Mark held onto Mia's hand until they were well outside the warehouse. Indeed, even if he had wanted to let go, there was a very good chance that she wouldn't have allowed it. She held on firmly, allowing him to guide her to safety.

Their escape from the warehouse was surprisingly simple – it was so large in scale that they were able to sneak through undetected. But once they were free of its confines, Mark realized that they were a long way from safety.

Actually, as fresh air hit their faces and the sun beat down on their skin, Mark had to admit that he had no idea where they were. Not one.

From left to right, as far as Mark could see, there was nothing but open pastures and corn fields. The warehouse sat by itself on the side of the highway, isolated and stark. There wasn't even another manmade structure for as far as Mark could see. There were fields. Endless rows of fields.

The highway the warehouse sat on was currently empty too, with only a single lone truck in the distance that was visible.

"Where are we?" Mia asked the moment they were free. They ran from the warehouse to the side of the highway, as if placing as much distance between themselves and the building might keep them safe.

"I have no idea."

If Mark had to guess, he would say they were west of D.C. Judging from the fields, they were closer to mid-west America than the coast. And, looking at the sun slowly setting on the horizon, he predicted it to be nearing five in the afternoon. With that little information to go from, Mark assumed they were a solid five hours west of D.C. But that was it. Anything else was anybody's guess.

"Do you have your phone on you?" Mia asked. She was patting herself down, checking to see if she had anything of use. Mark did the same, although he knew it to be useless. There wasn’t a chance their captors would leave him with anything. Even his watch had been taken from him.

"We're going to have to hitch-hike," Mark concluded. "Maybe the driver can take us back to D.C? Or at the very least, let us use his phone to make a call."

"Hitch-hike?" Mia said with apparent disgust. "You can't be serious?"

"What?" Mark asked, caught off guard by her response. "Look, I don't have time for..." As he spoke, he glanced back in the direction they had come. Any moment now the guards would come across the empty room they were supposed to be in. And when that happened... well, Mark hoped they were in a car and long gone from here by then.

"Is there anything else? Maybe we can... I don't know..." Mia was clutching for answers. But it was no good. It was either hitch-hike or turn themselves back in. Mark grabbed her hand and started walking determinedly down the edge of the highway. He didn’t want anyone from the warehouse to come outside and see them – it would be too obvious that they didn’t belong there. As it was, they should try to come up with some kind of believable story to tell anyone who stopped to help them.

As luck would have it, about twenty minutes later, Mark spotted a very old pick-up truck, making its way down the highway towards them. He had no idea what direction they needed to go in, but he didn't care. They could sort that out once they were safe.

"Hey!" he yelled out, lifting his arm up to wave down the driver of the vehicle.

The pick-up truck, an off-yellow color with mud stains up the side, slowed down to a stop, pulling up right beside where Mark and Mia stood. Once halted, the window slowly wound down to reveal its sole occupant.

The man driving was squat and round -- even sitting down, he appeared short. His entire torso looked as if it had been compacted, which was even odder to look at considering his long arms and legs. He had blonde hair that resembled straw, a lot of missing teeth and a very tanned face. But he greeted them with a smile that Mark trusted immediately.

"Hey there," Billy spoke with a twang common in the mid-west area, just north of what most American's considered the south. "This is an odd spot to be hailing down trucks."

"Hey," Mark said, letting out a sigh of relief over the man's jovial manner. "We're really sorry to put you out, but we've become stranded. We have no phones, wallets or anything and we were hoping you could take us to the nearest gas station or hotel or anywhere that might have a phone?"

"No phone? You know if it wasn't for the fact that I never carried a phone myself, I'd think you were a bunch of odd balls and leave ya here." He suddenly burst into a belly laugh, having to wipe his eyes he was laughing so hard. "Come on then, jump in. There' s a hotel about an hour down the road. I'll take ya and see ya safe, or my name isn't Billy... which it is, by the way."

Mark thanked Billy profusely as he climbed into the front passenger seat of the car. Mary was nowhere near as grateful, but she offered him a smile as she climbed in the back seat. And then, once they were both in and strapped up, the pick-up took off.

"So, what are a couple like you doin' out here?" Billy asked as they cruised along the road. He had the window down, with his elbow resting on the sill.

"Oh, we're not a couple!" Mia said quickly, leaning in from the back as she did.

"What?" Billy asked, confused by the statement.

"You said what are a couple like you doing, and I wanted to let you know that --"

"It's a long story," Mark spoke over her. "I don't think you'd believe it if I told you." Billy seemed genuine enough, despite his oddities. The fact that he didn't have a phone was an annoyance too. But either way, Mark wanted to stay on his good side, so he made sure to speak over Mia so that he could to keep her from saying anything that might insult the man.

"Is that right?" he chuckled, shaking his head. "I suppose I'll have to take ya word for it?"

"Um, you wouldn't happen to know how far D.C. is from here would you?" Mark asked hopefully.

"D.C?! Blazes you are lost! What in the hell are ya doin' out... D.C. is a solid five hours west o' here."

"Damn," Mark said, leaning back heavily. As he did, he looked up in the rear-view mirror, taking note of Mia. She looked worried, more than he had thought. She always put on such a tough exterior that it never really occurred to him that she might be scared. "Hey, Mia, we're going to be okay," he said softly.

"What?" she asked, suddenly looking up at him. She had been staring out the window. Her eyes were big and pouty, gleaming with hidden tears. For the first time, Mark felt himself warming up to her.

"We'll be fine. As soon as we get to a phone, we'll call your mom and let her know where we are. Then I can call the agency and they can send a pick up. Everything is going to be fine." He smiled and she smiled tremulously back.

"Oh... oh right," she said almost absentmindedly. "Look, Mark. I wanted to... I was thinking before that this whole thing wouldn't have happened if I hadn’t run away... and I wanted to say sor --"

Had Mark been paying attention to the road, he might have seen it coming. Or, at the very least, been more prepared for what happened. Instead he was looking back at Mia when the front windshield exploded.

"What the fu --" Mark yelled as he spun across to look at Billy. Billy lay slumped in the front seat, a distinct bullet hole in his head. "Billy!" Mark yelled as he uselessly grabbed at the now dead driver.

"Mark!" Mia yelled. She pointed straight ahead where the truck had begun to veer off the road.

"Shit!" Mark exclaimed. Mark was quick to react. He climbed over Billy's body and pushed him to the side. He then slid into the driver's seat, and turned the car back onto the road. Then, once he was in and secure, he hit the accelerator for all it was worth.

"What's happening!" Mia screamed from the back seat.

"Sniper!" Mark yelled back as he pushed the pick-up truck forward.

"A sniper? What do you mean a sniper?!"

Really that was just a guess on Mark's part. He honestly had no idea what had just happened. But there was a bullet wound through Billy's head that seemed to come from nowhere. A sniper was the only realistic option. 

The highway was practically empty. They hadn’t passed another vehicle in either direction for the last twenty minutes, but suddenly Mark could see two SUV’s coming up fast behind them.

The pick-up they were in was old and worn down. The SUV's were brand new and geared up. They caught the truck with ease. It was a two-lane highway, with the pick-up driving in the right lane and the two SUV's flanking it on either side. At first, Mark thought that the black vehicles were going to come up on either side of him, but then the one on the right hit the accelerator and drove itself into the tail of the pick-up.

"Hold on!" Mark yelled. He pulled down on the wheel, cutting the pick-up across both lanes, trying to keep the SUV’s from being able to come up beside them.

The engines in the other vehicles trumped his own though, and soon he was nestled between the two behemoths. The old farm truck was way too heavy to pick up speed like the flashier new SUV’s. They worked their way slowly up the side of the pick-up truck. It looked to Mark as if they were going to try to force the truck to a halt. Well he wasn't going to let that happen.

With as much effort as he could muster, he pulled down on the steering wheel, turning it at a hard right and straight into one of the SUVs. He caught the driver by surprise, sending the large vehicle off the road just before they came up to a drainage gulley. The SUV hit the jump hard, flying into the air and flipping over twice as it hit the ground with enough momentum to propel it a hundred feet into the field and over a pile of boulders that the farmer had stacked in the out-of-the-way corner of his field. Mark caught all this with a glance in his side mirror.

Now there was just one.

Without hesitating, because he didn’t want to lose the benefit of the distraction he had just created, he turned the wheel of the old truck to the left, attempting to slam it into the side of the other SUV.

The SUV saw him coming and dodged left to avoid the truck, hitting his brakes as he did so.

Keeping stout in its mission to chase Mark down, it came back hard, nudging at the back of the pick-up truck, testing Mark's ability to keep the vehicle steady.

"What are we going to do!" Mia screamed loudly as the SUV rammed into the back of them.

"Hold on!" Mark yelled back. Mark actually had a plan, one borne from an incident he himself had been involved in earlier that day.

He pushed down on the accelerator, creating a small gap between himself and the tailing SUV. Then, when there was a tiny bit of breathing room between the two cars, he slammed on the brakes hard.

The SUV drove full throttle into the back of the pick-up truck. As it did, the grill buckled and crumpled on the heavy metal of the tailgate on the old farm truck. The hood folded in on itself, like tissue paper being wadded into a ball. Mark then hit the accelerator again and took off. He glanced quickly in his rearview mirror and saw that the SUV was dead in the middle of the road. Steam was escaping from the engine, and he saw a man dressed in black slowly emerge from the bent passenger side door of the vehicle.

"Oh my god!" Mia exclaimed, falling back in the seat. "That was.... that was incredible!" she shrieked in excitement, before calming down. "Is that it? Are we safe?"

Mark didn't answer. He kept his eyes on the road, both in front and behind. By the looks of it, they were safe for now. Those appeared to be the only two cars sent after them. But to say that they were safe for good would be jumping the gun.

If Mark was right, he'd bet that the danger had only just begun. No one went to this much trouble and expense just to give up when their captives got away. He was pretty sure they’d be sending reinforcements – and soon. Mark only hoped they had time to get to safety before the thugs caught up to them again.