Leanna O’Regan glared at the man in the all-black uniform, bristling as she bumped against the armour-suited men flanking her on the bench in the helicopter that was carrying them away from her stranded Datsun 280Z. In the dim light of the helicopter’s interior, she could see that the man in black was wearing a respirator, and she could hear him breathing behind the mask. The mask concealed his mouth and nose, but showed the upper half of his head, which was bald and scarred. His eyes stared blankly back at her, black and soul-less. Leanna broke her stare with the man and tried to look out the windows of the helicopter’s passenger compartment, to get some idea of where they were heading. She couldn’t see much more than the starry night sky, and shivered. She saw the gold-filled suitcases on the floor, and slumped a little in defeat. She looked down at her bare legs, pressed together and covered in goose-bumps. Her hands were handcuffed in her lap, so she couldn’t adjust her yellow hoodie or the white shorts she was wearing that were starting to ride up on her and pressing the sides of her legs into the cold armour of the men sitting next to her.

“I’m cold!” Leanna shouted across the noisy, vibrating cabin to the motionless black figure sitting across from her. The man gestured to one of the other men in light-grey armour, who reached under the seat to pull out a white blanket and threw it over to Leanna. She struggled in her handcuffs to unfold it and cover her legs with it, and then tucked it in between her and the men sitting tightly against here on each side. She glared again at the man in black, and shouted over the thumping of the helicopter blades, “Where are you taking me? You have no right to do this! Only you would be so bold to kidnap someone for no reason in the middle of the night, Dante Valderez!”

Dante’s breathing continued steady and uninterrupted by Leanna’s outburst. He spoke harshly to her, his raspy voice muffled and amplified by the ventilator mask, “You are part of the California Independence Movement and a traitor! We intercepted radio transmissions to CIM spies about stolen plans, and you left Ojai in a hurry with all this gold, Rosa Jardine!”

Leanna concealed her knowing smile at the deception and scowled instead, shouting back, “I don’t know what you’re talking about! I was taking some time off to go hiking in Joshua Park!” She scowled again at Dante, unable to read his partially obscured face.

“With all this gold? You were not travelling alone, Ms. Jardine! We had reports from several Proud Americans Brigade members that you were travelling with a child and dog,” Dante growled at Leanna.

“I was alone! It wouldn’t be the first time the PABs got their information wrong,” Leanna shot back.

One of the armoured men guarding Leanna shouted out, “We did not find any plans in the car she was driving or any other occupants! We did see a white dog running away, though!”

“The plans must still be with whoever else was in that car with Rosa,” Dante Valderez barked at the armoured man sitting next to him. “We will send out a search party in the morning and a new broadcast to all the PABs in the region to look out for a white dog and possibly a child, and to report back immediately on their whereabouts!”

*** This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. ***