24 Hours

8:00 a.m.

By some miracle, we vacated the driveway before Boyd came out for work. I even had enough time to reconnect his car's battery, which is a good thing since that would have been a dead giveaway that something was up.

The initial adrenaline that kept me going through the morning was waning fast. I nearly fell asleep in the car on the way back, especially since they blind-folded me so that I couldn't see where they were going. But just as I was nodding off, Cougar jostled my arm. I wondered if part of the job of being the muscleman was to wake people up. It was like I had two options—my brain could hurt from fatigue or my shoulder could hurt from being dislocated. Why do all of my options involve pain?

I felt for the car handle and opened the door. My knees wobbled as I put weight on them. I felt like I might collapse at any moment.

"Dude, you good?" By now, I could recognize Parrot's voice.

"No." I'm tired and cranky, edging on hangry. My stomach was hollow and growling for food.

Someone—I'm assuming it was Parrot—placed my arm around his shoulder for support. I stumbled forward, trying not to trip since I was tired and blindfolded.

They led me through winding halls and open doors, the same route that I remembered from two hours ago, when we were on the way to Boyd's home. In spite of the familiarity, however, I couldn't help but feel nervous since I couldn't see where I was going. I felt like a lamb being led to the slaughter. For all I knew, they could be leading me to a dungeon instead of the interrogation room that they had been using for the past few meetings. They could even be turning me in to the police!

Stop worrying, Claude. I'm sure that's not what's going on. After all, they are criminals themselves. You could rat them out if they take you to the police.

I was not being led to a dungeon or a police station. When the blindfold was finally removed, I saw that I was in the interrogation room, standing right in front of the wooden chair that I had been seated in previously. My legs gave way from sudden exhaustion. I plopped down into the chair, my tailbone smacking the chair. Ouch! The throbbing bone stole any remaining energy I had. I slumped in the chair, my eyelids half closed. Can I take a quick nap before my next task?

Raven turned around and settled his blue eyes on me in a stone-cold gaze. I decided not to ask for a break. He didn't seem to be in a charitable mood.

Much to my surprise, he said, "I hear you got the listening device. Good work."

"T-thank you," I stammered.

"That's what I expected of you," he continued. "Anything less..."

Okay, I get it. You'll kill me.

"It's right here," Falcon said. He held the tiny pill in his hand.

"Parrot, you will be responsible for listening to it. Try to get as much information from it as possible. Calico, Falcon, and Cougar, I have another job to brief you on. It's a three-person break-in."

"Got it," Cougar said. Calico and Falcon nodded.

"And as for you, Jordan," Raven began. "Your job is going to be to hack into the Federal Archives."

I stared at him, perplexed. Did I hear him right? He just wants me to go to the National Archives website? Anyone can do that! I started to laugh a little. "That's it? Just accessing the National Archives?"

I breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, something that wasn't illegal! All I had to do was go onto the website and get whatever information they needed.

"No Jordan, not the National Archives. We need you to go into the Federal Archives. It's a Federal database."

My heart sank. I spoke too soon. This does sound very illegal.