Chapter 19

Jeff and John just waited as Jeff followed the directions that were giving to him. Mike never asked a thing as he sat in the back of the car.

As they got closer to the location they were aiming for, they knew Mike needed to be brought out of his stupor, or he wouldn't be able to help them.

"Mike, drop the back of the seat on your left, and pull out the weapons, would you? We'll need them for when we get to where Dani is," said Jeff as he kept driving.

Mike shifted, and pulled the knob that released the back of the seat. The back folded down, and gave access to the trunk, with out getting out of the car. The first things he removed were three 9mm Berettas from their holders attached to the back of the seat. Next he pulled a long box out and put it on the car's floor. Then he pulled out two M-16s by their muzzles, followed by the pump action 12-gauge shotgun. With the bigger weapons sitting back on the seat, Mike opened the box on the floor, which held the ammunition for all the weapons.

He loaded the Berettas and handed two of them to John, with three extra clips already loaded. He attached the third to the other side of his own shoulder harness. John placed his and then put Jeff's in place. Once that was done, Mike loaded the two M-16s and handed them, with three extra magazines each, to John as well. This left him with the shotgun. He loaded it and had several more rounds that he dumped in his jacket pockets.

John checked his phone to see if there were still heading in the right direction and knew it was just a matter of time before they got there. He just prayed that Dani was still there and hadn't been taken somewhere else.

Dani wasn't sure she had seen what she thought she had. Her mind played it over and over again, but it stayed the same. The man in the fancy clothing had been shot and was now dead. Quickly she tried to look around, but she was still strapped down to the gurney. What she could see was that all of the men that were there were now dead.

Dani tried to get the buckles undone but her hands didn't want to work for her. She was just about done, when she heard a noise behind her. What she saw terrified her even more. Beings dressed all in black came into her field of vision. Several moved to her, as several more went past her, as if to secure the area further. Then another being came up to her and started waving some kind of strange looking device over her.

"Please, what do you want? Those other men kidnapped me. Please, I need to go to the hospital! I'm very sick," Dani said in the hopes that her pleading would get them to let her go.

The man with the device ignored her pleas, and continued what he was doing. The scanner made strange noises when it was passed near Dani's right shoulder then again as it passed her right hip, and a final time at her left ankle. Dani watched as the man pressed several buttons or at least that was the actions that she could see that he made. Then did the scanning a second time. It beeped at the same three places.

Dani didn't know what was going on. She just had the feeling that she wasn't going to like what ever it was. That was when the man spoke for the first time.

"Right shoulder blade, right hip, left ankle. We need to extract the devices quickly, before termination."

Dani knew she had to do something or she was dead. So as the men moved, so did she and flipped the gurney on its side. The force of this helped Dani as it broke something on the bed and she was able to get free of the gurney. She rolled a way from the gurney and into the legs of one of the men that had come closer. He reached down to grab her and she kicked up at him nailing him in the crotch sending him staggering backwards.

Another man ran in to try to grab her and she did her drop-punch again, but knew as soon as she made contact, that these men had been ready for her. She could feel something protective in the area. The man however did stagger back giving her room to move.

A third man came at her, and some of the training she'd had learned from Iris came to mind. She executed a series of moves, and the man dropped to the floor, not moving anymore. Dani then took off running.

Another man started shouting, as he couldn't believe that an untrained little girl had just incapacitated one of his men completely and staggered two others.

Dani ran blindly, as she was hoping to find a way out. As she turned a corner she heard a shot ring out and pieces of concrete exploded next to her head. She screamed as she was hit by the chips that flew free. She continued running, knowing if she didn't, she would surely be dead.

As she ran, she felt her legs getting tired. Her sides were hurting from the running she was not used to doing. She also noticed that she was going up. To her, that seemed like it was a good idea. It would get her out of the garage, and hopefully someone would be around that could help her.

Jeff looked at the tracker, and saw it was pointing directly ahead. Looking up, he saw the parking structure, and he knew that Dani must be inside some where in the lower section. With that much concrete and steel he knew that the trackers they used would never pick her up. Jeff didn't stop at the attendance booth as most would, but rammed his way through the gate, shattering it in the process. He passed the gate and found the ramp leading down and yanked the wheel around. Vaguely behind him he heard yelling but didn't stop.

Jeff was about to turn onto the third downward section, when there was suddenly a person in front of him.

Dani had heard the car coming and hoped it wasn't more of the men who were behind her. The men had fired a second shot at her and it had just barely missed, because she had dodged to one side.

It was when she was about to turn another corner that she came face to face with another problem. The car she'd heard was coming right at her. Time slowed for Dani as she threw herself to the side hoping the car would miss her.

Jeff yelled as he cranked the wheel of the car hoping to miss the person. The car slid to the side with the turn and Jeff thought for a moment they might flip. Then the car settled back onto all four wheels.

John saw the person too, but his mind saw who it was. He yelled out Dani's name. He saw that the car was turning and looked like it would pass Dani but he also saw her diving out of the way and he hoped it was enough.

Mike was in the back, and could only hang on as the car spun, and then came to a stop. His mind snapped when he heard John yell out Dani's name. He was looking franticly for her. When the car was almost to a stop Mike kicked open the door and threw himself out of the vehicle to roll on the ground. When he came up, he heard the unmistakable sound of a bullet ricocheting off the car, and he ducked behind it, drawing his pistol and trying to see where the shot had come from. As he looked around, his heart nearly broke as he saw Dani's huddled form.

Dani had managed to roll enough after her dive to get out of the path of the car, which put her sitting, with her back in a corner of one of the support columns, and put the car between her and the men shooting at her. At that moment, all she could think about was that she was going to die, and would never get to see her love again, or get to tell him how much she loved him. In the fog of her mind, she could even hear him calling her name.

When they came to a full stop, both John and Jeff bailed in time to hear the bullet strike the car. John ducked behind the hood as he saw Jeff throw himself back into the car and out the passenger door as another bullet hit the car again.

With the second shot Mike had a target and returned fire, though he missed, it made the person pull back just a bit to take cover himself. Then he looked over and saw Dani trying desperately to stay behind the column.

"Dani!" Mike yelled, "Dani! Just stay there I'll come get you!"

Another shot was fired and this time Dani screamed. John and Jeff fired in the direction from which it came. Both missed, but it gave them a second to take in what was going on. Dani was free, and men were chasing her. What they didn't know, was if these were the men that had hi-jacked the bus, or if it was another group altogether.

The one thing Jeff and John did know what that they needed help and it was coming and should be there soon and that Dani was a sitting duck even though she was protected somewhat behind the big column and she was so small. Jeff looked around and saw movement and fired in that direction, which made the person rethink their choice of direction and head back to where they had come from.

John was watching Dani, and could see she was in trouble and they needed to get her out of there.

"Mike, We'll cover you. Get over to Dani. Keep her thinking. She'll stay alive if she keeps thinking!"

Mike looked over at Dani, and saw she was starting to rock back and forth as if losing her grip of what was around her. Just then, though, someone opened up with an automatic weapon. The rounds started peppering the other side of the car as Mike reached into the back of the car, and grabbed the shotgun. He waited for whoever was shooting to stop, or run low of ammunition. That point came, and Mike unloaded the gun in the direction of the shooter. Then he took off running for Dani. Jeff and Jim both started firing, too, even though they had no solid targets.

More shots came and just missed Mike as he slammed into the wall and pushed himself hard into the corner of the column, covering Dani.

Dani felt a weight land on her, and was going to punch who ever it was, when Mike's face filled her vision and then he kissed her.

"Come on, Baby. Stay with me, now. We'll get out of here!" Mike yelled over the gunfire. When the next break came he thought he heard the sound of sirens and hoped back up would be there, soon.

Jeff had moved over to take Mike's location and in doing so was able to get the M16 from the front seat. This gave them more firepower. Jeff covered John, until he too was able to get the other weapon. So when the automatic opened up again both Jeff and John were able to return fire with something that gave the bad guys some of what they were dishing out.

Dani was sure she was dreaming, until she felt her lips being kissed. That woke her in a hurry. She wrapped her arms around 'her' Mike, and held on for dear life.

"MIKE! OH GOD, MIKE! I LOVE YOU!" Dani yelled repeatedly as she cried in relief.

Mike would have loved to just hold Dani and make her feel better, but the bullets zipping by gave him a harsh reminder that they weren't safe, yet.

"Baby you need to let me move just a bit so I can keep these assholes from hurting us. But are you ok? They didn't hurt you did they?"

Dani looked up at Mike and let go of him a bit so he could move.

"Gods, Mike ... Iris ... is she ok? Did the EMT get her to safety?" Dani asked as she remembered her friend.

"Yes, she's going to be just fine. What happened after Iris and the EMT left the bus?"

"I got sick again. I kept begging the man to take me to the hospital. I know there's something really wrong, my stomach hurts too much, and the last time I chucked I saw blood come up. I passed out for a bit and when I woke up, the bus wasn't moving. I called the house and prayed they would find me. Then, I guess it was the loan shark that Mister. Thorton gambled through, was there. He wanted his money from Carol. I told him to go to court. He told me since I was the one that took her in, and it was my people that got his men busted, that I was going to pay him."

"Shit! I didn't even know that was still in the air!" Mike exclaimed.

"I didn't either. But Mike, that's not all. He told me something. Something about my father, and why all of our troubles are happening."

"What did he say? Are you sure it was the truth?"

Dani spent the next few minutes going over what was said, and the names that she had been given.

"He said he had already sold me to the people that were responsible, and he was just waiting for the ransom to be paid, first. That's when things got ugly. Someone shot him. Then those men that are after us now, were there. One had some kind of device, and he was scanning me with it. He said there was something at my right shoulder blade and hip and left ankle. They were going to cut them out, and then kill me when they were done," Dani finished with great racking sobs.

Mike was swearing that he was going to kill them all.

Charles was leading the team from the house as they raced down the streets of town in order to get to the boss. He kept getting a bad feeling and would hit the gas again to try to make the car go faster. As he and the others went speeding by, they had picked up several cops. As Charles drove, one of his men called the dispatcher. He told them they had a location for the kidnapped Orchard girl, and they were heading there. He told the dispatcher that the police were more than welcome to join the party.

All but one slowed and turned off, having been ordered to come in from another direction. The last eased up by the lead car, and Charles could see that it was being driven by Officer Jennings. Charles quickly called him and gave him the information and let him take the lead. Both men hoped they would get there in time.

Randal Marshal watched the coroner and the second bus leave with the injured EMT and Iris. Iris hadn't wanted to leave, as she thought her place was to stay with Sandra, now. Randal smiled, knelt next to her, and whispered something in her ear. Iris turned a nice shade of pink then went to the ambulance with no farther argument, and with a small smile on her face.

Randal had just asked to get an update from inside from Jim when he saw three cars pull into the lot. They came to a stop and six men got out. Only two walked over to where Randal was.

"Can I help you gentlemen?" Randal asked.

He had a funny feeling things were going to get bad again.

"We were sent to get the prisoners. I'm sure you don't need them as a headache anymore, with everything else that's going on," said the man in a friendly type of voice.

"I'm sorry I have my orders that no one leaves here until Director..."

"Look, we have our orders too, and we need to get those men out of here," interrupted the other man.

"I'm sorry to be an inconvenience to you, but those men are not leaving here until Director Evans gets here. Then you can take it up with him. Now go back to your cars and stay out of our way. We still have a lot of work to do." Randal said.

Randal had a feeling he needed back up, and would need it soon. He pressed the call button on his phone, and waited a few seconds. Then he held the talk button down, so the person on the other end could hear what was going on.

"I'm sorry our orders come from higher up than Director Evans. They want those men inside four walls, for interrogation, as soon as we can get them there."

"I don't care if your orders came from the President, himself. Now I want you men to hand me your sidearms and have a seat, so you can talk to Director Evans yourself when he gets here. I don't fucking know who sent you but I'm tired of finding traitors! Now Park It!"

The two men glanced at each other and as they turned to leave were surprised to find their way blocked.

"Agent Marshal said for you to have a seat!" said a deep voice of one of the Dani's security men.

The men looked ready to fight when Randal got his weapon out placed it against the head of the first man.