When I was 17 years old I was traveling with my parents to go see some close friends who live in the beach area of the town we live in. It was a perfectly calm and peaceful night. My parents were in a happy mood and it had been such a peaceful weekend. We were driving through an area which was a bunch of winding roads an then we came upon a truck broke down in our path to where we couldn't get through.
My mom and dad got worried looks on their face and dad handing mom his phone and said, "Dial James."
Mom started to dial the phone and dad started to back up the car. As he did he said to me, "Grace you need to listen to me. Stay very low on the seat and cover yourself completely with that black banket. No matter what you hear do not say anything and stay completely still."
"Hello," I heard from the phone.
"James its Bill. Find our location I think they found us. I am circling back now but James Grace is in the back seat we need help now."
My dad was trying to navigate the winding roads as fast he could as the other cars were gaining on us. My mom kept looking at the cars behind us and said, "Bill they are gaining and I see a boat on the water way heading towards us.'
"Anne," Dad said. "We need to get Grace out of the car without being seen."
Mom looked at my dad and then at me, "Grace listen to me you need to stay hidden no matter what. If we get are able to stop and say jump you get out and stay down. Take this phone and call James if you get out. Do you understand me?"
"Mom," I started.
"Grace there is a long driveway covered by trees I am going to pull in and you hide in the trees." Dad said, "We love you."
Dad pulled into the drive way at a angle I was able to get out of the car and hidden. As soon as i jumped out and shut the car door dad took off again. I was in the trees hidden when I saw the truck and a couple of cars taking off after mom and dad. I listened for a while and heard a huge car crash. My heart sunk as i knew it was Mom and dad.
I called james and told him Dad had me jump and he said he had my cordinates from the phone. He told me to stay put and hidden ut of site. About 30 min later a car pulled up along the road and I saw James get out of the car. I climbed out of my shelter and ran out to hug him.
James hugged me tight and said, "Its ok Grace we will find out what happened."
"James you don't understand," I said. "When I jumped out I ran and hid. About a minute later a bunch of cars flew past. I heard a crash like metal into a wall and it was loud. I know my parents were killed."
James cursed as he led me to the passenger side of the car. After he climbed in we headed in the direction that my parents had gone. We drove for a few minutes at normal speed and James handed me a hoodie and sun glasses. "Put these on and keep the hood up. They belong to Lucas but will fit you. We cant risk them realizing that you are Anne and Bill's daughter."
I put the clothes and glasses on. Before we knew it we came around the bend and caught sight of a accident. I cought my breathe as we knew it was my parents car. James patted my hand and said, "Grace no matter what you need to keep quiet and calm. Do not react thats what they want."
There were cops stopping cars and we were stopped. James rolled down the window and said, "Man what a wreck. We have been saying for a long time people need to slow down around here."
Cop looked at both of us and said, "You locals?"
James flashed a smile and said, "Yeah me and my kid here have lived out here for years after my wife died. We were heading to walmart to go get some groceries. I should have went out the other way but I wanted to go get pizza first at Marios on the beach!"
The cop smirked, "Understood Sir. We are trying to find out if anyone knew the people in the car. Neither made it and we would like to find the next of kin."
I saw James jaw tightened completely as he nonchalantly said, "Nah man we like to keep to ourselves if we are not shopping or getting a pizza we work and school from home or fish off our dock."
"Understood," He said as he stood up. "Carry on."
As we drove away i gave a quick glance to the wreckage and saw the white sheets over my parents. I kept my breathing steady but the tears that came out of my eyes could be stopped. James held onto my hand and said, "Grace we will find the people who did this to your parents. When we do we will make them pay."
We drove along and turned towards the beach area. James looked at me and said, " We have been followed since we left the crash site. I think they want to make sure we are going to the pizza place. We are going to have to get pizza and stay there for a little bit. You will have to eat."
I looked at him and said, "I will do my best. Maybe a big soda will help."
Smiling James said, "Thats the spirit Grace. We will get you through this."
We got out of the car and went inside. James was busy working on his phone and I went on my pinterest account and looked through new pins. Soon the waitress brought us our drinks and said our pizza will be out shortly. She brought out four pizzas in boxes and one cheese pizza on a tray.
James laughed and said, "After this we are gonna go back to my place and I know Ben will want Pizza. Grace when we get home your Brother Ben will want to know all about today."
When he said that I realized that the cop had come in and sat at the table next to us. I smirked and said, "Well Dad Ben should have came with us when we asked him instead of staying at home playing video games."
I took a peice of Pizza and took a bite. Swallowing the pizza I acted the part. After eating two slices I said, "Okay Dad I am definitely not like Ben I will have to rest my stomach and eat more later."
James chuckled and said, " I figured lets get this boxed up and add it to our pile. After we pay we will have to run to walmart to get the few things you needed. It shouldnt take more than what 15 min right?"
"Yeah dad I need some new leggings and tshirts" I said.
After we boxed up the pizza we headed over to Walmart. I ran to the woman clothing area and grabbed a handful of shirts and a few leggings. I grabbed my wallet and James threw them in the cart. He leaned over and said "get some socks and underthings as I do not know when I will be able to get your belongings from your parent's house."
Smiling I said, "Ok dad."
I went over and got the stuff James told me to get and we headed to the checkout. After we were in the car I said, "I know that I have to wait to go to my parent's house but I also have a plan. There was a secret entrance and exit that people cannot see. I want to get my stuff but I will be patient. How are we going to explain what happened to my parents?"
James sighed and said, "We had a contingency plan for that. If anything happened to your parents I have papers that your parents had to go out of the country and you are staying with me. In case of their demise, we had an oh-shit contingency for both you and my son. The thing I don't understand is your parents were not active agents. How they found your parents and you confuses me which means there could be a leak."
I was quiet as we drove and then asked, "James what were my parents?"
"Grace your parents and I are spies. When we get home I am going to call the agency and see what I can find out. We need to keep down for now and hide out at the house as I believe the cops are following us and we are not safe. We might have to go rogue and hide."
"You mean we might have to run away?" I said.
"That is correct," He said. "But for us running away will be more like a vacation."
"I wish I could get some of my stuff from the house before we had to leave," I said.
"well let me talk to the agency and we will see what we can have done," James said. "I will let them know you said you have a full proof way of getting in without being seen."
"Okay I will wait," I said. "If I am able to get in will I be able to get my electronics?" I asked, "That and my camera."
"Anything we get out of the house we will have to have a team do a bug and tracker check on first," He said.
After that the conversation went silent as we headed back to the house. When we pulled in Ben walked out and said, "Hey Grace I see you got pizza."
I handed Ben the pizza as he asked, "Where is your parents?"
Looking at James, he said, "Ben we need to go into the house and talk."
Ben looked a me and said, "Shit what happened?"
James directed us into the house and he said, "Come into my office you two."
We walked into the office with Ben and we sat on the couch. James looked at us and said, "Ben you know what I do for a living. Grace your parents did the same job that I do. Grace your parents and I work for a government agency to protect not only the country but the world. Someone exposed them and when I ran out they had dumped Grace to hide and I got her right after her parents were killed up the road from where I found her."
Ben put his hand on my arm and said, "Grace I am so sorry."
"I will be honest I want to just sit and cry," I said. "But having to keep everything in when the police officer on duty followed us to the pizza place and I want to say he was in the parking lot at Walmart as well."
"Your right," James said. "I saw the cop there when we got out of the store as well. That was a great catch Grace."
Ben looked at James and said, "Dad should we make plans to go to another location?"
"Not yet Ben," He said. "What I am going to do is call the office and fill them in. Grace I am going to see about getting your belongings. I will let you know per your parents will I am the one your to go to."
James looked up to say something else and Ben said, "Its okay Dad. Grace is with me I got her."
Ben pulled me up and said, "Lets go to the kitchen I am starving."
I followed Ben out and shut the door behind me. When we went into the kitchen Ben opened the pizza boxes and said, "Man this Pizza looks good you want a slice Grace?"
Laughing I said, "Yes just a slice of cheese though."
He put the pizza on a pan to heat up in the oven and said, "It will be okay Grace. I know you didn't expect this to happen but you got me and Dad and we will protect you."
"Thank you Ben," I said. "I never asked my parents what they did or why they went away once in a while for work. They seemed very comfortable leaving me with Miss Ginny all the time."
Ben laughed, "Miss Ginny is a agent who is also a glorified baby sitter. But she is awesome and man can she play video games."
Laughing I said, "Oh my god I know. That does explain why she was so good at Call of duty. I wonder why my parents never told me the truth about what they were."
Ben said, "To protect you I am guessing. I found out by mistake to be honest with you. One day I saw Dad in his gear room and I asked a lot of questions."
"I get it," I said. "Right now I feel like I didn't really know them."
"Grace," James said as he walked towards us. "You saw the real version of your parents. When we are on jobs we are not those people. The act has to be kept up the whole time we are gone. Your mom and Dad were the people you knew."
"Now what?" I asked.
"Your parents and you will be missing people for a while," He said. "In a few weeks your going to magically show up with no memory of what happened to you. All you are going to say is we were in the car and I fell asleep while dad was on the highway. We are going to get the wreckage and place it in a remote spot and find it a few weeks after that. I have a copy of your parents will and that gives me custody of you."
"So basically I am hiding here and keeping my head down?" I asked.
"Yes," He said. "I have a team going in to get your laptop and Camera. They are going to check it for bugs. I know for a fact your phone is untraceable except for our agency. Just do not reply to friend or anyone else until you are found. We are also going to get some clothes for you for now we cannot get you much as we need it to look like you disappeared. So no social media, or texting unless its to ben and I. I heard call of duty I ask you do not use your personal account right now. We can sign you up for a new account if you guys decide to game. What am I saying you will want to game to keep from boredom."
Nodding I said, "Alright James."
Ben took my hand and said, "Come one lets get the food and go to the game Dad may a big man with his job but sucks at gaming."
Losing myself in the game helped me keep my mind off things for a while and as the sun set I felt exhausted. Soon enough Ben was shaking my shoulder and said, "Grace go to bed."
Stumbling into what was now my room I fell into a sleep and started to dream of my parents. I woke up when I heard what sounded like a crash. Ben ran into my room and scooped me up saying, "Shit is happening and Dad said we needed to go hide."
He ran with me back to his room and opened his closet door. When we were in he shut the door and took me to the back of the closet opening the book shelf. It lead to a set of stairs and we went down after he secured the bookshelf back in place. As we were going down we heard yelling and gun shots. When the first gun shot went off Ben swung around as I was about to scream and he whispered, "Its okay Grace I got you. You can't scream or they can find us."
Nodding he took my hand and we came to a door. Going through the door we were in a long tunnel. He pulled me along using his phone as a flashlight. When we came to the bend of the tunnel he typed on his screen, "we have to wait here. The end of the tunnel looks like a sewer grate but we are exposed if we keep the light on or if we talk. This comes out at the end of the property and our emergency boat dock looks like it is on the neighbors property not ours."
We heard voices outside the grate and one said, "We do not know where the kids are. I bet they are hiding in the house somewhere but they wanted us to check the property. The dad also disappeared and we can't find him either."
The other voice replied, "So what we have to wait them out?"
"I have no clue man," he replied. "Did you see that game room in there? No way the kid would leave his shit."
Starting to shiver Ben wrapped his arms around me trying to share body heat. He kept checking his phone screen. He typed, "Sorry Grace I know your cold so am I but if we go back we can be caught."
Taking the phone I typed, "All my stuff is under the bed including my phone. I hope they don't find it."
Ben's screen lit up and it said, "I am in the tunnel and tell Grace I have her bag and clothes for both of you. Head back towards me."
Ben typed, "Password man."
The reply came back, "Gators football."
Ben took my hand and whispered, "Its Dad."
We headed back towards the tunnel and after a few moments we ran into James. James handed Ben a pile of clothes and shoes. He handed me a hoodie and my shoes. Putting them on he said, "They are still going through the house. So we are going to have to hide out for a bit longer."
"What happens if they find us?" I whispered.
James took my hand and said, "I was able to get a message out before I grabbed your things and hid before I could get to the tunnel. The Calvary is on its way."
We waited in the tunnel huddled together when we heard the people searching for us call out, "Retreat. The feds are here."
After a few minutes James phone lit up and he looked at the screen replying to the message. He looked at us and said, "Come on guys we can go now."
We followed James out of the tunnel and we ran towards the boat that arrived along the river. When we got in James put a blanket over Ben and I as the boat sped out to sea. The next morning I woke up in a room on a ship with Ben asleep on the bed across from me.
Grace
James- Friend Ben-James son
Mom- Anne
Dad- Bill
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