The Corner Store

Chapter 8 - What dignity? The one we stepped on back there?

The feed to my camera suddenly cut off and all I could see was an empty hallway. I navigated to every camera in my house but nothing struck me as odd or out of place. I spent the next few minutes slowly going over every frame, with Axel patiently by my side.

"Is it me or is there nothing remotely different from the last seven times you checked?" He asked, somewhere between jokingly and being dead serious.

But he's right. It's like whoever was there just vanished into thin air. I went through the internal and external footage again one more time and everything seemed like it was going well.

"I'm sorry that I have to do this but can we please...."

"Yes of course! Hey, don't worry about it. You can wait in the truck, I'll pack all this up." He smiled at me and turned around to put everything back into its container.

"Thanks." Was all I had the energy to say.

I opened the door and hopped into the front seat, and I didn't realize that my body was shaking until now.

What Axel doesn't know is that I've seen that mask before. The exact same thing happened when my family was still alive. That meant..... that meant that they finally found me.

That was the last thing my mom saw before..... right before....

"Who are you?" Said Linda Powers, accidentally dropping and shattering the cooking bowl.

"Honey! Is everything ok?" Called out George Powers.

"Call your husband over here right now and don't you dare make a sound!" Said the masked guy, pointing his gun towards my twin brother Hunter.

"Hey Georgie?" She said, her voice shaking. "Can you help me out here a little?"

"Of course hun. Give me a second." He called out.

"Get on your knees now!" Whispered the hooded guy to my mom and brother.

Reluctantly, they both got on the floor, my mom scooting closer to Hunter to shield him.

"Hey Linda. Where are you?" My dad asked.

"I'm lost in the world of Neverland. Where the sun don't ever shine."

"Oh are you really? You just like messing with me don't you babe?"

"No hun. Captain Hook brought his claws but none of the ship members."

The hoodie guy was clearly confused and too irritated but that didn't last long.

Within a split second, my dad had his assault rifle pointed toward the hoodie dude, my mom pushed Hunter under the table and side-kicked the gun out of the man's hand and held it against him.

"Do you want to tell us what the hell is going on and who sent you?" Asked Dad, dragging him towards the living space.

"What do you want from us and how did you get in?" Asked mom, searching the man for any more weapons.

The man never said a word, just stared straight ahead.

"It's ok. You don't have to say anything. I found this." She said, waving a flash drive in her hand.

My dad handcuffed the hoodie guy and took off his hoodie to reveal a very young guy with blonde hair and a nasty scar that goes all across his cheek.

"So you're what exactly? The Russian mafia? Look George. They've been spying on us. There are reports on all of our past recon missions with the Air Force. They have files on each and every one of us; including my Unit Chief."