"Guys, we've got company," said Nick.
"Own it," said Sarah.
"The hunter, has just become the hunted," Oliver said maniacally.
Nick let our a war whoop - "Go get 'em Roy!"
The Message
The STEM tour for a dozen high school students has gone on far too long and is becoming boring. All the students are bright and hand-picked to attend by their teachers, except Nick, the "farm boy", he was sent as punishment by the Principal...and to get him out of his hair for a day. Not another 3D printer! Well, that is all about to change. BOOM!
There is an explosion, and Sarah, a 14-year old tomboy gets separated from the group. Gun shots are heard as she makes her way down a myriad of corridors filled with smoke and falling debris. The lights flicker as a wounded man in a grey government suit makes his way towards Sarah. Frozen with fear, Sarah lets the man approach...is he friend or foe? Either way, he clasps her hand with a bloody grip and whispers a message into her ear...a message the dying man says can only be delivered to the President...that is the President of the United States!
From there Sarah is joined by three other boys, Oliver, Virgil...and the farm boy Nick. They are clearly classmates, and not friends, but they quickly learn they must work together if they are to survive. Sarah, now a marked target, relies upon the boys abilities and her own skills and intuition to survive. She is determined that only the President will hear the message and the boys throw in with her. She, and they, are all being hunted by a government agent known only as Holister.
“Agent Holister,” Mad Dog said, sticking his big thumb on the guys nose, “he’s the man who interrogated you. Dangerous, not to be trusted.” He closed the dossier and turned and looked at Oliver, face to face. “I worked with him on a job in Afghanistan, after the US had completed its ordered goal there.”
“Anyway,” Mad Dog said, continuing to be serious, “Holister is ruthless, he will stop at nothing to complete his mission. In the end, it will need to be either you or him.”
Mad Dog threw the dossier on Holister in a nearby trash can, signifying he was done with the topic.
The mission will take them from their quiet little town in Indiana, to the deep jungles of South America, to France, to Mexico...all culminating for a showdown in Dallas, Texas.
“We thought Dallas would be a good place to do it in, it’s the same place we took Jack out, ” said...
Through the fog and some lingering smoke, another nuisance gave her more reason to pause. A dark outline of a shadowy figure was making its way towards her. It came, slowly at first, then once the figure saw her it increased its speed, but even at that it was not fast. Sarah stood frozen, not sure if this was help or otherwise. She waited to know, ready to run at a moment’s notice, yet she realized in an unrecognized fear, her feet stayed frozen where they were.