The Company

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Months went by and still I heard nothing from Cara but I didn't think on it and instead just focused on Amelia's training because I knew Cara would need time to think about my terms. She was probably sitting in her office weighing up all the pros of cons to giving me what I wanted.

I'd given up hope when I did finally receive the message to meet at the diner again. I smirked when I got it and burned the paper feeling triumphant and apprehensive all at once, not knowing what to expect or how to feel about it.

I ran down the stairs and unlocked the basement door to find it dark and empty; I frowned, turned the light on and stepped into the room. Everything was still, I raised an eyebrow and felt my lips grow wide with a smirk and pride filled me when the door locked behind me and the light went off. I shook my head and chuckled under my breath.

"Open up Amelia!" I knocked on the door.

"NO WAY!" I heard her muffled voice come from the other side "let's see how YOU like being locked in a room for hours on end!" I rolled my eyes and looked around for a way out. The fact that she'd been able to sneak out and lock me in told me that Amelia's training was advancing well.

I taught her everything she needed to know about picking locks and then we moved onto finding creative ways to get in and out of rooms. Every day, after combat training, I would create a new task.

It began with simply locking her out of the house so she had to use her lock picking set to get back into the house. The next day I stole the set, forcing her to use what she had on her to find a way in. She used her hair clip and a pin she had to pick the lock on the back door. The next morning, after our run I knew she wouldn't have anything with her so I locked her out once again. Forcing her to get creative, she pried one of the kitchen windows open quietly and slipped in with a smug smile. Then I taught her how to get around a few electronic locks and alarms, then locked her out all over again, forcing her to cut the right wires and avoid sensors.

The two days after that I locked her in her bedroom, on the first day I stood outside her door as she picked the lock with a paperclip then I pushed her back into the room, telling her to find another way. So she placed a small magnet on the alarm on her window and climbed out of it before finding a way back into the house. The second day I removed every last piece of furniture from her room and it took her longer to get out. I sat outside her door listening to her pace around her room thinking of ways to escape. It had taken her so long that I'd fallen asleep by her door and when I woke up I found her room empty, the frame of her window had been taken apart and the glass from the top placed carefully placed on the ground, all without setting off the alarm on the window.

I went downstairs to see her on the kitchen counter looking through the first aid kit to take care of the cuts on her hands. When I saw this I felt a strange sense of pride fill me, I shook my head and chuckled as I took the disinfectant from her hands and helped her clean her wounds. After that I gave her a few days off before I set her one last challenge. The hardest of them all. I locked her in the basement, with the light off. I sat outside the door for a while listening to her panic for a moment before doing what I taught her and calming down. She stayed silent for a long time so I left her to it. Until now.

I took a moment to look around the dark room thinking of ways to escape before coming to my conclusion. I placed my feet firmly on the ground, closed my eyes, took a breath in and when I left the breath out I pushed hard against the door forcing it off its hinges. When I emerged into the light I saw Amelia sitting on the steps with her eyes wide.

"That's cheating!" she exclaimed.

"How?"

"Because you said if you do that then the guard would catch you and we had to find a COVERT way to escape!"