The Facility

A low growl woke Cass and a hand covered her mouth. She started to struggle until she heard, “Shhh…” low in her ear. Cass realized it was Lyle and stopped struggling, all kinds of thoughts going through her mind. “Someone is here,” he whispered. “Get up quietly and get the others up. Keep them quiet,” Lyle whispered to her.

“Harley,” he said quietly, “bewachen.” He set Harley to guard, which was more aggressive than protect.

Lyle stood up and retreated to the bedroom, then came back with a handgun, Cass saw.

As he returned, he saw the other kids were awake and up waiting for him.

They all heard the creak of wood from outside on the porch.

“Everyone out the back,” Lyle told them now that they were up.

“There is no backdoor,” Rudi said, holding his voice down over this frustration.

“Window,” Lyle replied.

“Wait,” Gemma said. She went to the front door and took hold of the doorknob for a few seconds, then ran back to the group. “All set,” she told them.

There was a yell of pain from out front and Gemma laughed. “He won’t be opening doors for a while. Or shaking hands or scratching his butt.”

Lyle herded them to the back of the cabin, and he opened a window, looking out to make sure it was clear. There was the sound of shattering glass from the front of the cabin.

He had not seen anyone out back, but he knew there was someone out front, so he had the kids scramble out the window, then lifted Harley, who was growling, up and out of the window. He followed, climbing out and quietly said, “Follow me,” and took off towards the trees just behind the cabin with the kids close behind. Harley kept guard at the rear, following them.

Moving quickly, they wove around trees and brush for several minutes before coming to a small cave set into a small hill on the side of the mountain. Going inside, Lyle led them a few steps before stopping and moving a bush that was inside, to one side of the cave opening. “They should not find us here,” he said to them.

He then led them deeper into the cave after replacing the bush and pulling out a small flashlight. The path twisted and slowly began to go deeper the farther they went.

Lyle knew how deceptive the cave was in both size and depth. They finally reached the end of the tunnel and the kids saw it opened into a medium sized dome shaped room.

Gathering up some wood from a stack that was against one wall, Lyle built a fire inside a ring of stones that were already set up in the middle of the room. He patted his pockets looked for something and not finding it, swore.

“What?” Rudi asked.

“In the rush to leave, I didn’t bring anything to light the fire with,” he replied.

Gemma laughed and walked over to the stacked wood, knelt, and touched the wood. A few seconds went by before the piece of wood began smoldering, then lit into a flame, which quickly spread to the rest of the wood.

Lyle stood there in awe. He had been told of their powers and had experienced Cassidy’s power firsthand but seeing it with his own eyes was another matter. The doorknob trick did not really register with him, as there was no indication of what Gemma had done other than the man outside yelling.

“We weren’t lying,” Rudi said directly into his mind.

Lyle felt foolish and said, “Why don’t you guys get some rest. I will keep watch.”

Harley curled up on the ground a little way from the fire and the kids arranged themselves around him and fell into a restless sleep.

Cassidy slowly came awake and smelled the wood smoke from the new smoldering fire. She opened her eyes and saw Harley’s snout close by, and him looking at her. Seeing she was awake he scooted a little closer and licked her nose, making her giggle.

“I guess that means you are up,” Lyle said. “We should probably be going. Tracking us in daylight will be easier.”

Since he was not quiet, the talking woke the other two kids, who sat up.

Leaving everything how it was, they retraced their way out of the cave and back into the forest where they headed not back towards the cabin but not away from it either.

They traveled quickly but quietly through the forest without complaint and after ten minutes the trees started to thin and then suddenly stopped, opening into a small clearing.

Lyle stopped the kids before they cleared the tree line, so he could look and listen for the prior nights intruders before going out into the clearing.

The sounds of the forest were quiet at first but started up again not long after the group stopped. No one saw anything out of the ordinary.

A mid-sized SUV sat in the small clearing, looking undisturbed and Lyle said, “Wait here. Let me see if it’s clear.”

Cass looked at Rudi who closed his eyes, concentrating. Lyle walked out from the cover and over to the SUV and while he circled it Rudi said, “I think it is clear. There does not seem to be anyone around.”

Lyle had the same feeling and motioned them to come out and then unlocked the SUV. Everyone climbed in; Cassidy sat in the passenger seat, and Rudi and Gemma sat in the back. Harley bounded up and in after the kids, sitting between the two with his head between the front seats.

Lyle started the SUV up and he drove through a forest trail quickly and calmly and reached a paved road in minutes.

“Stay low,” he warned as he turned onto the road and headed down the mountain, making sure to keep below the speed limit, although he was intimately familiar with the roads and could have easily exceeded the speed limit and still be in full control.

Keeping a watch in the mirrors, as well as ahead of him, he did not see anyone following them, but he did not know what these people were capable of. They could have drones or even satellites to watch for them, allowing them to watch from a distance and close in when they wanted.

Lyle decided to pull over at a local gas station where he was known. He could get gas and ask about strangers in the area. Maybe he could gather some intel while he was there.

“Stay here,” he said to everyone, then went into the store. He paid for gas, then asked the cashier if she had seen anything out of the ordinary lately.

“Not really,” she replied. “Some of those government guys from that place up the mountain have been in here more often the last couple of days. But then again, they were always a little creepy.”

“Government people?”

“Yeah, up the mountain a bit, off in the woods. They all come in with ballcaps and dark glasses, like they are trying to hide from something or someone, and they never say much. A pump number, to ask the price of something, that type of thing. The last couple of days have been different since they keep asking if we have seen any kids wandering around. They make it sound like they got lost or separated from a school group or something. Wandering around in white pjs.”

She paused and let out a little laugh at that, then continued. “But if that is true, why aren’t there more people out looking? The sheriff, the forestry people, search parties, things like that you know?”

“Yeah, that is strange,” Lyle replied.

“There are some of them now,” she said, pointing at a black SUV with blacked out windows that slowly drive by the gas station.

Lyle looked and said, “Huh, that is strange. Thanks for the information, I guess I should get going. I will keep an eye out for and kids in white pajamas.”

He quickly left and pumped his gas, then hopped into his own SUV. Not wanting to scare the kids, he did not say anything about what he had learned.

“You grab anything to eat?” Rudi asked.

Lyle sighed. “No and I am sorry. I will stop again soon so we can eat. I just want to get farther away first to be safe.”

He pulled out of the gas station and continued down the mountain watching for any black SUVs that might be following them. Lyle drove and the kids slept until they reached the bottom of the mountain, at which point Cassidy woke up and said, “I am starving Lyle.”

“I know, I am too. And guess what?” he said. “You are in for a treat. All of you are.”

Cass looked at him, smiling a goofy grin. She did not know what he was up to until he pointed out the window. Her eyes lit up and he said, “Food, entertainment and most importantly, a place to switch vehicles.”

Before he could say anything more, she burst out with, “Guys, we’re going to a big carnival!”

Rudi and Gemma were asleep and work up to her giddiness, confused.

Lyle clarified. “It is a country fair, not a carnival exactly.”

“And the difference is?” Gemma asked.

“Does it really matter?” Rudi replied.

“No,” Lyle said quickly, “but really the main difference is animals. Carnivals usually do not have animals, fairs do. At least animals not in acts. Farm animals. But at this point we cannot be picky.”

Lyle followed the traffic in and entered a big, empty field next to the fairgrounds, where cars were being directed to park in orderly rows. He parked where he was told and turned off the SUV, leaving the keys in it.

“Everyone needs to act natural,” he said to them.

“What about Harley?” Cass asked. “They will not let dogs in I am guessing.”

“That is not a problem. Who wants to play blind?” he asked.

“I will,” Rudi quickly volunteered.

“Okay, everyone hang out a minute,” Lyle said and got out of the SUV going around back. He opened the back and rummaged around, pulled things out. When he was done, he closed the back and went around to the passenger door and opened it.

“Everyone out,” he told them.

The kids got out and Harley got out with Cassidy, but when he saw what Lyle was holding, he gave a quick bark and went over to Lyle.

Lyle quickly strapped a vest around Harley. It was a modified version of his working gear: a wraparound vest made of ballistic cloth, primarily Kevlar, that provided the dog body protection. On the sides, however, was not Police or K-9 Unit but Service Animal, and the top had a handle attached to it.

Once it was strapped on, Lyle handed Rudi a pair of dark, wraparound glasses and said, “Put these on and try to act blind.”

Rudi looked at him quizzically.

Lyle sighed. “The real trick is to pretty much look straight ahead and try not to act, but to react. Do not turn your head towards someone until they talk to you or make a noise. If you turn your head to look at something, try to keep your head moving, like you are picking out sounds instead. That kind of thing.

“Hang on to Harley and let him guide you. He will follow me no matter what, so do not try to guide him, let him lead.”

Rudi put on the glasses and said, “Okay.”

Gemma said, “You know that is so stereo typing the blind. They do not all wear dark glasses.”

Lyle sighed again. “Yes, I do know, but this will make it easy to get away with it. Plus, some do, so we are fine.” Looking around, Lyle added, “Stay together and stay with me. No wandering off. We will eat and spend some time in here to blend in and then we will head out and hopefully lose anyone that might be around.”

Lyle led with everyone following around him. As they neared the entry, he looked around and noticed how they stuck out. Three kids of different nationalities, all wearing what looked like white scrubs for kids. They looked more like hospital patients than normal kids.

He needed something to change and soon. If these government people did not have his name already, they would soon enough and depending on how connected to the actual government they were, they would know everything about him and have access to his whole life soon enough.

He quickly paid for one adult and three children tickets with the cash he had and as he expected, got stopped at the entrance because of Harley.

“He is a seeing eye dog,” he explained to the oversized hillbilly at the gate.

“No pets allowed,” was his reply.

“You do realize that it is illegal to discriminate against people with disabilities, right? This young man would lie to experience your fair, but you are telling him he cannot because he is blind. Do we need to talk to whoever is in charge of this place? I would be more than happy to use this place.”

Lyle was laying it on thick, but he could tell this guy was not the brightest.

Cassidy put a hand on Lyle’s arm and said, “It is okay dad, we can just go back to the hospital. I might feel well enough to do this on another day. Hopefully before I get too sick to get out of bed.”

Gemma chimed in with, “Yeah, and I can try to use my Make-a-Wish request to go to Disneyworld or something.”

The big man looked uncomfortable with what he had started and said, “Look, go in, but if anything happens to the dog, or the dog does something, you are responsible, not the fair.”

“Agreed,” Lyle said happily. “Come on kids.”

They walked through the gate, freeing up the bottleneck that had been created behind them.

Cass glanced behind them and saw the evil looks that the man at the gate was getting from those that were behind them.

Rudi quietly said, “A lot of those people were not happy that he gave us a hard time.”

“I thought you could not read minds,” Gemma said matter-of-factly.

“I cannot, but the anger and disgust were so strong they were practically shouting in their heads. It is not hard to hear those types of thoughts.”

Lyle led them inside and straight to a booth selling t-shirts promoting the fair. Buying three t-shirts that were slightly larger than the kids were, he handed them out and said, “Put these on. It will cover you up some and make you stand out less. You will look more like regular kids and less like hospital patients.”

Rudi reached for one and Lyle reminded him he was supposed to be blind, and to act like it. Rudi just held out his hand until Lyle put the shirt in it.

After the shirts were on, Lyle asked, “Where to?” to which all three kids replied in unison with, “Food!”

He asked what they wanted as they walked through the food vendors, and after checking them all out, each picked something different.

Lyle bought two extra sausages for Harley and then they sat at the table to eat. Harley snarfed the two sausages, chewing just enough so they were not whole, and the kids laughed.

“Seems he was even more hungry then we were,” Cass said.

The kids ate, giving pieces of their own food to Harley and Lyle pretended not to notice. This was not the best food for a god, but since he normally ate food that was good for him, this would not hurt him.

Soon they were all full, except for Harley, who was enjoying the change of food. “Now what?” Rudi asked.

“Well, we will wander around for a while, getting lost in the crowds, playing a few games or something, then head out,” Lyle told them.

Lyle took them first to the ATM, where he withdrew as much as he could, knowing that once they had his name, they could track his credit cards, so best get some money before it was too late.

Gemma wanted to win a goldfish, and Cass agreed to help her until Rudi reminded them they were on the run, so this probably wasn’t was not the best time to get a pet that needed to be in water. Gemma understood and agreed, but that did not have to mean she had to be happy about it.

Cass talked Lyle into playing the strongman game, where you use a mallet to try to ring the bell at the top of a pole. Lyle knew most of these games were rigged, but he did it to please the girl.

The short rod that could ring the bell only went about half-way up on his first attempt. Cass urged him to try again. “Cassidy, it is no use…” he told her, but she insisted.

“Fine,” he said giving in. He picked up the mallet, raised it over his head and slammed it into the plunger. Looking up quickly, he could tell it would not make it to the top, yet it did not stop when he expected it to. It continued rising until it hit the top, ringing the bell.

“We have a winner,” cried the man running the game. They could see he could not quite believe it, but the bell rang so he could not deny it.

When he asked what prize Lyle wanted, Cass whispered something to him and he picked a stuffed fish, giving it to Gemma.

“It is not real, but you still get a fish,” Cass told her.

Her eyes lit up as she took the stuffed fish.

Live music started playing somewhere nearby. While there was no singing, they could tell it was country music from the instruments that were being played.

Cass started humming along to the fiddle that was being played.

“Let’s go check it out,” Rudi said, knowing that Cass would be drawn to it.

Gemma and Lyle did not know that Cass played the violin, but after their conversations while being locked up, Rudi figured she would enjoy it.

They followed the sound of the music until they came across a covered pavilion that was about a hundred feet square. There were around seventy or eighty people milling around, listening to the band that was playing.

“Can we stay a few minutes?” Cassidy asked.

“Sure,” Lyle replied, and they moved into the pavilion off to one side.

Time passed while they listened and Lyle scanned the crowd, looking for anyone who stood out. Typically, government types were more rigid and wore suits and dark glasses, so they stood out when in crowds where the people were acting natural.

They would scan the crowds for threats and for their targets, while trying to be inconspicuous. The two usually did not go together, and along with their dress, they stood out.

After looking over the crowd, Lyle turned back to the kids. “Where is Rudi and Harley?” he asked.

The two girls looked at each other, then at Lyle and shrugged. Lyle cursed under his breath, wondering what to do. Harley was with him so he was safer than being along, but he was still more exposed than Lyle could have cared for.

Gemma spotted Rudi and pointed. They watched as Rudi made his way towards the stage, allowing Harley to weave his way past people while Rudi followed behind. Arriving at the stage, Rudi paused near one of the stagehands.

Lyle could tell he had strategically put himself where he was, but he had taken Lyle’s advice on acting blind. The stagehand noticed him, then noticed Harley and took another look at Rudi, who acted like he could not see the man.

Rudi waited patiently for the man to come to him, then the two talked for several seconds before the man walked away to talk to another person. After a brief conversation with the other man, the stagehand went back over to Rudi and talked to him again. Rudi nodded and then turned back to face the others but did not move.

The song the band was playing soon ended and one of the ladies on the stage moved to the microphone. “Ladies and gentlemen today is a special day. We seem to have a very talented young lady attending our fair, and it has been suggested that she come up and join us on stage to play for us.

“Let’s give Cassidy Gray a hand everyone.”

The audience began clapping, even though it was obvious that one knew who she was. It was more of a polite applause than an energetic one.

Lyle and Gemma looked at Cass, who had turned red.

Cass started to shake her head no, but Gemma spoke “Go girl. Show them what you got.”

Cassidy looked at Lyle who shrugged and said, “Cat’s out of the bag, so you might as well go if you want to. Who knows, you become one of those YouTube sensations or something.”

She saw a twinkle in his eye even though he had not heard her play before – had not even known she could play.

Slowly she started towards Rudi and the stage, followed closely by Lyle and Gemma. When she got close enough to Rudi to be heard, she said, “You will pay for this.”

He just smiled at her as she went by, going up the stairs on to the stage.

The lady playing the fiddle – violin – graciously handed it over, along with the bow. Quickly going through a mental list of pieces she had to choose from, she looked at the audience and decided to play moving up upbeat music. Lindsey Stirling was her obvious choice for these people.

Knowing it was not going to be exact since she had no idea if the second violin player knew any of the music she was about to play, not to mention no techno to back it up, she would keep it simple for everyone and would play like this was a jam session.

She quickly tuned the violin and talked to the drummer and the other violinist and upon learning that neither one had even heard of Stirling or her music, she said, “Have fun and just improvise if you want.”

She did not know how much she would get to play, so for the first song, she told the drummer the simple beat and timing and let him go off that.

Going to the microphone, she tapped it and cleared her throat, causing people to start to clap once again. Waiting for things to settle again, she said, “This is my first time playing for an audience of more than one, so I hope you enjoy it.”

She got the drummer to start the beat and got the audience to clap to it, then began playing Song of the Caged Bird. The crowd got into it, so when she finished, she paused briefly and began playing a modified version of MoonTrance.

Finishing that one, no one seemed inclined to stop her, so after a pause she told the drummer a new beat and began playing Minimal Beat, which is a faster paced song. At the end, she bowed, figuring that three songs were enough, but the audience thought otherwise and began chanting encore.

Stepping up to the microphone, Cassidy said, “One more. It is called Transcendence.” She stepped back, talked to the drummer for a beat and began playing.

Once again, the crowd got into the music and when she finished, they were still wanting more. Being cooped up for so long left her wanting to keep going, but she knew that not only did they need to keep a low profile (and this was not exactly the way to do it), but they needed to be going soon.

Giving in, she played one last piece called Spontaneous Me. When that was finished, the crowd was not finished with her. “Give me a minute,” she said into the mic. One of the stagehands gave her some water and she talked to the band quickly before returning to the mic.

“Okay. One last song and that is it. I am aware that most of you might not have heard anything that I played so far, but I am willing to bet that everyone in attendance today has heard of this next song, however this is my own twist on the classic song. Being from the South, I hope I not only do the song proud, but all the south as well. The whole band is going to join me for this one.”

She backed up from the mic and the singer took her place, then the drummer counted off the beat and they started to play Freebird by Lynyrd Skynyrd, but with Cassidy’s unique violin take on it. She left all her own music behind when they escaped, so she hoped that she would remember all of it.

The song was the extended version that ran for over five minutes and the crowd was going wild with both the song selection and Cass’s addition to it. When the song finally ended, she was spent so she gave back the violin and raised her arms, signaling that she was really done.

The crowd cheered as the group’s singer gushed over what a wonderful player she was and telling the crowd to keep on the lookout for Cassidy Gray, as she was destined to become a big star.

Lyle greeted her at the bottom of the steps from the stage, giving her a hug and then said, “You were wonderful, but we should really be going now.”

He had watched the crowd grow, and now it packed the pavilion. Wondering how they were going to get through the crowd, Gemma spoke up before Lyle had come up with anything.

“Rudi lead the way,” she said close enough he could hear her.

“Lead me out Harley,” Rudi said to the dog, then to the people in front of him he said, “Excuse me, blind kid coming through.” People parted for him and the others kept close as the crowd opened and parted, then closed behind them.

Random people were reaching to touch Cassidy and they said random things as the group passed. Lyle kept an arm around her after someone grabbed her arm and pulled at her.

Gemma reached out and touched the arm with a cold finger, causing it to let go and retreat.

Once out of the enclosure, Lyle quickly led them away towards the main concourse. They walked for a few minutes until they were near the games again, then stopped to catch their breath.

Cass looked around, noticing they were near the game where you throw darts to pop balloons to win prizes. There was a boy who appeared to be a few years older than her, with another boy who looked to be four or five.

“Please, one more try,” the little boy said. The older boy looked up and happened to catch Cass’s eye. She smiled, held up her index finger and mouthed, “One more try.”

He smiled back and looked down at the little boy. “Okay Taylor, one more try, but that is it, or we will not be able to get treats.”

The little boy grabbed the bigger one around the waist and said, “Thank you! You are such a good big brother.”

Cass casually moved closer to the boys, standing a little behind them so she could see all the balloons. The taller boy took aim and threw the first dart. Cass could see it was going to miss, so she corrected the dart quickly, and it popped a balloon.

Taylor squealed with delight, jumping up and down. His brother took the second dart, took aim, and threw it.

Cass could tell this one was going to miss as well, so she quickly corrected its flight path, so it popped a second balloon.

The little boy clapped his hands, singing, “One more, one more.”

The guy running the game agreed and said, “One more for the big bear.”

The order boy took the third dart and aimed. Cass moved slightly to get a better look as he started to throw the dart and the balloon immediately popped right as he threw the dart.

The carney said, “We have a winner,” not noticing the fact that the balloon popped just as the boy released the dart. But Cassidy did and she saw the reason; a dart with a red fuzzball end was sticking out from where the balloon had been.

Ducking, she jumped over to where the rest of her friends were and exclaimed, “There are here, run!” No one moved so she slapped the handle from Rudi’s hand and pushed Lyle and Gemma as she said, “They are shooting tranq darts at me – US! Now move unless you want to be caged.”

This got everyone moving, following Lyle as he zig-zagged through people. Someone behind them yelped and someone else sounded concerned as the other person went down, but the running group was quickly out of range to hear anything else.

They took a quick left and Cass felt something pass close to get face before pinging off a metal ride support beam, kicking up sparks.

Trying to concentrate while running, Cass threw up an area behind her that had a thicker density so it would slow any darts that might hit her, causing them to simply slow and fall to the ground, making them harmless.

She could have made it more solid, but she did not want any darts deflected into innocent people.

Breaking into a small clearing near the entrance/exit, Cass chanced a look behind them and saw two men dressed in black chasing after them.

With a flick of her finger, she tripped the lead man, causing the one behind him to go flying over the first as he tried to avoid trampling him.

They passed the guy who gave them grief on the way in. His mouth hung open as Rudi ran past looking like he was being chased by Harley.

As Cass passed the man, she heard him say, “He was blind,” to no one in particular. “It’s a miracle,” she said behind her as she ran past.

Since the guys looking for the kids were here at the fair, Lyle knew he had to get a new vehicle and find a place to lay low for a while. He led them between cars, weaving back and forth to put as many vehicles between them and their pursuers as he could.

They reached the last row of vehicles and a van pulling in slammed its breaks, nearly hitting them. After slamming the van into park, a woman jumped out, yelling at them.

“What in the hell are you doing!? You nearly got yourself killed, not to mention these kids.”

Ignoring her, Lyle ran around her and said, “Sorry, but we really need to borrow your van.” To the kids he said, “Get in.”

“You’re not taking my van,” the woman yelled.

“Look, I promise to return it,” he said while getting into the driver’s seat, mumbling, “If I can.”

“No way,” she replied rushing around the van and jumping into the front passenger seat.

Without waiting to see who won the argument, Harley and the kids piled into the back quickly, sliding the door closed.

Although the front passenger door was still open, Lyle put the van into reverse and before he could hit the gas, Cassidy screamed and pointed.

Everyone looked and saw the man at the rear of the car opposite the van, pointing a run at them. Lyle laid on the van’s horn as the woman next to him screamed and ducked in the seat.

The sustained horn blast was drawing enough attention to them that the man outside lowered his gun.

Cass quickly used her ability to close the passenger door when Lyle started backing out, and them put up a barrier at the front of the car than was in front of them, pulling dirt up it to make the barrier somewhat opaque so hopefully it would hide the van’s license plate.

Lyle quickly left the lot, pulling onto the paved road and sped away. The woman in the passenger seat was still ducked down, but now began to rise some.

“Mind telling me what that was all about?” she asked. “You have three kids, two of which are pretty safe to assume are not yours, and men with guns chasing you. Did you kidnap these children?”

Lyle sighed and said, “Cassidy?”

“What is your name?” Cass asked.

There was no hesitation with the answer. “Maggie Jensen.”

“Okay Maggie, you probably will not believe what I am about to tell you, but just keep an open mind.” Cassidy proceeded to tell Maggie the short version of their story, which at the end it is obvious that Maggie did not believe Cass.

“Let me try,” Rudi said leaning forward. He touched Maggie’s bare arm and said, “You feel sad. Sad that someone bad did this to us.”

Maggie sniffed and began to cry softly. Rudi continued. “It is okay, you feel happy to help us because it is the right thing to do.”

“I do. I mean, I will yes,” Maggie said with a smile.

“You are angry at those men for doing bad things to kids.”

“I am,” Maggie said, hitting the dash.

Rudi sat back and asked, “Do you believe now?” directly into her mind.

“Yes,” she answered out loud.

“Yes what?” Lyle asked.

“Huh? Rudi asked…”

“Not out loud,” Cass told her. “Would you like a drink?” she asked, raising the water bottle from the console, and offering it to Maggie, who took it.

Suddenly she yelped and let go of it, yet the bottle remained where it was, floating in the air.

“Believe me now?” Cass asked.

“Y-yes. So where are you going?” she asked hesitantly taking the water bottle from where it floated.

“Good question,” Lyle replied.

“Where are we going to go? Home?” Rudi asked, looking at Cassidy.

“What is going to stop them from just taking you again?” Maggie asked.

Cass said, “We can stay at my house. They killed my mom so they probably would not think I would go back there. Why would I if there was no one there? Gemma can stay with me once we get there. We will try to get Rudi back to his parents… if that is what he wants.”

Lyle looked at Maggie and said, “Georgia it is them. Mostly southeast from here. At least we do not have to cross many state lines with the kids.” He said the last as he rolled his eyes.

Maggie looked at him curiously. “Why?”

“Oh. I imagine if we get caught, we will somehow be charged with kidnapping… and it is so much worse if you cross state lines.”

Maggie groaned. “I can drop you off somewhere around here before we get too far if you want, just tell me where,” Lyle said. “GTA is better than carjacking, you know. We still need the van however.”

Maggie rolled her eyes. “Really? You are just going to dump me off somewhere after getting me involved in something like this?” Maggie asked amazed and just a little frustrated.

Lyle wisely kept his eyes on the road and replied, “Well… yes. As you have seen, these people are not playing around. I did not want to involve you in the first place, but you rather insisted. Now is the opportunity to get out before you get hurt.”

The last was said with sadness Cass thought.

Maggie shook her head. “Un-uh. It is too late for that. I am already involved. And how am I supposed to get my van back if you go to Georgia? I am in this to the end.”

“What about a job? Or your family? A husband or boyfriend? You cannot just disappear, that will get the police involved looking for you, and probably end up with the kids back at some black facility, not to mention us as well,” Lyle said.

“I am a freelance computer programmer, and not currently doing any jobs. So, there is no one to miss me workwise. I can still check my email and messages from anywhere.

“As for… a relationship, well, there is no one, so that is not a problem either.”

Lyle thought Maggie was determined to stay, but he gave it one more try. “It will not be safe for you,” he said calmly.

“I understand that Lyle, but I am staying,” she said adamantly.

“Fine,” Lyle replied grimly.

Rudi touched Cassidy’s arm and projected, “I think he likes her,” into her mind.