Derek dove into the limousine. "Push over, Diego," he said to a boy his age. "We need to get out of here fast, before the police find out they're needed."

   The faint wail of sirens sped them up. The leader jumped into the driver's seat, buckled hastily, and started the vehicle. He jammed down on the accelerator and they sped away.

  The jostling and bumping soon awoke Dominica, and she heard the wail of sirens get louder. Then the limousine stopped.

  "Your license please," came a commanding voice.

  Light suddenly flooded the trunk. A secret passage between the the trunk and the front of the limousine was revealed. "Come out," said a voice.

  Dominica crawled through the passage into the front. A man hustled her through the passenger door opposite to the side where the police chief was talking to the leader.

  "Open the trunk," the chief ordered the leader.

  The leader slowly obeyed.

  The chief ordered his officers to search the limousine thoroughly. While he was doing that, the lead kidnapper dashed away into the woods.

  "After him!" shouted the police chief.

  The leader was chuckling to himself as he ran off. "What idiots, to fall for such a simple trick!" he snickered. "Boss'll be delighted! RBK rocks!" He ran on, so fast that no one could catch him.

  Dominica was blindfolded and brought to a huge, underground chamber, where her blindfold was removed. She looked around and took in her surroundings.

  A large council table took up the middle of the room, surrounded by hard benches. Picture frames hung on the wall in a neat row, with photos of men and women alike. At one end of the room were many bunk beds and chests. The opposite side of the room had several couches and a huge flat-screen TV. Several men were lounging there, watching a hockey game. One of them, a tall, clean shaven man with long black hair tied back in a ponytail, stood up.

  "You have succeeded," he said in a calm voice. He turned to Dominica, who was scowling deeply. "Young friend, we have just saved your life. Are you not thankful?"

  "Liar!" Dominica spat out.

  "Come here," he said firmly, beckoning to her. She came over, and he showed her the pictures on the wall. "See this couple? They lived so long ago we barely remember their era. We are their descendants."

  "So?" said Dominica.

  He turned to her. "You are one of their descendants."

  "Yeah right!" Dominica rolled her eyes.

  He showed her a picture. "That is your father."

  Dominica looked and was shocked immediately. "That is my father!" She turned to him. "Did you kidnap my father?" she demanded.

  "No, our mortal enemies did," he said.

  "Who are they?"

  "Mortal enemies of our ancestors," he replied. "Descendants of Midnight Storm."

  Dominica's eyes widened, but she said nothing.

  "Yes," he said. "That is what we do. We save our fellow descendants before they are kidnapped. They don't do it often, but when we know their plans to, we get on top of it right away."

  "Then how come my family was kidnapped?" Dominica inquired.

  "We only managed to save you," he replied. "Your brother we tried to rescue, but failed. He was the main part of our partly successful mission."

  "Why?"

  "Nodar.. he is the youngest male of our known fellow descendants. They want to kill him in hopes of  discouraging us from striking back at them," he replied. "You see, one of us killed Storm's youngest male descendant, and now they want to kill the youngest male descendant of my line.The couple I showed you, Nadezda and Jaremiah Lamar, are my great-great-great-great-great-great grandparents. I am Taylor Lamar."

  "Taylor, are we going to rescue my brother?" Dominica asked impatiently.

  "Yes," Taylor answered. "First, we need to prepare."

  Derek rested on his bunk. Diego, who slept below him, tried to make conversation.

  "That girl, she looks a lot like you," he commented.

  "I should know." Derek pulled his pillow over his head. "She's my sister."

  "You're funny, Derek," Diego said, resting on his elbow. "If she's your sister, where's the rest of your family and why don't they live here?"

  "Ask me not. I know the answer to neither of the questions. I've been living here for three years, 'cause Taylor took me to live here. We obviously rescued for for the obvious reason that she's my sister." He took out his ipod, stuck in his earbuds, and started blasting some music.

  Police chief Jimenitz looked at a piece of paper that had been found in the limousine and sighed, with a scowl on his face. "Slippery criminals. They always escape!"

  "Chief!" one of his officers called. "The girl we are looking for is not in her hotel room, yet she is not reported to have checked out."

  Jimenitz sighed again, this time in frustration. "She must have been the one that group got away with, crazy kidnappers. Komardo!" he called to another officer. "Take Jamaal, Alan, Marianna, and Maraline, and investigate the woods. See if you can come up with anythnig that could help us find this girl."

  A recently appointed officer, Matt Devin, came up to Jimenitz. "Chief, I found a passage between the front of the limousine and the trunk."

  Jimenitz considered this. "Yes, a simple trick. They got her out of the trunk through the passage, and forced her to get out  from the side door of the limousine facing the woods." He turned to Devin. "Matt, you and Rob patrol this place. I'll send some more men out to you when the rest of us get back to the station." Jimenitz beckoned to the rest of the officers. "Come, we'll go back to the station." He turned to matt Devin and Rob Milan. "Be careful; these men could be dangerous."

  Back at the station, Jimenitz went to his underground office to further dig into Dominica's family history. He went further and further back until he reached Jaremiah and Nadezda Lamar. Then he went on to check out their enemies. He read several names, most of them unfamiliar to him. Then he read:

  'The most known descendant of these people is Spear Storm. He is most notorious for his cruelty, mostly in the form of impaling.'

  Jimenitz thought this over, almost sick to his stomach. He was jerked back to reality by an  urgent knock on the door. "Come in," he called.

  Dale Irving, one of Jimenitz's most trusted aides, burst in. "Devin and Milan have been attacked, Chief. Milan we think is about to die, and Devina ppears to have gone insane! They have benn brought in, and Milan is currently under care."

  The office door suddenly crashed open, and they saw a wild-eyed Devin with his gun in hand. "You murderer!" he yelled. "You knew there was danger. You wanted us killed!" He aimed at Jimenitz.

  Quickly, Dale tackled the 25 year old officer and knocked him out. Jimenitz helped him take Devin upstairs.

  "Call in Dr. Dunlap," he ordered Dale. "We need to find out what's wrong with Devin."

  Jason Dunlap performed a series of tests on Devin.

  "He has not gone insane," he reported to Jimenitz. "It seems as if his attacker riled him up to the point where he wanted to kill you."

  "But who attacked him?"Jimenitz wondered.

  Did anyone know? Yes, but only one.