I was taken down a long hallway that led to an elevator. I was bundled in and watched as the numbers slowly counted down.
Forty, thirty-nine, thirty-eight…
…twenty-four, twenty-three, twenty-two
The elevator stopped and I was pulled forward. I stumbled slightly, but quickly got my feet back underneath me. I had no idea what was going on or where we were going. I was confused, tired and scared. All I wanted was to wake up from this nightmare. If only-
“Oliver?”
“Clair!”
He was standing there. Just yards from me. He looked tired and worn, but a smile flashed across his face. Beside him stood another man with something dangling from the chain he held in his fist. There were people all around the room, all of them had an uncertain look on their faces as if they didn’t quite understand what was happening, though to be honest I didn’t have a clue either.
The tall, thin man stepped before Oliver and the man with the chain. “Hand it over.”
“Not yet,” Oliver said. “We will just before we leave the building. You can follow us down if you want. Don’t feel like you have to though.”
The tall man turned to face the woman and my jailer. “Let her go.”
“Are you sure?” I heard my jailer whisper.
The tall man looked at my jailer, “yes, I’m sure. Let her go and follow them out of the building.” To the woman he said, “make sure you get that flash drive. They cannot be allowed to leave with it.”
“Can we trust them?” The woman said quietly.
“I know those two well. They’re telling the truth.”
I sensed someone behind me and the next second my wrists were free. I didn’t hesitate for a second, I ran to Oliver and was received with open arms. In that moment, I didn’t care about anything I didn’t care that I barely knew Oliver. I didn’t care that I had no idea who he was with or why I was suddenly being let go. All I cared about was that I was finally away from those who had held me.
I could have stayed in that hug forever, but Oliver pulled away, grabbing my hand as he did so.
“Come on,” he said softly. “Let’s get out of here.”
I was in a daze as we were ushered into the elevator again. My mind was racing, and I couldn’t slow it down enough to grasp any coherent thought. I lost my sense of time as we went down. It could have taken a minute or fifty for all I knew. There were only two things that I was fully aware of, the fact that I had just been let go and Oliver’s hand, which was still holding tight to mine.
When we reached the front doors, everyone stopped walking. The people who had escorted us down stopped and the woman held out her hand.
“Give me the flash drive.”
The man who had apparently come with Oliver, hesitated for a second, but in the end handed the woman the chain with the flash drive hanging from it.
“Thank you,” the woman said shortly and watched as we left the building.
As we walked away, Oliver continued to hold my hand. I took in a deep breath of cold night air. It was over, it was finally over. I was free.
_____________
“Do you remember,” I asked Oliver, drawing a finger along the rim of my coffee mug. “Why were you willing to give up all the information you had collected about the company?”
Oliver looked down into his own coffee, a bit abashed. “I wasn’t willing to risk someone’s life over it. And anyway, it didn’t matter in the end. They were still caught.”
“Yes they were,” but I wasn’t willing to stop just yet. “But you didn’t know that was going to happen. You gave up your only chance to stop them from taking control of all the resources from Mars. If they had succeeded they would have had control of almost every market, the world’s economy. Why did you give away what you had?”
“I knew the police would get to the bottom of it.”
I snorted. “No you didn’t. You didn’t trust them for one second.” I glanced over at him. “Oliver, why did you give it up?”
He didn’t answer right away, but when he did he looked me straight in the eye. “I didn’t want to lose you.”
I didn’t say anything, I simply scooted closer to him on the park bench and rested my head on his shoulder. I closed my eyes and smiled.
After a while I spoke up. “So, what’s your thing for this month?”
“I’m not sure yet,” Oliver said. “But I don’t think I’ll be doing anything spy related for a while.”
“No?” I said, a smile fighting to be seen.
“No,” Oliver lifted my chin and gave me kiss. “Being a spy is a little too much fun.”
-fin-
Thank you for the Christmas present of the end of this story. Merry Christmas!
You’re very welcome! Merry Christmas!