Fiona

March 7, 2010

Language Arts, period 3

Confusion

Chapter Four

            “Mom?”  Shannon exclaimed, her eyes almost popping out of her head.  “What are you doing here?  What are we doing here?”

            “Get in Shannon, we need to get going.  And get comfortable, it is going to be a long ride,” Shannon’s mother told her, sounding completely exhausted.  With a confused look, Shannon and Tom got into the silver vehicle.  The two strange men that were with them in the restaurant were in the car too, one driving and one in the back with them.   

            After a few minutes of awkward silence, Shannon asked her mom, “Where are we going?  Who are these men?” 

            “Shannon, I have a lot to tell you, but now is not the time.  I will explain later.”

            “No, Mom!  I want to know now!”  Shannon shouted, resulting in another awkward silence.  Finally, her mother responded.

            “Fine, but let me tell you that you aren’t going to believe me,” her mom responded, whose voice now sounded very peculiar.  “I am a special agent for the FBI.  I’ve never told anyone, including your father, who thinks I am taking you on a vacation to Mexico.”

            “Honestly mom, are you deranged?  ” stated Shannon skeptically.

            “Well that explains the government IDs,” stated Tom smugly.  Shannon looked extremely confused and annoyed.

            “Shannon,” her mom said in a soothing tone, “We’re the good guys.”  Shannon did not seem to appreciate her mother’s attempt to calm her down.

            “Mom, what are we doing here?”

            “Your mother has recently compromised her cover while on a mission in Germany, nearly ruining our chances of getting the information we need,” responded the man sitting next to them in a resentful tone with a sinister face.

            “Calm down, Gary, you know I didn’t do anything wrong,” Shannon’s mother said in a frank tone.  “Shannon, I did jeopardize our chances of receiving the information we need, which resulted in postponing the mission.  That happened about a month ago.  Now it is my job to send someone else to get the information that I can use for our mission.  Shannon, we need your help.”

            “What?”  Shannon and Tom both exclaimed.  “Mom, what can I do?  I’m only a teenager, and besides, Tom doesn’t need to be involved!  And why didn’t you get Jim to do this?  And you have never told Dad what you do?”

            “Honey, calm down.  I’m sorry Tom, but because you were with my daughter at the time we got her, we couldn’t just let you go and tell the whole town what was going on.  They would have sent search parties galore, and we don’t need that right now.  And Shannon, I didn’t get Jim because I knew he wouldn’t have been able to handle it.  Finally, I never told Dad because it was too much of a risk.”

            “Yeah, and we kept telling her that telling kids this kind of information was a stupid idea too, but apparently we are the ones who are insane!” added the man named Gary in a regretful tone.

            “So we are going to Germany?  What about school?” questioned Shannon in a shaky voice.

            “No, we are not going to Germany.  The man we need the information from fled to Chile after he found out that we were after him.  He obviously forgot that I hadn’t completely blown our chances.  I ‘chipped’ him, and we were able to watch his whole trip to South America.  We are heading there now.  And as for school, we talked to the school earlier and told them that we are taking you two out for an educational vacation.”

            “What about my family?” stated Tom hysterically.  “I know my mom is freaking out right now!”

            “I know, Tom, and again I am sorry, but she can’t know where you are.  When we get to Mexico, you will call her and tell her that you are okay.  You will tell her that you will be back soon to explain everything.  Right now, Tom, we need your help too.  I’ll tell you what we really need of you when we get to our destination.  Gary and Darrell will be helping you with anything that you need.  What do you say?”

            “Do we honestly have a choice?” questioned Shannon, sounding more annoyed than stressed.

            “Well…..” her mom sounded regretful.

“No, you don’t.  You will do it, and no whining.  I hate whining.”  Gary was obviously not an extremely pleasant man.

            “Once again, I’m sorry,” Shannon’s mom said in an apologetic tone.  “But now that this is settled, get some rest; you are really going to need it.”  With that, Shannon and Tom relaxed, both trying to sooth a chronic headache.