Thomas Cook - Taken

The sniper nodded.

“Remember what I told you.”

“Good as done,” the sniper assured her.

Mary edged back to the rear of the truck. She could see Allie in the lead, the others behind her, all walking slowly, keeping their pace with hers. One, two, three, she began, counting the seconds for the moment, five, six…

She stopped as her father abruptly appeared, striding across the street, waving his arms, his voice higher and more desperate than she’d ever heard it.

“Get away!” he cried. “Take your little girl! Run!”

She nodded to the sniper.

He promptly took aim and fired.

The sound of the blast seemed to shear away the night. In the distance, Eric spun around as the bullet pierced him, then fell heavily to the ground.

Mary stepped out from behind the truck, her gaze lethally fixed on Allie. The proof, she thought, watching as Allie stood in place, her gaze focused no less intently on Mary.

Wakeman took his place beside her, and together they moved forward, intently… then strangely… then impossibly as the street and buildings dissolved and they found themselves in a broad green field where nothing stood around them but a happily grazing cow.

“I’m ready to go with you.”

The pasture vanished and Allie stood before them, the street deserted now, the hostages departed, nothing but the eerie silence that follows a violent storm.

“Screening,” Wakeman said, his voice filled with awe.

“What?” Mary asked.

“She threw up a screen, and everyone escaped while she kept us behind it,” Wakeman said, his gaze resting quietly on Allie. He smiled. “Little girl,” he said gently, “I love the way your mind works.”

Allie sat silent as the truck sped through the cold New England night. She stared straight ahead but saw everything around her, Mary on one side, Wakeman on the other, busily assembling a five-sided helmet.

“Do you know who I am?” Mary asked.

“Not exactly.”

“Our families go way back,” Mary told her. “Mine and your mom’s and your dad’s. I kind of think that you and I might be the end of all this.”

“We might be just the beginning,” Allie said. She looked at Mary. “Your grandfather wasn’t a very happy man. Why are you trying to be like him?”

Before Mary could answer, Wakeman said, “We’re almost at the airstrip. We better get this thing in place.” He nudged Allie forward and placed the helmet over her head and secured it with a strap. “What can you see?” he asked.

Allie didn’t answer. Everything , she thought.

Lisa’s scream split the air, “Allie! Allie!”

Charlie and Nina darted from the kitchen to where Lisa lay furiously rubbing her eyes.

“I can’t see!” she cried.

“I’m right here in front of you,” Charlie told her. “With Nina.”

Nina slapped Lisa hard, and suddenly the room was visible, Charlie and Nina’s faces hanging like moons above her.

“I don’t know what happened,” she said, staring around. “It was like I was somewhere else, and wherever I was, I couldn’t see a thing. There was something covering my eyes.”

Charlie took her in his arms.

“Are you okay,” Lisa asked. “I mean your…”

“It’s completely healed,” Charlie told her, thinking now of Allie, of the miracle she had so clearly performed. “Twelve hours ago there was a bullet in my lung. I should be dead.”

Lisa looked at Charlie pointedly. “She stopped time, Charlie. Allie stopped time for two hours. She was trying to keep us safe.”

“I know.”

Nina shook her head. “I should have been closer to her at the soccer field,” she said mournfully. “I should have…”

“No,” Lisa said. “I should have known something was… happening. We always had this connection, Allie and me, we always…” She stopped and looked at Charlie. “Where is she, Charlie?” she pleaded. “Where’s my little girl?”

From behind the observation glass, Mary watched as Allie sat alone in the adjoining room, the helmet securely on her head. Wakeman stood beside Mary, his eyes on the little girl.

“She knows we’re in here,” Mary said. “She knows we’re watching her.”

Wakeman nodded. “We haven’t had a chance to talk, Mary.”

Mary held her gaze on Allie. “What do you want to talk about?”

Wakeman opened the door of the room and ushered Mary out into the corridor. “Your father,” he said.

“The craft,” Mary said coldly. “The bodies. He lost them.”

“He couldn’t have stopped what happened,” Wakeman told her.

“He could have tried,” Mary said. She stared Wakeman directly in the eyes.

Wakeman nodded.

“You think I have no remorse, right?” Mary asked him.

“I think you did what you had to do,” Wakeman said.

She could see how deeply he loved her. “Really?”

“Really,” Wakeman said. He leaned in to kiss her, then saw General Beers striding down the corridor.

“You’ve got the girl?” Beers asked.

“Yes,” Mary answered.

The general stepped inside the observation room and stared through the glass to where Allie sat alone, the helmet still on her head.

“You really believe that thing you put on her head is blocking a signal?” General Beers asked.

“Right now they’re in their ship scratching their little gray heads and wondering where in the world their little girl could be,” Wakeman said lightly. “Believe me, the minute we take that shield off, here they come.”

“And you’re confident we can take them down?” Beers asked.

“Wherever they come from,” Wakeman answered. “The minute they enter our time and space, our reality, they are confronted by the laws of our physics. Remember, in 1947, in Roswell, New Mexico, a ship came down when it collided with the Mogul spy balloon. Just a balloon, but it brought down their ship.”

General Beers was clearly satisfied. He motioned Mary and Wakeman to follow him, then led them out of the building.

“You’ve done a fine job,” he said to them. “We will always be indebted to you.”

Mary saw an odd glint in the general’s eyes. “Always?” she asked.

General Beers’ face stiffened. “That’s right.”

“You mean…?”

“I mean you’ve done your part, Ms. Crawford,” the general interrupted. “The little girl is part of a military operation now.”

“A military operation?” Mary shot back angrily. “General, for three generations my family has been preparing for this day. I’ve given my career, no, my whole life over to this.”

The general smiled thinly. “And don’t think we don’t appreciate it,” he said. He looked over Mary’s shoulder, where several trucks were moving toward them. “You’re benched. Go sit down.”

“In a matter of days, we may be able to step inside one of their craft,” Mary protested. “We may be able to meet these… beings. Do you honestly think I’m going to stand by while you take that opportunity from me?”

“You don’t really have a choice,” the general said confidently. He nodded as the truck came to a halt and several soldiers piled out of the back, arms at the ready. “Except for a few clean-up details. Like that doctor in Seattle. And the little girl’s parents.”

“We have people for that,” Mary said.

General Beers’ features hardened. “Don’t think I don’t know what happened to your father,” he said threateningly. Then, with a flourish, he wheeled around to face Wakeman. “You can ride with me, Doctor,” he said.