Two left turns and then down the alley, Amy thought frantically. She was dismayed to see that the streets the man had sent her down were relatively empty. Whereas the streets before had been full of bustling, busy people, caught up in life just as she was, though not in such a serious situation, these streets seemed to come from a ghost town.
She quickly glanced behind her, and was relieved to see that the men hadn't caught up to her. Amy fervently hoped that the man in the park had been right, that her pursuers would not come to look for her here.
Her hair streamed out from behind her, flying in the wind. Her feet pounded against the ground. She showed no signs of exhaustion; the Clue hunt had provided plenty of cross country practice.
Amy passed the alley. She skidded to a stop, and peered down. It was dark and shadowy, untouched by sunlight.
Hesitantly, Amy walked in. Her eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness, and to her surprise, she saw only a concrete wall at the end. To the side, there was another small alley, but it was pitch-black.
She realized it immediately—she had walked into a trap.
"Going somewhere?" a new voice purred.
The girl stopped suddenly, watching in horror as the three men melted out of the shadows. With their raven black attire, it seemed as if they and the shadows were one being.
The leader stepped towards her. Behind him, the other men moved into position, preventing Amy from escaping.
"Took you long enough to arrive. Did you stop to chat to our agent?" he asked, smirking.
With a jolt, Amy realized who the man in the park really was—an agent. No wonder he had given such specific instructions to her. Why had she trusted him so easily? Then Amy recognized the yellow symbol attached to his suit. A yellow dragon—Ekaterina.
"I-I thought only L-Lucians could hide in the shadows," she snorted, trying to be sarcastic. It distracted her from the seriousness of the situation.
The Ekat shrugged nonchalantly, as if it was only a pleasant conversation. Of course, both knew better than that. "You're right, Cahill girl. I would rather be inventing in my lab, but he insisted on teaching us the secrets of the Lucians, as well as the Janus and Tomas."
"W-Who's he?" Amy asked, trying to get past the annoyance of being called "Cahill girl."
"Them?" the man responded, pointing at his assistants. However, Amy could see from the glint in his dark eyes that he knew exactly who she was referring to.
"I think…" started one of the men in the back.
"Yes?" prompted the first man.
"I think we should stop talking and get down to business. The truck's in the back."
The man nodded. "You're right. Tie her up, and we'll be done."
Defiant, Amy glared at them. "It won't be easy," she warned. She wondered if she should make a run for it, into the other alley. It was only a few paces away.
The leader caught her glancing into it. "Not there, either, girl. That's where all our backup men are located." His tone said clearly that he wasn't bluffing.
The third Ekat snickered at her. "You think that you're a match for us? One against three, plus others in the back? Nothing matches an Ekaterina's brilliance."
"Well said," congratulated the leader. He nodded briefly at him, then pulled out a remote and started to fiddle with it.
"Is that for the machine you developed last week?" asked one of the other agents, coming to stand beside the first man.
"Yes," he replied absentmindedly. His fingers moved faster.
Suddenly, he threw a gold coin at Amy. It missed her on purpose, and latched onto the ground. It stayed there.
With a satisfied mad-scientist smirk, he pressed a large red button on his remote.
A large machine dropped down from the top of a nearby building. It was large yet lightweight, created from metal and blue glass. Four legs protruded from each side of the dome shaped machine, wrapped tightly in a metal coil. Each end of the four legs produced a beam of red light, glowing eerily in the dark alleyway.
"It's fashioned from specially designed carbon nanotubes," he proudly proclaimed, as four small parachutes erupted out of the top. It slowly landed on the ground, right on top of the gold coin.
What happened next occurred so quickly that Amy hardly saw anything.
One of the robot's arms—the one nearest Amy—extended to twice its normal length. It swung wildly around Amy, wrapping around her in a tight grip. Then the second arm detached as the front of the robot opened. The detached arm grabbed her, bundled her up, and threw her into the machine. Then, the door slid shut.
The entire process had taken about three seconds.
The three Ekaterinas were watching with evident glee.
"It's even faster than the last time we tested it!" the first man proclaimed. He pressed the button on his remote again, and the machine died down.
He walked over and picked up the detached arm, and reattached it.
Then, wordlessly and effortlessly, he picked up the machine and brought it to a large silver truck idling in the alley. It filled the alley so there was barely any space for the door to open. If Amy had seen it, she would have noticed the large, bold word that would give a clue to the nature of her capture.
One of the other men opened the door with difficulty for the first Ekat, and he dumped Amy inside, still tied up. Finally, he closed the truck again, nodded curtly to the driver, and left, holding the now-empty machine.
"Our job is done," he announced, satisfied, to his companions.
A/N: The action's starting to pick up... The next chapter will be in Dan's point of view.