into the wilderness - h.s.

twenty-three

{ Steal My Girl - 88 Ninety's 'Raiders of the Lost Art' Remix }

Anonymous.

"I can't get a signal from the tracker," she yelled into her earpiece as her nails clicked across the keyboard. She paused and listened closely to the voice on the other end of the converstaion he could not hear. She nodded her head and followed the instructions by pressing a variety of keys on the control pad. With one final flick of her wrist, she finished the sequence and hit 'enter' with a mild flourish.

The entire room around her seemed to go still. Every living thing held its breath as they waited anxiously for the results to appear on the giant screen in front of them. Even the dog sleeping in the corner stopped snoring, even if it was only for a moment. Time passed slowly, each second becoming longer and longer until it felt like they would wait an entire decade before they could get the results they wanted.

On the screen was a satellite map of the northern portion of the state of Utah. The endless green and shadowed ridges gave the computerized illusion of mountains. A pulsing red beacon was situated amongst the peaks where the group had settled into the safe-house. They had stayed there for a few day, but last night, the signal had started to weaken, leaving long periods of silent static coming through the transmitter.

The red beacon contined pulsing in and out for another few seconds before it flickered and disappeared all together. The room suddenly erupted into chaos; she spoke in rapid Russian to the individual at the other end of her earpiece as she hit random keys in an attempt to bring the beacon back. She gave up and stood abruptly from her chair.

He watched her as she strode back and forth across the hard wood floor. She was wearing her normal attire, a black pantsuit and heeled leather boots. He sat quietly in his own corner beside the dog. He had been mindlessly stroking its ears the entire time, waiting for the end of the world. He knew this moment was coming. He knew they were smart enough. They would figure it out.

"The goal of the game is to be one step ahead of them at all times," she spoke authoritatevly to the other two men in the room. He was sure that the person on the other end of her earpiece could hear as well; the person who was of higher authority.

"How are we supposed to infiltrate this system if we just lost track of the very team that is trying to stop us? They destroyed the tracker. Finding it, no doubt, was easy. They are smart people. But we are smarter."

He was glad that he was finally out of her range of fire. It was normally him who was chosen to endure rants such as these. He knew what the other two men in the room must have been feeling, being repremanded by a woman half their size in a black body suit.

"Search the house."

"If you find anything that would be a clue as to their wear-about, follow it."

"Most importantly, find those damn cards."

.

"Harry," I mumbled against his lips while trying to push him lightly away. "Harry, we need to talk."

"Not now," he mumbled against my lips and pushed his hips harder againt mine. "Later."

"But-"

I was cut off as I felt his teeth sink into my bottom lip. I tried and failed to surpress the moan I felt at the back of my throat. As much as I wanted to talk with him; as much as I wanted us to work at solving the problem between us, kissing him was so much better. I could feel the tension rolling away. The blissful air surrounded us and wrapped us in a tight blanket. In many was, we were solving the problem with fewer words.