Chapter 5

Five hours later, Jarod and Emily were just a half hour away from Fort Lauderdale. Thankfully the traffic was light and they could go a little over the speed limit to make up some time. The tension in the car was thick and Jarod kept looking at the clock over and over again.

"Jarod, relax. We're going to make it."

"Barely. Em, I can't risk anything happening to either you or dad. So, I need you to stay in the car when we get there. I'm going to park a little ways away from the house, but we're gonna hide you in the trunk just in case they see the car. Don't make a peep."

"I promise."

The next thirty minutes passed by slowly and they finally crossed into Fort Lauderdale. Jarod quickly found his way to the house and parked at the end of the street and out of sight.

"Remember," he whispered. "Stay quiet. You hear anything, don't make a peep."

Emily nodded, trying not to show how scared she was. Until now, she'd been able to convince herself that she was just on a road trip with her brother. Now the reality of the situation was becoming more and more clear. She felt her heart rate quicken and she unbuckled her seatbelt, got out of the car, and into the trunk. Jarod closed the trunk lid and crept down low, making his way towards the house. He saw the shack with its lights on and used the natural cover of trees to hide himself. Scoping the house as he got closer, he saw three Sweepers outside. Two on the side of the house he was on and one at the front. Jarod assumed there'd be more Sweepers set up around the house and knew his best bet was to keep going the way he was going. As quietly as possible, he crept forward, ready for anything. He waited until the Sweepers were facing away from him and crept up between them, knocking them both out with a single punch. He quickly and quietly scaled the side of the building and onto the roof, praying that no one had heard him. He flattened himself against the roof and crept across, remembering that this place had an attic. After thirty seconds of crawling, he found the window to the attic. Jarod picked the lock and quietly opened the window. Lowering himself in, he made sure that his footsteps were as quiet as possible. Quickly finding the staircase down, he softly walked downstairs and onto the second floor of the building. He looked around and made sure that no one was there. Clearly no one thought he was going to come through the roof because there wasn't a Sweeper in sight. He crept quietly towards the stairs to his left and noticed a Sweeper about halfway down.

Maybe I was wrong. I knew this was too easy. He thought.

He crept towards the Sweeper and put a hand over his mouth. Praying that he wouldn't put up too much of a fight, Jarod dragged him up the stairs. Once at the top, Jarod quickly knocked him out and went back to the stairs. He rounded the corner to see Major Charles, tied up to a chair with a Sweeper on each side. Their backs were to him and he didn't see Lyle. He crept the rest of the way down the stairs and walked towards Major Charles, ready to knock out the two Sweepers. Suddenly, he heard footsteps behind him and whirled around to see Lyle standing there.

"See? What did I tell you? Right on time, Jarod."

"Son?" Major Charles asked, trying to see behind him.

"Right here, dad." Jarod replied, staring Lyle down intently.

The Sweepers walked towards him and Jarod quickly tensed, ready for a fight. The first one was much taller than the other two and quickly grabbed Jarod from behind. The second one came around front to block any escape. Jarod used the Sweeper's own weight against him, leaning forward, he let out a grunt as the Sweeper flew over him and into the other Sweeper. The front door burst open and two more came in. Lyle had his usual maniacal grin on his face as he watched them surround Jarod.

"Give it up, Jarod. Time to go home." he said.

"I've found my home and it's not where you're going to take me."

Jarod fought off the Sweepers that had come in and stood poised and ready to fight off Lyle. Giving him a moment to catch his breath, Lyle approached him and swung a punch at him. Jarod blocked it and socked Lyle right in the nose. Lyle stumbled backwards, his hand flying to his nose. A pained groan emanated from him and Jarod noticed a red liquid making its way between Lyle's fingers. He took advantage of the opportunity and freed his dad from the ropes around his hands and legs. Together, they ran towards the door. By now, Lyle had recovered and had grabbed the gun at his side. A few shots were fired as they got to the door, each one a little closer than the previous. Once they were out the door, Major Charles shut the door behind them, hoping to gain a few precious seconds, and followed Jarod, who was a few steps ahead of him. The older man quickly caught up to the younger.

"Where to?" he asked, out of breath.

"Just around this corner." Jarod replied.

A shot rang out as father and son quickly rounded the corner at the end of the driveway and saw the car waiting for them. They heard footsteps running just a few yards behind them.

"Get in!" Jarod yelled, running to the back of the car and opening the trunk.

Emily was, thankfully still there, but she seemed shaken.

"What's wrong?" Jarod asked, extending a hand to help her out.

"Jarod, I think they almost found me." Emily said as she got out. "I heard two people walking around the car. They were just in front of the trunk when I heard them run off."

Jarod opened the back door and Emily got in. He got into the driver's seat as quickly as possible and peeled out from their parking spot just as Lyle came running up to the car. At the end of the street, he made a left and drove past a bunch of houses before finding the way to the main road through town. He hoped this was the right way to the freeway.

"Emily?" Major Charles asked, just now noticing her in the back seat. "How did…?"

"No time to explain. Are you both all right?" Jarod asked.

"Yes." came the replies from father and daughter.

"Ok. We're going to get out of town and then we have to change cars. They know which car we're in."

They sped through the streets of town and finally got to the freeway. Within half an hour, they were out of town and on a smaller state highway. They traded in the car he was currently driving and got a new car with a different license plate. They got out of the town they were in, driving westward towards Alabama. When they crossed the state line, they quickly found a hotel and parked in the parking lot. Major Charles immediately wrapped both of his children in as tight a hug as he could muster.

"Oh, it feels so good to have you both here," he said.

"Dad, we were so worried!" Emily cried, her voice breaking slightly.

"I know, sweetheart. I'm so sorry you had to go through that. But we're safe now. I promise."

He planted a kiss on his daughter's head and released the hug.

"Now, how did you two find each other?"

"It's...a long story," Jarod began.

"I'm all ears." Major Charles replied.

"Let's get checked in first."

Major Charles nodded and the trio got checked into the hotel under a pseudonym. Then they put what little they had into the hotel room and got settled in. Finally, Jarod got up the courage to tell their dad what had happened. Starting at the beginning, he explained everything. He had to calm Major Charles down when he told him about Emily being pushed out the window, but overall Major Charles handled the conversation as well as could be expected. They all knew that from now on, they'd have to be extra careful. The Centre would be on high alert now that they knew Jarod had found two members of his family. No staying in the same place for too long or using the same pseudonym. They would have to get word to Margaret so she would know to go deeper undercover than she'd been.

"We trust no one but each other," Jarod said. "At least until we know for sure they don't know where we are. We can't risk running into someone working undercover."

Emily and Major Charles nodded in agreement. Even though they knew they had to be on their toes for a while, it felt good to have a plan of action. Sleep didn't come easy to them that night, but somehow they were still able to wake up the next morning. A cup of coffee later, they were back on the road heading west.