers pushed Decker's cheeks against his back teeth, which his clamp-like grip. Young grabbed the metallic up-lighter from the corner of the room, he smashed off the saucer end that held the bulb and cried like a wild man. Young charged at the Man In Black using the up-lighter like a lance, spearing the man in the stomach. The M.I.B. made no noise as Young rammed the smashed end hard into his gut. Decker was dropped as the man let go of Decker's sore face and held onto the other end of the up-lighter in an attempt to dislodge it from his stomach. Using all his strength Young pushed the M.I.B. out onto the landing. Decker picked up his pistol and fired past Young hitting the Man In Black squarely in the shoulder three times.

The Man In Black lost his balance and reeled backwards, falling over the balcony and toppling down to the lobby. He hit the floor below hard, landing head and shoulders first. The man's neck vertebrae punched up through the base of his skull and split his spinal cord, and the small signal that was continuously relayed from the brain to a self-termination device was severed. It was like taking a pin out of a grenade and letting go of the lever, the self-destruction device was activated. The body convulsed violently on the tiled floor below. Young warily stood back from the banister he spotted the elongated shadows of the Majestic Twelve troops against the wall of the narrow staircase wind around the corner of the first floor. An explosion erupted from downstairs illuminating the hotel in a burning white flash. The shockwave of the blast rumbled throughout the building shattering all the hotel windows and rocking everyone off their feet. A ball of smoke plumed up between from the lobby in a dirty grey mushroom cloud.