Although the house had been gutted by the fire, it was still standing. In fact, since the wood facade had burnt off I could see that it had been built like a fortress. It had a steel frame for the walls, steel bars welded into the windows and a steel door. Sidney was lucky that his young niece's body was lithe enough to fit through the small basement window. That window was now blocked with fire debris, so the only way in or out was through the front door. Fortunately the metal door appeared undamaged from the fire. Unfortunately, the van with the guard inside was parked close to it.
Sidney, now in the second guard's body, took a key that I had been holding and walked from our hiding place to the front of the house. He tentatively looked at the van, then went to the front door, unlocked it and walked inside. After what seemed like a long time he came back out. The other guard unexpectedly got out of the van and started arguing with Sidney. Even though they were yelling, I couldn't make out what they were saying. After their heated words, the other guard went back into the van and Sidney hurried over to where I was still hiding. He looked very nervous.
"That other guy was asleep when I went into my house, but he woke up to see me leave. He was yelling at me for 'improperly entering the building.' I told him I thought I heard something inside, but I don't think he bought it. We don't have much time. I wish I could stay as a man, but this body will be too easy for them to find. Here, take these, I found my notes." He handed me a pair of manila envelopes he had stuffed under his suit coat. "Now remember, unlike when I swapped into this body, the swap out will be instantaneous."
Just then I heard the van door open and the other guard call out, "Smith! Where are you?! I spoke with command; they want you to wait with me until our relief arrives!"
Sidney said urgently, "We need to do this now. Get your two-by-four ready to knock out this guard when I switch out of him."
I held up the piece of wood while Sidney pushed a few buttons on the remote. Suddenly the small girl appeared next to me, while the guard dropped the device in the grass and held a hand up to his head saying "Ooooow, wha...."
Sidney, back in the body of the small girl, called out "Now!" while diving to pick up the remote. I again swung the piece of lumber up into the man's jaw. He fell over, but instead of being knocked out he yelled in pain.
The other guard called out, "Smith?! What's going on? Are you okay? I'm coming towards you!"
Sidney said, "Oh crap. Run!"
I followed Sidney through the patch of forest, hoping I wouldn't run into a tree trunk in the darkness. I discovered one benefit of being in Kelly's athletic body was that running was easy. The bouncing breasts on my chest were distracting, though. We exited the trees near Kelly's sport coupe. I opened the driver's door, realized I was still absent-mindedly holding on to the piece of lumber, and then threw it into the back of the car. Sidney then said something very unexpected. "Wait! I'll drive."
I looked down at the small girl. "As if? You drive the car? Are you like, mental?"
"Don't argue. The car is small enough that I can reach the pedals. I know these roads like the back of my hand. And I saw how well you drive a stick-shift. If they start chasing us, we need someone who can drive this car and drive it well."
As incredulous as I was about the thought of a small girl driving this car, I realized that she might have been right. "Fine."
She got in and adjusted the driver's seat while I ran in the passenger door. Right when Sidney put the car into gear, a pair of headlights appeared in front of us as the guards' van turned onto the road we were on. The girl cursed as she pulled a sharp U-turn and started speeding off. The car moved with reckless speed, its headlights providing the only illumination in the dark countryside. The other car was not able to catch up with us, but neither did it fall behind. Sidney cursed again. "That van must really be souped up to keep up with us." Without warning she made a hard turn left onto a dirt road, our wheels briefly spinning in the gravel. The van had to slow down to make the turn, but continued following us. Thankfully, at this time of night the roads were completely empty of other cars. Sidney raced on, occasionally making other quick turns. Each time we would slightly increase the distance between us and the van as it slowed down around the turn. Amazingly they were able to keep chasing us. The long, straight roads through the farmlands let them see our movements from a distance.
Sidney said, "This isn't working. I'm going to try something different. Hold on." She sped through another right turn. After a few seconds she shut off the sports car's headlights. We were plunged into almost total darkness, and although she started slowing down I cringed as the car blindly turned again. Sidney continued driving over rough terrain, and I realized we were following a faint dirt road through a stand of trees. She stopped and completely shut off the car, making everything silent as well as dark. After a very tense ten seconds, a flash of light appeared behind us on the main road from the van's headlights. Then it was gone, as our pursuers took the bait and continued speeding past us along the main road. After about a minute, Sidney restarted the coupe. Without turning on the headlights, she inched along the dirt road. The sports coupe had done well on the main roads, but struggled along the rough track. We eventually turned onto a paved farm roads. I was shocked that Sidney was still driving without headlights, now using the moonlight to make out the roads.
We slowly drove through the blackness for more than an hour, never seeing signs of any other vehicles on the roads. We finally reached a small cluster of lights, shining from building windows. Under the glow of a dim spotlight I recognized the sign "Logan's." Sidney parked the car behind a house and we got out. The girl knocked on the back door, and after a minute a very tired looking Ed opened it up.