The Unknown

Blinding lights bounced up and down the dark hallways. Trailing me closely was a troop of heavily armed and strenuously trained soldiers. They wouldn’t kill me, as I had information their boss desperately wanted. I would instead be taken down with a rather daunting shot of tranquilizer. I wasn’t certain what would happen after that, but I was determined not to find out.

It felt like I was trapped in a maze, being chased in a cruel game of cat-and-mouse. Except the maze was actually a government office building I had broken into, and a stack of files I’d managed to steal was clutched tightly in my hands. Their contents were about us. Undoubtedly, there were digital backups, but we needed to know how much information they had.

I felt the rush of adrenaline surging through my body as I fled from the soldiers at full speed, breathing sharply. The only thing I had going for me at that point—the reason I was chosen for the mission—was that I was small and fast. The soldiers couldn’t run nor take turns quickly in their bulky gear. We were told this beforehand by our inside source—or the title he preferred: spy.

It dawned on me that I couldn’t run any longer. My lungs ached and my muscles burned. I needed to hide. Fighting certainly wasn’t an option—at least not a good one. I wasn’t a fighter, and one jab with one of their syringes and I’d be down.

Turning a few corners in an effort to distance myself from them, I searched desperately for a place to hide. Eluding those guys should have been slightly easier in the dark, but the hallways were desolate. There was nothing to hide behind. All of the doors I tried were locked.

My mind raced with pure dread of failure. The consequences if I was caught were unthinkable.

Just as I heard soldiers approaching down the hall, I spotted a blue light around a corner. Like a moth, I was drawn to it.

In my situation, heading toward the light was likely terrible judgment. Light typically leads to people. Still, I peered around the corner.

Vending machines. Really? Maybe I should’ve stopped for a Coke.

Footsteps came stomping behind me. I raced around the corner and flattened myself against the wall opposite the vending machines just before the flashlight swept where I had been standing.

Panic set in. Troops were closing in on my left. My eyes darted around, trying to locate any remotely inconspicuous places to hide.

Finding no other options, I exhaled and forcibly wedged myself in the impossibly tight space between the vending machines. Staying as still as possible, I took shallow, labored breaths. My lungs couldn’t fully expand in such a small nook.

I caught a glimpse of a man in the blue light. He spoke into a mouthpiece. “East wing is cleared. We’ve lost her.”

“Rothsford is going to kill us for this,” someone else said in a frustrated tone. I didn’t feel even a tad sympathetic.

After the group of soldiers passed, I waited there for at least fifteen minutes in silence. Once I was absolutely certain the coast was clear, I exhaled and flattened my stomach to squeeze out of my hiding spot.

I navigated through the elaborate maze of hallways until I finally found an exit. I was completely exhausted but also relieved I had made it out safely after such a close call. The soldier I caught a glimpse of had been standing only a meter or so away. If he had turned only a few degrees and shone his flashlight in my direction, I’d have been a goner.

Now outside, I made my way to our meetup point under the dim glow of the moon. Kyle should have been waiting for me there, under a tall oak tree, but he was nowhere to be seen. I scanned the area. My stomach sunk as I began to worry that something may have gone wrong, that something bad happened to him—

“Hey!” I practically jumped out of my skin when Kyle suddenly dropped from the tree and tackled me, snatching the files from my hands in one swift movement. He was an ex-government soldier, and it showed. He was lean, muscular, and very agile.

I got up and dusted off my clothes. “You’re such an asshole.”

Kyle just smirked and started flipping through the papers. I turned and began the trek to our car without waiting for him. After a few moments, I couldn’t hear him following me, so I was forced to turn around and see what the hold up was.

He was still standing by the tree, studying the files with a frown on his face. He looked up at me, his eyes wide. “Tess...they know more than we thought. They know more than we do.”