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  “No! If you open that door, they’ll find us.”

  “Who are they?” He seemed slightly amused at my panic, of course he would enjoy my discomfort. I was surprised he didn’t open the door and hand me over himself.

  I just shook my head in response, I had to think and having him pressed up against me was not helping. It was practically insufferable in the tiny room. “I need to call my parents. My phone is in my pocket.”

  “And?”

  “I can’t move my arm to get it out.”

  His hands were resting on my hips, a feeling I was all too aware of. He finally sighed. “Which pocket?”

  “My right, your left.”

  His hand slid down to my pocket, managing to just caress the skin at the top of my shorts. As he leaned closer still, I wished I could take a step back. He was so close his breath was on my neck. I could feel my face start to burn from blushing, as much I didn’t want it to. I hated the fact we were so close together. I hated the fact that he had his hands on me. I hated the whole situation.

  He pulled my cell phone from my pocket and placed it into my trapped hand. We had to shuffle so I could raise my arm. Thankfully, my home number was on speed dial, I could call them up with just the one hand.

  My mom answered. “Amery, what’s wrong? Do you need to be picked up early?”

  “I can’t talk right now,” I said, looking pointedly at Lochie. “There are some men here that I don’t think should be. Can you and Dad please come and pick me up as quickly as you can?”

  “We’re on our way. Are you safe?” I could already hear the movement in her voice, she knew every moment counted.

  “I’m hiding in a closet, the one marked 5B. There’s three men in total, all wearing black suits.”

  “Wait for our signal,” Mom said before hanging up. I could picture her and my father running for the door and driving like maniacs until they got here. It was reassuring to know they were on their way. All we had to do was wait and they would fix everything. Unless I killed Lochie in the meantime.

  “Will you get your hands off my hips?” I demanded. Now my arm was up, I couldn’t get it down again. It only meant we were standing even closer together. I didn’t think that was even possible before.

  “Where would you like me to put them?” He shot back. It was a good point.

  “You don’t have to enjoy this so much,” I deflected, not answering his question because I couldn’t.

  “Trust me, hiding in a closet with you isn’t my idea of a good time.”

  “I’m surprised you haven’t been in here before with a girl. Or several.”

  “I prefer the one in C block, it’s got better mood lighting,” he grinned. I didn’t know whether he was serious or just teasing me. I never knew that with Lochie.

  I rolled my eyes. “Well my parents should be here soon so we can go our separate ways and never have to speak to each other ever again.”

  “Except to finish our English project.”

  My hand was so close to his face, it would have been so easy just to smack him. Knowing him though, he’d probably enjoy it. “I will finish our English project… alone.”

  “Over my dead body.”

  “That can be arranged.”

  He mocked being offended. I was done with trying to talk to him. I needed to wait for my parent’s signal anyway. I couldn’t listen for that and him at the same time.

  Unfortunately, the silence was worse than the noise. Without having to make conversation with Lochie meant I was all too aware of how near he was. He smelt so good, the aftershave mixed with soap lingered on his skin. Had he always smelt this good, or was it just today? It was probably just an illusion, I was probably hallucinating in the confined space with all the cleaning chemicals.

  Three knocks sounded on the door and every thought of Lochie was pushed from my head. Every muscle in my body tensed, so did Lochie. I waited, praying for a fourth knock. Our secret signal was three sharp knocks, then a pause, and then a final knock. I could hear my heart pounding as I waited, it was so loud I could count the beats.

  Knock. A final knock, my parents were outside, it would be okay. “It’s my parents, we can leave now.”

  “How can you be so sure?” There was so much arrogance in that question that I completely remembered why I loathed him so much.

  “Because I just am,” I replied, not even trying to keep the contempt out of my voice. We shuffled the inches needed to get to the door and I used my free hand to knock twice – the return signal. The door opened immediately.

  We practically fell out of the tiny closet. I untangled myself from Lochie and joined my parents. I wanted to throw my arms around them I was so happy to see the pair. But there was no time, it could wait until later. Right then, we needed to get out of there and to safety.

  “Come on, let’s go,” Dad urged. He waited until Mom and I started running before following. We left Lochie standing there, ignoring the questions he threw our way. If my instincts were correct, he was in no danger. The men in suits would have no business with him and he genuinely didn’t know anything. He would be fine, I was almost positive.

  We jumped into the car and took off. I filled my parents in on everything that happened and how we had ended up in the janitor’s closet. They listened intently, not asking any questions until I was finished reeling off every detail.

  “Do you think they’ll come to our house?” I asked, worried not only for my safety but my parent’s too. If anything happened to them it would be all my fault. I couldn’t handle that type of guilt, it would destroy me.

  “Probably,” Dad replied. “But we’re not going home, we’re going to the Department. They need to know about this.”

  “What will they do?” I needed to know as the panic started to rise within. Telling the Department was the last resort, I didn’t want to have to involve them if it could be avoided. If my parents instantly jumped to that conclusion, then they must have been worried. It wasn’t like them to overact, they were trained not to.

  “I don’t know, but we need to keep you safe until we know more,” my mom answered for both of them. “They could think it’s nothing and just let us keep going.”

  I hoped that would be the case. I didn’t say another word for the two hour long drive to the Department. We passed through security after having our identities confirmed and entered the big building. I was always intimidated by the place. Ever since I was a kid I always felt so small compared to the giant walls. You could have fit thousands of people in the foyer alone. Massive was an understatement.

  We walked down the long corridor and waited for our case officer to collect us. We weren’t allowed to go any further without an escort. If you did happen to wander into the wrong area, several security police would tackle you to the ground without asking any questions. I had done it once – accidently – and it took my shoulder weeks to heal. You only make that kind of mistake once.

  Our case officer, Rob, came within minutes. He led us back to his office before he spoke even one word to us. And only then, he made sure the door was securely fastened behind us.

  “What’s happened?” He asked with none of the customary pleasantries that normal people used. That was Rob for you, or should I say Special Agent Robert Bower. It always felt weird using his full name, I’d seen him so much that I couldn’t think of him as anything other than Rob. He had been my case officer since the very beginning, even before my parents came into the picture.

  Mom and Dad stood back, letting me tell the story. “There were three men at my school today. They were there in the morning and then I saw them again after school in the library. When I ran away from them, they chased me.”

  “Did you recognize them?” Rob asked, standing with one hand on his hip, flaring his suit jacket up at the side.

  “No, I’ve never seen them before.”

  “So why did you run from them?”

  For a moment, I felt stupid that I did run. Was I just making up the entire
ordeal? Were they just men checking up on the principal like Lola said? Doubt was certainly creeping in. “I don’t know, I just felt like I needed to. They didn’t seem to belong there and I was feeling weird about it.”

  Rob finally nodded, I didn’t know whether he believed me or not. Perhaps he would just think I was a stupid drama queen of a teenager.

  “She was very scared when we arrived,” Dad added, defending me. It was sweet, especially in front of Rob.

  “I’m sure she was,” he finally replied. He turned his attention back to me. “Would you be able to describe these men to a sketch artist?”

  “I can try. So you believe me?”

  “Unfortunately, yes,” Rob said solemnly, like he would much prefer me to be overreacting. Now I was starting to get worried. If Special Agent Robert Bower was concerned, then it meant I should be terrified.

  My mother had the same idea. “What is it, sir? What aren’t you telling us?”

  Rob took a few moments to consider how much he wanted to tell us. With each moment that passed, my anxiety levels skyrocketed. “There have been other… incidents.”

  “Incidents?” I asked. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  He didn’t sugar coat for me, he rarely did. “Others, like you, have been killed. At each scene they reported seeing a group of men lingering. Were these men wearing black suits?”

  “Yes.”

  He didn’t say anything, he didn’t need to. My whole world was spinning around me. Killed? Others like me had been killed? How could the Department let that happen? Why would people murder us in the first place? I always knew my existence wasn’t going to be welcomed by a vast number of people, but why kill us? It didn’t achieve anything.

  “I know it’s hard to hear this, Amery,” Rob continued. “But our main concern now is for your safety. We have to keep you safe at all costs. I’ll put you into protective custody. We’ll find you a new life somewhere else, there will still be time to accomplish the mission.”

  I came back to my body at hearing his words and understanding their implications. “I don’t want to leave, I can’t move. My whole life is here in Portview. I’ve worked seventeen years to get where I am, I’m not starting all over again.”

  “You’re not going to have a choice, Amery. Do you want to be a sitting duck until the men find you?”

  “But my friends, I can’t-” I turned to my parents, trying to get some support from them. I needed backup, someone else to step in and tell Rob how ridiculous he was being. “Mom, Dad, do something.”

  My father stepped forward first. “Surely there’s something else we can do? We’re not even sure if they’re the same people. Until we get further evidence, I don’t think we should jump to a hasty conclusion.”

  “And you know Amery is right about all the work she’s put in – the work we’ve all put in. We don’t have enough time to start all over again, not when the end is so close,” my mother added. She had the right amount of emotion mixed in with logic, she knew how to speak to the Special Agent.

  We all stared at Rob, silently begging and pleading for him to agree with us. I was only one of his cases, surely he could take a risk on just one.

  “Please, Rob,” I said again. I suddenly wished I hadn’t said anything about the men at my school. I should have just got myself out of the situation and told nobody. Now, if I was to be sent away, it was going to be my own fault. My parents were going to have to move and I was going to have to start a new school. I was going to have to make new friends and join all those stupid clubs all over again.

  Finally, Rob sighed with a decision. “Fine, you can stay for now. But I’m going to have a security detail on you twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. You will let them follow you everywhere and you will do everything you can to keep yourself safe. You are not to put yourself in any situation that could leave you exposed. Am I clear?”

  My heart was leaping at the reprieve, even if it did come with conditions. “Absolutely clear.”

  “Good. And you’ll also wear an ankle monitor so I can track your location at all times.”

  “What?” I asked, picturing a horrible clunky thing around my ankle. Surely that was going to be overkill? “I’m not wearing an ankle monitor. I already have a tracking chip in my shoulder, shouldn’t that be enough?”

  Rob stood up to his full height. “Do you realize how much paperwork I have to lodge to activate the chip in your shoulder? It would take me a week to break through all that red tape. With an ankle monitor, I can get instant access.”

  I felt like rolling my eyes. He was worried about paperwork? If the chips were so difficult to activate, why bother implanting them in us all in the first place? I seriously didn’t get the government. Rob didn’t take my silence well.

  “Okay, you’ll move then. How does Alaska sound?” Rob said, challenging me with a raised eyebrow. It completely sucked that he had the biggest say in my life.

  “She’ll wear the monitor,” my father confirmed. I wanted to protest further but I knew it wouldn’t do any good. I seriously had no say about my life, not even a right to privacy like everyone else on the planet.

  Rob did the paperwork for our new conditions and we all had to sign on the dotted line. We waited in the hallway while he organized everything for us. Within the hour, I had two plain clothed security officers assigned to us for the first shift. They would change every eight hours with a half hour overlap in case someone picked up on their routine.

  I wanted to get out of there and go back home. I was beyond tired with the whole thing. But there was one last thing to do, Rob held up the monitor. “Forgetting something?”

  I held my tongue and just stood there as Rob fixed the black device around my left ankle. It looked like a wristwatch, except clunky and ugly.

  Rob pulled the leg of my shorts down but they were nowhere near long enough to cover it. “See? No-one will even notice it’s there.”

  “So what about when I want to wear a dress?” I asked, failing to keep the contempt out of my voice.

  “Don’t,” was Rob’s big answer to my problem. He must have felt sorry for me, because he added: “Look, these guys are serious. If something happens, this monitor is going to be the best shot we have at finding you quickly and bringing you home safely. I’m not doing this to punish you, it’s for your own good.”

  I knew all that, but it was still difficult to take. I wanted to be a normal teenager and fit in, just like all the times my parents had told me to, but it was days like this that told me I never really would be able to live like that. I would just be pretending for the rest of my life.

  Rob let us go with our security team in tow. They followed us all the way home. Not another word was said for the entire journey.

  CHAPTER 4

  “Promise me you’ll be inconspicuous,” I demanded, facing the two security officers. They had changed since the previous night, these were two new ones. “I don’t want anyone knowing you’re with me. Okay?”

  “Certainly, ma’am,” one replied, he didn’t wear a badge so I didn’t know what his name was. I figured it was probably best not to know too much about them. Hopefully they wouldn’t be around for too long. Rob assured me they were doing all they could to track down the men. With the amount of resources he had at his fingertips, hopefully they would throw everything at finding them.

  “And you have to make sure we can find you at all times,” the other officer said, looking more serious than the first one. “No trying to give us the slip.”

  “I’m not going to do that,” I sighed. They were there for my security, I wasn’t going to make it even harder for them to do their job. Even if it did cross my mind once or twice.

  I left them standing at the front of the school and headed inside, keen to distance myself from them as quickly as possible. If Lola saw me talking to them, she’d interrogate me until I caved in and told her everything. Then I would have another person gunning for my life as she realized I had been lyin
g to her for five years.

  I went to my first class without seeing her, grateful for the time to settle my nerves. With each step I took, my new ankle accessory rattled against my skin. I had put on jeans to cover it but it needed tightening, even just a little would stop the annoying movement. I made a mental note to get my parents to have a look at it that night, hopefully they would know what to do.

  Or… I could just cut it off? No, it was for my own protection, I needed to leave it alone. I didn’t know how often Rob checked on my whereabouts, but if I was in the one place for too long, he would come looking for me. I didn’t think I’d be able to talk him into letting me stay in Portview twice.

  Everything was back to normal as soon as my first class started. I was finally able to settle back into the usual routine and forget all about what had happened the previous afternoon. It felt good just to pretend and block out the memory. I didn’t even see my security detail so perhaps the whole thing wouldn’t be so bad after all.

  I even enjoyed advanced algebra, something I rarely did. All those numbers and letters did my head in, I never wanted to take that class but Principal Tobin insisted on it. Anyone who qualified for it based on their ordinary math test was automatically enrolled in the class. I totally should have thrown my scores.

  The bell rang for lunch and I went to pick up my bag off the floor. Unfortunately, as I did, the monitor caught against my chair, sending me tumbling to the ground. I quickly got myself up off the floor, my face red from the embarrassment. I turned around to see if anyone had seen my epic face plant.

  Everyone was staring at me. At first I didn’t know why, after all, I had fallen over my own feet more times than I could count. But they weren’t looking at me, they were all staring at my left ankle. My jeans were caught around the monitor, exposing it to the world at large. Great, how was I going to explain that? I bent down and covered it quickly, pretending it simply didn’t exist.

  “Hey, what’s up with the hardware?” One of the boys sitting in the back row asked, a smirk across his face. His name was Mack and he was one of the more difficult guys to be nice to.