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four. | OFF TO THE LAND OF THE UNITED
MEADOW REMAINED SILENT as the car pulled beside the curb of an apartment complex, which Meadow had assumed was where he lived. Rhythmic buildings and balconies stacked up on top of one another formed a pattern. The neighborhood was quiet. Aside from the motioning cars moving along the narrow streets of Paris. Beautiful flowers sat in small flower beds on the sidewalk. All brightened the dull, brick sidewalk. Meadow followed Aries inside, up to his apartment.
Aries had eventually announced they had to get out of the country. As Meadow glared at him with a 'no-shit-sherlock' expression, Aries waved her off as if she was dust in the air. Together, they formed a plan.
A laptop, which was a 'souvenir' she brought along with her from the academy and wasn't too badly damaged on the way over to the complex, sat in front of Meadow as she sat cross-legged on the boy's full-sized bed. Her fingers tapped persistently on the keys.
Her hands glided across the key board and her eyes concentrated on the screen, careful to make no mistakes. Various tabs had been opened, all with a different purpose.
"How are we supposed to get out of here by plane? We won't make it past TSA," Aries asked, bending downwards to observe from behind her shoulder as Meadow typed away. "Not if we're not who they think we are," she mumbled and continued to type.
Meadow reminisced back to the academy once more, specifically to the day where she was taught to enable access into the Federal Bureau of Investigation — or for short, the FBI — and to find the records of the criminal they were assigned to. It was the same situation, except she needed to disappear. Vanish into thin air. Leave no trace of her existence.
Once she gained access into the system and removed any activities or purchases made by herself, including Aries, she did a once over, checking her flaws and continued to use a private browser — a common resource when an individual needed to do something or when criminals wanted data, such as herself, without the government watching their every move. Never once did she think about working against the law — especially since it was something she was trained not to do.
Afterwards, Meadow worked on their passports. Once Meadow had encrypted their personal records so only herself had the ability to get in, she generated two different names, finally moving them both under the radar.
"Why do I have a feeling that you've done this before?" Aries voiced his thought, interrupting their moment of silence. "Because I didn't even know how to get into my own Spotify account, but here you are, hacking into the flippin' FBI." Aries said, attempting to lighten the tense atmosphere with his dry sense of humor, though with a hint of seriousness behind his tone.
Meadow only shook her head in response to his question, beginning to feel the question itself was too confidential to answer. "I just... learned," She answered half-truthfully with a shrug. Meadow refused to trust him with such information. Irrelevant information.
Aries' lips were sealed with disbelief.
—
Meadow had managed to complete nearly everything they needed to get out out of the country and without disruption, things seemed to be running smoothly. That was until the rough, obnoxious banging at the door. Both of their heads shot towards the door. Aries gestured for her to keep quiet, though Meadow didn't bother to move. Her eyes trained back onto the screen, watching the loading bar grow fuller and fuller by the second.
"This is the international police department. Please open the door in an orderly fashion, or we'll have to forcibly knock the door down and arrest you under the conduct of the law." A commanding tone voiced from the other side. Meadow's eyebrows crinkled in determination as the officer's foreign words traveled through one ear to the other.
Luckily, a savings account she had built — for the possibility if she was continued to be moved back and forth in foster care — was used to its advantage. Plane tickets from Paris, France to Liverpool, England were successfully bought. Aries was undoubtedly impressed by the girl's mind-bending abilities, but it didn't stop him from wondering of her story. Her history.
More obnoxious knocking occurred and it made Meadow's insides twist impatiently. Aries' heartbeat raced against his chest. A burning sensation took place in the pit of his throat. He balled his hand into a fist to cool his uneasiness.
"Could you move any faster?" Aries cautiously whispers from across the room, not wanting to attract attention on the other side of the door. His hands tensed anxiously by his sides as he listened for movement outside the door. He immediately reached for his phone and physically prepares himself for their next move.
"If I could, we'd be in Liverpool by now," Meadow bluntly answered. "Just give me time." The bar was nearly complete before Aries yanked at her arm, nearly dragging her to the window escape, along with their bags.
"That's the problem, we don't have time."
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NOTE; i really want to update more often but i'm always so conscious and writers' block sucks. but imma try.
