Laura's POV
Before leaving the hospital with Miranda to go back to the jail cells, our families said the usual thing they would.
"Be safe," Stormie said.
"Be careful," Vanessa said.
"Stick with Miranda," Mark said.
"Be careful. I couldn't live without my best friend," Riker said.
I hugged each one of them, but held on to Riker the longest until he finished his sentence. No, I do not like him, or have feelings for him.... I just don't know what he feels about me.
"Laura, let's go?" Miranda called to me in a friendly way; not demanding. Ross was standing next to her by the doorway.
I nodded and walked behind them and waved my last good bye to everyone.
"So, where are we gonna look for her first?" Ross asked while in the car. Miranda was driving, I in the front, and Ross at the back.
"We'll have to hear information from my officers first, only then can we look for her," Miranda replied.
"Got it."
We reached the jail cells in a few minutes and immediately, Miranda walked to the computers, and she was surrounded my guards.
"Tell me what you know," she said.
"According to a security camera, four of our men chased her down. However, she was able to get a hold of a gun," an officer reported.
Wow... Maia has a gun now?
"What? We lost four men?" Miranda looked worried again.
"Afraid so ma'am."
"Where are they?"
"Taken to the hospital."
"Good. Which way did Maia run to?"
The officer took charge of the computer and opened a black and white film, showing Maia running away.
"She's headed to the beach..." He concluded.
I suddenly remembered Kristine. Do they mean that beach? Well, it's the closest beach here. "The beach is where we found Kristine," I spoke.
Miranda asks, "Why would Maia go back there?"
"I'm not really sure... Did she run away alone, or run away with Ramy? Isn't he here too?"
"Ramy..." She suddenly remembered. "Where's Ramy?!"
Quickly, Miranda stood up and walked to the jail cells.
We followed behind her to see that in the jail cell she stopped at, there was a hole through the wall.
How strong are Maia and Ramy?
"He's gone too.... Guys! What's going on? Where are the guards who are suppose to be watching Maia and Ramy's cells? This is suppose to be the best police station in California and now it's bringing us down. If we don't find Maia and Ramy, we'll lose our reputation. As well as we don't know what those two can do." Miranda took a deep breath. "We're heading to the beach to look for her; now. Ross and Laura are coming with us."
"Yes ma'am."
It's scary. 10:30 at night, and we're going to look around the beach. Everyone in the station grabbed their things.
"You might need this," Miranda handed both Ross and I a gun.
"What?! I don't know how to use-" I was giving the gun back when she made me keep it.
"You don't need to know how. It's simply for an emergency. It only has one bullet. In case Maia holds you against your will or something then you have no choice but to shoot her."
"...I'm allowed to do that?"
"You're 18 right?"
"Yes."
"You're sticking with us, right?"
"Of course."
"Then you're allowed to do that. Let's go."
Miranda walked ahead with about 10 guards following her and I froze in place with Ross next to me.
"Why'd I agree to come here?" I asked as I stared at the police men and woman.
"It'll be fine. They're all highly trained, it's all good," he comforted me with a smile.
I smiled back and we both caught up with them.
There were about 5 police cars outside, 2 police in each car, except one of them has 3. Ross, Miranda, and I.
"You guys okay?" Miranda asked as she drove.
"Yup..." I said.
I was suppose to sit in the front with her like last time, but I needed Ross by my side now.
Ross' POV
I can tell Laura was nervous. The look on her face says it all. The fact that she's squeezing my hand says more. Maybe Miranda was right that Laura shouldn't have come. I love her, but I don't want her to die. And if anything happens to her in this mission, I'll never forgive myself.
In 5 minutes, we reached the beach. And it was very, very dark out. The cars were parked and we all went outside.
"We should check the light house first, it's a common hideout," one of us suggested.
"Good idea. But someone should also check the cave where Laura found Kristine," Miranda said.
"So, we'll split up. There's 12 of us, so, 6 at the lighthouse, and 6 at the cave," Laura thought.
"Perfect. Ross, Laura, Jack, Steve, Darren, you're with me," Miranda called names. And it's better that we stay with her. She's the only one we know, after all. "We're checking out the lighthouse. The rest of you, to the cave. Let's go."
On the walk to the lighthouse, Miranda was ahead, then Laura and I, and then the rest of the guards behind us. The door was old and wooden, easy to be kicked down. Which Miranda just did.
Inside was a staircase all the way that leads to the top and a bunch of boxes. There was no light down at the bottom. However, there was an underground room.
"Looks like we'll have to split up again," sighed Miranda. "Three of us up the stairs, three of us down there." She pointed to the underground room. "Ross and Laura can stay with me, underground. Jack, Steve, Darren, you guys go up."
They nodded and went up the stairs. Miranda looked at each of us. "How're you guys doing till' now?" She asked.
"I feel like m CSI person," I admitted.
Miranda laughed. "You okay, Laura?"
"Perfectly fine," she said.
"Alright. C'mon." She lead us down the stairs and again, no light. She flashed a flashlight and the first thing I saw was a rat. Other than that, there were iron bars and more boxes.
"This place looks empty," I said.
Miranda nodded. "Yes, but it is creepy."
"What if Maia and Ramy aren't here? Where else would you look?"
"Well... We'll have to check security tapes again to see where we can check next. How did you even handle Maia being your girlfriend?"
"Oh," I laughed a bit. "We were co-stars in-"
"Teen Beach Movie, I know."
"She wasn't the easiest person, honestly. Even then, she was already a bad guy."
"Really?"
"Yeah. She threatened to kill Laura and make me think my own girlfriend was the bad person."
"And you let her influence you?"
"I wasn't thinking... And I actually didn't know that Laura had feelings for me back then."
"But now you do?"
"Yep," I smiled to myself.
"Wow... Speaking of Laura, why's she so quiet?"
"Hmm... I don't know. Laura talk," I glanced to my right, about to friendly hit her back. But all my hand did was pass through an empty space.
Miranda turned around and flashed the light everywhere.
"Ross... Where's Laura?!"