Half of the time they were there, Sears was talking about how this was the first time that had taken his kids to be in a school since their mother had been homeschooling them. Well… their mother was gone. He did this same song and dance a million times. Especially since Alexandria had a problem with fights at her schools.
"Okay, just sign here and here."
Another half hour was spent on testing her to see if she was up to standards. When they left, Sears couldn't help but giggle to himself.
"Congrats, little Lia Sears."
He ruffled her hair and as she was about to slap his hand away, he pulled his hand back to his side with cat like agility.
"Please don't do that."
"Alright."
A black van came closer to the two. Sears had caught on but didn't say a word. He had put people in these types of situations millions of times. Lucky for the two, Sears had also seen a few unlucky fellows that tried to get one over on their persuers by hiding. So, Sears put his arms out in yawning motion as he opened his mouth and spoke.
"What are you doing?"
"We're being followed. Don't turn around. Follow me into the cafe. You're going to get out through the window and I'm going to take the side door back to the car. Do you understand?"
Despite how fast he was talking, she shook her head. With his raised arms they couldn't tell what he was saying. He had been to this cafe multiple times.
"What am I going to do?"
"Head for the car too. If they run for you, run even faster."
She nodded her head again and as the two moved into position, so did the two men in the car. They wore black suits that weren't tailored but were still nice fits for the two. Sears made sure to make a mental note of that and once he killed the two he would make sure to see where they got the suits for the sake of Scott.
"Hey there sir, would you like to answer some questions?"
"No, thank you."
Like clockwork, they tried to pin him in the alley placing their backs to the curb so that way they could affectively make Sear's invisible with their large bodies. They were both almost seven feet tall and despite that, Sears slammed his two boots together so that way he could have the knife that he had mechanically placed in his boot's sole to pop out.
"Nice trick."
"Thanks, again. But I'm giving the two of you a chance to leave me alone."
"No can do. Boss man has called for the two of you. You're coming back to D.O.W.N."
His eyes widened and he almost allowed for his face to make a shocked gesture. They were from D.O.W.N. But he was also surprised that they weren't there to kill him.
"So, you're not here to kill me?"
"Absolutely not. We're here to return you to your landlord because he wants to talk about how you've been running a business out of his apartments."
"Why does it matter to him?"
Just for a second, the man seemed to have a bit of malice towards Sears but he quickly sent it to the deepest bowels of his mind.
"Because he wants to offer you a job. Now, get in the car. We will use force if necessary."
He remembered Lia, sitting in his jeep, terrified for her life and had been patient enough to wait. He needed an excuse and fast.
"I'll be right back at the office. Just give me a second."
He turned to his watch. He had half an hour before the date. The moment he was off, the two men talked about what they should do. This distraction allowed for Sears to bolt through an alley and over a fence and in through the sunroof of his jeep.
"Oh my. You look like you just had a bad time."
Little did she know, when he came in through the sunroof, he hit his head on the roof. His head hurt a great deal, and he tried to grab his keys as he almost broke his chair from the nosedive into it.
"I've had a long day. You're going back to the cabins and I'm going to go for a shower. Also, remind me to talk with the landlord."
His eyes rolled into the back of his head as the headrest became more comfortable. He was om the verge of sleep. So close but far enough that he was able to turn shortly after they had been green for some time. When he got back to the cabin, he dialed his landlord.
"Hello?"
"Be down at the cabins in fifteen. We need to talk, now."
When the landlord arrived at the cabins, he'd caught Sears wearing only a towel and still having suds in his long brown hair.
"Are we going to talk about how you're running a buisness that runs ajacent to mine or are you going to tell me why you're getting letters from a hitch hiker in the middle of nowhere?"
In the back of Sears's mind, he was happy that BB had been able to contact D.O.W.N for what was probably his plan. But on the other hand, he was competing with D.O.W.N? He didn't know what exactly they were doing. Also, Sears knew very little about D.O.W.N.
"Can I make a deal with you?"
The landlord thought for precisely two seconds previous to answering.
"Yes."
"I'll work for you if you turn that hitchhiker over to us."
He hoped that BB was expecting this deal. If not, who knows what would happen. He knew that in the late nineties his landlord would be dethroned as the head of D.O.W.N and he knew that Alexandria and Lia were related to who would be the new head, so he believed the deal to be good. The landlord ignorantly agreed with this.
"I'll take it. Also, what do you know about magic?"
"Nothing."
"Even better."
After putting on his clothes, he ran to make sure that he had his keys. Soon, he was off to meet Abigail.
"Alright, we made a call and your friends have opted for a deal."
"Tell me the terms."
He had the general idea down in his head. They gave up something for him, and it would take a long time to repay it.
"Let's see, your friends work for D.O.W.N forever and you get to see them again."
"Crude but fair. How about six years?"
"This is non-negotiable."
"Worth a try."
BB wasn't surprised. But he was going to figure out how he could get the unit from Buffalo to New Chicago because he needed help from the Diostar family and had to do it fast.
"Okay?"