They heard doors open and shut, each time, the sounds getting closer with each shut door. They felt their heart in their throat, Annie in particular could literally hear her own damn heartbeat as though it had relocated to her brain or eardrum.
Just when Annie felt she couldn't take the tension anymore, the door flung open.
Four men filed into the room one after the other.
They beamed their flashlight on the kids.
"they're just children" one of the men said, directing his flashlight beams towards other parts of the room, the others relaxing themselves and standing upright.
"see I told you so" Another man said to no one in particular.
Annie and Jon turned their face away from the harsh light from the flashlight beams, holding up their elbow to prevent it from access to their eyes.
"what are you three doing here" one man asked.
Annie didn't reply instead she dropped Bertha on the ground behind her.
Just then, the walkie talkie on one of the men's belt cracked to life.
"what's the status Royale" a voice said through the walkie talkie.
"we've got three squatters...all kids" the one holding the walkie talkie in the same room with Annie and her siblings replied.
"we're way behind schedule....chop chop" the voice replied then the line went dead.
The man referred to as Royale didn't say any word as he stalked towards the kids and Just lifted Jon off the ground.
Annie clawed and kicked at him but her efforts were in vain.
'Oh god.. just who were these people' she thought. She could have sworn the damn building was empty when they'd first found it.
No trace of any living thing...well except for the piles of shit and the other human mess, then where did these guys come from!
They looked like assassins and were dressed from head to toe in black and had on hoods along with black masks.
They could be child traffickers or even people who killed children for sports or even one of those body parts harvesters.
Annie shuddered to think of what could become of them if they were taken but she was powerless.
There were four of them, muscular tall men and there was just 15 years old her and 10 years old Jon.
Their chances were nothing but she wasn't about to just comply with being bundled on a shoulder and taken off to lawd knows where by these dudes no less.
Another man held her and pulled her off Royale then she turned her fury on the man clawing and scratching at his face.
The man dropped her immediately she scratched his face.
"bitch" he muttered as he dropped her. She could scratch anywhere.....anywhere but the face. He held back his anger as he was tempted to hit her.
Another man had already grabbed a crying Bertha and had her strewn over his shoulders.
Annie lunged at the man but as she was busy kicking and scratching, she suddenly felt a sharp sting in her neck she raised her hands to slap what had stung her then she felt her limbs turn to jelly.
"what in the..." was the last thing her brain had the time to process before her eyes rolled back in her head then she slept.
Jon had his hands and legs tied together and he didn't even bother to struggle.
Nope, Annie was a good example of what happens if he decides to struggle and no thanks, he'd totally want to see where he was being taken to.
How wrong his ideology was.
The same man who had dropped Annie the first time picked her up with smug satisfaction.
They took the Children downstairs and brought along any trace of them being in the building, threw them in the van after pushing behind some cartons.
The man who sat at the wheel was surprised to see the children.
"what in the..."
"they're witnesses....we couldn't just leave them behind" Chondria said, cutting the man's sentence short.
The remaining three sat at the back with the kids while one sat in front with the driver.
Jon silently paid attention to the men. Apparently, they were 5 and he'd already known two names or code names rather... Chondria and Royale.
What kind of idiot uses Chondria for a nickname he wondered and he didn't realize when he let it slip out of his lips.
The moment he said it, he regretted.
The men froze for a second then burst into laughter but the Chondria guy didn't find it funny.
He stared daggers at Jon and before Jon could think of what to say or render an apology, he felt like he'd been stung on his neck and as he reached to slap it with his fingers, he fell sideways and darkness overtook him.
"ah ... finally some peace and quiet" Chondria muttered.
"chill bro...the kid was just making a joke...he didn't mean it" Royale said to him.
Chondria just stared daggers at him and gave him no reply.
The men locked the gate this time more securely as they didn't want any more surprises.
They used reinforced steel this time as they'd been locking it and yet it still found a way to hang halfway open each time they swung by, which was even rarely.
They drove to the parked truck which was already outside the city and moved the kids aside while transferring the boxes in the van into the truck.
Once they were through, they moved the kids to the truck then huddled a few distance away from the van as Chondria poured gasoline on the van before flipping a lighter open and letting it fall in front of it.
Just that did it as the van erupted in flames. The men watched it burn for a while to make sure it was turning scrap metal then they went into the truck.
Let the city deal with that they decided.
Within few hours, they were in a private luxury terminal of the Oseets international airport, 200 miles off San Jose, offloading their cargo.
Cargo which had now increased from a few boxes to include two kids and a teenager.
Once they were done, they boarded the same cargo plane, en route Arasia.
Arasia was an island off the north coast of Indonesia, only accessible by air or sea.
Their government had made sure of that. They did not want to be bothered.
Any flight to and fro the island was strictly monitored and scrutinized.
No unnecessary or unauthorized planes were allowed through their airspace for penalty of being shot down from the sky and there was no other place to fall than into the Pacific ocean if a plane was shot down, they were done for as no rescue would be sent.
More reason why any incoming plane was properly identified and those flying through, radioed ahead.
The particular plane carrying Annie and her siblings was already licensed for departure and arrival by the prime minister himself.
As it was a direct order, no questions were asked regarding the contents of the cargo aboard the aircraft.
Most people had learnt the hard way to mind their fucking business where the prime minister's affairs were concerned.
He was not a man to be toyed with.
Whoever attempted shit always had himself to blame and probably his entire family too as they would vanish without a trace and if they had children, the kids would be recruited into the AINS or the AINA.
There were other organizations too in Arasia but those were the only two places where children had more function than adults.
Arasia placed value on children.
The cargo plane arrived at the Arasian international airport, again at another private terminal.
The men didn't bother offloading the boxes but only took their living cargo off the plane to a car parked in the same terminal, engine running.
Bertha was already awake as she had fallen asleep during the long flight only to wake back up as they landed.
Her hands and feet were tied together and she felt sore. She felt too tired to even struggle as she was bundled on a man's shoulder and dropped on a seat in a black limo.
She sank into the seat. It felt so warm and soft compared to the harsh cargo plane floor she had spent the night on.
She looked towards her siblings. Big sister Annie and Big brother Jon were still asleep.
They had been sleeping since the day they were taken and they hadn't stirred.
The men who had taken them were already changed into their casual clothes and they'd gotten rid of their black outfits at the private terminal.
Each of them carried the black outfit in a plastic bag which they'd placed in another bag which they slung over their shoulder casually as though they were just coming from a leisurely stroll after classes.
She turned her eyes away from them to the scenery outside.