I found myself cuffed to an interrogation table with a broken nose. I did the best I could to quell the bleeding with my left hand. It was a cold, dark, room with flickering lights. I knew the space was designed to intimidate me, and it was working. I'd never even gotten a jaywalking charge. How did I get myself into this? Just who was that girl and why did they want her so bad?

I was pulled from my thoughts by the sound of an opening door. I was face to face with the largest black man I'd ever seen. He was much more intimidating than the lights. When he sat down, I swore I heard the concrete shake.

"I see you're without enlightenment," he started. "Otherwise you would've fixed that nose by now."

"Yes sir," I said.

"So you mind telling me why you let a high-value target escape by assaulting a member of the Elbrus military?"

"I didn't know that."

"Then why did you trip him?"

"I don't know. She was obviously helpless in that jacket."

"So you're telling me you don't know who she is?"

"No. I just saw a woman scared for her life running from a man who was bigger than she was."

He stared at me for the longest time. I could tell he was reading every detail of my face. There was no hiding anything from this man.I was scared and angry, it took tremendous effort to contain my emotions. Could he tell how uncomfortable I was?

"Sir if I may," someone opened the door, breaking the tension. "There's a lawyer here to speak to Mr. Henderson."

"Henderson?" He looked directly at me. "Tell him to fuck off! I'm not going to let some little rich boy get the better of me."

"I'm afraid that's not going to happen," Mr. Marling said as he entered the room. My family's attorney was coming to my rescue. One of the officers must’ve tipped my dad off. I felt the flush of embarrassment on my cheeks. The last thing I wanted right now was to be rescued by my dad. "My client has no previous convictions, and here you are treating him like a murder."

"Listen, I've never been intimidated by Henderson money, and I'm not about to start now."

"What's your name? I will have your badge." The two argued for a minute before another officer came in and released the handcuffs.

"Fine, I'll let him off with a warning this time, but next time the name Henderson won't save you."

"Yes sir," I said as I lowered my head and angrily brushed past the two of them.

☀☀☀

"What were you thinking?" Mr. Marling chided me as we walked toward my apartment.

"Tell my father that I don't need his help," I grumbled.

"It's clear that you do, my dear boy. You didn't even realize that guy was a member of the Firelighters." Firelighters? I told him I hadn’t. Why would they send such a high level of investigators for this? Who the hell was that girl? I almost wanted to find her myself just so I could figure out what the hell was going on. My mind was racing.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Mr. Henderson," Mr. Marling brought me back to reality. "Your nose is still bleeding." I rubbed above my lip, the warm syrup was dripping down my face. Damn, I thought I'd pinched it enough to stop the bleeding. Mr. Marling held out his hand and my nose reset itself. Once again, I was helpless, just like my father thought. He'd always been so overprotective of me. He always told me it was because I was his only heir. I knew that the fact I was a W.O.E made him nervous. My whole life, it had always been the same. Nannies would follow me everywhere I went so I didn't dare to stub a toe. Every scrap was solved with magic. Magic, eyedammed Magic! I nearly stomped my feet like a child at the thought.

"Here we are at your apartment," He reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card. "In case you need my services again."

"Thanks," I said sarcastically. I was very happy to get away from him. I started up the stairs while he waited for a taxi. When the taxi pulled up, I didn't bother saying goodbye. I flipped him off as he drove away. I was going to the bar, I didn't care that it was 3 pm. I called Eddy from a pay phone and told him to meet me there.

I had just started down the street when I heard an animalistic noise coming from an alleyway. I don't know why this caught my attention, vermin always ate their fill in trash bins. It was a little loud for a rat. I turned around to see a face I never thought I'd see again.

"Faye?" I asked. She looked up from her kneeling position. Her face was covered in garbage. She was obviously surprised to see me. When she looked up, an old chicken bone fell out of her mouth. She was still in the straight jacket.

"Here let me help you," I said as I reached out to her. She flinched back. "I'm not going to hurt you. My name is Charles Henderson." She glared at me for a second, then turned around so I could reach the restraints. I untied them with relative ease. That seemed odd, wasn’t she supposed to be important or dangerous? I thought she'd run away immediately. Instead, she wrapped her arms around me.

"Thank you," She started to cry.

"You're welcome," I blushed. I wanted to ask her a million questions but I didn't dare. "How's your ankle?" She was obviously to upset to answer. After a few minutes, she stopped crying and gently withdrew from me.

"So do you have a place to stay?" I asked finally. She shook her head no. "Well, you can stay with me until the heat blows over."

"I don't think it will, but thank you," she said as she lowered her head.

We walked back to my apartment. I kept vigilant for anyone who looked like a cop or military. Fortunately, we didn’t see anyone. We walked up the stairs to The safety of my apartment.

"Nice place you got here," She went to sit down on my couch. I finally noticed how dirty she really was, it was clear she hadn't been bathed in several days.

"Hey," I stopped her. "I hate to ask but..." She sniffed herself and recoiled.

"You're right I stink," She smiled. "Where's your bathroom?"

"Down the hall to the left." She left the room, and I heard the shower start to run. I collapsed onto my couch, I was exhausted. While I laid there, it dawned on me that I was in more trouble than I realized. I was already arrested for aiding her. Now, I was abetting her too. The realization made me dizzy. I was suddenly glad I had decided to lay down. A million thoughts ran through my head, one of them was Troy's island prison off the coast. Something told me even my father wouldn't be able to commandeer this situation. I realized I'd better start asking some questions, I needed to know what I was potentially facing the firing squad for.

"Aww it finally feels good to take a hot shower for a change," She said. I sat up to see Faye standing almost naked before me. She wore nothing except a towel wrapped around her shoulders. Her breasts were almost completely exposed.

"Why are you making that face?"

"Because you're..." I started before holding up my hand. "Naked."

"Yeah so?"

"You can't be naked in front of a stranger."

"Why not? My handlers see me naked all the time."

Handlers? I thought. What the hell would she need handlers for?

"Could you at least put one of my shirts on? They're in the room across from the bathroom." She rolled her eyes like a snotty teenager, making her way down the hallway. The pervert in me started to regret asking her to put clothes on, but the smarter part of me realized it was for the best. Still, it was hard to get over her thin toned body. She was in surprisingly good shape, considering she probably spent most of her time in that smelly straight jacket.

"There, you happy?" She raised her arms to show off her new outfit. She was a few inches shorter than me so the shirt covered a fair amount of her, but she still looked pretty damn good. The damp shirt clung to her features and showed off her shape. She was very thin, almost to thin. Her wet hair was wavier but it still had that bluish hue to her platinum blonde hair.

She walked her way around the furniture and sat on the couch next to me. She pulled her legs into her chest and rested her head against my shoulder. I could feel my whole body pulsate with desire. I was frustrated with myself for having had sex only the day before, and I was acting like I'd never had it before. I should've had more self control than that.

"So uh tell me about yourself," I said as I scooted over. "Where are you from?"

"You don't care about that," She sighed as she leaned back on the couch. "You want to know why the big bad military men were after me. That's all anyone cares about me."

"No...I just..." I didn't know what to say after that. She wasn't completely wrong.

"Look, you have been very nice to me Charles, but you don't want to know what’s going on with me." The air suddenly became thinner and thinner. I began to sputter into a coughing fit. "Oh my God, I'm sorry." She held up her hands and began to wave them about. I could feel myself start to breathe normally again.

"What just happened?" I demanded.

"I have to go!" She headed for the door. I tried to call after her but she already slammed the door behind her. Once I recovered myself, I bolted after her.

"Wait," I said. I easily caught up to her and grabbed her arm. I looked down to see something on her wrist. It was a birthmark that looked familiar. "You're a Natural?"