Running For Answers (Book 2 Of Running Series)

Chapter 21 - Nuclear Bomb

So it was 8pm, it wasn't ideal to land in Rio in the evening, but it was the only flight we could get. We had already spent long enough in South Africa and I was ready to leave my demons behind,

"Um...is that sign for us?" Arii asked, we were heading down the escalator from arrivals. A large sign with LINKOLN'S ET AL in bold black capital letters was being held by a burly man accompanied by a young wire like women, both in smart suits,

"Let's go find out" Angelo said,

"Is that really a good idea?" I said, "Especially since I'm not allowed to go gung-ho"

"What's the worst that can happen?" Noah said,

"Do you really want me to answer that?" I replied,

"Let's just chance it, we have no plan of what we're doing here anyway" Tayte said putting an arm around my shoulder. We headed over to the sign,

"The Linkoln's and co?" The woman asked,

"How'd you know we were here?" I snapped, "Who the hell are you working for?" they looked taken a back,

"He means, in the nicest possible way. How do we know we can trust you?" Tayte said, stepping in to play mediator,

"We had a call from...um, Jen" I looked at Tayte,

"Did she have a surname?"

"Marcillo, a Jen Marcillo," we all then looked at one another, it seemed legit, but I wasn't buying it, they looked at us nervously,

"We were told to keep you safe and to take you to the Casas Brancas Boutique Hotel" The man said with confidence,

"Lead the way" Angelo said, they nodded and headed off,

"I hope we aren't walking into a trap" I said,

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it"

I hoped not!

The car we were taken to was a sleek black Hyundai Santa Fe Sport. We pilled in; I sat in the back with Tayte, despite a few murmurs that I should be sitting up front with my leg. These were quickly put to rest after I gave them the eyes. We'd been in the car around 20 minutes, they told us the hotel was an hour away, so we still had a while to go, I received a text, it buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it out:

HEAD 2 FAVELAS RICARDO CEASAR WILL MEET U. DO NOT GO WITH ANYONE, SUITS OUT TO KIDNAP U. DON'T TRUST ANYONE XCPT RICARDO. BE SAFE.

"Oh shit"

"Keane?" Tayte questioned, oh I so didn't mean to say that out loud, I put my finger to my lips and passed him my phone, he read it and then looked at me, his eyes telling me 'Shit'

"What are we going to do?" He mouthed,

"Go with it and then try to escape. I won't be able to run, but you can get to safety," I whispered, he shook his head,

"I'm not leaving you"

"You have to"

"What are you whispering about back there, is everything okay?" The woman asked,

"Oh yeah, everything's peachy" I answered,

"We'll be there soon," Noah turned around and looked at us,

"What's up?" he said quietly,

"Nothing" I replied, he glared at me, "Not right now" I said shaking my head.

Not right now.

We arrived outside the hotel at 9.30pm; we all got out of the car and stood outside the lobby entrance to the hotel,

"Follow us" The man said,

"What's going on?" Noah asked as we trailed on behind,

"This is a trap" Tayte said,

"What!" Arii exclaimed,

"Sssh. I got a text and basically they're going to kidnap and torture us until we tell them where our parents are"

"Well what are we going to do?" Arii asked,

"I'll distract them and you lot run" Angelo said,

"Look, if anyone's doing the distracting it's me, I'm the one who can't run, I'm the one who's messed in the head and I'm the one who can take it"

"Keane..." Tayte began, but didn't finish,

"This is your suite, someone will be in shortly to brief you of what's happening" the woman said,

"Thank you" Angelo smiled, she nodded, we walked in and the door was closed behind us.

"Keane for Christ sake, we either all go together or we don't go at all, I thought you got over this" Tayte snapped,

"Shut up, please. My heads killing me Tayte, I can't pretend any more" I said sitting on the bed, Arii came and sat next to me,

"Sorry, we forget that your still not 100%" Tayte answered,

"Can we get out of the window?" Noah asked, heading over to it, "I think it's our best option, pity we don't have torches, there's a pool out here and the seas not too far away"

"Keane" Tayte said,

"Let's go before they come..." the door handle was tried "Go" I then said,

"Not without you"

"Go, I'll meet you somewhere"

"No"

"GO," Tayte reluctantly was pulled away by Angelo, they slipped out into the area outside and off into the night.

"Is everything okay in there?" A voice came,

"Yes, we're all just tired, my brother's and sister are asleep, we're calling it a night"

"Oh..." There was scuffling and whispers outside the door and then, "We're going to leave someone outside your door for the night. To make sure you're safe. We'll knock twice at 6am and you need to answer and we'll explain what's going on"

"Okay. Thank you" I called, there was more muffling and noises, but then they died down. I walked into the bathroom and splashed my face, looking into the mirror,

"You're going to be okay. You are going to be okay" I told myself, before heading back into the suite. I took a rucksack off the bed and emptied it, filling it with a few bits of clothing, mainly for Arii and Noah and some other necessities and flung it on my shoulder, tightening my boot, wincing ever so slightly, I headed for the door outside and with a quick glance over my shoulder I headed out into the darkness. I crept round the pool and then over a small gap, as I was heading down a few steps to get into the road, something grabbed me,

"Keane it's me" Tayte said, I turned and hugged him,

"How'd you get away?"

"They didn't come in, I said you were sleeping and we were calling it a night. They've got a man stationed outside our door and at 6am they're going to knock and probably kidnap us, so let's go"

"You knew they wouldn't come in didn't you" Noah asked,

"I just knew that you were going to be safe"

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Moving swiftly on!

Unedited!

Love yous GTRx

Copyright © Georgia T R Wing