Taken By Force (Taken Trilogy Book 2)

by Jessica Frances

  “That is crazy, we’re only six people. Five of you are untrained for anything like this,” Dean complains.

  “You don’t want to put a stop to this? You want them to continue doing bad things in the name of America?” Rose all but shrieks at him.

  “Of course I don’t but—”

  “No, right here we have two options. You can leave whenever you want, Dean. They’re not after you. Go home to California if you want. I’m staying here and I’m seeing this through.” Rose stubbornly crosses her arms over her chest.

  “I’m not leaving you.” Dean matches her posture.

  “Then stop arguing with me because, as you pointed out, you’re the only one trained for any of this and we need your help.”

  “And if we all get killed doing this stupid thing?” He throws his arms up at her.

  “We won’t. We might be untrained now, but we won’t be when we make our move. Besides, we have skills that they don’t have. Will is super strong, I can hack past anything and Zoe can see the future. We can use that to our advantage. Hell, even Charlie might be useful in this.”

  “You flatter me.” Charlie rolls his eyes, though he doesn’t seem angry.

  “This isn’t going to be easy,” Dean warns.

  “I’m not saying it will be. I just think we owe it to ourselves to try to put a stop to this. I’m over hiding and I’m sick of being scared.”

  Silence descends over us and we all soak in Rose’s words.

  “I’m with Rose.” Will surprises us all by being the first one to break the silence.

  “Me, too.” I knew that would be my answer Christmas night.

  “As long as we properly prepare and don’t put ourselves at any unnecessary risk, then I’m in, too.” Charlie rests his hand over my leg under the table and squeezes it lightly.

  “I owe you all my life, so I’ll do whatever you want me to do,” Joel speaks up. I frown at him. I don’t want him to be part of this, but I’m aware that, if he isn’t here, we’ll only be five of us against all of P.A.G.E., and I know we need him.

  “Then it’s settled. I don’t think we should sit around waiting, I think we should start planning now. We need to train for action and we need to have a plan in place for what we’re going to do. I need to get my hands on some information about The Core.” Rose claps her hands together.

  “How will you get that?” I ask her.

  “I just need a computer, an internet connection and about twenty minutes.”

  “Sounds easy,” Will mutters.

  “It won’t be.” Rose is serious and I gulp down on my fear.

  “I’ll come with you,” Dean offers.

  “Actually, I think I want Will and Zoe to come with me.”

  “In the car?” Will gasps out.

  “No way is Zoe going without me,” Charlie argues.

  “Why don’t you want me to go?” Dean sounds hurt.

  They all speak at once while I’m too surprised to think of what to say at all.

  “I think we need a break. Being in this cabin is suffocating.” Rose is brutal in telling Dean the truth. I admire her for that. “Yes, Will, I know you hate being in cars. Trust me, having you hurl through the drive isn’t much fun for us, either, but you can’t avoid it forever. You’re strong, you’re fast and I need you.” Will looks down at his hands. I know he won’t argue with her. He adores Rose and even if her request had been to walk over fire for her, he would do that. “And last time Stan got close to us we were only saved by Zoe’s instincts. I need those same instincts with me on this. I won’t know how much time I’ll have before I’m traced and they can deploy a team out. I need her.”

  “Then I’ll come, too,” Charlie offers.

  “We’ve all seen you limping on your leg. You’ll put us in danger. If we need to move fast, you’ll slow us down and distract us.”

  Charlie’s face falls. He can’t argue with that. I rest my hand on top of his that is still over my leg. I don’t want to go with Rose any more than he wants me to, but I can’t say no to her. I’m scared and I don’t know if I’ll be any use. I’m easily the weakest one here physically and knowing we might get caught is enough to chill me.

  “How long will you be?” Dean asks her coldly.

  “I don’t know. No more than two days. I won’t stay too close to here to keep this place safe. We’ll drive for at least half a day before we stop somewhere. When we leave, we’ll take a long route back here, in case we’re followed.”

  “Can’t we wait a few days, maybe weeks?” Charlie asks hopefully.

  “I want to do this now. We’ve waited long enough. The sooner we leave, the sooner we’re back here and we can begin our planning.”

  “And if you’re not back in two days?”

  “Then assume we’re in trouble.” Rose’s words put dark thoughts in all our minds and Charlie turns his hand that’s still under mine upwards so he can intertwine our fingers together.

  “This is a bad idea. If you would just listen to me and go to the police—”

  “No. We’ve had this discussion a hundred times and you know how I feel. I can’t make you go home and stay out of harm’s way, and you can’t make me change my mind on this!” Rose yells at Dean, her frustration boiling over.

  Dean growls and gets up suddenly, his stool flying out from under him and hitting the ground. He storms out of the kitchen as Rose looks down at her plate.

  “I think we should leave today, soon. Pack a few things for an overnight stay. We can share the driving and perhaps we can be back early tomorrow,” Rose says quietly.

  Will and I nod yes, but Rose doesn’t glance up to see it. She leaves her plate mostly full, like Dean’s, and gets up, exiting quietly.

  Joel and Will leave soon after and I can’t seem to find my voice to talk to Charlie.

  “I don’t want you to go.” He remains frozen beside me, his eyes showing the panic he’s feeling.

  “I don’t want to, either, but Rose is right. I have to go.”

  “Please don’t,” he begs me, making my heart squeezes painfully tight in my chest.

  “Even if I don’t go now, we’ll all have to go later. This will be dangerous no matter what. We can’t hide from that anymore.” I turn to face him and then run my hand through his hair, hoping to soothe him.

  “I can’t stand the thought of you in danger. If I’m with you, I can protect you. With you out there and me here, I’m useless to you.”

  “Knowing you’re safe will keep me strong out there. I’ll have something to fight for to get back here. Rose won’t let us get into any trouble. She’ll just argue her way out of it.” I smile, imagining Rose arguing with anyone trying to stand in our way. She would probably give them a run for their money if she were to fight them, too. “And Will is strong; he won’t let anything happen to us.”

  “We shouldn’t split up, we should stay together.” Charlie takes a shaky breath.

  “Then rest up your knee, get better, and the next time we have to do anything dangerous, I won’t leave your side.”

  Charlie smiles weakly at me, but it doesn’t reach his eyes that still look worried.

  “We’ll be okay, I promise.” I hate making promises when I’m not a hundred percent sure I can follow through on them, but I need to say something to reassure him.

  “If anything feels even the tiniest bit off, you have to promise me you’ll turn back and leave. Trust your instincts completely.” Charlie grasps my hand tightly, his eyes searching mine to reassure himself I will do this.

  “If anything feels off, we’ll go. I don’t want to be caught any more than you want me to get caught.”

  “Are you really sure you have to go?”

  “Yes, I’ll be back before you know it. Promise me you’ll rest up your knee. I need you completely fit when we take down The Core.” Now it’s my turn to search his face, looking for reassurance that he’ll take care of himself.

  “I’ll try to.”

  I sigh aloud, seein
g his worry still evident on his face. I know nothing I say now will make it go away. I’m worried about him here, and right now this is considered our safest hiding place. If anyone comes here for them, they’ll be trapped. There is only one road into the cabin and if that is blocked off, then your only option is to run on foot. With only one good knee at the moment and both sides around us decreasing rapidly, making it a steep trek down towards the lake, it can put a lot of strain on your body. A strain that Charlie’s body will struggle with right now.

  “I’ll be back soon.” I hug him, but he pulls me away and holds my head in both of his hands, forcing me to look upwards and into his eyes.

  “If anything happens to you, I won’t ever stop looking for you. I’ll find you,” he promises.

  “No, you have to stay safe and—”

  “I will find you.” His eyes bore into mine. I nod, which is restricted by the fact that he’s still holding me.

  He looks at me a little longer before he lets go of my head. I lean in and he wraps his arms around me tightly. I have no desire to leave these arms, ever.

  Rose pokes her head though the door and rolls her eyes at us. “Have you even moved yet guys? Come on, Zoe; you have to pack.”

  I continue to take my time leaving his arms.

  ***

  I drive us down the dirt road and away from the cabin. The boys stand outside and watch us go, not caring that its freezing or that it’s raining. I still clearly see Charlie’s face and his stress as he watches us go. I want to turn around and go back, get wrapped up in his arms and feel his lips on mine. Instead, I put my foot down a little further on the accelerator and we speed along the road until I notice the green look Will is sporting in the back. It’s a windy road for the first couple of hours and Will won’t be enjoying himself. I slow down a little, thinking speeding won’t help him feel better.

  “So you and Charlie seem to be getting cozier and cozier every time I see you. All sorted out then?” Rose pries.

  “We’re getting there.”

  “I assume all the sex you’re having is helping things move along,” Rose speaks evenly.

  “What?” I almost take my foot off the accelerator in shock from her question.

  Will groans from the backseat. I’m unsure if it’s from our talk or the driving.

  “Whenever Dean and I get into a fight, sex is the best way to move past it. In fact, I think we sometimes fight just so we can have sex. It feels more powerful when we’re angry.”

  “Rose, please!” I beg for her to stop.

  “You can talk to me. I don’t really care to hear about Charlie, but you’re my friend and I’m a good listener.”

  “We have not had sex,” I state flatly, hoping to end this discussion.

  “Seriously? Not at all since you’ve been at the cabin?”

  “Not at all, period.”

  “Well, I knew you hadn’t at The Windmill, but not even when you were on the run?”

  “We had Joel,” I point out. I doubt there is more of a mood killer than that.

  “What about that last night before we separated? You knew you were leaving each other and you still didn’t?”

  “We were on the run most of the night and then we slept in a car, not very romantic.”

  “Wow, I didn’t expect that. And you haven’t at the cabin? Why not?” Rose speaks as though not fazed at all to be talking about my sex life.

  “Rose, just drop it please.”

  “But you sleep in the same bed! You can simply reach out and touch each other wherever and whenever you want. Are you just not attracted to him?” She sounds both shocked and confused.

  “Of course I’m attracted to him!” My face reddens having this conversation. It isn’t helped that Will can hear every word.

  “Well then, what; are you religious or something? Are you a virgin?”

  Another groan from the backseat and I definitely think it’s caused by our conversation now.

  “I’m not a virgin and I don’t want to discuss this. Drop it,” I forcibly say to Rose.

  “Fine, fine.” Rose sighs dramatically, yet thankfully, doesn’t bring it up again. She does look like she is distracted and I wonder about her fight earlier with Dean.

  “What’s up with you and Dean? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you guys fight.”

  “We’re not fighting, not really. We’re just not seeing eye-to-eye at the moment. He’ll come around.” I hear the belief she has in her words.

  “Would you really have not cared if he went home and left you?”

  “Of course I would have, but I wouldn’t hold it against him. I survived fine without him, and I know I’m strong and independent. I don’t need him to live, Zoe. But between you and me, I would miss him a hell of a lot.”

  “But you guys are okay?”

  “Yeah, I knew we just needed a break. When he’s cranky like that he’s impossible to be around. Like right now, if I were driving, he would be stating how I’m driving too close to the car in front, or I didn’t indicate long enough, or I should have both hands on the wheel at all times, and what positions they should sit at. It’s so annoying.”

  I turn a sharp corner and moments later we hear Will vomiting in the back seat. We came prepared this time and have a bucket for him to use, but the noises and smell are enough to make me want to be sick also. Ignoring the freezing cold air, I open my window.

  “So where am I headed?” I call out to her over the wind blasting through my window.

  “Lincoln, Nebraska,” Rose announces to me like it’s obvious.

  “Really? Why?” I demand of her. That sounds like the worst place we could go.

  “Because I don’t think they’ll expect us to go back there, and I know their computing system at the university. I need to be as quick as I can with this.”

  “Well, if they’re not expecting us to go there, then that’ll give us more time, right?” Will asks. I look back at him and my eyes widen seeing his state. His face is covered in sweat and he’s gone from looking green to whiter than a ghost.

  “I think twenty minutes is our maximum. I won’t risk any longer than that. As soon as I access their mainframe, they’ll know and they’ll track us.”

  “How do you know it’ll be twenty minutes? It took us over a day to get there from The Windmill, so unless they have another facility close by, then they might take a while.”

  “They’re part of the government, so they’ll have agents stationed all over America, especially since we’ve just disappeared into it. They’ll want people close to us wherever we turn up. Besides, when Dean tested how long it took for P.A.G.E. to turn up after a tip was placed of me being there, it took a team twenty minutes to get there. I just took that as an average time to get them set up. It might take them longer or maybe less time, if we’re really unlucky.”

  “Maybe this isn’t a good idea after all?” I roll up my window, unable to take the cold any longer. Will has thankfully settled down in the back.

  “It’s our only option right now. If we can’t even rise up and do this, then we definitely can’t break into The Core.”

  I want to voice my concern further—voice my fear—but I don’t. Rose is so brave and strong, and she thinks we can do this. We all owe it to her to at least try.

  I hope the bad feeling in my gut is from the knowledge of going back to Nebraska and the trouble we found there last time, and not because of something coming for us.

  ***

  The sun has set long ago and Will and I are shivering outside. We’re lookouts for Rose since she is in the same library she used previously. It’s too dark for us to see much, but there are some lights on surrounding buildings which help us a bit. I constantly see suspicious shadows, but right before I go to alert Will, I see it’s simply a tree branch or just my imagination.

  It’s now three in the morning. Rose had to use her lock picking skills to break into the library. I haven’t seen anyone around the campus, however given the hour and time of
year, that isn’t a big surprise.

  When we reach the half an hour stage of waiting, I’m shaking like a leaf, both from fear and cold. My bones feel frozen solid and I notice Will is shaking, too.

  “She’s taking forever,” I complain, hoping to distract myself from the cold.

  Will grunts at me in response. He’s either too cold to talk or I’m with Silent Will.

  I look back inside the library, and as I squint into the dark building I see Rose is standing and shoving pages into her bag. I sigh in relief that she’s almost finished.

  I turn my attention back outside and my insides clench in fear. Something is wrong. I quickly take hold of Will’s arm and pull him inside the library just as Rose makes it to the door. We crash into her and I keep moving them back.

  “What is it?” Rose whispers, stumbling to her feet.

  “They’re here.” I don’t have to see anyone to know that we’re trapped.

  We sprint through to a side door, hoping they’ll be approaching us from the front. My heart sinks when we see two men approaching this exit, too. After checking every door leading outside we realize they have all the exits covered.

  “What do we do?” Will quietly asks as we crouch down one of the many aisles, leaning our backs against the solid wall behind us.

  “We’re just going to have to fight our way through an exit,” Rose states. Both her and Will eye me critically, no doubt recalling my lack of skill at fighting back at The Windmill.

  “What if we make our own exit?” I tap on the wall behind us and then we look at Will. He feels the wall and smiles at us. This wall is the only one without an exit and perhaps the only side not guarded. If it is guarded, then at least we’ll have the element of surprise.

  It takes Will two solid shoves into the wall for it to crack and another three for him to make a hole big enough that we can climb out. My arm scratches on one of the uneven shards of plaster left behind, but we don’t have time to worry about that.

  We all run as fast as our legs can manage. With Rose and Will faster and fitter than me, I’m soon chasing their tails. I want to call out to make them slow down, but I can’t catch my breath enough to say a word. I’m breathing so deeply that I think my lungs will explode.