Swans Crossing: The Return
@copy;1997 by Stephanie Blydenburgh
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Chapter Three
Slowly, Callie came to, her eyes fluttering open. She couldn't quite make out her surroundings, just that the dark room was illuminated only by a few candles. The flickering of the light cast an eerie glow on to the walls, and she could hear dripping water in the distance.
She shook off the groggy feeling and blinked her eyes a few times. Before her stood three men, all dressed in black. "What's going on?" she asked in a wavery voice. Callie tried to move her arms, but she then realized that she was tied up in a large rope net. The men cloaked in black were silent and unmoving.
"Where am I?" she cried, kicking at the net. One of the masked men approached her, and grabbed her leg to make her stop kicking.
"You know..." the man said in a low, crackly voice.
"Know what?" she asked, wiggling her leg to try and free herself from the man's grip.
The man pulled a large knife from inside his black suit. Callie's breath caught in her throat. He opened up the net and raised the knife above her head. He then placed it against her neck. She could feel the cool metal against her skin. She gulped. "You tell us where Professor Vann is, and we don't kill you. If you don't tell us where he is..." The man pushed a bit harder on the knife pressed against her throat. "I don't think I have to tell you what's going to happen."
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After Garrett left the Swans Shoppe, Mila remained at her table, absently sipping at her soda.
"Well, hello Countessa!" called out a sing-song voice. Mila looked up from the bubbles in her glass and saw Nancy Robbins heading towards her.
"Hi Nancy," Mila said. Nancy made herself at home as she plopped down in the chair next to Mila's. She then glanced at Mila skeptically. "Don't tell me you're still upset about Garrett leaving town."
Mila shrugged. "We just had breakfast about half an hour ago, and I don't know," she paused. "He didn't seem like he really wanted to be with me."
Nancy did not looked surprised. "That's Garrett for you," she commented.
"Nancy, come on. What do you have against Garrett?"
Nancy twisted a strand of her reddish blond hair around her finger and sighed. She didn't really like the idea of Mila and Garrett as a couple, because Sydney had always had such a thing for him. "I don't," Nancy snapped defensively. Then she smiled. "Let's change the subject... shall we?" Mila nodded. "Cheerleading."
"What about it?" Mila said, sounding a little uninterested.
"Well, you are going to try out, right?" Over the last week or so of summer, Nancy had been prompting Mila to join the cheerleading squad.
"Why do you want me to try out so badly?" Mila asked, and Nancy's face clouded.
Nancy stared at Mila blankly. The true reason that she wanted to get her friend into cheerleading so bad was that she herself had always wanted to be a cheerleader. However, Nancy wasn't the most coordinated person. In addition to that, Mila had the looks of a cheerleader, with her long blond hair and blue eyes. If Nancy couldn't climb the social ladder herself, she might as well live vicariously through Mila.
Nancy put a hand on Mila's shoulder and smiled. "No reason."
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As Nancy and Mila were talking, Jimmy walked into Swans. Nancy's eyes widened and she hissed at Mila to look over her shoulder. Mila glanced at Jimmy and rolled her eyes. Nancy had basically no chance with him, but she decided to let her friend swoon in peace. He didn't notice the girls as he strolled up to the counter.
Jazz looked up and smiled. "Hey Jimmy. What can I get ya' today?" she asked, lifting up her pad and pencil to take his order.
"Actually," he said, sitting down at one of the barstools, "all I need right now is to talk to you."
Jazz put the paper down. "Shoot."
"Well, I want to ask you a few questions about that grownie you were talking to the other night."
Jazz blushed. "Which one?"
"The pancake guy," he replied.
"Okay, well, he's just this guy who came in here a few times." Jimmy sighed inwardly. This apparently wasn't going to be as easy as he had thought. "Did he say where he's from?" he asked.
Jazz nodded. "Milwaukee," she stated.
Milwaukee? Jimmy thought. There is no way that guy is from Milwaukee! He racked his brain for another question to ask. "Um, what has he said about Professor Vann?"
"Well, he said that Professor Vann was not an old professor of his, he was actually kinda young."
"Okay, anything else?" he prompted.
"Not really, just that he didn't get to talk to him for very long, and he said he's looking forward to a much longer meeting." Jazz began to fill napkin dispensers as they chatted.
Jimmy realized that he wasn't going to get much out of his interview with the waitress, so he rose up from his stool. "Well, thanks Jazz."
"Hey," she said before he left . "Why are you so interested, anyway?"
Jimmy shook his head. "I can't say, but just let me warn you that this guy could be bad news, okay?"
Jazz frowned. She could sense some chemistry between herself and the mysterious man, and she was slightly offended that Jimmy would call him 'bad news'. However, she decided not to challenge him, and let him excuse himself and leave the eatery.
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Owen picked up the telephone and dialed Mila's phone number. Mila had just gotten home from Swans and answered the gaudy phone, which was shaped like a red high heel, in her equally gaudy bedroom, which was decorated almost entirely in pink.
"Hello?"
"Hey Mila, it's Owen," Owen said nervously. He felt sort of strange calling Mila at home.
"Owen! Hi! What's up?" she asked, flopping down on her pink bed.
"Well, I'm ready to shoot you singing in the video," he said proudly.
Mila was stunned. "Me singing? What about Sandy?"
Owen reached into his pocket to feel the cash that Garrett had slipped him. "Sandy and I have... other plans. So what do you say?"
"What do I say?" she exclaimed, her voice full of excitement. "When can I come over?"
Callie felt panic wash over her as she stared down at the glinting blade of the knife. "I don't know what you mean," she said in a broken voice.
"Yes you do! Tell us! Where are those kids?" the man boomed.
Callie realized he must mean J.T. and Neil. Her heart was pounding, and her mind racing. Oh god... what do I do now? she thought apprehensively.
The way the man held the knife so close to her neck, Callie could tell he wasn't kidding and was becoming deeply annoyed with her stalling. "Okay, Okay!" she cried, her lips quivering. "They're at my house," she confessed. The man nodded. "And where's your house?" he yelled.
"I live in a submarine down by the docks," she told him quietly. She was quivering with fear.
"How stupid do you think I am? No one lives in a submarine!" he bellowed, and raised the knife once again. "Stop playing games with me young lady or you are going to be sorry!"
Callie shook her head wildly in panic. "No, I swear! That's where I live!" For the first time in years Callie felt like she was going to cry. "Please believe me! J.T. and Neil are there!"
The figure pulled the knife away. He placed the same rag that was doused in chemicals to knock Callie out the first time over her mouth, and everything faded once again.
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Saja DeCastro walked into Swans, wearing his black ninja suit. Saja, also known by his real name Bobby, was going through a phase, and had adopted the persona of "Saja", Lord of the Warriors.
Sandy, who was drinking a soda and chatting with Jazz, looked up when she saw Saja come through the door. A smile spread across her face upon seeing the boy. Ever since Saja had walked her home one warm summer night, he had popped into her day dreams rather often. In fact, she had nearly forgotten how she used to feel about Owen, who never paid any attention to her anyway. Saja had even seemed to flirt with her a little at Sydney's pool party. Sandy's face brightened as she recalled that night:
Sandy had come up to Saja at the refreshment table. Saja was filling his plate with several hamburgers. "I finished my song," Sandy said to him shyly. He looked up and smiled. "Ah yes, the song that begins with the Vulcan mind meld," Saja replied, and then looked from Sandy to his plate. He held it out to her. "You want one?"
Sandy lowered her head and her face reddened slightly. "Actually, I've given up meat... you inspired me," she admitted.
"Oh," he said, in a surprised but pleased tone. Then he got a glimpse of Callie, who was laughing at something Jimmy had said. "Thanks, no one's said that to me in a long time."
Sandy sighed happily as Saja's words echoed in her mind.
"Hey," a voice from behind her suddenly called. It was Saja, and when she looked at him a crimson blush creeped across her skin. She hoped he couldn't tell she had been thinking about him.
"Hi Saja," she said softly. "Do you, um, want to sit down?"
Saja smiled at her invitation, and was a bit disappointed that he could not accept. "Actually, I came here to look for Callie or Jimmy. Have you seen them?"
Sandy's face fell. "Um, no, I haven't seen them," she said, trying not to let the frustration she felt creep into her voice.
He could sense that she was unhappy that he could not stay, and figured this to be a perfect opportunity. "Sandy?" he asked nervously.
"Yes?" she prompted.
"I was wondering if you would like to go out for a soda or something after the concert on Friday," he said, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "You know, to celebrate your singing and all."
She grinned widely. "I'd love to!" she accepted, not bothering to hide her excitement.
"Great! Well, I'll see you then," he said, turning on his heels to go find his friends.
She waved and nodded. "I'll see you then."
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The Walker Estate was murky even though it was only early afternoon. Crouched on the soft mossy soil were two tall men, one blond and one dark, armed with cameras, tape recorders, and other surveillance equipment.
"As soon as we get some photos, we can finally have enough to put them away," the blond man said in a hushed whisper. The other man grunted angrily in reply. "They've been in our country all summer, and don't have passports," the blond man continued.
"How they got through customs I'll never understand," the dark- haired man added. "Besides, I'm with the CIA, and I've got enough on those minors to arrest them as well." He scowled. "Those guys have a lot of nerve to think they have to travel to the United States to do my job!" he exclaimed loudly.
The blond man, who was more monotonous, told him to be quiet, but agreed with his complaints. "I've been to their country, and believe me, there aren't any Americans running around trying to arrest their teenagers." Suddenly, the men could hear footsteps on the overgrowth, and quickly aimed their cameras.
"Where should we put her, boss?" asked a bald man clad in black in a thick Russian accent.
Another man, whom the CIA and INS agents recognized as Barek, a local gearhead, came onto the scene. "Just lay her down a few feet from here," he grumbled.
Two more bald men approached, carrying a figure wrapped in a white sheet. The agents clicked their cameras furiously.
"Now, where did she say they were?" Barek demanded.
One of the bald men looked embarrassed. "She might have been joking. She said they were hiding in a submarine," he admitted to Barek awkwardly.
Barek smiled. "Naw, she wasn't joking. Get down to the docks... you know where they are, right?"
The bald man grinned. He remembered chasing a young man dressed as a ninja across the docks after posing as one of the docking posts. "Yes... I know where they are."
"I'll be right there. I just have one other thing to take care of. Don't enter the sub until I get there... okay?"
The men nodded and made their way out of the Walker Estate, after setting the body in the white sheet upon the ground.
The agents listened carefully, and as soon as all of the men had exited, they gathered their materials and headed to the Swans Crossing harbor to follow them.
Owen ran over to the Booth's house, a video cassette in his hand. He rang the doorbell, and Garrett appeared in the doorway.
"Owen! Are you done?" Garrett came out onto the porch and snatched the tape away from Owen. Owen smiled and flipped up the sunglasses attached to his regular glasses. "Yep. Shot and delivered," he commented happily.
"And Mila?"
Owen shrugged. "Well, she looked great!" he replied, a little too eagerly.
Garrett looked down at Owen, wearing a glare. "Excuse me?" he placed a hand on Owen's shoulder threateningly.
"Um..." Owen said nervously. "She looked great when she was dancing. Good dancer," he told him, trying to save himself. Garrett apparently believed him, because he removed his hand.
"I gotta run now, but just wait... I'm going to get this video to the producers ASAP!" Garrett ran back into the house. He charged into Glory's room, and was glad that his sister was not there to lecture him on what he was doing. He pulled down the shade at Glory's window, which was embellished with a picture of the 50's rock star Fabian. Garrett had found the shade in the attic one day, and hung it up in Glory's room, which faced Sydney's bedroom next door. When Sydney saw the shade pulled down she knew Garrett wanted to meet her at the wall. After imposing the signal, Garrett ran down the stairs and headed to No Man's Land. Several minutes later, Sydney appeared on the other side of the wall.
"You rang?" she asked wearily.
Garrett waved the tape above his head. "Owen shot the video!" he exclaimed excitedly. "Now we just have to get Sandy's song dubbed over Mila's video. Where can we use a VCR?"
"Your house?" she suggested, not wanting to invite him over to her place.
Garrett shook his head. "My parents are there packing to take a trip to the capital. What about your house?"
Sydney leaned against the wall and sighed. "I guess," she said reluctantly. "My mother's at a strategy meeting, so..."
"Great! I'll see you there!" he interrupted her, and quickly started heading next door to the Rutledge mansion.
Sydney rolled her eyes and unwillingly walked back into her house.
Jimmy swiftly climbed up the ladder and using his wrench, banged on the door of the sub. He needed to talk to Callie to see what she could make of Jazz's information, if she could make anything of it at all. Inside of the sub, Neil eagerly opened the hatch and saw Jimmy's face. "Oh, I thought you were Callie," Neil said, as the two boys headed down the hatch.
"You mean she isn't back yet?" Jimmy asked, suddenly feeling very apprehensive.
Slowly, Neil shook his head. "I thought maybe she went with you or something."
Jimmy blinked his eyes. "She's been gone over an hour!"
"I'm sure there's a logical explanation for this..." Neil replied, swallowing nervously. "Maybe she went by the Tool n' Die or something."
Jimmy wasn't even listening to him. "I told you this was going to happen! I knew she shouldn't have gone to the post office!" he stepped up to Neil who immediately backed away sensing his anger. "See what you've done! You've put another person in danger!" Jimmy shouted at him.
Neil suddenly grew irate. "You know, who do you think you are? This isn't my fault!"
Jimmy briskly climbed back up the ladder. "I've got to go find her," he mumbled, and lifted himself out of the submarine. He took off in a run, not exactly sure where he was headed. He wasn't watching where he was going, and as he dashed across the docks, he had a head on collision with someone. Jimmy quickly got up after he fell, and looked at the person before him. He gasped when he saw that the figure standing in front of him was dressed all in black, and wore an eerie mask covering his face.
Stifling a giggle, Sydney hit stop on the VCR. "And you seriously thought you could turn her into a rock star on her own?" she laughed while Garrett frowned.
"Look, the point is she will become a star... and we have just made it happen!" He ejected the tape and stood up.
Sydney rose up beside him. "So, when do I get my birth certificate?" She folded her arms across her chest, awaiting his reply.
He pulled a piece of paper from the back pocket of his khakis. "Oh... you mean this?" he asked tauntingly with a cocky smile.
Sydney reached for it, and Garrett lifted it above his head. "Ah, ah, ah Sydney. Are we not forgetting something?"
"What!?" she screamed in frustration.
"A simple 'please' is all," he replied with a wicked laugh.
"Please!" she yelled.
He shook his head. "Not nice enough, try again.
Sydney put on a phony smile. "Please, Garrett. Please give me that damned paper!"
Garrett snickered. "That's nice? Well... there isn't anything else for you to do. We just have to sit back and let the record producers make this happen." He slowly handed the paper over to her, but when she grabbed at it he pulled it away again. "But, if by some peculiar incident the producers don't buy this, then I will have to pull out my other copy." He then placed the certificate in her awaiting hands.
Sydney marveled at what she held. Although the certificate did show that one of Sydney Rutledge's foot prints had a swan-shaped birthmark, she didn't care. The fact was that she could have this tested for forgery and prove Garrett wrong. She was so elated that without thinking, she threw her arms around him in an affectionate hug.
When she realized what she had just done, she wrestled out of his grip, but Garrett held firmly onto her waist. "Wait," he said quietly. He moved towards her, and met her lips in a kiss much gentler than the previous kiss on Saturday night.
The two stood there with their lips pressed against each other for several blissful moments until they were interrupted by the creaking of the door.... and the footsteps of Mayor Rutledge.
Jimmy's mind whirled as the figure took off his mask. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that it was Saja.
"Saja, you scared me half to death! Why do you always have to run around wearing that thing?" he asked, brushing himself off from his fall.
Saja bowed his head. "Because I am a ninja warrior," he said simply. Jimmy chose to accept that answer, as strange as it was.
"So where have you been? I feel like the great Mamba Gamba has progressed, and I have been out of the loop, so to say," Saja asked
Jimmy hurriedly updated him on everything that had happened since Sydney's pool party the other night to the fact that Callie had been gone for over an hour now. "So we have to go find her!" he concluded.
Saja was a bit hurt that Callie and Jimmy had been so involved in the incidents without so much as a call to him to let him know what was going on. However, Callie and Saja were close friends, and he was worried about her. "Remember when Glory disappeared at the beginning of the summer?" Saja inquired. Jimmy nodded. "Maybe Callie's at the Walker Estate."
Jimmy agreed with the suggestion, and he and Saja raced to the Estate to search for Callie.
"What's going on here?" Mayor Rutledge yelled. Sydney and Garrett jumped apart.
"Mother, I can explain..." Sydney said, but her mother cut her off.
"What is he doing in our house? I've told you to stay away from him!" The mayor grabbed Sydney's arm and yanked her away from Garrett. "You... out of my house... NOW!" she screamed furiously at Garrett, who retreated from the mansion hastily, looking back at Sydney.
Involuntarily, tears began to roll down Sydney's cheeks. "Mother! Please don't be mad..."
Mayor Rutledge shot her daughter an icy glare. "I don't even want to talk about this. I have to go to my meeting now. But I am warning you, you are never to have any romantic relations with Garrett Booth... do you hear me?"
Sydney nodded. "Yes, Mother." Without another word Mayor Rutledge left her daughter, so sickened by what she had just witnessed that she was utterly speechless.
Sydney began to sob. If there was something she hated even more than the way Garrett made her feel, it was upsetting her mother. The mayor would probably never forgive her for what she had just done especially since she deeply despised Garrett and his father. Through her tears, Sydney could see that something had fallen from her mother's pocketbook. She knelt down on the hardwood floor and picked up the envelope Mayor Rutledge had dropped. With a sniff, she wiped the tears away with her palm, and then examined the letter.
Sydney was surprised to see that the return address on the envelope was the Booth house. Written above the address was the name Grant Booth, Garrett's father. Feeling curious, she settled onto her down comforter and opened the letter. It was dated 1977, the year that Sydney was born.
Dear Margaret,
I received your letter this afternoon, and I think that what was written should not be
revealed to your husband, John. He and Cornelia should never hear of our affair. We have our
children to think about! Besides, Margaret, there is no way that you can prove that I am the father
of little Sydney. Let your daughter grow up believing that John is her father, for her own
sake.
Sincerely,
Grant
After reading the brief but shocking note, Sydney instantly felt a wave of nausea wash over her. The room spun, and her eyes rolled back. She collapsed onto the bed, dropping the letter on the floor.
"Callie!" Saja and Jimmy called. "Callie!"
Callie woke up from her drug induced sleep, but was unable to respond clearly to the voices shouting her name, for she was too weak. "Where am I now?" she mumured to herself, looking up at the sky.
"Look! There she is!" Saja exclaimed, coming across the girl lying on the grass covered in a white sheet. The boys raced to her side, and tried to help her up.
"Jimmy?" she mumbled, still feeling disoriented.
"Shh... I'm here," Jimmy replied comfortingly. Saja felt a pang of jealousy, but quickly pushed it away. "Do you remember what happened?" he questioned Callie as Jimmy gingerly lifted her up and helped her stand.
All of a sudden, the memory of the men in black and the knife came flooding back to her. "Oh no!" Callie cried.
"What?" the boys asked, alarmed.
She could barely catch her breath, but managed to spit out, "They made me tell them where J.T. and Neil are!"
Saja and Jimmy exchanged a glance, and the three teenagers took off to warn J.T. and Neil. They arrived at the docks quickly, since they ran the entire way. The three hurried up the ladder and jumped through the hatch of the submarine.
"Neil, J.T... they know where you are!" Callie exclaimed, and then she, Jimmy and Saja stopped dead in their tracks when they saw what was going on. In the living quarters of the sub were Glory, J.T., Neil, and Captain Walker. They were seated in chairs... and tied to them, bound and gagged. Surrounding the hostages were the three bald men, and Barek... who held a gun. He aimed the firearm at the newcomers and shouted, "On the floor now!"
Chapter Four
Moments later, Barek had proceeded to tie up Jimmy, Callie and Saja. Once they were bound and gagged he began to pace in front of his hostages, waving the gun around threateningly.
"Thought you had it all figured out... didn't you?" he asked the three as they stared up at him, unable to scream or move. "Well, do you have any idea what your little friends J.T. and Neil have been up to? Do you know that they have come across one of the most momentous scientific discoveries of our time?"
Barek asked the bald men for the manila envelope that they had stolen from Callie at the post office. After it was in his hands, he opened it in front of the group, and held out three Utranium rocks. "This is just one of the elements used in Neil and J.T.'s project. UB2B is a formula for a dynamic rocket fuel. With one missile powered by UB2B we could hold the entire world hostage. It could be launched from anywhere and would have enough fuel to reach any point in the world imaginable in a short amount of time."
Callie, Jimmy, Saja, and Glory all were stunned, although all they could do was stare at each other. This was the first they had heard of what the dynamics of the project were, and Glory especially was surprised. She couldn't believe her boyfriend was involved with such a lethal experiment.
"We, my colleagues and I, belong to the World Terrorist Organization. And you don't really think that you'd get away with holding such an important discovery in your hands... did you?" Barek thrust the pistol at J.T. "We've been working on this all our lives.. and two kids in America are able to come up with the formula in a summer!" He wrung his hands in anger. Everyone in the room tensed, as Barek was losing his temper. "When we found out that you were ordering chemicals from a company in the country where WTO has it's headquarters, we were able to come here to Swans Crossing and begin following you. You're not going to be able to bomb us first!" he yelled, moving the revolver from J.T's temple to Neil's. "I want the rest of the elements! Where are they?" J.T was growing very confused. He and Neil weren't planning to bomb anyone!
Barek realized that they couldn't answer him, so he pulled the bandannas off of the boys' mouths. "Where are they?" He asked again.
Neil trembled with fear. "I... uh, they um, are uh...." he stuttered.
"Answer me!!!" Barek bellowed.
"They're here," J.T. answered for him. "in our bag downstairs. Glory brought them for us. All of the information and the elements are in the bag," he mumbled. His voice was dull, and sounded as if he was giving up on the entire project.
Barek sent one of the bald men downstairs to retrieve the bag.
"Are you going to use it?" Neil stuttered. "Are you really going to hold the world hostage?"
Barek looked at the seven hostages, who were all staring up at him in terror and smiled slyly.
Sydney blinked. She found herself lying on her back, staring up at the cottage cheese ceiling. "What happened?" she mumbled groggily. She lifted herself off the bed, and then looked down at the floor. She saw the old, tattered letter from Grant on the hardwood floor, and everything flooded back to her.
The sick feeling came over her again, and she clutched her stomach. "Me and Garrett... brother and sister?" At this thought, Sydney felt so ill that she ran into the bathroom. She knelt down, about to get sick. She took a few deep breaths and the nausea passed. But the horrific thought of her and Garrett being related still lingered. She had to get the disgusting feeling of kissing someone she was related to off of her, so Sydney turned on the shower.
She got in, and even though the warm water felt good and relaxing, the shower spray mixed with her tears, as she was sobbing. Sydney got out, dried off and looked in the mirror. Her hair and skin were wet and clean, but her face was red and puffy.
"How could this be happening to me?" She asked herself. "Why did mother keep this a secret all these years?" Sydney buried her face in her hands and cried again. "What am I going to do... I kissed my brother!" Her more rational side kicked in. "I don't know if Garret is my brother for sure. Maybe mother thought she was pregnant with Grant's child, but it was just a mistake and it was really my father’s baby," With her bathrobe sleeve she wiped away the tears. "I mean, the letter never said Grant is definitely my father." Then she realized she had left the letter on the floor in her bedroom. She darted back into the room and stuffed the letter into one of the many boxes that littered the Rutledge home. Sydney suddenly felt very exhausted, and even though it was only six o clock, she climbed into bed and immediately drifted off to sleep.
"They're already here!" One of the CIA agents cried upon arriving at the docks. They had showed up a moment to late, and saw Barek's motorcycle parked by the sub. The taller, blond agent pulled his gun and held it up cautiously.
"I'm sure he's taken hostages... all those kids were staying here," he said. The other agent pulled out his walkie talkie from his coat. "We need some back up here at the Swans Crossing Docks. Possible hostage situation. 10-4," he spoke into the device, and then replaced it in his coat. He approached the sub and pounded against the metal. "Police! Come out with your hands up!"
The agents could hear movement inside, and pressed their ears against the sub wall.
"I've got seven hostages!" Barek roared from within. He walked over to Glory and placed the gun to her temple. She whimpered in fear. "You come chargin' in here and one of them gets it!"
The agents backed off from the building. "Okay, okay! Just tell us what you want and no one needs to get hurt."
"We want to be able to take what we have gotten from ‘Professor Vann’ and be allowed to fly back to Russia with no questions asked and no arrests made. Got it?"
"We can't let them get away," the dark-haired agent whispered. "We've been after them all summer."
The other man agreed. "That UB2B project could be incredibly dangerous in the wrong hands. If we let them escape we'll be jeopardizing the future of the entire world!"
"Listen, we need to negotiate this," the dark-haired agent yelled to Barek in an attempt to stall him. "I don't know if we can do that. Would you agree to hand over the elements if we let you go freely back to Russia?"
Inside the sub, tears ran down Glory's cheeks. She was utterly terrified with the feeling of the gun at her head. J.T., who had been gagged again, was feeling responsible for what he had gotten Glory into, and was nearly in tears himself.
Barek thrust the gun against her harder. "I don't think that's going to work!" he yelled to the police outside. He looked back at his hostages. "I guess we're going to have to do this another way," he said, as he removed the gun from Glory and aimed it at Captain Walker. "Here's what's going to happen," he instructed. Callie watched in horror as Barek threatened her father, and the Captain was ghostly pale. Barek lowered his voice. "We're going to make the police sweat. Let there be a standoff. In the morning you," he pointed at the Captain with the pistol, "get this sub under the water and on the way to Russia. Once we're there I'll let you go... if you're lucky!"
Sydney woke up the next morning, feeling drowsy. It took a lot of effort for her to drag herself out of bed and get ready for the first day of school. After all of the strange and awful events that had taken place since Saturday, the night of her party, she had completely forgotten about school starting. "What a way to start my sophomore year," she thought, as she dressed and primped for school. She wasn't really concerned with the way she looked, she was just going through the motions. Quietly, she told Ralph, her butler, she was ready for school, and the two climbed into the Mercedes.
"Are you feeling alright Miss Sydney?" Ralph asked in his awkward British accent.
Sydney shrugged. "I'm okay," she murmured. Just great, she thought to herself. I just happen to be related to my ex boyfriend... who I just happen to have kissed twice this weekend! She laughed out loud, realizing how pathetic and awful the situation was.
The car pulled in to the crowded school parking lot, and Sydney got out of the car. "Thanks Ralph," she said absently, and began to walk towards the school.
Swans Crossing High School had been around almost as long as the town itself. It was an old, stone building, built with columns. The structure was beautiful, much like that of boarding schools in Europe. It was set on rolling grassy hills amongst lots of trees. Sydney walked up the steps, and pushed open the double doors.
"Another year," she mumbled aloud as she headed to the locker that had been assigned to her. With all that was going on in her life, Sydney was having a hard time fathoming the idea of going to math class.
Just as she got her locker open, Nancy, Mila and Sandy came bounding through the halls.
"Hello, Sydney-O!" Nancy called. Sydney looked up and rolled her eyes. She was not in the mood for happiness.
"Yeah?" she replied testily.
"I just wanted to say good morning!" Nancy said sweetly. She saw Sydney was clutching her class schedule, and ripped it from her hands.
Sydney raised an eyebrow. "Thanks Nancy."
Nancy examined the schedule and smiled. "Well what do you know! You and I have almost all of our classes together!"
Sydney shut the locker and swung her bag over her shoulder. "How thrilling."
"You know, you sound almost as depressed as the Countessa," Nancy remarked, pursing her lips.
Mila, who had been silent up until then, sighed. "I can't believe I have to go to school and Garrett isn't even here," she said, her voice breaking.
Sydney felt that familar pain in her stomach again. Just hearing Garrett's name made her feel sick. "Let's just go to class, okay?" she said softly, breaking away from her friends and quickly trotting up the stairs.
"Wake up!" A voice yelled, breaking Callie from her sleep. She felt disoriented, and it took a few minutes to realize she had fallen asleep in the chair she was tied to, and J.T., Glory, Neil, Jimmy, Saja, and her father were all waking from their uncomfortable sleep next to her.
Barek stood in front of the group, his arms crossed. The bald men stood next to him, and the one that Jazz had had a crush on was holding the gun. Barek crossed the room to untie a sleepy Captain Walker.
"We've got to escape, and you have to get this thing underwater," Barek directed. He took the gun from the bald man. "All right?" he pressed the gun to Captain Walker's back as he wordlessly led his captor downstairs to the console where the sub was controlled from.
Callie felt terrified as she watched Barek disappear with her father. She was still gagged, and could not say anything, but her chair was near Jimmy's. She reached out, and the two were able to touch fingertips, and Callie was comforted by this.
J.T. and Glory were feeling the same desperation, and stretched to hold hands. The bald men were neither moved nor annoyed by this gesture, and stood motionlessly in front of the group.
Outside the sub, the agents and the Swans Crossing Police Department circled the area. Their guns were raised, ready to shoot if necessary. But all night the stand off had been uneventful, and many of the police officers were growing tired. At this time, the press had showed up, and began to broadcast live from the scene of the stand off.
"We now interrupt this program to bring you a special bulletin," said a voice on the TV. Garrett groaned. He was laying on the couch, and had been watching an episode of Ricki Lake.
"Aw man," he mumbled. He was enjoying being home while his parents were at the capitol and he didn't have to go to school, since he was supposed to leave for boarding school in a week.
A woman appeared on the screen, and she was standing at the docks. The police were surrounding Callie's sub in the background. When Garrett saw the sub, he immediately sat up. The reporter started speaking into her microphone. "We are here at the Swans Crossing docks where a man from the World Terrorist Organization is said to be inside the submarine of Captain Elia Walker. Police are speculating that he has taken several hostages, and is armed and dangerous. The names of the hostages are not being released, but are said to be several local teenagers. We will bring you more information on this breaking story as we receive it."
Ricki Lake returned to the screen, but Garrett was already putting on his jacket. If Glory was one of the hostages on that sub, he had to go save her.
Callie listened intently to try and hear what was going on in the control room. A few tears sprung to her eyes because she was so worried about her father. She quickly blinked them away and continued to listen. Meanwhile, Garrett arrived at the docks, and tried to push his way through the crowd. ""Why is it so quiet? What's going on?" he called out. No one answered him. He looked around in panic. "Glory?!" he yelled.
A shot suddenly rang out, breaking apart the silence, and both Garrett and Callie screamed in horror.
The "WTO" idea is @copy;1997 maxiom@geocities.com. A special thanks to Miss Swan- cmditico@earthlink.net and maxiom@geocities.com for some of the ideas that went into this chapter.