Jace made a motion to tell her that his lips were sealed.
"Good."
Rebecca put on a smile and stepped out of the car as the two Agents walked to the Lamborghini. Her smile twitched as she spied Agent West. “I thought we agreed on sending for Agent Merkley, Laura.”
Laura put her hands on her hips. “You know Caitlin’s a better fighter than Xarissa. She’s faster, more agile.”
Rebecca sighed. “That wasn’t the point. I needed Xarissa to watch for traps. You know she’s the best at that.”
Caitlin gave her a pouting look. “I can watch for traps.”
Rebecca tossed her hair. “No. Laura will do that, as well as fly the plane. Caitlin, how are your acting skills.”
Caitlin smiled. “Tiptop shape, Agent Stapley.”
“Good. You’re going to need them.”
“Why?” Laura asked.
“Because we’re going to Boston.”
********
"You know, at the pace that you guys are going, we're going to need a bigger car." Caitlin observed. They had been traveling for about an hour or so, and they had only reached Kansas.
"Anybody hungry?" Laura asked, pressing a button.
"YES!" Rebecca exclaimed. "I was starving when we were ordering at Wendy's!"
Jace simply nodded, and Caitlin said that she was fine for now.
"Ok, as you wish." Laura replied. They heard a whirring sound, then plates filled with pizza, hamburgers, and french fries appeared. An ice chest with soda also appeared.
"Awesome!" Becca exclaimed, grabbing 5 slices of pizza along with 2 hamburgers and 6 handfuls of fries. "Could you toss me a sprite and a root beer, Caitlin?" Caitlin tossed the sodas, getting a little bit hungry and asked for some chips. Jace took about 3 slices of pizza and an orange crush. About an hour and a half later, they were cruising in Boston. Jace was giving directions to Laura, who was driving really fast.
"Stop, we're here." Jace said suddenly. The car skidded and parked.
"Here?" Caitlin asked nervously.
"Yep." Jace said. The apartment building was 6 stories, and obviously not in use. They could tell that it used to be an expensive place to live, but now it was in ruins. The bricks were dark and moldy, and the entire aura was dark.
"I don't feel comfortable here." Rebecca said in a quiet tone.
"Let's check it out." Laura said, unmoving.
Rebecca and Caitlin started to object, but fell silent as Laura got out of the car and entered the building.
Caitlin turned to Rebecca. “What were you planning?” she asked.
“To get on the inside,” she answered. Caitlin waited for more, but it didn’t come.
“What do you need me for?” she asked.
Rebecca looked at her. “Honestly, I don’t think Jace is very safe, no matter where he is. I figured Xarissa would be the best person to stay with him and make sure he doesn’t get lost or hurt,” she whispered.
Caitlin stared at her. “Um, well, I can do that.”
Rebecca smiled at her. “I guess you’re going to have to.” She glared at Jace. “Don’t move from this spot. If something goes wrong, we’ll contact Caitlin and she will drive you someplace safe. Do not try to help. You’ll just get in the way.” After that, Rebecca opened up her door and stepped out of the car.
“And I thought Laura meant she was grumpy only when she was hungry,” Jace mumbled.
“Don’t worry about it,” Caitlin answered, smiling. “She’s mostly just like that when she’s focusing.”
“Mm, hm.” Jace was unbelieving. All he’d seen so far that day was her mean side. Did she even have anything else?
Rebecca walked up to the door and turned to Laura, who had been waiting for her. “Do you see any traps?”
Laura leaned over to look in the window. “Not so far,” she said. “No weird lights, no lasers, no wires…but you can never be sure in a place like this.”
“Let’s go in,” Rebecca said, and reached for the door handle.
"No-" Laura began, but she was too late. Rebecca grabbed the handle and as soon as she touched the handle, the door tipped over and fell on top of them. As soon as they got up and started dusting themselves, 6 thugs popped in out of nowhere and attacked them. The first one to reach them was the biggest one, but Rebecca didn't see him. She was too busy getting ready to kick one of the smaller thugs and in the process, she kicked the bigger one right on the gut. As the man fell on to his knees, grasping his guts, Laura jumped over Rebecca, who had a guy pinned on the ground and another guy trying to attack her, and roundhouse kicked the thug in the face. She then elbowed his neck, which knocked him unconscious. Rebecca had already knocked out the guy on the ground and had begun fighting two thugs at a time. The other two began to assault Laura, who tripped one while parrying the other's punch. Rebecca punched one of her opponents and elbowed the other one in the face at the same time. She then punched the guy she elbowed in the gut, and then kicked the other one on the head. Laura had knocked one of her thugs out by smacking her hands on his ears simultaneously, and then repeatedly punched the other on the face until he was unconscious. Rebecca finished her thugs up by her very special move that she had always wanted to do, which was picking one of the guys up and spinning him around, hitting the other one, and then letting that guy go flying off to a wall. Laura and Rebecca then spent some time hiding the thugs in an alley.
"Well, that was a nice workout." Rebecca said, wiping some sweat off of her forehead. "What are you doing?"
"We should bring one back to base to consult him." She said as she picked one up and carried him to the car.
“No, wait,” Rebecca said, as they neared the car.
“What?” Laura complained. The man was kind of heavy.
“I left Caitlin in the car with Jace,” she said.
“So…?” Laura asked, not getting what she meant.
“She should have seen the fight and drove off,” Rebecca declared thoughtfully.
“Maybe she didn’t see it,” Laura sighed. Why did Rebecca always have to be so careful? It wasted a lot of time.
“We were in plain sight.” Rebecca argued.
“Well, let’s go find out, then,” Laura said, dropping the guy and taking a step.
“No!” Rebecca hissed, grabbing her arm. Laura turned, and Rebecca gave her a half smile. “It’s probably really stupid. I’ll just check.”
Laura nodded. Feeling really dumb, but still extremely cautious, Rebecca walked towards the car. As soon as she got to the door, it opened, hitting her in the gut. She staggered backward breathlessly, and a man stepped out of the car. She struggled for breath as he came closer. She tried to punch him, but he pushed it out of the way and covered her mouth with his hand. Instinctively, she breathed in, not noticing the cloth between his fingers. Suddenly her head started spinning and her legs felt weak. She collapsed in his arms, and he pulled her towards the car. He shoved her into the back, hopped into the front, and turned the car on.
All Laura could see was the back of the car. When it revved its engine and turned on its lights, she stood there, confused. Why would Rebecca turn on the car without contacting her to say it was safe. As she walked towards the car, it started forward. Something wasn’t right. Rebecca wouldn’t just leave her there.
The car picked up speed, and Laura ran after it. She quickly pulled out her gun, trying to shoot at the wheels, but soon the black Lamborghini was just a cloud in the distance, and she was left alone, in the street, in front of the abandoned house.
She touched her wrist. “Agent Pang to HIA. They have Agent Stapley. And I think they have the others, too.”
Caitlin was about to drive away when the fighting had started when the strange man came and knocked her out. When she woke up, she saw Jace and Rebecca in the car, unconscious. She didn't see Laura though. Had she escaped? Had they left her behind? She also noticed that they weren't in the Lamborghini anymore. They were smart. All of the cars had tracking devices on them. But how would they escape? Caitlin was still in deep thought when the car started to slow down. Was it a stop light? Were they at a certain destination? Were they entering a new state or country? Caitlin then realized that she had earplugs in her ear. There was no way that she could eavesdrop on their captors. Caitlin then tried to see out of a window. However, they were all in the trunk of the car. Caitlin sighed out of disbelief and was beginning to lose hope when the trunk opened and the bright sun made her momentarily blind. 2 rough hands grabbed her and tossed her into a sack.
***********************