The History of a Runner/12

Chapter 12: Oh Crap...
"H! H!" Agent G yelled as he ran down the hall. He had a major breakthrough. He ran so fast, he nearly knocked his partner over.

"Whoa," Agent H yelped, pushed by G. "What is it?"

"Great news!" G told him, panting. "We've managed to find a person who knew of a Matt Chapman &mdash; even where he lives. I think we have found our participants!"

H's heart sank. He had hoped that wasn't the case. "But wasn't there also a Jackie?" He needed to make sure there was still some hope. "Have you found her?"

"We asked him about that. He said there was a Jackie who had spent the night with him.  Probably a girlfriend of something.  Either way, it looks like we found who we were looking for.  Isn't that great?"

H gulped. What had happened? Could that nervous laughter he had received been linked to this?

"I'll be sending a party to his house tonight to track them down. Wish me luck!" With that, G ran off to tell Agent K, as H slumped down, conflicted.

****

Later that night, Mike, Matt, Craig, and Missy, who was staying with the Brothers Chaps, gathered around the TV to watch the Olympic women's soccer match. The game was close, US just in the lead, when &mdash;

"Stand up! Put your hands in the air!"

The four looked around, confused. Who said that? Why? They slowly got to their feet.

A team of four or five individuals, pointing at the foursome with various weapons, walked slowly toward them. "Where are they?" one of them asked.

"...Where are who?" Matt asked, dazed. He hoped he had dozed off during the game, and that this was a dream.

"You know who we mean! Your twelve friends!"

"...Twelve?" Mike inquired. Of course, they knew who they meant, but they weren't ready to admit they did. Mike, Matt, and Missy tried to look as clueless as they could. Craig had a look of guilt...which made the agents suspicious. For some reason, they looked familiar.

"Hey you!" They turned their attention to Craig. "What's with the face?"

"Uh...whaddaya mean?" stammered Craig, snapping to attention.

"Why do you look so guilty?"

The other three turned to him, looking for an explanation. Putting the pieces together, he turned to them and mouthed, "My fault."

Mike and Matt had a silent explosion, wondering why Craig would do this, that they could've gotten in trouble. Craig tried to explain he didn't know.

"At least they won't search Ja &mdash;" Missy whispered. She covered her mouth before she could finished, realizing what she'd done. But the agents had heard enough of this...quite odd act.

Still, there was hope that they hadn't thought that far. Until...

"G?" one of the other agents told who appeared to be the leader of the group. "The Jackie that they are referring to? I did some extra research just in case.  She only lives a few blocks away."

The leader &mdash; G &mdash; nodded in approval of this agent's actions. "Everyone, back to the cars!" he ordered. "You, lead us there." The group headed out of the apartment, closing the door behind them. The foursome breathed a sigh of relief.

But this feeling didn't last long. Missy fell onto the couch, filled with regret, while Craig paced back and forth, wishing he had just pretended he didn't hear them.

Thinking quickly, Matt rushed to the phone and dialed the number quick as he could. When he heard the dial tone, he muttered to himself, "Please pick up, please pick up, oh Jackie, please pick up..."

Fun Facts

 * Agent G's line "Isn't that great?" is a reference to "A Folky Tale." Saddy Dumpington would say that line after he told his miserable and depressing tales.