"I can't believe he's sleeping."

I opened my bleary eyes to see Raven and Parrot standing over me. Ow! My side and neck throbbed. I had bent over on my side so that my face lay on the wooden desk. Probably wasn't the smartest sleeping position.

"What time is it?" I murmured. My jaw stretched into a yawn.

Raven glared at me. "It is noon. Did you fail to get into the Federal archives and sites on the deep web?"

Blindly, I felt for the mouse on the table. My hand settled on the plastic device, and I jostled it. I lifted my head just enough to see the screen light up with the Federal Archives database.

"The dark web stuff is in another browser," I mumbled. My head collapsed on the table. All I wanted to do was go back to sleep.

But my mind had already been activated. I remembered what had happened after Raven left the room. I had spent the first hour hacking into the various sites, which left me two hours to sleep. I must have fallen asleep and not even realized it.

It actually was scary how easy—and natural—it felt to hack into the sites. It somehow made the criminal act worse. I didn't want to be a naturally talented law-breaker.

Raven surveyed the work I had done. Slowly, he nodded. "Good work. This will provide much of the information we need."

Don't tell me you're going to try to rob Fort Knox, or pull another really big job. But why else would they need access to a Federal Database?

Those were the least of my worries. Raven motioned for the other gang members to sit down. By now, I knew what that meant. It was time for another briefing, which meant that soon I would be whisked away to complete another job. No! I just want to sleep!

"We need to move on to our next job. Please sit down in your normal seats."

His remark was pointed towards me, since I was still sitting in the chair behind the desk. I forced myself to stand up, no matter how tired I was, no matter how much I wanted to fall asleep. I stumbled to my wooden chair right in the center of the room. Even with two hours of rest, I was still exhausted. It can't be healthy to go without sleep for so long.

Raven squinted at me. He picked up my coffee cup and removed the lid. "Oh! No wonder you're tired. You haven't drunk your coffee." He opened the box of donuts next. In the whole dozen, I had only eaten one. "And you haven't properly eaten."

I wouldn't exactly consider donuts 'proper' food, especially when they could have been poisoned.

Raven handed me the box of donuts and my coffee. "Drink it up. We need you to be alert. If you need a second cup, let me know."

Too tired to argue, I raised the cup to my lips and poured the bitter liquid down my throat. It was room temperature now, edging on cold. And to make matters worse, it was completely black coffee. I grabbed a donut to mask the taste. Now that I wasn't starving, it tasted too sweet and fatty. But I did feel more awake, so that was a plus...I guess.

"The next job is going to be at the Silver Spoon Diner, right here Richmond, Virginia. It's only twenty minutes away, fortunately, since this is a two part job."

"Was that a location named on the tape?" Cougar asked.

"Yes. We got everything necessary for the job, so it's all set."

"That was fast," Cougar remarked.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures. Now, here's what we've decided. We're going to round up all of the occupants of the diner, including the staff and customers. We will tie them all up and bring them here for interrogations. The people who aren't useful will be released. The rest of them will be detained. Here are your stations."

Raven pulled out a map of the diner and held it up. It had five locations labeled A-E. "Stations A and B—that's you, Calico and Cougar—you're going to be responsible for rounding up all the people inside the diner. Station C is Falcon. You'll be back-up, watching the west backdoor to ensure no one escapes. Parrot, you're at Station D, the eastern backdoor. That way we'll cover all exits. And Station E will be you, Jordan. You'll be located in the car. Your job is to watch a surveillance camera of what is going on and do two things. First, you need to watch for any stragglers who are hiding inside the building. We need to round up everyone in that building. Second, you need to contact Falcon if there is a problem inside, like if the staff or customers begin fighting back."

I nodded, but I didn't like it. I mean, I was going to be responsible for the kidnapping of scores of innocent people. And I was supposed to rat them out if they fought back. But what other choice did I have? It was either that or get shot.

"You'll be responsible for hacking into the security system of the diner. How long do you think that will take?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "Maybe twenty minutes, or thirty minutes, or..."

Raven's eyes narrowed. "Twenty to thirty minutes? Are you serious?"

I gulped. "Y-yes." It sounded more like a croak than a word.

"You need twenty to thirty minutes when you've hacked into systems in the past in under a minute?"

I am not Jordan! I wanted to scream it from the mountaintops.

"Twenty to thirty minutes is the best I can do," I stated, trying to sound firm. In spite of my efforts, I sounded shaky at best.

"You must be really out of practice," Raven sighed. "I'm starting to rethink our decision to ask for your help..."

Oh no! He's not thinking about disposing of me, is he?

This raised an important concern. If they were planning on disposing of me anytime they thought that I was no longer useful, would that mean that they would kill me when I finished the job? Did they actually plan on releasing me, even if I did as they said? Don't think like that! They promised me freedom.

Then again, they are criminals. They probably wouldn't think twice about killing me.

"I'll try to hack into the system as quickly as I can," I said, hoping that would help to prolong my life.

"Good," Raven said. "Now get going. The clock is ticking and we still have two more jobs to complete after this."

***

As it turns out, it only took me fifteen minutes to hack into the security system. I was hardly proud of my record time, though. The words "this is criminal!" echoed in my head like a playlist on repeat.

I stared at the black-and-white image of people talking at tables and enjoying lunch. I wanted to avert my eyes from the sight. It was too painful to watch. It summoned too much guilt within me.

I glanced around nervously. We were parked in an alleyway behind the Silver Spoon Diner, surrounded by rusted trash cans and debris. Light streamed from a narrow lane on the side, leading to the main street and front entrance of the restaurant. Part of me wished a police car was nearby, so I could get help. The other part of me worried that I would end up behind bars with the gang.

"Ready?" Cougar asked. Calico nodded.

"Ready," Falcon said.

"Readier than a fox about to attack a henhouse," Parrot said.

"Let's go then." In sync, they opened the four doors of the car and stalked towards the building. They were extremely sketchy, dressed in all black leather attire.

Finally, I was alone. Part of me wanted to run away. But my limbs seemed to be paralyzed in fear, like even the slightest movement would cost my life.

If you leave now, you can probably get away!

Idiot! They're a gang, remember? They can probably hunt you down. They may even go after your family!

It seemed that the disadvantages far outweighed any benefits of running away. My only hope would be if I received outside assistance...

Now is my chance! I can call for help! I reached into my pocket, my fingers brushing the piece of parchment with the phone number on it.

But once again, I was faced with the issue of not having a phone to call for help on. I craned my neck to peer down the sunny lane. There were lots of people strolling about. Maybe I can ask to borrow someone's cell phone.

And now for the next obstacle I faced: was I locked inside the car? And worse yet, would there be an alarm if I tried to get out? I didn't see them set any alarms up, but they could have turned the security on without me noticing. Or were there cameras trained on me, capturing my every move?

That was just a chance I was going to have to take. I can say that I...uh...really needed to go to the bathroom! Yes, that ought to work. I'll just say that I had to go to the bathroom. Surely they wouldn't be cruel enough to deny me that simple right. I moved the computer from sitting in my lap. I glanced around. None of the gang members were in sight.

My fingers wrapped around the door handle. Here goes nothing. One, two, three! I pulled and squeezed my eyes shut, bracing myself for a blaring alarm.

Nothing happened. The handle swung back into place. The door was locked.

No! I'm trapped in here!

My eyes fell on the lock on the side of the door. I pulled it upwards and tried again. The door opened. I paused a moment in case an alarm went off, but I didn't hear anything. Thank goodness! I'm finally free!

Something squished underfoot as I exited the car. I looked down to see that I had stepped into a pile of mud. Oh great. Now I've ruined my shoes. As if this day couldn't get any worse.

I glanced around me once again, then dashed towards the sunlight at the end of the lane. My shoes thumped lighty on the stone. I hope no one hears me. Apprehension flooded over me with every step I took. I felt like someone was about to discover me at any moment, a bullet about to whizz around the corner, a knife about to be thrown at my back.

As I rounded the corner, I nearly smashed into a woman walking on the sidewalk.

"Oh! Excuse me!" I said.

The woman gave a high-pitched giggle, brushing a platinum curl behind her ear. "No problem, cutie."

I turned redder than a tomato. "Uh, err, thanks."

She giggled again, brown eyes sparkling in the sunlight. A sly smile crossed her face, as if she knew something I didn't. I wanted to tell her to stop looking at me like that. It was grating on my nerves.

I suddenly remembered why I had left the car. I cleared my throat. "I, er, was wondering if you could, um, lend, me your cell phone. I, uh, lost mine. And I need to call my, uh, parents for help."

"Of course, handsome," she said. She reached into her purse and pulled up her phone for me.

"Thank you." I pulled the piece of parchment from my pocket and dialed the detective agency.

"Hello, this is The Civic Criminality Detective Agency, Washington D.C. area. How may I help you?"

"Hello, this is Claude again. I'm currently at The Silver Spoon Diner in Richmond, Virginia. I'm waiting for Cougar, Calico, Parrot, and Falcon to finish a job. Can you send someone to help?"

"At which diner?"

"The Silver Spoon."

"I see. How long do you think they will be?"

"I don't know. Maybe twenty minutes to half an hour?"

"We can try to get there in time. Thank you for letting us know."

"What should I do? Should I try to get away from the area?"

"No, continue with whatever role you're assigned. We don't want them to grow suspicious. When we get there, we'll get you out of there." I breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, I'll be able to go home!

"Alright. Good-bye."

I hung up the cellphone and turned back to the woman, only to find her staring at me. She giggled when I looked at her. I shifted, feeling very uncomfortable.

"Thank you," I said, handing the phone back to her.

"Anything for you, Claude."

Oh gosh! She must have heard my name over the phone.

"Well, I need to go. Have a nice day."

She reached out and grabbed my hand. My eyebrows creased. A thin sheet of paper was pressed into my palm.

Is she working for the detective agency? Is this another secret message?

"What's this?" I asked.

"My phone number." She giggled again. It was beginning to grate on my nerves.

"What do I do with it?"

"You call me."

I grappled for any excuse I could give to get out of this. "I, er, don't have a phone."

"Then call me when you find it. I'll be waiting." She blew me a kiss before strolling away. I stared down at the folded paper in hand.

Maybe it is a secret message and she just doesn't want anyone watching to know.

I unfolded the note. Sure enough, it had the name 'Jamie Jefitz' written at the top (probably the woman's name) and a phone number.

What do people think I am? A phone book?

I shoved the number in my pocket and hurried back to my station within the car. Hopefully no one will notice that I was gone.

But when I returned to the car, I realized that my absence wouldn't be missed. One of my jobs was to tell Falcon to enter the building if anyone fought against Calico and Cougar. On the screen in front of me, a man in a chef's hat was throwing punches at Cougar, along with three women in aprons. Calico was taking on four people in uniform too.

And Cougar and Calico appeared to be losing.