I found Cole and Carter still in the conference room. They were arguing about something. "Why would you just let her go like that?" Cole yelled at Carter from the one side of the table. "She's strong enough to do it herself. Oh and by the way, a good boyfriend wouldn't try to crush his girlfriend's dream," he said as he looked over at me. "Crap," I heard him say under his breath. "Hey Lotte. I thought you were getting your suitcase," Cole said as he walked over to me. He slowly fastened his hand around my waist. "How much of the argument did you hear?" Carter asked. I was still in shock by what I had just heard. When reality hit, all I could say was "enough. I heard enough." I looked down at Cole's hand around my waist. I removed his hand and headed back toward the door. As I stood in the door frame, I told them, "I'm not going, because they aren't in Germany. They're in Paris. We leave in 2 hours." I walked out of the room without another word and headed back toward the limo. Once I got out there, I saw the German second in command. "Are you not coming?" she asked. Her brown hair was flying in the wind with the her skirt. "Um.... no. We have business in Paris, but thank you for your hospitality," I said as I got in the limo. Before I closed the door, I heard her ask, "may I please come with you? It has always been a dream of mine to go on an actual mission in another part of the world." I thought about the offer. I needed a girl with me right now. "I'm good with that. Meet me back here in an hour with all your things," I replied. "Thank you so much," she said as she ran toward her car. I shut the car door and I heard the driver ask, "where would you like to go madam?" "The nearest cafe would be nice," I replied. I stared out the window as the car began to start. What else did those two say about me. They both care but.... Why am I stressed about this? About five or so minutes had passed before we arrived at the little cafe. "Can you pick me up in half an hour please?" I asked the driver. "Yes ma'am," he said as he drove off. I looked at the little shop and decided it was a good enough place to get something to drink. As I walked through the door, I heard a bell above the door ring. The girl behind the counter looked a little younger than me. She had brown hair and braces. "Hello, what can I get for you?" she asked. She had a thick German accent but I could tell she knew I wasn't from around here."A medium lemonade please," I said as I took out my wallet. "Ok $2.76," she said as I handed her $5 bill. As I put my change in wallet, my spy ID fell out. As I picked it up, I heard the woman say, "here's your....." Her voice stopped when she saw the ID. "You probably want to keep that covered better," she said as she handed me my drink. "You're a spy?" I asked. "I'm from Florida,USA. I moved here because of it," she said. "I'm from Texas but I had to move to Alabama. I better go," I replied as I walked toward the door. I walked out the door and felt a rush of cool air. I sat down at a little table outside the cafe and got on my phone. I had three unread texts. The first was from Cole. "Hey I'm sorry that you had to hear all that. I want to make it up to you." What a jerk. Hey could you blame me? The next message was from Cassandra. "Hey hope you got Jill's text about Paris. Just wanted to give you another update. More girls are disappearing. Still no word from any of the disappeared." I sat there thinking about Zoe. She didn't deserve this. Why did it have to happen to her? I looked back down. The last message was from an unknown number. "Hi my name is Sapphire June. I am trapped in the Paris sewage systems. Please help me." What the heck! I have never met a girl named Sapphire. I looked at the clock on my phone. My limo should be back right about now. I decided just to play a game on my phone until he returned. After a couple of minutes, a wind came through and knocked my empty lemonade cup onto the ground. As I picked it up, I noticed another hand. "I got it for you ma'am," the boy said as I let go of the cup. "Thank you," I said as I turned my attention back to my phone. "You look very familiar. Have we met?" he asked me. I took a better look at the guy. He has shaggy brown hair and deep set eyes. He looked to be fit but not muscular. "Any chance you aren't from Germany?" I asked the boy. "I'm from Texas,USA," he replied. "No way. I am too. I was laughing cause there's a guy I went to school with named Winston that looks a lot like you," I said. "Names Winston Larson. There's a girl I went to school with named Lotte but...." I cut him off. "Lotte Jackson but she moved away. Oh my goodness Winston," I screamed. I threw my arms around him. "Didn't think I'd see you again," he said. Ok back story time. Before I moved, he and I were best friends and basically siblings. My limo pulled up as soon as we released. "Hey I gotta jet but we should catch up sometime," I said. He pulled a sharpie out of his pocket and said, "sounds like a plan but I'm going to need you number." I wrote my number in his four arm and got into the limo. When I arrived back at the plan, I saw Ash standing with a single suitcase next to the plan. "Hey you wanna board?" I asked her. She nodded and we both got on the plan. About 20 minutes had passed before the boys choose to arrive. "Hey sorry we're late," Cole said. He tried to kiss me but I pushed him back. "It's cool. Ash is going to come with us," I told them. I turned around and choose a seat. I put my legs on the seat and plugged in my earbuds. I zoned out for who knows how long waiting for take off. I felt the plane take flight and just like that I was out like a light.
