The Bag - Plan

"What's going on, Anna?"

"They're stuck."

"Who are? I thought you said it was Ella?"

Anna knitted her eyebrows. "It is Ella but...someone's with her." Her eyes moved as if they were scanning a screen, searching. "I can't get a clear read but..." and here she smiled, "it's good."

"Where are they?"

Anna frowned. "They're trying to escape the compound. Ella doesn't know how to get out." She winced. "Disruption is Heightened. It's interfering but...it's not incapacitating." Here, she halted, cocked her head to one side and added, "Which is weird."

Malcolm turned from his daughter and positioned himself infront of a laptop and started tapping on the keyboard.

"Can you tell me where they are?"

"Yes," Anna said hesitantly. "I think so."

"Okay. I'm going to bring up a map of the compound. Point to where you think they are."

Anna came over to the screen and looked at the maze on the display. She reached out her finger and pointed.

"Okay," Malcolm said. He could see viable exits but it all depended on what, if anything, stood in their way. And then he was struck by a thought.

"How are we going to tell them?"

*

Jim was helping his mother down the stairs. He could tell that she was hurrying but it was painfully slow. He knew what he was going to do. They needed to get out of the city, away from monitors and cameras and drones. Despite his fears, he was feeling lighter, more optimistic than he had in weeks. It felt good to be doing something good.

They needed a car and he had the perfect one in mind. He was going to have to steal it. But first, get Mother to safety.

"Where are we going, Jim?"

"You're going to a motel. "

They were on the street. A rickshaw was waiting.

"In that thing?"

"Yes, it's got to be."

His mother looked at him.

"What's going on, Jim?"

He shook his head.

"We need to get moving. I'll see you soon."

"Take care, Jim."

She nodded at him, the strangeness of the situation suggesting its urgency.

And then the buzzing started. The buzzing of Comms. and the buzzing of drones.

***

366 words

I'm building up to a confrontation. I'm just not there yet. I hope Jim gets away. And his mum. And Ella. And Jason. We'll see.

Thanks for stopping by! If you do read this, please leave a comment as I love to interact with my readers.

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