A Bad Hair Day

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Back to Now

As the dust settled, the ringing in his ears and the choking dust were only the first of the problems that now faced JJ as he pulled himself free of the fallen cabinets, which luckily had created a small, tight space that would have been nice and snug if it had not been for dozens of heavy box files that had landed on him on their way to the floor. Coughing from the dust, he stood up and almost fell over again as pain shot up his leg.

“One painful ankle and a lot of bruises, but still alive, no thanks to cheap foreign equipment! Well, next time I will use my own timers.”

Alarms began to ring in the distance.

“So much for a fast and discreet exit!”

JJ brushed the dust from his clothes and reluctantly put the shoes back on to walk over a nice selection of shards of glass that now covered the floor.

“Plan B! Go to Plan B, and that is “Do not panic! Improvise!”’

Limping along, looking more like a refugee from a war zone than a smooth, top-class independent spy in drag (which he thought sounded a lot better than a hired, inexpensive crook that wore a dress for money), JJ knew that any hope of not attracting attention was long gone as he pulled large chunks of plaster from his now dust-gray wig.

“And so much for the new frigging hair style! I’ve gone from hot chick to looking like a crack w***e in a single night.”

As he made his way to the window he was looking for, he tried to remember the plans of the building, which he had studied so carefully.

“What I need right now is a perfect escape route. Here we go…”

He smashed the glass with a nearby fire extinguisher. If he moved along the outside edge of the building, made a short jump to the roof below, and then exited through a door he had left open earlier in the day onto a staircase, it would lead him right onto the street below and provide a fast getaway. But his injured leg would not allow him to do so. Instead, he turned away from the now-broken window and opened an unlocked door into an empty office. Locking the door behind him, he made his way through several rooms until he found the particular locked door he was looking for; this one was soon opened and locked again as he entered the large storage cupboard.

“Plan B: If someone is after you, then you give them a nice trail to follow. Just be sure you are not on the trail when they come looking!”

It was going to be a long wait, so JJ set about making himself as comfortable as he could, which meant mostly just kicking the shoes off.