CHAPTER TWO
1360 Words
CHAPTER TWO
“Don’t move,” Mia North breathed into the ear of the politician she hated. “Don’t even breathe.”
To drive her point home, she pressed the point of the letter opener deeper into Wilson Andrews’s throat. He gripped the arms of his leather office chair. His Adam’s apple bobbed.
The sound of the sirens outside drew closer. From here, she could see their red and blue lights, bouncing off the panels of the vertical blinds at the window behind his desk.
She was trapped.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” he murmured, his head pressed back against the chair, fighting to keep as far away as possible from the weapon. He was nervous. And he should be.
After all, he’d put her through the ringer over the past nine months, putting her through every hell imaginable. She’d been arrested for a murder she didn’t commit, convicted, and was now on the run, top of the list of Most Wanted Criminals in the Dallas area. She’d been ripped from her family, her husband and daughter, Kelsey. So a little payback wouldn’t be out of the question.
Or even a lot.
And it would be so easy to end his life like that. Just a little pressure, and the man who’d ruined her life would be gone forever.
But she couldn’t. Unlike Wilson Andrews, she had morals. Though Mia had been relieved of her FBI badge months ago, she still abided by their standards. Wilson Andrews, on the other hand, had his sights set on the State Senate, and was prepared to remove whatever obstacles were in his way, by whatever means necessary—theft, blackmail, coercion, and yes, even murder. The man wasn’t worth anything. The world would be better off without him.
And yet, her hand shook as she looked down at the point of the letter opener, pressed against his throat. The pounding footsteps outside his office told her the police were getting closer. She took a deep breath and scanned her surroundings. The window behind her was open, the blinds swaying in the breeze. It looked like a large enough gap to slip through. But what was beyond it?
She didn’t know. But at the moment, it was her only chance of escape.
“You’re screwed. You’re going to prison for a long time.” A smile crept onto Wilson Andrews’s face. He was always so ineffably smug, even at his worst moments. After all the sinister tricks he’d pulled, he wasn’t worried in the least. He knew he was untouchable.
She’d always wanted to pull him down a few pegs. But never in her life had she wanted it so much. She pressed harder, and a bead of blood appeared at the point of her weapon.
He winced, and then he smiled. “A shame, really. I admire your fortitude. And I can’t say my trail’s been completely clean. Mistakes were made. Maybe if you’d taken another look at that cold case I was nearly attached to, you would’ve seen that. Instead, you’ll rot in jail, while I’ll become the next senator of this great state of Texas.”
Pompous slimeball. Gritting her teeth, she made the decision right then: She’d never let Wilson Andrews get his way. Even if it killed her.
Just then, there was a crash against the door. Another crash. The police were breaking it down.
The third try, the door gave way, and the police burst in, guns drawn. The three officers assessed the situation in a split second, and the barrels of their guns turned toward her. “Drop it!” they announced.
Without hesitation, Mia backed away, still behind Wilson Andrews’s large executive office chair to give her cover. She climbed onto the ledge of the window and climbed out. There, she found a small ledge. She noticed a downspout and a vertical column on either side that was part of the building’s architectural design. She shimmied around it, just as the police arrived at the window.
“Where’d she go?” she heard one of them say as she pressed herself against the brick side of the building.
“She must’ve fallen there. I think I see here there. In the bushes!” the other said, and they pushed away from the window and their voices trailed off. In the commotion, she heard Wilson Andrews’s voice, far away, and annoyed. “Get her! Don’t let her get away, idiots!”
At that moment, she swore she’d get away, no matter what she had to do.
She grabbed ahold of the downspout. More police cars were arriving, the officers beginning to congregate on her side of the building. It was only a matter of time before they shined a spotlight on the facade of the building and found her.
She couldn’t go one floor down to the ground, or they’d find her. Looking up, she decided that was her only chance.
Luckily, she’d had plenty of climbing training at Quantico, and the downspout’s brackets attaching it to the side of the building were perfect footholds. She scaled the side of the wall like an insect and threw a leg over the top lip of the edifice. As she began to steal across the flat roof, she heard the beating of helicopter rotors.
She looked up, spotting its lights in the dark sky. Of course, they’d pull out all the stops for their beloved Wilson Andrews, Dallas’s golden boy. What next? Calling in the National Guard?
If only they knew him the way I know him, she thought as she crouched behind a chimney, looking for her next move.
She skirted around the periphery of the rooftop, stopping every so often to look over and gauge her opportunity to get out. Finally, when she reached the back of the building, she saw another downspout, leading to a line of bushes. Beyond that, across a slim patch of lawn and landscaping, there was a thick, dark forest. If she could just make it down the side of the building, she could be lost in that forest, and escape.
In no time, she grabbed the top of the downspout and scuttled down it, half sliding, using her toes pressed up against the brick to stop herself from falling too fast. As she made it down, sweat poured down her temples, feeling icy against her skin in the cool evening breeze. She heard the shouts of the police officers, so nearby, which urged her to go faster.
When she was between the second and first floors, she looked down. Another shout made her lose her concentration entirely, and she let go of the pipe. She tried to grab it, but her sweat-slicked fingers lost their grasp and she wound up falling back.
A second later, she landed in the inadequate cushion of an evergreen bush, the branches scraping her face and arms. She pulled herself up, disentangling herself from its brambles and, taking a quick look to her right and left, raced as fast as she could for the tree line.
She made it just as a spotlight beam from the helicopter arced across the lawn she’d just crossed.
Crouching there, catching her breath, she watched as police officers finally began to walk around the back of the building, searching for her.
She couldn’t stay there. They’d soon fan out and try to cover the surrounding forest as well.
I can’t say my trail’s been completely clean. Mistakes were made. Maybe if you’d taken another look at that cold case I was nearly attached to, you would’ve seen that. Instead, you’ll rot in jail, while I’ll become the next senator of this great state of Texas.
Thinking of those words, she skipped into a run, navigating around the forms of trees, unsure as to where her path would lead. Wherever it led, it meant one thing: As long as she was outside, she had a hope. Hope that she could nail Wilson Andrews for his crimes and prove he’d framed her to cover them up.
She’d been given another chance. And now was the time to act upon this information.
- Writer
