Spy School Project X

Absconding

Main Corridor

June 1

1430 Hours

One of the strengths of Catherine Hale was her ability to appear completely harmless. A small woman with a British accent doesn't strike many 200 pound men as menacing, so much so that when Catherine initially halted them, a few just burst out laughing.

"What are you gonna do about it, sweetie?" one especially overweight guard asked her, his brown eyes lit up with hilarity. Catherine emerged from the crowd, confronting the guard head on. The guard was at least two heads taller than her, towering above her.

Catherine glared. "Hmph," she said...and then broke his arm. It was a swift movement, a blur within a second. The crack was like the sound of Mike hitting a home run, followed by the most girly scream I'd ever heard. And I've heard myself scream before. The man immediately fell to the ground, clutching his arm and whimpering like a baby. The guard on top of me became distracting, slightly shifting his weight from me, which allowed me to slither out from underneath him, freed. I glanced over to Erica as I prepared for an onslaught of more guards to come running at me, but she hadn't been given the same fortune. Her guard was still on top of her, pinning her. I quickly ran over to her and promptly kicked the security in the face. I only felt slightly bad about it. Usually I would be one to avoid violence, but when it's Erica, I just have to make an exception. The guard recoiled, which allowed Erica to slam the guard on her back, reversing the roles.

Erica had somehow gotten out of her handcuffs, and went to cuff her guard behind her back. The guard writhed on the ground for a second, and I just enjoyed the spectacle. Most people expect fistfights to be trading punches with another person in a really cool way, but in reality it's just two people shoving each other around on the ground trying to get the upper hand. And then I felt a taser hit me.

I'd never been shocked by a taser before, even though that was part of "initiation" during the beginning of spy school. However, since I hadn't been at school for the first half of my first year, I was fortunate enough not to be zapped. It hurt. It hurt a lot. The prongs had hit me square in the back, immediately forcing my limbs to lock up, my muscles tensing, then the shock stopped, and every muscle contracted, making me face plant straight into the ground.

"Ben!" I heard Erica shout from near me as I hit the ground.

"Hmbthmbck," I mumbled to her in response while I felt someone picking me up. I looked up to see it was Erica, with a splash of blood on her face, which I wasn't sure was hers or someone else's. I guessed the latter.

I eventually managed to stand on my own, able to see Catherine sweep the legs out of another guard who was in the midst. "Come now, children," she said energetically, as if she was talking to a group of preschoolers going out to recess. "We have to hurry." She followed this by elbowing another security guard in the stomach, then running away. Erica grabbed my hand and dragged me over to her, following Catherine into the crowd. My body still ached from the shock, but I had enough of energy to still get moving.

The crowd had formed a perimeter around the fighting, numerous cameras flashing in my face. I saw Catherine duck into the crowd, waiting for me and Erica. We pushed our way through, then Erica slowed to a walk. I realized what she was doing. There was no way any security would be able to spot us in this horde of people, especially when we were only walking, not making any movements that would alert someone.

"Do you have everything you need, dear?" Catherine sidled up beside us, next to Erica.

"Yes, mom," she answered, bored, like a teenager who's mom asked if they were ready for the first day of school. She quickly brought up the flash drive up to show her mom, then pocketed it, not wanting to lose it. I felt Erica flinch for a second before releasing my hand, which I had completely forgotten she was holding. I noticed she had forgotten too. I instantly missed it, and I put it in my pocket nervously, shoving it away like it was a foreign object.

We continued pushing through the crowd until we started to emerge from it, the group becoming thinner and more distant, the people who had no idea what was going on standing back here.

Still, acting normally, we continued walking, towards an exit. I didn't know how Catherine got in here in the first place, so I just followed her and let her guide us. We wandered down the hall as several security guards ran past us, not knowing we had already escaped and they just missed us. It's not like they could've gotten an accurate representation of what we look like.

Catherine led us towards the baggage reclaim area, the large sign in front of it making it obvious. Erica stopped walking once we arrived about ten feet in front of the winding conveyor belt, realizing at the same time as me that her mother was legitimately getting her luggage, and that Catherine had flown here.

She walked over to the large black belt, scouting out her luggage. She found it almost instantly, and started on her way over to it, chipper in her step. She pulled a muted green duffel bag from the conveyor, a decadent flower pattern lining it. She quickly slung it over her shoulder and made her way back to us, leading us back through and towards the exit.

"Alright children," she stated, starting on her way to a different location. "Since we can't easily go through security anymore, I suppose we'll have to find an alternative way." She led us down a small corridor off to the left, to one of the side rooms. I heard Erica's phone buzz from beside me.

She pulled it out and glanced at it. "Grandpa says to meet at 'Traveler's Place' motel down in the suburbs. We'll get back together there. I assume they already left the airport." She stuffed the phone back into her pocket, not even bothering to respond.

As she did this, Catherine pulled open the door to a storage room, revealing a flickering light slightly illuminating some brooms and mops. Luckily, there was a window with a blind covering it there, which was our ticket out of here. 

Catherine walked over to it and swiftly opened the blinds, but the glass was completely solid, unable to be opened. She spun around calmly. "Erica, dear, do you happen to have a bit of C4, by any chance?"

Erica patted her utility belt, frowning at the lack of explosives. "I only have a touch of RDX, but that might be too much." 

"Oh well, I supposed we'll have to do it the old fashioned way." Catherine walked over to a chair and picked it up, immediately chucking it at the glass.

I ducked instinctively while the two women just stood and waited. The glass shattered, the thin layer failing to keep the chair from breaking through. Erica was first to jump out of the window and out onto the sidewalk, then Catherine, then me.

By the time I'd gotten out, Erica was already a hundred yards away, even though she was just walking normally. Catherine was at least close by, and I quickly hustled to catch up to her. We still didn't catch up to Erica, as she disappeared from our vision, turning the corner of the building.

I heard police sirens wailing nearby, quickly getting closer as we made our way to the front of the building.

I started to slow down, out a breath, as a car pulled up wildly to pick me and Catherine up. The van was a stained white, a giant Columbus Airport plastered on the side of it. The van door slid open, and me and Catherine hopped inside, realizing it was Erica who was picking us up. She had somehow hot wired the car and gotten it to us in the span of the ten seconds it took us to round the corner.

As I stepped into the van, Erica immediately bolted off, throwing me off balance slightly, as I had to catch myself on the door, managing to shut it as we went. Catherine was making her way to the passenger seat, while I was left with a bench-like seat in the back, no seat belt available. While this wouldn't normally be a problem, I didn't really trust Erica not to make turns at sixty miles an hour in this, so I clutched onto the seat for dear life.

The police sirens neared, as we started driving down the main road to get here, passing the parking lot. I didn't bother asking where we were going, since I knew. We were heading to Traveler's Place.

Author's note:

Sorry if this is a kinda weird chapter. I mixed up the writing a bit and didn't have a great idea for what this chapter would be, since it was just a transition to the next piece of plot. It was shorter than usual, but I also wanted to get it out tonight. I hope you guys enjoyed, and also, I might be posting an update about future story ideas soon, once I've finished this one, so be on the lookout for that. Anyways, bye.

I DO NOT OWN THESE CHARACTERS