Somewhere miles away from there Kate was still in the van. No one spoke a word, but she stayed attentive, trying to find any indication of the road they were following. It could have been railroad tracks, familiar noises on the streets, tunnels. For some time she had been able to follow more or less where they were but inevitably the pace picked up and she got lost in the orientation. She had literally no idea where they were nor how long it had been since they had taken her.
At first she had tried to see if she could see through the mask they had placed over her head but it was no use. She couldn't see anything at all; the fabric was too thick to even let any light seep through it. That's when she remembered something that Lee had once told her that they did at boot camp and with the commandos. He had told her that in a scenario they were taken hostage and had their eyes were blindfolded and they were taught how to use their other senses to get information about their abductors and their whereabouts. That had been when Kate had closed her eyes and started to listen to everything that was happening around her. She also used her sense of smell and realized that someone in the back of the van was most probably a cigar smoker while another seemed to indulge in musk after shave.
She felt silly; she didn't really know how any of this could help her out. The only thing she wanted was to go home. She knew that she should have stayed at home that day. She could have cuddled up in bed or in the sofa while looking at old pictures of her and Lee and just reminiscing about the past. But no, she had been a professional and put her job ahead of her own needs and desires and this is where it had left her off. She only hoped that her father had found Barney. She had been surprised at how easily his name had come into her mind after all these years. Lee had mentioned Barney for the first time when he was about to leave for his first tour. He had told her that if she had needed anything to contact Barney. She had never needed to do it during his absence.
The van stopped and she heard the back door being opened. She could feel the weight of the van shift, indicating that some of the men were exiting it. Someone grabbed her arm and pulled her up and pushed her forward a gun pointed at her back. She didn't see the point of the gun, she was not only handcuffed but blind; what did they think she was going to do.
The minute she touched the ground she knew exactly where there were. The noises were known to her. They were at the airport and behind her she could hear the turbines turning from the reactors. Panic settled in as she realized that she was being led in the direction of the plane, they were flying her out but where? Out of the city, out of the State? Or even worse, out of the country? She swallowed uneasily as she was pushed up the stairs that led to the inside of the plane. She counted them. There were seven small steps. It must have been a medium sized private jet; this was definitely not a small or big plane.
She was sat down in a seat and heard a chain clonk at her feet. They grabbed her hands and from what she guessed where hooking up the handcuffs to the chain that was itself welded to the ground. They were taking no chances at her escaping. These guys were pros; that was for sure.
There was a lot of movement as she felt the air shift and move besides her as people or someone continuously went up and down the aisle.
The movement stopped and she picked up the musk smell right next to her. She felt someone grab her arm that she instinctively tried to pull back. The hold on her arm strengthened and she felt the sting. It burned as the liquid they injected her ran through her vein. Within seconds after they released their hold on her arm, she slowly started herself feel dizzy and weak. The drowsiness hit her hard and she knew that trying to fight it was completely useless. She closed her eyes and accepted her fate.
By the time the jet picked up speed on the runway and lifted into the air, Kate was in a medicated induced sleep, dreaming about the only thing that had meant everything to her… Lee!