The three teens were right behind him. The man glanced back and picked up speed. Joe looked over at Vicki and made a sign. She nodded quickly and they sprinted ahead. The two were surprised when another figure walked out right in front of the strange man.

It took a few seconds for them to see that it was Frank. He stopped in the middle of the path and stayed there. Vicki took the opportunity and stuck a foot out and sent him back to the ground again. He finally seemed to give up. Then the teenagers pulled him to his feet.

"What’s going on here," Vicki asked him, "Who are you?" The man made no reply, and she ripped off the mask, "Jim Condo!"

"This is the man you were talking about," Frank asked, walking up to the group.

"How do you know my name," the man asked before Vicki could reply.

"I saw your picture," Vicki answered, "You should have thought of hiding the evidence before you tried to blow the whole place up." C. J. ran up to the four.

"I thought you kids were taken care of," Jim said suddenly, "We didn’t think you had enough time to find the evidence before the place went up. I should have done it while I had the chance."

"Wrong," Joe said, "We got out soon enough, even though we were in the building. Can you explain all this to us Doctor Condo?" Joe glared at him silently.

"It’s not that easy," Jim said, "You see, it took me a while to think of this idea. All I needed was a reason to get these guys on my side. So I made a deal with them." The four teens glanced at one another.

"What kind of deal," Joe asked, "What reason did you have to do this?"

"I’m curious myself," C. J. joined in and Vicki nodded her agreement.

"Why don’t we all have a little talk," a second new voice joined in, "Would you all please walk in front?" Another guy with a gun appeared in front of them.

Vicki considered arguing but thought against it when C. J. motioned for them to do what he said. Vicki had to agree, they might get some useful information out of the conversation.

"Why should we," Joe said instead of keeping quiet, "It’s two against four."

"We’ve got insurance though," the guy said, "I believe that you know this girl." Callie was standing behind him, looking pale and frightened.

"Do what he says," Callie told them, "I don’t think he’ll hesitate to use it." Her usual calm brown eyes were wide from fear and pleaded with them to do what he asked of them.

They walked slowly in front of the man, not far enough to get away or have a chance to escape. They were beginning to get tired of this whole captured thing. Where was the Gray Man when all of this happened? He certainly wasn’t trying to help them out at the moment.

Everyone glanced around, hoping to see a sign of him. There was no possible chance for them to make a move. The Gray Man was their only hope for escaping a second time, but he was nowhere in sight. Vicki stared straight ahead the whole time, not bothering to show an emotional change.

Callie, on the other hand, kept her eyes fixed on the ground. She felt guilty for dragging them into this mess. The last thing she wanted now was for them to see the tears in her eyes. She forced herself to gaze ahead. No one bothered to take notice of her change in attitude. They couldn’t blame her now. If they had acted quicker, perhaps they could have avoided the whole thing.

Vicki walked ahead, Callie standing beside her. Their eyes met and for the first time felt sympathetic towards her. She herself had been through a lot of tough spots before, but Callie obviously wasn’t as used to it. Vicki could understand her frustration.

"Don’t worry about it," Vicki whispered to her, "We’ll get out of this in no time at all." The group of five then reached a room and was ordered inside. The man spoke to someone for a minute and two other men joined him.

"What do you propose we do," the first one said, "They know too much as it is."

"They haven’t seen that much," the second said, "They don’t even know the story."

"But they can lead the police back here," the first replied, "We don’t want to risk that do we?" Jim Condo jumped in.

"We don’t," Jim answered, "but we also don’t want to give them a chance to escape. How about we get rid of these kids? They can’t blab and the police won’t suspect a thing."

"Okay," the first man agreed, "Who goes first though?" He glanced at all five of them.