Episode 16

Connor set Miah in the black car indicated by men dressed in black and got in the other door. Miah leaned her head back seat and closed her eyes, trying to keep herself from completely falling apart.

The car they rode in, which had been chasing them before, followed the large van down the highway, and they were soon driving back north again. Miah’s thoughts whirled around in her head too quickly to tell where they were going or anything other than what had just happened; and that she was still barely able to grasp.

“Are you feeling alright?” Connor whispered, his tone without much of the concern he’d used before.

What a jerk, she thought. Miah refused to speak to him.

He sighed, looking out his window at the passing hills. “I’m so sorry you got hurt. I didn’t mean for it to happen this way.” A touch of true regret came into his voice, but Miah crossed her arms and looked away.

“You’re hopeless,” he grumbled, giving up. Looking ahead at the road, he noted the signs they passed and the exit they took. If he could remember all the turns, he’d be able to get them away much quicker. As they passed a firehouse, a plan started forming in his head.

Their vehicle soon pulled up behind the black van in a parking lot. They were ushered out, and Connor hurried over to Miah’s door.

“Still can’t walk?” he asked, trying again to get a verbal response.

She shook her head exasperatedly, and lifted the leg of her jeans to reveal her skinned ankles, blood beginning to dry around her shoes. The rips in her knees showed the deep gashes in both legs, and the torn material was also stained with blood.

“Eeh.” His sympathetic mumble was lost on her stubbornness, so he lifted her out of the car and walked along with the rest of the people entering a building. “I hope it heals soon,” he added as a last shot.

“Me too,” she sighed. Connor allowed himself a small smile.

The men who loaded out of the van pushed and prodded them through the door of the building next to the parking lot. It looked like an abandoned factory of some kind. The walls were filthy, and the floors desperately needed to be mopped. There were holes in the ceiling and pieces of plaster all over the floor. Many of the lights overhead were burned out, and of the few doors they passed, many appeared to have been broken into.

It slightly reminded Miah of her school building. The thought of what had happened to her suddenly hit home. “I’m going to miss school!” she gasped quietly, and then wondered what her parents were thinking. She wondered if they had told the police, and if they were looking for her. What is Connor’s plan? she thought. I can’t ask him now, not with all these people around…

“You worried about school?” Connor whispered, with a slight grin. “Ben told me you were an overachiever.”

Miah rolled her eyes, aggravated that he’d heard her. “I’m tired, okay?” She yawned, proving her point. “I can’t think straight.”

Connor nodded. “Sure. But won’t you have a lot of homework when you get back? I mean, aren’t there exams at the end of the year?”

“Man, you’re right…” Her anxiety disappeared in a scowl when she realized he was just messing with her. “You—!”

“Shh,” he whispered, keeping himself from laughing surprisingly well. They were coming into a mostly empty room with a couple doors. The lighting was dim, and Miah squinted, trying to adjust.

“Ah, Connor Wilhelmson.” A balding man in a brown suit and tie with a black mustache crossed his arms and looked the two of them over. His accent and attire seemed European. “It’s a pleasure.”

Connor didn’t so much as twitch.

“You thought you could make off with the stolen plans and just get away with it, did you?” When this failed to bring any response, he went on. “Well, as I’m sure you know by now, there is nowhere you can go where we will not find you. Our advanced technology can perform feats that you cannot imagine.”

“I know I can imagine you behind bars,” Connor growled.

The man simply smiled. “By the time you have a chance to tell the world of our infamy, it will be too late.”

Miah couldn’t stand it any longer. “Where did you take Ben?” she demanded.

The man’s eyes lit up. “Oh, did you want to see him?” His tone made her shiver. He grinned, “Yes, of course… We should show you our newest achievement.”

Miah’s lip trembled, and her grip on Connor’s shoulder tightened. “What have you done to him?” she managed.

With a smug smile, the suited man nodded to one of the men, who walked to one of the doors and opened it.

Miah’s eyes opened wide with horror and she screamed, “BEN!”