Nothing like a quarter to-four-in-the-morning writing burst.

Chapter Ten:

Gracelyn:

Tina, Teddy, Liam and I sat in a windowless small room where the priest prepared for service. Agents were posted outside both doors out of the room. Teddy was with us as his parents had left town for the day, early in the morning, before the "gas meter guy" came.

"Never thought I'd be sitting with the popular kids," Tina said.

"I don't feel like a popular kid after what I've done to Mr. Estlin," Teddy said.

"I don't think any of us do," Liam said.

"I don't like this," I said. "It's been an hour and no one has gotten us, to tell us, my dad has been found."

"It's a massive school," Teddy. "There are lots of places to hide. I would know."

"You know what bugs me," Tina said. "The text: In the school with heart. The motto of Glen High is 'The School with Pep.'"

"They might be looking at the wrong school," I said suddenly, as panic filled me.

"There are no other schools in the area," Liam said. "There's one private school, Pendleton Prep, and that's one county over."

"We know the goons are in this area," Tina said with a sigh.

"What about closed schools?" Teddy said as he pulled a phone of his hoodie.

"I thought they confiscated your phone," I said.

"They confiscated a phone," he said. "Not my backup."

We waited several tense moments, until Teddy came up with something.

"Holy crap. There used to be a school in what is now a meeting hall here! The motto was: 'The School with heart.'"

I pointed to a door in the corner.

"That must lead to the hall." I said.

I ran to it and found it was locked. I pulled out a bobby pin and began to work the lock.

"Shouldn't we tell the feds?" Liam said.

"Teddy, you tell the feds," I said. "Everyone else, come with me."

I unlocked the door.

"I suddenly see why your captain of the cheer squad," Tina said.

We ran through the hall and passed and administrative wing. The place smelled to high heaven of gas.

"There must be a leak," Liam said.

"Guys wait," Tina said and pointed to a door labeled "Custodian."

Liam tested it.

"Why is it locked?" he asked.

"Only one way to find out," I said and started picking it.

"Gracelyn look up!" Liam said.

There was a digital reader on the ceiling attached to a metal box with dynamite. It indicated two hours were left.

"If I know my action movies, that thing is probably motion sensitive," Tina said.

"Where are the feds?" Liam asked.

As if on cue, Teddy appeared.

"The feds are dead!"

"There has to be a man on the inside then," Tina said.

"My dad," Liam said. "He knows all the codes and has a home scanner."

"I hate your dad as much as the next rare sane person in this town," Tina said. "But how would he get the information to the abductors?"

"He could have posted them to the YouTube channel," Teddy said. "There's a creepy adult on there who kept saying, Estlin will be subject to more than some childish pranks one day."

I looked up at the clock. The timer on it was rapidly shrinking.

I pointed up.

"We've got bigger problems."

I started working the lock.

"Gracelyn, wait!" Tina said.

"There's four minutes left!" I said.

"We need to find a closer exit," she said.

Teddy was starting to pick a lock with a pair of paper clips.

"An essential skill for any good prankster," he said and opened it. "There's a window here!"

"Open it," I shouted as I undid the last bolt in the lock. I opened the door with baited breath.

My dad, dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit, with his hands tied behind his back, laid on his side moaning.

"Liam, pick him up!" I shouted.

He picked him up bridal style, we ran to the door Teddy had opened.

We raced past the desk to the window.

"There's a grassy field outside," he said. "Throw him there."

Liam gently tossed my dad out. He rolled away. I pushed Liam followed by Tina, and then Teddy out. Stumbling briefly, I was the last to leave just as there was the sound of an explosion.

I screamed as I was sent flying across the field and slammed into the grass. Everything turned fuzzy and there as a ringing in my ears. Something unbearably hot was pressed against me, and I smelled smoke and something else.

"Roll her over!" Liam said somewhere.

I was jostled around and everything hurt.

"Daddy," I whispered, before passing out.

…

I thought I was dreaming when I slowly opened my eyes. My dad was hovering over me, dressed in a purple dress shirt and dark slacks.

"Guys, she's waking up!" he shouted.

"Dad," I tried to say.

"Take it easy, honey," he said.

The agents, including a few I didn't recognize, appeared.

"Dad," I said more loudly.

"Hey honey," he said rubbing my arm.

"I like you in purple," I said.

He smiled.

"J.J. brought me some of my clothes I left behind in DC. Everything still fits."

"If only all of us could maintain your waistline without working out," someone said.

"Daddy," I said tiredly. "What happened?"

"You've been in drug-induced coma for eight days," he said. "You have third degree burns on sixty percent of your back."

It took a second for the information to sink in.

"I was on fire?" I said.

"Your boyfriend rolled you over enough to tamp down the flames by the time medics arrived."

"Liam," I said. "Tina and Teddy. Are they okay?"

"We realized when the agents didn't check in, that something went wrong," a voice I recognized as belonging to Lewis said.

"Liam's father and grandfather are in jail as accessories," Simmons said. "His father Wade had been listening though the wall, and sending the information to Lionel. Lionel shot the agents himself. Wade is claiming he didn't know his son would do such a thing. Liam's relatives in Washington have come to stay with him."

"Tina and Teddy are safe with their parents," Lewis said.

"Is it over?" I asked.

"You're going to have to stay in the hospital for another week at least," my dad said. "Marie Carter, with help from Garcia, are busting up the last of the trust as we speak. There were thirty men in total, and they're still hunting down the last dozen. Cat had been building this nest egg for years, and had help maintaining it while in jail. While trying to find me, over the last nineteen years, they've killed more than a hundred federal agents around the country."

I had a hard to following everything.

"So, it's not over."

He leaned over and looked at me closely.

"We're as safe as can be," he said. "You and your friends saved me. You're my hero Gracelyn."

I looked closely into his eyes.

"Gold flecks," I said. "In your eyes. I never noticed them before."

"Really?" he said.

"Let me see," a woman said.

He turned away from me.

"Yep, they're there," she said.

He turned back to me.

"I love you Gracelyn," he said as his eyes filled with tears.

"I'm sorry," I said.

"I forgive you," he said. "We're going to start over. Things will be better."

"I promise," I said.

I began drift back into oblivion.

"Dad," I said desperately.

"Honey?"

"I really love you."

I drifted off, for the first time in years, at peace and with a clear conscience.

Author's Note:

Not the end. I have more to write. See you tomorrow hopefully.