Can't Catch Me!

Chapter 33 - Plan is Still a Four Letter Word

Chapter 33 - Plan is Still a Four Letter Word

We edged around the building.  We had a plan.  We all knew what needed to be done.  Joel and Gavin had the two guns and I had found a smooth broom pole.  This was going to be easy, simple, I told myself again.  The plan was good and, unless all the guards were having coffee in a windowless back room, this was going to work.

We reached our position and waited.  When Gavin was also in position Joel raised three fingers and slowly dropped one at a time until his fist showed it was time.  Joel then pivoted himself around the door frame using it to fling himself up to the guard.  The man in the chair was so surprised that he dropped his cup onto the floor and stared at Joel with wide eyes and a fish-out-of-water mouth.  He didn’t even try to reach for the gun hanging from its strap on his shoulder.

Joel didn’t hesitate.  He crashed the butt of his gun down on the man causing him to slump to the floor in a dishevelled pile.

That’s when the screaming started.

I stood there shocked as the whole factory floor erupted.  The men jumped forward, forming a loose semi-circle, with the woman bunched behind them.  Their eyes were dark and focused as they began advancing on us with long metal rods held in a way that implied that they knew how to handle them.  The woman were either screaming or crying or glaring murderously at us or some combination of these. 

One thing they all had in common was that no one looked happy to see us.

“Stop!  Wait!  We are here to save you!” I yelled. 

It was possible that no one heard me above the din because no one reacted to my words. The men were getting uncomfortably close and they looked seriously angry and willing to use the weapons that they were swinging in a menacing way.  Joel stepped in front of me and with one hand in the small of my back he held me against his back as he kept his eyes on the approaching men.

I was beginning to think this was a mistake when a loud noise shocked everyone to silence.  I looked up and found Joel’s other arm raised to the ceiling with the gun still smoking.

“We are not here to threaten you!” Joel’s voice quickly filled the silence.  “We came to help you.”

“Help us?” a woman stepped forward and looked at us like we were stupid.  “Who the hell are you?”

“Kelvin!” another woman cried as she pushed forward.  Tears streamed down her face as her eyes found the man at Joel’s feet.  “Oh my God!  Kelvin!”  Then despite the men who tried to hold her back she ran to the aid of the guard that Joel had knocked unconscious.

“Why exactly are you here?  And what do think you are saving us from?” the older woman who spoke before asked again.   She stood with the men and her face was taut with anger.

I eased out from behind Joel’s back so I could meet her furious glare.  Joel’s arm was still stretched across my chest ready to pull me back if things turned ugly.

“Aren’t you The Taken?  You were collected from the streets and stolen from your families?” I rattled off with the sudden feeling that we were in the wrong place.

“Damn,” the woman swore as her eyes scrunched closed tightly.  Then she turned her head and took a deep breath before muttering, “I suspected that one day someone might come.  I just hoped that it would never happen.”

I looked at her confused.  Why?  Why would she not want to be rescued?

The man at Joel’s feet groaned and the woman holding him wrapped her arms around him protectively.  His hand reached out for his gun but Joel kicked it away.