Chapter Eleven: The Escape

Heero stood over Duo's shoulder, watching as his boyfriend carefully pried the phone apart. In the room around them, Heero and Quatre had set up numerous computers and connected them to Preventer controlled satellites. Trowa, Rashid, and Wufei were each sitting at a different laptop, scouring the live stream of people for any sign of Harry or Hawk. They knew it was a long shot, but they were hoping that if the kidnappers moved the boys, they would spot it. The kids had given a good description of the van and they were on the look out for it too.

Quatre was sitting with Shilin, trying to keep the woman calm. She was barely holding it together and refused to let her other children out of her sight. Quatre had wrapped Liliana's ankle in a bandage. The small girl had sprained it while running away from the kidnappers. Her sister and brother waited on her every need, trying hard to act brave.

Wufei stood from his laptop, growling in frustration. He walked over to Duo and Heero, intending to offer his technological help but Duo snapped at him before he could.

"Don't come anywhere near me. I can barely handle this guy looking over my shoulder, anyone else tries to and I will freak out."

Heero didn't even flinch at Duo's harsh words. Instead, he leaned forward and turned the cellphone in Duo's hand, studying it closer. Wufei was actually impressed that Duo didn't punch his boyfriend. The braided teen very obviously wanted to in that moment.

"I have something!" Trowa called, getting everyone's attention.

Everyone except Duo huddled around Trowa's laptop. Duo glanced up and listened to the conversation but his attention stayed on trying to find a way to track previous calls made from the phone.

"What is it?" Heero asked.

Trowa pointed at the live satellite image of the downtown. Something was fire and fire fighters were arriving at the scene. Trowa froze the image and then enhanced it. The thing burning was definitely a large van. Trowa backed up the image frame by frame until they could see the car before it exploded. A man dressed all in black climbed out.

"Freeze that," Heero ordered.

Trowa did so and enhanced the image again. The man was so small in the picture that he turned out blurry but it didn't matter. Even from the blurry picture they would tell the person was wearing a mask. Quatre turned to Caliana.

"Caliana, come here please."

The little girl did, looking hopefully at all of them. "Did you find something?" she asked.

Quatre pointed at the screen. "Is that the van you saw? Look at it closely and think hard."

The little girl focused on the screen before nodding vigorously. "Yeah! Yeah! That's it! I'm sure!"

"Can you track where the man went after blowing up the van?" Heero asked.

Trowa called up the satellite images. They found the man and followed his progress further downtown. They lost sight of him as he entered an underground parking garage. Trowa brought up a live image of the garage but there were so many cars coming and going it was impossible to track them all or tell which one the man was in.

Wufei swore in Chinese and Duo didn't need to ask to know that they hadn't found anything.

"There may still be a clue in the van remains," Heero said. "I will go investigate."

"I'll come with you," Trowa offered, standing.

Rashid appeared in the living room just in time to here Trowa's words. He stared at the five hopefully. "Have you found something?"

"We located the kidnappers van but they have destroyed and abandoned it. We're going to look for clues in the remains."

Rashid, crestfallen, nodded. "I have managed to gather all the money I could. I am still short 30,000."

Shilin cried softly but quickly covered her mouth to hide the sound. She didn't want to scare her children anymore than they already were.

"Tate is working on getting the money now," Quatre told Rashid.

Tate was his business partner and a lawyer. Quatre had confined in him what was happening and the man had dropped everything to help. The group had agreed not to inform the authorities about the kidnapping as they weren't sure what they would have to do to rescue Harry and Hawk. It would be easier without police protocol to do whatever they needed to.

"Thank you, Master Quatre," Rashid said with a bow, humbled by his friend's generosity. Quatre smiled thinly.

"We will go investigate the van," Heero told everyone. "Quatre and Rashid, you will finish collecting the ransom money. Duo, continue working on tracking the phone and Wufei, do not leave Shilin or her family alone. Do not let any of them out of your sight."

Everyone agreed with Heero's words and Trowa and Heero left. Trowa climbed into the driver's seat of one of Quatre's many cars and Heero didn't argue. He knew he was in no condition to drive. If he tried to drive right now he would break every traffic law and probably cause a few accidents in his desperation to find Harry as quickly as he could.

As Trowa started the car, he spoke quietly. "We will find him. This is not like before. Harry knows how to take care of himself now and is stronger."

Heero grunted. He just hoped Harry was strong enough to survive until they found him.

Harry was untied and thrown harshly into a small room. He ripped off his blindfold and glared behind him just as Hawk was tossed into the room. Harry caught his friend before he fell and took off his blindfold.

"I'll get you for this!" Hawk shouted, lunging at their kidnappers. They laughed and shut the door to the small room, locking it tightly. "Bastards."

Harry looked around. The room they were in had no windows and a single cot. The walls were steal and bare. Harry made his way to the cot and sat down. He couldn't help but notice how it felt the same as his cot back at the Dursley's, old and worn out. Harry closed his eyes as bad memories engulfed him. Being locked in the cupboard and so hungry he cried from the pain in his stomach, being chained to the mafia boss's bed and crying because he thought he would never see his family again. Now he was locked in a small room, facing who knew what kind of trouble. He wished so hard for Heero to come find him and rescue him.

"Don't worry," Hawk said, sitting next to Harry. "We'll be okay. Our families are looking for us right now."

Harry nodded, fighting back his tears. Hawk put his arm around his shoulders.

"This... this kind of thing happened to you once before, right?" Hawk's voice was cautious as he asked. Harry nodded. "What happened that time?"

Harry shook his head. He didn't want to talk about it. But Hawk's bravado had left him now that they were alone and his friend looked frightened. Harry wasn't sure how talking about his first kidnapping was going to help but he answered anyway.

"Some mafia guys almost killed Wufei," Harry explained quietly. "That's why Wufei's arm is bad, because they shot him twice."

"I didn't know that," Hawk admitted.

Harry nodded. "They took me because they wanted to draw out whoever Wufei was working with at the time. The guy in charge, Talen, said that if they gave up Wufei's partner he'd let me go but he lied. He tried to sell me."

"Sell you?"

Harry nodded. "He had a buyer and everything but before he could, Heero and Duo found me. They saved me."

Harry decided not to mention Xiao-Xing and how she had died for him. Hawk didn't need to know the frightening details. All he needed to know was that Heero had come in the end and rescued him. Judging by how Hawk straightened and took a deep breath, Harry was sure his story had given the other boy some much needed hope.

"Well then let's make rescuing us easier on our families," Hawk declared, smiling at Harry. He jumped to his feet and ran to the door, pressing his ear against it. Harry followed him wearily. "I don't hear anything outside, they must not have left a guard."

"But the door's locked," Harry pointed out. "Duo was going to teach me how to pick locks but Wufei wouldn't let him." Harry pouted. "He said little kids shouldn't be taught how to be thieves."

Hawk frowned. "Well when we get out of this, we'll ask Master Duo to teach us both how to pick locks, you know, just in case." Harry nodded in agreement as Hawk stepped back from the door and faced him.

"Okay, so you remember my floating trick? Well, I've been practicing and discovered I can do more than make things float."

Harry nodded. "Actually, I've been practicing too." Hawk looked curious and Harry shrugged. "After you showed me your trick, I wanted to try and found out I can do it to. It's hard and I'm not as good as you but I managed it."

"That's great!" Hawk exclaimed. "Then I'll bet that means you can do other stuff too, like me. That's going to make escaping so much easier."

"Escaping?"

"I can unlock doors, if I concentrate really hard," Hawk explained. "Bigger doors like this give me trouble but if we both try, I'll bet it'll be easy!"

"How do you do it?"

"The same way you make things float. Just focus on the door and concentrate on unlocking it. When you feel that weird tingly sensation kinda... push it towards the door while thinking what you want to happen."

"I'll try," Harry agreed.

The two faced the door and grabbed hands. They both took a deep breath and stared hard at the lock, focusing all their attention on unlocking it. After a moment, Harry felt the strange tingling sensation that always happened when he performed his tricks. This time, the sensation was stronger, more demanding. Harry realized it was because Hawk was next to him, doing the same thing. Together, they lifted their hands and pointed at the door. Without conscience thought, both yelled, "Unlock!" in unison.

There was a loud thunk and the tingling sensation vanished. Hawk hurried forward and turned the handle, opening the door without a problem. He turned back to Harry with a grin.

"Let's get the hell outta here!"

Heero and Trowa stared at the wreckage of the van. It was completely destroyed without a trace of evidence left in it. The kidnappers had used a very powerful flame accelerant to make sure the destruction was complete. The police were beginning the process of cleaning up the remains of the car.

"I feel as though we're being toyed with," Trowa admitted quietly. "The person knew you were a Gundam pilot and mocks us by telling us to call him Superieur. He knew we would be searching for this van and made a public display of destroying it, to show us who's in control."

Heero didn't answer, knowing everything Trowa said was true. None of that mattered to him. He didn't care if this man thought he was superior to them or that he was taunting them. All that mattered to Heero was finding Harry and getting him home safely. Once his little brother was safe again, then Heero would deal with the kidnappers.

Heero had once broken his vow to never kill in order to protect Harry. He would do so again.

Heero turned his eyes towards the nearby docks. Boats of all different sizes and shapes were tethered in the distance. A strange feeling in the back of his head made Heero want to go down and look at them but he scolded himself for the thought. He had to find his brother, not go looking at pointless boats. Heero turned back to Trowa.

"We'll return to base."

Trowa nodded and the two walked back to their car, their hearts a little heavier.

Hawk lead the way down a narrow steal hallway. Harry followed closely, trying to walk lightly so his footsteps didn't echo. They had been running for a few minutes and not found anyone. Hawk slowed to a stop and pointed ahead at a short staircase. For the first time since escaping, the boy's heard voices. They crouched down and peered over the top of the stairs.

The hall before them was just as narrow as the one they had run through. A room was off to the side and the voices the boy's heard were from a radio. Hawk crawled forward and peeked his head around the corner into the room. There was only one kidnapper and he was sound asleep, his radio resting on his chest. Hawk hurried past the room and waved for Harry to follow.

Harry's heart was pounding in his chest. He could feel his hands shaking and tried hard to control it. He couldn't help but be scared. He couldn't stop remembering Wufei's bloody body or Xiao-Xing being shot.

Hawk stopped abruptly and Harry bumped into him. He put a finger to his lips and pointed up a little ways. There was a small circular window letting in light from outside. Quietly, the two climbed up to it, peering out. The city docks were stretched before them. Large boats were tied up and there was no one in sight.

"We must be on a ship," Hawk whispered. "That's great!" He turned to Harry, looking excited. "If we can get to the deck, we can just jump in the water and swim to shore! They'll never be able to catch us, and if we swim underwater they won't see us either!" He turned back to the window. "The dock isn't that far away, I know we can do it."

"I don't know if I can swim," Harry whispered.

Hawk looked at him in shock. "What?"

"Well, I've never been swimming, so I don't actually know. I've never tried."

Hawk stared at Harry in disbelief and the boy turned bright red with embarrassment. The Dursley's had certainly never taken him swimming before and he had never gone with his brothers. Hawk scowled and looked back out the window.

"Let's get to the deck and figure out a plan B," he said and Harry could tell his friend was frustrated. He couldn't blame him. Just like the first time, Harry couldn't do anything for himself. All he could do was sit around and hope someone else saved him.

The sound of a door opening echoed around them and the boys jumped, scrambling to find a place to hide. A burly man with a scared face lumbered past them, carrying a tray of food. He stopped at the door where the other man was sleeping and banged loudly.

"Get up!" he shouted. The man in the room jerked away and scrambled to his feet, blinking sleepily. "Fuckin' worthless! Take this to the brats and make sure they're not causing any trouble."

"What trouble? It's a couple of snot-nosed brats locked in a steel room."

"Just do it!"

The burly man returned the way he'd come while the other man head towards Hawk and Harry's cell. The boys didn't move until both men were out of sight.

"We've got to hurry!" Hawk whispered. "Come on!"

They ran down the hall, not trying to be quiet anymore. Any moment now the kidnapper would discover they'd escape and raise the alarm. The boys needed to get to the deck before that happened. Hawk skid to a stop as they came up to a door. He tried to open it but it was locked. He grabbed Harry's hand and the two once again performed their trick. The door unlocked with a loud thunk.

Hawk shoved it open and revealed a set of stairs that led to the deck. They smiled as the fresh air hit them and ran up to the stairs. It was long and empty; there were no boxes or places for the boys to hide. If they left the stairwell, they'd be out in the open. They crouched down as voices echoed from somewhere behind them.

"What do you mean they escaped?" the man with French accent was shouting. "You forgot to lock the door?"

The boy's heard a gunshot and jumped. The sound of something falling hard echoed before everything was silent. After a second, the voices spoke again, becoming louder.

"Dispose of that and find those brats. They are our meal ticket! We pull off this job and we'll never have to work a day in our lives ever again. Find them!"

Hawk grabbed Harry's hand and they made a run for it. They dashed to the ship railing and looked at the blue water. The drop from the ship was a lot farther than they realized and both boys gulped as they stared down the side of the boat. Hawk looked around and grabbed Harry's arm excitedly.

"Look!"

He pointed at a lifesaver sitting on the deck with a pile of rope. They ran over to it.

"You can put this around your stomach and float!" Hawk said excitedly.

"What about you?"

"I'm a good swimmer," Hawk dismissed. "And when we're back home and safe, I'm going to teach you how to swim too." He grabbed the lifesaver and shoved it over Harry's head. He then grabbed the rope and tied it to the railing. "We'll lower ourselves as far as we can with the rope and then have to jump the rest of the way."

A voice shouted behind them and the boys jumped. "They're here! They're up on deck!"

"Hurry!" Hawk exclaimed and tossed the rope over the edge. He and Harry climbed over the railing and began scaling down it. The kidnapper who had spotted them ran across the deck and grabbed the rope, pulling it and the two boys dangling from it back up.

"We have to jump!" Hawk yelled.

"No you don't!" the man roared and reached over to catch Hawk's shirt collar. He hefted the protesting boy up and back onto the ship.

"Hawk!" Harry yelled.

"Jump Harry!" Hawk's voice called to him and then he screamed in pain.

Harry looked down at the water that was still a good twenty-feet below him. He could let go of the rope and try to swim to shore but the shout of pain from Hawk made him stop. If he escaped now, his friend would be alone, just like he had been. Hawk had been leading them to safety, putting Harry first and protecting him the best he could. Harry could feel angry tears falling from his eyes. He was always being protected, saved.

When Harry tried to run away, Heero had come to save him from the homeless man that attacked him. Heero and Duo saved him from the Dursleys, giving him a wonderful family and happy life. Even when Wufei had been shot and was on the verge of death he still had tried to protect Harry. Xiao-Xing had died for him and now Hawk, his best friend in the whole world, was putting himself in danger to help Harry escape.

Angry, Harry made up his mind. He was done being the damsel in the distress! It was time for him to man up and start protecting his family! Never again would someone get hurt or killed trying to save his life. No, Harry was going to become the protector now. He was going to save his friend!

Harry didn't try and jump as the kidnapper pulled the rope up. The man grabbed Harry and threw him onto the deck. Harry grunted as he fell and looked up to see Hawk lying on the ground, his eye puffy and a small cut on his cheek. He was dazed and having trouble focusing his eyes. Harry growled, feeling rage boil up in his chest. Harry grabbed the lifesaver around him and pulled it off. With a load yell, he swung the object as hard as he could at the kidnapper. He hit him square in the chest and felt a burst of tingling energy shoot through his arms. The kidnapper grunted and was sent flying over the railing, screaming as he plummeted to the water.

Harry whipped around just as the rest of the bad guys surrounded him, some of them gawking in surprise. Harry met the steady gaze of the French man.

"You're going to regret fucking with me, I promise!" he shouted.

The French-man wasn't impressed. He merely lifted a delicate eyebrow and gestured for his men to grab Hawk. He took a menacing step forward and grabbed Harry by his shirt collar, lifting him nearly off his feet.

"No boy, it is you who will regret this."

Harry spat on him.

The man snarled and hit Harry so hard the boy was unconscious before he hit the ground.

Harry wasn't sure where he was. It was cold and foggy and he couldn't see more than three feet in front of him. He shivered, rubbing his arms quickly to try and warm them.

"Hello?" he called. His voice echoed back to him and Harry spotted movement. He walked over and saw Heero sleeping in an uncomfortable position on a chair. "Heero!"

The teen jerked and blinked his eyes open slowly. Harry was confused. He had never seen his brother wake up slowly or look sleepy. In the morning, Heero opened his eyes and got from bed fluidly. He never lingered under the blankets or rubbed his eyes to get the sleep out of them.

"Heero!" Harry called again.

The teen turned to him slowly, blinking.

"Heero I'm here! Can you here me? Heero!"

The image of his brother began to fade and seemed to move away. Harry ran towards him but the faster he ran, the faster the image faded. "Heero! Don't go! Please don't go! I'm here!" Harry tripped and fell, feeling tears burn his eyes. "The docks Heero! We're on a ship!"

The image faded completely and both Heero and Harry woke up in their respective rooms with a start.

Heero cursed himself thoroughly for falling asleep while searching the satellite feed. He hadn't even realized he was tired. It was three in the morning and the living room was dark, only one lamp was turned on. Shilin and her children were sleeping on the couch, curled together. Rashid had covered them all with blankets before sitting on the floor in front of them while he searched the computer for clues.

Quatre and Trowa had left sometime ago to collect the ransom money. Quatre knew many, if not all, of the bank owners in the city. He had called them and either begged or blackmailed them into allowing him to draw extremely large sums of money after business hours. Wufei was sitting on the floor watching three laptops at once. The computers were showing images of the city flashing between different parts quickly. His eyes flickered back and forth quickly, never missing a thing. Duo was lying with his head on the table, the phone from the kidnappers sitting in pieces before him.

Heero shook his head, the urge to go to the docks and look at boats was overwhelming. He had no idea why he suddenly wanted to go there but he refused to let his focus wander. He could go look at all the boats he wanted after his brother was found.

The phone on the table rang and everyone stared at it, surprised. Heero stood swiftly as Duo quickly hooked the phone up to various tracking devices. When he was ready, he nodded to Heero who answered.

"Yuy."

"Your little brats are annoying us," the man with the french accent spoke quickly, his voice irritated. "We've decided move things along before we accidentally damage them permanently. Such fragile things, children."

Heero nearly crushed the phone in his hand.

"I hope you haven't destroyed the screen on your phone because I'm texting the coordinates for the drop now. If more than two of you show up, I will kill one of the boys and we'll have to try again with the second one."

The phone cut off abruptly and Duo cursed. He hadn't had enough time to do a trace. A second later it beeped and a message appeared with coordinates and a time for the meeting. Wufei punched them into a laptop and a forested area appeared on the screen. It was two hours outside of the city in a completely unpopulated area. The meeting time was in two hours which meant they had to leave now to make it on time.

"Call Trowa and Quatre," Duo ordered Wufei.

Heero stared at the phone and shook his head. He couldn't shake the instinct that this was wrong. This was a lie. Harry was not in the woods he was in the water. Cursing, Heero stalked over to his laptop. He brought up a live stream of the docks and stared at the tethered boats. He frowned when he spotted a boat at the very edge of the water, anchored in the shallows rather than tied up.

"Heero?" Duo called. "What are you doing?"

"These coordinates are a lie," Heero stated.

"How do you know? You think he's going to mess with us to get more money?"

Heero didn't answer, unable to explain himself. He began watching past footage of the boat, speeding it up.

"Quatre and Trowa have collected all the money," Wufei announced, hanging up the phone. "They're on their way back now, e.t.a. is six minutes."

"Who will go to the drop?" Rashid asked. He and Duo stared at each other, neither wanting to give up the right to go.

"None of us," Heero said, surprising everyone. "Because they will not bring the boys." Heero smirked and looked up to Duo. "I have found them."

Instantly everyone gathered around the laptop. Heero enhanced the image that was time stamped for five thirty that afternoon. On the ship two small figures ran about the deck and attempted to jump overboard, only to be caught. Rashid cursed loudly and promised death to the man who grabbed his son and hit him. Duo laughed and congratulated Harry when he hit the man hard enough to knock him overboard but his elation was cut short when Harry was attacked a moment later.

"They're on this boat," Duo said. "How did you know, Heero?"

"Instinct," Heero answered, unsure of how else to explain himself. "I have devised a plan. Quatre and Rashid will go to the drop point, in case they do bring the boys with them to exchange money. We will infiltrate this ship and rescue them before the drop is to take place."

"No," Rashid interrupted quickly. "I will not be sent away while my son is trapped where I can help him."

"You must," Heero said. "It will be suspicious enough that I am not there, if at least one parent doesn't show, they will know something is wrong and call it off."

"Then you go to the drop point and I will go to the ship," Rashid said fiercely. Never before had he disobeyed the orders of the family he had sworn himself to protect but this situation was different. This was his son's life they were talking about.

"That won't work," Duo insisted.

Wufei placed a hand on Rashid's shoulder. "Rashid, you are a talented warrior with a strong heart but you are not a Gundam pilot. We will move as a team and Heero is the leader of our team. We are able to communicate without words and barely any gestures while we are on missions. We know each other inside and out." He stared at them man imploringly. "This mission will require stealth, speed, and exact precision. We can't risk the children's lives by working with someone we don't know on an intimate level."

Rashid understood Wufei's words and saw his point but he simply couldn't give in. Hawk was his first born. He was vibrant and determined in all that he did. He followed Rashid everywhere, wanting nothing more than to follow in his father's footsteps.

"Listen to me, Rashid," Wufei implored. "You must go to this drop to make it valid. With you there distracting these men, it will give us the opportunity to slip in unnoticed."

"Husband..." Shilin's voice spoke quietly from the darkness. She was awake, listening to the conversation with wide eyes full of tears. "Please, I just want my baby back..."

Rashid took a deep breath and nodded. He turned to Wufei. "It would be cruel of me to ask Master Heero or Master Duo to look out for my son over their own so I will ask you." He met Wufei's dark eyes. "Please, protect my son over all else."

"I swear to you on my life," Wufei stated boldly. "I will return your son to you alive." They clasped hands, an understanding passing between them.

Quatre and Trowa entered the living room then, carrying four large suitcases of money. Heero left the others to fill them in on the plan while he hurried from the room to prepare.

Harry woke with a start and looked around the dark room worriedly. He spotted Hawk crouching by the door, his ear pressed against the cold metal. Hawk saw him and pressed a finger to his lips before getting up and walking over to the cot.

"They put a guard out there," he whispered. Even in the dark Harry could see a dark bruise on his friend's face. "I think we can still escape though."

"We need a better plan this time," Harry whispered back.

Hawk nodded. "I think I have an idea. We got caught because they found out we were missing so quick. We need to do a better job this time."

"How?"

Hawk grinned. "We're going to knock out the guard before he can raise a fuss." Hawk stood from the bed, gesturing Harry to do the same. "Look, the mattress comes off the frame."

"How does that help? It's not heavy enough to knock him out."

"No, but the metal frame is. These chains are weak so we can break them and use our floating trick to hover it above our heads. When he comes, we'll drop it on him."

"Won't he notice there's no bed anymore?" Harry asked.

"Once of us can float the mattress where the frame should be so it looks like it's there. He'll never know what hit him."

"Okay," Harry agreed. "You should float the metal though, since you're better at it than me. I'll hold the mattress in place."

Together they used their powers to break the chains that held the bed to the wall. It took numerous tries and both the boys were panting and sweating by the time they finished. While they worked, Hawk moaned loudly, as if he were pain. Harry cried loudly, acting as if he was worried for his friend. The sounds covered any noise they made while breaking the metal chains.

Once they were finished, they sat on the floor, taking a break. Neither of them had ever tried to use their tingling tricks so much before and they were feeling wiped out. Hawk didn't let them rest for long though. He pushed his tired body up and focused on the metal spring, raising it high into the air. Harry levitated the mattress as Hawk sprawled out on the floor.

"Ready?" Harry whispered. Hawk nodded and Harry turned to the door. He took a deep breath and started banging on the metal. "Help, help! Someone help me!" he shouted. "My friend! My friend's hurt! He's passed out! Help!"

Harry heard the guard move outside and stopped shouting for a moment.

"Seriously kid?" the man's voice came from the other side of the door. "You expect me to fall for the oldest trick in the book?"

"I'm not lying!" Harry yelled. "You guys hurt him! You hit him in the head and hurt him really bad!" He banged on the door again.

A little flap opened and the kidnapper's eyes could be seen, staring around the cell. Hawk didn't move and Harry stepped away from the door, pointing at his friend with tears running down his face.

"You see! You did this! You killed him! You'll never get your stupid ransom money now! His father is going to hunt you down and kill you for this!"

The flap closed and Harry sniffed loudly. A moment later the lock on the door thunked open and the man came in, holding his gun.

"Stand over there where I can see you," he ordered Harry, gesturing with his weapon. Harry did so, making sure to not stand under the hovering bed frame. The man knelt next to Hawk and flipped him onto his back. As soon as he did, Hawk's eyes snapped open and he rolled out of the way just as he released the bed frame. The kidnapper never saw it coming and collapsed, knocked out cold by the falling metal.

"Good job!" Hawk and Harry high-fived, smiling.

"Grab his legs," Harry ordered.

They dragged him out into the hallway and shut the cell door and locked it. The boys propped him up so if anyone walked by, they would think he was just sitting and everything was fine. Harry grabbed the gun from the kidnapper's pocket and switched the safety on before tucking it into his pants. Both he and Hawk had been taught by their families how to use a gun safely but neither had ever fired one outside of a practice range.

They nodded to each other before running off down the hall back towards the deck and hopefully to their freedom.

A/N: Lots and lots of magic in this chapter. So it's obvious that Hawk is wizard. I haven't decide if I'm going to write a sequel where they go to Hogwarts, but if I did, what house would Hawk be in, do you think? He's very brave, like a Gryffindor, but he's also extremely loyal, like a Huflepuff. His loyalty is his most prominent personality trait but I never saw him as being humble like a Hufflepuff. However he's a little more levelheaded than a Gryffindor. I don't know, if could go either way.

So the next chapter is the final one in the story. We're almost to the end! Can you believe it? I'm actually going to finish a story! I have so many unfinished works it's shocking when I write an ending.

See you next week, everyone have a Happy Thanksgiving!