Betty was beginning to think that’d she’d missed out on seeing Ben. She’d called his house earlier to try and meet up with him, only his mother had said that Ben was hanging out at the mall. So Betty drove on over to look for him. The only problem was that she hadn’t anticipated on the mall being this busy today. Lot’s of people made it hard to pinpoint any specific person in a crowd. After almost two hours of searching, and maybe a little browsing through JC Penney, Betty was beginning to think that she’d missed out on them. Before she gave up, though, Betty thought she’d take a walk through the food court, just in case he happened to be there. It wasn’t until she was about halfway through the court, that something caught her eye. Three guys were leaving out of the opposite end of the court. Betty wasn’t able to see their faces, but that had to have been Ben, Mark, and Johnny. She hadn’t missed them after all. Without wasting a second, Betty began making her way to the other side of the food court, and then towards where the guys were heading. It took a minute, but, as she rounded a corner, she saw the three of them standing there, along with some guy who looked to be having a coughing fit. This fourth person barely went noticed by Betty, as she strove to get their attention.

“Guys!” she called out to them, while waving.

The three young men turned around and confirmed her suspicions, they were indeed the guys she was looking for. Unfortunately, just when it seemed that Betty had finally caught a break, Ben did the unexpected.

“Run!” he shouted to his friends.

And just like that, the three of them bolted away in the opposite direction. Betty had only one second to comprehend what had happened, before she began chasing after them. She’d done track throughout middle and high school, so she thought it wouldn’t be too much trouble to catch up with them. But dammit those guys were fast! Not only that, but they clearly knew how to move, the way they vaulted over anything that got in their way, suggested that these guys knew parkour. Betty tried her best to keep up, but it was an exercise in futility (no pun intended). By the time she reached the exit, the guys had already disappeared into the parking lot, and had probably driven away.

Betty took a minute to catch her breath, it had been a while since she’d run all out like that. Then she pulled her phone out of her pocket, dialed a quick number, and waited for the call to connect. When it did, she spoke.

“It’s me. I found the three of them together at the mall. Only, when I went to talk with Ben, they ran. Like, all out ran away.” she explained. “I think I may not have been able to get to all of them fast enough. . . . . . . . . Tonight? The town’s having a Memorial Day cookout, or something like that. Why? . . . . . . . . What exactly do you mean ‘bad’, how are things going to get bad? . . . . . You’re coming here now? . . . . . . . . . Ok sir, I’ll see you in a few hours.

*******************************************************************************************************************

No one said a word as the three friends headed for EtherealTech, not one of them was certain of what they would learn. Ben, Johnny, and Mark each sat still in the car and tried to process everything that might possibly be happening to them. Two mysterious people come out of no where, showing up conveniently at the same time that Johnny and Mark are home from school, and they both have an almost obsessive interest with Amy. Betty and Patrick could both be who they say they are, and Patrick could be telling a lie. Maybe Betty is a reporter and Patrick wants to keep Betty away from Amy so that he could interview her himself. Maybe Betty was working for some evil corporation, she seemed pretty determined to track all three of them down. Maybe Patrick was just inventing this whole story so that he could convince Amy to come be studied at EtherealTech, while her only friends are too distracted by a fake terrorist threat to talk her out of it. So many possibilities flew threw their minds. The guys each tried to look at it from every conceivable angle, but only succeeded in raising more questions than answers. Finally, Ben became too worried. At the next red light they hit, he pulled out his phone.

“What are you doing?” Johnny asked.

“Making sure Amy’s alright.” he said.

“Look man, do you think we maybe overreacting to this?” Mark suggested. “I mean, we’re talking about a plot between terrorists and the government. This sounds too exaggerated to be real.”

Ben took a slow, deep breath. “Yeah I thought about that too. Numerous times. But then I remembered that the military sent over a certifiable army to Amy’s house last year, just to keep her grounded.”

To that, Mark had no retort. As Ben’s speaker phone started ringing, Mark looked over at Johnny in the back seat. “Where’d you learn to do that?”

“Do what?” Johnny asked.

“Beat up football players.” he answered. “You’ve never taken a karate, or any martial arts, class in your life. So how did you take Kurt out in one shot?”

Johnny looked away, not saying anything. Before Mark could press him any further, Amy’s voice came on the speaker.

“Ben? What’s up?”

“Hey Amy,” he said half heartedly. “Did Patrick pay you any visits today? Or Betty?”

“Um . . . . Not really. I’ve been kind of busy lately. Haven’t seen any of them. Why?” she asked.

“No reason,” Ben said, brushing the question aside. “Busy doing what?”

“Don’t you remember? Tonight’s the big barbeque at the park.” Amy explained. “You guys said you’d be there.”

“We will, I promise.” he said. “What about yesterday? Did you meet with Betty or Patrick at all yesterday?”

“No, I had to cancel on Betty. I hurt someone real bad and I didn’t feel like meeting with her.” Amy said with hints of sadness creeping into her voice. “Ben, why are you asking all of these questions? You’re starting to worry me.”

“Listen carefully,” Ben replied, trying to keep his voice calm and even. “I’m sorry about whatever happened yesterday and I’ll talk with you about as soon as I can. Right now, though, I have to go get some answers for myself, before I can explain anything. We’ll all meet up with you at the barbeque tonight.”

There was silence on the other end of the line for a moment. “Ok,” Amy said at last. “Whatever you’re doing Ben just . . . . just be careful. You know I- . . . . just be careful.”

“I will.” was all he said before he hung up the phone. There was more silence in the car for an unbearable minute.

“I think she was trying to tell you something else at the end,” Johnny spoke at last.

Ben said nothing.

They spent the rest of the drive in ominous silence, until finally arriving at EtherealTech minutes later. It wasn’t a daunting, or even impressive, looking place. It looked like a typical office building one would find on any street corner. Inside, it looked quite nice, with a reception desk, waiting room, and everything else. The three friends walked straight to the receptionist behind the desk, with a name tag that read CINDY, who greeted them with a smile.

“Good afternoon, how many I help you young gentlemen?” she asked in a pleasant voice.

Ben cleared his throat. “We’d like to speak with Patrick Davis.”

“Oh well Mr. Davis is probably in the middle of something right now.” Cindy explained. “Do you have an appointment scheduled?”

“No but he’ll want to see us. Tell him Ben Lyons has some questions for him.” Ben insisted.

Cindy considered this for a second, before shrugging. “One moment, please.” She dialed a quick number up on her desk phone, waited a few seconds for it to be answered, and then spoke. “Hello, Mr. Davis? I have a Ben Lyons here who wishes to ask you a few questions in person. He says you’d want to see him. . . . . . Uh-huh, ok sir. You’re welcome.” Cindy hung up the phone. “Alright then, Mr. Davis is currently working in one of our labs, but he says you can go on up. The lab’s on the third floor, straight ahead. Elevator’s to your left.”

“Thank you,” Ben told her.

“You’re welcome,” Cindy answered, before turning her attention to another call.

They took the elevator up, and headed straight to the room Cindy directed them to. The lab was not much bigger than one you’d find on a college campus. Cabinets a drawers lined every wall, no doubt housing equipment of all sorts. Around the counters and tables were empty beakers and test tubes, like one would expect to find in a laboratory. Any containers that actually had something inside were all labeled clearly. Patrick stood at one table, holding a petri dish of what looked to be pills. Today he wore a blue buttoned shirt, tan khakis, a white lab coat, and protective glasses. He looked up from his work when he heard the door open.

“Ben,” he said with a smile. “I was wondering when you’d drop by. And you must be the other friends Amy’s told me about. Mark Fisher and Johnny Rice.”

“That’s us,” Johnny said.

Patrick held the petri dish out to them. “Can I offer you boys a joint relief? It’s the only snack I have at the moment.”

“Uh, no thanks.” Mark said with a slight grin. “Is that what you do here? I mean, work in labs and stuff?”

“Well, technically I’m supposed to be here on official business. But I much prefer to do actual work. Right now I’m working on a new kind of join relief medicine that takes less time to kick in.” Patrick explained. “But, from the look of you guys, I don’t think you came here to talk pharmaceuticals.”

Ben nodded. “We almost had a run in with Betty Collins.”

“Almost?” Patrick asked.

“We slipped away before she could talk with us.” Ben said.

He nodded. “So then, does that mean you believe what I told you.”

“I actually don’t know what to believe right now,” Ben admitted. “But, if we we’re to believe what you said about Betty working for terrorists, what would be in store for us?”

Patrick openly studied the three young men in silence for a few moments. Finally, he removed his safety glasses and spoke. “The honest truth? Danger. For the three of you, and anyone you care about.”

From beside him Ben could hear Johnny suck in a breath.

“You mean they would target us?” Ben asked.

“Yes, either to use you, or eliminate you.” Patrick answered.

“Why?” Mark asked.

“You three are Amy’s closest friends,” he explained. “Therefore you have a lot of influence over an individual it would otherwise be difficult to control.”

Ben shook his head, this was getting crazier and crazier by the moment. He held his hands up in a T for time-out. “You’re going to have to explain this from the beginning.”

“Of course,” Patrick said with a nod. “As I told you before Ben, Betty is working for a foreign company called Yosen International. This same company has been suspected by the CIA of being a cover for a terrorist organization, one that is very eager to get its hands on new technologies and resources. Now, we believe they are targeting Amy. We don’t know why, or if they have any specific plan in mind for her. What we do know, is what they are willing to do in order to get what they want. Including and especially assassination.”

Johnny swallowed. “Y-you really think they’d kill us.”

Patrick nodded, completely straight faced. “As of right now, none of you have anything to worry about. The people at Yosen probably see you as potential allies. People who are close to Amy and can sway her into going along with whatever they want. So they’ll try and win you over to their side first. If that doesn’t work then they’ll use force.”

Ben’s face became pale at the thought of what a terrorist organization considered ‘force’. “What about Amy?”

“Yosen will probably want to contract her into working for them so that everything appears legal and unsuspicious on the outside. That’s why EtherealTech was brought in. We’re to get her to sign on with us before Yosen can do the same thing. This is actually where Amy’s size allows us an advantage. Yosen needs a public contract between themselves and Amy, since working with a 150ft tall young woman is nearly impossible to do in secret. If they do form a public partnership with Amy, though, there’s no telling what plans they might have for her.”

Ben swallowed a nervous lump that had begun forming in his throat. This was all so unreal, so farfetched, he couldn’t believe it. He didn’t want to believe it. It scared him. Despite his fears, he forced himself to maintain a calm appearance. Even if he was scared half to death over what kind of trouble he might be involved in, he could at least pretend to take it all in stride. “Ok,” he said after a while. “Let’s say that we believe you. What can we do?”

“You’re going to have to restrict your contact with Amy.” Patrick said at once. “I know that that might be asking a lot of you, considering how close you all are. But if Yosen thinks you’re too close to her, suddenly you become leverage. Or a target.”

Ben nodded. “What else?”

“Be careful of what you say to Amy when talking with her over the phone, or video chats.”

“They can listen in on our video chats!” Ben exclaimed.

“Honestly, I’m not sure.” Patrick replied. “But at this point we can’t take too many chances. We have no idea what kind of resources Yosen has at their disposal.”

Mark took a deep breath. “Anything else?”

“Avoid Betty Collins as best you can. Other than that . . .”

Before Patrick could finish, someone else entered the lab. The labcoat and ID card he wore identified him as an employee. He looked around the same age as Patrick, with a shaved head, and a light beard around his upper lip and chin.

“Sorry to interrupt Pat.” he said. “I just thought you’d want to know that the shipment of lysergic acid is here. We’re ready to get to work any time you want.”

“Thanks Bill,” Patrick answered as he stepped away from the table. “I’m sorry to cut you short boys but this is highly important.”

“It’s alright. We appreciate what you’re doing for us Patrick.” Ben said.

Patrick smiled. “It’s my job. Don’t worry, I’ll keep out of the wrong people’s hands.” He shook hands with the three friends. Then he paused for a moment. “Are you three going to the big cookout they’re having tonight?”

Johnny nodded. “Amy asked us to come.”

Patrick frowned. “I’d be stay away from her tonight. I’m sorry, but something tells me that people will be watching her. The less you’re seen with her, the safer you and your families are.”

Ben grimaced. Amy would be pissed if he avoided her tonight of all times. “We’ll do our best.”

“Good man,” Patrick said. “Best of luck to you guys.”

And with that, Patrick and Bill made their exit. Ben, Mark, and Johnny likewise left the building.

“So what do you guys think of this?” Ben asked as they walked out.

“I think I want no part in this.” Johnny said without hesitation.

“You’d just quit on Amy? Like that?” Mark asked, a little surprised.

“I fucking hate the idea,” Johnny replied venomously. “But what can we do?”

To that, no one had any answers.

**********************************************************************************************************************

Later that evening, Ben stood in front of his mirror, making sure he looked good for tonight, but not good enough that it seemed he was making too much of an effort. Patrick said to avoid Amy for the night, but he couldn’t entirely do that. The cookout is being held in the park, where hundreds of people will be there with picnic quilts. He’d discreetly make his way over to where Amy and her parents are sitting, chat a few minutes, and then walk away. Simple as that.

Once he decided that standing in front of a mirror wasn’t going to make him any better or worse looking, Ben grabbed his keys and headed for the door. His family had already left to set up their spot ahead of time, and he was going to meet them there. Just as he was making his way down the stairs, there was a knock on his front door. When Ben went to answer it, he found a man standing at his door, with a blue van parked out in front of his house. The man was equal in height to Ben. He had neatly cut brown hair, a clean shaven face, and sunglasses. He wore a white collar shirt, black pants, a black jacket he kept unbuttoned, and no tie.

“Ben Lyons?” he asked with a smile that never touched his eyes, hidden as they were.

Ben’s grip tightened on the door he still held. He quickly looked passed the man, to the van in front of his house. He couldn’t tell how many people were inside, or if they were pointing guns at him or something.

“I’m going to need you to follow me,” the stranger continued in that easy going voice of his. “And don’t make any sudden movements or I will take you down.”

Ben held onto his poker face as best he could, nodded, and walked with the guy over to the van. Once there the stranger opened up the back doors. “Get in,” he said.

Ben did as he was told. The back of the van itself was almost completely empty. Almost. There was one passenger in the back.

“We need to talk,” said Betty Collins.