Chapter 8

Disclaimer: If it were mine, I wouldn't make anyone wait THREE STINKIN' WEEKS for the finale…

A/N: I'm glad you guys are enjoying it! Sorry I haven't gotten around to writing the promised Lauren-gets-killed-by-Sark fic, but I'll work on it today, I promise!

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Leah's newfound friends insisted on driving her to the bus station after a breakfast that had consisted of more food than Leah had been able to eat. And the boy, Kenny, he'd asked for seconds! But at least she'd timed it so that they'd pulled out of the driveway less than five minutes after she'd called her father. Surely that wasn't enough time for the CIA to organize…whatever an organization so important they were known by an acronym would call attempts to find her.

"Now, you're sure your grandparents don't have a problem with you coming to them?" Kyla's mother asked. "You can stay with us until you figure something else out, if you need to."

"Yeah!" Kenny said, bouncing enthusiastically in the front seat of the SUV. "You can stay! You're way cooler than Kyla!" For good measure, he stuck his tongue out at his sister.

With a cool look, Kyla said, "I'm far too mature for such childish antics." But when Kenny turned around to look out the front windshield again, she grinned and smacked him in the back of the head.

"Hey!"

"That, however, I've yet to outgrow."

Kenny made a face and flicked a balled up gum wrapper at Kyla, but it hit Leah instead. She just laughed.

"As much fun as I think it would be to stay here, I need to be with family," she said, a longing to see her mother giving her smile a pasted on look.

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Sydney sighed as Vaughn stopped their CIA issue car in front of the mouse the trace had indicated.

"She's not here," Sydney said hopelessly.

"I know," Vaughn agreed.

"So why not let someone else follow up on this?"

"Because we may need you."

"Why?"

"You'll see."

Vaughn knocked on the door before she could argue, and a boy of about eight answered it.

"You look like Leah," he said instantly, staring at Sydney.

"Who is it, Kenny?" a girl called from inside the house.

"A guy and some lady who looks like Leah!"

The girl that had called appeared in the doorway behind the boy, eyeing them suspiciously.

"Are you Leah's cousins?" she asked angrily.

Sydney smiled charmingly, suddenly seeing why Vaughn thought they'd need her presence. People could see her relation to Leah. "No, we're not. Can we come in for a few minutes? And is your mother here?"

The girl leaned down and spoke quietly to her brother, and he took off upstairs.

"My brother will bring my mother," she said, stepping back to let them in. "Who are you, if you're not her cousins?" She looked more closely at Vaughn. "You're both related to her," she added.

"I'm her mother," Sydney said softly.

She'd been leading them into the living room, but at this the girl whirled around, blocking the doorway. Her eyes were blazing and suspicious.

"Leah said her parents had died."

"No," Vaughn spoke for the first time. "We're very much alive." He held up a hand to halt her retort. "We'll explain everything to you and your mother. You're Kyla?"

She eyed them warily. "How do you know my name?" She hissed.

Vaughn shook his head.

"Wait for your mother," Sydney said softly. "And…you may want to hear what we have to say first, then censure what you tell your brother accordingly."

Kyla's eyes widened in confusion, and she stopped her mother at the base of the stairs and sent her brother back up them. She held a hushed conference, glancing constantly at Sydney and Vaughn. Finally, Melissa Smith nodded.

"You are Leah's mother," she said to Sydney. "You couldn't be anyone else. So why did Leah tell us her parents were dead?"

"She was scared," Sydney said carefully. "And alone. She…she didn't want to involve you in this…mess."

"What mess?" Kyla asked.

"We're affiliated with the CIA," Vaughn revealed. "This mess consists of a criminal organization kidnapping our daughter, Leah, because they recognized her relation to her mother. Leah escaped them, and apparently found herself a nice place to sleep after she was sure they didn't know where she was any more. What did she tell you?"

"Is she okay? She's not in trouble now, is she?" Kyla asked worriedly.

Vaughn and Sydney exchanged looks.

"Right now, we don't know where she is. This is the last place we could trace her to," Sydney said, her voice wavering slightly. "I hate to involve you any more then you're already involved, but you may be my only link to my daughter. And I haven't protected her for eighteen years to lose her now," Sydney added in a tightly controlled tone.

"Eighteen?" Kyla said. "She said…well, I guess we just assumed she was only sixteen."

"Look, we'd love to help you people, but we don't know where Leah is any more either," Melissa offered. "I took her to the bus station this morning, but in light of all this my guess is she never went anywhere."

"I hope not," Sydney said. "She promised to call us later today. If there's nothing else, then we'll let you know when we find out anything."

Vaughn moved closer to Sydney and put his arm around her waist.

"I wish I'd known all this a few hours earlier," Melissa said sympathetically. "The thought of not knowing where either of my children were…it's enough to drive a woman mad. Leah was so convincing…"

"It's a survival skill," Vaughn said when Sydney didn't answer. "We'll keep in touch."

Knowing instinctively that Sydney was fast losing her grip on control, Vaughn guided her quickly back to their car. He drove barely two miles in complete silence before he found a secluded dirt road to turn off on.

Turning off the car, he pulled Sydney into a hug.

"We're going to find her, Syd. It'll be okay…" he murmured.

Sydney tired to choke back a sob and failed dismally, then wrapped her arms around him.

"I'm sorry," she whispered brokenly. "I'm so sorry…"

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Leah kept the jacket of the jogging suit zipped up, despite the heat. The pants felt plastered to her legs. At least her hair was pulled up off her neck.

She'd found the raggedy baseball cap at the bus station. She'd shuddered to think where is had been as she tucked her hair under it, but her long, burly hair would have been a dead giveaway to anyone looking for her.

She needed to find a safe place to call her father from, but first she needed to have a meeting place in mind.

The small service station with no pay phones outside gave her an idea, and she hurried inside.

"Excuse, me," Leah said to the guy standing behind the single register. "Do you have a phone I can use? My car broke down around the corner, and I was supposed to be home an hour ago. My dad's gonna kill me," she pleaded. And he probably would, but not for being late.

"Sure." The guy handed her a surprisingly new cordless phone.

"Thanks so much. You're a lifesaver," she said, grinning.

He just shrugged. Leah nearly laughed, realizing she couldn't be much to look at in the baseball cap and rumpled gray jogging suit. She hurriedly dialed a number.

"Hell?"

"Hi, Dad." Leah had meant to use the term for the cashier's benefit, but she realized as she said it that it was the most natural thing in the world to say. "I have a problem. I know I was supposed to be home already, but my car broke down."

"God, Leah, you have no idea how relived we are to hear from you," Vaughn sighed. "You're going to stay there until we come get you this time, right?"

"Sure, Dad, I'll stay here. You'll come get me?"

"Yes. You stay there, Leah," he warned.

"I'll watch for you."

Leah thanked the guy again and walked out, settling in a bus stop booth across the street that offered some cover and a clear view of the service station.

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Sydney mentally urged the miles to disappear, even as Vaughn fought not to slam the accelerator to the floor. The less attention they drew to themselves and Leah, the better.

But damn it was hard!

Vaughn was so wrapped up in finally getting to Leah that he didn't notice the car tailing him until he'd nearly led them right to Leah. He took the next turn so fast that Sydney, caught unaware, gasped and clutched at the seat.

"Vaughn! What…" she gasped, then she saw the car behind them. "We were followed?!? How?!?"

"I don't know," Vaughn muttered. "But we have to lose him. We have to get Leah."

Sydney paled. "What if they know…" She couldn't finish the thought.

"Get the guns out from under the seat," Vaughn said grimly, leaving unsaid that they were going to need them.

Sydney's hands shook as she clicked the rounds into place.

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Leah watched the man across the street from the corner of her eye. He was watching her, but he didn't need to know she knew it. He just hoped her mother and father would show up before the guy came after her. She had no choice; if she made a move, she'd give herself away.

Her gaze swept the area around her, looking for anything she could use if he came after her. There wasn't a single thing large enough to have any effect on the well built man.

Deciding quickly, she glanced up and down the street then hurried across. She nodded at the cashier as she entered the store again, and wandered up and down the few aisles, stopping periodically to look at something as if wasting time.

Finally she found what she was looking for: a small display of pocketknives in the back of the store. She slipped one into her pocket just before the bell above the door signaled someone entering. She just glanced dismissively at the man who was so obviously tailing her and went to the front to pay for a thirty cent pack of chewing gum.

Leah didn't like the idea of stealing the knife, but it could be the difference between life and death for her, and no one was likely to miss the three dollar novelty.

Back at the bus stop, Leah watched the door. To her horror, her tail came across the street and sat down next to her on the bench.

Get him talking. Make him think he's fooled you. He'll get careless.

The voice seemed to echo in her head, but Leah didn't have time to analyze it. The advice sounded good.

"So, what are you doing here?" she asked casually. She was rewarded by his confusion.

"Huh?"

"You don't look like the type of guy to be waiting for a bus in this one horse hell hole of a town," she said, using the conversation as an excuse to turn and look at him. "What brings you here now?"

"I've got family nearby. Flew out, so I don't have my car." He pretended to study her as though he hadn't been paying attention before. "What about you? You look to smart of a girl to get yourself tied down to this place."

Surely he wasn't expecting her to tell him the truth?!? Then it hit her. He wasn't sure of her! Well, if he didn't know who she was, she wasn't going to tell him, and if he did know, she'd fix it so he thought she didn't know the information he wanted from her.

"Ran away," she said haughtily. "From my old man up in Washington state. My momma, she was a smart broad. Left him years ago. I ain't heard a word from her in years, hadn't seen her in almost ten. I figure she learned pretty quick after she found herself pregnant that he couldn't stand my daddy. I hightailed it out of his house quick as I could, too." They wanted her mother, so let them think she didn't have a clue where she was. They just might believe she'd run away, gotten caught in LA, then escaped and kept right on like she had before. Then they'd leave her alone.

The man grinned and shook his head, and Leah thought for just a moment that she'd convinced him.

"Unfortuantely, you're still going to have to come tell me more about your dear mother," the man said, moving so that Leah felt the cold muzzle of a gun against her ribs.

Leah's breath caught in her throat.

"Look, mister, I don't know anything!" she said pitifully in a desperate attempt to divert his attention long enough to slip her hand into her back pocket. Let him think she'd fallen to pieces the moment the situation turned bad.

He stood, dragging her with him. Leah took advantage, tripping and hiding the small knife in the palm of her hand, unopened.

"Stop it! Now, you're going to walk away quietly with me, "he ordered. "Or you get some of this led pumped into you. Got it?" he snarled.

"Uh-huh."

He pulled her along the street, but he didn't count on a car careening around the corner on two wheels; it threw him off enough to give Leah the opening she needed. She aimed a kick, sending the gun in his hand flying, and flipped open the two inch pocket knife in one motion.

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Argg! Okay, so I know ya'll are going to kill me, but the next chapter will be up soon. I feel obliged to remind you, I greatly enjoy reviews that consist of more that two words. And more than five…I'm ecstatic! Hehe. Ya'll are great…just review a teensy bit more….