A “Dead” End

Chapter 17

It was a very restless night for Sarah. She wanted to run, far….. far away from here so the danger surrounding her would not swallow this family….. her family ….. but she knew that an escape would not be possible tonight because Hope was sleeping besides her to keep an eye on her and there is no way Luke has not laid some traps to alert him of any movement in the main house. If she was being honest then she would have acknowledged that all of that would not have been enough to stop her, if she had really wanted to run away…. but she wanted to believe that there really was a way for all this to work out. That they could work to eradicate this evil together…. that it would not put her family in the line of fire….

Hope was thinking about everything Sarah has told them as well as everything Luke wasn’t saying. Her heart was breaking for little Sarah…. how alone she must have felt….. no one to love or comfort her….. no companionship and when she finally found someone she trusted with her whole being, he ended up betraying her brutally. Hope was also very furious, not just on behalf of her friend but for those countless nameless….. faceless children who came before Sarah and those who came after her…. so many families destroyed…. so much innocence lost….. no matter how hard she thinks, she was still unable to comprehend the kind of heartlessness it takes to be so monstrous towards children.

Abby was lost in the past too. She remembered a time when she too was an eager student, working hard to please her teacher, a dynamic and charming genius, who wanted to change the world. Young Abby was so in love with him that she wanted to stand by his side, help him fulfill all his goals and realize all his dreams. Oh how she had fought with her father to gain access to her trust fund…. “dammit I’m not a child dad…. I know way more than anyone my age. I already have a PhD for God’s sake. When will you start trusting me?” If her father were still alive she will tell him how right he was….. how sorry she is for not listening to him and how grateful she is that he brought Luke and Susan into her life before he was snatched away from her. She apologized for being a coward…. for not avenging his death and promised him that she will not be a coward again. She may not have gotten Justice for her father but she will help Sarah and all the other children that are being victimized by the monstrous organization Sarah escaped from.

Luke pretended to fall asleep so his Susan can finally relax and get some rest. The minute he felt her taking deep…. relaxed breath, he woke up and got to work. There was a lot he needed to accomplish tonight. He knew Sarah was looking to bolt, he also knew that she would not be able to survive out there. Sarah maybe a genius but she did not have any knowledge about the outside world…. He acknowledged that she has suffered in many different ways…… physical, emotional and psychological but no matter how much she suffered…. there was a buffer of indifference between her and her captors…… they left her alone as long as she complied with all their rules and requirements.

She was special and in this world people would either use you, hurt you or capture you but never accept anything or anyone out of ordinary. She still has so much to learn before she would be safe amongst such people. He spent most of the night setting up things in motion to figure out the answers they needed. He reached out to his most trusted contact, Jack, who was his second in command back when he was in the special forces. These days the guy was a higher up in the CIA. They’ve stayed in touch and still worked together on certain occasions. He knew that Jack could get him the information he needed without anyone ever finding about it. He had a whole network…. people he had handpicked and recruited using unorthodox techniques.

“Hello”, Jack answered on his secure line…. “Hey old buddy, I didn’t think you’d ever need to used this line again…. what with you being a tame civilian these days”. “Jack”, Luke said deadpanned….. a tone Jack recognized very well from their special forces days…. “I need help” and just like that Jack was all business. Luke explained the situation to him in brief and concise words.…. he kept the emotional connection, relationships.. etc out of it all. “WOW””…. Jack said once the briefing was over…. “that’s some messed up s**t man…. I’m in though, tell me how I can be of help”.

Luke went into his commander mode right away, he had a mission to plan….. the most important mission of his life as it involved his family so there was no scope for any errors…. every step will need to be meticulously planned. He will need to be absolutely ruthless in following through each stage, leaving nothing to chance. Unlike his other missions, he will not have the luxury of a professionally trained team nor would there be any backup coming to dig them out should they find themselves in too deep. After an hour of careful planning Luke went to bed.

After breakfast Luke invited everyone to over to the security room. Susan and Abby, who knew the significance of that room were really surprised that Luke would invite them all into his inner sanctum…. his lair. Hope was so excited to see this room, while Sarah failed to understand what the commotion was all about. Hope was whispering to Sarah, trying to explain the significance of this location but was interrupted by Luke’s next words.

“I know how anxious you all are to know about the next stage of our mission but before we get started I want you all to know that someone will be joining this meeting about midway through our discussion. This person is an old friend of mine, someone I trust 100% percent. If you have any questions in regards to this please ask them now. Once we enter through this door it will be all business”. When no one objected, Luke entered the code on the keypad and went through biometrics as well as retina scan to open the door.

They entered the room to find loads of cool stuff including 4 different computers. There was a huge white board on the far wall and some chairs laid out in front of it. Sarah saw a map and her photo was placed in one corner of the board, on the other corner there were a few bullet points stating some criminal terms like k********g, money laundering, genetic mutation…etc. The middle part was left empty. “So, we all know that our mission is to rescue all the innocents trapped by this organization and shut them down but before any of that can happen we need to ascertain if Sarah is in any immediate danger. So our first step is to figure out if the organization is still searching for her or have given up, assuming her to be dead.”

Everyone nodded their heads unanimously. Luke continued, “This is where my friend Jack comes in. Last night I asked him to find out if there has been any activity in that part of New Mexico, from your day of escape onwards…. I also asked him to check if it looks like someone was looking for Sarah, if yes, then how long did they keep up with the search efforts and finally if anything else of significance has taken place there since then.”

Luke looked at his watch and said, “Jack should be calling with the information any minute now.”

As if on cue, a phone placed on the corner table rang…. Luke explained it was a non traceable and secure connection. Seeing that it was Jack, he put the call on speakerphone for everyone to hear.

“So I pulled some satellite images for that entire week and also got in touch with one of my local contacts….. apparently the word on the street is that there is some hush-hush government project going on there ….. they feared a chemical leak so several agents were sent out to contain the situation.

“Yeah, right” Luke muttered, “this so called leak was likely a cover up so they could look for Sarah uninterrupted”.

“I think you are right, my friend” Jack commented, “it would have to be a really funny kind of leak that would have originated at our hot zone and went all the way into Duncan, Arizona… in fact less than a week later there was an explosion of some kind at the location you confirmed as escape point but nothing was reported and no investigation was done by the authorities. That entire area is strictly out of bounds for the locals, tourists…. everyone.” Said Jack.

Luke thanked him for this information and promised to call if he needed any further help. Then he looked Sarah and said “it seems that they searched for an alive or dead Sarah. While they would be hoping Sarah as dead but in absence of any dead body they can not discount the fact that she may have survived.”

“So as our first step”, Luke continued, “we need to find a dead body that matches Sarah’s body structure. Jack is already on the lookout and would notify us as soon as a match is found.”

Sarah raised her hand and said, “knowing him, even after seeing a dead body, he would not accept it until he is able to do a DNA analysis himself.”

“You are right Sarah, so that’s where we would need Abby’s help. Abby will need to work the magic of her science and alter the dead body’s DNA.”

Abby nodded her head and said , “that’s possible … I can do it.”

“Good, so once it’s done we will plant the dead body in a non suspicious way and let them find it.

“Then Sarah and I need to go through the the information on Sarah’s device with a fine tooth comb. We need to analyze all the data to gather as much detail as we can about their operation, examine every clue that can reveal the identity of the head honchos….. their current and future plans…. maybe their locations, anything that could give them a starting point for this mission. This is it for today, we will reconvene in 48 hours. Abby, I just got a text from Jack saying that the body should arrive within an hour so you can get started”.

Hope was so happy that she could not contain her excitement any longer. She jumped up from her seat and hugged Sarah, “thank god you are not going to leave us. I told you Luke will figure something out, didn’t I. Now we will all work together to bring this organization down, once and for all”.