Kidnapped for Hire

Harper knew she was being followed, she didn't dare look, it was better to remain as if she was a typical oblivious girl, but in reality, she was aware of all her surroundings. 

Had it been an hour? Two? Was there more than one? No matter how many corners she took, or crowds she immersed herself in, someone or something was always near. 

Harper followed every evasive maneuver she could think of, why couldn't she shake them? Whoever they were they were good, but she wasn't ready to give in. She had counted three shadow's, but she must have lost one, because now, she was down to two.

Reaching a busy intersection, she hailed a taxi, hopefully she could get lost in traffic. The driver, a young man roughly her age, greeted her as she took a seat in the back. "Where to miss?" 

"Tellerfield Farms please"

He nodded with a smile, and reached into the console, pulling out a water bottle, he offered it to her. " You look like you need a drink. Long day?"

She took it gratefully. "You have no idea! Thanks for the water" Harper took a long swig, to clear her dry throat. Her Dad was not going to be happy, she was home so late, but once she explained, she knew he would understand. He also would likely, confine her to the house for a week, before he sent her on any new missions.

All of the sudden Harper began to feel unnaturally drowsy, she fought it, but it was too late, the driver had purposely drugged her with the water, he must have been part of the team that had been tailing her all day. Angrily, she succumbed as sleep took over. 

How long had she been out? Groggily Harper came too and immediately began to survey her surroundings. She was on a comfortable couch, in a small well lit room, but a loud cough stopped her in her tracks, slowly her eyes fell on her captor, who was watching her intently, and sitting quietly in the corner of the room.

"You were a hard one to catch" He said "I wasn't sure the taxi would work, but I knew you had to be getting tired"

Not wasting a moment with small talk she cut to the chase. "Who are you? And what do you want with me?"

He smiled "Don't worry no harm will come to you, as you can see, you are not bound, and are free to move about"

"Who. Are. You?"

"My name is Kurt"

"What do you want with me?"

Kurt shrugged his shoulders with a grin "Personally? Nothing, I just wanted a challenge, and boy did you deliver!" 

"SERIOUSLY! You kidnapped me, because you thought it'd be fun?" 

"It wasn't all fun, it was a job, my Dad has a plan for you...And before you ask another question, I have one for you, how many shadows did you have on your tail?"

Harper eyed her captor up and down, exasperated. Things were starting to make sense, this Kurt guy, was similarly employed, like herself, probably hunting her, so he could take over her mission and get the credit. Her Dad had told her of a rival operatives, but until now she didn't think any existed. 

 "I had three shadows, one of which, I assume was you, because later there was only two, were you trying, to steal my mission?"

Kurt grinned again, he did that a lot.

"Wow you are good! my brothers are excellent at blending, but I suppose it's rare, we are tailing another operative. And no, you were the mission. We are in the market for a new member, Dad thought you would be a great candidate. Now tell me about Tellerfield, is that a front, or do you really run a farm?"

Harper was getting more curious by the moment, she no longer felt in danger, and it seemed she wouldn't get the answers she wanted, unless she answered his. "I suppose you could say it is both, I live there and it's a working farm, but my Dad, is based there as well. Is this your base?"

"No it's my lair, or my families, anyway, but we don't live here, Mom wouldn't allow, all our equipment at home."

"Lair. Base. Same difference, but if you want me to join, why not just ask me?"

"I had to confirm your eligibility, proof you knew what you were doing, We don't really hire, see, but my sister retired, so I wanted to find another girl, and Dad thought it was a good idea. I also have a little known fact, you may be quite interested in..." He left off the sentence purposely, drawing on Harpers curiosity, to which she easily complied. "Just tell me! I don't need the suspense I need answers!"

There was that grin again, as Kurt responded. "Apparently, our Dad's are friends, they used to work together, He was the one that told us about you, I have to say I was impressed, you had started your missions by the time you were six! I didn't get my first one till I was ten"

At that moment Harpers phone rang, it was her Dad. "Harper, You should have been home hours ago, is everything alright?"

"Yes Dad I'm sorry, I was detained, but um, I will be home soon."

There was silence. "Dad?"

"Harper I'm really proud of you, you know that right?"

"Sure Dad...Are you okay?"

He sighed "Yes, I'm doing great, I can't believe it took Carl's boys all day to catch you, You did great!"

"Wait! you knew about this? You know where I am?"

"I know you are in good hands, Carl reached out to me about a week ago, and we set up the mission, We have decided it was time to rebuild a joint force"

Harper stared at her phone in disbelief, and then looked up to see, two more boys and an older gentleman walk in. The Man had in his hand a rather large file. Her Dad said "We'll talk later, I'll let Carl make introductions, bye sweetheart."

Pocketing her phone, she addressed the room with a small wave of her hand "Hi guys"

Kurt's dad stepped forward, handing her the large file, "Hello Harper, it's nice to finally meet you in person, I'm sorry if we scared you"

Opening the file, Harper let out a gasp, this file basically listed her entire life up to this point. She closed it. "Before I agree to anything, regardless of my Dad, I would like to see a file on each of you before I make my decision, and I will need every detail of your operation."

Carl handed her six more large files. "It is only fair, as Kurt mentioned, Your father and I used to work together. We had a private agency, up until you were born, when your mother passed, he told me, he had to leave and raise you. Still I kept tabs on him, he bought the farm, and began your training, and reopened his own agency, when you were nine. I knew he would never stay out of it. In the meantime, I was busy with my own family, and keeping the business going. When my daughter decided she wanted to leave and get married, is wasn't long before Kurt asked there were any other girl agents out there who would take her place. I pulled out your file, for the boys to study, and challenged them to kidnap you, I called your Dad, and he agreed it was time to get back in business, and here we are!"

The whole time he was talking, Harper, was glancing through the family files, Carl Porter, and his wife, Belinda had four children, Donald, Alex, Regina, and Kurt, their agency was setup much like her Dad's had been. Private detectives, everything though secretive was above board. They were not guns for hire, or vigilantes, just good people seeking justice, hired to help with difficult cases, or find missing people. And they were good at it, with a eighty five percent success rate.

She wasn't happy she had been captured, it showed a weakness, but she couldn't help be excited over the prospect of joining this family, she never really had friends, it had always just been her and her Dad, and as an added bonus her new friends, were happy discussing cases all day. And with a larger team, she had numerous backup's if a case went sour.

Closing the files, she looked at her eager audience "Very well I will join.

A round of applause, and a warm meal, soon followed, and five years later, a new young member was introduced, bringing the Tellerfield's and Porters together as one big happy family.