Chapter 5

The van sped down highway 4. Annie tried to open her eyes but they felt heavy, as if her eyelids had become small weights. She could hear rapid talking from the front of the van and a somewhat inconsistent breathing from someone near her in the back. Her head was spinning and she felt sick; mostly from the throbbing she felt at the base of her skull. The van continued bouncing along and each bump seemed to jolt her in the most uncomfortable way. She tried to make out what the men were saying but she couldn't maintain consciousness and passed out again. Annie woke with a thud that sent a pain through her back. She had been pulled by her feet out of the van and landed squarely on her back on a hard floor. She opened her eyes and was nearly blinded by the intense light from above her.

"Don't hurt her you imbecile."

"Sorry Sir."

"Annie? Annie can you hear me? Wake up dear."

She opened her eyes just enough to see a face about 3 inches from her own.

She struggled for words. "Who are you?"

It became apparent to the man standing above her that she was struggling to open her eyes.

"Turn off those bloody lights already, he barked."

The lights were dimmed almost immediately and Annie was able to blink a few times and finally fully open her eyes. Her eyes took a moment to focus and once they did she saw a man standing above her, apparently the one in charge and barking the commands. She recognized him. He had a somewhat round face with dark eyebrows and hair. She knew she had seem him somewhere but couldn't remember where. She started going through every dark corner of her brain in hopes that the memory would put a name with the face she was now seeing. However, her mental exercise was interrupted.

"Annie, you know why you are here right? Your husband, Jack, has something very important to us. The technology he invented belongs to us but he doesn't seem to believe that. You see, he is trying to maintain involvement for the next 18 months and that simply can't be allowed. He is also holding back a key portion of the code that we need. We really didn't want to have to do it this way but this is a sticky situation and my hands are tied. Things are turning desperate. And you know what they say about desperate times right?

He laughed to himself. A very obnoxious loud laugh.

"So thanks for coming with us Annie. Don't worry one bit....we feel confident that Jack will do the right thing. Smile!"

The man pulled out his phone and snapped a photo of her. When he moved the phone away she got another look at him and she nearly lost her breath. She recognized him as one who had sat at the same table as her and David at a special dinner they had attended in DC. She didn't want to believe it but she was pretty confident that there, standing over her, was the United States Deputy Secretary of Defense.