Keeping Secrets part eight

By Annie Lisenby Smith

The SUV’s tires squeal speeding away from the empty parking lot. Crickets sing into the night as a twinge of dawn creeps toward the horizon they’re racing toward. No one in the SUV speaks as they zip past the few early morning commuters on the road with bleary eyes and giant mugs of coffee. Paige watches their lights pass wishing that one of them, just one of them would look at the SUV and see that she, her mom, and Brayden were being held against their will. Just one person to make this night finally end.

But no one does.

A nudge from Alice’s elbow captures Paige’s attention. Her mom is more composed now. The tears are gone, but she still looks like a wreck with her hair loose from her ponytail and thin streaks of mascara trailing down her cheeks from her tears earlier. With her hands tied behind her back still, Alice can’t do anything about it. She nods at Brayden’s foot that rests next to Paige’s.

Paige hadn’t noticed before but Brayden’s toe taps rapidly on the floor of the SUV. Besides the whisking sound of cars passing, the tapping is the only noise in the vehicle. A glance at Brayden’s face is all Paige needs to know that he’s scared to death. Paige bitterly thinks that Brayden is doing well for his first kidnapping. She’d already been pulled or tossed into a car a handful of times tonight.

“Brayden,” Paige whispers as she rests her foot on his toes to still them. His gaze darts to Paige with eyes wide with fear. The mixture of greens and browns that Paige had fawned over during many band practices are overshadowed. He’d always been the guy Paige had looked for in the full band room. He was always nice to her and friendly, so it broke part of Paige’s heart to see him like this now.

“I’m sorry,” Paige mouths. When the surfer suit guy and the Latin suit guy in the front seats are distracted by a crackling sound coming through the speakers in their ears Paige adds, “We’re going to get out of this.”

“What’s going on? What do they want with me?” Brayden asks.

“They want me,” Alice whispers across Paige. “You helped me and they’re cleaning up loose ends.”

“Loose ends?” Brayden’s eyes widen further. His chest rises and falls with rapidity as panic takes over.

“Breathe,” Alice says gently sounding like a mom again and not a CIA agent. “Just breathe, Brayden. Bend forward and put your head between your knees. And just breathe.”

With his head between his knees, Brayden’s breaths come more slowly. Without thought, Paige rests her handcuffed hands on his back and rubs slow circles. It was something her mom had done when she was upset. The last time Alice had comforted Paige like this was the night before she’d left for her new job. Paige had been upset because girls in her class had been making fun of her for some silly reason Paige couldn’t remember now. But as she brushed her hand over Brayden’s back feeling the bones of his ribs and spine she remembers clearly her mom’s hands tracing the same pattern. That was when Alice had promised she’d be home after two weeks. Those two weeks had been extended and extended again and again until Paige stopped asking when her mom would come home. Two years later, those feelings of abandonment boil in her gut as she remembers how brokenhearted she’d been.

“Brayden, it’s okay,” Paige says. “We’ll get out of this. I know we will.”

“This is next-level chaos, Paige,” Brayden shudders taking a deep breath.

“Trust me, I know,” Paige huffs.

“Quiet back there,” the Latin suit guy orders, a hint of an accent in his words.

Paige looks to Alice for guidance. A quick nod tells Paige that she needs to follow their commands. Maybe it’s because she’s been up all night, maybe it’s because she’s just not used to all the kidnapping and evil guys in suits. Whatever it is, Paige is done with all the deception.

“Or what?” Paige asks, her voice loud in the small space.

The Latin guy in a suit turns in his seat to glare at Paige.

“Seriously, or what?” Paige raises her voice louder.

“Paige,” Alice scolds.

“Mom, for real. What are they planning on doing? I mean if they want to kill us all, why can’t we have a little chat in the back of the bad guy’s SUV?” Paige’s heart skips a beat as her mind races through old feelings of hurt and new feelings of fear. They’re mixing with her exhaustion and making her mind a mess, a puddle of nonsense and recklessness.

“Maybe you’re right,” the Latin suit guy says. “Maybe you’re wrong. Do you want to find out?”

“What if I do?” Paige challenges, a tsunami of fear rushing over her. But she holds her gaze and doesn’t blink.

The Latin suit guy stares her down, his dark brown eyes boring into her. A smile tugs at the side of his mouth as he slaps the surfer suit guy’s arm.

“I like her,” the Latin suit guy says with a chuckle. “We might need to keep her around. She’s tough.”

“Whatever you say, boss,” the surfer suit guy says. This earns him another slap on the shoulder from the Latin suit guy, but not the playful kind. He’s being chastised.

“Turn there,” the Latin suit guy says. He brushes his thick black curls out of his face as he points. The movement accentuates his chiseled jaw, a chiseled jaw that Paige remembers seeing on Piper’s mobile phone screen.

“Mom,” Paige whispers elbowing Alice in the side with more force than she’d expected.

“Paige,” Alice replies recoiling from Paige’s elbows. “What?”

Brayden leans forward trying to capture what Paige is telling Alice. “That’s him,” Paige says, her heart in her throat. “That’s the guy. The bad guy.”

“I thought we’d already established they were bad guys,” Brayden nods at the front seat.

Glaring at Brayden in frustration, Paige leans into Alice. “Not bad guys. Bad guy. What was his name? I can’t remember, something like it was from a movie.”

Her eyes widening with realization, Alice speaks with her full voice. “Sebastian Miranda.”

The Latin suit guy turns to face Alice. With a debonair smile, he says, “Nice to meet you.”

“Wait,” Brayden looks between Alice and Sebastian. “Who is this guy?”

Her gaze cold and locked on Sebastian Miranda, Alice answers, “Sebastian Miranda. One of the FBI’s top ten wanted criminals. He smuggles and sells anything that will make him money. Art. Drugs. People.”

“I see my reputation proceeds me,” Sebastian Miranda says his smile still plastered on his face. “But I also like long walks on the beach and puppies, but no one in the FBI or CIA likes to talk about my better qualities.”

“What are your plans with us?” Alice’s jaw tightens.

“I’m going to finish what Piper couldn’t,” Sebastian Miranda replies. “I’m going to get those files, for real, and destroy them. Without that evidence, no one can bring charges against me. And I’ll be free to do as I please.”

Paige can’t resist glancing at the necklace that hangs around her neck. The flash drive is still hidden in the Lego brick disguise. There’s no way that Sebastian Miranda could know that the files he wants are literally within his grasp now. Paige hopes with all her heart that he never finds out.

“We don’t have the files with us. I told Piper that but she didn’t believe us,” Alice lies.

Shaking his head and tsking his tongue, Sebastian Miranda leans closer to Alice. “That can’t be true. Piper may have done some things wrong tonight but she did a lot of things right. She’s already cleared your personal belongings and your storage clouds. She didn’t find the files. That can mean only one thing. They are somewhere in your possession. And now you’re going to tell me where they are.”

The SUV skids to a stop, gravel spitting from the tires. Both men in the front seats climb out and open the back doors. Alice is pulled out from Paige’s left as Brayden is pulled out from her right. Sebastian Miranda reaches for Paige, but she skids backward across the seat. Her escape attempt is cut short when surfer suit guy tightens his grip around her arms and yanks her from the SUV.

Off-kilter and stumbling, Paige falls to the grass. “Keep your hands off her,” Alice commands, stepping between Paige and the surfer suit guy. He sneers in response and steps back. The first lights of dawn break into the night. It lights the dirt road in front of them. Paige adjusts her glasses and squints looking closer at the road. It’s surrounded by dense forest that has been cleared for at least 20 feet on each side. Down the road, a red light flashes on and off.

“This is your last chance to do this the easy way,” Sebastian Miranda says shoving Brayden next to Alice. “Tell me now and this will all end. String me along more and I won’t play so nicely.”

Standing, Paige bites her lip. She wants to tell them that all the information they want is hanging from her neck. But she can’t. Alice had made that clear. This is one really bad guy and he needs to be put away for a very long time. As if confirming that they’re keeping their silence, Alice stands straighter and keeps her mouth shut.

“Look, I don’t know anything about this,” Brayden says, his voice quivering.

“Doesn’t matter,” Sebastian Miranda says holding his hand out to the surfer suit guy. Overhead the hum of an engine breaks through the morning birds singing in the trees. Paige realizes that the road isn’t a road, it’s a landing strip. Sebastian’s glance at the sky confirms it.

Pulling something from the back of the SUV, the surfer suit guy drops it into Sebastian’s hand. In the early morning dimness, Paige can’t tell what it is until Sebastian lifts it and points it at Brayden.

“You’re a part of this now whether you want to be or not,” Sebastian says leveling a gun at Brayden’s chest.

“No!” Paige screams as she lunges between Brayden and Sebastian. In response, Alice reaches for Paige, clawing to pull her back.

When the gun goes off, Paige feels a ripping sting in her shoulder. She screams out in pain as she falls to the ground. Her eyes are swimming, the world around her looking blurry. Squinting in concentration, Paige looks at her burning shoulder and sees a thin tube sticking out. As Sebastian turns the gun on Alice and Brayden, Paige realizes that she hasn’t been shot with a bullet. It’s a tranquilizer that’s making her head foggy and her eyelids feel like they’re weighted with all the bricks in the world.

“Mom,” Paige mutters trying to lift her hand for Alice. But Alice is limp next to her. A tranquilizer tube sticks out of her thigh. Paige blinks and blinks again, each time finding it more difficult to open her eyes. She forces herself to roll on her back and turns her head to Brayden. He blinks heavily at her, his eyes focused on nothing. With the last of her strength, Paige reaches for Brayden’s hand. Her final thought before drifting into unconsciousness is how warm Brayden’s fingers are. n

by Christa Stout

To learn more about Rescue One visit their Facebook page:

Also check out their website: RescueOneSpringfield.org