She could feel the bindings on her hands before she opened her eyes to see that they were tied in front of her.  It didn’t take much movement to notice that her arms were tied to each other with a cord running behind her and this time her feet were bound together as well.  She groaned internally as she realized that she was on a different plane.  If she had not been a Cleaner she would have wondered how they had gotten her through the airport unconscious and onto another plane without raising alarm.  

Isabelle only wondered how close they were for a brief time until she felt the plane start to descend.  She craned her neck to look over the Cleaner next to her and out the window and saw; mountains, sporadic buildings and one long road going by the town.  They were arriving in Rifle and she was tied up.  Some rescue plan, she thought to herself.

Always on, she thought she might still be able to get away from the four that were bringing her in.  She turned her head to see the barrel of a gun pointed in her direction.  The flight attendant was across the aisle, one row up, holding the gun in her direction.

“Good morning sunshine,” the woman’s voice was sweet as she spoke but her eyes were shooting daggers in Isabelle’s direction.

Isabelle smirked at the woman when she noticed the large bump that had formed on the other woman’s head from where the arm of her seat had collided with her head.   She let out a soft chuckle which she could tell immediately irritated the flight attendant.  So far she would have to get away from the Cleaner next to her and take out the flight attendant with the gun all while her hands and legs were tied together, not impossible.  She turned to find the other Cleaners.   She groaned when she realized how close in proximity the other two Cleaners were, one across the aisle from her and one sitting one aisle behind him.  There was no way, with her hands and feet tied, she could get away from all four before they managed to take her down again and she needed to be alert when they got off of the plane.

The plan was touching down as Isabelle sighed with the realization that she was not going to escape, she was going to have to play along and hopefully she could figure a way out of this mess and get her and Brian away safely.  Her mind quickly flitted with the question wondering what they would do after that. How would she keep him safe after she saved him?

“Get up,” the woman barked at her as the fasten seatbelt light dinged off.   

Isabelle leaned forward to stand but with her arms strapped down she quickly lost her balance and fell back in her seat.  The Cleaner next to her gently grabbed hold of her arm and helped her to her feet.   She could have been imagining things but she thought she saw the man smile at her and not in the cold ‘you’ve been beaten’ kind of way the flight attendant was giving her.   

She let the man help her to her feet and did not attempt to shrug his arm off when she stood.  With her feet cuffed, walking was going to be difficult.  When she passed the flight attendant she was forced to stop walking and when she started again she could feel the gun barrel poking sharply into her back. 

“Move,” the other woman barked at her as she twined her hand through Isabelle’s hair and pulled sharply backwards.   Slowly, Isabelle made her way towards the plan exit but halted at the steps of the plane.  There was no way she would be able to get down those steps with her feet bound and the woman pulling her hair backwards.

One of the Cleaners came forward and moved to lift her off the ground.  She shoved her body against him the best she could, she did not want to be carried.

“Let her walk,” the voice at the bottom of the stairs called up.   Isabelle tried to move her head down enough to see who had been talking but the woman held tight to her hair and the glare from the sun made it impossible to see who had spoken.

The Cleaner looked at the woman standing behind Isabelle, a silent exchange happened between them. Isabelle hoped that her hair would be released but when the Cleaner whipped out his knife and undid the binds on her feet she knew that the woman wanted to accompany her down holding tightly to her hair. 

“Celia, that is enough,” the man standing in front of them at the bottom of the stairs said to the woman behind Isabelle.  Isabelle felt the gun leave from between her shoulder blades and the woman release her hair.  She looked down at the man standing in front of her letting out a slight gasp.

“It’s so nice to see you again Isabelle,” The Doctor smiled at her.  “You were one of my greatest accomplishments and one of my worst failures it seems.” 

“Congratulations for passing.” The man, Dr. Smith, clapped his hand on her back. “Now comes the hard part.”

“What do you mean?” she answered.

“Do you ever wonder why there are so few females in the Cleaner program?”

Isabelle had noticed but hadn't given it much thought. She had always thought it was because many women couldn't handle the types of requests that were made of them. She nodded her head, wondering if he was going to tell her.

“Most women are not compatible with the second part of the process but those who are, are better.” Dr Smith grinned at her; it wasn't an evil grin but it made Isabelle feel uncomfortable. “You are.” He said matter-of-factly. “This will hurt, but won't kill you.” Now his grin looked evil as he grabbed a syringe and plunged it into her arm.

“You and your husband have given us many headaches for too long.” The doctor continued.

“You are one of the nine,” Isabelle did not question the man but he nodded in response. 

“The Company played wanted to try out giving someone the memories of a medical condition and if it would affect how they acted on a daily basis.  If their mind would make them act how they should if they really did have the condition or if the body would overpower those thoughts.” The man shrugged and motioned for her and the others to start walking towards the building they were outside of.   He moved so that he was walking next to Isabelle.  “When we reprogrammed Brian we gave him the memory of having heart problems and ultimately surgery.  I was installed as his doctor to monitor him.”

“I know what you are thinking,” he stopped walking and grabbed her arm to get her to stop too.  “I did what I was told to do Isabelle, something you should have done and you would not be here now.  You and Brian could have started that family you were hoping to have one day.”   They started walking again; the man crossed his arms behind his back and looked towards the sky thinking.  “Tell me something, which of these rumors are true.   Did you kill your boss, David, to take his job? Were you secretly involved with the rebellion to overthrow the Company? Or, my personal favorite, you were having an affair with David and Brian found out, killed him and you took the fall to protect him?”

The man chuckled thinking he was clever, Isabelle wished she could punch his nose to make him shut up. Instead she spoke up.  “I did not kill David.  He was dead.  I was framed because I know who did.” She muttered. 

“Hrm and this is the information you went to the rebellion with? Did you tell any of them?” 

Isabelle remained silent.  She should have known that Dr. Smith would be involved with David’s death and the takeover of the Company.   His evil grin as he injected her during the second phase of her Cleaner progress should have told her everything.  He enjoyed experimenting on people and seeing what they were capable of, he’d wanted to experiment on humans and if he was involved it would be because he was promised he could.   

“Of course you didn’t tell anyone.  You were ever the cautious one.  You wanted to make sure you could trust them with the information.  You wanted to make sure they would use it for the right reasons and if they threw down the Company they would instill something better in its place.”  The older man grinned at Isabelle.  There was something in his eyes that she found unsettling.    “You didn’t trust them.”

The doors the compound they were walking towards opened and Isabelle saw a man walking towards her. She gasped and started to move backwards trying to get away from what she was seeing but Celia was still behind her and she felt the gun in her back as she moved. 

“It would seem not trusting them was one of your better judgment calls,” Dr. Smith cackled at her as Kevin came to stand in front of them. 

“I’m sorry,” he mouthed.