The Lie

CHAPTER 3 June 30th continued...

As Alice and Navy ran through the woods, getting hit with branches and running through thorns, all they could think was “Have to get to Landon. He’ll know what to do.” They were terrified. Three people with guns were chasing them through the woods. They didn’t know what was going to happen. What if they were caught? What if they were shot? They wouldn’t shoot at them... would they?

When they reached the end of the woods, they were out breath, but Navy managed to speak. “Alice, I can’t run anymore…”

“Yes you can, Navy, you have to. My house is just down the street.” Alice said reassuringly. “We are almost there. We are so close. Don’t give up now.”

There was a loud bang and just then something struck the sidewalk next to them. It was a bullet and way too close for comfort. Navy looked at where the bullet hit then back up at Alice.

“Did they just shoot at us?!” she asked rhetorically, their hearts skipped a beat.

“Race ya!” Navy said, then took off running for Alice’s house.

“Dude, not fair!” Alice replied as she took off running as well.

By the time the agents reached the end of the woods, Alice and Navy had gotten inside and the agents didn’t know where Alice lived or if she went into a friends house or a random stranger's house and they didn’t want to cause a panic. So, they staked out the block. If Alice left the house, the C.I.A. would be the first to know.

“LANDON!” Alice yelled throughout the house. “Where are you!”

“Keep your voice down!” Navy said in an angry whisper. “They are going to hear you, and I am sure that you don’t want that.”

“What the hell are you yelling about?” Landon said half asleep.

“They found me.” said Alice.

Landon woke up immediately. He looked like he’d seen a ghost. He thought that he was still sleeping, because he couldn’t believe what his little sister just said.

“They… You mean…” Landon was stumbling through his words.

“Yes, okay.” she replied. “The C.I.A. found me.”

“Aw, come on Alice. I just wanted a normal summer. Is that too much to ask?” said Landon in a somewhat annoyed tone.

“Tell me about it.” Navy said butting into the conversation.

“Okay, this is no time for tag teaming.” Alice replied. “Look Landon, I need your help. Is it still there?

“Is what still where?” Navy asked.

They both ignored her and kept going as if she weren’t even there.

“Yeah, it’s still there.” He paused. “Does she know?” Landon asked pointing to Navy.

“No she doesn't, and it’s going to stay that way. Look, if they get a hold of Navy and she doesn’t know, then she will be safe. At least more safe than if she does know. Okay?” Alice needed to know that he wouldn’t tell Navy.

“Alright, fine. That’s a good point.” Landon said.

“Landon, promise me you won’t tell her.” Alice insisted.

“I promise I won’t tell her.” Landon said in a somewhat mocking way.

Even if he were mocking her, Alice knew that he was true to his word and would not tell Navy a thing about Alice’s past that Navy didn’t already know.

“Wasting time, wasting time, wasting time.” Navy repeated really annoyed.

“She’s right, let’s go.” Alice said. “Come on.”

Alice grabbed Navy’s arm and they all went to the basement. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Navy stopped and looked around trying to find something out of place. She had been down here a million times. What was she missing? What was “still there” that Navy hadn't ever noticed before.

 Alice’s basement was very nice, it was warm and welcoming. There were two couches, a coffee table, a bookshelf and a T.V.

Alice and Landon made their way to the bookshelf. 

“Are you coming?” Landon asked.

“What, is there some sort of hidden passageway behind the bookcase that opens when you pull on a certain book?” Navy replied mockingly and sarcastic.

Alice pulled on a book in the center of the bookcase and it opened.

“Yes.” Alice said as she and Landon walked into the dark tunnel and turned on a light switch illuminating the whole tunnel. Navy’s face was of utter shock and amazement.

“Oh, of course. How utterly convenient.” Navy said as she threw her arms up.

“I know right?” Landon said as he and Alice continued to walk down the tunnel.

“Wait up!” Navy called.

When Navy entered the tunnel Alice pulled a small remote out of her pocket, pointed it behind her, clicked a button, and the entrance to the tunnel closed.

“Okay, that was cool.” Navy said in amazement. “This whole thing is cool. When did you find the time to do this?

“Landon did it when he wasn’t at work and I helped him when I wasn’t at school or hanging out with you.” Alice replied.

“Huh… So where are we going?” Navy asked.

“That’s going to take some explaining.” said Landon.

“I’ve got time.” Navy replied annoyed.

Meanwhile…

“Contact the agence. I want to know where she lives. What are you waiting for? Now!” Laura commanded as she sat there staking out the street.

“On it.” Tony replied.

A few minutes later, Shawn said. “She lives there.” He pointed to the house at the end of the street. 

“Alright, let’s move.” Commanded Laura. “Now!”

The agents moved towards the house. When they got to the door, Laura said. 

“On my mark, kick the door in.” Shawn nodded. “One, two, three!”

Shawn kicked the door down and they could hear it from the tunnel. The agents checked all the rooms upstairs and were now checking the basement.

“Don’t make a sound. If we can hear them, they can hear us.” Landon said in a whisper.

Alice and Navy nodded. 

“They couldn’t have left the house, we would have seen them. Search the house again. Now!” Laura said.

“We have to keep moving. Let’s go.” said Landon. “Move quietly.”

They kept moving through the tunnel until they reached the sewer system. That was where the tunnel led.

“All we have to do now is follow the sewer. Make a left, a right, another left, then go straight until we reach the safe house.” Alice said.

Navy just looked at Alice and Landon like they were crazy, then they continued walking. She could not believe what she had gotten herself into. She was now running from the C.I.A. and wasn’t entirely sure what was happening. Navy wondered what else, if anything else, Alice lied about. Was anything Alice ever told her actually true?

About an hour or so passed before they reached their destination. They were in a heavily wooded area about 5 or 6 miles out of town now. It was a smallish cabin or shack, 11 by 11.  It was about 6:00 p.m. now, and they were exhausted.

“Okay, this is it.” said Alice. 

“Wow. I almost forgot about this place. We haven’t been here in what, three years?” asked Landon.

“Three and a half.” Alice replied.

“Can’t they find us here? Navy asked.

Alice answered, “No, not here they can’t. See, when I was little I loved technology and so did Landon. He actually works on tech for his job now. Well, anyway, we set up a jamming system here. This was during the whole running from the law thing. But even then, there is no hunting here and because of all the poison ivy, no paths, and the fact that we are six miles in the middle of nowhere, almost no one comes back here. Oh and if they couldn’t find me before, then they won’t find me now.”

They all walked inside and it was actually quite nice. There was a desk, lockers, a twin bed and a small couch. The desk was covered in wires and a computer.

“Who built this?”Navy asked.

“That's kinda a long story.” Alice replied.

“Okay then, when was it built?” Navy asked.

Alice replied. “Um… about four years ago…”

“Wait a minute, that was when we met. You weren’t still running from the C.I.A. when you met me were you?” Navy said feeling a little uneasy.

“No, I was safe for about five months when I met you.” Alice replied reassuringly.

As they were talking, Landon was on the computer checking his email and making sure that the jamming signal was still up and working. There was a email from someone and when Landon saw it he jumped.

“Alice…” Landon said in a slight whisper. His face went ghost white and this scared Alice and Navy.

“What’’s wrong? Alice asked

When he didn’t reply and just stared that the screen, Alice walked over to him and asked again.

“Landon, what wrong, you’re scaring me.” 

“It’s her.” Landon said shaking. “She… She found us.”

When Navy heard this she ran over to the computer to find out just who “She” was, and when she saw it she looked right at Alice. The email was from Laura. 

“That’s the name of the special agent that broke into my room. What the hell is she doing emailing you?” Navy asked.

“How should I know?” Landon said.

“Read it.” Alice commanded.

“What? No, what if they put a virus on it or are waiting to track it once we open it.” Landon replied.

“Oh… I didn’t think about a virus, but they can’t track it here. Nothing can be traced back to this place.” Alice said with complete confidence. “But you are right, we probably shouldn’t open it.”

A loud sound from a phone went off and Navy screamed, Landon and Alice gasped and jumped. The ringtone was coming from Navy’s phone. She took her phone out of her pocket and let out a sigh of relief.

“It’s just my mom.” She said. “Can I answer it?”

Alice replied “Yeah, you can answer it. They can’t track the call.”

Meanwhile, Laura, Shawn, and Tony were breaking into Navy’s house… again. Her parents were at the dining room table eating dinner and talking about their day when the three agents rushed into the room and were pointing guns at Lisa and Richard. They both screamed and put their hands up, and they demanded to know what was going on. 

When things calmed down, Laura started asking Lisa and Richard questions about Navy and Alice and they knew nothing of what Navy had gotten herself into. Then, out of the blue. Lisa gasped and looked at Richard.

“Oh, no. She forgot her inhaler.” Lisa looked at the agents in desperation. “She has really bad asthma. Last time she had an asthma attack without her inhaler, she was in the hospital for three days in recovery. I have to call her and let her know that she forgot it so that she knows to be careful. Please let me call her.”

The agents looked around at eachother thinking it over.

“Okay, you can call her but we are going to track your call and you are going to put it on speaker. Don’t let her know that we are here. Alright?”

“Okay.” said Lisa.

“Bring me her inhaler.” Laura commanded at Richard.

Richard got up and walked over to the counter where the inhaler was and brought it back to Laura. Tony started to examine it.

“Hey mom. What’s up?” Navy said calmly into the phone.

“Hi honey, I’m just calling because you forgot your inhaler at the house and you need to be careful, you remember what happened the last time you forgot your inhaler.”

Navy’s face went ghost white and she looked terrified, but she kept her voice steady and normal.

“Yeah, I remember. But I have an inhaler at Alice’s house remember? I gave one to Alice to keep at her house because of what happened last time.” Navy said.

“Okay, well I just called to tell you that. I love you. Talk to you later.” Said Lisa.

“O-okay. Talk to you later, L-love you too mom.” Navy replied.

She slowly moved the phone away from her face and ended the call.

“Navy, you don’t have asthma, what’s going on? Is everything okay? You look like you just saw a ghost.” Alice said concerned for Navy.

Navy replied in tears. “They took them… They took my Parents…”

Alice and Landon looked at each other and then back at Navy. They looked at her like she was crazy. Navy sat down on the couch in tears. Alice walked over to Navy and sat down next to her. 

“Navy… What do you mean, they took your parents?” Alice asked softly.

“The people who (sniffle) are looking for us. They took my parents.” Navy replied. “My parents and I watched this kidnapping movie a few years ago… and (sniffle) they had a special code word that they would use if one of them were in trouble. No one in my family has asthma so we thought that the word inhaler would be good. If I said it, I was in trouble. If they said it they                                  trouble. If we had one somewhere, then we were okay.”

“Damn, that’s clever.” Landon butted in. Alice gave him the “shut up now” kind of look and he turned back around in his chair.

“It’s okay Navy, everything it going to be alright.” Alice said.

Just then, Navy got silent, there were still tears streaming down her face but she was silent. Alice was about to ask another question when she looked down at Navy's hands resting on her lap and her head was down. Navy's hands started to form fists.

“This is all your fault.” Navy said mumbling under her breath.

“What?” Alice asked.

“If I never met you, none of this would have happened. I would be safe and so would my parents.” Navy said as she stood up. Alice stood up as well. Navy was angry and crying again, she was hysterical. 

“Navy, I am so so sorry, please calm down.” Alice said. 

She was backing up and Navy was advancing on her. Now she was yelling. Alice had her back against the wall.

“NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF YOU WEREN'T HERE!” Navy yelled.

Alice went to put her hands on Navy’s arms to calm her down.

“Navy, just calm d-”

 Alice couldn’t finish because Navy punched her, and it wasn’t just a punch. She was angry. She was infuriated. Navy had never thrown a punch before, but this was powerful. Alice fell to the floor and held her face. Navy took off running into the woods. She wasn’t thinking straight and was crying so hard she could barely see. Landon went over to see if Alice was okay. Her nose was bruised and bleeding.

“I am fine, get Navy.” she struggled to speak through the pain.

Landon took off after her. He was a great runner and caught up to her about 50 or so yards away from the hideout. She fell to the ground in tears, she just couldn’t run anymore. Landon sat beside her and put his arms around her. She was sobbing. He just held her and slowly swayed back and forth. This is what he did to calm Alice down. He didn’t know what to do with Navy, because Alice always did that. But he tried it anyway and she hugged him back.

“I… I… I just ca… I just can’t…” Navy said sobbing.

Landon interrupted her. “Shhhhhh. It’s okay. Everything is okay. Shhh.”

After a Navy had calmed down, they made their way back to the the hideout. Alice was sitting on the couch with the first-aid kit sitting next to her. Her nose was bleeding and she was trying to stop it. Her nose was bruised and broken.

“Oh my God, Alice, are you okay? I am so sorry, I shouldn’t have done that. It’s not broken is it?” Navy asked.

“I am fine, and yea. It is definitely broken.” Alice replied. She sounded sad, but she wasn’t mad nor was she crying. You could just hear it in her voice. She was sad.

“I am so sorry, please don’t be mad at me. I just-” Alice cut her off.

“I am not mad at you. I understand why you hit me. The only thing I don’t get is why you didn’t hit me harder. If I were you I would have knocked me out. I am the one that should be apologizing. I am the one that is sorry, so please don’t say you're sorry, because you shouldn’t be. Because this is all my fault. Because of me you are running from the C.I.A. Because of me your parents are being held hostage by the C.I.A. Because of me…” 

“I lived.” Navy butted in.

“What?” Alice asked looking surprised.

“Because of you I lived and didn’t get hit by that car and because of you I have a sister that I love and would die for. Because of you I have a friend. Because of you I’m not alone. And yea, I am mad at you because my parents are being interrogated by the C.I.A. but they are going to be fine. They don’t know anything and neither do I so I am safe-ish too. I am angry, but we are both to blame, and I will never leave your side. I am in too deep to back out now and I want to see want happens. I may not have a normal summer but atleast I will have one that I will remember. ” Navy replied. They were both almost in tears and shared meaningful looks. Landon just sat there awkwardly putting the first-aid kit stuff away.

“Oh, come on, just hug already.” Landon said to the girls.

Alice and Navy smiled, stood up and hugged each other.

“Okay, well what do we do now?” Navy said wiping away the happy tears. 

“Well, now we, uh… I can’t really tell you.” Alice replied. She sounded kind of sad, like she knew that Navy wasn’t going to like what she was going to say, and she wasn’t. Alice had to choose between two things, and I can assure you, Navy wasn’t going to like either one of them.

“Why can’t you tell me what you are going to do? Is it the same reason that you can’t tell me why we are in this mess?” Navy sounded really annoyed and concerned and Alice could tell.

“Look, I wish that I could tell you , but I know that I can’t. If I did tell you, you would be in a lot of danger if those agents found you.” said Alice.

Navy kept on, because she was not going to give it a rest.

“Come on Alice, just tell me. Consider it my birthday present.”

“It’s not your birthday though.” Alice said not seeing her point.

“Yeah but it’s tomorrow” said Navy. “It would just be a day early. I don’t care if it puts me in danger. I demand to be told what is going on here, I’m in this mess now too.”

“Look, if you get caught, then you can’t know.” Alice was concerned for her, the last thing that she wanted was for Navy to go to jail or be interrogated or worse, suffer the same punishment as Alice. 

“I don’t care. Please tell me.” Begged Navy.

“Alright, I will tell you what I am going to do, but I can’t tell you what I have already done.” Alice said.

“Alright, I guess that will be okay. Tomorrow. Tomorrow you tell me what you are going to do.” Navy said excited and scared at the same time. She was dying to know what Alice was going to do.