Holly observed her surroundings as Officer Higgins pulled up to the house. She didn’t expect any kind of ambush, but was hoping she might catch sight of someone suspicious watching the house. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary as they pulled up to the driveway and both got out of the car. Not that she had expected anything, but it always paid to be vigilant.

Higgins knocked on the door and Holly stayed back.

A portly woman cracked the door open and peeked out of her screen with a shotgun in her hand.

Higgins ducked and tried to shield himself with his officer’s cap, “Christ, Marlene! Put that thing away. You’re more liable to shoot yourself than anybody else,”

“Oh Sue, you scared me half to death knocking that loud,” The portly woman said to Higgins, then waved him and Holly in, “Come on in before the spies see you both.”

“There’s no spies after us, Marlene. This isn’t some kind of action movie,” Higgins said.

“Oh yeah?” Marlene said with a raised eyebrow, “Then how come you got Miss Secret-Agent-Lady over here?” She set the shotgun down and extended a hand to Holly, “Pardon my manners, I’m Marlene by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Special Agent Holly,” Holly said and shook Marlene’s calloused hand.

“Special Agent?” Marlene’s eyes went wide and she peeked out the door before shutting it behind them, “I told you I was right, Sue. She practically drinks her martini shaken and not stirred.”

Holly looked at Higgins, “Your first name is Sue?”

Higgins scratched his head with a sheepish grin, “Yeah, my dad loved Johnny Cash.”

Holly didn’t understand what Higgins meant by that, but didn’t care enough to dig for the answer. She looked at Marlene and asked, “Where’s your son?”

Marlene looked taken aback for a second by the quick change in subject, but nodded to the next room, “Jimmy’s sitting in the living room there. I made some iced tea for all of us. You two make yourselves comfortable while I fetch it.”

Kristy followed Higgins into the living room and they sat down.

“Hey uncle, Sue,” Jimmy sat in the corner smiling and holding a small white board and a marker. He held the white board up to the both of them to show the words he wrote, “How have you been?”

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

The white board said: “NDA. Kill chip in me. Don’t talk about it.”

“Uh,” Higgins said, reading the words and trying to act natural, “I’ve been good, Jimmy. Glad to see you’re back. My good friend, Holly here, had a few questions about what you do for a living and how she could sign up.”

“Nice to meet you, Holly,” Jimmy said slowly as he erased the white board and put a finger to his lips, then slid the blank white board and marker onto the coffee table for Holly to take.

Holly wanted to know what ‘kill chip’ meant, but she wasn’t about to compromise this kid’s safety over it, so she figured she would play along. Part of her thought it might be a bad idea to reveal her identity out loud. She flashed her FBI badge, then grabbed the white board and marker as she spoke, “Nice to meet you Jimmy. I just lost my job at a call center and heard you were making a lot of money pretty easily. Do you think they would hire me?”

Holly started to write on the white board as Jimmy replied.

“I’m not sure. I’m under an NDA so I can’t really say anything helpful, but you could try asking Frank Sycota for a job at the recruitment office.”

Holly flipped the white board to show what she wrote: “What’s a kill chip? Where is the place you were taken? Any helpful details?”

“So you can’t tell us anything?” Higgins said to fill the air while they passed the white board.

“No, Uncle Sue,” Jimmy said, erasing the white board, “I’m sorry I wasn’t more help.”

“That’s okay,” Holly said with mock disappointment, “I can check out the recruitment office, so thanks for that.”

Jimmy flipped the white board to show what he wrote: “In my wrist, listening to kill. Not sure location, was black bagged. Hypnosite = blob shapeshifting mind thing.”

Marlene came back into the room with the iced tea and some cookies and read the white board while Jimmy was holding it. Her face scrunched with concern, “Jimmy what’s in your wrist? What’s listening to kill? What’s a hypnosite?”

Jimmy’s face went white as his mother spoke and he tried to wave her off, but it was too late. He looked down to his wrist and screamed out as blue veins started to bulge in his forearm.

Holly snapped into action and leaped over the coffee while ripping off the tie around her neck in one smooth motion. She yanked Jimmy’s arm, wrapped her tie around his forearm at the elbow and pulled as hard as she could to cut off the circulation, “Higgins, grab the sharpest knife you can find. Move now.”

Higgins hopped to it, dashing into the kitchen.

“No! Don’t hurt him!” Marlene screamed and dropped the tea and cookies on the floor. She tripped over a foot stool in her rush to help Jimmy.

“I’m trying to save him,” Holly said in as calm a voice as she could muster, “Jimmy, I need you to take slow, deep breaths, can you do that for me?”

Holly looked back to Jimmy, but he couldn’t hear her. His eyes had already rolled into the back of his head and he was foaming at the mouth. It was too late. Jimmy let out a final breath and went limp.

Holly loosened her grip on the tie and sagged to the ground, she didn’t manage to save him in time.

“Jimmy!” Marlene said, crawling on hands and knees to her son’s limp body.

Higgins came back from the kitchen with a knife and Holly waved him off. He ducked back into the kitchen, then came back out without the knife.

Holly and Higgins both layed a comforting hand on Marlene and she cradled Jimmy and sobbed.

“I’m so sorry,” Holly said, “I wish I had done more.”