No!

Adam is grim on the ride back to the ranch, pushing the speed limit as much as he dares. What on earth had happened? Had this been some horrid coincidence? Was this the doing of the Agency…the place he’d been told a little bit about? Adam couldn’t imagine what must be going through Jason’s mind now…
He glances over to Katie, his heart going out to her. Jason had told him that they’d become friends, and that was obvious now.


The ranch is in total chaos with shouting, running, water buckets and hoses. “Get the horses out of there!” Mick yells.
Horses are released into the yard as some of the men enter the smoke-filled barn to get them out of their stalls. Panic fills the air as everyone tries to maintain control, and locate the source of the fire.

Clint races to the second water hydrant to hook up another hose, when something in the driveway catches his eye. He squints through the smoke for just a moment before fear waves over him. Dropping what he’s doing, he dashes towards the strange figures. “WENDY!” he screams. Suddenly a shot rings out and Clint hears a bullet whiz by his ear. He automatically drops to the ground, his eyes wide with horror as he sees Wendy being taken away. “NO!”



The drive seems to take an eternity. With no windows, Jason loses all sense of direction. He can only assume that he has been taken by the Agency for either information or ransom.

The van finally slows, turns and stops. The driver gets out and opens the side door. Jason squints into the setting sun, immediately recognizing it to be west. They had been driving west for quite a while. He’s shoved out onto the pavement, and he sees that he’s at the back of an abandoned brick building. His senses heightened, he sees the man with the gun shove the weapon into the back of his pants and turn to shut the van door.
Taking advantage of the moment, Jason sprints into an alleyway.

“Hey, get back here!”

Jason can hear the men coming after him, as they argue.

“No, don’t shoot him! We have to bring him in!”

Realizing that as an advantage, he speeds up, his feet pounding the pavement. Coming out on a street, he takes a right. He’s downtown somewhere…it’s a town he doesn’t recognize. Once on the sidewalk, to his right is a small shop. He bolts inside, ignoring the questioning looks that are thrown in his direction.

Quiet music plays – a stark difference to what is going on inside Jason’s mind. The shop has balloons lining the ceiling, flowers along the walls and cards and knick knacks adorning the shelves. He couldn’t have chosen a worse place to hide.
Sidling in behind a rack of greeting cards, he quiets his own breathing. He can’t alert the store…they’d call the police and he couldn’t get the police involved…not in this. He couldn’t call anyone himself – he didn’t have any spare change, and it would take too long anyway. Then an idea strikes him. Grabbing his wallet, he draws out a small, crumpled piece of paper that he’d written on recently in case he ever needed it. Casually making his way to the counter, he grabs a nearby pen to write two words below the information, and withdraws several bills from his wallet to put with the note.
His peripheral vision catches the thugs making their way towards him again as the bell above the door rings. Several shrieks ring out as they enter the store, masked and waving their gun.
Jason wants to write more on the note, but hasn’t time. He’ll have to trust that his clue will be received and understood, giving someone a lead on his location. Catching the eye of the young cashier, he slaps the money and note onto the counter. “Keep the change.” Without waiting for a response, he spins around and heads to the back of the store, hoping to find a door. To his dismay, there is none. Cornered, the two assailants are on top of him again, pressing the gun into his ribs.

“We may not want to kill you,” one hisses, but we sure won’t hesitate to blow a hole in you if you insist.

Jason raises his arms again, the safety of the other customers forefront in his mind. There are innocent people here, and if him running puts them in danger, he can’t do it. He’s shoved back to the door, hearing one of the men shouting at the cashier not to call the cops if she knows what’s good for her.

Once outside, Jason is rerouted to the vacant building again and taken inside.