Arrival

Chapter 7

Ashla was terrified.

Sure the people who are obviously looking for her in Jamaal's home were scary, especially if they found her. But what really had her heart pounding was the fact that she was now outside Jamaal's bedroom window, holding on to the rooftop for dear life for fear of floating away.

Not because it was windy, but because she was literally floating outside and couldn't stop herself. All she tried to do was climb out the window to get to the roof, in order to hide. Instead, as she lifted herself outside, her legs started to float upward. She felt almost weightless, as if she turned into a feather. She couldn't control where she was going, ending up floating higher before she could finally grab hold of the rooftop. But she was still floating and couldn't figure out how she was going to get down.

She could hear voices getting closer to the bedroom door. Ashla held her breath as the door was pushed open.

A police officer entered Jamaal's room, his weapon drawn but at his side. He looked around, checking under the bed, in the closet, the bathroom, anywhere that can be used to hide. The man obviously didn't expect to find anything of note because he left soon afterwards. "This room is clear. Third floor sweep is done." He said, leaving the room.

Ashla forcibly released the air she was holding. Her hands were shaking from fear. Pulling herself along the roof, she made her way back to the window and into Jamaal's room again, where she suddenly stopped floating. Miraculously, landed on the bed which muffled any sound she would have made had she hit the floor.

Rolling over onto her back, she just laid there, breathing heavily but relieved.

Just as she was starting to relax, however, she heard loud barking coming from outside.

• • • • •

"The dogs found something, sheriff!"

Both the bloodhound and German shepherd were barking and pulling their handlers towards a barn on the Carter family's property. They smelled something. The dogs were used the night before to find the girl's sent at the crash site and nearby woods. The scent they had now was the same.

Some of the officers exchanged looks. "Someone get the FBI over here."

Minutes later, FBI agents, including forensics, arrived at the barn. They closed off the scene and searched up and down the wooden stalls. And that's when they found it.

• • • • •

"Blood?" Jamaal's father Marcel questioned. He was standing on the front porch with an FBI agent and the sheriff. There were way more people on his property now, the police, FBI, and even some military personnel it seemed liked.

"Yes, sir. We found foreign blood in your barn back there. Therefore, the federal government is seizing your barn while we analyze the scene." The agent said, seeing how annoyed Marcel was getting.

"You can't just take my property like that! Besides, how do you know the blood in their was "her" blood."

"In a situation like this, the federal government has the authority to seize property in federal investigations, especially as this may well be a national security threat. At the very least we need all the information we can get from our fugitive and this blood sample is at least 24 hours fresh. We can tell you this, sir, the blood found in your barn does not match any immediately known animal, human or otherwise, upon our first testing."

Marcel was very annoyed with them, but he knew this was a losing argument. "So now you're calling her a fugitive? Just an hour ago she was a missing girl."

"Well, we cant rule anything out at this point. Also, the canine units followed the scent directly to this house. Now we already searched thoroughly twice today and found nothing. She was here in this house. It is very possible she is somewhere in the area in hiding."

• • • • •

Agent Band watched from inside his SUV across the street as the FBI agent and sheriff left the Carter's front porch. "I want to keep an eye on this house and family. And I want the search expanded to about 20 miles in every direction from this house."

"Yes, sir. Do you really think she's dangerous?"

"She tried to blow up a car. You tell me, Agent."