"Of course!" They said. "Come in!"
Laura followed them inside, and they slowly shut the door.
"We don't have much, but there's enough to share."
"Thank you!" They were about to eat when a loud knocking interrupted them. Laura risked a peek outside and saw the men. Normally, she would go out there and beat them up, but she couldn't risk the lives of these nice people. Laura started to act frightened.
"Those men out there, they were looking at me strangely. I don't know what they want with me, but I don't want to find out! They can't know that I'm here! Do you have a backdoor that I can escape from?"
The couple looked surprised, but then the woman gently took her hand and led her to the back, and whispered, "We don't have a back door, but this house is old. There's a hiding place here that has been used, and not found, during the war. You can stay there until they leave!" She showed her what looked like a cupboard under the stairs, removed the wall, went further in, and removed another wall.
"In there! I'll get you when they're gone."
They heard the husband open the door, stalling the men. Laura squeezed herself into the cupboard in the cupboard under the stairs. The woman replaced the wall, then replaced the other wall, and went to help her husband stall the men.
Laura heard some screaming, then heavy footsteps echoing over the house.
****************
"Rebecca, I think I know what this is!" Xarissa exclaimed once she regained her sight.
"It's the Y in BYU! We're on the mountain by Provo!" As she said those words, they saw Provo and started to shout in joy.
"Oh, we can go home!" Rebecca cried.
"Well, let's get down there!" Xarissa shouted.
Rebecca and Xarissa started running down the mountain in excitement and joy, not knowing what they were going to do when they'd get down there.
*****************
Finally, Administrator Taylor arose from his desk. This was the last day he was going to sit there waiting, doing almost nothing for hours on end. He had to figure out a way to make sure the team got home safely, no matter where they were. He walked out into the hall, looked around, and walked towards the computer lab. Before he reached the door, he turned towards the wall. “Activate panel 192506. Open.”
“Welcome, Chief Administrator Earl Taylor,” the AI droned.
The wall opened to reveal a secret hallway. He stepped into the darkness and the panel closed behind him with a swoosh. Lights turned on one at a time down the corridor and finally reached the other door. The chief walked towards it. He bent his leg in front of him, removed the heel of his left shoe, and pulled out a key. He then replaced the heel and proceeded to unlock the door. As he pushed it open, the whole secret lab erupted into soft noises and blinking lights. He stepped in and closed the door behind him.
****************
“Y?” Sarah wondered quietly as she walked into Caitlin’s room.
“Why what?” Caitlin asked, fully dressed and sitting on the edge of her bed.
“No, Y. That’s what Rebecca said. Big Y and Beehive. It must be some sort of code, but I can’t figure it out.”
“Are they asking for help?” Caitlin asked, bending over to grab her shoes.
“I don’t think so. It didn’t sound urgent,” Sarah answered.
Caitlin slipped on her shoes and began tying them. ‘Big Y’…Well, she said ‘and’, so big Y and beehives must coordinate. She’s always been extremely choosy with her words when using code.”
“Maybe there’s a bunch of beehives surrounding a big Y on the ground. It could be a signal for where they are, but it’s too vague. Just a Y lying on the ground?”
“Maybe not on the ground…” Caitlin said thinking. Suddenly her eyes lit up. “On a mountain! In Provo, Utah!”
“Oh, Y mountain. And Utah’s the Beehive State. I get it.”
“That mountain is east of the Brigham Young University. It shouldn’t be hard to track.”
“Yah, but how are we going to get there?” Sarah questioned.
Caitlin smiled. “I know just how to get there. Leave that up to me.”
****************
Laura held her breath as the footsteps got closer. She could tell there were three people, by the sound. One wasn’t as heavy as the others. There must be a girl with them. “Hey boss!” one man shouted. “I think I found something! A cupboard under the stairs!”
“Nice,” a deeper voice answered. They tried the handle but it was locked.
The first man swore under his breath. “How we gonna get it open boss?” he questioned.
“Move out of the way, idiot. I’m gonna knock it down,” the leader with the deep voice said. So far, the girl hadn’t spoken.
There was a crack, but it didn’t sound big enough. There was more swearing, then the man ran at the door again. This time Laura could tell the hit was sound, and the door splintered and cracked widely, pieces flying. “You did it boss!” the first man cried.
“Of course I did, numbskull.”
“There’s nothing in there, boss,” the man said.
“Ah, but that’s exactly what they want you to think. Why would they lock it if there’s nothing in here? There’s got to be a secret to this.”
There was some shifting and scuffling as the group looked around for some kind of secret entrance, but they didn’t find any.
“Maybe we could knock that wall down,” the first man said.
“I’m not going to go running at some d*** wall,” the leader spat. “You do it.”
“But I don’t want to—”
“Do it or I’ll throw you at it!” the leader shouted.
“All right! All right!” There was more movement as the man backed up, then quick steps and the cracking of more wood. This time Laura flinched.
“Oh yah!” the man shouted victoriously.
“S***, this one’s empty, too,” the boss said. “It must have been a fluke.”
“Maybe she went out the back window,” a new voice said matter-of-factly. “It’s open.”
Laura’s breath caught in her throat. She almost didn’t want to believe it, but the voice belonged to Jace.