This is week three in the Sunday Scribblings prompt hosted by Peckapalooza: The Confusing Middle.
I’ve decided to hook these challenges together to make a chapter story. Might as well make something out of it if I can. Besides it helps with inspiration, having a starting place.
Chapter one can be found here and chapter two here. Reading them first will help today’s installment make more sense but isn’t totally necessary.
I’m enjoying this new adventure, writing fiction, it may even prove to be addictive. If it wasn’t for The Confusing Middle and his challenges I may never have made the first attempt. Thanks!
Here is this weeks installment.
Chapter 3
Wrinkle
Carly stood in the doorway of her new room and looked around with a profound sense of relief. She was safe and exhausted. Someone had the foresight to provide the necessities she’d had to leave behind in the mad life saving flight for her life. She was unprepared for the depth of gratitude rising up at the sight of a toothbrush and tooth paste.
They were successful. The promised signal came through and she was able to leave the office as if on an errand. A request for her participation in the company dilemma was never made so it wasn’t as though she was leaving in the middle of a task. It could even be a while before any eyebrows were raised over her absence.
John’s tech support group was awesome. They identified an above ground connection with the next building over. The hallway emptied into a large and crowded food court area where they were able to access an elevator to an underground parking garage. A motorcade of SUVs was waiting for them and after loading, with practiced stealth, they slipped out into traffic.
The SWAT team and local police officers, mobilized as backup, were unable to discover any snipers or other threatening individuals. They had no way to know if the enemy was not yet present or the backup teams were noticed and scared them off.
First things first though. Carly had not eaten since breakfast, many hours ago, and someone had promised food would be arriving shortly. Back in the living room Carly found she was not alone.
Everyone was starved after such a nerve-racking day. Thankfully, John let them eat their fill before announcing debrief.
Carly watched the team interact together. They appeared to be professional and well trained. They seemed to like and respect each other. A cohesive group was a comfort in the face of dangerous situations.
She hasn’t had a chance to get to know anyone but John and even that contact has been slight in recent years. She knew this would change in the days ahead as they took turns protecting her. She was also sure there would be many weeks, maybe even months, before she could be settled into a new secure life. Unless they could figure out who was after her. Sooner rather than later, hopefully.
The first order on John’s debrief agenda was to announce this stay would be short. They would move out first thing in the morning so please be ready.
The touch-downs would be brief in the days ahead. Without the knowledge of who or how, they would need to keep moving to avoid detection. Various modes of transportation would be used and, at times, unconventional places of refuge. Don’t be surprised at anything.
The support team back in the office was working feverishly to figure out who was behind this threat. A separate group was planning an escape route and another was building a new identity.
Once the office involvement was covered everyone wanted to talk about the excitement of the day’s events. Action was not an everyday experience and needed to be relived. A few times. They all added their bit to the conversation.
After a thorough rehashing – they were no further ahead than they were when they started. The day started, and finished, with two pictures and an unsigned threat.
Carly was surprised she slept as well as she did. It was a little rough having to wear the same clothes another day but somehow gratefulness to be alive changed her perspective. Clean could wait awhile.
The team was ready and waiting to move out. It was early, they could travel several hours before stopping for a meal. At least they had hot coffee and doughnuts left from last night to tide them over until then.
They were about to leave when John felt the text notification on his pocket cell phone.
“Hold up a minute guys.”
Well, this adds a new wrinkle to the situation.
John asked for a volunteer. Someone would need to go out and bring back breakfast for the crew. There would be no leaving until they re-evaluated and maybe changed the escape plan.
It was too early to share details of the new information with the team. He needed time first to figure out what it all meant.
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Hope you had fun.
For the Love of Books 