The Spy Game

With ten minutes to go, I sprint down the office building corridors, endless row after endless row. The absence of people in the night compared to what it would be like during the day was eery and unsettling but I was glad no one was in there. I glance at my watch again, eight and a half minutes. I stop and sigh, definitely not enough time to get out of the winding corridors of the office building that was about to explode. 

Wonderful! I love being a secret agent, the upside of this is for once I actually know my fate. The starry sky in the extortionate windows of the buildings reminds me of target practice, bullet halls in a wall of darkness. Target practice is one of the things I’m good at. That list unfortunately does not include layouts of buildings and exits. I was specifically targeted at the brief before this task when looking at the detailed floor plans Laurissa decided to point out all the exits for me.

“So this is where you can leave and this is where you can go up and downstairs.” she drawled at me as though I were a baby it didn’t help though.

I can’t bear her, whenever anyone is better than her she throws a fit and doesn’t show up for a few days. Clay is the best agent in training, he seems to be able to do whatever is thrown at him and quickly too.

At the moment I’m not being quick, in fact, I’m standing in a four-way intersection in the middle of the building. “Just think, why can’t you be useful for once,” I mutter while I tap my head in a belated hope of getting the cogs turning a little faster in there.

In a momentary decision, I dash down the corridor to my left and eventually come to a dead-end so I go back to the crossroads and carry on. A stairwell. A miracle more like, I’d rather not die today. I can’t even remember my way back to where I placed the bomb at this point. Running down the stairwell like my life depends on it (which it does) I trip and stumble over myself. Even falling at one point but I manage to get back up. I remember the map now, a door leading onto the roof of another building on the fifth floor. The dingy stairwell leads further down and down, a diminishing number at the top of a door after every turn appears shining like the starry sky that I saw earlier, only less bewitching and instead dead flies litter the inside of the lit, flashing box with the illuminated number. The numbers fly past me, one after another.

Nine.

Eight.

Seven.

Six.

Five, I throw open the door and dash through the building making my way around the maze and find myself facing the door that I have looked for. The exit was in sight but I still knew it wouldn’t be this simple. And as I turn the corner a security camera catches my movement, a metal sheet slams down in front of the door and alarms ring. I’ve really messed this up now haven’t I. I glance at my watch and the time has gone down to thirty seconds.

But then I remember the small window in the bathroom on the fifth floor that leads onto the same roof as the door. I’m not good at remembering building layouts, I would get lost and not remember anything about the building, even where I had just been but I would remember every single little detail. Plants, desks, loos, and most importantly little windows.

I make my way to the window as quickly as possible, my little legs pounding as fast as they can and throw open the door to the bathroom… No window. In its place is a painting of a beautiful young woman, blonde hair, and blue eyes with a dashing green dress sitting on her shoulders and flowing down to her waist. When I look at the painting carefully I can see in her left hand she holds a small golden key. It was a trick, it had to be, the window that I remembered would lay behind the painting and give me a way out.

As I pulled the painting away from the wall the moonlight crept through into the bathroom, quickly flinging the window open and lobbing myself from it to feel the hard cold concrete under my hands and cheek, I lift my face, I’m not in good enough cover. I look at my watch and it says four seconds.

In those last few seconds, I dive behind a pile of discarded crates to take cover and think oh I just love my job.

I wait for the explosion but it never comes. Instead, I hear a loud ringing noise, like a fire alarm but less urgent. A familiar figure walks towards me and I sit up straight against the crates trying to catch my breath.

“New high score! A pretty good one too.” He says.

“How many points?”

“Teresa, you’re on the leaderboard.”

“That’s brilliant” I reply with a smile, trying to hide my real excitement, “did I beat Clay?”

“Stop the wishful thinking, no one beats Clay although you did get eighth. Right behind Benny, you knocked out Laurissa, I doubt she’ll be too happy about that. Best stay away from her for the next twenty-four hours.”

“Ay ay cap’ain.” I reply sarcastically. He starts to walk away but turns back towards me suddenly as if he remembered something.

“Oh, and good job with the window, I knew you’d figure that one out. Just remember the security camera next time. There was another exit that wasn’t blocked in the stairwell but I was watching you and you were wholly focused on the numbers, too bad.”

I punch the crate in frustration and a splinter pierces my knuckle, karma. “Sorry,” I reply in exasperation.

“Come on, don’t say sorry. It was a simple mistake, anyone could have made it… apart from Clay. But don’t be too annoyed with yourself.”

Before he could go on at me anymore I walk away from him towards the canteen, blocking out his voice. There are more important matters I have to concentrate on at the moment than who beat who in a silly game of spies, this is a lot bigger than that. A lot bigger.