Caught

Call it paranoia, call it stupid, call it really whatever you want, but before you do, remember one thing. I have been running all my life. I have never known someone who can convincingly tell me that everything will be ok. I have been trained to hide at the sound of a knock on the door. That knock could be the end of my life; though I doubt a Mogadorian would knock before killing me. I have somewhat of a protective barrier around me; unless it has already been broken, I can't be killed before the rest. We must be killed in order. It is broken only when two Garde meet in person.

I crept along the wall to the door and peeked through the peephole on the door. I sighed and laughed at myself slightly before opening the door.

"Hello." I stated it very calmly and coolly, as if I hadn't been so worried only a second ago.

"Mister Prescod?" The man from the front desk asked.

"That's me!" I laughed, saying it like a joke.

The man's face didn't show even the slightest bit of humor as he spoke. "You need to come with me."

"And why is that?" I asked him, humor leaving my voice as I stared him up and down.

"Please do not question me," he sighed, anger tensing his cheekbones. "You have a visitor. He was QUITE insistent."

"Who is it?" I asked, refusing to leave my room.

"I do not know his name Mister Prescod, I only know that he asked for you, and has threatened to report our business to the bureau for extreme lack of service, unless I return with you." He looked very agitated, and stepped closer to my door.

"Well, for security reasons, I'm afraid I can't come out right now." I smirked and started to close the door.

"Fine," the man puffed, stopping the door and grabbing my arm.

I gave in and just walked with him to the front desk. I man in a gray sport coat and khakis greeted me there.

"Hello Jack," he said in a chilling voice. He stuck out his hand. "Nice to meet you."

I took his hand and shook it. That was a mistake. Two men in black suits came up to me and pulled my hand behind my back. I had somewhat seen this coming, but was still angry.

I scowled at the man in the gray coat as he spoke to me. "I'm sorry Mr. Prescod, but I doubt you would have come willingly.

I kicked him in the shin. That only got me some rope around my legs. The two men picked me in like a child and started carrying me out to the large white van parked in front of the hotel.

The back doors of the van were opened up, and one of the black-suited men hopped in to the trunk. He returned from the trunk with a pocket knife in his hand.

"Don't hurt him!" yelped a pained voice from the trunk, as they cut the ropes that bound my hands.

The trunk took up the back half of the large van, and was separated from the front by a carpeted wall. I was tossed into the trunk with a thud, and the three men climbed into the front.

"Jack?" the voice from before called to me.

I didn't respond. I was in pain, and when they had been cutting the ropes from my hands, they had missed, stabbing my back instead.

A lighted popped on above my head, and I opened my eyes slightly. Bentley's hands were tied to the handles on the roof of the car, and his face had many cuts and bruises on it.

I scooted up against the wall of the car with a groan, and started to untie his hands.

"Hey." I said. Making it a joke despite the current situation, as I worked to get the tight knot out of the rope.

"Hey." He said back. "What did you do?"

"Me?" I asked, shocked. "I didn't do anything. Why did you just get taken in the middle of the night by a scout?" I had so many questions lined up for him.

"I must have been monitored online by someone. They must have thought I had some important information."

"Yeah, who's Ella?" I asked, finally getting the first knot done, and watching as his arm fell limply to his side.

"Smart." He said. "Checking my internet history? How'd you guess the pass codes?"

I started the other knot as he tried to flex his stiff arm. "Am I Ten?" I asked bluntly.

"Of course you are." He said, looking at me with compassion.

"Then who is Ella?"

"Most likely, Ella is Eleven. Since no one remembers you from that day, and it wouldn't make sense for the numbers to be Eight, Nine, Eleven, I'm sure she just took the name of Ten. She is young. She won't remember anything from the ship anyway. She was even too young to be assigned a Cêpan. Crayton is her unofficial Cêpan."

I finished untying the last knot, and Bentley wrapped his arms around me. I hugged him too. Suddenly I realized how much my back hurt, and I tensed as the pain spread through my lower back. Bentley looked me in the eyes and asked me what happened.

After explaining how I had been stabbed, and Bentley yelling something in Loric towards the front of the van, he had me show him where I had been injured.

I pulled my shirt off, and sat down in front of him. Bentley gasped when he saw the wound.

"Is it bad?" I asked, worried.

"No, not too bad." I could feel his fingers gently tracing the outline of the wound. "It's long, but not too deep."

I lay down on my side and used my T-shirt as a pillow. I was so happy to see Bentley alive and with me again.

"So you managed to travel?" He asked.

"I knew you'd think it was wrong to stay…" I was cut off by the sound of the front doors opening.

I hugged Bentley one more time before the doors were opened. I slid up against the side of the car again, wincing in pain as I did so.

Bentley had whispered something to me when I hugged him. A plan, I suppose. We were going to try to escape.

End of Chapter Four! Thanks for reading!