March 18, 2027
New York
1500 hours
Ben's POV
I ran. There was rain pouring down from the sky. My mind had turned off and I was running on pure emotion. I didn't even know where I was going. My legs just carried me.
I bumped into people everywhere, made cars swerve off the road, and a lot of people angry. I didn't care at all.
I jumped over one of the snowbanks on the side of the sidewalk and into a park. My legs decided that they were done working, and I promptly fell over into the grass. I got up and went to sit on a bench.
I took time to look around where I was. I had somehow ended up in Central Park. I saw kids laughing and playing in the rain, while their parents chided them and told them not to get their clothes dirty.
I was devastated. I don't even know how Erica had gotten beat. That had to mean that they were top of the line agents, or something else had happened. I felt tears rolling down my face.
I wanted to curl up in a ball and cry. Just sit and cry. Forever and ever, as if my tears were the Nile River. It seemed hopeless that I would find my girls.
I put my face in my hands and started sobbing quietly. I felt my whole body shake as the tears rolled down my cheek.
After a while, I wiped my face and focused. Even if there was a slim chance, I had to try. That was my family.
What would Erica do?
She would gather her resources and info, and make her next move based on said resources and info.
I reached in my ear for my earpiece but realized it was missing. I would have to go rendezvous with Jawa in person.
I got up and started walking back, before I realized I was quickly going to get lost in this city. I whipped out my phone, which was thankfully still there, and searched for directions a block away from my hotel (in case anyone was tapping my phone).
I would have called Jawa, but I didn't, for the same reason as above.
After a short walk, I made it to the hotel and entered. I quickly jogged up to Jawa's room, but got no answer. I used my keycard, which thankfully worked on his room (I guess the front desk set it up for me) and entered.
It was clean as ever. The only thing out of place was a note on a work desk. I picked it up.
Ben/Erica,
I went out to do surveillance on a lead I got from Cyrus. Still communicate with me with the headset, but do not call me. Don't want to risk the calls getting traced, even with our secure phones. This organization has proven to be terribly resourceful.
Jawa
As per usual with standard CIA fashion, I ripped up the note, lit on fire, and flushed the ashes down the toilet. I went back into my room.
I walked into the bathroom and finally saw how much of a mess I was. I had grass stains all over myself and a bit of mud in my hair.
I took a quick shower to clean myself off, then dried off and ordered room service (if I was going to save my family, I was going to do it on a full stomach).
I started writing an email to Cyrus about the situation. I knew it wasn't 100% secure, but it was better than a phone call, and if used with stupid email names (such as: teddybearrocks@stuffy.com) it wouldn't draw attention.
Dear Secret Communication Stuffy (get it?)
I felt it was important enough for me to tell you what happened. Somehow, someone got the jump on Erica. They have her hostage with Emma, or for all I know, they are already dead. I don't know yet. I'm following up on evidence right now.
If you have any new info on this mission, please let me know. I could really use it.
Sincerely,
TeddyBearsRock
I closed my laptop and sighed. This was going to be hard.
I went into Jawa's room and grabbed his laptop, which he thankfully left without a password on. Although, I could tell it was just a burner, so nothing valuable was stored on it.
I opened up the browser and saw surveillance feeds. I smiled.
"Let's go to work."
Erica's POV
I woke up in a jail cell. In 2.1 seconds, I assessed that I had been knocked out with a chloroform rag. There was a faint scent and my face felt prickly, as if a rough rag had rubbed it.
The memories came back. Chasing after the guys. Going around the corner. Them having a gun pointed at Emma. I remember freezing, and that was all it took, as one of the men chloroformed me from the back.
Speaking of Emma, I looked around. I saw a tiny little basket made out of woven plastic in the corner, and I walked over. I saw Emma sleeping.
Thank The Lord.
I could tell they hadn't done anything to her, but I checked for injuries anyway. I left her in the basket for now. I walked back to the front of the cell. I reached into my boots for any of my weapons, but they were gone.
My knife under my sleeve was gone. I felt my breasts.
They even took my poison from there.
I was infuriated, but I didn't make a word. They had stripped me of everything but my clothes. Not even my hairpin was in my hair.
No escape at the moment, I guess.
I went back to Emma and picked her up, going to sit down on a cot that was in the other corner. She was still sleeping peacefully, so I held her, not wanting to disturb her sleep.
I thought about Ben. He was probably worrying his mind off. He probably acted out of shock, cried, thought "What would Erica do?", regained himself, then started to look for evidence.
I heard a door open on the far side of the room. It was dimly lit until the area around my cell, but judging by the amount of footsteps, there were 3 people. The first one came into the light, and I did not recognize him. The second two stayed behind, but I recognized them as the two agents sent to disturb Ben and I's peace during the night.
"Well, well, well, the elusive Erica Hale," the man in the front said.
I looked at him.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"That doesn't matter, and for the record, I'm asking the questions."
"Fine by me."
"Ok then, let's get started." He pulled up a chair and sat at the front of my cell.
"Do you know who we are?"
"SNOW."
"Ah, you have been listening, I see. Do you know who our leader is?"
"Yes."
"Who?" The man asked, looking shocked.
"Certainly not you." He saw that I was pulling his leg, and went back to his questions.
"Why are you here?"
"On a mission."
"What's the mission?"
"That's classified."
"I said, what's the mission?" I felt him getting angry.
"I said, that's classified."
"WHY ARE YOU HERE?" He yelled.
I felt Emma stir and I looked down at her. She had tears in her eyes but I saw her eyes harden as she looked at the man.
"Feisty little girl you got there," he taunted.
I ignored him and started rocking her. She seemed to be calm staying with me.
"We aren't getting anything out of her, turn on the lights," the man said to the girl agent. I watched her walk away, and soon, bright lights came on.
I looked around in horror, then tried to cover Emma's eyes, but it was too late. I knew exactly what she was crying about. Too the right was a full body dummy with Ben as the face (a picture taped on). There was "blood" splattered all over it.
"Hey, hey, hey, it's a fake, it's ok, Daddy's ok," I said.
"Don't worry, Daddy is safe," I said.
Emma still wailed, and I glared at the man, who stumbled backwards. I put Emma down, who was still crying, and marched to the front of the cell.
"YOU COME IN HERE, WAKE MY DAUGHTER UP, THEN TRAUMATIZE HER WITH A PICTURE OF HER FATHER ON A DEAD BODY?? WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE??? HUH??? SO HELP ME EVEN THOUGH I DON'T KILL WHEN I'M OUT OF HERE YOU ARE GOJNG TO BEG ME TO KILL YOU!! I SWEAR!!"
The man promptly exited the room, turning off the bright lights, and the two agents following him. I went back to Emma.
"I'm sorry girly, Mommy had to make sure the bad guys knew what was going to happen. What's wrong?"
Emma was still crying, but not as hard. I picked her up and gave her a hug.
"Mommy's got you. Wanna go on an airplane ride?" I brought her out in front of me and guided her through the air with my hands, like she was a plane. Emma started laughing and I put her down.
"All better?" I asked.
I realized that a rough estimate of what time it was meant that Emma had gone too long without eating.
"Of course you're not okay, you're a hungry little girl, aren't you?" I said, poking her nose
I picked her up and let her feed. I looked around myself once more, then I realized.
I knew how Emma and I were going to get out.
Hope you guys enjoyed this one and sorry for the long wait, I know some of you were anxious to read this.
And I'm sure some of you were happy that Emma was okay, but it might not stay like that for long....
....