"10…9…8...7…6… ", I have been counting these numbers back and forth in my head like it's supposed to be a mantra that would get me out of this dire situation that I have unintentionally found myself in. It is not even winter yet, but the night air is rather frigid tonight, even the elements are somehow against me. I try to peer out in the darkness, but even with my near perfect night vision, I can't make out anything in this thick fog that has descended upon us.
"I know there's an intruder in here somewhere, you don't have to make this any harder than it already is" I grit my teeth when I hear his annoyingly grating voice. Caelum (yes, you might be wondering how I know his name, Mirvena is to thank for that) has been popping up a lot on my radar for a while now, ever since I had decided take up the role of going undercover as regards a sex work and illegal trafficking network. For some reasons that I cannot quite understand at the moment, he seems to be very heavily tied to this case and that's exactly why I am here. I try my best to tune him out while trying to focus on getting some blood circulation back into my legs. Every seconds I spend holed up in here feels like an eternity even though I know that it has been a little over 10 minutes. I know it probably hasn't been long, and in a different situation, I wouldn't have even thought much of it. Now, that exactly is the problem, because I'm not in an ideal situation. I take a quick glance around me and I have to stop myself from sighing; that would give away my position, something that I cannot afford right at this moment.
I try to get some circulation into my legs again, even though I know this is a very futile attempt. I can hardly feel my legs anymore and at this rate, it's going to be very difficult for me to ever feel them if a miracle doesn't happen. You might be wondering how I ended up in this situation, I still can't quite get it myself, but I know more than anyone that I need to survive this and not just survive this, I need to survive this without getting captured. This mission was not supposed to have ended up like this, it was supposed to be a walk in the park kind of mission for me, after all, it was mostly just to gather information for our next strike.
By my calculations Caelum was not supposed to be in town today, he wasn't even supposed to have arrived for another 2 weeks. Who would have thought that an urgent business would bring him back to town and on the very day I had my mission. I glanced around to see if I could make out anything that could help my situation in this near darkness. Just when I thought things couldn't get worse, in a bid to keep my legs from sleeping again, I tried to move them just a little bit. A very wrong move that I will regret for the rest of my life. I don't know what I knocked over, but the jarring noise it makes is very unsettling in the silence that has been both a blanket and a companion for our little cat and mouse, hide and seek game so far. I hold my breath, praying to whatever gods of the universe I could think of in that moment for a miracle that I desperately need right now. I hear decisive footsteps headed in my direction and I know there's no saving me.
Just when I was about to lose all hope and make a wild dash for the exit, I hear a shrill sound coming from what seems to be a phone. It takes me a minute to realize that it's a phone call. Whoever is on the other side of the phone must in some sort of danger because I can hear him slowly back away from my direction. I'm still unable to take a breathe until I'm a hundred percent sure he is no longer in the room.
Once I'm sure he is no longer in the room with me, I pack up all the precious documents that got me in this mess in the first place and put a call through to my right hand person. She's the only I could trust, coming on an undercover mission like this one. She picks on the first ring and I know without even hearing her voice that she must have been worried sick out of her mind when I failed to get back to her when I was supposed to about 30 minutes earlier.
"Hello, can you bring the car over to the front door, I'm on my way out right now. Make sure you're not being followed, we cannot afford to blow our cover".
Without waiting for her response, I hang up the call and wait patiently for her arrival.