Young Heroes

Chapter Three

Jack's head throbbed, Okay, he told himself, Evaluate the situation. Where am I, and am I alone? He opened his eyes. He was tied up, and he seemed to be in the back of a car or something.

That's right, we were attacked by those goons back at Cassie and Hunter's cabin. They must have put us in the vans.

He looked around for Alice, Cassie, and Hunter. They weren't there, but he wasn't alone. There were two people sitting across from him. There was a girl with fierce brown eyes and red curly hair (not dyed like Alice's, but natural red), and a boy with messy blonde hair and green eyes that stared straight ahead. The boy was breathing hard, he looked panicked. Jack could understand that, but he also thought that the best policy in this situation was to stay calm.

"Hey, calm down. We need to keep our heads." The boy gasped when he heard Jack's voice, and scooted away from him the best he could; when he ran into the wall behind him, he jumped. "Hey, it's fine. I'm not one of them. I'm just another kid who got abducted by these people."

"How do I know that? I can't see you." The boy retorted,

"What?" asked Jack, "It's not that dark in here."

The girl sighed, "He's blind, dimwit."

"Well, excuse me. How was I supposed to know that?" The girl rolled her eyes, but said nothing, so Jack knew he had won. Jack was good at winning arguments without saying much.

"So d'you know why they took us?" asked the blind boy, "I'm Jinx by the way."
"That's an interesting name."

"Yeah, don't have parents, so I gave it to myself."

Jack nodded, "Well my name's Jack, and no, I don't know anything about this." He looked at the girl, "So who are you?"

"Achella." said the girl.

Jack was silent for a moment, then he thought of something, "Hey, do you guys know what they did with my sister? She has bright red dyed hair and turquoise eyes like mine."

"Probably in the other van." said Achella bitterly, "Most likely they wanted to separate you because you're siblings and it'd be easier for you to figure a way out."

Jack felt a bit panicked himself now, "You don't think they're taking us to different places?" He had never been away from his twin for more than a few hours.

"Nah." Said Achella.

"You don't know that for sure." Corrected Jinx.

"I'm just trying to make Jack feel better."

Jinx snorted, "Yeah, like you're so good at cheering people up."

Always the peacemaker, Jack came up with a brilliant compromise, "Shut up, both of you."

They sat in silence for a while, then the van came to a stop. "We're probably at a gas station." said Jack quietly. Achella started, and scooted over to the door of the van. She began throwing herself at the door, yelling and screaming for help. Jack and Jinx caught on and added to the noise. Soon, they heard one of the doors to the van open then close. But it was one of the people who had kidnapped them.

He opened the door to the trunk, "You hush up in here." He said to them, "You're going to compromise this whole thing."

"Uh, yeah, that's exactly what we're trying to do." Said Achella, and they all started banging against the door again.

"I said be quiet." the man said angrily, and he grabbed Jinx, who yelled in surprise and started trying to escape him.

"Hey! Leave him alone!" Achella screamed, but she couldn't do anything to help. The man pulled a gun and held it to Jinx's temple.

Jinx stiffened, "What's that?" he asked. Jack could tell he was fighting to keep his voice calm.

"Don't move Jinx." Said Achella urgently, "It's a gun." Jinx paled, but kept still.

"That's right." said the man, "You all keep still and quiet, and your friend'll be fine. But if I hear another sound come from back here-" he pressed the gun harder against Jinx's head, Jinx flinched. Achella looked like she wanted to say something, but couldn't. The man dragged Jinx out of the trunk to the seats, and shut the door behind them.

Jack and Achella didn't say anything for a long time, fearing that if they were heard, Jinx would be shot. But eventually the road noise was so loud, Jack was sure nobody could hear him. He scooted over beside Achella, who seemed to be blinking back tears. "Have you and Jinx know each other for a while?" he whispered,

Achella nodded, "Yeah, he's my best friend. I met him a couple years back and we just kinda stick together. We do odd jobs to earn money and stuff, I have to help him out a lot."

"They won't kill him then, it's just a bluff. They know that if they kill him, you have no incentive to cooperate with them."

She bit her lip, "You better be right." Jack leaned his head back against the wall, he hoped he was right too, but he also hoped Alice was alright.

They talked in whispers the rest of the way in the van, forming a plan of escape. When the van stopped again, they had reached their destination. "Okay, they're going to have to untie our feet so we can walk. When they do, kick them as hard as you can and make a break for it. We can call the cops and they can come rescue the others."

Jack nodded, "Right." But when the doors opened, it was the cops who opened them.

Achella sighed in relief, "Oh, so you caught them. Good."

"Where's my sister?" Asked Jack suspiciously,

"And Jinx, the blind kid?" Added Achella,

"They're both safe inside." Replied one of the policemen,

If Jack knew anything, it was that Alice would not be inside. She would be out here waiting to see if he was alright. "You're lying. You aren't the real police are you?"

"Relax, kid." The guy pointed to his badge, "We're the real thing, come with us." They untied their hands and feet, and escorted them into a tall building. They went up to the top floor, and into a large conference room with a long table. Sitting in the seats were Hunter, who was holding an ice pack on his head, Cassie, who was talking in a hushed voice to her brother, Alice, who was being uncharacteristically quiet, and Jinx, who still looked very shaken. When Alice saw Jack, she leapt out of her chair and ran to him, nearly smothering him in a hug.

"Little bro! You're alright!" she exclaimed.

Jack sighed, it was true that Alice was five minutes older than he was, but he wished she wouldn't refer to him as her "little bro." "Yeah, I'm glad you're alright too. But you can stop suffocating me."

Achella rushed over to Jinx, "Jinx! It's Achella, I'm so glad you're okay!" she gave him a hug, quickly released him, and punched him in the shoulder.

Jinx nearly fell out of his chair, "Ow! What was that for? I thought you were glad that I was okay!"

Achella glared at him, "Don't you scare me like that again mister, or else I'll pulverise you." Jinx grinned.

Suddenly, a man in a suit came into the room, followed by several guards, two of whom stood by the door. The man stood at the front of the room, he had a tan, weather-beaten face, steel-colored hair and piercing eyes of the same color. He smiled at them, "Please, sit down." he said. Jack, Alice, and Achella all sat. "I am Mr. Richard Bradley, the Secretary of Defence of the United States." The man said.