Finding You Again
Chapter Twelve
"From underneath I wanted you to see the first thing that I ever poured my heart into. You'll never know the pain that I went through. I'm not so sure you'll ever know and so I'll make you understand the words that fill my life are not from you but from my Father's hand. Do you remember that cold day in December, leaving everything you knew behind?"
From Underneath by Hawk Nelson (Tooth & Nail Records) from Letters to the President
"We've got to get out of here!" Joline screamed, kicking the locked door. "We can't let that heartless jerk shoot my daddy!" She shook with sobs and Darren embraced her. "I just found out that my father is alive," she whispered. "I don't want to lose him again."
Darren struggled with what he had been trying to say for the past ten minutes. "Jo, maybe he was right. I don't think that killing him is the best way to handle the situation, but from the sound of it, that man about to kill Philip Walker isn't your father. He's just a robot in your father's body."
"You don't understand!" Joline yelled, shoving her cousin away. "I could get to him! I don't believe anything that lousy excuse for a government official said! My dad isn't a killer. And he's in there somewhere. I could find him." She looked up at her "older brother" with pleading eyes. "Don't you see? I have to try!"
Darren sighed. "Jo, I want to help you, but we're locked in. There's nothing we can do."
"Nothing we can do?" Joline said with a hint of sarcasm. "I think we can figure out something…"
BAYPORT
Frank Hardy's eyes grew wide as he listened to his old friend on the other line. "What do you mean, they decided to come home? I told you, Philip, my son and niece are in Washington, D.C.!"
"I'm sorry, Frank. I got a call from you, saying they weren't going to make it."
"But I never made that call!" Frank stormed. "Someone has kidnapped Darren and Joline!"
"I'm so sorry, Frank. But when you called to check on the kids, I was flabbergasted. Can you think of anyone who can use technology or something to sound exactly like you?"
"There's only two groups," Frank muttered under his breath. The Assassins or the Network.
And frankly, he wasn't sure which secret group was worse.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
"Okay, so we're good with the plan?" Joline whispered.
"Yeah," Darren muttered back, barely audible. "But you have to realize that this plan relies completely on whether they have any kind of bug set up in this room and whether or not it is just audio."
"I know," Joline whispered back. "But it's the only one we've got. And we've got to do something." Louder, she said, "Darren! I think I may have found a way out!"
Trying his best to sound excited and concerned at the same time, Darren answered, "Shhh! This room might be bugged!"
"You're too paranoid, Darren. Come on! We'll be able to rescue my daddy in no time!" They tiptoed to either side of the door and fell silent. After five minutes had passed, Joline whispered dejectedly, "It's not working."
"Shhh!" Darren hissed, this time for real. Joline listened. Footsteps were approaching the door.
"Get ready," she mouthed.
They heard someone unlock the door. "You kids better be in here," the black clad guard muttered under his breath as he entered the room. He glanced around and saw that it was empty. "Crap. The Gray Man's gonna kill me!"
While his back was turned, Darren and Joline quietly slipped out of the door and into what turned out to be a storage closet across the hall. They heard the guard yelling into his walkie-talkie, ordering some backup. "The kids must've escaped through the vents!" he barked.
"Good idea opening the vent," Joline whispered to Darren, who grinned. "It gets them off our trail for a while."
"Let's just hope it's long enough for us to sneak out of here," Darren answered, but looking rather pleased with himself nonetheless.
Joline turned around slowly, and saw several pairs of black pants, black shirts, black boots, gray jumpsuits, and black hats. There were even several gas masks and bullet proof vests. "Why sneak out," she said with a mischievous sparkle in her eye, "when we can walk out in the open?"
Darren's eyes flickered from his cousin to the jumpsuits. "Are you serious, Jo?"
"Why not? Joline asked, reaching for a jumpsuit and pulling it over her clothes.
Darren groaned. "This is so cliché," he muttered. But he, too, slipped on a jumpsuit. Joline grabbed a large backpack and quickly stuffed two bullet proof vests, two pairs of black jeans, and two shirts inside. She slipped off her sneakers and pulled on a pair of the black boots that were about her size. Darren exchanged his gym shoes for black boots as well. They were ready for the finishing touch. They quickly put on gas masks and slipped out of the closet.
That was the easy part. Now they had to focus on getting out of there. Alive.
~Emachinescat ^..^