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Music tip:
Imagine Dragons - Warriors
youtube: watch?v=VP9I8ZUwKpc

Lovers of Freedom

Chapter 4:
No Idea

The sun had set a few hours ago and the later it became, the fewer cars were on the highway. Some time ago Mitch was fed up of the silence and had put in a random CD. The beat was pulsing through his body, from the fingertips on the steering wheel to his feet on the accelerator pedal. His muscles were completely stiff, because he had not a single moment to relax – not that he wanted to anyway.

Mitch feared that the second he began to think about everything he would end up breaking down.

Of course he had made a mistake.

He was doomed already. No one would forgive him ever, because he kept on doing the same mistakes over and over again.

Abruptly he turned the music a bit louder.

Don't think about it, he told himself for the hundredth time and tried to ignore the fact that his mobile phone on the passenger seat rang again. A short glance on the display showed him the name of his mother. She was probably worried sick because of Mitch's abrupt departure and his cruel words, but he had no choice. Mr. Murphy had made himself very clear on this point.

The ringing stopped and Mitch tried to concentrate on the music and the road again. A sudden accident will help no one, he told himself and believed it for a short second. Then the doubts came back and hit him with full strength.

Before Mitch could get any stupid ideas, the phone rang again. In that moment he was so thankful that he actually grabbed it and answered the call. "What?"

His voice cracked and with his other free hand he turned the volume down to understand the other person. Maybe it was Mr. Murphy again. Mitch had no intentions to annoy him more than he already did. "Hello?"

"Mitch?!"

It was neither Mr. Murphy, nor his mother. Actually he was quite surprised, as he forced out a low "Jerome?"

"God, finally! We were starting to get worried. Why haven't you replied to anything? The world's going down, man!"

He sounded pretty upset. Mitch didn't need to ask what he was talking about. There was nothing else going on at the moment that was as important as the Microsoft affair. Instead he focused on something else. "I know. Who is we?" Jerome remained silent for a moment. Then he replied, but this time he sounded more excited than anything else.

"You won't believe it, Mitch. Right now I'm in a Skype call with Ian, Ryan, Ty and the guys. I mean nearly all of them. Crazy, right? At the beginning it was just Ty, Adam and me, but-"

Mitch's heart stopped.

Immediately he hit the brake.

The tires were screaming, the car nearly careered out of control and Mitch already saw the earlier thought become reality. Thankfully he was all alone on the road due to the time and the road was dry. Jerome had interrupted himself as soon as Mitch had begun to stop the car. Now, after all the noise had disappeared again, he cried out with pure worry, "Oh my- Shit, are you alright, Mitch?! Are you in your car? Did you have an accident? Mitch?!"

Before he could alert the National Guard, Mitch quickly interrupted him.

"I'm alright, sorry, everything's fine. Yes, I'm in my car. No, I didn't have an accident. Now what was that about A-"

Jerome didn't even listen anymore. As soon as he'd heard that Mitch was alright, he repeated Mitch's words. His voice sounded a bit further away; probably he was talking to the guys right now. Had Jerome put him on the speaker? Probably. A bit later his voice was louder again.

"Don't you dare doing this again, you nearly gave us a heart attack! Now where are you driving to at this time? And what are you saying to the news?"

In Mitch's rear view mirror the headlights of another car became visible and slowly Mitch drove off again. Jerome was asking the critical questions. Mr. Murphy had explicitly forbid him to talk to anyone about it, especially his family. But he didn't mention the other guys of the team. Instead of giving them a clear answer, he asked instead, "When have you guys been called?"

One tiny little mistake.

Mitch had assumed that Murphy had already called the rest of the team by now.

Sadly that was not the case.

"How do you- wait, this guy called you as well?!"

Mitch couldn't deny it any longer, so he replied with a sigh, "Well, yeah. Who else did he talk to?"

"Only Adam and you so far. He made you an offer, too?"

Mitch became more confused the longer he talked to Jerome. He'd anticipated that Murphy had already called the guys to inform them of their forced luck. It was easy to get the whole team together, if he used the same strategy on them that he used on Mitch. He knew their weaknesses and how to get them- Wait. No. He knew Mitch's weakness, his wish to have a reunion of Team Crafted. No one had ever said that the rest of them thought the same.

Mitch's hands began to shake again, as it became harder and harder to hold himself back. "You could say that," he finally replied with a strained voice, but he didn't notice. His thoughts were spinning, as he tried to see the plan behind all the madness. What was Murphy scheming? And why did he only call Adam and Mitch? Should they convince the others to join Team Crafted again? No, that wouldn't make any sense. Half of them would probably agree to the deal on their own and the rest would be influenced by the others agreeing.

But what could be the real reason behind it?

Why just Adam and him?

It didn't make any sense at the moment.

"Mitch? Are you still there?"

As soon as he heard the voice of his best friend again, he returned back to reality and blinked irritated. He had to stop it, or else the journey would indeed turn out bad for him. "Yeah, sorry, I was thinking 'bout something."

"Okay, what is it? And where the heck are you driving to?"

He could fool Jerome not in a million years. Of course he knew exactly, when there was a problem bothering Mitch. But he couldn't tell him the truth, could he? Murphy would flip out for sure and Mitch was scared of what the man was really able to do after his explicit threat. "I don't think I can tell you, I'm sorry," he sighed and forgot for a moment, that the others were still hearing him through the speaker and the Skype call. "That's sounds odd. Is this guy responsible for it?"

Jerome was so close to the truth.

Too close, as far as Murphy was concerned.

But damn it, Mitch wanted him to find out so badly!

He wanted his best friend to encourage him, to promise him that he would stay by his side, no matter how ugly it got. He wanted his decision to be the right one, but the longer Mitch thought about it, the more he doubted it.

His stomach turned and he was just about to get sick, as he drove into the town marking his destination. As soon as the blinding lights of the buildings punched down on him, his heartbeat increased a thousand times and the panic rose again. Jerome was quiet and waited for an answer. He knew that Mitch was close to telling him the truth, he could feel and hear it in the tone of his voice. Mitch was certain of it.

"What is bothering you, buddy?"

And then the walls in his mind broke down and he was rattling off in a frightened and agitated voice, "I'm done, Jerome! This asshole knows everything. When I said that I wouldn't agree to his deal, he blackmailed and threatened me. He is craz-"

Mitch couldn't even finish his sentence, as his best friend on the phone exploded, "He did what?! Don't tell me you're serious!"

"I am. He forbade me to speak about it, not even to my family, or there would be consequences for me and for them!"

At the moment he was doing exactly what Murphy didn't want him to do, but Mitch had no other choice. He had to open up to somebody, or else he would not even be able to stand in front of the man personally in a few minutes. Mitch needed some urgent back up and right now it was in the form of Jerome. And the guys he had forgotten over the past minute.

"This little cu- He is so going down, I promise you! Wait a moment- …yeah, we're doing that!"

Mitch was confused and frowned, as he turned off the road onto a big parking lot of an impressive office building. "What are you talking about?"

"Ian just said that we should go public with this. You know, him threatening you and stuff. I A lot of people will hate them and their image might go down!"

And there was the problem.

They could do it, maybe it could even work, but then everything would go back to normal.

No Team Crafted.

No option.

"I can't do that," he murmured half ashamed, half desperate and got out of the car. Before they could ask further questions, he admitted, "Look, I have no other choice, guys, seriously. And I have to end the call now, I'm meeting him in a few minutes."

The whole parking lot was nearly abandoned – there were just two other cars. With slow and nervous steps he climbed up the stairs. Not a single person was visible, as he listened to Jerome once again.

"You've got to be kidding me! You are meeting this guy? Why the fuck are you doing this?"

For the first time Mitch could hear the voices of the other guys in the background – Jerome probably turned up the volume – and neither of them sounded very happy about it. For a short second Mitch allowed himself a little smile. They were caring.

Then the smile disappeared and he raised his shoulders.

"Because his threat is very convincing."

"Wait, Mitch, there is something important that you have to kn-"

He ended the call and put his mobile phone in his pocket. He was still wearing his light jeans and the dark hoodie instead of a proper suit. Nonetheless Mitch couldn't care less about it at the moment, because a secretive meeting in the middle of the night didn't really require formal clothes.

As he stood in the elevator, Mitch thought about the possible outcomes of the meeting. There were too many to consider them all, but he tried to think about them anyway. Of course he never expected to see the familiar shape of a long lost friend, as the elevator doors opened.

A young man stood in front of an office door and he seemed to be quite nervous. He wore a dark suit, as he tried to fix his hair in a window that showed the city at night. Mitch stepped out of the elevator, quite surprised about another person being here, but as the man finally turned around, he froze on the spot immediately.

"Adam?!"