As she pulled into her apartment complex just before noon, Lily recognized the style of the unmarked van parked across the street.
They sent out the IT Repo crew already?
The reality of her circumstance had set in. She had spent all afternoon driving around town looking for Allan in all his usual places. She found his car in the parking garage near his office, but Allan had left no signs as to where he could have gone after leaving Grant Park. She was worried sick about him, and was convinced he was in some sort of trouble. A deep depression overwhelmed her, knowing that she would get on that plane in the morning and would never see Allan again.
She climbed the stairs to the third floor. As she opened the front door to her soon-to-be forsaken apartment, she was nearly run over by a crew member carrying a tangled mess of electrical equipment.
“Sorry!” he apologized.
She found several more crew members inside busily removing NSA surveillance equipment that had been hidden throughout the apartment. She watched them remorsefully for several minutes as they went about their work. Though she had very limited time to pack her belongings, she couldn’t bring herself to work on it right away. She had wasted several precious packing hours in a fruitless search for Allan, but how can you possibly pack up five years of your life in only a single evening anyway?
After a few more minutes, she accepted the fact that she needed to make a start. She left the crew to do their work and went upstairs to her bedroom. From the closet she pulled out a large suitcase. Her beautiful maroon dress stood out brilliantly. Though she had purchased it years ago, it was still encased in the store’s plastic garment bag. She had been secretly hoping that she could finally wear it tonight for her delayed acceptance of his proposal.
Unwilling to part with it, she removed the hanger and carefully laid it in her suitcase. From her drawers she pulled out enough clothing to last a week, knowing that the NSA would provide her with a new wardrobe once she settled into her new assignment. On top of the dresser stood a picture frame with a photo taken over two years ago. She cradled it in her hands as the memory flooded back. Allan had invited her to join him for a business conference in Atlanta. During their free time, she insisted on going to the beach. They spent an entire afternoon on Tybee Island, and in the photo Allan was carrying her on his back. Her arms were wrapped around his neck, and his bulky arms held up her slender legs. She admired his chiseled chest and tight abs, regardless of the fact that Allan had gained several pounds since this photo had been taken. Tears continued to flow as she acknowledged that this was the moment she truly fell in love with Allan.
I have to stay strong.
As she stared at her forlorn reflection in the mirror, a thought creeped from the back of her mind. Though she would probably get reprimanded for her actions later, she couldn’t just leave him without an explanation.
Pressing on her right temple, a virtual keyboard appeared before her. With a few keystrokes, she logged into her personal remote server. A few more, and several miles away, her drone awoke from slumber.
Returning to the bedroom, she pulled out a notepad and a pen from the nightstand and began to write:
My dearest Allan,
I want you to know that I love you immensely, but I can’t marry you. I’m sorry I can’t be the woman you want me to be. I know this will be difficult for you to understand, but I must leave now. I hope someday you will find a woman worthy of your love.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Love always, Lily
She tore the message out of her notepad and placed it in an envelope.
“Agent Wilson?” a familiar voice spoke.
Lily jumped in surprise and hid the envelope behind her back. “Agent Miller!”
“Are you ready to go?”
“Excuse me?” She stared at him in confusion. “My flight isn’t until tomorrow.”
“Yes, but...” he hesitated. “I have orders to bring you in for decommissioning.”
What?!
“By whose authority?” she demanded. “Who made the order?!”
Agent Carter stepped into the room. He was a level six combat agent, four skill levels higher than Lily’s ranking as a mere cryptologist. Though she was the best in her field, she had absolutely no chance against a combat agent of his level.
“By direct order of Commander Arlington,” Carter growled. “Your decommissioning is mandatory, and I have orders to detain you by any means necessary.”
That prick!
She had heard horror stories about agents who had gone in for decommissioning. The intent of the procedure was to wipe clean her microchip’s cached history, but there had been many reports of botched procedures. Memory loss, personality disorders, manic depression, severe anxiety, and dementia were the most common side effects. One would think the Agency would think twice before allowing any of their highly trained assets to undergo such a procedure with the high risk involved, but no. To the upper echelons, the value of each agent was barely more than their flesh-bearing robot counterparts.
Lily glanced briefly at the suitcase she had just packed with all her memorabilia inside.
Goodbye...
“Yes, I’m ready,” she lied. “Would one of you be so kind as to carry my suitcase for me?”
Agent Miller’s frame relaxed. “Of course.”
Just as Agent Miller picked up the suitcase, a humming sound began to grow louder and louder.
Agent Carter turned, looking for the source of the noise. “What’s that sound?”
Lily made a snap judgment. She grabbed the closest heavy object – an iron she had set on her dresser to cool down earlier that morning – and threw it with all her might at the bedroom window. The window shattered upon impact, and Lily bolted toward it. In an instant she felt Agent Carter’s vice-like grip on her ankle, and she tumbled to the floor. He was on top of her within moments, crushing her face into the shattered glass.
“You are under arrest…”
Adrenaline coursed through her veins, and she lost all sense of reason. She grabbed for a large shard of glass and swung wildly. Carter screamed in pain and rolled off her, clutching his forearm, which bore a long nasty gash flowing with bright blood. Miller stood across the room with wide eyes, shakily pointing his handgun at her. Dropping the piece of glass, she jumped out the three-story window.
As expected, her drone had been waiting. The moment she grabbed the cargo ring, she knew she had made a mistake. The drone lost altitude , and the high-pitched wine from the turbines screamed in her ears. She reached the ground quicker than she had anticipated, releasing her grip and falling into a barrel roll.
Pain throbbed through her body, but her virtual monitor confirmed that though she was badly bruised, nothing was broken.
She staggered forward, limping the few feet to her car. Recognizing her presence, the car’s door opened and the engine began to purr. Clambering inside, she slammed her aching foot on the pedal and screeched out of her parking space.
Agent Carter ran toward her at full speed, and she was going too fast to stop. She instinctively swerved, but it was too late. Her stomach jumped into her throat when she felt the bump and heard Carter’s scream.
She slammed on the brakes, peering into her rear-view mirror. Carter’s left foot was flattened and mangled, but he was still alive. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Agent Miller run across the parking lot and jump into the van’s driver seat. Her foot hit the accelerator again, and she tore out of the parking lot.
She was relieved that she hadn’t killed Carter, but still felt a pang of guilt for having run over his foot. She tried to convince herself that it had been unavoidable.
Miller was hot in pursuit, and her brain raced for a solution. Another irrational idea struck her. Pressing the side of her right temple, her virtual keyboard appeared again. After a few keystrokes, the command was sent.
The loud humming sound returned as her drone swooped low and zipped past, crashing headlong into the van’s windshield. She glanced in her rear-view mirror and confirmed that her drone had succeeded in its final mission. The van came to an abrupt halt.
She knew innately that her time was limited because her microchip was being tracked. There was only one person in the world she trusted who seemed to know how to deactivate the device.
Allan.
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