Free·dom
N
The power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.
I heard a muffle squeal and skidded to a stop. Tara. They caught her. After leaving Leah behind, I couldn't do it again, even if it meant getting caught. "Shay! Come on!" Alyssa yelled for me. When this had started, we had all agreed that whoever got behind had to be left behind, but I couldn't do that. Not today. I shook my head and mouthed "Go!" I didn't know what would happen if I couldn't see my best friend anymore, but I couldn't leave Tara behind.
Someone grabbed me, pulling my hands together behind my back. I had stayed distracted for too long, and it cost me. Jaden had finally realized I was caught when Alyssa yelled, and he started run back. Amanda tried to stop him, but then two more people in dark clothes grabbed them too. Why was my father sending so many people after us? He only cared about me. He didn't know that Amanda knew the codes as well. The person holding me wrenched my arm painfully, and then threw something over my head so that the world went black.
I tried to see through the sack, but it must have been completely black, because I could see nothing. I used my other senses to try and understand where we were going. I noticed something odd. The person holding me smelled almost like me. Like he hadn't bathed in a while either. That was weird, considering he had access to showers if he worked with my father. We went back underground. I could smell the sewer-y scent that had been so familiar to me lately.
We walked for a long time. I could hear Tara stumbling every once and a while. She was ahead of me. I could also hear Jaden curse every now and then. It made me smile, giving me a shred of hope. I believed if we were still together, we would find a way out of it. I knew Alyssa and Amanda would be trying to figure out a way out of this even now, and Evelyn would be ready to use brute force if necessary.
It felt like we walked forever before we were led up into fresh air again, and we walked another ten minutes until we stopped, entering a building. I knew that because I counted under my breath the time it took. In the time it took to get to our destination, we had turned right, left, left again, and then one last right before going up, and then it went straight on from there. There was silence outside, which was strange. I was shoved into a chair before someone pulled the sack off of my head. My hands were free, but we were outnumbered.
"Who are you?" I asked as soon as I could see. I had to blink in the bright light, trying to make out their faces. I could see that the rest of my team was most definitely there, blinking back tears in the light. There was only silence from my question
"Who do you work for?" Amanda asked. I would have thought it was obvious, but then I thought back to the smell of my captors. Why would someone who lived in comfort not shower? It made no sense, so I waited, my eyebrows furrowed.
"We don't work for anyone," the man nearest Evelyn answered. I frowned, thinking. I could almost see Evelyn's brain whirring, trying to figure out the odds. She, Jaden, Alyssa, and I could fight our way out, but we were outnumbered more than 2 to 1, just in this room, and who knew how many other people they had?
"Of course you work for someone. Why would you take us, otherwise? Did my father send you?" I asked, worried. An older man, in his mid to late 40's, entered the room in time to answer me.
"No Miss Nichols. I can assure you we do not work for your father. We want him stopped, just like you do." I thought for a moment. Was that what I wanted? I had finished my job. I had destroyed the codes. I might be stuck in hiding unless I left the country, but I was supposed to be done my duty. Now what I wanted was pure, selfish, revenge.
